Chapter 10: Trouble

Author: zeusfluff.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blue Bloods characters. The belong to CBS. But I do own all originals. Date Started: 7/26/23. Date Finished: 7/26/23. Enjoy!

Eddie shook her head. It felt strangely fuzzy. Staring at the file in front of her, she found herself focusing on one word. She couldn't seem to move. Something was off. Meanwhile, a few desks over another officer watched Eddie. He nudged another who was passing by his desk.

"Stevens, Janko doesn't look so good."

Officer Sanchez was quick to get to Eddie as she fell out of her chair and slumped over. He knelt down and was quick to get her head into his lap before it could connect with the concrete floor below her. A bunch of other officers had joined him and moved her away from her desk slightly. Her body was shaking with convulsions. Officer Stevens looked to Officer Sanchez.

"Keep her airway open! Someone call a bus! Sarge!"

Jamie looked up from his paperwork when he heard all the commotion. Coming out from his office, a frown became plastered to his face.

"What's going on? What happened?"

His eyes widened as he realized what was happening to Eddie. Pushing past some of the officers he knelt down next to Eddie, almost barking out orders to the officers trying to hold her still.

"Keep her airway open! Make sure she doesn't swallow her tongue!"

Jamie continued his conversation, but now it was towards Eddie.

"It's ok Eddie. Help is on the way. You're going to be ok. Just hang in there. Help's coming."

It was a couple of minutes before Eddie stopped seizing. Jamie held his breath for a few seconds before he let it out. Closing his eyes and then opening them, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as she started seizing again. Jamie couldn't help what came out of his mouth next.

"Shit! Come on baby don't do this… Sanchez! Where's that bus?"

Sanchez looked Jamie in the eye and spoke.

"There a minute out boss."

His gut was suddenly twisting with guilt. The EMT's arrived through the doors and quickly rushed over to Eddie. She had stopped seizing and the group of officers surrounding Eddie lifted her up and placed hr on the stretcher. She had another on the way to the hospital and Jamie kept feeling his phone buzz in his pocket. He knew it was the guys back the precinct asking how Eddie was doing. Another hour went by, and Eddie was settled in a room. Jamie sat next to the bed with his head in Eddie's lap on the bed. A knock sounded on the door, and it slowly opened, revealing Erin.

"Hey. I just heard. What happened?"

Jamie lifted his head from Eddie's lap and held onto both of her hands, kissing them before answering Erin.

"Do you remember when I told the family she was having those small seizures? The doctor just told me that it's all connected to what happened today. She had two 2-minute seizures at the precinct and one on the way here. During that week when she was losing chunks of time, she was having a dozen or so seizures a day. The three she had today coincided with extremely high blood pressure. The docs are still running tests. Her neurologist Doctor Canton is concerned she's developed a serious condition call PRES. It's swelling of the back of the brain. He's waiting for her MRI results to come back. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now. She's been through so much already."

Erin pulled her younger brother into a hug and held him.

"Jamie, it's going to be ok. Eddie is going to be just fine. She's a fighter. This is just another bump in the road. She's going to get better, she's going to get a new kidney, and when she does, the two of you are going to start a family and have a beautiful baby girl."

Jamie smirked and pulled away from his sister's hug.

"A girl huh? What makes you say that?"

Erin smirked before she went out the door.

"You always did enjoy playing tea party with Nicky when she was little. You always got her the biggest present at Christmas and her birthday. I remember when you got her that huge doll house. She played with it for a long time. Hang in there little brother."

Jamie accepted another hug from Erin and gave her a small smile.

"Good to know you're ready for another niece or nephew."

Meanwhile, Eddie could hear voices. She recognized one in particular. Jamie! She didn't know where she was at. Wherever she was, it was dark. There was nothing below her and nothing above her. It was as if she were floating. She couldn't move. She found her voice and began speaking.

"Jamie! I'm here!"

She could feel his lips brush against her own, but she could not reciprocate the kiss. Everything sounded like it was down a long tunnel, and it was somewhat muffled. She wasn't sure, but maybe time meant nothing here. It was lonely in the dark, and she hated that she couldn't move. She thought she heard the voice of her neurologist Doctor Canton. She strained to hear his voice.

"...Jamie I'm sorry but she hasn't responded to the treatment we've been giving her. We've been monitoring her brain activity and the swelling hasn't gone down all the way. We have to accept the fact that she's not going to wake up."

Eddie could swear she heard Jamie crying and then the weight of his head in her lap.

"No. I'm not ready to let her go doc. Please. Just give her a little more time."

Then Eddie heard a couple of other voices. The first one she was sure it was Frank.

"Son, I know this is hard. Think about what she would want. She wouldn't want you sitting here watching her be like this."

Eddie felt her heart begin to beat in her chest. She wasn't ready to leave yet. She spoke to herself and moved her fingers hoping they would see. Then she heard Jamie's voice.

"Dad? Did you just see that?"

Frank furrowed his eyebrows and got up from his chair.

"I'll go and get the doctor."

Jamie took Eddie's hands in his and kissed her knuckles.

"I know you're in there babe. Come on squeeze my hand."

Jamie squeezed Eddie's hands and saw as she opened her eyes, they were wild and filled with fear. The machine's she was hooked up to were beeping rapidly. Jamie spoke to her, trying to keep her calm.

