The Gift
Chapter 15
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"Oh my God, he's beautiful," Andi whispered excitedly, as she and Lainie stared down at Kevin's sleeping form.
"Andi! He's sick!" Lainie chastised lightly, shaking her head. "You're a doctor. Act like it."
"Sorry," Andi said, shrugging. "I just call 'em like I see 'em. He's just so much more gorgeous in person than on tv." She sat down on the bed beside Kevin and shook him lightly. "Kevin, wake up honey."
Kevin opened sleepy eyes and looked up at Andi. "Oh, hi," he mumbled groggily. "Are you the doctor?"
"Yes," she said, smiling. "I'm Dr. Kirkland."
"You're too pretty to be a doctor," Kevin said, smiling like a drunk.
"Well thank you," Andi said. "Let me check you out, sweetie. We need to take a little blood from you and run it over to the lab to make sure you don't have any nasties in your bloodstream. Then Miss Lainie's gonna hook up this IV. You need some fluids. You're pretty dehydrated."
"Ok," Kevin said, not really caring at this point. He felt so bad. Andi pulled up his shirt and checked his stomach. She looked into his gorgeous green eyes with her light, then turned to Lainie.
"We need a CBC and a Chem 7. Go ahead and draw a tox screen just to be on the safe side," Andi said. Lainie fell right back into nurse mode and took the necessary vials out of Andi's bag.
"Ok, Kevin, make a fist for me," she said, as she tied the tourniquet around his arm. Kevin did as she asked, not even flinching as she drew the three separate vials of blood. "Oh you have good veins," Lainie laughed. "Now I'll go ahead and put in your IV, ok?"
"Is it gonna hurt?" Kevin asked.
"I hope not," Lainie said, smiling. "I don't like to hurt people." She quickly inserted the IV and started Kevin on fluids.
"OK," Andi said. "I'll call you in a little while with the results, ok? Meanwhile, just keep on with the phenergan every 6 hours. Nothing to eat or drink until I call you back."
"Don't worry about that," Kevin groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick again." He tried to get up, but wasn't able to get up quickly enough. Lainie pushed an emesis basin in front of him and kept him from getting really messy. She held his hair back while he threw up.
"Oh how embarrassing," Kevin moaned, falling back down onto the bed.
"It's ok," Lainie said, taking the basin into the bathroom. She returned with a cool cloth and gently stroked his forehead with it. "Believe me, I've seen much worse."
"I'm sorry to barge into your house all sick like this," Kevin said, looking up at her with sad eyes. "I know this isn't your idea of a good time."
"Hey, it's not a problem," Lainie replied. "It's actually kind of nice to have somebody to take care of again."
"Thank you," Kevin said, holding her hand.
"Hey, good thing we got that IV in. Now I can give you your phenergan that way instead of the butt rocket," Lainie laughed.
"Thank God for small favors, huh?"
Lainie put the medication in his IV and, very soon, he fell asleep again. She washed her hands and went back downstairs. Nick and AJ were sitting on the living room floor in front of the fire again.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Nick asked.
"What?" Lainie responded.
"Why are you limping?"
"Oh, dude, don't go there. She'll bite your head off," AJ laughed.
"I hurt my knee ice skating," Lainie said, smiling. "And no, AJ, I would never bite Nick's head off. It's too pretty."
"Ohhhh so you're gonna be that way, huh?" AJ said, his eyebrows shooting up. "Well, fine. Be mean to me. See if I care."
Lainie laughed as she made her way slowly into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a coke. She was just about to pop the top when she felt hands snaking around her waist.
"Hey," Nick whispered into her ear.
"Hey yourself," she said, turning to face him. He smiled down at her.
"Listen, I wanted to apologize..."
"Stop," she said. "No apologizing. No discussion. No nothing. Ok? Let's just forget it."
"Ok," Nick said, his eyes downcast. "I just wanted you to know I'm sorry."
"Ok. Now I know. That's fine. Forget about it."
He smiled again, and kissed her lips. "I love kissing you," he said, hugging her tight. She returned his hug.
"I love it when you kiss me," she said, resting her head against his chest.
"Well I guess that's a good thing then, isn't it?" he giggled. He looked down at her and kissed her again. "You're beautiful."
"Thank you," she said, looking down.
"Stop looking away from me every time I say that, Lainie," he said, his eyes twinkling.
"I can't help it," she said, pressing her forehead into his shoulder.
"I know, baby," he whispered, stroking her hair. "But one day, you'll get used to it."
Lainie looked down again. "I doubt it. You'll be leaving day after tomorrow, and I'll just be Lainie Matthews, plain Jane, again."
"Lainie, look at me," Nick said, lifting her chin. "You'll never be plain Jane to me. Never. Not in a million years. You're beautiful. Don't you ever forget it either. Hell, you've got three Backstreet Boys lusting over you. I don't consider that plain Jane."
"What are you talking about?" Lainie laughed. Nick loved the sparkle in her eyes when she laughed.
"In case you haven't noticed, AJ has the hots for you," Nick sighed. "And, unless I'm mistaken, Brian's a little smitten by you too. And I know Rok better than anybody in the world, so I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that."
