Page 21 of Stay with Me
“You make your call. I’ll get you some fresh coffee and something to nibble on. I think Peggy brought in muffins. If not, I’ll run to the cafeteria for you.” Talia turned and walked away, not waiting for him to answer. Yeah, he had people here who cared.
Brody turned toward the unit clerk’s desk, looking for Pam. He knew it wasn’t Pam’s job but she’d find him if any of Drew’s monitors went off. Seeing the redhead hanging up the phone, Brody moved quickly. That phone rang more than the monitors went off some days.
“Hey Pam, I’ve got to make a call. If something changes with the patient in trauma four before I come back in, can you send someone to find me?” He didn’t think she’d make him owe her a favor for this but you never knew.
“The MP lieutenant? Thought he was Marcia’s patient and shouldn’t you have gone home at least two hours ago?” Pamraised an eyebrow at him. Yup, he’d been found out. A small shrug was his only answer.
“I’ll be back shortly,” Brody said, heading to the ambulance bay. He could pace out there and unless an ambulance came in, it would be relatively private for his call.
When he got outside, he squinted. Shit, should’ve grabbed his sunglasses. Brody lifted his phone and unlocked the screen. It wasn’t going to be any easier the longer he waited and he wanted to get back to Drew’s side. The urgency he was feeling wasn’t his normal. Of course, seeing someone he knew on a gurney wasn’t normal either. He brought up the command sergeant major’s contact and hit his number, placing the call.
“Mike Mullvaney,” the sergeant major said when the call connected. He sounded distracted to Brody. Of course, he’d only talked to him briefly so it could be his default.
“Command Sergeant Major, this is Lieutenant Brody Walker. I don’t know if you remember—” Brody didn’t get to finish his sentence as he was cut off. He could feel sweat running down his neck. It was getting warmer as the day went on. It was hotter than usual in March, or so he’d been told. Lucky him. He could see where the heat was vibrating off the pavement.
“Brody, first, why are you calling me by rank? Second, of course I remember you and I’m glad you finally called. However, now isn’t the greatest time for me to talk. Let me call you back this afternoon and we can—”
It was Brody’s turn to cut the man off. “Command—” Mike growled. “—Mike, I wish I was calling to catch up. I’m one of the staff nurses here in the Emergency Room for Brooke Medical Center. Drew was brought in this morning. He’s going to need surgery and he woke long enough to ask me to call you.” The silence on the other end of the phone had Brody pulling it awayfrom his ear to check that the call hadn’t been dropped. It hadn’t. “Um, Mike? Are you still there?”
Mike cleared his throat then asked, “How bad is it?”
“He’s stable but lost a lot of blood. They’re typing and cross-matching him. The surgeon is performing another operation currently. Drew was protecting a K-9 from being stabbed. Blocked the knife with his body and took the knife to his triceps and deltoid. Not going to lie, it’s deep and long. I won’t even hazard a guess how many stitches it’s going to take to seal the wound. He’ll recover but he’s going to be in the hospital at least overnight.” Brody wasn’t sure what else to say. He’d given a brief report.
“Trish and I will be there as soon as possible. I’ll call Drew’s parents. His mother is definitely going to want to talk to the doctor.” Brody heard a door slam before Mike said to someone, “Cancel my meeting. Family emergency…” then Mike spoke to Brody again, “I’m on my way,” and disconnected the call.
What would it be like to have someone drop everything for him? Brody wasn’t sure he’d ever had that. Heading back into the ER, Brody stopped outside of the trauma bay and stared at Drew. He moved next to the gurney and wrapped his hand around Drew’s while he checked over the monitors. Brody felt Drew squeeze his hand and looked at Drew’s face. His eyes were partially open and he licked his lips.
“You’re back,” Drew said, as he blinked fast. “Stay,” he demanded before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.
Brody stood there holding Drew’s hand.Maybe I could have someone.
Chapter Thirteen
Brody picked at the sandwich that Talia brought him then blew on the coffee. She’d run to the cafeteria for him. He wasn’t a picky eater but today, even the sandwich was sitting like a rock in his stomach. He sat next to Drew’s gurney; close enough to reach out and touch Drew. As he pushed the tray away, Brody heard a commotion outside the trauma bay.
“I have no idea who you are, but you will move out of my way and let me in my nephew’s room. Am I clear?” The command in Mike’s voice had Brody jumping out of his seat before he even processed moving. He slid the curtain to the side and saw Jared standing at attention, looking like he was either going to piss himself or fall over. Hmmm, maybe Brody needed to add some military drills along with PT into the platoon training— Brody cut off that thought and filed it away under ‘things to deal with later’.
“Command Sergeant Major. Mrs. Mullvaney,” Brody said as he walked up to the grouping. Trish was standing a step behind her husband and the look of determination on her face had Brody one beat from snapping to attention himself. “I’ve got this, Jared. They are members of Lieutenant Nolan’s family. Please, follow me.” Brody gestured behind him to the trauma bay. Mike strode passed him and over to the gurney. Trish stopped in front of him and pulled him into her arms.
“How are you doing? It couldn’t have been easy to see Drew at the ER,” Trish whispered to him, before she pulled back and slapped his shoulder. “That’s for not calling us since you’ve been here. We told you to reach out. That we would help you get settled. Have you over for dinner. Make sure you weren’t alonefor the holidays. I’m sure you had some messed-up reason in your head for not calling us. That ends now, am I clear?”
Brody started nodding before Trish finished her sentence. He could see how she complemented her husband in taking care of soldiers. She was definitely the senior NCO’s spouse at this moment. When she realized he wasn’t going to argue, she put her arm around his waist and they walked over to Drew’s bedside. When they got close, Trish stepped away and leaned against her husband.
He didn’t even think that Mike was breathing. He was standing so straight and the look on his face? Oh yeah, he could see where soldiers would’ve jumped to follow this man’s commands. And he definitely would not have wanted to see the steely glare aimed in his direction. No, sir. No way.
“Drew, what did you do to yourself? I don’t know that we were ready to see one of the kids in this position. We thought we’d gotten away with none of us being seriously injured—” Trish cut him off.
“None of you being seriously injured? I can think of two instances off the top of my head where one of you were in a hospital bed,” she said as she ran her hand up and down the man’s arm, as if she was rubbing away the hurt.
Mike cleared his throat. “Bygones, slander. Let’s focus on what we need to do for Drew. Kevin and Brit won’t get here until tomorrow night, at the earliest. Storms are hitting North Carolina hard today.” Mike turned to Brody and said, “Okay, sit rep. What’s the overall damage? What will the surgery entail? Do we need to watch for infection? What kind of rehab will—”
“Uncle Mike, at ease,” Drew mumbled from the bed, causing all three of them to snap their attention to him. Brody watched as Trish leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead whileMike patted Drew’s leg. He wasn’t sure what he should do. Leave? Stay? As he took a step backward, Drew held out his hand and called his name, “Brody. Why are you way over there?”
§ § § §
Drew was having the most amazing dream. He’d reconnected with Brody and they were dating. He’d fallen asleep watching TV, holding Brody’s hand. As he began to roll onto his side, a sharp pain went through his body, jerking him awake with a gasp.
“What the fuck!” he exclaimed.
