Page 3
Preparation
Abel walked back into the hospital room as Wolf and I sat in silence. His little comment about my eye rolling and teeth sucking left me speechless. What could I respond to a man that just put me in my place? Now that Abel was back, I excused myself to go call Joy. Joy was my favorite cousin. We were always tight growing up. If anyone would understand my current predicament it would be her. I waited until I reached one of the rooms we used to take naps in at the hospital to call her. As I walked into the room, I looked around to ensure no one else was present. When I was certain I was alone, I hit call on her contact. The phone rang twice before she answered.
“Hey, how is my favorite doctor cousin?”
“I’m good, cousin, but I need your help.”
“Well lucky for you I feel like helping. What do you need?”
“Can you go to my house to pack me a bag? I need like two weeks’ worth of clothes and my toiletries.”
“Are you going on vacation without me? Why would you need two weeks’ worth of clothes?”
“Abel and Wolf got into some shit that I can’t tell you over the phone. When you drop the stuff off to the hospital, I will fill you in. I hate to rush you, but if you could get here within the next hour or so I would owe you.”
“Abel and Wolf, huh? Okay, girl, I got you. Let me head over to your spot. See you soon.”
I disconnected the phone then took a deep breath. While I asked Joy for two weeks’ worth of clothes, truthfully, I had no idea how long I would be stuck with Wolf. He was in no condition to leave the hospital, but I understood why he needed to leave. With his memory a little foggy, his shooter could come to try to finish the job. Wolf may not recognize the person that shot him if he saw them again. It was common for people to forget traumatic experiences.
With some time and him being in an environment that was familiar to him it should come back. Wolf didn’t present with a head trauma when he came into the hospital. My biggest challenge would be to prevent infection. He was alert so that was one less thing to worry about. I just needed to focus on not losing my mind while being tucked away.
I walked into the office that the attendings shared and sat at the computer. It was late notice, but I needed to formally let my director know that I needed a leave of absence. I hated to put my colleagues in a predicament of having to cover for me but that was part of the job. As I drafted my email it was surreal that I was even doing this.
I never missed work unless I was sick. My routine was important to me. Part of me was very nervous about how I would adjust shifting my routine in such a drastic way. It was one thing to be out of work and in the comfort of my home. Yet being in a home in the middle of nowhere with Wolf left my stomach in a ball of knots.
My phone dinged with a text from Joy.
Joy:
I’m at your place, I guess you need some lounge wear.
Me:
Yeah, I want to be as comfortable as possible. Don’t forget my fuzzy socks.
Joy:
Really out of all the things you need. You’re worried about some damn fuzzy socks.
Me:
Whatever pack my socks please
I put the phone down. Joy needed to do more packing and less worrying about Wolf. This arrangement was not personal. This was him keeping a promise to my brother. Since Joy was at my place she would be here soon. I walked back down to Wolf’s room to check on him. It was time to check his complete blood count to make sure everything was normal before we left. As I approached his room, I noticed a few familiar faces in the hall guarding the door.
“Well look who it is. Baby girl, you have grown up.” Wolf’s Uncle Will greeted me.
I greeted Will with a hug. “Hey, Will, it’s good to see you. Wish it was under better circumstances.”
“You’re right about that. I’m so proud of you. Our very own doctor. Thank you for saving my nephew.”
“No thank you necessary. You know family looks out for family. Let me go check on him. I’m sure I will be seeing you soon.”
We separated from our hug as I entered Wolf’s room. He sat up straight and was alert which was a good thing. A stark difference from the man that was rushed into the hospital last night.
“How are you feeling, Wolf?”
“Look at you being all professional in doctor mode.” He and Abel both snickered at his joke.
I, however, looked at him sternly. This version of me was foreign to both of them but I didn’t play about my patients. When I took my oath to save lives, I meant every word of the words I recited. I guess they sensed that I wasn’t joking.
“I feel good. My arm is sore but other than that I’m ready to head out.”
“Good, but before we do that, I need to run some tests on you.”
