Sorry for the delay in this chapter it took ages for me to be happy with this chapter, I rewrote it about five times, before finally being happy with it. Hope you all enjoy it.
"Kate honey you okay?" Jim says to her once she is off the phone he can see the worry and fear in her eyes, tears falling freely from her face. He keeps on holding her as she sits on the floor, trying to process, the phone call she has just received
"Kate who was on the phone?" Kerry says to her when she doesn't reply to Jim. She kneels in front of Kate hoping that helps her focus on what she needs to say to her.
"It was the hospital Mike…" she can't say it, as more tears fall and she hangs her head down placing it in her hands, then the house phone rings again, Kerry passes it to Paul, as she places a hand on Kate's back and gently rubs her back.
"Hello, Flynn residents Paul speaking," Paul says into the phone.
"Paul, it's Henry speaking," hearing Henry's voice on the other end of the phone makes Paul worry, he knows he is the local police officers for their town.
"Henry, what's happened?" Paul says to him,
"It's Mike, he's been hit by a vehicle, and airlifted to The Alfred Hospital about an hour ago." Paul hears Henry go off at officers on the ground, he can tell he is just as pissed off as him over what is happening.
"Shit, why are you only telling us now?" Paul says to Henry, shocked and anger sounding in his voice.
"That's because I've only got to the scene ten minutes ago, I was in court dealing with another serious matter, when I arrived I got shown photos and recognized Mike straight away. I couldn't wait to tell you. If he is as bad as my guys on the ground here are saying he is, then you need to get down there as soon as possible, to make any choices that are needed."
"Thanks, Henry, we will head down there straight away." The two say their goodbyes, Kerry is looking at Paul and can tell it is serious.
"Mike is at the Alfred Hospital, he was airlifted about an hour ago." Paul just comes straight out with it, for both himself and his wife he knows why Kate is the way she is, she is still down as Mike's next of kin and medical say if anything is needing to be decided.
The room is awash with voices from several of the family matters. They are all in shock with what Paul has told them.
"Jim, Kate is going to have to come with us. Please go pack her bags." Kerry says to Jim, Jim looks oddly at her.
"Jim, Kate is Mike's medical decision-maker when he is unable to, plus considering she has been spoken to and we are hearing from a police officer, that Kate is still down as his next of kin as well, which would explain her knowing before us."
"But you're his parents?" He says
"Yes we are but legally he has her down. He did it fifteen years ago and has never changed it, by the looks."
"I'll go pack up her things then," he says as he goes off to their room. He isn't happy to go do this, and that Kate is the one who has to go and make those decisions makes him rethink things with her.
"We will leave as soon as we have everything sorted. I will go let the workers know what is happening. Oh, Suzy, Mike was staying in town at The Fredy Inn, can you go over and get his stuff and car and bring it all home. I want his mobile before we head off please." Paul says as he heads off, Kerry goes to pack their bags as well. They know they got a drive ahead of them. Suzy heads off to do as her father has asked, the Inn not being too far away, she decides to go get his mobile first and bring it back then go get Mike's stuff later on.
Alfred hospital.
Private family room.
Intensive Care Unit
"How is our son doctor?" Kerry asks the doctor who comes to talk to them. He knows who is in the room waiting for him when he enters.
"He's in his ICU room now. The damage from the car hitting him is major. He came in with internal bleeding. One known broken arm and a broken leg, suspected pelvis injury, and a head injury. Scans showed that he has fractured his pelvis, both arms are broken, though his right was more a fracture than a full clean break so wasn't noticeable on arrival, his left arm was broken in two places, and his left leg is broken in several places, and the scans also showed he has fractures in his skull, but so far luckily no bleeding within the brain, we will need to monitor this as it can lead to issue later on.."
"What hit him?" comes from Kate as tears fall down her face.
"The team that brought him in said he was hit by a large SUV with nudge bars on the front." The doctor says to him.
"Which one of you is Kate McGregor?" he asks after letting the news sink in, of what hit Mike
"That is me," Kate says to the doctor.
"Miss McGregor, Mr. Flynn is currently in a drug-induced coma, we are going to have to make some serious decisions about his care over the coming days. The most important one I need you to think about is whether we take his leg off or not, from below the knee?"
"Why will you need to do that?"
