The Pregnancy Ship
Chapter 13: Blind Panic
At 7:00pm Lieutenant Andy Flynn walked back into the murder room. His eyes scanned the room and Sharon's office, "Where is Sharon?" he asked.
At the same time Lieutenant Provenza asked, "Where the hell have you been and why haven't you been answering your phone?"
"Where is Sharon?" Andy asked again.
"She's on the way to St Catherine's to get stitches, Sir. She fainted and hit her head on the credenza and the desk, Amy called 911," said Julio.
"And that is a fact you would have been aware of had you bothered to answer your damn phone!" Huffed Louie.
"I'm sorry! Louie can you drive me over there and I'll explain!"
"We'll all go, we were wrapping things up anyway. So where were you?"
"Well, I went to AA and sat through three meetings, I texted Sharon and told her. Then as I was heading over here I still needed to clear my head so I stopped by the beach and started walking the shoreline and remembered I should let her know I'd be a bit later than I said. But I forgot the tide was coming in and I turned my back on the ocean to make the call and a giant wave crashed over me and I dropped my phone in the water. So I had to go home to change, and I picked up a burner phone at 7-11 on the way back to the precinct, but haven't had a chance to do anything with it. Now, what happened to Sharon? Are the babies okay?"
"She was kinda freaked out you still weren't back by five, Sir. The Captain was pacing, and trying to call you. Amy went into her office to try to get her to lay down and rest. She turned toward Amy too fast and just dropped like a stone and cracked the back of her head on the credenza and then I guess she hit the side of her head on one of the angels that fell off the credenza. It broke and it cut a spot right above her temple. Tao got the bleeding stopped and then turned her over to the paramedics. The paramedics put a fetal monitor on her as soon as they arrived, and we could hear both babies' heartbeats going strong. They said she'd need stitches, and her right wrist is sprained or broken. Amy went with her, Sir."
"Was she conscious when she left in the ambulance?" Andy asked frantic.
"I don't know, Sir," Julio replied.
Tao tried to help by saying. "The Captain was starting to come around as they were putting her in the ambulance. She was very disoriented though and was calling for you. Amy was trying to keep her calm."
Andy felt terrible. Why hadn't he just gone back to the precinct after the meetings? This could all have been prevented. They arrived at St. Catherine's, emergency room. Andy had the door to the car open almost before it stopped. "Flynn, you dumbass! Are you trying to join her in the emergency room as a patient? At least wait till I put my foot on the break!" Provenza yelled.
Andy, waited for the car to stop then got out of the car hurrying through the doors and strode up to the desk. "I'm looking for Captain Sharon Raydor. I'm Lieutenant Andy Flynn. I am her Durable Power of Attorney for Health Issues."
"Andy Flynn? She's been asking for you. Come with me please. She's very distraught and disoriented, and combative. The young lady with her is having a hard time calming her down. We haven't been able to get an IV in her and she needs fluids because of dehydration."
"My colleague, said she might have hurt her wrist?"
The nurse went on to explain, "the doctor said she bruised it, but didn't break it. She put a wrist brace on it, just for pressure to relieve the pain. Right now the biggest problem is not being able to stitch her head or put an IV in or catheterize her cause she won't let us near her."
"Where is Dr. Janet Lockhart and why would you need to catheterize her for a head wound?"
"She's in surgery with another patient of hers, so Dr. Lockhart's colleague Dr. Seymour is attending her temporarily, until Dr. Lockhart is free. She feels that beside the head wound, there could be another cause for her disorientation, and her combativeness. An UTI in adults can cause those behaviors. She wants to rule them out." Adding the worse part last to prepare him. "Captain Raydor is also experiencing a temporary blindness which is a result of the blow to the head from when she fell. That's adding to the stress and fear she seems to be experiencing. We don't want to force her to let us treat her or give her any medication, because of the pregnancy. So we are really glad you are here!"
"Okay, you say this blindness is temporary? Are you sure?"
