Stranger Danger

I'm Not Sure I Can Do This Anymore

Once both young men had been taken down to ICU, there was a flurry of rushed activity. Ant was immediately hooked up to a variety of machines to monitor his vitals as well as provide oxygen. He had not come to in the lift and his body was now racked by hard tremors that were causing his muscles to want to painfully seize up. Dr. Shannon counted it as fortunate that the young man was totally unaware of the harsh side effects of the flumazenil but, at the same time, he was so very thankful that the medications had done what they had been designed to do...to save his life after the benzodiazepine overdose.

It was during a rather painful blood test to read his blood arterial gases to make sure acidosis had not begun to set in that Ant suddenly came to and heated blankets were being layered over his shuddering form while words of encouragement and comfort were being murmured to him by Dr. Shannon, who was running a hand gently up and down the shuddering young man's right arm.

"My ribs...my ribs," Ant ground out through gritted teeth as he writhed about with each tremor. Dr. Shannon winced but wasn't ready to share that CPR compressions would explain away that pain and he cotinued to murmur quietly to the young man.

"What...happened...to me...I don't...understand..." Ant battled to get his words out, missing the nurse who came in, waving at the doctor, giving him the go ahead to administer pain medications and muscle relaxers to combat the side effects of the drugs as well as the horrible pain being experienced.

"We need to get x-ray up here to check for rib fractures," Dr. Shannon said quietly to the nearest nurse who immediately left the room to start making phone calls for the order while Dr. Shannon turned his attention back to Ant taking in how pain glazed his eyes were.

"Ant...I needed to have a blood test done to find out what kind of help we can give you for the pain," he said, not exactly telling the entire story but not blatantly lying to the young man. Ant simply nodded then groaned as his muscles continued to painfully spasm.

"Why...is this...happening to me?" he asked, groaning as another wave of pain hit. "Dec...okay?"

"Declan is here with you and is doing fine. I'll be able to tell you more in just few minutes. Let's just get a handle on the pain and tremors." Minutes later, Ant had melted onto the surface of his gurney...his eyes blinking heavily as he listlessly watched the activity around him, totally unaware of what was going on at the other end of the room.

Seeing the pain rapidly deminishing gave the doctor a moment to regroup as he watched Ant, just seconds later, give into the strong pull of the medications and fall into a deep sleep.

At that same moment, Dr. Sheridan walked in on the controlled chaos and was pointed in Dec's direction and his heart sank at the amount of blood seeping through the heavy layer of bandages covering his right shoulder. He had heard a brief explanation as to what had happened on his way to the ICU and he had been shaken. The men who had done this to his patient...he had long ago trusted them...he had worked with them for several years and had even socialized a few times with them. He was going to have to work through his tumutuous emotions but, for now, he needed to put his full concentration on the figure lying on the gurney before him.

Pulling on a pair of gloves, he and a nurse made quick but careful work of unwinding the heavy layer of bloodied bandages only to be greatly disheartened when large gaps where stitches had formerly been were now torn unevenly through the skin were revealed, blood steadily seeping through what few stitches remained intact. He had a right mess on his hands and he shook his head in disgust. Looking over at Dr. Shannon he pointed up toward the ceiling with a bloodied glove.

"Got to get him upstairs, Kerry...looks like we've got more than one layer of stitches that have been compromised rather severely...almost to the point that we'll be starting all over again. We've also got to worry about infection setting in since there's quite a bit of exposed tissue," Dr. Sheridan said looking at his watch then glancing at the nurse. "Let them know that we need a room immediately." He then turned and looked down at Dec's pale, pinched features.