"He had an open fracture just about the ankle on his left leg, between the seriousness of the fracture and the dirt in the open wound, if an infection gets in, or blood flows becomes an issue we will have to decide if we fight to keep his foot or we take it off, the ankle is already badly damaged, and we have done the best we can to rebuild it for him, it won't be what it was before the accident, how much he gets back and what feeling won't be known until after he wakes up."
"I can't make that choice for him mum?" Kate says to Kerry as she panics over having to make that choice.
"You have to honey, your the only one allowed to make that choice for him. We will support you no matter what you decide. When can we see him?" Kerry asks the doctor deciding to change it off the topic of Mike losing his foot.
"You can see him now but only two in the room at any time, please, you guys are more than welcome to stay in this room so you can be close by, as I say Miss McGregor think about what you want us to do in regards to his care, as all care from now on for him you have the final say on." He says as they get up.
"Doctor, what aren't you telling me? You said we won't know until he wakes up what he will get back and feel, there is something else isn't there." Kate suddenly askes when what was said just a bit before suddenly sinks in. They haven't told her all his injuries.
"There is but until he wakes up we really have no idea what lies ahead for him."
"God damn it tell me. I have the right to know. More so if I have to make these choices for him, I need all the information that you have, so I know if he will ever return back to the Navy or not, whether I still get to work alongside him. I can handle it." Kate demands from the doctor. She isn't happy with the look on the doctor's face it scares the shit out of her.
"Sir, he is the Commanding Officer on the best patrol boat in the Navy Fleet, are his injuries that bad that he may never go back to his job?"
"At this stage, until he wakes up I can not be sure if he will be fully fit for sea duty or not, and at the end of the day, your Navy Medical team will be better ones to deal with that with him than us. Please follow me." Kate is not happy with the doctor deflecting as he has, but she knows he is right as well that their Navy doctors have a better understanding of what is required of them out at sea, and can be the only ones at the end of the day to say yes to him going back.
Kate is pissed off she now has to decide whether she allows him to have the chance to stay on board or to end up driving a desk. She has no idea that Mike has fully resigned at present, and that Steve Marshall only just has him employed within the Navy.
When she enters his room, seeing him like he is, right now has her sobbing, the tears fall freely down her face. She walks up to him and takes his hand within hers, the doctors notice his pulse dropped down with her touch. She brushes the hair off his forehead before leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead. The tender moment not going unnoticed by the parents.
"Doctor do you know when you will be bringing him out of the coma?"
"At this stage, we are not one hundred percent sure but do try to not have patients in medically induced comas for too long. We will readdress the situation in a couple of days and go from there," he says before walking away as his pager has gone off.
"We should ring home and let the others know how things are going with him."
"She still cares about him." Comes from Kerry as she stands watching what is going on in front of her.
"I know he is still in love with her, it's why he went to live at the hotel."
"I gathered that is what had happened, he will be trying to keep the peace with Jim and her in the house."
"More him making sure he can control himself, he no longer could, so was better he felt to leave, he was going to come back home once they left."
"He has always had an issue with control and her." They turn and head back towards the room they came from to make some calls back home.
As Kate sits beside Mike bed she thinks back to the talk they had in regards to her being the person to make the choices he can't
"Mike I don't know if I'm the right person to make those choices for you."
"Yes you are honey, I have faith in you to make the right choices for me."
"Mike, I can't do it. You will hate me for whatever choice I do make for you."
"No, I won't honey."
"Mike there is also the factor that I work for the Navy too, what if they can't reach me, your parents should be the ones for the medical decisions, they able to be got in contact with so much easier."
"Yes they are of course easier to reach but when the push comes to it I know in my gut that you will be able to make the really tough decisions. Have faith in yourself honey, I do. You will always do the right thing, I know you will. I know they will choose to save my life, I know you will choose differently first, I know you will try everything first before making that choice of life."
Back to the present, Kate is sitting there when Mike's doctor walks into the room. Her past memory helping her decide what to do next.
"Doctor, do whatever you have to save his foot, money isn't an issue," Kate says to him.
"You one hundred percent sure about this Kate, it could be a long process and still we may have to take it off."
"Yes I am, we need to do everything we can first before taking his foot off, it be the same thing he would say to you as well if he was awake."
One Week Later
"Today we will be fully weaning him off his sedation, he will wake up feeling groggy, his voice will be coarse to start with, how he will react is something we won't know, some patients wake up calm and just soak it all in, others can wake up and become rather aggressive about everything. I know you all want to be in here as we do this, but we prefer if only Kate stays in here with us, as she the one that makes the decisions. Plus too many in the room can also cause issues." The doctor says.
