Coffee

Part Twenty-Nine: Too Much

As I'm about to walk into my office, Max catches up. We had a meeting earlier about a frequent patient- Andy Keener- a homeless man who suffers from PTSD, Depression and at heart is a good honest man who loves the Dam. We all have known Andy for a little over three years and can't help but go out on a limb for him any time he comes in looking for 'treatment'.

The only problem is we have spent over 1.4 billion dollars alone on Andy and Max needs us to cut down.

"Hey, did you think about my offer?" Max asks right off the bat. It's only been three hours since he asked me to be his deputy and I honestly don't know what to do about it.

"I have."

"And?"

"Darling, I can't. I'm barely keeping up with my current commitments and when the day comes that my IVF works- I'm going to need to take time off for that and..." His whole posture stoops and I feel horrible for telling him no.

"Alright...that's fine. What about Bloom?"

"Bloom?" I repeat curiously. He can't be serious.

"Yeah, she seems to have a good head on her shoulders and she's great under pressure."

"Let me get back to you on that." I don't want him asking her in case she's not truly don't with her bad habit. Walking into my office, he follows me in and shuts the door. Standing at my bureau, I begin filing away the patient folders I had pulled out earlier today.

"I'm not upsetting you again by am I?" He nervously asks as he remains at my door- unsure if she should approach. I turn to him and shake my head.

"Darling, no. I'm just trying to get my life in order so I have definite answers for you and everything else." His footsteps are light and silent as he makes his way across the carpet to me. Leaning against my file room door, he looks at me with those big blue eyes of his and I know something's wrong. "Darling what's wrong?"

Shaking his head, his eyes briefly close and I know it has something to do with his chemo.

"You're not feeling well, are you?"

"My stomach is on fire and my head wants to explode." He's on the verge of tears. He's never experienced this before- at least not to this magnitude. Going to him, I pull him close let his arms wrap around around my waist.

"Oh, Baby, come here. Come lay down." Leading him to the couch, I get him to lay down and rest his head on one of my throw pillows. Going back to my mini fridge in the file room- I grab a throw pillow and something to help his stomach ache. "Here, try this. It should help with the nausea."

He swallows the small amount of liquid medicine in the cup and then nearly gags it back up.

"It's disgusting, I know, but it will help." I hold the ice pack on his head and stroke his cheek with my fingers. "You rest here okay?"

"I should be working..." He tried to sit up and I push him back down gently.

"You need to rest. Too much all at once is just going to come back to bite you in the arse later. Please, listen to me. I know what I'm talking about."

"I'm no use to anyone in here..." He groans and hold his stomach- pinched his eyes tightly shut.

"And you're no use out there when you're in this much pain." He groans and pulls his knees up to his chest to try an relieve the pain.

"God....it shouldn't hurt this bad this soon...."

"I'm surprised it didn't hit you sooner- to be honest. Usually it starts within the first half hour. You managed to get through the whole treatment and it's only taking you out now." He looks at me and squints his eyes in pain. My face drops. "It's been hurting you all day- hasn't it."