Well, I'm on a roll with writing right now, so I thought I'd post this a little earlier than I had originally planned! Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! They make it so much more fun to write!
I just thought I would give you a little background. This first section of the story takes place in the first season after Siege but before the Debt. No spoilers yet. Also, while I normally put a disclaimer in about my complete ignorance of medical stuff, Heart of the Matter is the one exception. I actually do have extensive knowledge of this subject. Been there, done that! So now without further ado, chapter 3 . . .
Ellison smiled. "Good. I'll go see if I can hurry them up with your discharge papers. You finish getting dressed."
He turned and left the room, and Blair refocused his energy on struggling back into his clothes. At least they hadn't cut them off of him. He'd heard that they did that sometimes. He couldn't afford to lose any of his clothes. He didn't have an overabundant selection to choose from.
He reached down for his shoes and sat back down quickly as the dizziness threatened to return. He had barely sat down when Jim appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing, Sandburg?"
"Getting dressed just like you told me. You got a problem with that, man?" Blair sighed and rested his head against the back of the chair, eyes closed. "This really sucks. I leaned over, and I guess I shouldn't have." Opening his eyes, he looked at Jim. "Did you get the papers?"
"No, not yet." Jim's cheeks reddened slightly.
"Well then why...?" Blair's eyes widened as the realization struck him. "You heard my heart speed up, didn't you? That's why you're in here. Oh, man, this is so wild! You were listening to my heartbeat from the other room and heard it speed up!" He gestured wildly with his hands. "Wow, we need to do some tests on this. I knew you could hear a heartbeat, but not that you could single one out from all of the people in this ER!"
"Whoa, slow down, Chief. Now is not the time to get overly excited about a discovery. It'll keep. In the meantime, how about if you take a deep slow breath for me, okay?"
Blair did as he was told, only then realizing that he had been struggling for breath. After a few deep breaths, he started to feel better. "Thanks, Jim."
"You're welcome. Now give me those shoes. I'm not going to risk another dizzy spell." He knelt down on the floor in front of his partner and picked up Blair's left foot, preparing to put the shoe on it. "And don't you say a word about this or you're history."
Blair laughed. "Yeah, right, Jim. Like who'd believe it?"
"Okay, Chief, we're here."
Blair opened bleary eyes to find that while he had dozed, they had arrived at his partner's apartment building. He struggled to unbuckle the seat belt, then smiled when Jim growled and pushed Blair's hands away, unbuckling the belt for him. He's a big pussycat. Who would have ever believed it?
"Thanks." Blair opened the door and got out on shaky legs. Although he was doing much better than when he had been rushed to the hospital, his pulse was still running much faster than normal.
Jim slammed his door and headed toward the building, looking back over his shoulder. "Coming?"
Blair closed his door and followed slowly. Once they were inside the building, Jim automatically headed for the staircase at the end of the hall. Then he stopped and looked at Blair.
"Sorry, I forgot. I usually take the stairs since it's faster. We'll take the elevator. You don't need to be climbing stairs today."
Blair smiled again and shuffled down the hall behind Jim to the elevator. At the third floor, Jim ushered him into his apartment.
"Why don't you go and lie down on the sofa. I'll make us something to eat. You're hungry, aren't you?"
Blair eased himself down onto the sofa with a sigh of relief. Just walking that far had really tired him out. "Yeah, I could eat." He kicked his shoes off and pulled his legs up onto the sofa, resting his head against a throw pillow.
Suddenly he sat up straight. "Hey, Jim, thanks for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it." Dizzy again, he flopped back down. "Um,...okay, then. I'll just lie here quietly then."
Jim chuckled from the kitchen. "Good idea, Chief. In fact, why don't you go ahead and get some sleep. I know you were lying down all day, but they didn't really let you get any rest. I'll wake you up when dinner's ready."
Blair was already halfway asleep and didn't feel capable of answering. 'Yeah, good idea, Jim. Maybe I'll just ....'
