A Series of Unfortunate Events
Chapter 29
"Well, Sharon," came a voice from behind Sharon and Andy. "You certainly have gotten yourself into a pickle," said a tall willowy woman with red hair. Like most redheads she had a pale complexion, but she was also one of the rare blue-eyed redheads. Her eyes were changeable, one-minute violet-blue, one-minute blue-grey, another minute aquamarine. Her red hair was worn long and luxuriously fell around her shoulders. Her nose was straight with slightly flared nostrils and her eyebrows as red as her hair were very expressive. Going up and down according to her mood. Her smile was wide and friendly, if sardonic at times and like Sharon, she could have a sarcastic wit. Right now, she was both concerned and a little flummoxed that her favorite patient was in this incomprehensible mess. She walked around the bed and squatted in front of Sharon and Andy. She wore black trousers and a royal blue satin shirt. Dr. Evans and her colleague she brought with her had removed their lab coats before they came in, just in case it triggered a fear response in Sharon after her ordeal. She studied Sharon's face holding her wrist to take her pulse.
Sharon turned her head from Andy's shoulder and looked over her glasses at her. "While, I have to agree with you about being in a pickle. You say that as if I had actively done something to get myself into this… pickle."
"Well, I know that's not necessarily true from what Patrice told me. I'm just still confused how all this could happen to anyone, in the 21st century let alone you." The doctor lifted one eyebrow as she commented, "Although, you do seem to have really pissed this Cora person off, at some point."
Sharon tilted her head to the side and sighed. "I guess I did. I suppose… getting her husband put in jail for crimes he committed, could cause her to be mad at me, but I never realized just how long she can hold a grudge."
"Apparently twenty years," Elizabeth deadpanned. As this exchange went on, a sound of a voice clearing could be heard and Elizabeth stood up. "Sorry, everyone this is a friend and colleague of mine. Maura Alexander. Maura, meet Commander Sharon Raydor, her fiancé Lieutenant Andy Flynn, and her second-in-command, Lieutenant Provenza's wife Patrice. You met him as we were coming in . Anyway,she's a retired ER nurse from Southern General and a friend of theirs and a friend as well as a colleague of mine. Everybody, this is Maura. She is the lab technician that analyzes blood samples. She's also a forensic scientist and my friend. Everybody greeted her and she greeted everybody. She was a very serious woman but she did have a beautiful smile. Once introductions were over, Elizabeth got down to business. She took Patrice over to a corner of the room to explain what she needed from her, while Maura set up some supplies, when Elizabeth came back she sat beside Sharon and explained what they were going to do and why.
Four days later...
Sharon woke up smelling sugar cookies baking. It smelled wonderful. She heard a rocking chair creaking and the sound of sucking. At first it was hard to open her eyes, she tried a couple of times before she succeeded. "Hi, Sleeping Beauty. I'm glad to see you're finally awake," said a voice to her right.
She blinked and rubbed the crust from her eyes. Sharon looked to her right and saw Andy in the rocking chair holding Bel... Olivia feeding her a bottle. "Hmmm, how long have I been asleep?"
"Off and on about four days," Andy said apologetically.
"Four days?" Sharon cried out. She tried to sit up and she felt the oxygen cannula up her nose. She pulled it away and then realized she also had an IV and a catheter.
Hearing Sharon's voice Patrice came in and calmed her. "Hey! You're finally awake. Let's get you unhooked from everything and then we'll get you a shower which will help you feel more like yourself."
"Four days, Patrice? I've lost four days. I was only on the meds for three!" She allowed Patrice to get her unhooked from all the different lines she was attached to. Very relieved to be rid of everything. Then she tried to get out of bed, but needed help. She was weak and dizzy from not having had much to eat in the last couple of days and a holdover from the medications.
"Yes, Honey, four days. I know I said three but the doctor wanted to wean you slower than that. She was concerned about the side effects if we weaned you too fast. I can't imagine why that horrible woman, Cora would use that particular drug or how she even got it. It's a sedative used for surgeries. It's very addictive if used wrong and not used in psychiatric situations routinely," Patrice shook her head, "but then nothing about this situation has been usual or normal."
"You got that right," Sharon and Andy said at the same time.
"Well, the good news is it's completely out of your system now and you'll start to feel more and more like yourself." Patrice helped her sit up, then she helped her stand. When Sharon was ready she helped her walk to the bathroom.
