Chapter Forty-Four
When Sarah had fallen asleep he didn't know but he had woken to find her so under his right arm.
He was aching and the arm was tingling and all kinds of numb but he didn't dare move in fear of waking her.
She had apparently decided to stay with him which though he wouldn't ask it was nice seeing as he'd otherwise be on his own.
Usually that wasn't something that would bother him but he couldn't bring himself to relax with all the foreign foot falls drumming.
Like the ones that were approaching his door.
Immediately he was focused on the door that was soon opening and even though the face that came through it was familiar none of his tension eased. "Mr. Elliott."
"Doc" It was unintentional but the word seemed to stir Sarah.
She was quick in removing herself from the bed and excusing herself to the bathroom.
"Did the RN come and explain your seizure and its after effects?" Torlyn figured that to be the best place to start since it was the main reason Spencer was currently there.
"She didn't say what caused it." The last thing he remembered clearly was asking Parker about the kitten.
Plenty of people had told him he seized but it had only sunk in a few hours ago and barely had he started believing it.
"Well you've got three types of seizures."
"Epileptic" Eliot answered with the first that came to mind.
He was sure he'd all but explode if his doctor started talking epilepsy.
"Then non epileptic and finally in your case provoked." That he was sure which he thanked God for.
"Provoked by?" Provoked.
It made it sound like he had been looking for trouble.
"I believe it to have been a mix of anxiety and your meds which we'll soon be changing."
"And once you do that what are my chances of having another?" He wasn't sure what he wanted the answer to be but he knew he needed one.
This whole ordeal had been testing a very different kind of strength and he was now seeing things from a different light.
"There is the chance but it's only the slightest.
Honestly I," He paused in his words as they glanced toward the opening bathroom door.
Quickly Sarah pressed herself against the wall and out of the way and Torlyn continued. "I'd be outright shocked if you had another."
"So it isn't likely?" A percentage would be great.
"Not from what I've seen." Eliot had another light unexpectedly shined in his eyes as Dr. Torlyn presumably searched for what could have been overlooked.
"What now?" Sarah threw her two cents in trying to make sense of the half conversation she had walked into.
"How does going home sound?" That line always seemed to perk a patient right up and he was hoping this time would be no different.
"Good" The house wasn't his most cherished of places right now but it was heaven compared to being in a stale hospital room.
"Only good?" Torlyn wondered as he checked Spencer's blood pressure.
He really hadn't expected much more from the man. "How 'bout if I told ya you could go home… with a diagnosis?"
"You're jokin'?" Disbelief was clear.
After so much bad news receiving good seemed unrealistic.
"You ever heard of Lyme, Connecticut?"
For some reason it sounded familiar but he could honestly say, "No I haven't."
"That's where the first cases of Lyme were identified back in 1975."
"That's with the ticks right?" Sarah was near positive she had once read or studied this very subject.
"Not always but the majority of the time.
Lyme disease is most commonly seen in the east but then you got your deer ticks so it really isn't all that uncommon."
"I have Lyme disease?" Eliot cut into his doctor's seemingly useless blubbering.
It all seemed to quick, too easy, and he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Finally it' all adding up." He didn't have proof to back the theory but that was because that's what Lyme did. It hid.
"So what's next? Treatment or.." Eliot was sure there were questions he should be asking but his brain was in a fog.
Things were sinking in too slowly and he was wishing Nate was here to hound Torlyn about all the things he probably should be.
"Well start some Intravenous antibiotics which will get you on your way out of here but with the next visit we'll have to discuss delivery methods."
"What do you mean delivery? If you're giving him antibiotics why can't you just give him a prescription?" Sarah asked a question she believed Eliot should have.
"The Lyme's too far advanced for oral ingestion, we'll most likely insert a line to get it directly in the bloodstream, possibly a catheter." He spoke directly toward Eliot so he'd know what to prepare himself for.
"And how long is that for?" He was sure he should be happy.
