TWELVE
Chris woke up when he heard voices. He didn't remember falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was sitting with Vin. He opened his eyes and sighed. What the hell am I going to do with him? he thought. The week had started off fantastically. Vin had brought him home from the hospital, and one thing led to another. He had finally found someone to care for again. He lay there and recognized Ezra's voice talking to Dr. Allen."Over the next 24 hours, we'll lower the dosage of the sedative," she explained.
"When will he awaken?" Ezra asked. Chris could hear the uncertainty in the usually unflappable Southerner.
"Well, let's see, at 6:00 A.M., we lowered the dosage to three milligrams per hour," she began. "At noon, it will go down to two. He should start to wake up then. Someone will have to be here with him to keep him calm."
"Rest assured someone will be here," he said.
"Oh I don't doubt it," she laughed. "Alright, around 6:00 P.M. it will be taken down to one milligram, and he should be fairly awake. This is going to be the tough time. Vin is so damned stubborn he's not going to want the tube left in. Someone's going to have to be here to keep him from pulling it out. He will also gag on it because he'll keep pushing his tongue against it."
"How the hell are we going to help him?" Ezra demanded, losing his charm.
"For you, Ezra, it will be easy. You just have to talk to him and take his mind off the tube in his mouth."
"You'd better go home and get some sleep then Ezra," Chris suggested as he sat up.
"Good morning, Chris. Did you have a good night sleep?" she asked.
"Yeah, against my will," he growled as he stood up and pulled the IV out. "I should report you to the AMA."
"Mr. Larabee, it was done for your own good," Ezra said as he defended her. "You would have been no help to Vin if you had succumbed to fatigue."
"I know, Ezra. How's he doing?" he asked as he walked to Vin's side.
"He's doing fine," she said. "He hasn't had a seizure for 24 hours, so we're taking him off the sedative."
"I heard. So he'll be waking up soon?"
"We have to take things slowly. If he becomes too agitated as we lower the dosage, he might go into a seizure, so we have to watch for that. If he cooperates, he should be waking up soon."
"Will these seizures affect him later?" Chris asked worriedly.
"I'm going to keep him on the Phenobarbital, which is an antisezure medication," she answered. "He'll have to stay on it for a few weeks until we're sure it was the antibiotic causing the affliction. Why, is there a problem?"
Chris didn't answer her as he stroked Vin's hair. Sarah could see that both Ezra and Chris were upset by the news. She turned to Ezra for the answer.
"Being a law enforcement officer, Vin won't be allowed to carry a weapon when they find out about the medication," Ezra answered.
"That's unfortunate," she said. "Well, I have to go check on my other patients."
"Is there anything we can do for him to make him comfortable?" Chris asked.
"Believe me, Chris, right now, he's as comfortable as he can be," she smiled. "I'll be back later."
Ezra watched her walk out the door, then turned back to Chris. He watched Chris tenderly wipe Vin's face and neck. Ezra thought, If the petty people who refereed to Chris as the "ice man" could see him now, they would be surprised. Chris Larabee's tough as nails shell had been cracked wide open. Ezra found it ironic that the quiet sharpshooter had been the one to do it. He walked over to Vin's left side.
"What the hell am I going to do, Ezra?"
"About what, Mr. Larabee?"
"About the damned seizure meds!" Chris exclaimed. "It will kill him to take a desk job."
"Let us worry about one situation at a time, shall we?" Ezra said. "First, let's make sure he stays calm. This way, he will awaken sooner."
"Damn, Ezra, you're right," Chris sighed, running his hands through his hair.
"Ezra's right about what?" JD asked as he and Buck walked in.
"I said he needed to negotiate with the nurses to ask for a shower," Ezra answered. "You did bring our fearless leader some clothes?"
"Don't worry, Ezra. We got everything you asked for," Buck said. "Now it's time for you to go home and get some sleep."
"Mr. Larabee, children, I will see you tonight," he said as he leaned down to talk to Vin. "And you, Mr. Tanner, don't do anything to make your condition worse."