As Rusty was coming out of his room he saw that his mother was on her feet and on her way to the bathroom. He also saw that Andy had Olivia. Since Andy was making eye contact with him and indicating he should take Livvie from him so that he could help with the shower, he hurried to their room and accidentally blocked Sharon's entrance to the bathroom. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Sharon answered back biting her lip, because she really needed to use the bathroom.
"May I hug you? I've missed you so much!" Rusty smiled at seeing his mom up and out of bed after so long.
Sharon reached out her arms and they held each other close. "You never have to ask for a hug, Rusty! I have missed you too. Let me go take a shower though, I don't smell very nice, at least not to myself. Then you can catch me up on everything that's been happening." Rusty nodded and moved over to Andy and Olivia. He took the baby from him and the older man stood up to greet his fiancé.
He engulfed her in his arms and she hugged him back. "What's wrong with the way you smell?" He asked playfully. "Eau de four days in bed, not bad."
She looked at him with an unfocused glare. "Don't tease. I'm fragile." She said pressing her lips together which clued Andy in that she was being facetious.
Andy snorted. "Yeah, right. Fragile you are not."
Sharon ducked her head smiling just a little. Then she looked back up at him. "Would you help me please? Fragile or not my limbs are kind of stiff and I need the bathroom in a hurry."
Andy took over for Patrice. "I'll take it from here." Patrice nodded and reminded him to make sure Sharon used the bench in the shower stall. The change in temp and the fact that she hasn't been on her feet for four days could cause her to get dizzy. He nodded and helped Sharon in the bathroom, closing the door for privacy.
Rusty cleared his throat, "Um... Patrice."
Patrice looked over at him as she said, "Hmm yes, Rusty."
"Thanks for helping my mom. I don't know what we'd do without her and you kept her from dying. Thanks again." He held back the tears that were forming as he thought about losing the one person that was most important to him.
Patrice smiled warmly. "You are very welcome, Rusty. She's a strong woman, but she's had a rough way to go lately. I'm glad I could help."
An hour later, Sharon and Andy came out of their bedroom, slowly. Her knee was still a little sore. They went to the table in the kitchen and Andy made a cup of tea for her. He also made her a light breakfast of scrambled eggs, and toast. When she was finished , they went to the leather couch and Sharon cuddled with Andy, Olivia and Rusty. Louie and Patrice were in their room packing to go home. When they came out they put their bags at the door and sat down the chairs in front of Andy and Sharon. Looking up from the baby in her arms, taking in the scene of bags packed with Patrice and Louie dressed and ready to go, Sharon's eyes teared up. "You're leaving?" Over the last few days Patrice's calm presence had been soothing to her frazzled nerves, after her experiences in that psych ward. Almost like the security blanket toy Olivia loved.
With a nod she answered, "Yes, Honey. You don't need me anymore. Andy can take over now. You need time with your husband and children. Anyway, we'll be seeing each other soon. Remember, I agreed to care for Olivia when you start back at work. Elizabeth said you can go back with limited duty, Perhaps in a couple of weeks . Patrice stopped for a moment and looked over at Louie, he nodded imperceptively. So Patrice continued with a smile, "and we got a call from the animal shelter. The kittens we picked out, two weeks ago are ready to leave with us, so we'll be picking them up on the way home."
"Wait. Kittens? You're adopting kittens? As in two?" Andy asked incredulously.
Louie suffused with color a little embarrassed about his soft spot for cats and kittens. "Yeah, Patrice and I drove out to the shelter the day before we came here. The kittens had just been brought in. They had to stay there to be vetted and give them more time with their mother. She was already being adopted by someone else otherwise, we would have adopted her too." Louie sounded a little regretful about that fact.
Sharon, Andy and Rusty looked at each other then swallowed the giggles that were threatening to erupt at the idea of their gruff Lieutenant with kittens. Patrice smiled knowingly but gave a shake of the head to indicate they should not give in and laugh at the Old Lieutenant. "So, you're adopting two kittens? Lieutenant, that's a surprise," Sharon said biting her lip to keep the giggles at bay.
Patrice was trying not to laugh at her husband too. "Ever since Buzz showed our low-tech Lieutenant here how to watch Kittens on the YouTube , on his phone he had been wanting one or rather now two kittens in real life."
