Charles called Magnum and Colin on the way. Colin was free and he promised to start gathering supplies. Charles gave them the address of Kansas Castle. Charles also called Samuel cursed long and hard.
Samuel said he would be on the next flight. He suggested the Chicago house, but Charles didn't want Mimi anywhere where Damon or Bran could come at her. Damon had attacked and tortured Mimi for two months. All because he was helping Mimi.
Damon himself had married several women and divorced Mimi, and Charles didn't understand. Now Mimi smelled really strongly of some kind of sedatives and strong ones, Mimi had infections, and her general condition was extremely fragile.
How could someone do this to another in the name of love? That was what Charles did not understand. Charles was the first to arrive and he carried Mimi gently to the medbay they made together. Charles placed the tubular bag on one of the beds and opened it completely.
Mimi was in a ball, shaking, and didn't seem to know Charles. When Charles very carefully lifted Mimi out of the bag, he saw that Mimi's arm was broken in at least two places, and in one place a bone had come through the skin. Mimi's bones feel extremely brittle. Mimi's pulse was weak, her irregular breathing even worse. Mimi was hot, feverish, and cold.
Charles tucked Mimi in and put the covers up. "Mimi, I don't know if you understand but Colin and Magnum are coming to help and so is Samuel. Hold on honey, just for a little while. I don't dare do much to you yet until the doctor arrives but hang on honey. Can you tell me anything about what Damon did to you?"
Charles waited a moment, no answer. He left Mimi in the hospital bed and kept the lights dim, he knew how unpredictable a wounded werewolf could be. Mimi would probably be better off sleeping, but what medicine would work? What's that damn strong medicine, or medicines that really stink in Mimi.
Charles went to the front door to keep watch, he was restless and paced back and forth outside before Magnum and Colin drove into the yard at the same time. Colin picked up a couple of pipe bags and Charles saw that his big four-wheel drive car was loaded to the roof. But now he only took one bag, to begin with.
Colin said " What you said, Mimi needs to sleep, I need to sniff out what the drugs are so I know what I can safely give. Has she said anything?" Charles said "No. I left her in the hospital bed her arm is broken in two places and one bone is through the skin. She feels very fragile and weighs well under 20 kilos." Colin said "Let's go and see the patient. She might be confused about all the drugs, you know Salvatore likes to use a lot of different drugs. "
I got up, I got out of bed. It wasn't the same place but I was looking for hiding places. No, sounds, must attack. Any kind of weapon. A knife. I took the big knife Charles had used to cut the carpet off one of the tables and I was ready. My rage was on full display and I was ready to attack. Then the men came into view.
Magnum walked ahead and went through the medbay door and stopped " Hey, whoa. Now hey back off, we got a little situation going on here. "Charles said "What situation?" magnum replied grimly " I've seen Mimi in this state once before and it took a Salvatore to get Mimi under control. In the medical establishment, it was one of the medical establishments in Chicago where Damon sold Mimi and had no recollection of it. Mimi was in the same state. Now she doesn't recognize any of us. She's attacking us as hard and as unpredictably as she can. Mimi was in pretty damn bad shape even then, bullet wounds and all, and didn't even notice when somebody fired. Damon told me that he's got it in Mimi's head that he's a safety. He's the one you can trust.
Mimi fell closer to Damon and still Mimi sliced Damon's chest almost open before Damon got control of Mimi Now I don't even know what method Damon used or what but he had to hold on pretty damn tight before he got control of Mimi properly. He just went and grabbed Mimi in his grip and then he slammed Mimi into the cage, that I don't know if that's going to do any good either. Catching up. I'm told that Mimi's rage is such that it almost pushes through medicine like medicine. Now I don't know how to get Mimi under control. We'll probably have to attack all three of them at the same time."
Charles thought for a moment and said "No. She'll just panic more. I want to see if I can get a hold of Mimi and see if I can get her to settle down at all, if I can then I guess some medicine would work."
Colin thought for a moment and said " I guess so, but where the hell am I going to put it? I don't think the lady's arteries are in terribly good shape or her circulation for that matter. "Charles said " From the back to the heart. The best way is once I get the lady in the grip. "
Charles went to Medbay. Mimi was on the other end going into the air duct, apparently. "Mimi, honey, come here," Charles said in a gentle but firm voice. oh really, I thought. I'm not going to be a fucking scientist, but fine. Let's just go right out the door then. This scientist approached and approached and attacked. For some reason, the scientist won.
