ELEVEN
Chris woke up to see Kathy standing over him."Hi, there, sleepy head. Here some scrubs and towels. The residents' showers are that way." She said pointing down the hall to the left. "Buck and I will stay with Vin."
Chris started to protest, but he was beginning to see that this nurse's will was a strong as his own. He smiled, took the offered clothing, and headed for the locker room. Perhaps a shower would do him good. Buck heard the nurse talking to Chris and straightened in his chair. Vin hadn't changed positions since he last checked.
"Hey, thanks for pushing him out of here."
"Well, it's obvious he is very attached to this one."
Kathy commented, patting Vin's leg as she made her way along his bed, checking the chest tube and IV's and preparing to give Vin his next dose of antibiotic. Vin sensed the nurse's presence and opened his eyes. He tried to reach up to wipe his lips with his left arm and felt pain. Big pain. It tore across his chest, and he stiffened against it, trying not to move.
"Easy, Vin. Hold on. Let me give you a dose of morphine," Kathy said
She set the machine to dose Vin and watched quietly until he closed his eyes. Buck took Vin's hand and held it firmly letting him know he was there. He talked quietly, beginning a story. Kathy listened to Buck's voice as she added the piggyback of antibiotic to Vin's IV line and started the infusion of the antibiotic. Chris came back inside Vin's cubicle as Kathy was stacking instruments on a bedside table.
"How's he doing? Any changes?" he asked
"He woke for a few minutes, but forgot about his shoulder and tried to move. Poor guy, I gave him a dose of pain meds, and he's sleeping again. I just started his next dose of antibiotics so, hopefully, that will start working magic soon. I know you are worried, but just don't make yourself sick too, OK?" She said placing a suture removal tray on the table. "OK, Chris, take it off!"
Chris swung his head in the nurse's direction and started to snap at her. As he turned, he saw her smiling, holding up hands wrapped in sterile gloves.
"Time for those sutures to come out." She laughed, reaching for the forceps and scissors and motioning with her head for Chris to sit on the cot.
"No, they're fine. I'll have someone do it tomorrow." Chris tried to talk her out of her plan. "You don't have to do that."
"Yes, I do. Now sit!" She commanded, standing her ground, staring at him.
Chris shook his head and made his way to the cot. He gave Buck a dirty look when he laughed. Buck ignored him, chuckling. He took off the scrub top and sat so he could see Vin while Kathy worked. She had almost finished placing steri-stripes on Chris's wounds when she heard the monitor alarm sound. Chris was rising off the cot and moving toward Vin's bed faster than she would have believed. Vin was seizing violently, his shoulders and back arching off the bed. His right arm slapped against the sheets. He made a grunting noise as his body tried to force air from his lungs and his heart raced. Buck was backing up against the wall, shaking his head.
"No! Damn it! Not again." Buck cursed.
"Get help! Get me another nurse! Tell her to get the code cart!" she said, pushing Buck towards the door. Vin's oxygen levels were dangerously low as his body fought to break the convulsion that held him.
"What's happening? " Dr. Marcus asked, rounding the corner of the door followed by a nurse with the crash cart.
"His seizure won't break. He's been seizing now for over a minute. I can't get any oxygen into him with the bag and mask. His oxygen saturations are too low. " Kathy tried desperately to continue pushing oxygen into Vin's lungs.
"Five milligrams of Valium, get it into him fast! We're going to end up loosing him if we don't move it and break this seizure," Dr. Marcus said giving orders.
He moved quickly around the bed, pushing Chris back and into Buck's arms. Chris stared at the scene before him with terror in his gut. Vin was thrashing violently, and there was nothing he could do. He watched Kathy continue to try to move air into his lungs and the others giving Vin medications to try to end his convulsions. Nothing was working. The Valium that had worked before was not helping now.
"OK, let's move to Versed. Get five milligrams now and draw up some Pavulon. If I have to, I'll paralyze him and put down a breathing tube," Dr. Marcus said.
Kathy gave up the bag and mask to the respiratory therapist and quickly gave Vin the medication. Everyone around the bed held their breath as they waited to see what would happen. Vin's body continued to thrash and move. The new medicine having no affect.
"Ok, let's get set up to tube him. Get the Pavulon ready, Kathy," Dr. Marcus called.
Kathy nodded and drew up the medicine as ordered. She looked up across the room and saw Chris standing with Buck.
"Buck, get him out now! I mean it, move!"
Buck's head came up, and he nodded in understanding. Chris fought against Buck's attempts to pull him out.
