Emergency Time-out

 

 

"Hey, Grace." John stuck his head into her lab.

"John. What can I do for you?"

"Chloe’s school just called. She has a stomachache and with Sam in Chicago all day…" he shrugged. "I’m on the ‘Okay List’ and Chloe told them to call me, so I’m going to pick her up. Angel should be home from her school by four so I’ll be back then, I guess."

"And you’re telling me this because…" she prompted.

"Oh, ‘cause Bailey’s in Chicago, too, and I figured somebody should know why I’m ditching."

"You could have told Coop," she said, baiting him. He gave her a disgusted look. She laughed.

"Don’t go there, Grace," he warned.

"Just trying to help."

"Don’t."

*****

John was worried. Chloe was an odd shade of green. She was running a fever and she hadn’t put together three words since he had picked her up at school. She lay curled up on her bed looking miserable. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing. He knelt next to the bed.

"Hey, Chlo," he said softly. "How you doing?"

"It hurts." Her voice was weak and shaky.

"You want to show me exactly where it hurts?" He had a very bad feeling. The little girl unwound just a bit and pointed not to her stomach but to her right side. The bad feeling got worse. "Here?" he asked, reaching toward her. She flinched away from him before his fingertips could do more than brush her shirt. "Shit," he muttered. Chloe frowned at him through her pain.

"That’s not a nice word."

"You’re right. I’m sorry." He was going to say a lot more words she wouldn’t approve of if his suspicions were correct, he thought grimly. "Have you ever had your appendix out?" he asked, knowing it was futile. She merely looked at him.

"I don’t know. I don’t think so."

"Damn. Darn," he amended belatedly. Chloe had closed her eyes but her eyebrows pulled together in disapproval. "I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I think we have to go to the doctor." He took it as a very bad sign when she didn’t protest. Every not nice word he could think of was going through his mind as he carefully wrapped her in his jacket and carried her back down to his car.

*****

"I’m sorry, Sam," he said into his cell phone as he tried not to slam on the brakes. He glanced over at Chloe who had grown even paler. Her face was pinched in pain. It was killing him to watch her suffer like this. "Yeah, they said it looks like appendicitis, but it isn’t ruptured yet. We’re on our way to Egleston now." He debated running the red light but decided against it. "You want to talk to her?" He handed the phone to Chloe.

"Mom?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Please come home." She sat quietly for a long minute, listening. "I know… Okay, I will… I love you, too." She let the phone fall away from her ear and John assumed she was finished.

"Sam? Yeah, I’ll call you when we get there."

*****

He felt an odd sense of déjà vu as he filled out Chloe’s admittance papers. It seemed like just the other day he had been doing the same thing for Bailey. He had been worried to death as he’d done Bailey’s paperwork and it was nearly as bad doing Chloe’s. With Sam’s coaching over the phone he struggled through the forms. She talked with the admitting nurse while he finished. Another nurse took Chloe’s vitals as he called Grace to explain that he wouldn’t be back to work that evening after all and left a message with the secretary at Angel’s school. He put the phone away as they began to wheel Chloe to her room.

"It’s going to be okay," he reassured her. "Your mom and Bailey are on their way back right now. They’ll be here before you know it." Mentally he did the math. Two hours airtime between O’Hare and Hartsfield meant three hours would probably be the minimum before Sam got here. If he was worrying himself sick Sam had to be a basketcase. He didn’t envy Bailey the flight back.

*****

He sat beside her bed feeling useless. He wanted to scoop her into his arms and hold her tightly, but he could see that even the slightest touch made her cringe. So instead he offered her his hand and let her hang on to him.

"John?" He had to lean close to hear her. "Could you…?" She looked up at him wistfully.

"Oh, no. Not that," he teased gently. "Anything but that." He was rewarded with a feeble smile.

"Please?"

"You want me to sing?"

"Yeah."

In any other circumstances he would have rather been shot. What is this kid doing to me, he wondered? "Any requests?"

"Hey, kiddo!" a voice boomed from the doorway. "I hear you’re a little under the weather."

John groaned inwardly as Coop entered the room. He leaned back and watched the other man talk to Chloe. He’s too loud, he thought critically. I’m not exactly subtle, but at least I’m not such a… oaf, either. He could see that Chloe was glad Coop had come, but he could also see her flinch when Coop’s voice reached a certain decibel level. He wished he could simply throw the guy out, but for Chloe’s sake he merely sat and silently listed every reason he had to dislike Coop. When a nurse came in to check Chloe’s vital signs again Coop came around the bed to talk to John.

"Why didn’t you call me?"

