A/n: don't get used to seeing updates so quick. this is more of an interlude before moving forward with the story. Don't mind the repetition...

Chapter Fifteen

Frank Hardy was having a really bad day. It had started off innocently enough, being woken up early( even for him) by the friendly night nurse who plumped his pillows, changed the dressings on his arms and fiddled with the morphine drip, which, of course, was still remarkably full. The Nurse also helped him stand up and shuffle his way into the bathroom, where he was able to take care of business mostly embarrassment free. After being helped back into bed, the nurse told him breakfast was scheduled to be served in about an hour. "And it's extra special today!" He proclaimed merrily as he tucked the light blanket over Frank's legs.

Frank merely grunted noncommittally and idly wondered out loud if it was possible to get coffee sooner rather than later. The nurse said he'd try and get some after he made the rest of his rounds. After a cheery wave goodbye, the nurse disappeared out the door and left Frank to his own devices. He spent a few minutes trying to shift into a more comfortable angle so he could fire up his laptop, which thankfully was still on the little rolling table. He put on his headset with a lot less pain and stiffness than the other day and he was soon cursing the slow WiFi connection as loudly as Joe ever would. He was champing at the bit waiting for his email to download, when the phone next his bed rang. "Sorry Bro! Just got caught up in stuff. Have a good night?"

"I slept. I won't say I slept well but I did sleep" He responded tiredly. "I am fine, I just dosed myself and the Nurses say breakfast is extra special today. Which probably means they put honey on the oatmeal or something." he groused.

"Poor baby." Joe's voice came laughing over the line. "Word of caution, don't order the grits by mistake. Those are actually worse than the oatmeal. Trust me on this."

"Thanks for the warning. I feel so loved. Now hang up and drive you nut." Frank admonished with a laugh.

"Bluetooth, Mister Paranoia. Besides, Hall's steering" came the rejoinder.

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much better." Frank shook his head in mock dismay.

"Love you too, Big Brother! I'll call you after lunch some time, once we get settled. And good luck today." and before Frank could respond, he hung up. Frank chuckled a little, shaking his head in affection as he pictured the cheesy smirk he was certain his younger brother was sporting.

Right about then was when Frank's day started rolling downhill. Breakfast was indeed the most loathed oatmeal, and of course it was positively dripping with honey, so much so that it had oozed over the side of the bowl and dribbled onto the napkin, causing it to be completely useless. The coffee was burnt, and he suspected it was decaf, which was not going help his headache any, as he knew full well it was caffeine induced. The banana at least wasn't pre sliced and in the oatmeal, but it was brown and mushy, more suitable for Aunt Gertrude's banana nut muffins and not as a finger food. He half heartedly pushed things around with the spoon, taking only a couple of token bites, before deciding he really wasn't that hungry after all. Besides the latest dose he had allowed himself was starting to kick in and he was getting a little sleepy. He shoved everything away and tried napping, but the day shift arrived, and tut tutted over the full tray of food and the mostly full IV bag.

Frank tried to accept the scolding gracefully, but he snapped at the nurse peevishly when she kept on and on about not eating and wasting perfectly good food. She of course, got offended and stalked out of the room in a huff, causing Frank to sigh in remorse. He was still grumpy when his mother stopped by although the mood lightened considerably when he beheld the basket full of cinnamon muffins she brought along. All it took was an offhand comment about the coffee issue and she was on her cell phone telling her husband to swing by Starbuck's on his way in.

The respite was short lived, though. Not five minutes after his father had made his way in to say good morning and provide a proper cup of coffee, the debridement team came in and shooed them out. To add to the annoyance, one of them also took the coffee cup out of his hand and set the muffins out of reach. He really protested when another nurse switched the morphine drip to high and continuous. "I don't need that right now!" he exclaimed.

The nurse just smiled sadly at him as she gently forced his arm back down. "You will, dear. Trust me." Meanwhile, the other one was busy setting up some sort of tray with several instruments that Frank took one look before gulping nervously and resolutely turning his face away. Just as he thought the suspense was too much to bear, the doctor walked in already gowned and masked.

"Are we ready for our first session?!" she chirped merrily. Obviously she had plenty of coffee and a decent breakfast. Frank hated her at that moment.

Ten minutes later, he was ready to kill Dr Meadows in cold blood. Idly, he wondered in that remote part of his brain that had been shunted off to vagueness by the morphine just how bad it really would have been if the nurse had listened to his protestations earlier and not drugged him to high heaven. It took two nurses to hold him down and still as Dr Meadows as delicately as she could removed the dead tissue from his right arm. The entire time, everyone kept up a soft litany of reassurance, comfort and encouragement, but Frank barely heard any of it. He had been in pain before, from various minor and major injuries, but this, this was indescribable. It hurt too much to scream. Frank was sure he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen as he could hardly stand to take a breath. After an eternity, Dr Meadows straightened up and removed the mask and gown.

"Frank?" she spoke a little forcefully, trying to get him to pay attention. "Are you with us?"

He turned glassy eyes in her direction and attempted to focus on her face, but all he managed was an intense interest in her name embroidered above the pocket on her lab coat. "Mmpf." was about the most intelligent thing he managed to get out.

