I just got home from work and decided to give you another chapter before we settle into the weekly update schedule. Enjoy and please hit that review button for me.
"Bonnie, can you help me reposition Mr. Adams in 518?"
"Sure Elena," Bonnie replies, getting up to follow me into the room.
After we clean him up and reposition him, Bonnie leaves to attend to one of her patients. "There you go Mr. Adams. Do you need anything else before I leave?"
When he shakes his head no, I make sure his nurse call light in his hand before stepping out into the hall and right in that rude Dr.
"Excuse me," he starts to say before looking up.
"You?" he says, rolling his eyes.
"Me? Did you need something Dr. Salvatore?" I ask, tightening my lips together.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. I came to check on Mr. Adams. As you no doubt know, I did his surgery. How is he this morning?"
"He hasn't had any complaints. I gave him some morphine before I gave him his bath. I need to gather supplies so I can change his dressing."
"Why don't you do that, I'd like to have a look at his incision," he says, before stepping around me into Mr. Adam's room.
When I get back into the room, I see that Dr. Salvatore has removed the dressing from his abdomen. He's using his stethoscope to listen to his lungs and then his belly.
"Mr. Adams," he begins. After taking a moment to look at the name on my badge, he continues, "I'm going to have Elena remove your NG tube. I am also going to start you on some clear liquids. If you tolerate that, tomorrow we'll advance your diet farther. However, if the nausea and vomiting start again, we may have to replace that tube in your nose. Do you have any questions?"
"No, thank you Dr.," he replies.
"I will see you tomorrow then. Have a good day," Dr. Salvatore tells him as he walks out of the door.
After I put a new dressing on Mr. Adam's belly and pull his NG tube out, I give him a glass of ice water and tell him not to overdo it. When I get back to the nurse's desk, I see our hospital administrator openly flirting with Dr. Salvatore. She's a married woman and she's giving him an eyeful the way she's leaning over the desk so he can look right down into her cleavage.
Shaking my head, I take a seat so I can chart Mr. Adam's dressing change.
"So Damon, are you coming to the hospital benefit this weekend?" she asks flirtatiously. Rolling my eyes, I continue with my charting.
"I haven't decided yet Andie. I actually think I'm on call that evening," he answers, obviously uncomfortable with her lack of propriety.
"I'm sure I could pull a few strings if you want to come," she purrs, flaunting her chest even more.
Having heard enough, he gets up, grabs her by the arm and pulls her into the medication room which is right beside me.
Although the med room door is closed, I can still hear him seething at her. "Andie, this is not the place for this nonsensical flirting. You're married. I may be a jackass and a womanizer but I don't cheat. When are you going to get that through your head?"
"But Damon," she continues.
"No buts," he cuts her off before walking out of the med room and down the hall leaving Mrs. Starr in a huff. After glaring at me, she straightens herself up before finally leaving the nurse's station. Thank God, I think to myself as I watch him escape down the hall.
Damon:
Once I escape Andie Starr, I head to the emergency room to respond to a message on my pager. "Hello Caroline. What do you have for me?" I ask.
"Hi Damon. We have a level one trauma en route. ETA fifteen minutes. There's been a small plane crash, five on board, two dead at the scene. The three they're bringing are critically injured.
"I'm going to go up to the helipad and wait for them."
"Damon, have you talked to dad?"
"Not for a week or so. Why?"
"He called me a couple of nights ago. Apparently Stefan called him. Do you believe it Damon? After five years, Stefan finally reaches out to one of us."
Unconsciously, my mouth drops agape. "What did he want?"
"I guess he wants to come home. I'll fill you in later. You need to get to the roof."
"Later sis," I yell as I run down the hall to the stairwell and jog up the stairs to wait for the incoming chopper.
After several hours of surgery, it's been another late nighter. When I finally get home, I'm completely sapped of strength. I had two surgeries to do. Unfortunately one of the victims was just too critically injured. I lost the lady on the table. Shaking my head, I have to realize that I can't save every life but damn, it's a kick in the gut when someone dies on my operating table.
Hearing the phone ring, I walk over and pick up the receiver on my land line. "Hello?"
"Dad... It's almost midnight. Why are you calling so late?"
"I haven't talked to you for several days, I wanted to ask how you are," he utters.
"I'm fine, I'm just really tired. I've put in a lot of hours at the hospital this week," I explain.
"Stefan called me a couple of days ago," I hear him say softly.
"Caroline told me. Dad, please be careful. I know you love him, we all do, but Dad, he almost killed you five years ago..."
"He wasn't my son that night."
"Yes, I realize that he was in drug fueled rage. But dad, he disappeared from the face of the earth for five long years. We don't know anything about his life anymore. I just don't want you to get hurt again. If I hadn't come home when I did..."
"I'll be forever grateful that you saved my life, Damon. Maybe he's clean now? I miss my son," he tells me, his voice laden with emotion.
