DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, never will. All just for fun. I am also not an Officer of the Law, a doctor or a resident of New York. Please allow for a little poetic license :)
SUMMARY: An accident on the job leaves Jamie badly injured. Will he recover? Will the Reagans?
A/N: Back again! How are we? Thanks for all the adds/favs and reviews! My spell checker is now not working at all! I'll check it when I upload as the one is working, but may miss a few. Sorry if this chapter seems to jump in time a bit. I thought about extending the hospital visit/unconcious part, but I think we're all ready for Jamie to wake up lol!
10-13: Chapter Five
It was five days until Jamie was deemed strong enough to withstand another surgery. The doctors had left him on the ventilator, worried that the extubation and re-intubation for surgery would put too much of a strain on his throat. The surgery had gone well, and Jamie's arm, which Frank had been informed was a Grade I Open fracture, had been casted. His leg however had been catagorised as a Grade III. The surgical sight had been dressed, and a leg re-splinted rather than placed in a cast. All the machines bar the ventilator, IV and heart monitor and been removed.
Frank had been a constant presence at his sons bedside. The rest of the family had come by often, but the hospital had a strict two visitor only rule in the ICU. Danny had been by earlier that morning. He had chosen to return to work, dispite the fact that he was more than eligable for leave. Frank wasn't surprised. Danny hated feeling useless. At least if he was on a case he'd feel like he could do some good.
Janko has stopped by a few times, bringing with her Jamie's patrol hat and placing it down on his bedside cabinet. Renzulli had stopped by with her, but not said much.
Nicki had finally made a visit. But just once. She'd sat in near silence the whole time, only speaking when spoken too. Jack and Sean hadn't been allowed in the ICU as they were too young, and not deemed as 'immediate family', a fact which Danny had fiercly disputed with the Charge Nurse, but to no avail.
Frank looked up when he heard the door open to see Erin. She had taken a few days off work, but was now working from home. Or so she'd told the DA's office. She'd spent most of her time at the hospital or looking after the boys when Danny was visiting or Linda was a work. "How's he doing?" She asked, sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the bed to her father.
Frank nodded. "They're gonna start weining him off the ventilator later." He said. "Start bringing him out of sedation." Although he was eagar to have his son back, he was nervous. Nobody was sure if Jamie would remember the accident.
"That's good, right?" She asked, noticing the concerned look on her fathers face.
Frank raised his eyebrows and sighed. "Yea, it is." He shifted in the chair a little, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on the arm rests. "I guess I'm just worried about him," He looked at Jamie. The brusing on his face had subsided somewhat, and the stiches had been removed from above his eye, leaving a neat little scar. Frank turned back to Erin and half smiled. "I worry about all of you." He said.
Before Ernin could reply, the door opened and a doctor walked in. "Good morning." The doctor said cheerfully. He was a tall, slender man called Harris. He'd been Jamie's primary physician since he'd been admitted to the ICU. He picked up Jamie's chart from the end of the bed. "So today's the day we turn the ventilator off." He said, placing the chart back and moving around the bed to be near Jamie's head. "We'll leave it in-situ for now, and turn if off for a few minutes at a time." He looked at his watch. "We'll start with five minutes, then ten and so on until I'm happy that he'll be ok. Then we'll perform a deep extubation, and fit him with a nasal canula instead."
"Deep extubation?" Erin asked, unfamiliar with the term.
Harris nodded. "It just means to extubate while the patient is still unconcious." He answered. "It helps to avoid the coughing reflex, which I'd rather do, so as not to adjitate Jamie's ribs further."
Erin and Frank nodded, watching as the doctor turned off the ventilation machine. The room seemed to fall into silence without the now familiar noise of the ventilator. Erin's heart jumped into her throat as an alarm sounded by the venitlator, but Harris gestured with his hand as if it were nothing to worry about. She watched on as Jamie's chest continued to rise and fall, a small smile on her face. She looked over at her Dad, his face mirroring her own expression.
They sat in silence for a while, watcing Jamie breath, before Harris spoke. "That's good." He said, turing the ventilator back on. "We'll leave it a while and then give it another go." He said, siginging something on the chart as he passed it and exiting the room.
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The rest of the day was spent with the doctor turning Jamie's ventilator off for extended periods of time before he was happy it could be removed completely. Erin had left after a few hours to be replaced by Henry, who in turn had been replaced by Danny.