He stood up and saluted Chris with his familiar gesture. Chris just shook his head as he went out the door. He wasn't sure when that little ritual with the two-fingered salute had started, but now Vin did it on occasion also.
"How is he?" Buck asked.
"They started to take him off the sedative," Chris said. "He should be waking up this afternoon."
"That's great!" JD said enthusiastically until he noticed Chris's look. "Ain't it?"
"He'll have to keep the tube in while he's awake," Chris answered.
"Vin ain't going to like that," Buck said shaking his head. "What can we do?"
"Nothing right now. We just have to make sure he stays calm."
"Alright. Why don't you go get washed up? We'll keep an eye on Junior."
Chris smiled and took the offered clothes. When Vin was first brought on the team, Buck referred to him as "Kid". Now that JD had that nickname, Buck had started calling Vin "Junior". It drove JD crazy being called "Kid", but Vin didn't mind his nickname. Chris had asked him once why it didn't bother him. Vin told him that he was happy Buck had accepted him and that he had been called worse. Chris walked out past Sonya and headed for the doctors' lounge. ___________________
Kathy came back on duty at 11:00 A.M. and walked into ICU. Sonya was behind the desk doing some paper work. She could see JD and Buck in with Vin, but there was no sign of Chris.
"Chris still asleep?" she asked as she got closer.
"No, he went to take a shower."
"How's he doing?"
"Fine," Sonya smiled. "Dr. Allen lowered the dosage of Versed."
"Oh great," Kathy sighed. "Just in time for my shift."
"You'll live," she laughed. "I can stare at them all day."
"Sonya!" Kathy scolded.
"Oh come on," Sonya said, giving Kathy a knowing look. "You love being around them."
"OK, OK, I'll admit they are all certainly eye candy," she said with a laugh.
"Especially Ezra," Sonya sighed. "I just melt when he talks."
"No, that's Josiah."
"Oh not fair. That's a tough call," Sonya protested.
"JD, now he's just as cute as a puppy."
"I like my men a little older," Sonya smiled. "Now Buck certainly is a looker."
"Oh yes he is," Kathy smiled. "But I like a man that looks only at me and not every pretty women in the room."
Chris came down the hall and stopped when he heard the nurses laughing. He recognized Kathy describing Buck as having a wandering eye. He smiled when he realized that they were gossiping about his men and decided to eavesdrop.
"Nathan sure is a cutie," Sonya said.
"Yes, but I heard he has a very nice girlfriend."
"Now I have to admit Vin is my favorite," Sonya said. "Those blues eyes and long hair are just irresistible. And he's so polite even when hurting."
"And those blushes are just adorable," Kathy agreed. "Except Chris isn't bad either."
"So, you like the silent and brooding type?"
"I don't know, Chris, are you the silent and brooding type?" Kathy asked with a smile.
"How did you know I was there?"
"Just a hunch," she laughed. "You couldn't stay in the shower all that long."
"To answer your question, yes, I'm the silent and brooding type," Chris said.
She laughed as Chris headed for Vin's room. He walked in to find Buck and JD acting out the comics from the newspaper. When they saw Chris, they stopped.
"Hey, Pard," Buck said. "Told you everything would be fine."
"Well, now that Chris is back, I'll go out and get us lunch," JD announced. "What do want?"
They gave JD their orders, and he headed for the door. He stopped and turned back to them.
"Um, Buck?"
"What, Kid?"
"Can I borrow some money?"
Buck grumbled something about not being an ATM as he handed JD forty dollars. JD went out again and headed for the deli around the corner. Chris grabbed the brush from his bag and walked over to Vin and started brushing his hair. It was in desperate need of washing. Chris carefully brushed out the knots. He remembered he used to love to brush Sarah's hair. Vin's wasn't as long as hers had been, but it was long enough. Buck watched Chris with Vin and smiled. He got comfortable and read the paper. An hour later, Kathy came in and lowered the sedative.
