Chapter 12
Three Reagan men sat in the waiting room of the Hartford Hospital Emergency Department waiting for an update on the youngest Reagan sibling.
The last time Joe had seen his brother was after the brief flight to the hospital when a team of doctors and nurses greeted them on the helipad. He followed behind as they rolled Jamie into the hospital, taking mental notes of every bit of information the medics relayed to the ER team about their patient's vitals and injuries. When they made it into the bowels of the emergency department, a nurse blocked his path and led him to the waiting area instead.
Jamie was out during the whole flight to the hospital. His cold hand was limp in Joe's. The flight medic assured him he was just asleep; Joe wasn't so sure. Maybe it was just seeing him so still after the events of the past day, but it was eerie and made him doubt the medic. It had been a relief to see his eyes open after they landed, although Joe had no idea if he knew he was still there with him. Not that it mattered in the end since they'd been forced apart.
Other than the flight and the medic's rundown, he had nothing new to report to Danny, and then to his father, after they arrived at the hospital.
Joe looked at his watch for the hundredth time. It felt like hours since Jamie was brought in and the doctor had yet to come out to update them. Danny sat in one of the molded plastic chairs next to him, his left leg was bouncing up and down nervously, especially after he downed a coffee. It was driving Joe insane.
To any stranger, Frank presented as pensive, yet calm. He sat opposite his boys, tall and still with his hands folded in his lap. But Joe and Danny knew his tells - he'd glance at the doors every few minutes leading to the exam areas of the ED, then let out a deep breath through his nose when they failed to open and reveal a doctor with news on Jamie. He was a father of four, sick with worry about his youngest son.
A while later, three pairs of eyes turned when the door behind registration opened and a short, stout man in green scrubs walked out. Joe immediately recognized him as one of the doctors that met them on the helipad. He stood first, knowing it had to be about Jamie.
The doctor stopped at the desk where a clerk pointed him in their direction.
Frank and Danny followed Joe's lead and stood as well, waiting for the doctor to come to them.
"Family of Jameson Reagan?" he asked.
"That's us, we're his brothers, that's our father." Joe skipped over more formal introductions. He only wanted news on Jamie.
The doctor had been told by the medics that the young man's father was a police VIP from New York City. He didn't know what to expect when he came out to speak to the family, but the lack of further identification told him his patient's condition was their only concern.
"I'm Doctor Gallego. I've been treating Jameson -"
"Jamie," Danny corrected.
"Jamie," Doctor Gallego repeated with a warm smile that eased Frank's nerves. He'd dealt with these types of situations enough to read a physician when he was about to deliver bad news. This wasn't that.
"I've been treating him since he arrived."
"How's my son, doctor?" Frank pressed, still needing to hear the words from his mouth.
"Where to start…above all else he's stable and I assure you, he will be fine with some rest and follow up care," the doctor said, alleviating their worry.
"Thank God," Frank whispered.
"Yes, well, Jamie has been through the wringer, but he's one lucky young man. He fared far better than many I've seen involved in these types of accidents. Right now, we have him up in imaging for head and abdominal CTs. Jamie suffered a grade three concussion. He confirmed loss of consciousness, more than once as far as he can recall. But he's lucid and answering every question we throw at him, so the head CT is precautionary at this point."
"That doesn't sound so lucky. What about abdominal CT?" Danny asked.
"To follow up on the bruising along his torso from the seat belt. He had some mild abdominal tenderness but he's hemodynamically stable which is exactly what we want to see in these cases. We ordered a CT to rule out more serious intra-abdominal injuries."
So far, it seemed like Jamie had escaped serious injury, but Danny remembered his repeated complaints about his leg and when the medics sliced through his pant leg, the swollen and bruised knee looked pretty effed up. That was his next question which the doctor answered.
"X-rays show it's a patellar fracture. We'll also schedule an MRI to be sure there's nothing else more serious, but the good news is that the fracture is nondisplaced and should not require surgical intervention. He'll be in a brace and on crutches for a while and he will need to follow up with an orthopedist back home for a treatment plan, but it should heal without a problem so long as he follows his doctor's orders."
"He will, I assure you. And his grandfather has a great knee doctor," Frank said. Pop would make sure he got in to see him.
