Upon seeing him, Carolyn rushed over with the paperwork in her hands.
"How is he?" she asked. "Either they won't tell me anything or don't understand me. And I can't fill out half of this bloody paperwork!"
Douglas took it from her, flipping through it.
"He's not doing so great. They're putting him on a breathing machine now, which was why they kicked me out." He ticked a couple of boxes on the forms. "I don't know the rest of these." With one finger on a phone number Carolyn had filled in, Douglas dialled it with the other hand.
"Hello? Ms Crieff? Yes, hello, this is Douglas Richardson. I work with your son Martin? Yes, at the airline. Well, I suppose I would be that Douglas Richardson. I don't think Martin knows any others. Right. Anyway, I'm calling because we're getting new health insurance, and we're filling out paperwork, and it seems Martin has an awful memory for medical history. So I told him I'd call you up and check. So, is there any family history of anything?"
Douglas hummed and made a note on a clipboard.
"Any allergies? Preexisting medical conditions he hasn't told us about? No, we knew about that one. Alright. And fairly normal childhood ailments? Of course. I'm not sure. I think he may have been embarrassed about his memory, and I so wanted to chat with you again, so I volunteered. Yes, that's perfect. Thank you Ms Crieff. Goodbye."
Douglas flipped the phone shut.
"Well?" Carolyn said anxiously.
"Nothing we didn't already know about. No allergies, just the weird ear thing, and he was sick plenty as a child." Douglas finished filling in the remaining boxes and blanks as he spoke. "Admitted to hospital a couple times for pneumonia when he was young, but from the sounds of it, nothing this bad."
"Probably because he went to the doctor before he couldn't breathe."
"True."
"I still can't believe she fell for that," she muttered.
"She is Martin's mother after all."
Carolyn glared at him.
Douglas only smirked. "I'm going back to sit with him now. They should be done. How's Arthur?"
"Gone to look for the little shop, nattering on about how little shops are 'brilliant' and every hospital should have one." She mimed quotation marks in the air as she said brilliant. "He's on a hunt for Toblerones. God help us all if he gets lost."
Douglas nodded.
"Right. They should be getting him a room soon, probably in intensive care, where ever that is and then Arthur can see him, although he won't be conscious. After that, I suggest you get us a room at the hotel across the street."
Carolyn nodded wearily, a testament to how worried she was that she didn't protest.
She'd probably only just realized the gravity of the situation, unlike Douglas, she didn't have the double edged sword, both a blessing and a curse, of medical knowledge. Like Douglas would have before medical school, she'd probably assumed Martin just need some intravenous antibiotics, and some bonus oxygen for a night or so before being on his merry way. Not so. Douglas suspected it could be a lot worse than any of them expected. Except Arthur. They wouldn't worry Arthur.
Douglas looked at Carolyn, and she seemed to understand that.
Ben motioned at Douglas from the end of the hallway, and he gave Carolyn a glance. She nodded, and he headed back to Martin.
The sight that greeted Douglas in the trauma room was not unexpected, but was still shocking nonetheless. While he was not greeted with the sight that he'd left with, no more metal instruments being stuck down Martin's throat, there was now a tube in its place, taped haphazardly to his cheeks. The tube was connected to a bag that one of the nurses squeezed rhythmically, forcing air into Martin's lungs.
Ben spotted Douglas at the door, and came over to retrieve him.
"I know it looks scary," he said gently, leading him back to the stool. "But he's been sedated. It doesn't hurt him. And it's helping," he added, gesturing to the monitors, which indeed, were somewhat happier and not beeping insistently. Douglas nodded slightly.
"I just... I'll just have to get used to it," he stammered.
Ben nodded reassuringly.
"There's a bed in the critical care unit for him, and we'll be moving him shortly. If you want to go with him, I can bring your friends up when he's settled."
Douglas only nodded again. He clutched at Martin's hand, which no longer responded in the slightest.
"His muscles have been paralysed to make it easier to put the tube in and he's sedated, but they will both wear off and he could regain consciousness in the next hour or so. We do tend to keep intubated patients sedated, as it can be a very frightening experience for them. I suppose as his medical proxy, you can make those decisions for him, unless the doctors determine it's not in his best interests."
Medical proxy...
"What?" Douglas snapped his head up to look at Ben. "I'm his medical proxy?"
Ben nodded. "According to the paperwork the woman filled out, you're his medical proxy and..." he skimmed the page again, "His partner?"
Douglas only blinked at Ben. "Oh. Yes," he stammered. He hoped it looked like someone who'd just had a secret revealed rather than someone who had no idea what was going on, but had to play along anyways.
He was going to kill Carolyn.