Save Me from the Dark (A John Gage 'Emergency!' love story Fanfiction)

Chapter 41

Practically shaking from anger Scarlett turned to the remaining group.

"God, I hate that guy. Where does he get off saying that to someone?"

"Kel's definitely an acquired taste." Doctor Early replied. "If I recall correctly, didn't him and Johnny butt heads at first as well?"

Roy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, they did. Johnny didn't care for him at all at first."

"That's what I thought." Early smiled at Scarlett. "Yet another way you and Johnny are alike. And I'm sure, much like Johnny did, you'll learn to like him."

Scarlett couldn't even control her snort. "Yeah, right. I've never particularly cared for assholes."

"Well," Early replied. "if nothing else, he did help save your life. You owe him that at least."

"Johnny and the other paramedics did most of the work." Scarlett grumbled, even if she didn't wanna admit it she knew Doctor Early was right. That wasn't gonna stop her from hating the prickly doctor, however.

"Right, so uh," Roy began. "About Johnny..."

In all the commotion Scarlett had somehow forgotten about the topic at hand : Johnny and his condition. She was actually pretty embarrassed about it.

"Yes, back to Johnny." Doctor Early nodded. "As Doctor Brackett stated, Roy holds medical power of attorney over Johnny, so long as he is unconscious and unable to make his own decisions, Roy will make them for him."

"Why does Roy have medical power of attorney anyway?"

"Guess Johnny never changed it." Roy shrugged sheepishly. "I was the closest thing he had to family for a long time, so he gave it to me in case something were to happen."

"Which is understandable." Early replied, clearly reading the annoyance on Scarlett's face which was only furthered by her left-over anger. "Right now Johnny is in a very touch and go situation. It seems he's developed a secondary infection, which isn't all that uncommon, however in his already weakened state it's much more dangerous."

Early stopped for a second to let Scarlett take everything in before continuing. "Johnny is fighting hard but his body is already overwhelmed and overcompensating and our fear is that he won't be able to keep it up much longer."

"So," Scarlett whispered, anger forgotten. "Johnny is dying?"

"Now, I wouldn't write him off just yet. We're adding some different medications and doing all we can. It's really just up to Johnny right now to hold on for a bit longer."

Scarlett took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding so hard she feared she might faint. She was honestly scared. Scared she might actually lose the love of her life after finally finding true happiness.

"What about the sedation?" She forced herself to ask. "Are you going to lower it?"

"I wouldn't really recommend it right now, but really, it's Roy's call." Doctor Early began, talking more to Roy than her. "There are, of course, pros and cons to keeping Johnny so deeply sedated, however Kel and I believe keeping him under for a little longer is really the best thing for him. He doesn't need any additional stress on his body right now."

Scarlett kept her eyes on Roy and it was obvious that he didn't exactly enjoy the situation he'd been suddenly placed in. Even though she knew the doctor was most likely right and waking Johnny up would almost certainly be a death sentence, a small part of her still wished Roy wouldn't agree to keep him sedated. It was a stupid and unreasonable thought, but she really missed him.

Finally Roy nodded. "Yeah. Keep him sedated. That's the best option."

"I don't expect to have to keep him under for much longer, just maybe another day or two until the new medications have a chance to start working. I fully expect we'll see Johnny turning the corner soon." Early smiled, a kind of smile that was sincere and filled with warmth, and shook his head. "Boy, Johnny knows how to get into some scrapes, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, I'd say." Roy replied dryly.

"This is Scarlett's first go around, isn't it?" Doctor Early turned to her and continued. "See, Johnny likes to keep all of us on our toes, but we know to expect the unexpected from him. We're monitoring him pretty closely in case he throws us some more curve balls. Anyway, I need to get back to work. Nice meeting you, Scarlett. See ya later, Roy."

"Nice meeting you, too." She replied as Early left, and truly it was. It was nice to have a change of pace from Brackett, who she couldn't believe absolutely reamed her a bit ago. What a jerk. If there had ever been any hope of liking him that was definitely shot to hell now.

Now wasn't the time to stew in her hatred of the doctor, however. Scarlett really just wanted to return to Johnny's side and as she turned to enter the ICU, Roy reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Hey, before you go, you should know I'm sorry. I really didn't think I was still named as his medical power of attorney."

Scarlett had to stop herself from sighing. "It's fine. We're both on his side, just don't hide things from me anymore and we're good."

Roy nodded. "Right. Go see Johnny, I'll talk to you later." He gave her one last pat on the shoulder before turning and leaving.

Really, Roy wasn't a bad guy. He was actually a pretty damn nice guy, but at the current time she couldn't help but feel incredibly betrayed by him. Not only because he had sole control of Johnny's current medical treatment, but also that he'd purposely voted to keep her out of the loop. She was the most important person in Johnny's life, and yet they'd purposely excluded her. It was pretty fucked up really.

With a sigh, Scarlett finally made her way to Johnny and she hoped things would turn out all right.