Fic: Dig the Hole Wide and Deep (23/?)
Nov. 27th, 2007 05:05 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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nickngregTitle: Dig the Hole Wide and Deep
Rating: PG-13 for a little off-color language
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Summary: The morning after.
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is a sequel to ‘Putting Down Roots’ which you can find
here
Previous parts of this story can be found here
After some more heated discussion and one sort of funny revelation, Bobby and Alan came to a decision. Greg was temporarily being cared for but Nick was in jeopardy so Alan would stay with Nick and Bobby and Steve would continue their hands-on care of Greg as a temporary solution; then came the funny revelation.
Just before they said good-bye, Bobby had said, “Uh…Alan, please try to get Greg in to see you as soon as possible.”
“Bobby, you know I will but why, is there a problem with you and Steve taking care of him?”
“Well, you know Steve and Chelsi are my whole life and I’m pretty sure Steve feels the same about me but….”
“But what?”
“Well, Greg is always appealing and with him as hurt as he is right now and the fact that he’s a snuggler and a cuddler…well….Damn it, you know what I’m trying to say!”
Alan could not help it; he laughed out loud. When Bobby’s heartfelt swearing finally got through to him he tried to hold the laughter down to an occasional chuckle and when he thought he could talk he said, “What’s the matter Bobby? Having control issues?”
“Alan, it’s not funny. It’s a damn good thing Steve said we all had to wear t-shirts and briefs or sleep pants. I swear some times I think I’m gonna wake up and find him nursing on me like a baby. He cuddles up until he’s either on top of you or half-way under and those long legs and arms of his just sort of wrap around and hold you. If this goes on too much longer, Steve and I are going to have to try to explain to our daughter that her two father household just became a threesome!”
At that point Alan lost it again and only managed to stop when Bobby told him he was hanging up on him.
“Whoa Country; I’m sorry, but Lord I needed that laugh. If you can avoid it, don’t tell Greg about Nick’s episode. Just tell him I had a patient go bad and I need to postpone his appointment for a time. Tell him either me or Marie will call him just as soon as I’m free.”
And that’s where they left it.
* * * * * * * * * *
Well, that’s where they tried to leave it. When Bobby gave Greg Alan’s message, he went ballistic and said, “It’s Nick...What’s happened to him…God it’s all my fault… I knew he knew I was lying but he didn’t explode or accuse me of anything he just said good night and he would see me the next day and he seemed to be so calm…I should have known something was wrong…but I just hoped it meant he was getting better and was able to control his rages and I’ve got….mnpthwpw”
“STOP, BREATHE…Good God Almighty; how can you spit out so much with out ever stopping to take a breath?” Bobby had been trying to get a word in edgewise and finally just clamped a hand over Greg’s mouth to shut him up. “If I take my hand away will you be quiet?” Greg’s head was shaking ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’ almost shaking Bobby’s hand off. “Okay, will you promise to spit out one sentence at a time and wait for an answer?” That time, he got a yes shake. Bobby carefully removed his hand. He felt like the kid who stuck his finger in the dike to keep it from flooding. He was afraid; no matter what Greg said (or nodded) the word flow would start again.
“It’s Nick isn’t it; he’s the patient who’s gone ‘bad’?”
Bobby knew they were way past the point where a simple lie would calm Greg down so he nodded his head yes, it was Nick. Before Greg could spill out another barrage of words, Bobby clamped his hand over his mouth again and said, “Okay, I should have stipulated that you get a question and I get a question but that’s the new rule so now it’s my turn. What did you lie to Nick about?”
Greg told him about Nick asking him if he was coming to see him after work and he told him no he couldn’t; he had a doctors appointment.
Bobby looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression. “Greggo, that’s not a lie you did have a doctor’s appointment; with Alan.”
“I didn’t tell him it was Alan; I lied and said it was a routine checkup with my dentist.”
“Why did you say that?”
“If I told Nick I was seeing Alan, he would get all worried and think there was something wrong with me and he doesn’t need to be worrying about anything but his own problems right now.”
“Let me get this straight. In order to keep Nick from worrying about you and your health, you lied to him so now he’s worrying about you having a hot date with some other guy. Is that it?”