"Yes, Sir here is Doctor Seymour." The nurse turned to the introduce them, "Dr Seymour this is Captain Raydor's fiancé, Lieutenant Flynn."
Andy saw a willowy redhead with one green eye and one brown eye. "Hello Lieutenant, your absence has had your fiancé in quite a tizzy. Is she usually this hysterical?" she asked in a slightly English accent.
"No, actually she isn't. She's always been very calm and rational. She's pregnant with twins now though, obviously and she is more emotional lately." Andy shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. "Listen, I had an accident about ten months ago, I was hurt in the line of duty. My partner lied to her about the extent of my injuries, to keep her focused on her job. She's the Captain of the Major Crimes squad and I'm a subordinate officer under her command, we'd caught a murder and...well things are delicate under those circumstances. She probably didn't believe him, that I was okay and thought something happened to me."
The doctor nodded. "Yes, well she was quite confused and combative when she came in a half hour ago and due to the fact of her age, her pregnancy and the head injury notwithstanding, we thought that we'd do a full work up. Which will include a CT scan on her head, blood tests and urine cultures, to rule out other issues. She will not let us touch her, however. We don't want to risk her blood pressure to go sky high. So, I'm really glad you are here. Let's get you in there with her, I'll give you a moment to get her focused on you and your voice and then we'll get her head stitched up, first off. Blood will be taken and a catheter will be placed at the same time. The CT scan will be done as soon as possible. There was a car wreck on the 110, lots of head injuries more critical than hers. We'll be admitting her, in an hour two. Is there anything else we should know?"
"Well, apparently the veins in her arms are difficult to find and get blood from, so make sure whoever is doing the blood taking is experienced and very good at getting blood under those circumstances without pain."
"Very good. By the way her regular doctor will be in to see her after she's finished with surgery."
"Yes the young lady who introduced me to you, said as much. You said a CT scan. Sharon's pregnant, should she be getting a CT scan?"
"It poses little or no threat to the babies. It's of her head. We try to avoid X-rays on a pregnant woman, whenever possible, but with a head injury, and the fact she can't see, we have to weigh the risks and the benefits. Okay, go and see you fiancé and help distract after she's calmer."
Andy walked in Sharon's emergency cubicle to see Amy trying to console her, holding her, and stroking her hair. The left side of Sharon's face was still oozing blood from a gash. Amy was trying to convince her to let the nurse clean her up for stitches, but she was crying and saying, "Noo, I want Andy!" The sound of pain mixed with panic in her voice.
"I'm here Sweetheart!" Amy looked over at him with a profound look of relief. She eased away from Sharon and let Andy take her place.
"Andy? You're here." Sharon reached unseeingly for him.
"Yes, I'm right here, Sweetheart." He took her hands in his and guided them to his face.
She stroked her fingers over his face, and breathed in his aftershave. Once she knew it was indeed him, Sharon was able to breathe again. Her voice trembled with relief. "I'm s...so glad you're here, Andy! I was so worried when I didn't see you when the team came back from the crime scene, and then Amy told me you were at a meeting."
She stopped and tried to swallow back her tears. "I know that it should have helped me to not worry, but it didn't. All I could do was remember how Lieutenant Provenza lied to me before about how badly hu...hurt you were. I know it was not the Lieutenant, but Amy that was telling me, I've been in interviews with her. She can lie, straight faced with the best of them! Then you texted me, and that should have made me calmer but it didn't. I thought maybe it was Provenza pretending to be you with your phone and then you didn't come and you didn't come. I was soo worried! When Amy came into the office and asked me a question, I turned too suddenly and I fainted. I fell between the desk and the credenza and now I can't see! Not even with my glasses!" Tears ran down her face and her breath hitched. She tried to rein in her emotions and not sound so needy, but it was like trying to rein in an unbridled horse.
