Saving the Doctor Pt. 11

"Hey, Carly, you need to get up to the ICU. They're transferring Jon! I'm so fucking confused and something doesn't feel right but they're moving him to another hospital, like, today! I already pissed off this nurse and I'm worried if I butt in anymore they're gonna kick me out, but I'm trying to figure it out. I'm worried Elaina's behind this... Just call me when you get this okay?"

Carly abandoned her tray and headed for the elevator. When she was inside she called Beth.

"Hey, Beth what's going on?"

Beth was crying. "Oh my God Carly it's Elaina! It IS her. She's here. His parents called her, without knowing, like, he never told them how bad their breakup was, they don't know how crazy she is. Now she's here with legal papers and shit that says she's his decision-maker and they're prepping him to leave. I don't think we can do anything, but if you want to see him before he goes you have to hurry!"

"Fuck. Is he awake?"

"What? No no he's still on the ventilator. I guess they aren't gonna wake him up till he's at the other hospital."

"K I'm on my way up right now. Where are you?"

"Just outside the unit. Grace is still in there trying to get the docs to do something. I'll come meet you."

Carly hung up and closed her eyes and swore.

Beth met her at the elevators and Carly wished she could run, but had to settle for slowly and painfully making her way to the unit.

"Don't they know his parents are coming?" Carly asked as they approached.

"Apparently Elaina already talked to them and they're going to meet them at the other hospital instead. The doc finally took pity on me and took me aside and explained that she has all the appropriate legal documents to be in charge of his care, so even if his parents disagreed they probably wouldn't have much grounds to argue. Grace is there now talking to him, but it's looking pretty hopeless."

Carly scowled and walked faster, fighting through the pain in her leg.

As they went through the doors a nurse looked up at Beth with a regretful expression.

"Please, ma'am I think it's better if you just leave, I know she's being harsh, but we don't want a scene here."

"We just want to say goodbye," Beth said gently.

Carly was less calm. "Where is he?" she shouted, looking through the window of his room at an empty space where his bed was and then gasping as she saw him being wheeled out the door in an ambulance stretcher, wrapped up and ready to leave.

"Jon! Wait, no you can't..." Carly broke into tears as she approached.

She heard a familiar scoff and turned to see Elaina, dressed in a pristine dress-suit with a man in a suit and tie next to her.

"Of COURSE," Elaina said in a derogatory tone, rolling her eyes. "They both have no business here, please make them leave."

"She's not his fiance! You can't let her-"

"I am his LEGAL power of attorney, by his own explicit designation," Elaina said, shaking a paper in her hands at her. "What are you?"

Carly opened her mouth, but couldn't think of a response she was willing to say out loud, as she broke down again.

Elaina smirked and turned back to the paramedics.

Grace had been behind the desk talking to the doctor and had come around to put her hand on Carly's shoulder. "Hey, Carly, just don't even bother with her she's not gonna see reason, but I'm trying to talk to Dr. Garson here. I guess Jon hadn't updated whatever paperwork there was after they broke up. I mean, I guess it was only 3 months ago, but, yeah, there might not be anything we can do right now."

"No!" Carly started to sob. Beth put her hands on her shoulders.

Grace turned back to the doctor behind the desk, talking lower, "Sam, come on, you KNOW this is rushed and something's off here right? Like you're sure you can't delay it for some medical reason? Like until he's extubated and able to communicate?"

The doctor shrugged helplessly, "They have a bed waiting for him, it's been arranged, and we're short on beds here Grace. It's not THAT atypical honestly. In the end she's legally entitled to this, and if I twist the rules at this point I have a strong feeling that lawyer's gonna be up my ass in an instant. Maybe it's a power move, but we've got nothing we can do."

"She abuses him!" Carly blurted out, starting to panic.

"Say ONE more word and you will be sued for slander you not-so-little bitch!" Elaina bit back in fury. "You are LITERALLY standing in front of my lawyer. I DARE you to try to stop this."

Carly lurched forward "I'm not afraid of you, you f-"

"Carly!" Grace interrupted as her and Beth held her back. "Jesus Christ, Carly just calm down!"

"She's gonna hurt him!" She still struggled against them, "Why is she even allowed in here?"

"Please get her out of here, before she gets violent," Elaina asked calmly. "Why is no one calling security?"

"Carly we'll just have to go see him at the other hospital okay?" Grace reassured her.