“What do you mean he’s worrying about me having a date? What are you talking about? Why should he think I’m dating anyone? Did you tell him I’m seeing someone? My God, I wonder if Rob gave him that idea. I’m gonna kill Rob…I’m just plain gonna…..mwmph”
Bobby had clamped his hand over his mouth again. If looks could kill, Greg would be a crispy critter right about now. Bobby was using his ‘I am the gun guy and I can kill you with one shot or keep you suffering for days’ glare. Greg meekly kissed the palm of Bobby’s hand. When the hand was removed from his mouth, he said, “Sorry; shutting up now.”
Bobby snorted, “Yeah right, like you could actually shut up. We have to call Alan and tell him this. It may help him figure out what happened.”
Alan was not really surprised to hear Bobby’s voice on the phone. He was pretty sure Greg would immediately guess that his mystery patient was Nick. He was surprised to hear Greg’s version of the conversation he’d had with Nick.
“Alan, I just know this is all my fault. What can I do to help him?”
Alan didn’t think it was Greg’s fault but he was pretty, damn certain that somehow Greg was connected to Nick’s explosion. “Greg, exactly what time did you have this conversation with Nick?”
“Uh…it was just before we hung up and that was just almost 11:00 pm ‘cause I just grabbed my lunch and my keys and headed out the door right after that.”
“Well then, you take a deep breath and relax. Nick’s episode occurred just after 3.00am this morning. He’d been asleep for hours. If this was because he knew you lied and thought you were seeing someone new, he would have erupted as soon as he hung up. I think his subconscious was reacting to all the probing we’ve been doing and he was dreaming about being held in the club.” Alan was just telling a little white lie not a big whopper but he felt a small lie to help Greg get some decent sleep was worth it.
Bobby knew what ever Alan had just told Greg had helped no end to calm him down because he visibly slumped. He thanked God again for Alan’s phone side manner. When Greg turned to him and told him what Alan had said, he said a silent thank you in his head, threw his arm around Greg’s shoulders, wincing a little when he did because he could feel the knobs on the ends of his shoulders sticking out and suggested they go get some pecan waffles at the Waffle House and go home and get some sleep. Of course, being Bobby, he called them pee-CAN waffles. He did it just to see Greg grin at him and his accent.
Bobby knew they weren’t out of the woods yet and sure enough, about 2 hours after they had hit the sheets; he woke up to a shaking, moaning bed partner. Greg had rolled away from him in his struggles so Bobby rolled him back against him, wrapped his arms around him and started the back rubbing and the shushing and the general soothing routines and prayed to God they worked because he really didn’t want Greg to lose all the good waffle’s and sausage he’d consumed earlier. It took longer than usual to get him relaxed and back into a dreamless sleep. By that time, Greg was sprawled almost on top of him with his head on his pillow and his mouth firmly attached to his neck. Bobby could feel Greg’s semi-erection pressing against his thigh even through two layers of sleep pants and his heart was beating against his chest. He started reciting the characteristics of a .357 magnum versus a .45 and reminded himself again how difficult it would be to explain the concept of a ‘threesome’ to his little girl.
“Dear God Above, please help us all to get through this” Bobby was thinking along with gun barrels and rifling marks “and I will not think about how good he feels and smells. I love Steve more than anything else in this world EXCEPT Chelsi but damn….I’m only human and I can’t afford to be human right now. I have got to get this baby vampire off my neck. I swear he knows that’s a hot spot for me. He goes for my neck every damn time he crawls on top of me. Oh Steve baby, please come home soon.”
Greg might be resting peacefully but Bobby was having a little trouble getting back to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
When Alan returned to Nick’s room after the call from Bobby, he found that Nick was starting to come out of his drug induced sleep. Alan watched him carefully, noting body movements, eye flickers anything that might give him a clue to what Nick would be like when he woke up.
Nick opened his eyes and looked at Alan. He seemed to be calm and accept the presence of him next to his bed but when he tried to raise his hand to wipe the sleep out of his eyes, he was stopped by the heavy, padded leather restraints and that’s when all hell broke loose again.
Nick went from being almost comatose to flat out fighting and trying to rip the restraints loose. He was calling Alan names, cursing him and in general behaving like a crazy man. Fortunately Alan had been prepared and had two large security guards ready to subdue his irrational patient.
He had a syringe filled with a moderate dose of Diazepam. Diazepam was an old reliable treatment for anxiety disorders. When administered under a doctor's care and closely monitored, it was a valuable tool for situations like this one. Nick was about as anxious a patient as Alan had ever seen; in fact one could say he was about to spill over into blind rage. He managed to get the dose into Nick with a minimum of fighting and on top of the residual morphine in his system; the drug began to take effect quickly. Nick was still fighting the restraints but not nearly as violently and Alan took a chance and moved closer to the bed. He leaned over and took a good look at his patient.
