Page 71 of Redemption
“Yes, sir. Critical care nurse. Did that for a few years before The Fall.”
“Fair enough. This should be a piece of cake for you, then.”
He leaves the desk and begins walking down the hallway, waving a hand over his shoulder to keep me with him. “Alright, so this next patient has had it a little rough and needs a little extra TLC, but we’ll need an updated exam, as well as a blood and urine sample. Think you can manage that?”
“Yes, sir. Done plenty of that before all this. Just happy to be of some assistance again.”
I’m really not, but I need to play the part, find the others, and get us the hell out of here.
With an approving nod and a gesture to the guard to unlock the door we’ve stopped in front of, he hands me the clipboard with the patient’s information. “Alright. I’ll be back at the main desk when you’re ready.”
I take a deep breath and turn, pushing the door open. I don’t notice the patient right away, but when I look up from the clipboard, I stumble slightly, catching myself before I show any outward reaction at who’s lying on the bed before me.
Hawk. Battered, beaten, and bruised... but still Hawk. His eyes are almost fully swollen shut, a soft ice pack lying next to his abused face, but I see the delayed recognition in his gasp, the slight wobble of his lower lip, and his clenched fists.
I step into the room, closing the door behind me before I casually walk the perimeter of the room, glancing at the clipboard while also subtly scanning the walls in search of any sort of recording devices. I don’t find any, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. And with the guard just on the other side of the door, I still need to be careful in how I handle this.
Schooling my features into a look of professionalism and general detachment, I begin. “Good morning, Mr... E., is it?” I take my time, looking over the chart as I regard him like I would a new patient. “My name is Lazarus. How are you feeling today?”
I can tell he’s trying to smile, but his busted-up lips are preventing him from doing so. “To be honest, I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus. But I’m sure I’ll be ok.” His voice is rough, just this side of gravelly, but it’s the best sound I’ve heard all day.
“Yeah, it looks that way, but I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t fix. I bet we’ll have you up and out of here in no time. Just gotta hang out here and rest a little bit, and you’ll be right as rain.” I lift a skeptical eyebrow at him and wait for his response, hoping he can read between the lines while also understanding we need to be smart about this. Thankfully, he gets the silent message.
“You got it, Doc,” he says with a weak smile.
I step up to the bed he’s lying in and rest a hip against the firm mattress, barely an inch away from his tense fist. As my weight settles, the bed dips, giving us the chance we need to seek what we crave. The moment I come in contact with his knuckles, his fist relaxes, softening against my side. A rush of air releases from his lungs as he looks from his hand back up to meet my gaze. The feel of the back of his hand pressing against me, practically begging for my touch, and the underlying agony I see in his eyes almost become my undoing. My fingers twitch against the clipboard, wanting to hold his hand and show some sort of outward affection towards him, to tell him I’m going to fix everything, but I hold myself back, letting this be enough. For now.
My heartache and fury are swallowed on a dense gulp as I force myself to maintain the act. “Seems to me you’ve been through some pretty nasty stuff. Care to elaborate on what happened?”
His finger travels in a slow line along my thigh, maintaining the tiny amount of hidden physical contact between us even as his jaw clenches and his eye contact sways, driftingaway as he recalls the moments that led him here. I catch a tremble in his chin, so small I might have missed it if I wasn’t so in tune with him, but it pulls my focus, demanding to know the answer. Without any indication to what I just witnessed, I flip through his paperwork until I come across a note that almost puts me on the floor. There’s no signature to specify who’s to blame, but I instantly want to destroy everyone involved in this fucked-up town regardless of their guilt or innocence. It’s difficult, but I force myself to not show any emotion at what I’m reading, choosing to breathe through the rage consuming me. Regardless of how I feel, right now I need to be strong for Hawk. And that means giving him the strength I have so he can heal.
But then Hawk surprises me when the side of his mouth lifts. “Oh, you know. Little bit of this. Little bit of that. I like to keep it flexible during vacation time. And then, one day, I decided to run into a fist... ten times. Never was very good at learning from my mistakes, but it was absolutely delightful when I finally got the sleep I needed.”
I stop messing with his chart to smile and give him some very obvious side-eye. Even after everything he went through, he’s still managing to surprise me, leaning on dark humor to help him through his trauma. It’s good to know I haven’t lost my best friend to this place.
“And how did you come to find yourself here?” I continue with the ruse, content to keep him talking if only so I can stay a little while longer and listen to his voice.
His brow furrows as he thinks for a second, his tongue sneaking out to wet his lips momentarily before he speaks. “Well, come to think of it, I’m not quite sure. I was shot, hit upside the head, and then, poof, can’t remember a thing after that. Well, that is until I got here and was gifted a couple shiners.” He coughs a few times, groaning in pain after. Hegoes to clutch his side when it starts to hurt too much, but the restraints around his wrists prevent him from doing so.
I urge him to lie down fully on the bed to ease the pain while I pull out the blood pressure cuff and take a few vitals, not only to fill the chart, as they’re expecting, but also to fill the spaces. I’m running out of time, but I don’t want to end this yet.
He looks fucking awful, and it’s going to kill me to leave him here in his condition. I can’t imagine the shit he must have been through. The black, blue, and purple splotches covering his face, chest, abdomen, and neck are enough to make me go insane, but I can’t do anything to blow my cover. I have to remain distant until I can find a way out of this.
“It’s funny, you remind me of someone,” Hawk says, pulling my focus from the kaleidoscope of colors covering his skin. “Have you ever seen that show on TV where they remade all the Disney characters into real life and made Captain Hook all hot and bothersome? Made the ladies go absolutely bonkers over the villain turned heartthrob?” A smirk pulls at his mangled lips. “I bet you’d look pretty scrumptious with some eyeliner. Got that whole gothic pirate look down. Take it as an invitation. You can shiver me timbers any day.”
I smile at his antics—his way of diffusing the situation, to get me to breathe, knowing he’s ok—and laugh discreetly. At least they didn’t fuck up his brain when they beat the hell out of him.
“So... I’m going to need a few samples from you before I go. Just some blood and urine, if you don’t mind.” I hate to do it, but I need to keep up this charade. Now that I’ve found Hawk, I need to stay in everyone’s good graces so I’m able to get the freedom I need to wander the encampment and find Jax and Aly.If that means going along with what Locke asked for—something as simple as some blood and piss—they can have it.
“Aching to see my dick, Doc?” Hawk asks with barely restrained sarcastic enthusiasm, continuing to use the pseudonym we’ve always used instead of the one this community chose for me.
I lift my pen and point it at him. “Ah, now that you mention it, I do have to give you a little prick while we’re at it.”
Gathering the necessary materials, I begin working, making sure I’m as gentle as possible while filling the air with random bullshit to keep our minds preoccupied. I don’t rush, letting the draws do their thing, and then later helping Hawk limp across the hall to use the facilities. All too soon, however, our time is up, and I know I need to return his patient file to Locke and Stitch before they start getting suspicious as to why I’m taking so long.
Regretfully, I stand and lean slightly over Hawk. “Well.... You’ll definitely be seeing more of me, Mr. E. I’m going to go put this file back into your records and run those tests, but I’ll see you in a little bit. Do me a favor and get some rest. I’ll try to make sure to keep you in this wing until we’re able to release you.” I give a firm little nod to reassure him, lifting my fist to subtly bump his before I leave the room and move on to the other patients in my ward.
“Everything go ok?” Locke asks, lifting his head from the filing cabinet.