"The HELL you will. Don't think for a second you'll be allowed to visit after this little... DISPLAY," Elaina said with a derogatory wave. "Are we ready? Let's go."

"NO!" Carly screamed. "JON!!!"

"Please Grace, there's other patients and families around, can you bring her to the break room at least?" One of the nurses said.

Elaina ignored them and walked away behind the stretcher.

Grace held Carly back and eventually wrapped her arms around her in a hug as Carly's protestations turned to sobs and she leaned in to Grace's shoulder.

"Hey, girl, c'mon, it's gonna be okay. He'll wake up, and get better, and come back, it's gonna be alright." Grace said, looking at Carly with confused concern.

Carly sniffed and nodded. She saw Beth standing a few feet away, hugging herself and looking every bit like she was keeping the secret that she was.

Carly turned and saw the stretcher disappear behind the sliding doors. She clenched her fists and shook as she stared at them helplessly, and finally stomped her foot on the ground in anger.

She gasped as pain shot up her healing leg and swore as she started to crumple. Grace caught her and kept her from falling down. Her and Beth helped Carly limp slowly out of the ward.

She closed her eyes and absorbed the pain in her leg, almost glad it was something to focus on other than the pain of seeing him being stolen away. She was furious at herself for the stupidity of hurting herself though. She was furious at herself for so many things, that she had done, that she hadn't done, and furious that she was powerless to do anything about any of it.

**********

Jon's vision faded into blackness as the pain from the knife in his torso washed over him, turning to strange pins and needles all over his skin as he lost consciousness and his body went limp on the grass.

An instant later he was opening his eyes and the air smelled suddenly different. The light was different. His vision strained at a blurry, but almost painfully bright room. What the hell?

He thought he had heard Carly's voice a moment ago and he suddenly needed to make sure she was okay. His body wasn't quite listening to him though. He only managed a slight forward movement of his head, and trying to shout the words "Carly" only made his lips move slightly and a garbled moan come out of him.

He felt a hand on his shoulder but could only turn his head slightly. He couldn't make out the face. It seemed vaguely familiar.

He gave up and lolled his head back, feeling suddenly too tired to do anything else.

Blackness again.

...

Jon groaned as he woke up, he might have been dreaming or there might have been voices talking around him. Definitely voices. Only one now. He opened his eyes and could see a bit clearer. It took so much fight to stay awake. He was in a bed. Extremely fucking sore. Mouth parched. He tried to swallow and it felt like sandpaper and pain. He winced and groaned. His eyes started to focus. Someone was next to him. They seemed to be smiling. Who was it? He started to remember.

"Carly?" he said in a garbled gravelly voice, wincing as needle-like pain shot through his throat.

Their smile disappeared for a second, then returned softer, those eyes...

"Jon, it's me. It's Elaina. You're safe now. You're going to be okay. I'm going to make sure you're okay."

Jon's head fell back on the pillow. He closed his eyes, deciding to let himself fall sleep again and see what happened.

...

When he woke up again, he was alone. The events came back to him more quickly now. Their texts, her call, the park, the mugger... He needed to know Carly was okay. His vision slowly cleared, the ringing in his ears faded a little, and he almost felt like he was finally back in the real world again.

He looked around the room, it wasn't quite a typical hospital room, but not ICU. Maybe a step-down unit, he figured. He clued in to the larger IV coming out of his neck; a central line, he realized. He must have been really sick. Maybe intubated, given how sore his throat felt. He felt around himself and realized his chest was heavily bandaged... A chest tube.

He realized he was lucky to be alive. He wasn't sure what to think about that at first. Everything was simply weird and different and he wanted to move, but felt like he was almost glued to the bed. He shifted and felt his ass lift off the dent in the mattress, but winced in pain as the side of his chest evidently didn't like being twisted.

A nurse walked in. "Oh! Hey there sleepyhead. You're lookin' less groggy than before. Glad they titrated your meds down, despite your fiance putting up quite a fight, but I think it did the trick. I'm Sarah, I'm your nurse today. How are you feeling?"

"H-.. hey, um dizzy. And thirsty," he rasped painfully.

"K, well unfortunately I'm not supposed to give you anything by mouth yet, but if you keep stayin' awake and talking I'm sure we can change that soon enough."

"Ice chips?" Jon asked.