Andy carefully took her in his arms, "I know, Sweetheart. The doctor says it's only temporary, until the swelling in the part of your brain that got hurt goes down. By the way, what's this I hear about you fighting everybody? That doesn't sound like the Sharon Raydor I know. The doctor has to stitch you up and some other things need to be done."
"I know," she said and rested the uninjured side of her head on his chest. "But, I didn't want them to do anything to me without you here," she said in a small voice. "I know that sounds childish, but no one can distract me as well as you can. I...um I needed you, so badly. I was so afraid when I woke up and couldn't see."
Feeling guilty, Andy kissed the top of Sharon's head. "I'm sorry…I wasn't here for you when you needed me, Sweetheart. Listen I'm going to lay here beside you and I'll tell you all about why I was late and you can tell me about your day. Okay?"
She started to nod and then winced, "okay," she said instead.
Andy made the head of the bed lower and once they were settled, he started to talk to her about how seeing those boys at the crime scene, so much like his grandsons, had made him want a drink so badly he had stayed for two more meetings just to make sure he didn't give in to the desire once he left the meeting. As he talked the doctor started cleaning Sharon's wound and getting ready to stitch it. Andy made sure he had her complete attention as he went into depth about the hate crime that had been done to the boys. A young man who had been forced by his mother to adopt the persona of the daughter she had wished for to fulfill her dreams of being a ballerina, had murdered two boys viciously, slicing them to pieces and leaving them in front of their dance studio. Apparently he had been the brunt of vicious bullying from the hands of his peers and as a result of the transgender life he had been forced to lead by his mother. The terrible bullying by his peers he had been filled with hate for himself for being too weak to fight her and the hate for other boys that he perceived to be like him in pursuing "girly activities." In killing those boys, he had unleashed violence he was afraid to visit on his mother and the bullies, the true villains in his life.
Sharon was saddened by his story, and how badly it must have affected Andy to need three meetings to get past it without turning to drink to dull the pain. She was proud of how far he had come in his recovery that he would go to such great lengths to avoid falling off the wagon. "I'm sorry Andy, I should have been there for you when you needed me. Not the other way around."
He kissed her on the nose, "It's okay, and you were there for me last fall, while I had my ordeal. I'm fine. You're the one in the hospital now, Sweetheart." He reminded her.
Thinking about his explanation of the murder, she allowed her captain persona and detective's mind to kick in, mostly to keep her mind off the stitching to her forehead. She asked rapid-fire questions, whether the suspect confessed? Whether or not he had been offered a deal? He had, a life sentence in a hospital prison for the criminally insane. She understood why Andy had been affected so badly, they all had more trouble dealing with violent crime when it was visited on children. This was very close to home for Andy, since his grandson's were into ballet and it could have just as easily been them if the killer had been waiting outside their ballet studio.
Trying to lighten the mood a bit Andy told her how, when he passed the beach on the way back to the precinct the car had turned into the parking lot, seemingly of its own volition. She understood because she often walked the beach when troubled. She found the sound of the waves crashing against the shore to be a soothing sound. As they talked in quiet tones, the other nurses then moved in, wanting to get everything done at one time for Sharon's sake.
So Andy told her how, halfway down the beach he had realized he needed to call her, to let her know he would be later than he thought. He turned his back on the incoming tide, and had gotten knocked over by the wave and lost his phone. During that part of the story, Sharon had started to giggle a little. After he told her his story, he asked her for hers.
She told him how Brenda had shown up out of the blue, looking for what Sharon could only surmise as being approval from her about giving the baby to Fritz. "Did you give it?" Andy asked.
"Yes, even though I didn't really feel it was my place to give it. I just think she is so lost still with her mother gone, and now her father is gone too. I can only imagine what that must feel like." She swallowed more tears, would there never be an end to them? She wondered.
"I really liked the Johnson's, they were so sweet and so eager to think their daughter had a friend, even if I was more of a colleague, then a friend." She suddenly started to giggle. "Remember how Brenda introduced me to them? Momma and Daddy, this is mah Captain Raydor, Ah mean my friend Captain Sharon, Ah mean mah friend Sharon Raydor."