"He'll probably start to wake up soon," Kathy explained. "He's still going to be a little disoriented. Just try to keep him calm. He'll probably try to move his arms and legs just to prove to himself he can. Just talk to him and reassure him."
As Kathy walked out, JD walked in.
"Man, never go to a deli by a hospital at lunch time," JD complained. "They were packed."
"Why don't you and JD eat first? I'll watch Vin," said Buck.
Chris and JD went out into the waiting room and ate their sandwiches. Chris finished quickly and returned to Vin's room. Buck shook his head as he watched Chris sit next to Vin and take his hand. He left and joined JD in the waiting room.
"Did he even taste his sandwich?" Buck asked.
"Huh?" asked JD.
"He ate it so fast, I don't think he even tasted it."
"Oh," JD said distracted.
"OK, Kid, what's up?"
"Casey and Nettie come home today," JD said.
"Damn!" Buck cursed.
"I'm supposed to meet them at the airport," JD explained. "What am I going to tell Nettie?"
"I'll go with you to pick them up."
"Thanks, Buck."
They finished their lunch and went back to join Chris. They were discussing what was going on at the office when Vin started to move his legs. Chris moved to sit on the bed next to him. He could see Vin's eyelashes fluttering. Chris grabbed his hand when he saw his fingers start to move.
"I'll get Kathy," Buck said as he stood up.
"No need," she said as she walked in and moved to Vin's side.
She checked his vitals, and everything was fine. Vin was slowly waking up. Chris sat holding his hand so he couldn't move it. Buck and JD stood at the foot of his bed and waited.
"Chris, talk to him," Kathy suggested.
"Hey Vin," Chris called. "Open your eyes."
Vin's eyes fluttered and finally opened. Chris moved into his line of sight. He could see his eyes weren't focused.
"Hey, cowboy," Chris said with a smile. "Think you can stop moving your legs for me?"
Chris watched as Vin tried to understand what he was asking. Buck gently grabbed his legs. The touch made the connection, and Vin stopped moving them. Chris continued to talk with Vin. Kathy was satisfied he wasn't going to get agitated and left the room. Vin remained conscious for an hour, then went back to sleep. Buck and JD left at five to pick up Casey and Nettie. Nathan and Josiah joined Chris. At 6:00 P.M., Dr. Allen came in to check on Vin. She was satisfied that he was doing OK and lowered the dosage again.
"Alright, things might get rough," she warned. "This time when he wakes up, he's really going to start moving. He's going to start to tongue the tube, causing him to gag and cough. Just keep reminding him not to move his tongue. There's paper and pencil in the draw. That way, he can write out what he wants. I'll be back in a little while."
Josiah and Nathan sat and watched Chris pace next to Vin's bed. After a half-hour, Josiah couldn't stand Chris's pacing and cornered him.
"Let's go for a walk," Josiah suggested.
"What?" Chris asked looking at Josiah like he had grown another head.
"You heard me," he said and grabbed Chris's arm.
Chris didn't want to cause a scene and went with Josiah. Not that he had a choice. Josiah outweighed him. They didn't go far. Josiah stopped, and Chris leaned against the wall.
"You have to take it easy, Chris."
"I know," he said, running his fingers through his short blonde hair.
"I think you need some fresh air," Josiah suggested. "You haven't been out of this hospital in days."
"But..."
"I'm not taking no for an answer. I'm bigger than you are," he said with a smile. "Nathan will call us if he wakes up."
Josiah took Chris out to the hospital courtyard and they wandered around. They went back inside around 8:00 P.M. When they entered, Chris could see Vin was beginning to stir.
"I was just about to come looking for you," Nathan said.
Chris moved to Vin's side as he came awake. This time he was more aware and realized something was wrong. He began to gag on the tube when he moved his tongue. Vin began to panic when he realized what was going on. He started coughing and thrashing his legs.
"Vin!" Chris called grabbing his head. "Listen to me. You have to relax."