He started to get red-faced and raised his hand to point a finger but ended up smiling, because he couldn't deny the truth. "Hey, they make me laugh , and I need all the laughs I can get , after the rough cases we have to deal with , sometimes . These two were pretty attached to one another so we thought it would be cruel to separate them. One is pure white except for a small black freckle above her nose and the other is mostly black with white spots peppered throughout her coat." Provenza shrugged, "their names are Salt and Pepper, they're really cute."
"What's really adorable was the sight of Louie sitting on the floor of the shelter, with the kittens climbing all over him, batting at each other and he was laughing at them." Said Patrice holding her phone away from Louie so he couldn't grab it from her. She pointed the screen outward so Sharon, Andy and Rusty could see.
Sharon took it from her as she, Andy and Rusty watched the video and looked at the pics. Louie was on the floor with the two kittens which were using him to climb on as they played hide and seek from each other, and playfully batting at each other. One on his shoulder the other on his stomach. Louie was laughing uproariously. Then after a few moments of this, both kittens curled up in his lap, falling asleep and purring while he petted them with an enraptured look on all their faces. Sharon snorted, checked herself and said, "Awww, that is adorable! Lieutenant, what has sparked this interest in kittens? I had no idea about this side of you."
"Neither did I and I've known him a lot longer than you have," Andy muttered.
Provenza huffed, "I have always liked kittens and cats, I just never owned them because I've never been home enough to warrant having a pet, let alone two... and my ex-wives all had dogs," he said off handedly.
Andy nodded. He remembered a conversation they'd had last year, before his dust up with the SUV. This gave him an insight on his partners attitude towards dogs.
Patrice laughed at Louie's explanation and said to further clarify things, "He's also never had someone in his life willing to scoop the litter box," Patrice deadpanned. "You'd be surprised how green this macho guy of mine gets at the very thought of cleaning a litter box," she laughed. "He sees blood and guts at crime scenes, goes to the morgue, sees dead people, but he can't keep from getting the dry heaves trying to clean out a litter box." She shook her head in disbelief.
"So, Salt and Pepper, huh?" Andy questioned. "They are cute. You know though, Louie. They don't stay kittens long. Before long they'll be cats."
Provenza stared blankly at him for a moment. "Well duh, I know that. What's your point?"
Andy gave his friend a long look and said. "No point. Never mind. Enjoy them."
Sharon looked at Andy there was a yearning look in his eyes. "You want one. Don't you?" Sharon asked softly.
"What? No," Andy said looking back at her. Finally, his eyes became hooded and he conceded, "Well, maybe. I love all animals, but I thought you were. allergic to cats and we don't know about this little one." He said indicating Olivia.
"I'm not sure I'm allergic to them Andy. I haven't really been exposed to them. We were never allowed to have pets. My mother was never a fan of animals. She wasn't raised with them."
Andy frowned with confusion, "but they have Chloe and Dexter. They are Manx's, right? They also have Bea the Yorkie, and they both adore all of them."
Sharon nodded and rolled her eyes at him "Uh huh. They waited until after their children were gone before they got a pet and then they ended up with three. I guess raising three kids was more than enough chaos for them to handle back then. They just got Dexter, Chloe and Bea in the last five years. It took another thirty-five plus years after we all moved out, for my father to convince my mother that having pets would be a good thing. Now they're her babies," she said rolling her eyes again. "It's a shame, because I for one would have loved to have had a pet. However getting back to the subject of us having a pet, you are right about not knowing whether Olivia is allergic to them. We'll have to test the waters with her and animals, but even if she's not allergic we should probably get a dog. A Terrier, they're so cute and I've always wanted a dog." Sharon's voice raised happily as she thought of getting a pet. "I've heard Terriers are hypoallergenic. Or ... maybe a Golden-Doodle, which is a Golden Retriever mixed with a Giant Poodle, I've heard they're supposed to be really good with kids."
"Well, we have time to think about it. A Golden-Doodle might be a good idea for Olivia, but we have a lot on our plate right now. We've got to get you back on your feet. We have a baby to take care of and a house to get settled into. After all that's done we think more about it, okay?"
Sharon smiled. "Sounds like a plan." She secretly loved it when he took charge like this.
TBC...
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