Healer Chapter 4

Nathan seemed to read my mind. “I’ll give you a ride. Come on.”

I realized that it was great being friends (were we friends?) with a cop. Nathan has a light that he can put on the top of his personal car and he used it, getting me to the hospital in half the time it normally takes me. He dropped me outside of the main entrance and told me that he would find me inside.

I ran through the doors and stopped briefly at the front desk. I’ve spent a lot of time at this hospital comforting many of my patients and the staff knows me well enough. I was quickly informed that Charlotte Collins was in the NICU and that I should probably hurry. I rushed to the stairs.

Before I was allowed in the NICU, I had to put on the sterile scrubs. I quickly put the scrubs on over top of my clothes and when I finally made it to the bedside of Charlotte, I wished I could have moved faster. There were tubes all around her and she was very pale and still.

“What’s wrong?” I asked the doctor who was listening to her heartbeat.

“It seems to be a bacterial infection. She came in two days ago lethargic with mild diarrhea and has just gone downhill from there. She’s losing fluids faster than we’re able to replace them. It doesn’t look good. And worst of all, there are four more infants with the same illness in similar states.” Dr. Natalie Stephans looked at me and I saw her eyes pleading for help.

I looked around the NICU and saw four more groups of parents, nurses and tiny babies around the room. A few of the parents were looking at me with mixed expressions. I rubbed my face and turned back to Charlotte.

“What are the symptoms exactly and what ideally do you think will save them?” I asked Dr. Stephans.

“Diarrhea, vomiting, body aches, exhaustion and a rash”

“Wonderful,” I said sarcastically under my breath. “And the cure?”

“Getting rid of the bacteria, obviously, but the levels of antibiotics that is needed would kill these infants anyway. Their bodies just can’t handle that treatment in the state that they’re in.”

“So, theoretically I could take the symptoms away and then you’d be able to pump them full of the antibiotics? And that would save their lives?”

“I hope,” Dr. Stephans said quietly. She cleared her throat. “I’ve never seen this aggressive of an infection. I really have no idea what to do, but we can’t just leave these children to die without trying everything.”

I looked at Stacy. “Please,” she begged.

“Ugh. This is going to royally suck for me, but I’m not going to let 5 babies die just so I can avoid the plague.” I turned to Dr. Stephans. “I need you to get all the babies into a separate room away from their parents. They don’t need to see the puddle of disgustingness that I know I’m going to turn into. You’ll have to tell them that it’s some kind of experimental treatment and have them sign off on it. I won’t be sued if this doesn’t work. I’d also prefer it if they didn’t know exactly who I am, though you shouldn’t lie to them. Some might choose to not let their children see me and that’s just a fact of life in this town. But I doubt I’ll be able to help them if this works and they change their mind later.”

I took Stacy’s hand and pulled her to the side. “How are you holding up?”

“Not well at all,” she sobbed.

“Where’s Ralph?”

“Dr. Stephans and I sent him to work this morning. You know how he feels about you and if he knew that you were involved he would have hired an armed guard to keep you away from Charlotte.” Ralph was one of Reverend Brown’s people and he didn’t know that I was the reason why Stacy had been able to conceive Charlotte in the first place. Stacy was infertile and had spent 5 years going through various failed fertility treatments before she came to me. We weren’t sure how Ralph would react if he ever found out, but neither of us was keen to find out for ourselves. The last time I ran into Ralph in public he’d publicly announced that I was a witch and would go to Hell as punishment for my dealings with the devil.

“As soon as I’m out of the picture, call him. He should be here, whatever the outcome is. I’d take away some of your anxiety right now, but I can’t. I need to be on top of my game if I want to save Charlotte, you know that.”

“Hell, I’d take away your stress if it would help you save her,” Stacy told me. I hugged her and we waited for Dr. Stephans to come back with permission to move the babies.

“Four out of the Five are willing to let you work. Luckily for the infants, the couple that doesn’t trust you has the baby that’s the least sick and is currently fairing well on the antibiotics he’s been given. The babies will be moved within the next five minutes and then you can go to work.” Dr. Stephans left us to supervise the movements.

“Stacy, Officer Nathan Whitworth brought me to the hospital. He’s here somewhere. Could you please find him and explain what’s happened? I wouldn’t ask you, but I think the task will be good for your nerves and I think that he’ll be able to comfort you while you wait.”

“You…with a guy? If this wasn’t such a serious moment I would demand the details.”

“I’ll spill later. It looks like the babies are ready.”

“Good luck!” Stacy let out another sob. But she was definitely more relaxed now than she had been when I first arrived. I hoped that she was right in putting so much faith in me.

I walked into the exam room that the babies had been moved into. The nurses were setting up the last of the equipment and then left the room, Dr. Stephans stayed with me.

