Breathe Into Me

Heart Rate

I run a quick set of vitals, everything seems to be normal so far. I gently open his eyelid and use my flashlight to assess his pupil reflex, seems a little delayed, not terribly concerning for someone who just fell, can be indicative of a concussion though.

I scribble some notes down and continue with my intake assessment.

"Distal function is good." I mutter to myself as I take more notes.

"What does that mean?" I hear a familiar voice snap me from my train of thought.

"Billie, what are you doing here, I told you I'd see you after work." I say bluntly, trying not to sound annoyed.

"This is my brother Addie... I thought I recognized your voice. How is he?" She asks, thankfully not picking up on my failure to put two and two together.

"Hopefully he'll be just fine, but I wanted to get a CT scan just to rule out anything serious." I give her a small smile before submitting orders into the system.

For someone with a doctorate, how could I have been so stupid?

"I have a few other patients to attend to, but I will have my best nurse come take care of him in the meantime. A CT tech should be by in a few to get those scans in and once I've looked at them, I can give you more answers. Until then, will you be okay?" I ask, genuinely concerned for her. She looks helpless, like if she could trade places with him she would.

"I'll be okay." She smiles but it falters, her arms crossed over her chest pretending everything is going to be okay.

"I'll be back, call me if you need me." I don't know how my feet carried me out of the room. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and hold her close and just let her feel as freely as she needed to.

Instead, I have to mentally separate myself from my feelings and go on about my day. That's the shitty part about my job. I'm essentially a robot in public zones, feeling is for spaces not in front of patients or their families, best to just leave feelings at home.

I tend to my other patients in the ER, frequently checking on the CT progress being made on Finneas. Once I get the scans in, I look them over. Once my attending does the same, I go fill Billie in.

"Hey." I say, tapping lightly on the door jamb, seeing she's nodded off while waiting.

She jolts awake. "What happened? Is he getting worse?" She asks, her expression worried, like she's terrified to lose him.

"Billie, he's going to be just fine. I didn't see any signs of lasting damage. At most he's got a nasty concussion and will have post concussive syndrome for a few days or weeks given the severity of the fall, but let him rest and he'll be back to his normal self." I give her my honest professional opinion.

"She's right you know." A man's voice pipes up.

"Your ass was awake this whole time?!" Billie smacks her brother playfully.

"Like the past half hour goofy, ever since the CT scan I've been awake. Just tired and feel like an ice pick has been shoved in the back of my head." He elaborates, wincing in pain.

"I'll put an order in for some pain meds and we'll get you on your way home with a prescription and a note to stay home and rest." I give him a firm hand shake and do the same with Billie as to not cross any unprofessional lines.

~~~~

*Billie's POV*

"Bro what the fuck dude? You really had me worried!" I smack my brother on the shoulder.

"Ow, jeez Bil! Hell, I was worried waking up in a fucking hospital." He says letting out a sigh.

I lean against the bed rail. "Don't do that shit to me again, I can't lose you alright... you're my best friend." I say tearing up a bit.

"Ok ok, fine I won't clean out the gutters at mom and dad's house. So they can do it, and one of them falls and cracks their skull like I just did and doesn't have a decent outcome... Billie, someone's gotta look out for them and you're too busy with work and whatever else you do." He snaps at me.

I know he's not really mad at me, but it still hurts to hear those words.

"I'll try and be around more, okay? I just haven't been the same since Drew... and I know if I spend time at mom and dad's, I'll end up seeing her. I just... don't want to. She was my best friend... and it fucking hurt when she left." I admit reluctantly, not wanting to rehash the past.

"I get it. But you're never going to be alone Billie. I will always be there for you, as long as I have breath in my lungs." He assures me, holding out his hand.

"I know."

"Hate to interrupt this cute moment, but it's time for your meds Mr. O'Connell." His nurse comes in, meds and drink in hand.

His monitor goes a little haywire.

"Dude are you okay?" I ask him.

He clears his throat. "Uh yeah, I'm fine."

a/n: bubbies getting fed over different fandoms!

Honest thoughts on the new album?

Do we think there's going to be a second album to go with it??

Gimme some unrelated tea!!