"Take your hands off me, Buck!" Chris yelled. "I'm staying!"
"God damn it, Chris, we're in the way here!"
"I left him once. I won't do it again!"
"Do you trust me Chris?" Dr. Marcus asked over his shoulder. "I need the room. Besides, it will be too hard to watch. I'll take care of him, don't worry."
Chris reluctantly followed Buck out the door. He stopped just outside the windows and watched. Dr. Marcus positioned Vin's head to insert the breathing tube. The medicine had stopped Vin's convulsion, but it also made it so he couldn't breathe on his own. He would have to be placed on a ventilator with the breathing tube in his lungs until they could get his seizures under control.
"OK, I've got good lung sounds on both sides of his chest. Let's get an x-ray, stat, and I want him loaded with Phenobarbital -- 150 milligrams slowly. No more than 60 milligrams per minute. Watch his heart rate. I'll write the rest of his orders. Where's his medicine sheet? Oh, Kathy, let's get him started on a Versed continuous IV drip to keep him quiet on the ventilator. He's not going to like having that tube in when he wakes up. Let's hope the Phenobarbital stops this seizing. I'm gonna go read his chart and see what's going on. Get him set up for transporting for a CAT Scan. We need to stop this, or this young man is going to die. I'm going to go talk to Chris," Dr. Marcus spoke rapidly to Kathy as he went out searching for Chris and Buck.
He didn't have to go far in his search. Chris was standing right outside the ICU windows. Marcus could see Chris was upset but trying to deny it. He had seen this reaction hundreds of times.
"Well?" Chris demanded as he got closer.
"The seizures have stopped for now," he began. "The Valium didn't work this time, so I paralyzed him to stop the seizure. The down side to this is he's not breathing on his own. We'll keep him sedated and on the ventilator for 24 hours to see if his seizures are finished. We're going to run a number of tests to see what's wrong. Hopefully we can figure out what's causing the seizures. They're getting ready to take him to get a CAT Scan. I'm afraid we'll just have to wait and see."
"Thanks," Chris said in a terse voice and headed back to Vin.
"Is he going to be OK?" Buck asked.
"I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "He's in pretty bad shape. Don't worry. We'll do everything we can for him."
"I know Doc, thanks," Buck said and watched as he went down the hall.
Buck decided to wait out there. The nurses were putting everything on the gurney holding Vin. He saw Kathy talking to Chris. He looked up at her and nodded. Buck couldn't believe this was happening. Maybe letting Vin on the team had been a bad idea. He seemed to be a magnet for trouble. If he wasn't taking a bullet meant for one of them, he was getting sick worrying about them. He was thinking of ways to keep Vin safe when he heard Ezra swear.
"Good Lord! What the hell happened?" he demanded.
He could see Vin through the window, and he didn't look good. They started to push him out the door. Chris was pushing the ventilator that was keeping Vin breathing. Normally they wouldn't have a civilian helping, but Kathy knew he had to help. She had gotten him to put the scrub shirt back on before they left. They passed Buck and another gentleman as they went out the door. Kathy gave Buck a smile and told him they'd be back. Buck wandered over to the waiting room, and Ezra followed. Buck dropped heavily into one of the chairs and ran his fingers through his hair. Ezra waited patiently for him to explain.
"Vin had another seizure," he said. "They couldn't get it to stop, so they paralyzed him, and now he's not breathing on his own."
"Do they have any idea why they are occurring?" Ezra asked.
"They ain't sure. They're going to run a bunch of tests. They're taking him to get a CAT Scan, whatever that is."
"I think I should inform our compatriots of what has developed," Ezra said. "I believe they will be more than eager to drop what they are doing."
Buck leaned back in the chair and listened while Ezra called the others. He was trying to think of ways they could convince Chris to get some rest. It wasn't going to be easy. Now that they were lovers, Buck knew Chris would feel even more responsible. It was crazy, but he knew Chris. He heard Ezra click his cell phone closed and turned to him.
"Our partners will be here posthaste."
Buck nodded and leaned his head back. Ezra watched Buck get comfortable and slowly drift off to sleep. Ezra hated not knowing what was going on. He was used to be in charge, taking matters into his own hands. Most of all, he hated to wait. He tried sitting quietly, but it was no use. He needed to do something. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a deck of cards, and began to shuffle them. The sound and the feel of the cards made him smile. He did some tricks and waited for the others. It didn't seem like he had waited long when he heard the others approach. JD was unmistakable in his Reebok high tops. The sound of squeaking could be heard on the polished floor.
