After the Sun Sets (18+)

CHAPTER 3a - Resistance pt.2

Jonathan's eyes darted between the surgeon and his wife. Mike and Isaac filed in behind them. As though sensing trouble, Mike put a supportive hand on Lora's shoulder.

"I slept good enough," Jona mumbled, shoulders hunched up defensively at all the eyes fixed on him.

Isaac dutifully handed over his file to the surgeon and Dr Shaw flipped through the sheets until he landed on the fluid balance chart. He checked the drain. Still at three twenty.

"The last increase was at nine p.m." Isaac volunteered.

"Okay," Dr Shaw said turning to the team. "Monitor parameters and neurological status every six hours, remove the drain, remove the IV fluid, start a light diet and..." his eyes stopped on Lora. She squirmed under his gaze as he seemingly debated something in his mind. It was as though someone had turned off the sound in the room. She couldn't hear anything but the amplified beating of her heart, suddenly fast and erratic. "That's it. I'll see you again this afternoon, Mr Scicluna."

Isaac took the file as soon as Dr Shaw motioned it towards him, eyes still boring into Lora's as though they were trying to break into her soul. She felt Mike shift beside her and she finally broke their gaze. Dr Shaw did not flinch but Lora felt like cotton balls were swelling in the back of her throat.

"What about his urine catheter?" Isaac asked as he wrote his own notes in the nursing section.

"Leave it in for now," the surgeon answered definitively and then, before anyone had a chance to question his order he added, "I'll speak to Karl and Vico to mobilise him to the chair in the afternoon. Do you think you'll be okay with that? How are your pain levels?"

Everyone turned to Jonathan as though they had just remembered he was in the room. The look of irritation on his face was undeniable.

"I think I can handle sitting down," Jonathan grumbled bitterly.

"Great," Dr Shaw cheered, ignoring the sarcasm in his patient's dry tone.

Mike and Isaac left the room but Dr Shaw shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his feet making a squelching noise as he did so.

"What happened here? Why is the floor all sticky?" he asked looking between Lora and Jona.

Lora was quick to answer. "I dropped the tea. Sorry."

The surgeon's green eyes narrowed suspiciously at her, connecting the dots, seeing straight through her lie.

"No need to be sorry. I'll ask the cleaner to start with your room. I don't want any more accidents." And with that, Dr Shaw left the room.

The door had barely closed when Isaac returned with an orange washbasin. "I'm here for your bed bath, Mr Scicluna. You will feel much better afterwards."

"No thanks, kid, my wife will wash me," Jona growled.

Lora and Isaac looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Jona, I can help but it's your first day post-op," Lora said reasonably. "Isaac needs to do his nursing assessment and check your wound for himself."

Jonathan glared at his wife. "Aren't you a fucking nurse too? What is the point of having a nurse for a wife if some random guy is going to wash me?"

He was red in the face again. His vein was throbbing in the middle of his forehead. This wasn't good for his blood pressure. They needed to ambulate him today. He needed to be as stable as possible.

"Will you just relax?" Lora started, but Jonathan was already trying to sit up again.

"What the hell is this, huh? What is it? Do you have something better to do? Or someone?"