"Yeah, you looked stunned that she called you her friend." Andy chuckled, "and by the way, you nailed her! That was a perfect imitation of Brenda Leigh Johnson."
"Thank yew," Sharon smirked. "Do you blame me, about being shocked I mean? It was certainly news to me! In any case, when I got stuck here in LA because of the snow in Utah, Willie Rae and Clay were so sweet including me in their Christmas celebration. Willie Rae even let me help her with the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes."
"What about me? I welcomed you," he said with mock offense.
"Well, you sat next to me and flirted with me a little, but you still thought of me as the Wicked Witch."
"Yeah well, maybe, but you were the hottest Wicked Witch I'd ever seen." Sharon smiled and blushed a little.
"Keep still, Captain just a few more stitches," said the doctor.
Suddenly the levity over, Sharon's emotional roller coaster started a downward bend. "Poor Brenda, she doesn't seem to be able to move past the loss."
"It takes a long time and some people never do," Andy said gently.
Sharon almost nodded but Andy held her head in place, and whispered, "don't move Sweetheart, she's almost finished." She hum-groaned and tried to remember where she was in her story.
Andy saw her dilemma and prompted her. "Brenda, moving past the loss of her parents, the baby..."
"Oh yes, a...actually with the loss of her parents I was surprised she was willing to give the baby to Fritz, but she um... really doesn't want to be the one to raise that baby. She says she's determined that Fritz raise her. I told Brenda that even though I personally couldn't understand her not wanting a child she grew in her body, that I fell in love with my baby or babies in this case the minute I found I was pregnant. It's good that she knows that she isn't parent material now because some people keep their baby and then do unspeakable things to them. Not the least of which is ignoring them or like Sharon Beck, they try to use them to be their caretaker or they let their boyfriends pummel them or both."
"Somehow I can't imagine Brenda Leigh Johnson raising a child. She's too high strung and job oriented." Andy mused.
"The thing I worry about is that she'll regret it in the long run, or that she'll change her mind at the last minute " Sharon said her eyes blinking to fight off sleep.
"I doubt if that will happen. Once she makes up her mind, she sticks to it." Andy said, remembering Brenda's tenacity and single mindedness.
"Mmmmhmmm," Sharon was losing her battle against Morpheus. Her eyes started to close, and she nuzzled into Andy's chest, breathing in the shaving lotion he had used and was holding on to his shirt with her good hand.
By that time the doctor had Sharon's face cleaned up and stitched, the IV had been put in, the catheter had been seated, and after all that was done, she was being admitted. Andy held Sharon close, and waited for the staff to take her to her room. As he waited his eyes started closing too.
In the background he could hear the doctor say to just leave the two of them in the bed, seeing as how her vitals were stable, finally. They didn't want her to become upset again and have her blood pressure go too high. So they left them sleeping, as they wheeled them to her room. Once there they transferred her to her bed, the nurse woke up Andy so he could join her, before she woke up. The big bed meant for larger people, but it was perfect for them.
A couple of hours later, Andy woke up to the sound of the team coming in along with Rusty who had an overnight bag for Sharon and Andy and Sykes had a bag of takeout from Olive Garden. "Hey guys, sorry I left you out there, but..."
"It's okay, we all went home and had dinner. We figured we wouldn't be able to see her right away anyway. How is she?" asked Tao.
"Well, they are keeping her. She can't see. All she sees are lights and shadows. They are pretty sure it's swelling around the optic nerve that needs to go down before she can see again. They won't know for sure until they get a CT scan, but there is a long line for it, because of an accident on the 110. Also, her wrist is bruised, not broken."
"Does she have a UTI? " asked Tao. Seeing the tube from the catheter.
"Well, they said a UTI was a possible explanation for the confusion and combativeness she displayed, but we haven't heard yet whether she has one. She's been rational as long as I've been with her. They said she acted disoriented and hysterical, before I got here, but I think I would too if I woke up and all I could see were lights and shadows," answered Andy.