She smirked, "Someone knows the drill. Well... I think I'm technically not supposed to, but I'll bend the rules a tiny bit just this once. But, don't go thinking that just cause you're a doctor that you can go callin' all the shots, I'm still in charge here K?" she chuckled.

Jon managed a tired half-smile and nodded, "Thanks."

"Your fiance's at work but she'll probably be back at the end of the afternoon like usual. I can get someone to call her though. Plus your parents have been checking in every few hours, but I'm not sure if we have their number."

Jon's head spun and his groggy eyes widened, "My parents are here?"

"Yep, for a couple days now. They're such a cute couple, they've done a nice job of trying to keep your fiance toned down. She obviously loves you though. We get that a lot, just a bit more intense when she's apparently one of the internists here, I guess."

Jon frowned. "Fiance... do you mean Elaina?"

"Y... Yeah. Geeze sorry, I'm probably the first one to have a real conversation with you. You were pretty in and out before. If you're a bit confused don't worry it's normal. Things will come back gradually."

For a split second Jon wondered whether the last 8 months of his life were all a crazy dream before he convinced himself the wound in his chest from the stabbing made that silly.

"How long was I out?" Jon asked.

"Umm, I believe we're day 6 post-op now. You were stabbed just under the ribs, it hit your lung, but luckily just missed your spleen. Kinda dicey surgery from what I understand but you've been pretty smooth sailing since then."

"Is... Carly okay?" Jon asked.

"I... don't know who that is bud, sorry."

"She was... at the, um, park with me. Was she hurt?" Jon pleaded, wanting to get more upset but his mind and body were still only half-responding to him.

Sara shrugged with an apologetic look, "I unfortunately don't know. I don't think there's been anyone with that name around since they transferred you. I'm sure your fiance or your parents could tell you more. I'm gonna go fetch a few ice chips for ya okay? You just try to relax."

Jon frowned and fell back against the bed, feeling the dizziness getting worse. Something felt weird even besides the term fiance. He decided to just relax and rest like she said and slowly he'd figure things out.

...

He didn't remembered falling asleep again, but when he woke up he wasn't alone. His eyes still needed time to adjust but he focused on the faces in front of him and Elaina's voice calling his name.

"Jonathon?..." She gasped as he opened his eyes fully and looked at her, "You ARE awake, oh my God!"

Her face came fully into focus. He had forgotten how jaw-droppingly beautiful her face was when she was fully dolled up like she was now. More than usual, he thought, with twinkling earrings and her hair done up, wearing a turquoise blouse that complemented her riveting eyes. He couldn't help feeling good staring at her smiling face and the caring, affectionate look that he wasn't accustomed to. She locked eyes with him and ran her hands up his shoulders and leaned in for a gentle hug.

As he hugged her back instinctively, he saw his parents standing at the foot of the bed, smiling at their embrace.

"Hey Jon," his dad said with a pat on his foot. "Good to see you doing better, you gave us a hell of a scare there."

His mom's smile broke into tears as she walked around the other side and Elaina let her give him a hug.

"Careful of the IV," Elaina said, stepping back.

"I'm so glad you're okay," his mother sobbed and eventually stood up again to give him a pinch on the cheek.

Jon smiled and felt his chest swell. "Yeah, I'm... still trying to figure things out. It's um... good t- to see you," he said, wincing at the unpleasant effort it took to talk.

"How much do you remember?" Elaina asked intently.

"Most things, I think," he said. "Where's..." he looked at Elaina and hesitated, "Is Carly okay? She w... was in the park with me. I was worried..."

Elaina's smile faltered only slightly. "She was fine Jonathon. Don't worry about her."

"Who's Carly?" his mom asked.

"Just a friend of his," Elaina responded.

"Who was that I talked to on the phone though. Her name wasn't Carly, what was it again?" his mom asked.

"Just another friend I think, might have been a nurse," Elaina said.

"No it definitely wasn't a nurse..."

Elaina continued, ignoring her, "Anyway Jonathon, there was no one to look after you over there and they were obviously struggling with what to do and who to turn to. Those idiots at that hospital didn't phone me, I only found out through your parents. I suspect some of the staff there still harboured some resentment and I wonder if it was on purpose. Completely unprofessional of them. So, I had you transferred here. Your injury warranted a larger center like this anyway, and now you'll have someone to take care of you as you recover."

Jon nodded, finally realizing what city and hospital he was in.