Twenty minutes later.
"Mr. Flynn, I'm Doctor Green, please don't panic, or try to talk there is a tube down your throat, we will remove that for you right now, when I say cough, I want you to cough."
The doctor does what needed to be done, and Mike follows the doctor's instructions. And then he gives Mike some water to sip on.
"Mr. Flynn how bad is your pain out, ten being the worse and one being none at all?" Dr. Green asks as he hands Mike a board and pen, not really wanting him to talk just yet. Mike rights down number seven on the board.
"Right we will give you some more pain medication, and hopefully that will help you." AS the dr is talking Mike writes asking what happened to him. Mike can tell where he is and can also tell he has some serious injuries if the pain is anything to go by.
"You were hit by an SUV a week ago." On the board, Mike then askes what his injuries are. Though it doesn't go unnoticed by the Dr that Mike keeps shutting his eyes like he is in pain, and that his writing isn't that good as well.
"Fractured Pelvis, Left arm broken in two places, the right arm has a fracture in it as well. The left leg as you can see is badly broken, your ankle is in special metal traction as per Ms. McGregor's instructions to save your foot no matter what. You also have several fractures in your skull. You have a long recovery ahead of you" Mike writes down on the board. That explains my thumping headache.
"Yes you will have a sore head, we have been scanning it every day to make sure there are no bleeds, or swelling of your brain. We will give you some more pain medication but it won't be as much as first thought to give you as due to your headache we need to be able to know if it gets worse or not, but this here that I am putting in your IV right now should help reduce it the pain."
"Now you can talk if you want but I don't want you talking too much right away, I want noise levels to be kept to a low. If your body wants you to sleep then sleep, it's your body's way of healing, and also please do not get grumpy with us, as we also will be waking you every few hours when asleep overnight to make sure you're okay. You suffered a concussion when you were hit by the vehicle."
The doctor does a few other things then leaves the room, Mike's parents walk in and gentle go over to him, his mother hugs him as best she can. His father touches his shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. Kate says sitting on the chair in the room, having not said anything since he has woken up. Mike can see she is looking tired and drained.
"Has things been that bad?" He asks, Kate understands that he is asking her this question.
"Yes Darling it has been that bad, Kate has had to make some tough choices while you were under," Kerry says to Mike.
"Honey, I think Mike was asking Kate, not us." Paul steps in to say after seeing the hacked-off expression on his son's face when his mother answered for Kate.
"Mum, Dad can you give me and Kate some alone time?" Mike says to them he can tell Kate isn't going to talk with them in the room, he can tell she is hiding something from them, from all of them in fact.
"Kate, what's wrong?" Mike quiet voice full's the room, and for Kate, she was hoping he wouldn't ask her any questions let alone talk to her, she was hoping to get out of the room before he was woken up but the doctor wouldn't allow her to leave just in case things went wrong.
"There is a lot of things wrong Mike, but the most important one I want answers for is why the hell you left me on as your emergency contact and medical decision-maker?" Kate snaps back at him.
"Because I knew no matter what you would make the right decisions."
"Yea and being stuck here making those decisions on your behalf has caused a strain on Jim and I's relationship, the last time I spoke to him two days ago we had a massive fight over the phone all thanks to you."
"It's not my damn fault if he can't handle that we are family Kate."
"That he could just handle but me having to do what I have been doing this last week, your parents should be making that choice, or maybe Penny could have made it for you since you two have gotten back together." She spits at him.
"Hey what I do is my damn bloody choice, you made your choices Kate, you now have to learn to live with them. And anyway Penny and I were talking, mending bridges over how we have handled things since the divorce. We talked things out, something we properly should have done many years ago. Look if you're going to be like this then get the hell out of here."
"Mike don't be like that." Kate pleads with him.
"Like what Kate, I've just woken up, and you're having a go at me, over a decision I made fifteen years ago, I never took you off it for a damn bloody reason Kate, the same reason I told you back then as to why. Just go Kate. I don't want you here now."
"I will go once you take me off your files."
"Fine whatever, just get out of here." He bites back at her before. Kate just walks out tears running down her face, Kerry and Paul see her enter the room they wait in and get her stuff, tears falling down her face, she ignores them when they try and talk to her, and then she leaves the room. This worries both of them.