"I miss him too, dad. I really do but I don't want you to take any unnecessary risks. If you insist on meeting him, please can you wait till Caroline and I can be there too?" I plead with him.
He exhales heavily before replying. "Alright son, I'll set up a time when the three of us can be there to see him. I'll let you go, I know you're dead tired."
"Thanks dad. I'll talk to Caroline tomorrow and get back to you okay?"
"Sure. Oh, before I hang up, your papa said to remind you that you owe him a round of golf."
Unable to help the smile that creeps onto my face, I chuckle a bit. "Tell Pops that I'll give him a call sometime this week. Goodnight Dad." When I hear the phone click, I hang up the receiver and walk upstairs to my bedroom. After stripping my clothes off, I hop into the shower. Pressing my palms against the shower wall, I just stand there as the hot water pelts down on my body. Feeling the stress of the day finally beginning to melt off, I reach for a bar of soap. As I begin to wash my body, I can't help myself when I grab ahold, stroking vigorously as my mind wanders once more to that firecracker of a nurse.
"Dad, it's me." I can't help but feel a bit uneasy as I enter my dad's house. It's just too quiet, almost eerily so and the lights are out. He knew Caroline, Matt and me were supposed to have supper with him tonight. I turn on the lights and walk into the living room only to find everything in disarray. The couch and the end table are tipped over. What's left of my dad's favorite vase is shattered on the floor. Pictures are askew on the wall. My heart starts hammering against my chest, a feeling of dread engulfs every cell in my body.
"Dad?" I yell frantically. Cautiously I step further into the living room when I see two feet sticking out from under a pile of clutter. Running over to him, I lift the tipped book shelf off of his body. My eyes widen in fear when I see the pool of blood that his head is laying in.
Grabbing my cell, I quickly dial 911 with one hand as I feel for a pulse with my other hand. Although weak, I relax a tiny bit knowing he's still alive. Very carefully I flip him over when I hear the front door open and close.
"Dad, Damon. we're here," my sister announces happily.
"Caroline in the living room. Hurry up and grab some towels," I scream back.
"What's going..., Dad?" she yells, running over and kneeling beside me. Matt runs in right after her.
"Damon?"
"I know sis. He's badly hurt but he is alive. I've already called 911. Go get some towels so we can put more pressure on his head wound."
"Daddy," she cries.
"Caroline, go. I need towels." She scrambles to her feet, runs to the bathroom for towels before coming back and handing it to me. Folding it up, I press it to his head wound.
"Hold this," I say to her. She scoots over to me and takes over so I can assess him for more injuries. "Matt, I think I hear a siren. Go meet the ambulance crew and bring them in here," I say forcefully.
"In here," I hear Matt yell before hurried footsteps get louder, finally here to transport dad to the hospital. Quickly they intubate him and load him onto the stretcher to take him to the hospital.
After what seems like hours, Dr. Fell steps into the waiting room to speak to us. "Damon, Caroline. It appears that Jack has been badly beaten. He's lapsed into coma. He has a fractured skull as well as a subdural hematoma. We've called in a neurosurgeon. He's scrubbing for surgery right now. Do you want to see him for a couple of minutes before he goes to surgery?"
Nodding, I wrap my arm around Caroline and we walk into his trauma room in the ED. Each of us takes a hand, both of us telling him that we love him.
Beads of sweat form on my forehead as I bolt upright in bed. I take a deep breath when I realize it was just a nightmare. After taking a drink of water, I wipe the sweat from my brow before falling back onto my pillow.
Stefan is the oldest, followed by Caroline and then me. I always looked up to my big brother, that is until till he started running with the wrong crowd and got hooked on heroin. He lost weight. His personality did a complete one eighty even to the point of becoming violent. I didn't know him anymore. In a drug fueled paranoid hysteria, he almost killed dad because he would not give him any money to supply his drug habit. Dad adamantly refused to press charges although I didn't agree with his decision. At least he would've been free of drugs if he was locked up. None of us have heard anything from him since then. If for nothing other than Dad's sake, I really hope Stefan has slayed his demons.
My dad was in a coma for nearly two weeks. After he was well enough to be discharged from our acute care hospital, he had to spend another twelve weeks in a rehab facility to recuperate from his brain injury. I've never been more proud of him because he struggled everyday to gain his life back and he did do it.
Thank Christ, it was just a nightmare. After taking a couple of Advil for my headache, I lay back down knowing full well I won't go back to sleep as my mind is buzzing with thoughts of my long lost brother.
Thank you to Eva and thank you to all of you for all of your reviews, follows and favorites. Your enthusiasm for this story makes me so excited. Those of you who are Stefan fans, just remember that the incident happened five years ago so trust me on this. Please do take a look at my other two stories, 'Breathe' and 'Pieces of Eight'. Hope you all have a wonderful day. I'm going to bed now as I have to be back to work in less than 11 hours. See you next time.