A/N: Last official set from UDC 10... but last set of Fragmentary? Probably not.
Week 20 - UDC 10 - Bonus - Summer (Late July) 1973
Intangible
"Mom?"
Jane glanced up from the charting she was doing to see her oldest daughter with a pained expression on her face, shrugged, and resumed writing. "How were tests?"
"Fine, and we can wait until you're done with that chart."
We? Jane looked up again and saw her eyes flicker downward, and paused when she heard a labored breath that could have passed for a cry if it had been louder. "Charlotte? If I stand up, will I like what I see?"
"No, and he's only gotten worse the more he's walked with me from the car."
"I was supposed to have ground school today," a familiar voice muttered, pained and breathy to Jane's ears and her eyes narrowed at Charlotte as she motioned to a chair behind her. Charlotte nodded and sure enough it was in fact Pete Mitchell she coaxed into view... miserable, guarding his right side, and pale as a sheet.
Jane nodded, turned back to finish her charting, and then sighed. "Charlotte, go call his foster parents. If that's what I think it is, they'll need to be here. Pete, are you nauseous?"
"Uh-huh." He grabbed a scrap of paper and quickly wrote a phone number on it, handed that to Charlotte, who looked at him funny. "Jenkins. And really, Jane. I'm fine, just... why are you glaring at me?"
"Point to where it hurts for me?" He did, to a spot on the right in abdomen. "How long?"
"A day or so. I think, anyway. I didn't want to worry anyone, and wanted to take my finals today."
Jane glanced at her daughter, who hadn't gone to find the phone yet. "Go, and send Doctor Salvatici my way when you see him."
Pete frowned at her. "He's here today?"
"Yes, doing rounds. Why?"
"Family doctor."
Jane smiled as she moved her chair closer. "Someone you're familiar with, then. Good. Do I get to be the one to tell Karen?" He stared at her blankly. "Jenn thought the Geometry puzzles were hilarious, kiddo. Of course I heard about it." She reached for her personal blood pressure kit, just as one of her fellow nurses returned to the nurses station. "Sue, you remember the Mitchell kid, right?"
"Of course," Susan affirmed with a wince. "Need me to go find an MD?"
"I sent my daughter to do that and make a phone call. Pete, aside from the nausea, have you had an appetite the last couple days?" He ducked his head, then shook in the negative as she took his blood pressure. "Huh... Systolic 130... over 92. Write that down for me, Sue."
"Pulse?"
She glanced at her watch and counted for thirty seconds... "53 times two." Jane let him relax, glanced at her watch and started counting respirations discreetly... "And 34 for respirations."
"Got it. Nausea and no appetite?"
A loud noise suddenly filled the air and Pete blushed. "Sorry?"
"No, don't be. Flatulence. Has that been happening a lot?"
Transend
He felt like he was having deja vu as the charge nurse at the desk buzzed him into the ER and another led him to a curtained-off bed where two out of three Bradshaws were seated with Pete, who was in a hospital gown and didn't look happy about it. "So..."
"Charlotte took me to her mother," Pete grumbled at him and Alan looked to Nick, who shrugged. "And then Dr. Salvatici decided I needed lab work and an ultrasound."
"The results are pending for both," Walt explained. "Pete, what did I say about being ill, again?"
Pete picked at the blanket he was sitting on. "That I shouldn't hide it."
Nick joined him on the hospital bed and pulled him closer. "Right now, though... we're glad Charlotte caught whatever this is and took you to Jane." Pete suddenly sobbed into Nick's shoulder, and Alan pulled the extra stool over to sit down. "How many times, Alan?"
"For Pete, in ER?"
"Yes."
Alan stared at Nick, astounded. "A few too many, really. Usually to get checked out when he was bruised up or sick... and the green stick fracture."
Foreseen
In the quiet of the hospital room, Nick looked up as the door opened to admit his mother, and he frowned at who was behind her. An older man who reminded him of his grandfather before he'd passed, this one moved straight to Pete's beside and looked down at him thoughtfully. "Ma?"
"This is Mr. Tatham, Nick," Helen told him quietly. "Alan saw him in the hallway earlier, pointed him out. I thought he might like to see Pete."
Mr. Tatham glanced at him with a nod. "He been awake yet, son?"
Nick nodded. "Was really woozy, though, sir. Did Ma tell you about what happened?"
"She did." Mr. Tatham watched Pete sleep a minute more, then shook his head. "It was the hardest thing with him, getting him to admit he wasn't feeling well while we had him. Good kid, though Sitting on the Dock of the Bay still makes me shudder."
"Us too, actually, sir."
Mr. Tatham nodded to the door. "Lydia is a few doors down. She'd probably like a visit from you both when he's up for it."
"That might be tomorrow," Helen told him with a smile, then held up a camera that she'd pulled out of one of her pockets. "Do you mind?"
Mr. Tatham stared over at her, then nodded. "Not at all."