His dad chuckled, "Elaina's been a soldier for ya here. Maybe even fightin' a little too hard sometimes but we're glad you have someone at least."

Elaina briefly gave him an uncertain look, but quickly resumed her gentle smile.

"That's um... that's good," Jon said coughing painfully.

"Are you still hurting dear?" his mother asked.

"We should get them to increase the drip, I thought they would go too low."

"No... No it's fine," Jon said. "I still... feel kinda cloudy. I want to, um, make sure I stay awake... for a bit."

Elaina gave him a mistrustful glare but nodded, "If you insist."

"I'm sure they'll keep checking and making sure. The doctors and nurses have all been really nice, and seem to be taking good care you Jon," his mom said.

Elaina half-scoffed and gave her the side-eye but reigned herself in. "Well enough I suppose."

"So, what's the situation, is my lung okay?" Jon asked.

Elaina explained the surgery and that he was now missing a small portion of his lung, confirming that he was lucky to still have a spleen besides. Some of her story sounded a bit off, especially the apparent incompetence of the care at the other hospital. He knew this hospital was massive in comparison though, and had every specialist under the sun, so it was technically true he was in better hands.

He wondered at her insistence that there was no one else there at the other hospital. Carly must have called 911, but he supposed she didn't stick around after he went to surgery. She had probably left with Sean, he thought. His mother had said someone called her that wasn't a nurse, but he wondered who. Grace maybe. She and Jeff certainly would have been visiting right? He realized with regret that he had been a little bit distant from them over the past few weeks. ...not completely distant though. They still were good enough friends that they'd help look after him and visit him... right?

He kept his doubtful thoughts to himself though as they talked. Elaina didn't QUITE act like they were back together, though her eyes kept sparkling with affection, and she kept touching his hand lightly. He decided that the nurse had just presumed. He kicked himself for putting off changing his will and health-directive after they had broken up, but now that he was awake, and Elaina hadn't done anything technically inappropriate, it was no harm done, he figured.

He asked for his cell phone, but they said it hadn't been with his belongings when they transferred him. He frowned for a while afterwards reviewing the patchy memory of the incident and wondering how the mugger would have made off with his cellphone besides his wallet.

"So you're sure Carly was okay?" Jon asked again. "She was right there when the guy attacked."

His dad chuckled, "I wondered whether you were savin' a damsel in distress."

"Well, not quite," Jon replied with a tired smirk.

Elaina stifled a scowl. "Yes Jon, she's fine."

"You saw her?"

"I saw her once, yes. She looked... healthy as ever. She didn't seem particularly interested in being helpful."

Jon gave a resigned nod, feeling mostly relieved, but slightly off-put. "Has anyone come to visit here?"

"No," Elaina said simply.

Elaina decided to go to the nursing desk and ask when the attending doctor was going to be making rounds again. He was finally alone with his parents. They told him the story of how they got here, finding last minute substitutes at work and trying to get flights. His dad had said 'enough' and simply got in his car and started driving and his mom took the first flight she could. He was grateful for their effort but he knew they likely couldn't stay much longer.

His mom still couldn't remember who it was that had called her from his phone. He suddenly clued in that his phone must have been at the hospital and hoped he could track it down. No wallet and no phone... even though he was in a hospital he felt weirdly helpless.

They finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"So... You and Elaina started to patch things up a little?" his mom asked.

"Um... I guess a BIT. I remember we were starting to talk a bit more and getting along better when we did, but we're not like..."

"He just woke up, don't pressure him," his dad intervened. "Look, regardless of what you two end up doing, it's been reassuring to have her around lookin' after everything. She certainly makes things happen and gets what she wants, that's for sure."

Jon nodded uncomfortably, but they seemed to take it for simple embarrassment at talking about a relationship. There was so much they didn't know. He had decided long before, that he never wanted to tell them the details of their breakup, and although he started to doubt that now, he still felt like he didn't want to get into it at the moment.

He also was genuinely unsure how much he should still blame Elaina for how she had been back at her worst. She had suffered a mental breakdown from her life being torn up from all directions, and he knew that shouldn't make someone be labelled as permanently crazy. He certainly had done wrong and would want forgiveness too, and she HAD seemed to be turning a corner as a person from the last few times they had talked. Plus, if she had stepped up and taken care of him when no one else had, like they were saying...