People of '77 filtered in and out of the room, each praying that she
would wake upsoon and that her injuries were able to heal quickly. After
each had made it through the line that extended out of her room and into the
hallway, they went back to the station leaving Bell, Ryan and Wick.
It was about an hour after everyone went back to the station that
Ryan began to
come around. "Hey, look who decided to join the living." Wick always loved
to joke
around...it made most stressful situations a lot easier.
Ryan, who was still out of it considering all the pain medications
she was on and
having just woken up, smiled at him. "I'm doing well. I think I could go
out and run a
marathon. What do you think?"
She looked over at Michael. Poor Michael. He had bags under his
eyes. 'No
doubt he worried about me the whole time. That is plain as day with those
bags.' She wanted to be alone with him to talk about some things. However,
she knew Wick wasn't ready to leave his partner.
"So, what's the doctor say? Anything that I should know about?"
"You've got a broken left tibia, some extremely bad bruises but
besides that you
are good to go." It was Wick that answered all her questions that
followed...about what the doctor had said, about her recovery, and about the
little girl she had saved in the fire.
"What about the mother?" She had almost forgotten about her. Ryan
was
concerned that the mother was not found but then remembered that it was
Station 77 and they wouldn't have left until the found her.
This time Bell answered. "She...she didn't make it. She had been in
the room
where the had spread fast to. We recovered her but the burns were just too
bad. She died on the way to the hospital." He could tell that Ryan needed
some time to digest all that had happened.
"Wick, can you get us some food from the cafeteria?" With a nod he
left the
room.
"Hey, how are you doing? And don't answer 'fine' because I know
you're not." He wanted her to be able to tell him the truth. She had to
know that he didn't want any of the "tough girl" act...he wanted the truth.
"I've had better days. These drugs are miracle workers though. I
can't feel a
damn thing. I don't know if that's good or bad but I'd rather have that then
the pain.
Michael?"
"Yeah Ryan?"
"I don't remember all that happened in there. I remember that I went
back into
the fire to get a mother but what happened after that I can't for the life of
me figure out. What happened?" Ryan didn't want to admit this but she knew
Bell didn't mind...and was relieved that she said something.
Although he feared the question, he knew he'd have to tell her. "You
went in to
get the mother and when you were upstairs a beam fell from the ceiling. It
hit you and you fell down the stairs. I'm surprised you didn't come out with
more injuries considering the fall you took. The mother was in your hands
when you were hit. I was at the bottom of the stairs and saw everything. It
was the scariest thing I've ever seen. There you were, with a beam falling
on you, rolling down the stairs and I was powerless to do anything. For the
first time in my life I was powerless to do anything."
Ryan knew that he had struggled with this every since it happened.
She wanted,
no knew, she had to help him any way she could.......
****
The next afternoon Ryan was ready to be discharged from the hospital.
Bell was
going to bring her back to her place where she would be able to begin her
recovery in thecomfort of her house. They had discussed him staying with her
during her first stages of the recovery and each agreed that it would be a
good idea. She would need some help with the everyday things considering she
had a cast on her left leg and she couldn't raise her arms above her mid
section because it hurt so much.
With the papers complete, Bell wheeled Ryan out to his car which he
had valet
pull up to the sidewalk. "Here, let me help you." Bell helped Ryan get
situated into a comfortable position in the car before returning the
wheelchair and getting in on the
driver's side. "Ready to go home Kathleen?"
Of course she was. "Yep. I've had enough hospital food to last a
lifetime and
then some. Never let me knock the cafeteria food ever again. Now I know
what our
patients go through if they have to stay...YUCK!" Her nose crinkled at the
memories that came into her mind of the so-called food.
"Yeah, I'm glad to be out of there too. Let's go." He went towards
her house.