"Anything else?" Joe asked worriedly.
"Isn't that enough?" Danny shot back.
"Cracked ribs, a low grade fever and a bout of bronchitis just about does it, although those last two he most definitely had before all of this happened."
"He was sick before the accident. With finals, who knows how long he's been feeling that way," Frank said. It was one of the things he and his father worried about with Jamie being so far away for school.
"It certainly won't help with his other injuries. We're starting him on antibiotics that he'll continue when he goes home."
"So you're releasing him?" Joe asked hopefully. He wanted to get Jamie home and all of this over with.
"Not just yet. We'll keep him overnight for observation, make sure we get the fever down and that there are no complications from the head and abdominal injuries. Otherwise, we should be able to release him soon."
"Can we see him?" Frank asked. All things considered, Jamie had escaped the accident with minor injuries, barring complications of course. Now, the only other thing that would fully put Frank at ease would be to see Jamie for himself.
"He should be returning soon. I'll have a nurse take you back once he arrives," Doctor Gallego said.
"Thank you, doctor," Frank said and reached out to shake the man's hand.
"You're most welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me."
"Thank God this nightmare is almost over," Joe said. He dropped back down into a chair letting out a deep, tired sigh.
Danny felt like he'd aged ten years since this morning. But it wouldn't truly be over until they were all in New York together. Hopefully, his wife would be okay on her own overnight. Despite both his father and Joe being here, he wasn't ready to leave Hartford without his kid brother. "Yeah, well, I'm gonna go update Linda. I'll be right back."
Joe watched Danny leave the waiting room and then turned to his father who was taking the seat next to him. He looked like he felt. "You okay, Pop?"
Frank looked at his middle son and gave him a tired smile. "Now I am."
Frank reached over and placed an arm around Joe's shoulders. "I'm really proud of you and your brother. You did real good. We wouldn't have found Jamie if it wasn't for you two."
"Nah," Joe shrugged. They just got lucky but his little brother deserved some credit too. "I think if we wouldn't have found a lead as quickly as we did, Jay would have gotten to help himself. You should have seen him dad. He was almost up that embankment on his own, as messed up as he was."
Frank nodded but he wasn't sure that was something he would have wanted to see. "Well, I for one am glad you got to him when you did."
The young, petite nurse snapped the gloves off her hands and tossed them onto a tray containing a pile of soiled and bloodied gauze. Her patient had been quiet all throughout the time she'd taken over his care, not that she could blame him. The lines on his handsome face confirmed he wasn't feeling as fine as he claimed to be when she asked how he was doing.
Jamie had been returned to a different exam room after his scans, one much smaller than the trauma bay he was first taken to when he first arrived. The organized chaos there had added to his stress. There was less activity around him now which meant he wasn't so bad off, just like the doctor had said. But he definitely had better days.
With her patient stable, the nurse worked to clean him up and make him more comfortable. Word was he had family waiting outside and no one needed to see a loved one covered in blood and grime like her patient was when he came in.
"Alright, Jamie. We got most of it. Only thing left is for you to get some rest and get better," she said as she adjusted his gown and the blankets around the monitor leads, cables and IV attached to him.
She patted the pillow at his side. "Remember to use this to brace your ribs when you feel a cough coming on. It'll help a little. I'll be back as soon as they're ready to move you to a room," she said, smiling as three figures hovered outside the door. "Otherwise, just holler if you need anything," she said, leaving with her supplies.
"Thanks," Jamie whispered. He lay quietly on the gurney and rubbed his right temple, oblivious to the company waiting for him outside. He didn't understand how he could feel both exhausted and wired at the same time. The only thing he really wanted right now was to hobble over to the switch and kill the glaring fluorescent lights, although he hadn't been all that successful hobbling around on one leg today.
"He's all yours," the nurse said and nodded back in the other direction as she passed the visitors.
Frank's lips pressed tightly as he cataloged the IV and medical equipment attached to his youngest son. Jamie was covered from chest to toe by blankets, but wires and tubes snaked out from underneath them. His left leg was elevated and a brace was still visible around his knee. He sighed in relief for the umpteenth time and led the boys inside.
"Jamie?" Frank said softly, easily recognizing a migraine when he saw one.