"Well?" JD demanded as he rushed in the room.
Ezra gave told them what he knew, and Buck added the rest.
"Seems Brother Vin can't stay out of ICU," Josiah said. "Even on his first assignment, he ended up here on a ventilator."
"Damn, I think we should put Vin in a box and only let him out on holidays," said JD.
"I'm going to put you in with him," Buck warned.
"Aw, come on, Buck, I'm not as bad as him," JD protested, and they all gave him a look. "Well, OK, maybe a little."
They waited only a few minutes when they saw them pushing Vin towards ICU. Chris was following close behind still pushing the ventilator. They disappeared into the area with the cubicles, and they all followed. They stayed out of the way as they backed the gurney into position and rearranged all of the equipment. Once everything was settled, they entered the room."
"You can't come in here," Carla said standing in front of them.
"It's OK, Carla," Kathy said.
"Let me guess, they're regulars," she said with a smile as she went out.
"Gentleman, I'm going to have to insist on only two at a time," Kathy warned. "We can't have Vin getting agitated. You can all stay for a few minutes."
"But wouldn't Vin be less agitated if he knew we were all here?" JD asked as he went closer to Vin.
"He's right," Josiah said.
"Usually I would agree, but he needs quiet," she said. "Besides, we're going to need you later when we take him off the sedative. He's going to have to be awake a few hours with the tube still in before we can take it out. He's not going to like it."
"You can say that again," Buck commented.
"What all are you giving him?" Nathan asked looking at Vin's chart. "I'm not familiar with this Versed medication."
"It's fairly new," she began. "It causes temporary amnesia. We gave it to him so he won't remember the tube being inserted. He won't remember any of this until we start to wean him off it."
"When will that be?" Josiah asked.
"We're going to have to keep him under for 24 hours to make sure we have his seizures under control. Then we will wean him off the Versed over a 24-hour period. By the end, he will be awake and conscious. That's going to be the toughest time."
"Why? JD asked.
"Because he's going to gag on the tube," Nathan said. "It's a natural reaction to something being down your throat."
"Exactly," Kathy agreed. "So you'll have to keep him distracted until we can take it out."
"That won't be to hard," JD said. "Buck knows some pretty crazy tales, and Ezra could always recite poetry to him."
"It would be my pleasure," Ezra agreed.
"Well, what he needs right now is quiet," Kathy said. "There's nothing that can be done until tomorrow, so why don't you all get some dinner?"
"Sounds like a plan," Buck agreed. "Come on. Chris. Where should we go?"
"I'm not going anywhere," he said giving them an icy blue stare
"Chris," Buck began.
"Don't "Chris" me, Buck!" he snarled. "I'm not leaving him. Do I make myself clear?"
"I have a solution," Ezra said coming between them. "Why don't the rest of you partake of victuals and I will remain with Mr. Larabee? You can bring us back something."
They reluctantly agreed. They knew they weren't going to get Chris to leave, but they had tried. Kathy followed the others out, and Ezra took a chair on Vin's left side. Chris was on his right holding his hand. Ezra sat back and listened to the machinery that was keeping Vin alive. He glanced at Vin's face. He looked so vulnerable, and now Ezra knew why Chris wouldn't leave. He also noticed that Vin was a very attractive young man. In his relaxed state, Vin's face was smooth and peaceful. He'd never noticed just how muscular Vin was. His bare chest was well defined, as was his washboard abdomen. His arms were also muscled. The thing that surprised Ezra was just how skinny Vin really was. His clothes seemed to give him more bulk than he really had. He also had a gun at the small of his back making him seem larger. Without all the coverings, Vin was rather scrawny, very attractive, but still scrawny. Ezra could see what had attracted the "Icy Man" to Vin. Heck, if his feelings ran that way, he would have chosen Vin for himself. He leaned back and pulled the cards from his pocket and began to shuffle them.
"Ezra, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Mr. Larabee."
"What gave us away?" Chris asked.
"Small things. The way you looked at Vin with a smile on your face. When you passed him to sit far away from him, you brushed his shoulder with your hand. Why do you ask?"
"Buck said you were the one who noticed. I wanted to find out what gave us away so we wouldn't do it again."
"To be honest, I don't think most people would notice. Being who I am, I have to notice small gestures and facial expressions that are out of the ordinary. I can assure you no one at the office will ever notice, unless the two of you do something completely insane."
"Thanks, Ezra," Chris said looking at him. "Vin has no idea that any of you know about us, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"I understand perfectly," Ezra said.