John looked at him with a carefully controlled blankness and with great effort stifled the urge to say quite a few words that would probably appall Chloe. "I called Grace," he said instead. "I figured she would tell everybody else. I’ve been a little busy," he added irritably.

"Chloe?"

Great, John thought. First Coop, now Angel. If Frances walks in next I’ll have my own private version of hell. Coop moved back to stand beside Angel. John watched the two of them try to distract Chloe from her pain. She’s looking worse, he realized. He glanced at his watch. Sam and Bailey were probably somewhere over Kentucky by now. He wouldn’t be able to get in touch with them until they landed.

"Excuse me?" A doctor stood in the doorway. "I need to speak with Samantha Waters’ designated decision-maker."

"I’m Angel Brown," she said, stepping toward him. The doctor gave her a distracted look and turned to Coop.

"I’m Nick Cooper," he said. "It’s not me." He pointed back toward Angel but the doctor was already looking at John.

"Well, I hope you’re Grant," he said.

John gave him a startled look. "Yeah."

"Could I speak with you in the hall, please?"

John shrugged at Angel’s wide-eyed stare as he walked past her.

"I’ll be right back, Chlo." He followed the doctor into the hallway, knowing he probably looked as baffled as Angel did. After all, Angel was Chloe’s legal guardian if anything happened to Sam. Wouldn’t that make her the official decision-maker, too?

"When are you expecting Mrs. Waters?" the doctor asked.

"Dr. Waters," John corrected absently. "Forty-five minutes. Maybe an hour. I really don’t know yet."

The doctor shook his head. "Chloe’s vital signs are dropping rapidly. I’m afraid her appendix may be ruptured after all." He looked at John seriously. "I want to get her into surgery as soon as possible. If you sign the releases we can go ahead and do this."

"Are you sure?" John frowned worriedly. "I mean, Angel is sort of Chloe’s guardian in this kind of situation, right? Shouldn’t she be doing this?"

"Not necessarily. Sometimes it’s reasonable to name someone who is already on the spot rather than wait for a more legally qualified individual to arrive. Since you were here you were the logical choice," the doctor explained. "Right now, in this hospital, your ability to make decisions regarding Chloe’s welfare is equal to Ms. Brown’s. Dr. Waters has authorized you to act in her name." He paused, sensitive to John’s obvious uncertainty. "Dr. Waters apparently believes you’re qualified… but if you’d like, we can still bring Ms. Brown into this."

John looked back into the room at Chloe’s huddled form. Sam trusted him. He trusted the doctors. He couldn’t stand to watch Chloe suffer any more. If Sam had given him the authority he was damn well going to use it. It would be crazy to turn this into a committee debate.

"Do it," he said. He scrawled his name across half a dozen more forms, feeling the déjà vu again. Me and Yogi Berra, he thought. I’ve spent way too much time in hospitals lately. He returned the clipboard to the doctor and went back in to explain things to Chloe.

Angel still wore a confused and slightly hurt expression. He didn’t have to look at Coop to know that the guy was glaring at him. John didn’t have the energy to deal with either of them right now so he ignored them both.

"Hey, Chloe." He knelt beside her. "The doctors are going to go ahead and fix you now."

"But my mom’s not here yet," she fretted. The adults were just as surprised by his words as Chloe was.

"I know. But the sooner the doctors do this surgery the quicker you’ll feel better. Your mom will be here as soon as you wake up. This way you don’t have to wait," he grinned at her. "You’ll get to sleep through the waiting part. When you wake up you’ll feel a lot better and your mom will be the first person you see."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. I promise."

"And you’ll still be here? And Angel and Uncle Coop?"

"Believe me, Chlo, none of us are going anywhere."

Chloe’s entourage followed her gurney to the elevator. When the doors closed Angel turned questioningly to John. He could see that his "designated decision-maker" status disturbed her. No matter how logical the choice had been at the time, he doubted that she was in any mood to listen to reasonable explanations. He knew she loved Chloe nearly as much as Sam did. That Sam had given the authorization to John rather than wait for Angel’s arrival had to be painful to the woman. Although he felt for her, he really didn’t want to spend the next couple of hours defending himself against a decision that hadn’t been his idea to begin with. When Coop turned a scowl on him as well John quickly made another important decision.

"Go on back to the room," he told them. "I have a few more papers to sign. I’ll be there in a minute or two." He watched them walk back down the hall then turned to the duty nurse at the desk.

"There aren’t any more forms, Mr. Grant," she said with a smile.

"I know," he replied. "I just… need a little space. Where’s the cafeteria?"

"Take the elevator to the ground floor, then turn left."

"Thanks. If anything comes up, that’s where I’ll be."

********

on to part two