They had finally found the road that would take him to the end of this ordeal, but frustration seemed to be coming easier.
"The course of your treatment, which will hopefully be a little under a month." He thought that this news was great but maybe the sentiment wasn't shared.
"Hopefully?" Sarah was skeptical.
Hopefully was not a solid structure to build anything on.
"Can we just… can we sort this later?" His mind wasn't in the right space to be grasping something of such importance and his stomach was starting to flip.
"Of course. We'll cover everything else at your next appointment and that way you'll have time to think of any questions you might have without feeling overwhelmed to ask everything at once."
"Thanks." The sooner he figured these things the better but right now he was only worried about getting everyone out of his face so he could be in peace.
"Alright. Well I'll get a nurse with that IV and start up the papers to get you out of here." Usually Spencer's demeanor was relaxed, calm even but he supposed everyone was entitled to their bad days.
"Pass me the phone?" Eliot asked as Dr. Torlyn left the room and Sarah moved closer.
"Who you callin'?" She sat on the bed as she placed the phone in his lap.
"Nate" Now all he had to do was remember the number.
"Is he still working?"
Eliot simply shrugged as he waited to be answered.
"Hello?"
"Nate I.."
"Eliot I can't talk right now."
"But I'm gonna nee-"
"I've gotta go but I'll be there first thing in the morning alright?
Call me if you need anything."
"That's why" but he didn't get to finish as a dial tone went off in his ear.
"Didn't get to say much huh?" Sarah questioned as he placed the phone back on the hook.
She didn't mention that he hadn't even managed a full sentence.
"He was busy." Busy avoiding him.
"Well when is he gonna be unbusy because you'll be out of here within two hours."
"I'd say an hour and a half tops." Came a familiar voice from the door.
"Elaine" She brought a slight smile to Eliot's face.
"Now sugar didn't I tell you I didn't want to see that handsome face around here anytime soon?" She got straight to business in preparing his arm for the tubing.
"Well I tried staying away but I just missed you something awful." Even with a needle being pressed through his skin his smile was playful and she'd say he was quickly becoming one of her favorites.
"That's what they all say."
"Oh I'm sure they do."
She laughed as she quickly taped the fresh IV in place, it didn't make sense to her why one hadn't already been run. "You are something else."
"Only if you want me to be." He did his best to wink even though Sarah was looking at him like he'd just boarded a train to La La land.
"He's just something else!" Her smile matched his.
"All sweet talk and flattery." Sarah answered Elaine with a slight laugh.
"Well I'll be back in a bit to get you goin' sweetie."
"I'll be waitin' Darlin'."
As soon as Elaine left the room Sarah let out the girly giggle she had been trying to suppress.
"What?"
"She's got at least 30 years on you!" If she didn't already know that he was a serious flirt she'd be worried.
"You know what they say about experience." She cringed and he laughed.
"Eliot you're crazy."
"Hey she's better than some of the women I've dated." Kind of sad but true.
"And you actually admit it! Wow." If this was the way he ragged on his Ex's she was glad she hadn't met many.
"Shut it." With a deep breath he moved off his back which was starting to ache.
"You gonna call Nate again?" The phone was still on the bed and last time he hadn't said much so the question was valid.
"No" He felt like he was ready to pass out but wanted to be up and ready when the time came to leave.
"Then how are you getting home?" She stole one of his pillows to prop under an elbow.
"Is that your way of sayin' you aren't gonna give me a ride?" It had slipped his mind that he had no actual transportation.
"Is that your way of saying you're asking for one?" She wouldn't leave him stranded, that's why she asked.
"I could always call a taxi." He knew she'd help him out.
"Shut up!"
"Hey!" He hadn't been expecting it but she actually whacked him.
"Oh suck it up you big baby."
"RUDE!" He tried to sound outraged but it would barely pass annoyed and she started to laugh.
They both knew he wouldn't be taking a taxi.
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"Excuse me." Hardison spoke impatiently to the woman sitting behind the nurses station.
