Okay, I actually kind of feel bad about the cliffhanger I'm leaving you guys with. Sorry! I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter Sixteen
Riley was a huge asshole. We've had to work together every day for the past two weeks and each interaction we had left a sour taste in my mouth. It was clear he thought he walked on water because he was a doctor. If it continued like this, I knew I'd lose it and tell him off. I could only take so much crap.
"Did you reorganize the medicine cabinet?" I asked as I struggled to find what I needed.
"Yes, it was a mess before." He said, still facing the computer.
"Well now I can't find the diabetic needles."
"There on top of the cabinets. They're safer there."
"Yeah, but I can't reach them." I said as I pulled out a chair to climb.
As I was stepping onto the chair, Edward was walking in for dinner. The P.O. dropped him off and left. Riley's demand to have a P.O. present when Edward was in here had fallen on deaf ears. Not being listened to really pissed Riley off and whenever Edward was in here, he acted like an even bigger dick.
"I'm putting the needles back to where they were," I said as I took the entire box down.
"It's unsafe to have them within arm's reach," Riley sighed in annoyance.
"The cabinet is supposed to stay locked," I snapped.
"I don't feel like asking you for the cabinet key every time I need something." Riley snapped back.
"Well I don't feel like climbing on the counters to reach the needles several times every day!" I jerked one of the needles out of the basket and turned to Vic, the old inmate who I saw every day. He smiled a three-toothed grin at me.
"Let's go ahead and check your sugar before I give you this," I said, switching to my nurse-to-patient voice. "Can I see your finger?"
"Of course, Miss Swan," Vic said kindly. He was a much older man who had spent most of his life in this prison. He was always a joy to treat because of how sweet he was to me. I felt bad that he had to live the rest of his life here.
"Sixty-three, Vic," I chastised. "That is way too low. Are you feeling sick?"
"No more than usual," He said.
I chuckled and wrapped a band aid to his finger. "Alright, what do you want?"
I opened the snack cabinet that was full of treats for diabetics. It used to just be stocked with gross sugary snacks, but I went ahead and bought a few delicious snacks that would raise blood sugar.
"Do you have any of those brownies?" He asked.
I chuckled. "You are in luck; I just went to the store last night and got you some more." I said as I pulled out one of the cosmic brownies and opened it for him. "Now, look, I know these are your favorite, but please eat it slowly."
He chuckled before taking a bite. "I promise I will try."
"Please do, no more blood sugar spikes. That was scary," I said before patting his shoulder and looking over at Edward.
"Alright Mr. Edward," I grinned at him. "What are you in the mood for today?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure," He smiled back. "Can you tell me what there is?"
"Of course," I said as I walked to the brand-new mini freezer.
Inside of the mini freezer were two-week's worth of frozen meals for Edward. I don't know how he did this, but one day I walked in, and the stocked freezer was here along with a very pissed off Riley, which just made our working relationship even harder.
That day Riley went to meet with the warden, he ended up writing a complaint about me feeding Edward unauthorized food. The warden had sent me the complaint Riley wrote and a formal warning. I was pissed and I just happened to complain about it to Edward.
The next day, I walked in to see the freezer being here and the warden and Riley being here as well, waiting for me. I had gotten nervous that I was about to be fired, but the warden ended up apologizing to me several times. He said the email that was sent was an automatic one that is sent with complaints.
He also explained that the complaint was going to be erased because I didn't do anything wrong. And he made Riley apologize for being rude about me giving inmates food. The warden even gave me a special job to send in a weekly premade, frozen food order that came with a very small pay raise.
I knew the warden's extremely kind gestures had something to do with Edward. I wasn't sure what Edward did, but I was really grateful. At first I was confused, but surprisingly, I wasn't annoyed that he had interfered.
"I have spaghetti, alfredo, grilled chicken, and stir-fry. Anything sounding appetizing?" I asked.
"I guess I'll have the stir-fry, if you don't mind," He said.
"Absolutely." I said as I popped the meal into the microwave. Once that was cooking, I turned to attend to Vic. "Alright, let's go ahead and check your sugar. How do you feel?"
"Better now that I had that brownie," He smiled. "Could I have one to take to my cell for later."
I laughed as I gently stuck his finger. "No, I cannot give you one for later. You love them too much, I'm afraid you'd gobble it down and go into shock."
He chuckled. "I had to try."
"Hmm, your sugar is still a little low," I said as I grabbed the needle. "Let me give you this, then would you mind laying down for a little bit?"
"Of course not. It'll be nice to sleep on a comfy bed for a change."
