Slow and Easy

Chapter 18

Scott woke disoriented. He sat up and looked around and realized he was in a hospital bed.

"Scott, honey?" Kirstie said. "How are you feeling?"

Scott then noticed her sitting in a chair on the side of the bed, then everything came rushing back.

He fainted...

Mitch was dead..

"Mitch.." He whispered.

"Scott, look at me. We need to talk." She said, grabbing his hand.

He knew what she was going to say and he didn't want to hear it. Mitch

was dead, he fought hard, he needed to let go.. blah blah.

"I don't really want to talk about this Kirstie. I want to get dressed and I have funeral arrangements to make." He said standing up.

"Sit down and listen to me Scott. Mitch is not dead. They brought him back. Do you hear me? He's alive, Scott."

"He's....Mitch is alive?" Scott asked, not sure if he were dreaming or not.

"Yes, he's alive, and even more good news, in the over 5 hours that you were out, he's upgraded from grave to critical condition. He's still in ICU and in the same room. I've been alternating back and forth between you two."

"Is he awake?" Scott asked, hurrying to get his clothes on. He felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. Mitch was alive. His Mitch. His love.

"No, they still have him sedated and on the ventilator, it will probably be a few more days before they try to wake him up. I talked to the doctor while you were out, and evidently the damage to Mitch's lung was pretty extensive."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Scott asked, the feeling in his chest coming back.

"I'm not sure of all the details honey, let's page the doctor and let him explain everything okay? Let's get you back to Mitch."

Scott nodded and practically ran to Mitch's room. Scott let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding when he saw him.

There weren't big differences, but Scott could tell the subtle things that showed Mitch was improving.

His color, which had been a sickly pale, was now better. He had a little more color in his cheeks, and the numbers on the monitor looked better, stronger than before.

For the first time in 2 days, Scott felt like he could breathe.

"He's really getting better." He said, as if had to make sure for himself.

"I told you he was. I asked the nurse to page the doctor for you." Kirstie said walking in the room.

"Thank you, Kirstie. For everything."

"You're welcome, honey."

--

A little while later the doctor came in to update Scott on Mitch's condition.

"Detective, it's good to see you vertical again." He joked.

"Yeah, sorry about that. You said I'm sorry, and I thought you were telling me that Mitch was dead." Scott said, apologizing.

"No need to apologize. It's my fault. I shouldn't have opened with that. I was going to say that I'm sorry you had to witness that, but as you know I didn't get that far. Anyway, While you were unconscious, Mitch had another set of CT scans done and nothing else was damaged during this last round of CPR."

"Good. Kirstie was mentioning something about the lung damage being pretty extensive. How bad are we talking here? Is he going to have problems the rest of his life?"

"The bullet tore through the upper portion of his left lung. It created a good size hole that we needed to repair. As you may know, there are lots of pathways the bullet could've traveled, and unfortunately for Mitch, it chose the most destructive. After tearing through the lung, it nicked his heart, then became lodged near his spine. We were able to retrieve it, but in order to do this we had to create a larger incision. I doubt once he is fully recovered that he will continue to have problems, but it will take awhile to bounce back from this."

Scott was quiet as he took it all in.

"How soon until he wakes up?" He asked.

"At least a week probably, however if he continues to improve, could be a matter of a few days."

"A few days. He'll get better. He's a fighter." Scott said proudly. God how he loved Mitch.

"That he is detective. Can I help you with anything else?"

"No, thanks doctor."

Once the doctor left, Scott picked up Mitch's limp hand and held it.

"Did you hear that Mitchie? A few more days and I get to see those beautiful brown eyes of yours."

--

A few more days had passed and Mitch had made steady improvements. His pulse had remained strong and all of his numbers were as good as they could be.

Finally, the doctor said it was time to wake the younger man up.

"It could take a few hours or a day or more for him to wake up completely. He will be disoriented and more than likely panic when he realizes he can't speak or breathe on his own yet. I need you to keep him calm and watch for his hands, people usually try and grab for the tube first thing." The doctor said as the nurse administered the drugs through Mitch's IV line.

It took close to 2 hours before Mitch began to stir. Scott immediately told the nurse who paged the doctor.

Once the doctor arrived, they stood by Mitch's bed waiting for him to wake up.

--

Mitch felt like he was floating. He heard someone calling his name, was it Scott? Didn't sound like it.

He briefly opened his eyes and went to ask what the person wanted when he realized he couldn't speak, fear gripped him and his arms flew to the tube in his throat.

"Mitch, Mitch, you're okay. Calm down, it's me. It's Scott." Scott comforted as he held Mitch's hands to the side.

"Mitch, I'm Dr. Lopez. You're in UCLA hospital. You were shot in the chest, do you remember?"

Mitch tried to focus on Scott's blue eyes, then he remembered. Scott was meeting Thomas, the gunshot, Scott was in trouble, pain burning in his chest. Scott was safe. He saved Scott.

He slowly nodded his head.

"Good, good. I need you to stay calm. You are on a ventilator and its breathing for you. The bullet caused a lot of damage in one of your lungs. Do you know who this guy is?" The doctor asked, pointing to Scott.

Mitch nodded in return and Scott smiled.

"Can he let go of your hands? Do not pull the tube out. You need it."

Again Mitch gave a small nod.

Scott immediately let go and Mitch shakily raised his hand and placed it on Scott's cheek.

"I love you Mitchie." Scott said, tears in his eyes.

Mitch blinked and Scott knew that Mitch was saying it back.

"I'll check on you a little later. Remember, you need rest, so don't fight it. Your body needs to heal. Detective, try and keep him calm."

"I will doctor." Scott answered.

Mitch could feel his eyes getting heavy already. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to see Scott.

"You heard the doctor baby, don't fight it. Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up, I promise."

Mitch gave a slight nod and drifted back off.