"Well, they're probably just covering all the bases and they probably don't want her up and moving around for a while."
"How are the babies?" Asked Provenza.
"So far so good. She is still hooked to the fetal monitor, so you can hear all three of their heartbeats, the babies and Sharon's.
Amy handed Andy the bag of food. "Here Lieutenant, you better see if you can get her to eat the soup before it gets cold. She hasn't really had anything to eat since oatmeal at 9 this morning. I'm going to head home. Goodnight, everyone."
"Night Amy, " They all said quietly.
"Hey Sykes, can I walk you to your car? " asked Julio.
"Um... sure. Thanks Julio, it is a little dark out there," she said smiling at him. Amy knew that Julio knew she could take care of herself, if need be, but he had been raised a gentleman by his mother, and chivalry was ingrained in him. At least if anything happened there would be two of them to get the bad guy.
"I'll be back," Julio said to the rest of the team.
Andy started to gently wake Sharon up. "Hey Sweetheart, we have company. Provenza and Tao and Buzz are here. Amy left but Julio will be back and Rusty brought you a bag from home.
"Rusty? Rusty is here? Where?"
"Here I am, Mom." He sat on the edge of the bed and hugged her as she hugged him.
After breathing in his teenage scent and running her hands over his face, she laid back and wiped her tears away with a tissue Andy handed her. "I'm sure making up for lost time in the freak out department aren't I?" she asked.
"It's okay, under the circumstances you're allowed. Mom, listen Amy asked me to pack an overnight bag for you and Andy. I brought your favorite pillow, blanket, and your purple polka dot fleece nightgown, matching robe and slippers. To go home in, I got your gray maternity yoga pants, a cranberry pullover and gray sweater. I also brought your pregnancy vitamins, a couple bags of your favorite teas, and your favorite mug.
Andy got his own bag, which had a pair of gray sweats to sleep in a clean pair of boxers, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a gray sweater of his own. Also there was his favorite pillow and a blue fleece blanket with the Dodger logo on it, his blood pressure pills, and some slippers.
"Rusty here, Amy says she should eat this. Could you find a microwave to heat this up in?" Andy asked as he moved his head in the direction of the door.
"Sure Andy." Rusty said and left to find a microwave.
The team realized Andy was going to help Sharon get into her gown from home and they vacated the room, after telling her bye and saying they'd be back tomorrow.
Before her team left Sharon asked, "Have you finished up the paperwork for the case you just wrapped up?"
"Yes Captain, Assistant Chief Taylor has it in his hot little hands as we speak," said Provenza.
"Thank you, all of you for all you do and have done for me today."
"No problem Captain, we've got your back, always." Tao saluted her, and they all left.
Andy pulled the curtains in front of the windows next to the door. He then helped Sharon out of the hospital gown and into the warm fleece gown. He put some warm fuzzy socks on her feet, and then tied a towel around her neck so he could feed her the soup Rusty was bringing back in. Between her hand being hurt and her sight being compromised, he knew he would have to help her eat, and didn't want to get it all over her. Andy fed Sharon the soup, but speared the vegetables in the salad and handed her the fork. She gave him a sweet smile in return. When she was done she pulled the towel from around her neck, laid her head back and closed her eyes. She was exhausted.
"I'll let you guys sleep, I'm going home and finish my homework. Bye Mom, love you. Bye Andy." He bent down and gave his mom a peck on the cheek.
"Bye Rusty, love you too. Thanks for bringing my stuff..." Sharon said and fell asleep in the middle of her sentence.
Andy and Rusty looked at her, and then at each other amused. "Bye Kid thanks."
"Oh! No problem. When will she be able to come home?" Rusty asked.
"Hopefully tomorrow. She's supposed to get a CT scan, and then an ophthalmologist will see if giving her stronger lenses will help, then..." He spread his hands out in front of him, and shrugged, "it's up to the doctor."
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