It's Coming Around | Lawrusso

It's Coming Around Chapter 10/10

Daniel left the hospital with a bounce in his stride. Johnny was improving. They'd even talked for a little while, and he finally felt like everything was going to be OK, after a week of fearing the worst.

Doctor Austin had decided keep Johnny on a lower dose of medication, so there wouldn't be a repeat of the breathing issues, and every day was another day closer to him finally testing negative for the virus.

When Daniel arrived at the ICU the next morning, a cup of coffee in his hand, Doctor Austin was outside Johnny's room.

"Hey," Daniel asked, feeling concerned at seeing her standing there, waiting for him. "Is everything OK?"

"Everything is fine, but Johnny's had a rough night," she replied. "With the lowered dose of medication he's had more pain and hasn't slept much."

"He still has the virus?" Daniel asked.

"His viral load is dropping every day, but yes, his test this morning was still positive," she said, then she reached out a hand and placed it on Daniel's shoulder. "It won't be long now. A day or two at most. He just needs a lot of support to get through it."

"Support?" Daniel said. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"We normally only allow one person in with a patient on the ICU at any one time, but we're willing to bend that rule for Johnny," the doctor said. "If you need to bring more people in to distract him from the pain, or if there's someone you think he'd like to see, then please get them down here."

"Yeah, there's just one problem with that..." Daniel said, thinking back to the day Miguel and Robby had argued in the corridor. He was pretty certain they were who Johnny would like to see more than anyone, but the problem was having them in the same room without a fight breaking out.

Daniel let out a sigh and said, "I'll see what I can do."

Doctor Austin gave Daniel a smile, and said, "It won't be long now till he's out of the ICU. I've already made a referral for Johnny to be transferred to the care of the Orthopedics department to get treatment for the injuries to his back and to finally get a cast on that broken arm, once he tests negative."

"Thank you so much for taking such good care of him," Daniel said. "I really appreciate it, even if I haven't always shown it."

"It's been a stressful time," she replied with a smile. "I'm just glad we've been able to help. I'll let you get inside now."

Daniel opened the door gently, poking his head around it, to check whether Johnny was sleeping.

"Hey," Daniel said quietly, as he edged into the room.

Johnny was awake, laid on his side, and he looked utterly exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked.

"I'm fine," Johnny said, his mouth a taut line and his brow furrowed.

"You don't look fine," Daniel said, as he sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand. "You don't have to pretend for me, Johnny. I'll still think you're badass, even if you admit it hurts."

"It hasn't stopped for hours," Johnny said, rolling his shoulder and wincing. "Nothing seems to make it better."

"That must be exhausting," Daniel said.

"It's not as bad as it was, but before it seemed to come and go," he replied. "Now it's just constant, non stop, and it's getting me down, you know?"