"I'm not sure you do," Chris began.
"Let me see," Ezra said. "Mr. Tanner is rather shy and unsure of what to do. He would rather your relationship remain between the two of you. He's not ashamed of it, but he is unsure of other people's reactions. I think the ones he is unsure of are the kids in his building."
"You know, I think you're right."
"Of course I am. Aren't I always?" he said with a smile.
Chris just shook his head. Ezra could be an annoying pain in the ass sometimes, but he was usually right. Not that Chris would ever admit that to him. He was probably right about Vin's thoughts regarding the children. He took his place as a role model very seriously, but Chris was pretty sure the kids would be accepting of his feelings. Chris would have to ask him about it. If he wanted to keep their relationship hidden from them, that was fine by him. Whatever made him happy. Chris got up from the chair and sat on the bed next to Vin. He stroked his forehead and tucked his hair behind his ears. He carefully leaned over and kissed Vin on the forehead. He missed feeling Vin next to him, kissing him. He sat back up and saw Ezra watching him. He smiled and went back to shuffling his cards. Chris sat back down in the chair and tried to get comfortable. He would be glad when Dr. Allen came back. She seemed to know exactly what Vin needed. He had nothing against Dr. Marcus. He was grateful that he'd taken over from that damned intern. Chris had almost dozed off when the others returned. They brought back pasta from Mario's, but said Kathy was adamant about it not being eaten in the room. Chris reluctantly joined Ezra in the waiting room to eat. Josiah and Nathan stayed with Vin. Ezra sat down and opened his Penne ala Vodka. When he opened the lid, he took a deep breath, sighed, then began to eat. Chris opened his linguine with clam sauce, but he wasn't that hungry. He ate some of it to keep Nathan from yelling at him, but it had no flavor. Everything tasted the same, just like after Sarah and Adam had died. Chris blanched and pushed the food away. Buck noticed Chris's face get pale as he pushed the food away. He was about to say something when Chris quickly got up and went back to Vin. Nathan entered the waiting room and noticed Chris had hardly eaten a thing.
"Damn!" Nathan cursed. "He's going to make himself sick."
"I know, but there ain't much we can do," Buck said, "but wait."
At midnight, Dr. Allen entered her office for the graveyard shift. She was going through her papers when she heard a knock on her door.
"It's open!" she called.
"Hello, Dr. Allen," Dr. Marcus greeted her. "Do you have a minute?"
"For my baby brother, of course," she said gesturing to a chair.
"Well, I'm not sure how to tell you this," he began.
"You know me. Just spit it out, Bret," she smiled.
"OK Sarah. One of your patients was readmitted to the hospital. You should remember him, the one that you had to stitch back together."
"Vin Tanner," she said. "What the hell did he do now?"
"He didn't plan it. He came with a severe case of pneumonia that had a few complications. His fever has been 104 since he was brought in two days ago. He had a pneumothorax and a chest tube was put in down in the ER. He went into convulsions this morning and was placed in ICU. When he seized, he pulled out the chest tube."
"So, how do you know about his case?" she asked. "Where was my intern?"
"Well," he began, then started to squirm.
"Out with it," she warned.
"Alright. I got a call to report to ICU stat. I came in to find Mr. Larabee practically at Thompson's throat. Apparently he was trying to get the chest tube back in, but wasn't being too gentle. When I got there, I asked to see the x-rays, and he hadn't taken any. Also Mr. Tanner wasn't even hooked up to the monitors. I took over and replaced the chest tube. I could see Mr. Larabee wanted no part of Thompson, so I took over the case."
"I see," she said with a scowl.
"Don't worry. I already read him the riot act."
"Well, now he gets it from me as well," she smiled gleefully. "So how's Vin?"
"Not good, I'm afraid. He had a seizure about six hours ago. We couldn't get it to stop, so I paralyzed him and tubed him. He's hooked to a ventilator, and I put him on Versed."
"Shit!" she cursed. "I better go down and check on him."
"Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"Aren't you off duty?"
"Yeah, I am, but this case has me stumped," he said as they walked to ICU. "All his tests came back negative. I have no idea what's causing his seizures."
They got on the elevator and headed for the fourth floor. The doors opened and she walked up to the nurses station for the ICU.
"Evening, Sonya," she greeted the nurse. "How's Mr. Tanner?"
"No change," she said, "We bathed him, well actually we didn't. His watchdogs did. We checked all his meds and the machines and everything is the same. Kathy tried to keep them all out, but it's a loosing battle with them."
