Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or places, but I do own this story line.

Collision Course, Chapter 30

XXXX

DAY 7, 6:40AM

Kathy yawned as she made her way into Mercy. She had not expected to be working until tonight. She had the previous two nights off and had gone upstate to visit a friend. But she had turned her cell phone back on as she entered the city last night and it rang almost immediately. She was surprised when the unit supervisor asked her if she could come in this morning. Apparently there had been a problem with Nurse Crabtree and she had been dismissed. An agency nurse had been found to work the night shift, but Dr. Poole had asked specifically for Kathy to work with Officer Boscorelli during the dayshift. The supervisor had been very vague regarding the circumstances of Nurse Crabtree's dismissal and Dr. Poole's request, so Kathy could only imagine what she would find when she arrived on the unit.

She thought back to four mornings ago when Officer Boscorelli had become so combative. They had finally had to sedate him heavily to calm him down. They had found out later from his mother and ex-partner #1, Faith, that he had had nightmares for years and had suffered from panic attacks after 9-11. In hindsight, they realized that he was probably having nightmares that night, and Marge suctioning him had caused him to panic.

The next two days afterward had been a constant battle. Every time they had allowed the officer to wake up, he was instantly in panic mode. He struggled against the ventilator and against the restraints. His heart raced and his oxygen levels dropped. Finally, they would have to sedate him again. And although his fever had resolved and his lungs seemed to be improving, his kidney function continued to worsen. When Kathy left two mornings ago, Dr. Poole and the kidney specialist were debating whether to hold off another day on dialysis or start it that day.

XXXX

The elevator doors finally opened and Kathy made her way into the unit. She glanced into Bosco's room. He was still on the ventilator and was resting quietly. She nodded to Christine, one of the other nurses. "How are things going?" she asked, glancing back toward the patient.

"Quiet night." Christine replied.

"What have I missed in the last couple of days?" Kathy dreaded the answer.

"Well, he was dialyzed two days ago and should be again today. They held his sedative yesterday because they couldn't wake him up. They even had the neurologist see him. He had a CT of his head, but it was normal. They think that the drugs are hanging around longer with the kidney failure. Hopefully that's the case." Christine informed her.

"What about his breathing?" Kathy questioned.

"It's been pretty stable and his chest x-ray is improving. They pulled one of the chest tubes along with the abdominal drain. Apparently if we can get him awake and keep him calm long enough, Dr.Poole thinks we may be able to wean him from the vent soon." Christine replied hopefully.

"What happened with Nurse Crabtree?" Kathy asked finally.

"You had better talk to Shelly about that." Christine suggested.

XXXX

Kathy's suspicions had proven to be right. Crabby's dismissal was connected to Officer Boscorelli. Apparently, Dr. Poole had given orders a couple of days ago to limit the amount of sedation the officer received. He requested specifically to be called if more sedation was needed, so he could examine the patient first if he was available. He wanted the nurses to try to use other methods to keep the officer calm in hopes that he could be weaned from the ventilator. Apparently Crabby disagreed with this approach. She had given the young officer two fairly large doses of the sedative and written it as a verbal order from Dr. Poole, although she had not contacted him. Tim had been in surgery at the time and was furious when he saw the orders on his evening rounds. He was even more furious when Officer Boscorelli was still unresponsive almost twenty-four hours later. He had gone to the nursing and hospital administration and had Nurse Crabtree relieved of duty, at least temporarily. Her long-term fate was still to be decided. Unfortunately, Officer Boscorelli's fate was still undecided as well.

Kathy sighed as she looked up from her charting. Jill, the dialysis nurse, was just getting her machine hooked up to the large IV catheter that had been placed in the femoral vein in the officer's right leg.

XXXX

Rose Boscorelli sat in the hospital cafeteria sipping at her coffee while deep in thought. This had been her routine for several days now. She would come into the hospital early so that she could get an update from Dr. Poole after his morning rounds. Then she would come down to the cafeteria for breakfast while she waited for the 10:00 AM visiting hour to begin. More mornings than not, she had a companion for breakfast. Today was no different. His gruff but gentle voice brought her from her thoughts.

"What did Dr. Poole have to say this morning?" Sully questioned.

"Nothing really. There was no change overnight. He's still not really responsive. They're going to do dialysis again this morning. He did say that Kathy, that sweet little blond nurse, was going to be taking care of him today." Rose rambled.

Sully was unsure of what to say to Rose. She seemed much more distant this morning than usual. "How are you doing this morning?" he asked.

Rose shrugged. "I've had better days. Michael was out all night last night, still hadn't come home when I left this morning. He'd been doing so well since he started staying at my place. I thought maybe he was going to turn things around."

"Maybe he still will." Sully encouraged her.

"I wish." Rose said sadly. "I wish a lot of things. I wish I'd had the good sense to make Anthony get help or to get my boys out of that situation. Now look at them. Michael is a junky and Maurice… Well, I can't help but wonder if Maurice would have the anxiety problems that he has if I'd gotten him away from Anthony. I can remember all the times Anthony tried to stop drinking. He'd hallucinate; see snakes and all sorts of crazy things. And he would have Maurice terrified. I'd have to pull the covers of Maurice's bed back to show him that there were no snakes there, that those were only wrinkles in the sheets he was feeling. And he'd wake up screaming from nightmares. I'd have to leave the light on and sit with him until he fell asleep again."