Nick was sweating profusely but when Alan laid a hand on his chest, his skin was clammy and seemed colder than it should be. Alan was concerned. Diazepam or Valium as it was more commonally known could be contra indicated if the patient had chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), or asthma or bronchitis. He was absolutely certain Nick's current physical condition was a reaction to the burst of energy he'd just expended but he was taking no chances.
He called the floor nurse who must have been waiting out side the door because he just barely got the bellow out of his mouth when she was by his side. “Jennie, can you still do a good stick?”
“Hey, I do your blood work don’t I? Have I ever had to dig around in your arm for a vein?”
“No my beauty, you haven’t. Go get a syringe and get me a sample of Nicky’s blood. I need a CBC stat, tell the lab to rush and I mean like 2 hours ago.”
Jennifer Lewis was in her late 30’s with over ten years of experience as a surgical nurse, ER and now, Lead Day Nurse at this small but very prestigious and I might add, high-paying clinic. She was used to anything and everything so she didn’t even raise an eyebrow. Just got a kit, took Nick’s blood so efficiently he didn’t even realize when she slid the needle in his vein. She took the blood, labeled the vial carefully and took it to the lab where she did the blood work herself.
She knew exactly what Alan was looking for and concentrated on the white sell count. It was well within the normal limits. She let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding and went to tell him the good news.
Things were calmer when she stuck her head in the door. Alan was sitting right up against the side of Nick’s bed talking to him in a low, soft soothing tone. He looked up when she tapped the door jam and when she gave him a thumbs up sign, he blew her a kiss and went back to his patient.
“Nick, were are you?”
“How the hell should I know; nothing looks familiar.”
Alan realized that of course it didn’t, Nick was not in his usual room.
“Nick, you’re still here in the clinic. We had to move you to another room that’s all.”
“Yeah sure you did. What did you do with the chair? Why am I in this bed?”
“You had a bad dream last night. You were fighting and very hostile. You smashed up your room and we had to sedate you and move you here while your room was restored.”
“You’re lying, you bastard. Where’s Greg? Where’s Warrick? I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch. How dare he hurt Greg like that? Where is Greg? Is he getting any medical attention? He needs surgery and pain medication right now. How long have I been out? Get these straps off me and let me out of here! I’ve got to get to Greg. There was so much blood…oh my God there was so much blood; it splashed all over my feet.”
The last was said in a loud, despairing wail. Alan was busy cataloging information and trying to put it in order. It was obvious Nick had a dream. His friend Warrick had evidently done something really bad to Greg that involved a lot of blood and injury severe enough to warrant medical attention; possibly even surgery.
“Nick, tell me about the chair. Were you sitting in a chair?”
“Oh yeah, sure I was sitting in a chair. You lying hypocrite, you know damn well I was strapped into the god-damned thing just like I’m strapped to the bed now. You knew if I was loose, I’d stop him from hurting Greg. I thought you cared about Greg? Why aren’t you with him, taking care of him? Where is he? Did you take your turn with too? You better plan on killing me or keeping me strapped down here for the rest of my life because if I ever get loose, I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll kill you if you’ve touched one hair on his head.”
Nick’s furious ravings had filled in a lot of the blank spots for Alan and he was pretty sure he knew what he was dealing with now. He kept his voice low but very firm and said, “Nick, stop yelling and cursing. You’ve had a bad dream; a very bad dream but it’s over and you are going to tell me all about it and we will make it go away. Do you understand me?”
Nick was still raving and ranting, not too strongly though; he had a snoot full of pharmaceuticals in him and it was like wading through very cold, very thick honey. He just couldn’t get anything moving right.
“Nick, look at me. Open your eyes and look at me.”
Nick slowly opened his eyes and squinted until the blurry blob in front of him stopped moving and gradually turned into Alan’s worried face. He frowned a little. He didn’t remember Alan being there before. He was sure it was just him in the chair and Greg leaning over him with his hands resting on his thighs and Warrick behind him. He let out a pitiful cry when he remembered what Warrick had done to his love and the scream Greg had let out and most of all, he remembered the hot blood splashing on his feet. He started thrashing his legs as much as he could with his ankles strapped down. He wanted to see if Greg’s blood was still caked all over his feet.