*****
"Sandburg? Come on, Blair. Wake up."
Blair opened his eyes slowly, still caught deeply in the fog of a deep sleep. After making sure his eyes would focus, he turned them in the direction from which the voice had issued. Jim was sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
"Hey." His greeting emerged as a froggy whisper, his vocal chords having not awoken properly either. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hey, Jim."
"Morning. How are you feeling?" Jim leaned forward, checking Blair's pulse.
Blair sighed. After waking up long enough to eat and take care of business in the bathroom, he had gone back to sleep the night before. He had been vaguely aware of fingers touching his wrist every now and then throughout the night. He had never woken completely, just enough to realize that Jim was checking his pulse.
"Okay, I guess. What time is it?" He ran a hand through his mop of curls, pushing himself to a sitting position.
"It's 8:30. I need to leave, but I wanted to make sure you're all right before I go." Jim glanced at his watch, then looked back at Blair.
"8:30! I'm going to be late! Why didn't you wake me up sooner, man?" Blair sat all the way up, swinging his feet down to the floor. "I've got office hours, and I have to finish grading those papers, and I have a class to teach, and I have a...."
"Blair." Jim's use of his first name startled Blair into silence. "I have already called the University and explained that you will be out for a few days. They've already taken care of everything. You are going to rest for a few days, until you can get in to see your regular doctor. Which reminds me; you need to call today and make an appointment. You need to get in as soon as possible. Your heart is nothing to mess around with."
"Sure, Jim." Blair tried to keep his breathing even, but apparently his tactic failed, as Jim's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"You're lying to me, aren't you? You have no intention of going to your doctor. Why not?"
Blair sighed. "I can't afford it. I don't have any insurance, so I don't usually go to the doctor. I wouldn't even know who to go to if I did have the money. I usually just take herbs or something if I get sick."
"Well, you're not taking herbs for this one." Jim stood abruptly and headed for the kitchen counter. He picked up the telephone handset and quickly dialed a number. "Hello, this is Jim Ellison. I'm a patient of Doctor Knight. I have a friend who is sick and doesn't have a regular doctor...."
Blair watched irritably as Jim continued his conversation. Even if Jim got him an appointment, he had no intention of keeping it. He really couldn't afford to go to a doctor. And the first visit always cost more. He would just skip the appointment and then tell Jim he had forgotten or something--or hope that he started suddenly feeling better.
"Okay, that's great. So he needs to be there at 9:15? Okay, thank you very much." Jim disconnected the call, then glanced at Blair critically. Dialing again, he waited for his call to go through.
Blair sat on the sofa and simmered about his partner's high-handed treatment. How could Jim call in and tell the University that he wouldn't be there for two days. And without consulting Blair. Well, he wasn't going to get away with it.
"Simon, it's me. Listen, I'm not going to be in this morning. I got Blair an appointment with my doctor, and I have a feeling that he won't get there unless I go with him. I should be in around noon if that's okay." Jim
listened for a moment, then smiled. "Okay, sir. I'll do that. Thank you."
"You... you can't take off work to take me to the doctor!" Blair's anger was so great, he could barely speak. "I'm a big boy. I can get there just fine on my own."
"But you wouldn't." Jim looked at Blair steadily. "I could see it in your eyes. You had no intention of keeping that appointment. I intend to see that you do."
"Jim, I can't afford it. Weren't you listening? How am I supposed to pay for it?"
"I'm going to pay for it." Jim resumed his spot on the coffee table. "And before you complain that you can't accept charity, let me just tell you that I'm doing it for purely selfish reasons."
Blair stilled, looking at Jim in confusion. "You are?"
"Yes. I need you to help me with my senses, right?" At Blair's slow nod, Jim continued. "Well, if you're sick or laid up, how can you help me? I *need* you to go to the doctor so that you can get this problem taken care of and be back on the job with me. See? Purely selfish."