"I am so glad you mentioned that Vic," I said as I gently injected him with his insulin. "So, you are eligible for an extra mattress pad. I checked your age and the prison's policy and you do qualify for one. Would you like me to order it for you?"
"Miss Swan that would be life changing," He smiled as he placed his wrinkled hand over mine. "You are an angel."
"Oh it's no problem, Vic." I smiled at him. "I like helping my favorite patients. They should have mattress pads here; I'll check and make sure they get it to you before bedtime."
"Thank you." He said.
"You're welcome," I said as I helped him stand on his shaky legs. I couldn't believe they hadn't offered Vic the extra padding; he was seventy-seven and the age the inmates had to be to receive the padding was sixty-five. "Let's lay you down."
"Did I tell you that Lucy got accepted into Harvard?" Vic said as I helped walk him to the bed.
"No, you didn't. That's wonderful! Tell her congratulations for me," I smiled at him.
"Yeah she's been working so hard," He said as I helped him sit down. "I'm so proud of her. I made her picture; I need to send that to her tonight."
"That's wonderful Vic. I bet she's going to love it," I said as I covered him with a blanket. "I'll check on you in one hour. We'll check your sugar again."
"Thank you, Miss Swan," He said as he settled onto the bed.
"My pleasure," I smiled at him before turning the lights off.
When I walked back into the medical office, Riley was putting the needles back onto the cabinet, completely ignoring the beeping microwave. I huffed in annoyance.
"Don't put them up there," I snapped as I pulled Edward's food out. "I can't reach them."
"They're safer up there," He argued.
"Oh my god, no they're not," I said. "I'm the one administering the shots, I need to be able to reach them and I'm not going to climb multiple times a day to get them down. Put them back in the lock cabinet."
"No, they're safer up there," Riley snapped aggressively.
"Hey," Edward spoke up. "Why don't you take a walk, doctor."
"Quiet," Riley snapped at him.
"Get the needles down." I told Riley again.
"If you want them down then you get them." He snapped. "But I want the cabinet key."
"No, I'm the one that's in the cabinet the most," I said, dropping Edward's food down in front of him. "You're acting like a jerk over something that's not that big of a deal."
"And you're acting completely unprofessional. I'm the doctor, what I say goes." He said.
"I'm acting unprofessional? Are you fucking serious," I snapped. "You're acting like a—,"
"Watch your mouth," Riley snapped back. "I may be here for a temporary time, but I am still your boss."
"I don't care who you are. I'm the one doing most of the work here, you're not going to treat me like shit."
"I'm not treating you like shit, I'm trying to help you get better at your job. Unless your dream is to work in this rat-infested place, you need to have work etiquette. Any hospital or doctor's office you work in will require you to have a better work ethic, because right now, your attitude is atrocious."
"You know, last I checked, we both graduated at the same time." I said, my nostrils flaring. "Just because you're a doctor, that doesn't mean you know more than me. Half the time you can't even get the medication straight. You may be a doctor, but you're really stupid when it comes to the nursing part of medical treatment. Which is an important part. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be able to just sit on your computer all day and do whatever it is your doing on there."
Riley's face turned red. "You need to check yourself before you really make me angry. I work with a lot of doctors and if you go to work for any of them, I will warn them about you being a ridiculous, hard-headed bitch."
"Hey!" Edward yelled as he jumped to his feet, knocking the chair to the ground. Both Riley and I jumped at his outburst.
"Sit down," Riley snapped.
"Why don't you take a seat asshole!" Edward yelled again, knocking everything off the table. "You don't talk to anyone like that you fucking prick!"
"Edward calm down," I said as he stormed around the table to Riley.
"You better sit down now or I'm going to hit you with tranq." Riley said as he jerked out an EpiPen-like needle out of the drawer. Oh Jesus, he was going to escalate the situation.
"Alright everyone calm down now," I said firmly, but calmly, "Put that away, you're not helping anything."
Edward was fuming at this point, the skin on his chest red and his eyes focused on Riley's. He reminded me of a guard dog that just locked eyes with an intruder.
Riley popped the top off the tranquilizer, and I stepped in between them. My back towards Riley.
"Edward, go sit—," Before I could even get it out, Edward knocked me aside to tackle Riley.
"Oh fuck!" I gasped as I ran to the walkie-talkie. "I need someone in here asap! There's a fight!"
Their fight on the floor didn't last long. Riley wasn't kidding when he said he'd hit Edward with a tranquilizer. As soon as Riley got it into his skin, it was over. Edward passed out, on the floor, with his limbs spread out widely.