Sully listened as Rose continued. He sensed that she needed to get some things off of her chest, so to speak.

"And then it only got worse. Anthony couldn't keep a job and started gambling. And we fought. Terrible fights, screaming and yelling. Some of them turned violent. Maurice was always the protector, while Mikey stayed in his room and pretended nothing was happening. I guess I should have tried to force Anthony to get help. I knew that. But I didn't do anything, until I found out that he had another woman on the side. Then I was jealous. When he would not give her up, I left him. But that only made him more angry." Rose paused and looked up at Sully. " I'm sorry, John. I guess you didn't want to hear all this over breakfast."

"That's alright, Rose. Really I don't mind. You know we all make mistakes. I'm sure you did the best you could under the circumstances." Sully assured her.

XXXX

Collision Course, Chapter 31

Kathy was glad when the 6:00PM visiting hour came and went, even though the day had been fairly uneventful. Officer Boscorelli had been dialyzed for almost three hours without any problems. His mother and Officer Sullivan had visited at 10:00 AM. Sully, as they called him, really seemed to be a good friend. And Kathy noted that he seemed fiercely protective of Mrs. Boscorelli. Rose, as she insisted Kathy call her, had visited again at 2:00 PM, but then left to allow ex-partner #2, Sergeant Cruz, to visit. During the last visiting hour, Rose again came and ex-partner #1 showed up in her uniform. Apparently she was on a meal break.

The partner situation had intrigued Kathy. She could tell that there was no love loss between the two ex-partners. They seemed to avoid each other if at all possible and barely spoke if avoidance was not possible. And there seemed to always be a tension in the air between them. Their interactions with Officer Boscorelli were starkly different as well. Ex-partner #1 always seemed a bit nervous around him and somewhat cautious when she spoke to him, although Kathy could tell that she cared about him. Ex-partner # 2 seemed much more comfortable around him and more intimate. Kathy found herself wondering if maybe there had been something more to their relationship than just being work partners. And could ex-partner #1 be jealous?

Kathy had also met the current partner, Sasha, earlier in the week. Apparently she had been involved in the accident as well, but had only minor injuries. She still seemed to be dealing with a lot of guilt the last time Kathy saw her.

Officer Boscorelli was still unresponsive for the majority of the day. He did seem to stir slightly when Kathy had turned him earlier in the afternoon. And Rose had thought that he squeezed her hand slightly during her last visit. Kathy also noticed that his heart rate sped up slightly and his eyes fluttered when the ex-partner, Faith, had talked to him.

With 20 minutes left in her shift, Kathy charted another set of vitals, as well as, the drainage output on the remaining chest tube and the foley. Although he was requiring dialysis, he still made a small amount of urine, which was encouraging.

Finally she decided it was time to turn the officer from his back onto his left side. Kathy hated turning him in that direction because of his incision and chest tube. It had to be more uncomfortable to lie on that side. But she also knew that it was necessary to keep him turned regularly to prevent skin breakdown. She untied the restraint on his right wrist and laid his arm over his chest. Going to the other side, she pulled on the draw sheet, pulling him up and toward her. She held the sheet with one hand as she shoved a pillow behind his back with the other. Then she moved back around to the other side and pushed the pillow even farther under him propping him up. She adjusted the pillow under his head, but failed to notice that Officer Boscorelli's eyes were now open wide. Moving back down, she adjusted his legs, placing a pillow between his knees.

As she straightened the cover, she was surprised to hear the distinctive high- pitched beep of the ventilator alarming. Looking up quickly, her heart leapt when she saw Officer Boscorelli's right hand waving around in the air with the ET tube in it. He looked slightly alarmed, as well, as he coughed and struggled to catch his breath without the help of the ventilator.

Kathy immediately called out for help and when one of the other nurses finally stuck her head in the door, she half-shouted, "Get respiratory therapy in here and page Dr. Poole now!"

XXXX

Sasha glanced at Cruz as she sat across from her at the diner on their meal period. "How was Bosco today?" she asked.

Cruz looked up from her meal. "There really wasn't much change. He was dialyzed again today. And he still wasn't wake." Cruz answered sadly.

"This is all so unbelievable." Sasha commented.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Cruz mumbled.

When their waitress came over and asked if they wanted dessert, Sasha was amazed when Cruz asked for the double fudge brownie with ice cream.

"What?" Cruz questioned.

"Nothing, Sarg. It's just. Well, you've had a burger and onion rings." Sasha answered.

"So?" Cruz asked defensively.

"Well, nothing. I guess you got over whatever you had before." Sasha commented with a smile, remembering Cruz's sickness the morning after the accident. "I've just never known you to eat a lot of sweets. If I didn't know better, I'd think you might be pregnant." Sasha half laughed.

Cruz glared at Sasha, but didn't respond.

Sasha looked at her in amusement, then noting Cruz's expression, she gasped slightly,

"Oh my…..No! You're not?...You're pregnant?" Sasha almost whispered.