Blair smiled. Jim had him. How could he refuse to go or complain about Jim paying the bill with that kind of logic?
*****
"What? You have got to be kidding. He has to wait how long to get in to see the cardiologist?"
Blair watched in awe as Jim roared at his doctor. Wow, this guy must be a saint if he puts up with stuff like this!Doctor Knight sighed and shook his head. "Jim, it almost always takes at least four weeks to get in to see any specialist. If this were a life or death situation, we'd hospitalize Blair and have a cardiologist see him
there. I don't feel that this is life or death. If he feels worse, we can rethink this, but otherwise there is a four week waiting list to get in to see Doctor Aaron."
"What if he saw a different doctor?"
"Jim, Doctor Aaron is the junior partner. If we tried to get him in to see one of the senior partners, we're talking six to eight weeks."
Blair shook his head slowly. He needed to retake control of this. Jim was doing all of his decision making for him. "So what do I do in the meantime?"
Doctor Knight looked over at his patient, taking an obvious deep breath before fixing a smile on his face. "There's not much we can do for you in the meantime. Try to take it easy. No exercise until we know what's going on in there." He tapped Blair on the chest for emphasis. "We could put you on some medication to slow your heart down, but again I hesitate to do that until we know what the problem is."
"No, thanks." Blair spoke firmly. "I don't like taking medication if I can help it. I'll just wait to see what Doctor Aaron has to say."
*****
Blair rolled on the sofa, hugging his sides. "Oh, that is too funny!" He wiped tears from his eyes and tried to calm himself down before he alarmed Jim.
"Sandburg?"
Uh-oh. Too late! "Sorry, Jim. I was just trying to find something to watch on TV, and I saw this exercise program--you know, the ones with the instructor and a bunch of hot women demonstrating?"
"Sandburg, didn't you listen to the doctor? He said no exercise!" Jim started down the stairs, then stopped in confusion when Blair laughed even harder.
"Yeah, man, I listened. I was just watching. They did this long drawn-out workout, then the instructor says to stop and check your heart rate to see if you are in the target zone."
"Yeah?" Jim resumed his trek down the stairs, more calmly this time.
"And I was!" Blair bent over, laughing so hard he almost couldn't breathe. "I was just sitting here on the sofa minding my own business, and I was in the target zone that you're supposed to be in after a full
workout!"
Jim looked at Blair as though he had lost his mind, waved a hand in dismissal and headed back up the stairs.
*****
Blair stayed at Jim's loft for three days, then he insisted that he be allowed to return to his own apartment. He needed to get on with his life, and he certainly was not going to encroach on Jim's hospitality for an
entire month. Now was as good a time as any to get back to normal. He would just continue to take things easy until it was time for his appointment.
Jim was reluctant, but he gave in and returned Blair to the police station so he could retrieve his car. Someone had moved it out of the visitor's lot and into the employee parking lot. Blair was relieved that it was still there and in one piece. If he had left it some places it would have been towed or vandalized. At least he had been at the station when his attack had happened.
"Thanks, Jim. I can take it from here." Blair grinned at his partner. "I really appreciate you letting me stay with you."
"Are you sure you're ready to be on your own?" Jim still looked skeptical.
"Yes, Jim. Geez, you'd think you were my father or something."
Jim winced, then grinned sheepishly. "Well, I was thinking more along the lines of an older brother. All right, I get your message. I'll back off. But if you start feeling bad, you call me or someone else. Got it?"
"Got it. Jim--stop worrying! Go home and enjoy your privacy. I know you've missed having the place to yourself. Now go home." Blair softened his words with a grin, then turned with a wave and got into the Corvair.
Ah, at last. I can be by myself. Blair turned up the music in his car and headed for home.
To be continued . . .
Thanks so much for reading! Chapter 4 will be coming relatively soon to a screen near you. Please review and let me know what you think!