"Jesus Christ," I said as I kneeled down to check Edward's breathing. "How much did you inject him with?"
"What?" Riley snapped as he held his bloody noise. "Why does that matter?"
"Because with the medication he's already taken today you could send him into cardiac arrest! It's already a mid-dose tranquilizer! You could kill him!"
"Protocol dictates—,"
"Protocol says that you're not supposed to escalate the inmate's idiot!" I said as I listened to Edward's heartbeat with my stethoscope.
"He was pretty fucking escalated if you ask me! He lunged at me!"
"Because you provoked him!" I snapped. "You don't tell inmates that you're going give them a tranquilizer if they don't comply, that constitutes as provoking. Just do me a favor and stay out of the fucking way, please."
The guards finally ran in and looked around. It was clear there was a fight with the way everything was thrown around and the fact that Riley was bleeding.
"Get him into a bed," I asked them, pointing at Edward. "We're probably going to have to call an ambulance."
"Is he alright?" One of the guards asked as they both struggled to lift him off the ground. Edward was a big man. He probably weighed two-forty and that was all in muscle.
"No, he was hit with a high-dose tranquilizer and he's already taking a mid-dose one. He's probably going to go into cardiac arrest."
"Shit." One of the guards said in an uncaring voice.
They finally got him to the bed and dropped him onto it. They lingered as I looked him over. I listened to his heart again. As I was looking for signs of cardiac arrest, I heard one of the guards ask Riley what had happened to him.
"He's a fucking animal. I told all of you that a guard needed to be in here when he was in here. He's unstable."
"Could you grab me that heart monitor?" I asked the guard closest to me.
"What are you doing with it?" He asked as he rolled it over to me.
As I hooked Edward to it, I answered him. "Well, now that I know he's not going into immediate cardiac arrest, I need to monitor his heart. He could still flatline."
"Can't you call an ambulance?" He asked.
"Not unless he's actively having a heart attack." I said as I shook my head. "If they come, and he's still stable, they'll leave without taking him. He could go into cardiac arrest after that. It's safer to monitor him and wait until it actually happens. That way they have to take him to the hospital."
"Well what the hell are you going to do if has a heart attack?"
"Call 9-1-1 and perform CPR. Hit him with the defibrillator." I said before starting an IV. "The only thing I can really do is keep him alive 'till they get here."
"That sucks." The guard said.
I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Would you do me a favor, in case something does happen to Mr. Cullen, would you mind waiting here so there's someone who can call 9-1-1 while I do what I got to do to keep him alive?"
"How long will he be out?"
"I don't know," I shook my head. "Could be an hour, could be ten. It all depends."
"You going to stay here all that time?" The guard asked.
"I kind of half to," I said, shooting a glare at Riley. "I can't leave because the person who was here when a tranquilizer was administered has to stay until the inmate wakes up for legal purposes. And since it looks like his nose is broken, he's going to have to go to the hospital."
"Damn that really sucks." The guard said as he walked out. "I can't stay, but I'll tell everyone to come in and check on you."
"Thanks so much." I sighed heavily as I shook my head.
Once Edward was hooked up, I left the room, leaving him to sleep it off. We were supposed to shut the door, but since I had to listen for his heart monitor, I couldn't leave.
"Go to the hospital," I snapped at Riley.
"This incident was bound to happen because of your behavior." He snapped back as he gathered his things.
"How the hell is that?"
"You are too friendly with these inmates. You are here to do a job and that's it. You need to learn how to tone it down when you treat them or else more issues will come because of you."
I rolled my eyes as he stormed out of the room. What a dick.
Three Hours Later
"I-I had gone in there to check on him and… and he was gone." I said to the EMT, dabbing at the tears in my eyes.
"Mm hm," He nodded sympathetically. "And when you found that he had passed, what did you do?"
I sniffled. "I ran out and called you guys, then I ran back in and started CPR. I was working on him until you guys got here, but I couldn't get him to wake up."
He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You did good. Don't beat yourself up over this. It happens."
"I should've been paying better attention," I said as I shook my head. "It's all my fault."
"It's not your fault," The EMT said as his team wheeled out the stretcher with the sheet over it. I had to turn away from the body as it was too painful to look at. "Do you have any contact information we can have for the deceased?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I'll give you everything."
"Thank you, we really appreciate it."
"Would you mind it if I called?" I asked. "We became really close, and I think it would be easier if I called to told his family. They love him very, very much."
"Of course, that will help us out. Thank you."
I nodded and waved as they left. Once they were gone, I sat down at the desk and started sobbing.