Love and Affection

I

Doctor Harding approaches my desk, he's an older gentleman with a warm smile. 

"Meredith, I'm leaving you in charge of the amputation patient. You're on the day shift?" He asks, he is a good doctor but distant when it comes to patients. He never cares much to learn their names or families or stories.

It's been a couple of days since Def Leppard's drummer entered my ICU, he's been in and out a lot lately but not really coherent. His mother, who I have learned is Kathleen, has never left his side. His band on the other hand come in every morning and then leave around the afternoon, once in a while a few of them come back drunk and have to be excorted away by security. 

I wander into his room in the early morning, my entering must have startled Mrs. Allen awake. She stirs and looks up at me with watery red eyes.

"Good morning, Mrs. Allen." I greet as I check on her son's vitals. 

"G'morning, Meredith." She yawns.

I gently touch Rick's fingers on his left arm, they're cold and they're always cold. I fear that the reattachment has gone bad and infections will spread. His whole career lies in those fingers. Aside from his career, he's a twenty one year old man with his entire future in front of him. 

"How's he doing this morning, love?" Mrs. Allen questions eagerly and I look up.

"His vitals are strong." I promise. "We've got him hopped up on some pretty aggressive painkillers but we're gonna start to ween those, he should be more alert soon."

I adjust his IVs again before promising her I'll be back in soon. As I leave the room, I see the remainder of his band checking in at the desk. They're being quiet today, perhaps severely hungover. I approach the desk and find that Joe, the natural frontman, has pushed his way to the front to speak for the group.

"Your friend is doing good today, boys." I tell them. "He should be awake soon." 

Joe smiles at me.

"Thank you, love, can we go see him?" 

"If you're quiet and one of you should get Mrs. Allen a tea." I suggest and they nod. "I can show you where you can get some, I bet she'd appreciate it."

"I'll go." Sav offers quietly and raises his hand. 

"Sure, come on." I agree.

Sav walks up beside me as we head out the glass doors that encase the ICU. I lead him down the hall where the coffee station is. 

"So we've got a little bet going on." He admits conversationally and I look over. "Steve and Phil think you're from the West Coast, like California or something. Joe and I think you're more of an East Coast girl, like from New York."

"Ahh." I chuckle as we round the corner. "You're all wrong actually."

"The midwest?" Sav asks and I shake my head.

"I'm Canadian." I admit. "Well I have dual citizenship, I was born here but grew up there." I explain. "Ontario, to be exact."

We reach the coffee station and each grab a paper cup. I fill mine up with hot water and a tea bag, while putting a couple sugar packets in my pocket. Sav starts to make Mrs. Allen a cup and looks up.

"How did you end up there?" He wonders.

"My dad was posted her in London after his service in Korea and he met my mum here. They got married and had me and then he got posted back to Pembroke." I explain.

"So are your parents still in Canada?" Sav asks as we walk back towards the ICU. 

"Technically, yes." I admit. "My mum died when I was ten and my dad died about eight years later. That's when I move back."

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." He rubs the back of his neck and I shrug.

"Don't worry about it, it was a long time ago." I smile and look towards Rick's room. "You should get back in there, I've got some work to do."

"Of course." He grins. "Thank you, Meredith. Have a nice day." 

We part ways and I wander back towards my desk. Sav is a sweetheart, he's always polite to me and comes to collect Steve when he returns to the hospital drunk at night. The boys are lucky to have Sav.