Healing Hearts

Chapter 9

"Where did he get the prosthetic leg?"

"Why didn't he have a sitter?"

"Oh I see his eyes fluttering."

"He's coming around, back up, let's get him onto a bed."

Charlotte was knelt on the floor next to Simon, surrounded by nurses. She had made a beeline toward him as soon as she saw him knocked to the ground by the prosthetic leg. He had crumbled instantly, his head narrowly missing the corner of the desk. Bed 2 had used everyone's concern for one of their own as an opportunity to make his escape. His whereabouts were currently unknown.

She stood and backed away, giving them space to work. It took four nurses to lift him onto the gurney and wheel him into an exam room. One of the other ED docs—Whitcomb—called out orders for imaging and labs. Everyone else gawked until Aaron, still charge nurse, told them to get back to work.

Not wanting to leave his side, Charlotte followed the bed and tried to stay out of everyone's way. Despite her medical training, she chose to stay strictly in the mental health realm while she was in the ED. It didn't take away her knowledge of the potential danger he was in following such a blow to the head.

As she stood there, Simon's eyes continued to flutter and eventually opened fully. Whew. The breath she didn't know she had been holding forced itself out of her mouth. At least he wasn't unconscious for a long period of time--her watch showed it had only been a few minutes since he was struck. It felt like much longer.

"Simon!" she couldn't help but proclaim. She pushed her way to the side of his bed and grabbed his hand.

He blinked up at her. "I have the worst headache." She felt a faint squeeze of her hand.

The corners of her mouth twitched up.

"I'm not surprised, that was one solid prosthetic leg." His face, initially blank, stretched into a grin. "You have no idea."

One of the nurses working on him bumped her to the side, causing her to lose her grip on his hand. He reached out for her, trying to reconnect. She shook her head. "I'm in the way. I'll come back later, I promise." She gave him a final smile and stepped out the door before he could respond.

He's okay for now. I can't do anything in there anyway. And the results won't be back for hours.

Deciding that staying busy would help her get through the waiting period, Charlotte decided to look into the whereabouts of their missing patient. He was nude, and, given that they couldn't find it in the ED, likely still had the prosthetic leg. He wouldn't get far without attracting attention.

She dialed the number for the police department and waited anxiously as it rang. After a tense conversation, she learned that they had apprehended the man not far from the hospital. He had tried to attack one of the officers with his broken leg and was now being held for assault. Charlotte felt a mix of emotions - anger towards the man for what he had done to Simon but also sympathy for his mental state. As much as she wanted him to get treatment, she was relieved that he would not be returning to their facility anytime soon.

After finishing her documentation for the encounter, including her recollection of the incident at the nurse's station, she made her way back to Simon's room. It was empty.

"Hey, where did Simon go?" she called over to a group of nurses. One of them, she thought his name was Ben, wrinkled his forehead and asked, "Who's Simon?"

Crap. Hoping she wasn't blushing too much, she corrected herself and said, "Macari. I mean Macari. He's not in his room."

"They took him to CT."