"I'll take that as a 'Maybe'." she smiled. "You did very well, much better than most patients do their first time." The notion did not fill him with any joy whatsoever. "However, I don't want to push you too far, so we'll wait a day or so before picking up where we left off. I am going to give you a heavy sedative so you can get some real rest. Your parents said they'd wait, do you want to see them?"

He managed a weak nod and a raspy affirmative, so one of the nurses went to fetch them as the other one cleaned up while the doctor stuck a syringe into his line. In seconds there was blissful relief and he smiled dreamily as the pain receded into a dull ache. His sigh was impressive and the doctor smiled at the sound in sympathy. She turned and met the elder Hardys as they rushed in, cautioning them in a low voice that Frank had had a pretty rough session and it was best to just let him sleep it off. She did, however, reassure the anxious parents that everything looked good and that he was responding well to treatment. "I suggest that we wait at least 48 hours before doing another session, to give him a chance to recover. He's going to be pretty loopy, I maxed out his morphine drip and gave him a pretty heavy sedative." She cautioned them in a low voice. Laura's eye's tightened, and Fenton frowned, but both of them nodded before coming further into the room.

Laura sat in the lone chair, while Fenton paced back and forth. Frank tried to hold a meaningful conversation, but it was to no avail and after less than half an hour, his parents decided to give it up as a lost cause. "We'll be by for dinner, dear. You get some rest." Laura leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Frank was too far gone and didn't even acknowledge.

The next time Frank was aware of his surroundings , he noted several things. First, he realized that it was dusk and the room was bathed in shadows. Then he became all too aware of the incessant throbbing in his right arm. He groaned softly and grimaced in pain. Vaguely he heard the 'click' of the morphine drip being activated. He turned his head and barely opened his eyes to mere slits. When he didn't fully recognize the figure standing over him, he instantly became hyper aware, sitting up in alarm.

"Woah there Tiger, take it easy." the woman said as she gently shoved him back down on the bed. "I just gave you the minimal dose. You looked like you could use it."

Still slightly out of it, Frank mumbled "Are you a nurse?"

"Yes. Well sort of. And I am hurt your don't recognize me." she pouted prettily. "Here I brought you goodies and everything. I have half a mind to eat them all myself just to spite you!"

Frank took a deep breath, and made himself not only calm down, but focus. "Gloria?!" he finally gasped out in astonishment.

"For that, you get a cookie!" Gloria said brightly as she pooped a snickerdoodle in his mouth pulled from the small bag she carried. "Joe said they were your favorite. I couldn't scam any milk though, the cafeteria is closed for the night and the nurses here keep half and half in their fridge for the coffee." She looked very pleased with herself as she settled back in the chair and regarded him with a sly smile.

Still confused, Frank concentrated on chewing. Snickerdoodles were his favorite cookie and damned if the one he was currently swallowing wasn't the best one he had ever eaten, and that included Aunt Gertrude's. "Umm, not to sound rotten or anything, but what are you doing here?!"

"I start my clinicals next week and there just happened to be a few openings at Bayport General in the Oncology Ward. So I came down for my interview." she declared. "Although I might be tempted into requesting the Burn unit, if somebody played their cards right." Gloria smirked prettily.

Flummoxed, Frank looked at her with that 'deer in the headlights' look until she laughed, taking pity on his obvious unease. "Kidding. Have another cookie."

"Seriously, I don't want to be here in a professional capacity. I see firsthand how they happen, and having to go beyond that into treatment and recovery, I'd probably lose my lunch on an hourly basis. At least with chemo, the only obvious sign is baldness for the most part. But I promise to visit every day if you will let me..." she trailed off, letting the unspoken plea speak for itself.

Strangely, once he had gotten over his initial panic, probably born of too many bad guys trying to do unspeakable things to him while he was out of it, and his typical unease around anything overtly flirty directed at him, he found himself seriously considering the offer. "You keep me supplied in snickerdoodles, and it's a deal." he smiled.

The return smile caused Frank's heart to beat a little wildly, something he had not experienced in a decade. The next several hours, which flew by impossibly fast to his chagrin, were spent getting to know one another. It was actually nice to talk about anything except his injuries, or the job, and just discuss normal things like study habits in college and surviving on a student's income. Frank gave her some advice about temporary housing in Bayport, even offering up the contact information if his landlord, who might be amenable to a short term lease. For her part, Gloria regaled him with tales from the fire station and recounted a few of the more outrageous pranks she and her fellow Nursing students had gotten up to.

Eventually, though, the same nurse who woke Frank up that morning came in and apologetically shooed Gloria out as visiting hours were over. After getting a promise to return the next morning "With real coffee!" she said goodnight. Another session of pillow plumping and a trip to the bathroom, and Frank was settled in for the night, although he did call his parents and his brother, having missed both of their calls earlier as he slept off the effects of the day's debridement session. As he shut off the small bed lamp and began drifting off to sleep, Frank mused that it wasn't such a bad day after all.

A/n: That wasn't so bad, now, was it?