He got my hands down my sides and held me against him, he stroked my back and hummed something. Someone came to stroke my back. I was starting to calm down a bit. This wasn't a scientist. I felt a sting in my back but I didn't care, slowly my strength began to run out and even my rage couldn't make my strength go to infinity. I was getting tired. Really tired, but a calm steady heartbeat, different from what I was used to, was the last sound I heard before the darkness and exhaustion took me away.
Charles was fast, Colin noticed. Charles grabbed Mimi and pressed her face against his tightly, nodding to Colin. Colin knew a pretty damn lot about pharmaceutical panic and rage and he had just the right drug. But the dosage? Mimi was skinny, less than 20 kilos, but with metabolism and other factors, Colin decided to play it safe.
"Charles, I'm going to come and put a cannula into Mimi's heart from the back. And then I'll start giving her as much medicine as she needs. I'm going to stock this syringe with a lot of medicine so take it slowly if you can just keep Mimi. "Charles nodded. Mimi had calmed down a little and was starting to shiver again with the fever. Even the rage wouldn't last long on her.
Damon had really done a number on Mimi. Colin came up behind Mimi and stroked the skeleton's thin back, Mimi's vertebrae felt brittle, her ribs even more fragile. He felt careful and found just the right spot. She didn't even flinch as Colin inserted the needle into her heart and slid the catheter deeper. He taped the cannula in place for a moment and took the large syringe and the other end of the cannula and pressed the medicine into the cannula.
The amount of medicine that went in was unbelievable. Colin watched as half the medicine was gone and Mimi began to tire. It wasn't until three-quarters of the medicine was gone that Mimi was unconscious. Charles carried Mimi with extreme gentleness to the patient's bed and Colin got to work.
First, he arranged for better venous access and checked that Mimi was sound asleep. He told Magnum and Charles to unload her car and bring the goods straight to the medbay. First, he set the broken arm and got the bone heads into place and back into the skin. He put a bandage on.
He knew Mimi had an infection and was sick so he took the strongest antibiotics and put them in a drip. Then he put some fever medicine he had developed in one of the saline bags and made it come on at a steady rate. He first gave the medicine directly into the vein in a good dose so that Mimi's fever would start to go down. Next came nutrition and fluid drips.
Colin was now doing first aid. Stabilizing the condition. Once Mimi was in a more steady condition then he could look at strengthening the bones and improving the muscles.
First infection control, then general condition up, and then always the next problem. One problem was that drug cocktail. Colin knew it was already in Mimi's brain all the way up and it would be another one of those painful wait-and-see. Doing nothing, if anything.
Colin, Charles, and Magnum were sitting in the medbay, they had picked up some food there and no matter how much Colin assured them that Mimi was asleep and her condition was stable at the moment, they weren't going anywhere. Mimi had 45 straps left and they had stayed. Charles and Magnum were afraid they wouldn't last. Mimosa and Mirella were in a deep sleep inside Mim. Some drug Damon had put in her guaranteed it.
Samuel called to say he'd be a few hours while he picked up more stuff in Chicago. Colin and Samuel had talked for three hours at least on the phone Charles couldn't bear to listen to medical jargon, so Charles had wandered through the castle restless as a tiger. Colin's fever medicine was working and Mimi's fever had dropped considerably. Fluids, sugars, and food kept dripping in. Colin was trying to tell him to hang on.
Samuel arrived in a truck full of machines and equipment, from the incubator onwards. Charles and Magnum were again forced to clear out, as Mimi was now being attacked by two doctors, both of whom felt that Mimi's condition needed to be stabilized. Together they carefully operated on Mimi and tried to help or replace her organs. Charles was a good organ donor.
One organ at a time, Mimi's condition remained stable and slowly began to improve. The pharmaceutical panic meds just weren't really going anywhere and Samuel knew that they had been crammed in as much as Salvatore could get. Mimi was in a kind of support frame, or almost a vacuum mattress, which protected her extremely fragile bones.