Alan noticed Nick’s attention to his feet and he asked him what he was doing. When Nick told him, Alan realized he had a place to start to convince Nick he really was safe in the clinic and not still trapped in his dream.
“Nick, Nick…look at me. Look at my face. You are not dreaming. I’m going to undo your left ankle and pull the blankets back so you can see there is no blood. Do you hear me? Nod your head if you do.”
Nick nodded his head yes. He watched Alan get up and stiffly move around the bed to his other side. He unbuckled the heavy, padded leather restraint and carefully removed it from Nick’s ankle. Then he pulled the blanked up and off Nick’s foot so he could see his clean, blood free foot and ankle.
Nick frowned. He was sure he hadn’t had a bath or shower. No, he still had on the clothes he’d put on to go to bed which meant the bottoms of his pants should have been drenched and stiff with blood. He looked up at Alan and asked him to take the right strap off and let him see that foot also. Alan moved around the bed and repeated his actions on the right restraint. Then he smoothing Nick’s blanket back in place and stepped up to the head of the bed. He took Nicks blanket and pulled it all the way down to the bottom where Nick could pull both feet out and look at them carefully. There was no blood anywhere; not on his feet, the sheets or his sleep pants.
He looked up at Alan, his confusion was obvious. “It was just a dream? It didn’t happen?”
“No Nick, it was just a dream. Now, if I take the restraints off your arms am I going to have to fight for my life?”
Nick was confused, ashamed and miserable. His eyes dropped and he said in a low, sad voice, “No, I’ll be good.”
Alan let out a big sigh and unfastened Nick’s arms. He carefully checked his wrists to make sure he hadn’t broken the skin during his attempts to get loose but was happy to see some angry red marks and nothing more. He rubbed Nick’s arms and hands and asked him if he would like to go back to his own room. Nick said ‘yes please, he would like some familiar surroundings’. Alan told the security guards to go get him a wheel chair and then they could return to their office. Nick was going to fuss about the chair until he sat up on the edge of the bed and had to grab hold of Alan because the room was dipping and whirling around him.
“Hand on there cowboy, morphine with a valium chaser is pretty strong medicine even for a big guy like you.”
Nick closed his eyes and let his head rest on Alan’s shoulder. “Wow, you can say that again. Talk about a cheap drunk and I don’t even remember the party.”
“Well you’re gonna remember the party and the dream and we’re going to get it all out in the open before this day is through.”
Nick sighed and said, “Are you sure? I don’t think I can stand to go through that again and I sure don’t know if I can talk about it.”
Alan said, “Now why do you think I went to all the trouble to get you drugged up? You can’t resist me and my winning ways; not to mention my interrogation techniques. Seriously Nick, it’s pretty obvious this is going to be hard for you and you will be grateful for the bumper the drugs give you. We’re going back to your room. Jenny is going to give you a sponge bath because you’re too dizzy to get in the shower and after you get comfortable in your own bed, we’re going to have a nice breakfast and then we’re going to work the rest of the day.”
Nick was still leaning on Alan with his eyes closed but he opened them just a little and started to say something to him and that’s when he noticed the ugly swelling and impressive bruise on his jaw. “What the hell happened to you? It looks like you’re going to be having oatmeal or a smoothie for breakfast.”
“Nicky my boy, YOU happened to me.”
“Oh please don’t tell me I did that.”
“Oh yeah, you did this and Bruce has a split lit and a shiner and Larry has a split lip and one tooth we had to replace and suture back in his gum and Charles has 23 stitches in his upper arm.”
It was a good thing that Alan was supporting Nick with an arm around his shoulders because he literally would have fallen back. As it was he sagged against the supporting arm and let out a small groan and said, “Oh please tell me you’re making that up. Oh shit, you’re not. I remember fighting but I didn’t know who. I thought it was part of the dream. It was real?”
“Yes it damn sure was real and every time I try to put my teeth together or touch my face without thinking about it I really want to smack you one.”
Nick looked up at him and said very seriously, “Then wait till all the drugs wear off because it ought to hurt me as much as it’s hurting you and it won’t right now.”
“No it won’t and damn it all, by that time, I won’t be mad enough at you to tear your head off the way I’d like to right now.
If Nick had any doubts that he was really awake he lost them then because he figured if Alan was a part of the horrible dream he’d had last night, he would still be sweet talking him until he could get his hands on Greg.