"Don't fight the vent babe. It's ok. Doctor Canton is coming. Try and relax baby. I'm right here."

Eddie felt tears coming to her eyes. Doctor Canton came into the room with another doctor and two nurses. He had wide eyes but kept his calm exterior up.

"Eddie your awake. That's good. I know your confused right now about what's going on. Looks like you can breathe without the help of the machine. We'll have that tube in your throat out in just a minute. What I want you to do when I remove the tape holding the tubing down, I want you to blow hard, like you're blowing out candles on a birthday cake. 1, 2, 3. Blow. Keep going. There we go. Good."

A sputtering coughing fit took over her body and she felt Jamie's hand on her back and then it went to the back of her neck, supporting it. When she finally caught her breath, she noticed her voice was barely a whisper.

"What's going on…?"

Doctor Canton nodded seriously with a grim look on his face.

"Eddie, you've been in a coma for a month. You were showing no signs of improvement despite all the treatments we were giving you."

Eddie wracked her brain for a moment. Then it dawned on her what was happening.

"You were going to let me go…"

Jamie got a horrified look in his face. He shook his head.

"I didn't want to let you go babe. I would never do that to you. Not unless you give me your express permission to do so. If that's the case down the road a very long time from now, we'll have a DNR set up and draw up papers for Power of Attorney."

Eddie furrowed her eyebrows and managed to take a drink through the straw in the cup Jamie held. He'd filled her in and told her that she'd been in a coma for the past month. After she was released from the hospital a week later, she was sent to a Post-Acute Rehabilitation Center which also doubled as a nursing home. Jamie was very disappointed with how they were treating her there and had her moved to another Rehab center to help her regain her mobility. This one was a little closer to their apartment and Jamie could visit her every day. It was a rough few days in the new place. Since she'd been on a ventilator for a month her stomach wasn't used to solid foods. She couldn't keep anything down. So, she had a feeding tube put in her nose and went down to her stomach. Jamie had just arrived when a nurse was giving her breakfast. He winced as he stepped into the room.

"How's she doing today?"

The nurse smiled and finished giving Eddie her breakfast.

"Ah Jamie. She's doing good. We're just about to start her physical therapy. She could use your encouragement."

Jamie watched as Eddie moved herself into a wheelchair on the other side of the bed.

"Hey, you're getting pretty good doing that babe."

Eddie gave a smile and blushed slightly.

"I was tired of lying in bed. Let's get this started. The faster I re-learn how to walk, the faster I can get out of here."

Jamie understood what Eddie meant. After the last place she'd been in he didn't blame her. One day he'd arrived at the other rehabilitation center to find Eddie in tears. Apparently, she'd been calling a nurse for nearly an hour. She couldn't get out of bed because she couldn't walk, therefore she couldn't use the bathroom by herself. That same day, Jamie had taken her out of the place, and she was transferred to the one closest to their apartment. These nurses were very attentive to Eddie's needs and were willing to work with her. Eddie was pretty good about getting around in the wheelchair without someone helping her. She was pretty fast actually. Jamie had to speed walk to catch up.

"Eddie wait up."

Eddie smirked as they entered a smallish room with some parallel bars, a set of four stairs (resembling a mounting block used in horse arenas to get on an off a horse.), a large exercise ball and a treadmill. The nurse put the brakes on Eddie's wheelchair and helped her to her feet. Placing her hands on either side of the parallel bars, she took a step forward. Jamie was down at the far end. He could see she was in some pain. Being in bed for a month had caused her to lose most of her muscle tone. Jamie was brought back to reality as Eddie made her way towards him.

"See? You're doing it sweetheart. I'm so proud of you. One more step."

Eddie shook her head but managed to get to Jamie. Her energy was nearly spent just taking 10 steps. Almost collapsing in Jamie's arms, he caught her and helped her sit down in the wheelchair.
"Easy babe. You're getting ahead of things. You'll get it. I know you want to get out of here, but don't push yourself too far on the first day. Give it some time."

Every day after that, Jamie came and kept encouraging her. By the end of the week, she was up and walking, and the feeding tube had come out because she'd finally stopped throwing up. The first thing on her list was a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup. She never realized how good solid food tasted. The first thing she was going to cross off her list though, was strawberry flavored protein drinks. She could no longer stand the flavor; it had also been hard on her system. That Saturday Eddie was finally able to go home. When the couple arrived in their apartment, Eddie broke down and began to cry as soon as she sat down on the couch.

"Jamie, when we get old and we can no longer take care of ourselves, let's make a promise to one another: We're not going into a nursing home. After what I experienced at the first place I was at, I never want to be put through that again. We'll tell our future kids that when they grow up."

Jamie nodded and pulled her into his arms.

"Don't worry Eddie already working on it. I've already filed a suit against that Rehab center for neglect. There's no excuse for leaving someone in their own waste."

Eddie held onto Jamie and swallowed before speaking up.

"It was humiliating…"

Jamie began to rock her.
"Shh, I know baby. You'll never have to deal with that ever again."

Jamie was glad to have Eddie back home, but he hated hearing her cry herself to sleep. She just needed time to readjust to being home again.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Ok, I know I threw a lot of scary things in this chapter. But things will start to brighten from here on out. To answer any questions my readers may have: Yes. You can be in a coma for a month or longer. Depending on the conditions. PRES or Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is a real condition where the back of the brain swells. It can cause seizures and temporary vision loss in one eye.