The Night Shift

Chapter Seven: Kinsley

A/N: School is killing me, but I felt terrible about disappearing, so here is a short filler chapter. I will try to update after I take my last exam for this round of exams. I'm so sorry, y'all. 

A loud banging from the other side of the door made me stir from my light slumber. There was a pause before the door began to creep open. I rolled over from my stomach to my back, and brought myself into an upright position; my right hand finding its way to my neck. The person who caused me to stir slowly made their way into the room.

"Hey," his voice was hesitant, "Dre said I might find you in here." It was Josh. His voice was deeper than normal with a hint of a gravely undertone. He cleared his throat, most likely hearing the difference in his voice.

"Everything okay?" I began to massage the knot that had formed on the back of my neck. I noticed he was still in the same scrubs I gave him three days prior. I let out a gentle sigh through my nose and began slipping my shoes back on. "Is it Tyler? Did he seize again?" I quicken my pace of slipping my socked feet into my shoes.

"It's Tyler, but it's good news." I glanced up at him as he continued to talk, "He's awake, and asking for you. Well," his voice started to taper off, "more like writing for you? I guess?" Josh brought his hand up to his neck, and he began to rub it, mocking my earlier motion. A small smile was pulling at his lips as he closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. He began speaking more to himself than to me, "He's awake."

I cleared my throat, and brought myself to stand, "Well, why are you still standing here? Your best friend is awake just across the hall." I gave him a reassuring smile, and started off towards Tyler's room, with Josh in tow.

I reached my hand up to knock on the door, but Josh rushed into the room before I had the chance to do so. I internally rolled my eyes at the lack of his concern for announcing that someone would be entering the room. I followed behind him quietly, seeing the Dre had dimmed the lights in the room, so that when Tyler did wake up he wouldn't be blinded by the harsh overhead lighting the hospital room gave off. I shut the door, causing a small little 'thud' to echo throughout the quiet room.

I glanced over at the bed. Tyler's eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and shallow. I glanced at Josh who was now looking at me with concern painted across his face. I brought my right index finger to my lips, signaling him to keep quiet. I started towards the door, and waved for him to follow my lead. He hesitantly started toward me, glancing back at Tyler before he passed the threshold of the door, making his way into the deserted hallway. 

Josh started rambling as soon as I shut the door, "I swear, he was awake a few minutes ago. Is that normal? For them to go to sleep that fast? I mean, he's going to be okay, right?" He started fidgeting with his fingers while he stared down at the floor, as he continued to ramble.

"Josh." This caused him to look up at me. I completely ignored his questions about Tyler, "How much sleep have you gotten over the past three days?"

"What does that have to do with Tyler?" His brows were furrowed as he looked at me.

"Tyler is fine. He's on a lot of painkillers right now, so he'll be awake on and off for a little while. My main concern now that Tyler is stable and sleeping, is you. I know you haven't been sleeping, because you haven't left his side since he got out of his second surgery." Josh shifted his weight on his feet uncomfortably as I continued. "Everything you need to shower is on the counter by the sink in the same locker room you showered in the other day. I grabbed you another pair of scrubs just in case you don't have your other clothes yet."

He gave me a small nod before moving his gaze to me, "If anything happens, you'll come get me, right? Like when he wakes up?" The small nod I gave him must have been enough of a confirmation for him. "Thank you again for letting me stay, even when I wasn't supposed to. It means a lot."

I gave him a small smile and a curt nod, "I've been there before, so I know how it feels to not be able to stay. Go shower and get some rest. I'll come get you when Tyler is ready." 

Josh tugged at the loose curls that ghosted the back of his neck, before turning away from me to walk down the hallway, his shoes disturbing the stillness that had settled throughout the floor. I turned back to Tyler's door, and knocked softly out of habit. I waited a few seconds before returning to the inside, knowing he was knocked out cold. The monitors secured to the pole behind the bed were showing normal vitals for someone who was in deep REM sleep. I took a small deep breath, and sat down in the chair next to my bag, and began the paper charting for the past three days that had passed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The slight shift in movement from the bed caught my attention, but I kept my eyes on the book that was open across my lap. I didn't want Tyler to feel like he needed to stay awake, but soon he was making his presence known.

A heavy swallow was heard through the otherwise silent room, drawing my attention as Tyler tried to speak. He opened his mouth, but as expected, nothing came out. I removed the book from my lap, and slowly started to approach him, grabbing the cup of slightly melted ice chips from the bed side tray. 

"Would you like some water, Mr. Joseph?" 

He gave me a small nod, opening his mouth as I brought a small spoonful of the melted ice towards his face. I gently placed the spoon on his tongue, allowing him to swallow at his own pace. This went on several times, before he leaned his head back against the pillows with his eyes closed, his swallowing becoming much easier. I placed the ice chips back on his tray, and went back to the same place I was before he woke up. 

Almost an hour had passed before the silence was broken again, this time my attention was directed towards Tyler immediately. He was staring at the book I was reading, that was now propped up against my thighs. He visibly swallowed before he spoke in broken words, "I don't," he took a deep breath, "have that?" He swallowed again before continuing, "do I?" He was out of breath and his face began to scrunch in on itself in pain, his back lifting away from the bed slightly as he tried to adjust his position with as little effort as possible.

I leaned the book towards my stomach to read the cover, Stem Cell Therapy for Organ Failure.  I sighed, closing the book, and setting it beside me. "No, you don't have organ failure. I just needed to do a little research to keep up with the changes in medicine." I gave him a small reassuring smile, in hopes that he wouldn't see through my little white lie.

He turned his head to face back to the ceiling, a small 'oh' passing his dry lips and into the air as he relaxed a little bit more. He seemed to believe it. The longer time went on, the more it seemed like there was more he wanted to say, but he didn't say anything else. He just stared at the ceiling, as if he was deep in thought. I watched him curiously for a moment, before I shifted and got ready to stand up and move towards him. There were a few things that I needed to do before I could let Josh back into the room.  

"Okay, Mr. Joseph," I placed my hands on the side rail of the bed, "I know that you're tired, and you're sore, but in order for me allow visitors in, there's a few things we need to do.  We don't have to do them right now, but they need to be done before Dre comes back at eight AM, so we have about four hours." He gave me a small nod, but kept his eyes closed. "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours. Get some rest."

He shook his head slightly, "Do it now." He swallowed again, wetting his throat again, and pausing before he could muster up the strength to continue to talk, "that way I can rest..." his voice cut out all together before he was able to finish his sentence. He let out a frustrated sigh, mad at himself for not being able to say a full sentence without being out of breath and in pain.

I gave him a reassuring smile, "It's okay. It's normal for you to not be able to talk after what you've been through. I'm surprised you've been able to talk this much at all!" A small  sad smile made it's way across his tanned face, "but the good news is that we're going to help you as much as we can, and get you back to as close to normal as possible."

He opened his eyes, and looked over at me and mouthed the words 'thank you'. 

I grabbed the clip board that hung from the foot of his bed, and flipped through a few pages, "Okay. We're gonna start with the easy stuff and then work our way up to the harder stuff. I'm going to manually take your vitals now, okay?" Tyler nodded in response, and I reached for my thermometer to take his temperature first. "I'll try to get through everything as fast as I can, so you can go back to resting."