He was about to ask him where Greg was when his chair arrived and his morning officially started.
Rating: PG-13 for a little off-color language
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Summary: The morning after.
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is a sequel to ‘Putting Down Roots’ which you can find
here
Previous parts of this story can be found here
After some more heated discussion and one sort of funny revelation, Bobby and Alan came to a decision. Greg was temporarily being cared for but Nick was in jeopardy so Alan would stay with Nick and Bobby and Steve would continue their hands-on care of Greg as a temporary solution; then came the funny revelation.
Just before they said good-bye, Bobby had said, “Uh…Alan, please try to get Greg in to see you as soon as possible.”
“Bobby, you know I will but why, is there a problem with you and Steve taking care of him?”
“Well, you know Steve and Chelsi are my whole life and I’m pretty sure Steve feels the same about me but….”
“But what?”
“Well, Greg is always appealing and with him as hurt as he is right now and the fact that he’s a snuggler and a cuddler…well….Damn it, you know what I’m trying to say!”
Alan could not help it; he laughed out loud. When Bobby’s heartfelt swearing finally got through to him he tried to hold the laughter down to an occasional chuckle and when he thought he could talk he said, “What’s the matter Bobby? Having control issues?”
“Alan, it’s not funny. It’s a damn good thing Steve said we all had to wear t-shirts and briefs or sleep pants. I swear some times I think I’m gonna wake up and find him nursing on me like a baby. He cuddles up until he’s either on top of you or half-way under and those long legs and arms of his just sort of wrap around and hold you. If this goes on too much longer, Steve and I are going to have to try to explain to our daughter that her two father household just became a threesome!”
At that point Alan lost it again and only managed to stop when Bobby told him he was hanging up on him.
“Whoa Country; I’m sorry, but Lord I needed that laugh. If you can avoid it, don’t tell Greg about Nick’s episode. Just tell him I had a patient go bad and I need to postpone his appointment for a time. Tell him either me or Marie will call him just as soon as I’m free.”
And that’s where they left it.
* * * * * * * * * *
Well, that’s where they tried to leave it. When Bobby gave Greg Alan’s message, he went ballistic and said, “It’s Nick...What’s happened to him…God it’s all my fault… I knew he knew I was lying but he didn’t explode or accuse me of anything he just said good night and he would see me the next day and he seemed to be so calm…I should have known something was wrong…but I just hoped it meant he was getting better and was able to control his rages and I’ve got….mnpthwpw”
“STOP, BREATHE…Good God Almighty; how can you spit out so much with out ever stopping to take a breath?” Bobby had been trying to get a word in edgewise and finally just clamped a hand over Greg’s mouth to shut him up. “If I take my hand away will you be quiet?” Greg’s head was shaking ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’ almost shaking Bobby’s hand off. “Okay, will you promise to spit out one sentence at a time and wait for an answer?” That time, he got a yes shake. Bobby carefully removed his hand. He felt like the kid who stuck his finger in the dike to keep it from flooding. He was afraid; no matter what Greg said (or nodded) the word flow would start again.
“It’s Nick isn’t it; he’s the patient who’s gone ‘bad’?”
Bobby knew they were way past the point where a simple lie would calm Greg down so he nodded his head yes, it was Nick. Before Greg could spill out another barrage of words, Bobby clamped his hand over his mouth again and said, “Okay, I should have stipulated that you get a question and I get a question but that’s the new rule so now it’s my turn. What did you lie to Nick about?”
Greg told him about Nick asking him if he was coming to see him after work and he told him no he couldn’t; he had a doctors appointment.
Bobby looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression. “Greggo, that’s not a lie you did have a doctor’s appointment; with Alan.”
“I didn’t tell him it was Alan; I lied and said it was a routine checkup with my dentist.”
“Why did you say that?”
“If I told Nick I was seeing Alan, he would get all worried and think there was something wrong with me and he doesn’t need to be worrying about anything but his own problems right now.”
“Let me get this straight. In order to keep Nick from worrying about you and your health, you lied to him so now he’s worrying about you having a hot date with some other guy. Is that it?”
“What do you mean he’s worrying about me having a date? What are you talking about? Why should he think I’m dating anyone? Did you tell him I’m seeing someone? My God, I wonder if Rob gave him that idea. I’m gonna kill Rob…I’m just plain gonna…..mwmph”
Bobby had clamped his hand over his mouth again. If looks could kill, Greg would be a crispy critter right about now. Bobby was using his ‘I am the gun guy and I can kill you with one shot or keep you suffering for days’ glare. Greg meekly kissed the palm of Bobby’s hand. When the hand was removed from his mouth, he said, “Sorry; shutting up now.”