Lainie shook her head. "You're crazy," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. She rubbed her nails on his back and he closed his eyes.
"That feels so good," he said, hugging her tightly again.
They were interrupted by the phone. Lainie reached behind her and grabbed the cordless off the wall.
"Laines, it's me," Andi said. "Listen, sug, Kevin's white count is elevated. Way elevated. I know he says he's not having lower right quad pain, but I want you to bring him in for an ultrasound so I can check that appendix. It may have already ruptured or something."
"Oh shit," Lainie muttered. "Ok. I'll bring him in right now."
"I'll be waiting in the ER," Andi said.
Lainie hung up and grabbed Nick's hand. "Come on. We've got to get Kevin to the ER. Andi thinks he may have appendicitis."
"Oh that sucks," Nick muttered. He followed her upstairs and into Kevin's room.
"Kevin," Lainie whispered. "Wake up, honey."
"Hmmmm?" Kevin moaned. "Mom?"
"No sweetheart, it's Lainie. Listen, we've got to take you to the hospital. Dr. Kirkland wants to run a few more tests on you. You may have appendicitis."
"But my side doesn't hurt. How can I?" Kevin mumbled, still drunk on phenergan.
"It's possible. Rare, but possible," Lainie said, capping off his IV with a hep lock and helping him up. Kevin leaned on Nick on the way down the stairs, and Nick put him in the car. Within a few minutes, they were at the hospital. Andi met them at the door, and helped Kevin onto a gurney.
"Am I gonna be ok?" he asked, looking scared.
"You'll be fine, honey," Lainie soothed, holding his hand.
Andi wheeled him into the ultrasound room and handed him a hospital gown.
"Here, you'll need to put this on," she said. Kevin took it from her and tried to pull his shirt off. He didn't have the strength.
"Let me help," Lainie said, pulling the shirt carefully over his head. "Can you do your pants, or do you need help with those too?"
Kevin untied his sweatpants and pulled them down. He wasn't wearing anything underneath, but he didn't seem to care. Lainie tried not to look, but it was very difficult. She slipped the gown over his arms and tied it in the back. She pulled the sheet over his legs. Andi pulled the gown up, exposing everything God had given the man... substantial as it was... Lainie pulled the sheet up to cover him as best she could. At least his wanker wasn't out there for everyone to see. Nick stood back and watched the ultrasound screen as Andi ran the wand over Kevin's abdomen.
"Guess what, Kevin?" Andi said, smiling down at him.
"What?"
"You're gonna get an appendectomy," she said.
"Oh shit," he muttered.
"It's just starting to get inflamed, but if we leave it in there, it'll just get worse. You have to have this done. I promise they'll make the incision so you can barely see it," Andi said, smiling. "It's not so bad. They do it with arthroscopy now, so you'll have two tiny holes in your side. Probably won't need more than 10 stitches total. You'll be out of here in a two days."
Kevin sighed and closed his eyes. "Ok. Let's get it overwith," he said, resigning himself to the idea.
"I'll call the surgeon," Andi said, leaving the room.
"Lainie, are you coming with me?" Kevin asked, looking up at her. She could see the fear in his gorgeous green eyes.
"I'm not a surg nurse, Kevin. I don't think I'd be much help," she said gently. "But I'll come to the holding room with you, and if they let me, I'll come into the OR until they put you under."
"Please," he said, taking her hand. "I've always had this thing about being put to sleep."
"Ok, honey. I won't leave you until you're asleep, ok?"
"Ok," he said, closing his eyes again.
Nick stood back and watched everything with wide eyes. He saw how compassionate Lainie was with Kevin, and he smiled. She cared about his friends. She was a good person. A very sweet person. The kind of person he could see himself settling down with...
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Lainie stood in the OR, fully gowned and masked, holding Kevin's hand.
"What are they doing to me?" Kevin asked.
"They're going to put something in your IV that's going to make you really sleepy, then they'll put an oxygen mask on your nose, and you'll go to sleep," Lainie replied. The OR nurse injected the anesthesia into Kevin's IV and his eyes rolled back in his head. As soon as the oxygen was applied, he was out. He was quickly intubated, and prepped for his surgery. The nurse exposed the area, shaved it, and applied Betadyne.
"Would you like to stay and observe?" Dr. Talbert asked Lainie.
"Sure. If it's ok with you. I just don't want to leave him alone, you know?"
"Sure, Lainie. You can hold his hand if you want. This shouldn't take more than thirty minutes or so."
Lainie watched as they removed Kevin's inflamed appendix and closed him up. They rolled him into the recovery room and she sat in a chair beside him, keeping an eye on his oxygen saturation monitor and waiting for him to wake up. He woke up quickly and looked at Lainie with sleepy eyes.
"Hey there, sleepyhead," Lainie said, stroking his hair. "You did great. I was in there holding your hand the whole time."
"I'm not dead?" Kevin asked groggily.
"Noooo. You're very much not dead," she laughed. "As soon as you can stay awake for a little while, we can move up to your room."
"Good. I feel better," he said.
"That's the drugs," she laughed. "They've got you on decadron, which is a steroid, and demerol."
"Oh. I like drugs," he said, smiling.
"Well, you'll be needing them later," she laughed.
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16