After a couple of weeks of intensive care, Samuel and Colin decided to see if Mimi could stay awake at all. They had got the infection under control, but now Mimi was still struggling to maintain her body temperature, so Samuel suggested an incubator. Once Mimi woke up there, it would be a familiar and safe place. They put Mimi in the incubator and took a break from sleeping pills.
I woke up. Panic. Cover. Where I am. Get away. Then I was there for a while and I realized I'm in an incubator, but Damon, no no, I've got to get out. Charles, Charles is protecting. When Samuel came to open the lid of my incubator, I said, "Don't let Damon come in, he wants to kill. Charles, is he here, Charles is protecting me, I don't want to be here, let go..."
Samuel motioned Charles closer "I'm here, I'm fine. Damon's not coming. Shh. Just be. It's a good place to be." I shook my head and managed to lift my arms a little toward Charles to show him I wanted to be held. Samuel nodded and Charles took me into his arms and I curled up against him Samuel said " Come on, get in here on the bed so you can be a safe haven now I see. That's a common reaction to medicated panic but Damon often put Mimi to sleep when Mimi wanted a hold."
Charles just nodded and went over to the bed with Mimi in his arms. "Mimi, honey. I'm going to put you down there first and then I'll come next to you ok?" I nodded. I was tired, more like exhausted, scared and all I wanted now was to be safe. I couldn't be courageous or brave now. Charles took off his shirt and came to my side, he helped me to stay close to him and I closed my eyes as I listened to his heartbeat. And I fell asleep. Without any medication. I was safe, and sheltered I didn't hurt too much and I was exhausted.
Colin, Samuel, and Magnum quietly walked out of the medbay when Charles said. He would be fine here with Mimi in his arms. Samuel had covered them both and Charles didn't really mind sharing his body heat with Mimi.
Mimi slept peacefully, without dreams or nightmares. It was only after 10 hours that Charles gently separated himself from Mimi to eat, shower and go to the toilet.
This became a kind of routine. At first, Charles was only away from Mimi for the shortest possible time because when Mimi woke up, she would move if she found herself alone. Because Mimi's bones were still so fragile, Samuel and Colin had put thick mattresses on either side of the bed so that if Mimi decided to wander off, she wouldn't break any more bones.
Magnum Colin and Samuel were having a very heated discussion about something. "Absolutely not. Absolutely not who the fuck he thinks he is!" Magnum was furious " Now is not the time for that. What does he think he's doing?" Colin was nervous.
Charles came over and asked, " What's the problem here, why are you all fuming?" Samuel said in a piercing, dangerous voice "Mr Salvatore would like to see his wife. He would have an arsenal of dental materials to help Mimi recover."
Charles could not believe his ears. Damon. Really yes that guy has some nerve, but fine come on. Let Damon see how Mimi would sleep in his arms with no meds, just let him come in when they were ready.
Charles said " Well, if Damon wants to come and watch his abused wife sleep on another man's arms, go ahead. He can give her all the dental stuff he can, but I can guarantee that visit will be short. What Mimi was able to tell me was that Damon's plan was to tune Mimi up. Hence the drugs and the rage. So that Mimi would be a difficult patient and we'd lose our nerve. We still might, but let's show Salvatore how we're gonna handle Mimi."
Samuel smiled, Charles always had a cunning little lesson, if someone tried to teach Charles a lesson, he would return the favor. Magnum couldn't believe his ears. Now using his own wife to teach him a lesson. Samuel sighed, that Damon really doesn't know everything, not by a long shot.
Charles ate and then refreshed himself, he went to the medbay. The bed was empty.
Charles sighed and walked to the air conditioning duct. "Mimi, will you come back to bed'? Okay," I replied " No, it's okay. It's not too cold. That warm air is nice." I had woken up alone in bed and well, I was looking for shelter. I did this, the air duct has always kind of been my thing, and at one point Adam and Damon kind of welded all the grates shut. This was a hole where it was warm and safe to be. Then when Charles knelt down and pulled me out of there I was completely innocent. Completely innocent and helpless.
Charles brushed the hair from my forehead and said. "Now let's get back to bed young lady. Honey, you are a case. I looked at Charles for a moment and said "Wait till I get my strength back, you'll see what it's like to take care of me." Charles laughed softly and carried me back to the bed and undressed on his top and came over so I could curl up and wrap my arms around Charles and hold on as tight as I could, I fell asleep again in a few minutes.