Bobby snorted, “Yeah right, like you could actually shut up. We have to call Alan and tell him this. It may help him figure out what happened.”
Alan was not really surprised to hear Bobby’s voice on the phone. He was pretty sure Greg would immediately guess that his mystery patient was Nick. He was surprised to hear Greg’s version of the conversation he’d had with Nick.
“Alan, I just know this is all my fault. What can I do to help him?”
Alan didn’t think it was Greg’s fault but he was pretty, damn certain that somehow Greg was connected to Nick’s explosion. “Greg, exactly what time did you have this conversation with Nick?”
“Uh…it was just before we hung up and that was just almost 11:00 pm ‘cause I just grabbed my lunch and my keys and headed out the door right after that.”
“Well then, you take a deep breath and relax. Nick’s episode occurred just after 3.00am this morning. He’d been asleep for hours. If this was because he knew you lied and thought you were seeing someone new, he would have erupted as soon as he hung up. I think his subconscious was reacting to all the probing we’ve been doing and he was dreaming about being held in the club.” Alan was just telling a little white lie not a big whopper but he felt a small lie to help Greg get some decent sleep was worth it.
Bobby knew what ever Alan had just told Greg had helped no end to calm him down because he visibly slumped. He thanked God again for Alan’s phone side manner. When Greg turned to him and told him what Alan had said, he said a silent thank you in his head, threw his arm around Greg’s shoulders, wincing a little when he did because he could feel the knobs on the ends of his shoulders sticking out and suggested they go get some pecan waffles at the Waffle House and go home and get some sleep. Of course, being Bobby, he called them pee-CAN waffles. He did it just to see Greg grin at him and his accent.
Bobby knew they weren’t out of the woods yet and sure enough, about 2 hours after they had hit the sheets; he woke up to a shaking, moaning bed partner. Greg had rolled away from him in his struggles so Bobby rolled him back against him, wrapped his arms around him and started the back rubbing and the shushing and the general soothing routines and prayed to God they worked because he really didn’t want Greg to lose all the good waffle’s and sausage he’d consumed earlier. It took longer than usual to get him relaxed and back into a dreamless sleep. By that time, Greg was sprawled almost on top of him with his head on his pillow and his mouth firmly attached to his neck. Bobby could feel Greg’s semi-erection pressing against his thigh even through two layers of sleep pants and his heart was beating against his chest. He started reciting the characteristics of a .357 magnum versus a .45 and reminded himself again how difficult it would be to explain the concept of a ‘threesome’ to his little girl.
“Dear God Above, please help us all to get through this” Bobby was thinking along with gun barrels and rifling marks “and I will not think about how good he feels and smells. I love Steve more than anything else in this world EXCEPT Chelsi but damn….I’m only human and I can’t afford to be human right now. I have got to get this baby vampire off my neck. I swear he knows that’s a hot spot for me. He goes for my neck every damn time he crawls on top of me. Oh Steve baby, please come home soon.”
Greg might be resting peacefully but Bobby was having a little trouble getting back to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
When Alan returned to Nick’s room after the call from Bobby, he found that Nick was starting to come out of his drug induced sleep. Alan watched him carefully, noting body movements, eye flickers anything that might give him a clue to what Nick would be like when he woke up.
Nick opened his eyes and looked at Alan. He seemed to be calm and accept the presence of him next to his bed but when he tried to raise his hand to wipe the sleep out of his eyes, he was stopped by the heavy, padded leather restraints and that’s when all hell broke loose again.
Nick went from being almost comatose to flat out fighting and trying to rip the restraints loose. He was calling Alan names, cursing him and in general behaving like a crazy man. Fortunately Alan had been prepared and had two large security guards ready to subdue his irrational patient.
He had a syringe filled with a moderate dose of Diazepam. Diazepam was an old reliable treatment for anxiety disorders. When administered under a doctor's care and closely monitored, it was a valuable tool for situations like this one. Nick was about as anxious a patient as Alan had ever seen; in fact one could say he was about to spill over into blind rage. He managed to get the dose into Nick with a minimum of fighting and on top of the residual morphine in his system; the drug began to take effect quickly. Nick was still fighting the restraints but not nearly as violently and Alan took a chance and moved closer to the bed. He leaned over and took a good look at his patient.