Jamie turned his head to the right and squinted at his family, relieved to see familiar faces again. "Hey, dad."
Frank took the spot on the right as Joe and Danny stood along the other side of the gurney. He smiled sympathetically and took hold of his son's hand, happy to feel its warmth as Jamie squeezed his back. But the visible stitches on his head made his stomach clench. "How are you feeling, son?"
"Like I went over a cliff in my car," Jamie rasped.
"Not funny, man," Joe said and gently patted his good leg.
"No, it wasn't," he sighed, but he didn't know what else to say. Jamie couldn't believe the clusterf*ck that was the last twenty-four hours.
"So how you feeling, kid. Really?" Danny asked. He looked way better than when they first saw him at the scene but he still looked miserable.
"I'll be honest, not great. Doc said they can't give me much with a concussion," Jamie replied and hugged the pillow to his chest as another round of coughs hit.
Frank smiled sadly and ignored the expletive that passed through Jamie's lips when it was over. "Rest will help with that. You'll get a good night's sleep and then we'll get you home so you can do more of the same there. I'm sure Pop will be ready to dote on you when you get there," Frank said. His father had been ready to drive himself to Hartford, but Frank convinced him to stay in Bay Ridge once they confirmed that Jamie's injuries weren't as serious as they feared.
"And Erin, don't forget about mama hen," Joe smirked. His sister was the next one their dad had to convince to stay put, although the trip would have been more difficult for her with a school age child and a husband who was in the middle of opening his own private practice.
Jamie said nothing and only nodded at the comment.
Joe could see how this was affecting his brother. He knew exactly what he was doing - reliving the events of the last twenty-four hours in his mind. He couldn't blame him, but it was the last thing he needed to be doing. They also had no plans to bring anything up about Reynolds and the crash right now. All Jamie needed to worry about was resting and getting better.
Joe was often the jokester in the family and he felt the need to lighten the mood right now, even if just to provide some distraction. "Damn, bro, if Sydney was dating you only for that full head of hair you used to have, not sure what she's going to think when she sees you," Joe joked.
"Funny," was all Jamie said but his expression said differently.
"You can always come back to Hartford and see nurse…," Joe continued, but totally failed to catch the cute nurse's name.
"Mia," Danny added quickly, having read her ID as they traded smiles on her way out. He then shrugged his shoulders innocently at the raised brows he received from Joe and his father.
Joe laughed. "Nurse Mia. Yes, Nurse Mia. I think she might have been smitten with you, Jamie."
"Even if Sydney was turned off by that big bald spot, it'll be fine 'cause girls dig scars," Danny added brightly.
"I certainly think Nurse Mia did," Joe said.
"It's exactly what I was going for," Jamie said. A genuine smile crossed his face this time. He knew what they were doing, but he still had so many questions he wanted answered and skipped over their charade. "So when can I go home?"
"Not for another day, at least. You're being admitted overnight for observation. If you're still doing well tomorrow, then they'll consider discharging you," Frank said.
"That's what I was afraid of," Jamie sighed.
"What? Are you that eager to get back in a car, kid?" Danny asked.
"No, but if it means getting home sooner, I'll deal with it. Not like I'm driving anytime soon anyway."
"You're exhausted, just close your eyes and get some rest. We'll be right here," Frank said.
But Jamie continued with the questions, he was a Reagan, afterall. "How'd you guys find me?"
"We'll fill you in later, when you're up for it. Anyway, you should give Trooper Adler a statement first before we start answering questions and asking some of our own," Joe said.
"But the redhead," Jamie started to say, wanting to make sure they knew this wasn't all on him, that there was someone responsible for this mess.
"But nothing," Danny cut him off. The kid needed to shut down his giant brain and rest. "The spawn of Chuckie is under arrest. He won't hurt anyone else. That's all you need to know right now."
Joe squeezed his brother's shoulder, urging him to let it go. "Just relax, Jay. We got you," he soothed.
Jamie nodded and stopped the questions that remained on the tip of his tongue. Just like he'd allowed himself to do back on that embankment when his brothers surrounded him, he allowed himself to relax knowing everything would be okay eventually.
One last chapter left to wrap things up!