By the time the eldest Reagan sibling had arrived, Jamie had been extubated and the sedation medication withdrawn. Danny had convinced his Dad to go to the cafiteria to get himself something to eat. He wasn't sure of the last time his father had eaten, or slept in an actual bed, but Danny was fairly sure he'd not left the hospital except to shower.
He sighed and sat back in his chair. "So now it's all up to you kid," He said, looking at Jamie, now relativly machine free. "Whenever you feel like re-joining us." He said, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. As he placed it back down he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He could have sworn Jamie's finger twitched on his broken arm. "Jamie?" He asked, standing. He looked his brother up and down, watching for any other signs. "Jamie?" He asked again. Nothing. He sat back down. Maybe he'd imagined it. Jamie had only been off the medication for a few hours, and the doctors said it could take a while for him to wake up. He had another sip of coffee. He'd probably imagined it. He'd not been sleeping too well for the last week. Still, he kept a closer eye on the youngest Reagan.
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Danny wasn't sure what had woken him. It was light outside so he knew it was morning, but nothing more than that. He looked over to see his Dad still sleeping in the chair on the opposite side of the bed. He yawned before getting out of the chair to strech, walking over to the window. The car park below was busy, with staff and visitors arriving. He looked at his watch. It was almost 8am. He was busy observing the New York skyline when he heard a noise. He turned to look at his Dad, who hadn't stired, then to Jamie, moving over to the bed to be at his brothers side. "Jamie?" He asked, leaning over to place his hands on the bed rail. "Jamie?" He tried again.
Jamie's brow furrowed, but his eye's didn't open.
"C'mon, Jamie." Danny coaxed. "Dad." He said, firmer, not looking up from his brother.
Frank stirred at the sound of his voice, opening his eyes to see Danny standing over Jamie's bed. He realised what was happening and was at the bedside in a shot. "Jamie?" He asked, gently.
Jamie's eyes fluttered open for a few seconds before closing tightly again as he groaned. "Dad?" He said, his voice low and raspy.
"Hey there." Frank said, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face at the sound of his sons voice.
Jamie opened his eyes again, squinting a little as the light hit his eyes for the first time in a week.
"I'll get a nurse." Danny said, exiting the room to speak to the nurse at the desk near Jamie's room.
Jamie tried to speak but his mouth was dry. He licked his lips and tried again but was unsucessful.
"It's ok, Jamie." Frank said, reassuring his youngest. "You're in the hospital." He explained, seeing the confussed look on Jamie's face. "Do you remember?"
Jamie nodded. "Danny... sandwich." Jamie said, barely a whisper. "Car."
Frank wasn't sure he'd heard correctly, but made out the work 'car' and nodded. "You're pretty banged up but you'll be ok." He said, looking up as Danny re-entered with Doctor Harris.
Doctor Harris smiled at Frank. "If you could give me a moment alone with Jamie." He said, moving to the head of the bed.
Danny and Frank left the room, but stayed nearby so they could observe through the window.
"Did he say anything?" Danny asked, turning briefly to look at Frank. "He remember anything?"
Frank nodded, not taking his eyes off the doctors work. "He said the word 'car' when I asked him if he knew why he was here." He turned to look at Danny. " That and 'Danny, sandwich.'" He said, raising an eyebrow.
Danny smiled. "You know he still eats mustard? After that stunt Joe pulled?"
Frank chuckled, turning back to watch the doctor. "Well, to be fair, I think he enjoyed the doughnuts."
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A/N2: So Jamie's awake. Sorry it's a shorter chapter but life is busy at the moment and some is better than none, right? Promise they'll be more Jamie next time (I know I keep saying that but this time I mean it!)
A guest reviewer pointed out that all the kids were under 10 at the same time, which is kind of what I had in mind. I know Erin celebrated her 40th in the show in series 6, so for ages I'm going with: Danny 42, Erin 40, Jamie 33, with Joe being a few years younger than Erin (if he were alive) That's just my take. I always assume Jamie to be about 10 years younger than Danny. Hope they sound about right? It's not too central to the story so it doesn't matter anyway, just clearing it up for when they're talking about being younger. If anyone does know their actual ages feel free to correct me!
ATGPNWT85 xx