Nick was sweating profusely but when Alan laid a hand on his chest, his skin was clammy and seemed colder than it should be. Alan was concerned. Diazepam or Valium as it was more commonally known could be contra indicated if the patient had chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), or asthma or bronchitis. He was absolutely certain Nick's current physical condition was a reaction to the burst of energy he'd just expended but he was taking no chances.
He called the floor nurse who must have been waiting out side the door because he just barely got the bellow out of his mouth when she was by his side. “Jennie, can you still do a good stick?”
“Hey, I do your blood work don’t I? Have I ever had to dig around in your arm for a vein?”
“No my beauty, you haven’t. Go get a syringe and get me a sample of Nicky’s blood. I need a CBC stat, tell the lab to rush and I mean like 2 hours ago.”
Jennifer Lewis was in her late 30’s with over ten years of experience as a surgical nurse, ER and now, Lead Day Nurse at this small but very prestigious and I might add, high-paying clinic. She was used to anything and everything so she didn’t even raise an eyebrow. Just got a kit, took Nick’s blood so efficiently he didn’t even realize when she slid the needle in his vein. She took the blood, labeled the vial carefully and took it to the lab where she did the blood work herself.
She knew exactly what Alan was looking for and concentrated on the white sell count. It was well within the normal limits. She let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding and went to tell him the good news.
Things were calmer when she stuck her head in the door. Alan was sitting right up against the side of Nick’s bed talking to him in a low, soft soothing tone. He looked up when she tapped the door jam and when she gave him a thumbs up sign, he blew her a kiss and went back to his patient.
“Nick, were are you?”
“How the hell should I know; nothing looks familiar.”
Alan realized that of course it didn’t, Nick was not in his usual room.
“Nick, you’re still here in the clinic. We had to move you to another room that’s all.”
“Yeah sure you did. What did you do with the chair? Why am I in this bed?”
“You had a bad dream last night. You were fighting and very hostile. You smashed up your room and we had to sedate you and move you here while your room was restored.”
“You’re lying, you bastard. Where’s Greg? Where’s Warrick? I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch. How dare he hurt Greg like that? Where is Greg? Is he getting any medical attention? He needs surgery and pain medication right now. How long have I been out? Get these straps off me and let me out of here! I’ve got to get to Greg. There was so much blood…oh my God there was so much blood; it splashed all over my feet.”
The last was said in a loud, despairing wail. Alan was busy cataloging information and trying to put it in order. It was obvious Nick had a dream. His friend Warrick had evidently done something really bad to Greg that involved a lot of blood and injury severe enough to warrant medical attention; possibly even surgery.
“Nick, tell me about the chair. Were you sitting in a chair?”
“Oh yeah, sure I was sitting in a chair. You lying hypocrite, you know damn well I was strapped into the god-damned thing just like I’m strapped to the bed now. You knew if I was loose, I’d stop him from hurting Greg. I thought you cared about Greg? Why aren’t you with him, taking care of him? Where is he? Did you take your turn with too? You better plan on killing me or keeping me strapped down here for the rest of my life because if I ever get loose, I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll kill you if you’ve touched one hair on his head.”
Nick’s furious ravings had filled in a lot of the blank spots for Alan and he was pretty sure he knew what he was dealing with now. He kept his voice low but very firm and said, “Nick, stop yelling and cursing. You’ve had a bad dream; a very bad dream but it’s over and you are going to tell me all about it and we will make it go away. Do you understand me?”
Nick was still raving and ranting, not too strongly though; he had a snoot full of pharmaceuticals in him and it was like wading through very cold, very thick honey. He just couldn’t get anything moving right.
“Nick, look at me. Open your eyes and look at me.”
Nick slowly opened his eyes and squinted until the blurry blob in front of him stopped moving and gradually turned into Alan’s worried face. He frowned a little. He didn’t remember Alan being there before. He was sure it was just him in the chair and Greg leaning over him with his hands resting on his thighs and Warrick behind him. He let out a pitiful cry when he remembered what Warrick had done to his love and the scream Greg had let out and most of all, he remembered the hot blood splashing on his feet. He started thrashing his legs as much as he could with his ankles strapped down. He wanted to see if Greg’s blood was still caked all over his feet.
