Chapter 22: Dr. Tom
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
A few hours later, a doctor entered the room quietly and smiled at the couple.
"Hello, my name is Dr. Thomas Barker. You can call me Dr. Tom, that's what everyone calls me. Let's see, you're vitals look good, Michael, you're breathing better than you were when you came in here. I still think you need the oxygen, but that'll taper off as time goes on. How are you feeling?"
"I'm tired…" Vaughn said.
"I'm sure you are. Let me guarantee that your stay here will be much less traumatic than your last hospital visit. There will be no "Gestapo" interrogations, as Ms. Bristow said in her statement, at this hospital, rest assured."
Vaughn smiled. Sydney saw this and smiled as well. It was good to see him smile. He seemed to be much more relaxed here and reprimanded herself for not insisting they bring Vaughn to the hospital he'd already been in more than once.
Sydney piped up, "Actually doctor, we were hoping to make this a rather short hospital stay. I'd really like to take Vaughn home, if it's at all possible."
The doctor looked inquisitively at the couple and then said, "Where would you be taking him?"
"I'd be taking him to my house, doctor."
"I see…and what qualifications do you have for his care? Were you planning on a nurse or something?"
"Uh, no doctor. I'm fully qualified to handle wound changing and things like that, I've been doing that now while Vaughn was in the hospital, I've already helped with bathing and shaving and other essentials. Plus, I have all the trauma CIA training as well. My house is all one level, except for the basement, and there are no stairs anywhere in the house. I have a roommate, and her boyfriend practically lives there anyway if I needed extra help getting Vaughn somewhere, but I am pretty strong myself…and…"
Sydney stopped when she looked at the doctor and saw that he was chuckling.
"What?" she asked.
She looked at Vaughn who was also chuckling.
"I'm sorry Sydney, I had to do that…I know Michael, we went to college together. I've heard a lot about you as well, all good of course…"
She saw Vaughn's green eyes twinkling up at her.
"You guys suck," she said. He grinned again and she was rewarded with her first sight of his dimples since he had been back. God it was good to see those she thought.
Dr. Tom continued, "I really think you should stay overnight, Mike. I want to make sure that your ordeal at G.S. didn't hurt you in any ways we can't outwardly tell. Tomorrow morning, we'll do another exam and if nothing shows up by then, we can start thinking about letting you go home. Now, I should also say, I know they called in Dr. Barnett to come see you tomorrow and that'd be standard if you were even thinking of going home. So she's gonna wanna talk to you as well before you go. I think there's a little bit of crisis management going on, the CIA wants to make sure their agent is still sane and everything. And from what I hear, they are totally going to wipe the floor with the asses of the staff at Good Samaritan. Anyway, Sydney, you and I will need to discuss home care if you're serious about it and actually we might want to do that now, so we know if it's something you really want to take on here."
Sydney took one look at a sleepy Vaughn, "It is," she stated simply.
"Well, ok, but let's talk…why don't we go out here and let Mike get some rest, ok?"
Sydney looked down at Vaughn who yawned and nodded.
She was surprised he was going to let her go that easily, but then again she felt guilty for not bringing him here in the first place.
She got up from her perch next to Vaughn, kissed him lightly on the forehead and followed Dr. Tom out of the room.