“Do what you gotta do, Doc. I’ll be a good patient, I promise.” I felt my eyes roll at him.
“I thought we talked about that earlier, Alexis.”
I see I wasn’t Doc anymore now I was Alexis. With Abel still present I didn’t say anything back to him. Abel hated when Wolf and I bickered back and forth. He had a scowl on his face so I knew Abel would be bothered if we carried on. I grabbed the needle, tubes, alcohol pad, tourniquet, a bag for the tubes of blood, and a band aid. After I laid everything on the table, I went to the sink to wash my hands. Then I put on a pair of gloves. Since he wanted to complain about my eye rolling, the tourniquet would be extra tight around his arm.
“Does this thing need to be so tight?” he asked.
“Oh, is it? My bad.” I snickered.
I loosened the torniquet then prepared the needle and tube. Then I used the alcohol pad to clean the area. This was typically the job of a phlebotomist, but I wanted to limit the number of people around Wolf. There was a note in his account that he was my VIP patient. I was a little rusty, so it was hard to find his vein at first. Once I tapped his arm a few times the vein became prominent, and we were good to go. With the tubes filled I put a band-aid on him then cleaned the area.
“I’m going to run these down to the lab. We should have them back within the hour. I will be back in a few,” I said as I left the room. The lab was on the second floor, so I headed toward the elevator. As I stepped on the elevator my phone dinged. I looked down, and it was a message from Joy.
Joy:
I’m here.
Me:
I had to run to the lab. Meet me at Wolf’s room. The room number is 333.
Joy:
Got it
I stepped off the elevator and walked to the far end of the hallway where the lab was located. There was a window for drop offs.
“Hey, Dr. Jackson.”
“Lily, good to see you. Can you process this stat for my VIP patient?”
“I’ll make sure you have the results within the hour.”
“Thank you.”
With that taken care of, I headed back up to Wolf’s room. As I approached the room I heard Joy’s voice. She laid question after question into Abel. That was Joy. She needed to know what he had gotten himself into. As our big cousin, she took a protective role over us. I opened the door to save my brother. Abel did not appreciate anyone questioning him.
“Hey,” I greeted Joy. “I see you found the room okay.”
“I did. I just got here but I tried to get Abel to tell me what’s going on.”
“Joy, thanks for bringing Alexis’s stuff, but I’m a grown ass man. I don’t answer to anyone,” Abel expressed.
Even as children these two were always bickering. I often found myself being a buffer and some things never changed.
“Okay, guys, cool it. Joy, come take a walk with me. You can leave my bags there.”
Joy rolled her eyes at Abel.
“I see that eye rolling shit runs in the family huh,” Wolf asserted.
“It sure does,” I said as I winked at him.
Joy and I exited the room. I led her to a quiet area on the other side of the floor. Once we reached the desolate area, I pointed to a set of chairs. She took a seat, and I did the same.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Abel’s mean ass was so tight lipped.”
“I only know what I overheard. Abel got into it with the First Street Crew. I assume Wolf got shot because they couldn’t find Abel. Wolf’s memory is a little fuzzy, so he doesn’t have all the details.”
Joy looked at me with shock.
“Well damn, no wonder Abel didn’t want to say shit. So you have to stay with Wolf because Able has to go away huh?” she asked.
“Bingo. Girl, what am I going to do all day locked away with that man?”
“Fuck him. Girl, what else? Now is your chance to live out your fantasies.”
I scrunched up my nose at her. “What fantasies? Wolf is easy on the eyes but he’s Abel’s best friend.”
“Alexis, cut the shit. The two of you have had this thing. If you don’t believe me, you will see when you’re alone with him. Your brother being his best friend will not be able to stop the inevitable.”
Joy had the situation confused. I never thought of Wolf like that. Well correction, I haven’t thought of Wolf that way since I was in college. There was that one drunken night where I embarrassed myself and told Wolf I always thought he was so fine. The thought of that night still haunted me whenever I saw him. Wolf was cool about it when I sobered up. He told me all was forgotten. It was easy for him to forget. He wasn’t the one that embarrassed himself.