He stopped thrashing when Chris called grabbed his head. Vin turned pleading eyes towards Chris. He knew what Vin wanted.
"I'm sorry, Vin," Chris said stroking his hair. "It has to stay in for a while longer."
Vin moved his hand towards the tube and Chris grabbed it. Vin tried to struggle out of Chris's grasp and started gagging on the tube again. Chris grabbed his head and told him to stop moving his tongue. He did as Chris said, but wasn't happy about it. Chris could see he was going to fight.
"Listen to me, Vin," Chris said looking in his eyes. "You have to stay relaxed, or they will sedate you again."
Vin gave Chris a slight nod and tried to relax. Chris sat back and took his hand. Vin tried not to tongue the tube, but it was hard. Josiah sat on the other side of Vin and began to recite old Indian tales. This distracted Vin for a while. He struggled and gagged a few times, but stopped each time Chris told him to. Chris could see it was going to be a long night. Around 9:00 P.M., Nettie walked in.
"I can't leave you for five minutes," Nettie scolded as she moved next to Vin.
Chris got up to give her room. He watched as she talked to Vin and held his hand. Vin closed his eyes as he listened to Nettie's rough voice.
"When I told her what happened, she insisted on coming over," Buck explained.
"I'm glad she did," Chris said. "Where's JD?"
"He wanted to come back here, but Nettie insisted they go have a good time," Buck answered.
Josiah and Nathan said they were heading to the cafeteria for some coffee. Buck decided to go with them. Chris went back inside and joined Nettie. When he got closer, he could see that Vin was asleep.
"Thanks," Chris said.
"Anytime, son," she said patting his hand.
Nettie sent the others home when they came back from the cafeteria. Once they were gone, she ordered Chris to sleep. Kathy was shocked when she came in to find him asleep. Nettie was sitting next to Vin reading. Kathy checked his vitals and saw he was awake. She smiled at him and went out. As she walked out, Ezra walked in. When he saw Chris asleep and Nettie sitting next to Vin, he smiled.
"My good lady, remind me not to get on your bad side," he said as he moved next to Vin. "Ah, Mr. Tanner, it's good to see you awake and coherent for a change."
Vin pointed to the pencil and paper. Nettie held the pad while he wrote on it. When he was done, Nettie read it and smiled, then handed it to Ezra. It read "Nice to see you too, Ez." The 'E' in Ezra was backwards.
"Am I to assume you would have said that in a rather sarcastic voice?" Ezra asked with a smile. He ignored the backward "E" since Vin had told them about his problem when he knew he could trust them.
Nettie laughed and settled next to Vin. Ezra pulled out a copy of Hamlet and coaxed Nettie to be Ophelia and Hamlet's mother while he read the male parts. Chris woke up around 11:00 P.M. to hear Ezra reciting the "To be or not to be" speech. He sat up and noticed the nurses had turned on the intercom.
"Ezra, it would appear you have a larger audience," Chris said nodding towards the nurses.
Ezra stood up and bowed towards them. Chris laughed as they turned off the intercom. Kathy came in and gave Chris a dirty look. She checked Vin's vitals and everything was fine. The antibiotics were finally taking effect and Vin's temperature was down to 102. She turned the Versed completely off.
"Alright Vin, the sedative is turned off," Kathy said. "I'm going to call Dr. Allen and the respiratory therapist."
Kathy left and called them. A half hour later, Kathy came back with the therapist.
"Vin, Dr. Allen was in surgery. This is Cameron. He's going to lower the ventilator."
"Hello, Mr. Tanner. Just try to relax."
He moved to the ventilator and turned it down to deliver only five breaths. It had been giving Vin 10 breaths a minute. Cameron waited patiently counting the breaths Vin took over the next minute. He was satisfied when the combination of Vin's breathing and the machine's was 17. He listened with the stethoscope.
"I think the tubes need to be drained," he suggested. "I'll be back in a few hours and see how you're doing. If everything is going well, I'll lower the ventilator again."
