Fighter

Chapter 29

Monday came with a vengeance. The quiet, restful weekend she had was no longer present as she received the second dose of chemotherapy. She had undergone a small incision site surgery for a catheter port to receive the remaining cycles.
The nurses, along with Dr. Hanley had been actively in and out of her room all morning and into the early afternoon, running tests and setting up her new port with the chemo.
She'd be lying if she said it didn't hurt like hell, but she was used to swallowing her pain and making sure she kept that tough exterior.
She had been in and out of sleep since her day had begun and she just wanted company that wasn't the hospital staff checking on the new lines. Trying to distract herself with a trashy Hollywood gossip magazine, she just wanted human interaction from friends.
As if her prayers couldn't have been answered any faster, the door to her room opened, and in came some friendly faces - not in a set of scrubs thankfully.
Hailey, Kim and Platt came in, shutting the door behind them. "Hey you guys." Erin said mustering a smile. "Hey there trooper, we figured you could use some fresh faces." Platt said, laying a small bouquet of flowers down on the window sill. "That's so sweet, thank you." Each of them grabbed a chair, and sat next to her. As they watched her struggle to sit up, wincing every minute in doing so. "Don't get up on account of us girl, we're just here to see how you're doing." Kim rushed her words in hopes of stopping Erin's movement. "I'm okay. Busy morning." She pointed to her now gauze covered chest where they had cut her hospital gown down to expose the area for access. "What did they end up doing today?" "Port. Had to get that chemo moving quicker or something." She said with a sigh. "That sounds so painful. How are you really holding up?" Hailey hadn't known Erin as long as most of the Intelligence unit, but it didn't take much to figure out, especially judging from the scenario that she must have been in a lot of pain. "It's manageable. They're giving me the good stuff to numb it out a bit, but they said the port is going to be sore for a while. I'm okay though - really." She gave a lopsided, tired grin in Hailey's direction. "Hey. How come you guys aren't on a case though?" "Technically you are our case, at least for a little while." Kim said, earning her a very confused look. "Voight sent us down here to check on you." Hailey followed up with an explanation. "Ah. Gotcha. So how is everything? Catch me up."
As they all chatted about their latest life updates, Erin floated in and out trying her best to keep up with the chatter. "I actually met someone recently." Hailey's words caught her attention. Through heavy lids she urged her for details. "So he's actually a new firefighter working under Matt Casey. Met him over at Molly's one night, he's such a catch." She practically gushed. "That's great, Hailey. I'm so happy for you." Erin said through a muffled yawn.
The chats continued until Platt noticed Erin was completely out. "Alright, we should let Sleeping Beauty here get her rest. I'm going to stay back with her. You two can give Voight his update, alright?" The two detectives nodded and headed out, leaving the Sergeant to watch over Erin. Looking at how vulnerable the younger officer looked, it had Platt's heart clenching. In all her years of watching Erin work through their district, she had never seen her laid up in a hospital bed looking so...fragile.