"Don't I know it," she said with a laugh.
"Last time I looked they were all asleep," Sonya said. "They aren't going to be happy when they wake up after sleeping in those chairs."
"I bet, considering that we keep the most uncomfortable chairs there."
She quietly walked into the room and understood what Sonya was talking about. Josiah's big frame was mashed into one of the small chairs. He had his head against the wall and one leg over the arm. Nathan's tall frame was no better. Sarah wasn't sure how he was staying in the chair. Buck was asleep with JD's head in his lap. Ezra was the only smart one. He was sprawled on the cot. The last one she turned to was Chris. He had pulled a chair close to Vin's head on the right side. He had Vin's hand in his and was leaning back. Sarah was pretty sure he was awake. The last time she thought he was asleep, he had scared her half to death. She moved to the bed and took the chart off its hook. As soon as she got closer, she saw Chris's eyes open.
"I thought I told you I didn't want you back in here," she scolded.
"You know, Vin. He can't stay away."
She placed the chart on Vin's legs and moved up to take his vitals and check the machines. The others started to stir when they heard voices. She checked his left leg and smiled.
"Well at least that's coming along nicely," she commented. "His fever is still high."
"I know," Dr. Marcus said. "The antibiotics should be working by now."
She read his chart looking for the antibiotic that was prescribed. When she came to it she frowned. Clindomycin, she thought, what's bugging me about this? She tapped the chart and raked her brain.
"Sarah, I mean, Dr. Allen, what is it?" Bret asked.
"I'm not sure," she said. "It will come to me. So, I see you have all coerced my brother to take Vin's case."
"Your brother?" Chris said. "No wonder I liked him."
"I'm glad to know you do," he smiled. "I wasn't sure."
"Damn!!!!" Dr. Allen cursed. "Clindomycin is what's causing the seizures!"
"The antibiotic, why?"
"It's fairly new, and we got some literature on it a few weeks back. It was a warning saying it might cause seizures in people allergic to penicillin."
"I'll kill him!!!!" Chris yelled and bolted out of the chair. "Where's Thompson?"
"Hold on Chris," Dr. Allen said. "This was an unfortunate accident."
"Accident!!!" Chris snarled. "I made sure everyone knew he was allergic to penicillin. That quack gave him an antibiotic that almost killed him."
"I know," she said sympathetically. "It wasn't Thompson's fault. The literature was only sent to department chiefs. I'm not even sure how he knew about the drug. Don't worry, I'll take care of him. First, I have to get Vin started on a new antibiotic to take his fever down."
She went out and gave instructions to the nurse for another antibiotic. Sonya went and got what she wanted, and Dr. Allen came back in the room. She went over to Vin and hooked the new antibiotic to his IV.
"Hopefully, that will do the trick," she said.
"I can't believe I didn't catch that," Bret said.
"Don't beat yourself up, son," Josiah said placing his hand on his shoulder. "Without you, Vin would be in worse shape."
"Josiah's right," Sarah said. "It was an accident."
She looked at Chris and could see he wasn't convinced. She decided she'd better send Thompson to his pediatric rotation. That would take him far away from the wrath of Chris Larabee.
"So, Chris, how are you doing?" she asked as she walked over to the counter.
"Fine."
"Let em guess, you haven't left his side once, have you?"
"Yeah, once," he commented. "When he had his first seizure, I was out of the room."
"So now you're beating yourself up for it and won't leave," she said as she walked over to him.
"That's right," he said.
She casually bent over to check Vin and injected Chris with a sedative.
"Damn you!" he cried as it took effect and he slumped in the chair.
"Help me get him on the cot."
Josiah picked Chris up and placed him on the cot. Dr. Allen came over and started Chris on an IV. When she was done, she covered him with a blanket and stepped back.
"Bravo, my dear," Ezra commented.
"I sure don't want to be here when he wakes up," JD said.
"That makes two of us," Buck agreed.
"I'm not afraid of Chris Larabee," she said, and they all looked at her. "OK, maybe a little."
"Don't worry, I'll be here when he does," Nathan said. "Fool! I'll explain it was the only way to get him to sleep."
"Well actually, he'll sleep until morning," she said. "I see Vin was placed on Versed early this morning so we will start to wean him of it then. You gentleman can go home and sleep. Don't worry. I'm on duty tonight so I'll keep an eye on them both."
They reluctantly agreed and headed home. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. It was a good thing it was Saturday or they would have to lie to AD Travis about what they were up too.