He went out and Kathy got everything ready to drain the chest tube. She gave him a dose of morphine and began clapping her hands along his ribs. Vin grunted and squeezed Chris's hand. He gagged on the tube, and Ezra moved to his other side.
"Do you have to do that?" Chris said in concern.
"You know I do."
When she was finished, she hit the morphine dose. Chris wiped the sweat from Vin's face. The morphine deadened the pain, and he drifted off to sleep. Chris sat on the bed next to Vin.
"You've been around each time they've done that?" Nettie asked.
"Unfortunately," Chris said.
They all decided to get comfortable since they would be here all night. Around 4:00 A.M., Cameron came back and lowered the ventilator to deliver four breaths a minute. Vin stayed asleep and was still taking 17 breaths a minute. The therapist nodded to Chris and went out again. Around 5:00 A.M., Vin woke up. He pointed to the pad. Chris held it while he wrote on the paper. When he was done, Chris turned it around and read it. It said "When". Chris knew what he wanted.
"It's coming out soon," Chris said squeezing his shoulder. "I promise."
Vin wrote on the pad again, then pointed to Ezra. Chris handed him the pad.
"I would be honored," Ezra said as he stood up.
He picked up Hamlet and began where he'd left off. At 6:00 A.M., Cameron came back and turned off the ventilator, but left the machine on to deliver just oxygen. He counted his breaths, and Vin took 18 breaths on his own. After a few minutes, he was satisfied that Vin wasn't in distress or laboring to breathe.
"Alright, we're in business," Cameron said. "Well waited 30 minutes and see how you do. I'll be back."
Vin continued to breathe on his own for the next 30 minutes. Cameron saw the pulseox showed Vin's oxygen saturation to be 93 per cent. He then ordered a blood gas. Kathy swabbed Vin's wrist and took a blood sample. Vin jerked when she did it
"Sorry, Vin, I know that one hurts."
She sent the blood down to the lab and ordered a rush. Dr. Allen walked in just as the results came back. She let Cameron look at them first.
"Everything's fine," he said.
"Thanks, Cameron. I'll take it from here," Dr. Allen said.
"Sure thing, doc," he said with a smile as he walked out.
"Vin, are you ready to have that taken out?" she asked. She laughed when Vin glared at her. "You better let Chris do the glaring. Those baby blues just aren't as convincing."
Nettie laughed. Dr. Allen smiled and explained what she wanted him to do. He needed to cough as it was pulled out. She warned it was going to hurt because of the chest tubes. She hit the morphine and asked if he was ready. Vin nodded, and she told him to cough. When he did, she pulled in one steady motion. When it was out, Vin lay back in the bed gasping and pressing his right arm against his side. Sarah told Kathy to hook the NG tube to suction just in case. He slowly began to relax. Kathy walked over and placed a nasal cannula on Vin.
"Well, I'm off," Dr. Allen said. "I'll see you again tonight. Now behave."
"Mr. Tanner, I must take my leave and get my beauty sleep," Ezra said coming over to him.
"You need all the help you can get, son." Nettie said chuckling. "I need to be going also. These old bones can't take sitting in these chairs."
"Allow me to escort you home," Ezra said.
Nettie kissed Vin on the forehead, and they started to leave. Before they did, Vin croaked out something and began to cough.
"Might I suggested you don't do that?" Ezra said.
Vin pointed to the pad. Chris handed it to him and he wrote "Thanks". They both smiled at him and left. Kathy was also off shift and bid them good night. Chris watched as Vin fell asleep. Chris envied Nettie that she was able to kiss Vin. He sighed and sat down in the chair.
"Chris," Vin croaked.
"Shhhh, don't talk," he said. "Write it out."
He held the paper for Vin as he wrote. When he was done, Chris read what it said. "Where's my candy?" Vin smiled, and Chris burst out laughing. He watched as Vin closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Chris knew Vin was going to be alright. He decided to lie down on the cot, and he fell asleep.