Alan noticed Nick’s attention to his feet and he asked him what he was doing. When Nick told him, Alan realized he had a place to start to convince Nick he really was safe in the clinic and not still trapped in his dream.
“Nick, Nick…look at me. Look at my face. You are not dreaming. I’m going to undo your left ankle and pull the blankets back so you can see there is no blood. Do you hear me? Nod your head if you do.”
Nick nodded his head yes. He watched Alan get up and stiffly move around the bed to his other side. He unbuckled the heavy, padded leather restraint and carefully removed it from Nick’s ankle. Then he pulled the blanked up and off Nick’s foot so he could see his clean, blood free foot and ankle.
Nick frowned. He was sure he hadn’t had a bath or shower. No, he still had on the clothes he’d put on to go to bed which meant the bottoms of his pants should have been drenched and stiff with blood. He looked up at Alan and asked him to take the right strap off and let him see that foot also. Alan moved around the bed and repeated his actions on the right restraint. Then he smoothing Nick’s blanket back in place and stepped up to the head of the bed. He took Nicks blanket and pulled it all the way down to the bottom where Nick could pull both feet out and look at them carefully. There was no blood anywhere; not on his feet, the sheets or his sleep pants.
He looked up at Alan, his confusion was obvious. “It was just a dream? It didn’t happen?”
“No Nick, it was just a dream. Now, if I take the restraints off your arms am I going to have to fight for my life?”
Nick was confused, ashamed and miserable. His eyes dropped and he said in a low, sad voice, “No, I’ll be good.”
Alan let out a big sigh and unfastened Nick’s arms. He carefully checked his wrists to make sure he hadn’t broken the skin during his attempts to get loose but was happy to see some angry red marks and nothing more. He rubbed Nick’s arms and hands and asked him if he would like to go back to his own room. Nick said ‘yes please, he would like some familiar surroundings’. Alan told the security guards to go get him a wheel chair and then they could return to their office. Nick was going to fuss about the chair until he sat up on the edge of the bed and had to grab hold of Alan because the room was dipping and whirling around him.
“Hand on there cowboy, morphine with a valium chaser is pretty strong medicine even for a big guy like you.”
Nick closed his eyes and let his head rest on Alan’s shoulder. “Wow, you can say that again. Talk about a cheap drunk and I don’t even remember the party.”
“Well you’re gonna remember the party and the dream and we’re going to get it all out in the open before this day is through.”
Nick sighed and said, “Are you sure? I don’t think I can stand to go through that again and I sure don’t know if I can talk about it.”
Alan said, “Now why do you think I went to all the trouble to get you drugged up? You can’t resist me and my winning ways; not to mention my interrogation techniques. Seriously Nick, it’s pretty obvious this is going to be hard for you and you will be grateful for the bumper the drugs give you. We’re going back to your room. Jenny is going to give you a sponge bath because you’re too dizzy to get in the shower and after you get comfortable in your own bed, we’re going to have a nice breakfast and then we’re going to work the rest of the day.”
Nick was still leaning on Alan with his eyes closed but he opened them just a little and started to say something to him and that’s when he noticed the ugly swelling and impressive bruise on his jaw. “What the hell happened to you? It looks like you’re going to be having oatmeal or a smoothie for breakfast.”
“Nicky my boy, YOU happened to me.”
“Oh please don’t tell me I did that.”
“Oh yeah, you did this and Bruce has a split lit and a shiner and Larry has a split lip and one tooth we had to replace and suture back in his gum and Charles has 23 stitches in his upper arm.”
It was a good thing that Alan was supporting Nick with an arm around his shoulders because he literally would have fallen back. As it was he sagged against the supporting arm and let out a small groan and said, “Oh please tell me you’re making that up. Oh shit, you’re not. I remember fighting but I didn’t know who. I thought it was part of the dream. It was real?”
“Yes it damn sure was real and every time I try to put my teeth together or touch my face without thinking about it I really want to smack you one.”
Nick looked up at him and said very seriously, “Then wait till all the drugs wear off because it ought to hurt me as much as it’s hurting you and it won’t right now.”
“No it won’t and damn it all, by that time, I won’t be mad enough at you to tear your head off the way I’d like to right now.
If Nick had any doubts that he was really awake he lost them then because he figured if Alan was a part of the horrible dream he’d had last night, he would still be sweet talking him until he could get his hands on Greg.
He was about to ask him where Greg was when his chair arrived and his morning officially started.
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