"Yes?"
"I was just in Spencer Elliott's room and he wasn't there.
Can you tell me where he is?" It was clear that room was being prepared for someone new and he wanted to know where Eliot had gotten off to.
"Of course." Quickly she began a patient search. "He's been.. discharged."
"What do you mean discharged?" He knew exactly what that meant but she better hope she meant something different.
"I mean he's not here, he left." She didn't see where the confusion had come from.
"With who!"
"That I don't know."
"Well can you tell me when?" She shook her head apologetically.
"Alright, well thanks anyway." With that he moved down the hall to make a call.
"Hey Nate! Have you been to the hospital?" He knew he had said he wasn't going but maybe Eliot had called to be picked up.
"I'm not discussing this again."
"Naw.. that's not what I'm asking man.
I just want to know if Eliot's with you."
"Well I don't know if you remember this or not but he's at the hospital Hardison."
"No he's not." He ignored Nate's sarcasm as uneasiness settled.
"What do you mean no he's not?"
"I mean I'm at the hospital and he isn't.
He's gone Nate."
"I'll be there in five minutes."
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"Eliot" He had fallen asleep mere moments after getting in her car and hadn't budged since.
"Eliot wake up. We're going to go in." It took a good bit of nudging but finally he was opening a bleery eye.
"I'm tired." It was an understatement but it was what he offered as he turned away from where she was standing in his open door.
"I know, and as soon as we get to the guest room you can go back to sleep.
I promise." Her words got him to actually pay attention to where he was. Sarah's house.
"Sarah you were supposed to take me home."
"I did!"
"Are you really going to start up with the real home and family crap again?" He had thought the whole purpose of her showing that day was because she wanted to move past all of that.
"Eliot we were at your place. I knocked but there was no answer and I checked but you don't have any keys on you." She ignored his accusation figuring she may have deserved it.
"You should have waited." Surely one of the three he lived with would have appeared.
"I did! For nearly half an hour we sat but no one showed." The driveway showed that they were the only ones at her place too.
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"Because I knew you'd want to stay and I wasn't going to leave you on the porch.
If I could've we would've stayed longer but I've still got to go get the kids Eliot." He hadn't even unbuckled his seatbelt.
"Where are they?" He would have made her leave long ago had he known she'd left the kids somewhere.
"With Michelle, and Pete will have my head if he finds out I left them there all day so we kind of need to hurry."
"Alright" Carefully he swung his legs out of the car after unbuckling the seat restraint and soon was standing.
It wasn't the best move but he denied Sarah's help as he picked up a stride toward the house that felt worse than breaking a leg.
"Aaron stayed in there last so it should be decent but I'll bring you blankets and what not later." She offered as she unlocked the front door and they went through it.
He had already been complaining of being cold and since they were in July she knew the bed would be blanketless.
"That's fine." Thankfully the room they were after was on the first floor, away from the kids and more importantly away from the stairs.
"Well I've gotta go but if you need anything I'll be back in twenty minutes tops.
Don't go pulling any stunts while I'm gone." She opened the door, turned on the light, and moved to leave.
"Sarah"
"I know. You don't want the kids to see you but they never come in here so as long as you keep the door closed you should be good." She rushed to say as he sat on the bed.
"I was going to say thank you." All she offered was a slight smile as she pulled the door behind her.
He heard the front door close and suddenly silence swallowed him.
He couldn't remember the last time he had been completely alone without friend or physician.
It was strange.
Immediately he thought about the fit Nate would be pitching but then again Nate had blown him off so really it didn't matter. Still he made a note to call him first thing tomorrow so he'd know to come this way instead of going to the hospital.
The light held a weird glow but he didn't feel like bothering with getting up to shut it off.
Instead he layed down, burying his face in the pillow.
With any luck tomorrow would be the start of new beginnings, they sure needed 'em.
E/N: I was so excited to see all the newbies!
I'm glad you guys are liking it.. and trust me there's definitely more to come!