“If I collapse before I’m done, prop me up. Throw water on me if I become unconscious. I don’t want to leave this room before I’ve done what I can for all of the children,” I told her firmly. She nodded. I closed my eyes and said a prayer that somehow we could pull this off. I’m quite serious when I pray. I don’t know if I’m praying to the same God as the Reverend Brown, but I believe that he’s listening to me and helping me use my gift. I rolled up my sleeves. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

The babies had been lined up from worst sick to least. Charlotte was first. I placed my hands on her stomach and took in a deep breath as I pulled the urge to vomit out of her, along with the diarrhea and everything else she was suffering from right down to the rash. Glamorous, my job is not. I doubled over from the pain almost instantly and saw stars.

You wouldn’t think that an adult would feel the same amount of distress as an infant when you remove the symptoms, given the difference in our sizes, but I’m not a large woman and I was trading my health and immune system.  Dr. Stephans grabbed me around the shoulders and held me up. She checked the monitors over Charlotte.

“She’s stabilizing. It’s working, I think.”

I groaned and nodded to the next baby. I repeated the process and the urge to vomit doubled. Dr. Stephans had luckily thought ahead and ordered a five gallon bucket into the room as well. The lasagna tasted awful the second time around. I stumbled to the third infant, nearly falling on the bassinette. I groaned again as my stomach did flips. My bowels were on fire and I hate to say that I was losing control over it. The third baby sent my bowels over the edge. “Crap…double, literal crap,” I cursed to Dr. Stephans through gritted teeth.

“We’ll clean you up once we’re done. We’ve got the best staff ready to put you back to rights. One more baby to go.”

I put my head between my knees and almost fell over from the smell. I moaned and Dr. Stephans gently pushed me to the last infant. My eyes were squeezed shut, I needed to scratch every inch of my torso, and I could barely stand. I placed one hand limply on the last baby pulling out the illness and shoving in the last of my immune system. As I removed my hand, my body ceased to work. I collapsed to the floor and fell into wonderful unconsciousness.

I woke up naked in a tub full of water curled up with my head resting on the edge. It was the best feeling in the world, except that I had obviously not been unconscious very long because moments later I felt my bowels let loose again. I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a moan.

“What was that noise?!” I groaned for real and hid my face. That was Nathan’s voice.

“Go away. I want a real, and female, nurse,” I called weakly lifting my head. I noticed the IV tube stuck into my hand. I shivered; I hate needles.

Nathan’s head peeked around the doorframe. “Well, I sent them all away, so I’ll have to do,” he grinned.

“This is hazardous waste; you should stay away because I’m refusing to heal you if you get sick. Besides, I’m naked. Don’t you care about my sense of decency?” I really didn’t want him to see me in this state. I was a mess, covered in mess, and I was starting to really like this guy. I didn’t want to scare him off by looking like this.

He walked in and sat on the floor next to the tub. “I’m a cop and have been trained in both haz-mat and emergency medicine. You have nothing that I haven’t seen before,” he said quietly. He reached for a bathrobe lying on the toilet, “Come on, honey,” he nudged for me to stand.

I looked at his face. He gentlemanly turned his head and looked away to give me a bit of privacy. I grunted as I grabbed his arm to help me stand up and leaned heavily against him as he wrapped me in the robe. My head was spinning again, but Nathan manfully held me up as he took the IV bag from the wall and put it between his teeth. He picked me up and carried me to the bed.

“You must be well liked here; they gave you one of the maternity recovery rooms,” he told me after he laid me down and put the IV bag on the wall hook. “High thread count sheets, sofa with pull out bed, TV with more than 3 channels…I’ve been in hotel rooms that aren’t so nice.” He tucked me in and looked down at me, smiling.

I scowled at him. I felt miserable and embarrassed and he was looking at me like I had a broken leg caused by falling off a runway during a fashion show. I decided to change the subject. “How are the babies doing?”

“The four you helped are recovering beautifully. The fifth baby is also doing well, but at a much slower pace. His parents look like they’re regretting not asking for your help, but I don’t think anyone should rub that in their faces. And if you care at all, you’re doing remarkably well yourself. They’re pumping you full of anti-diuretics and anti-nausea medicine to go with the saline.” I tried not to look at the needle sticking out of my hand. “But the most important thing you can do now is get some sleep.”

“What time is it, anyway?”

Nathan checked his watch. “Three o’clock. You were unconscious for about an hour.”

“Not bad,” I sighed as I sank down into the bed. “Yeah, sleep sounds nice.” I yawned and closed my eyes, pretending to go to sleep. I heard Nathan walk away and figured that he was leaving me for the afternoon. I fell asleep for real a short time later.

Much later that night I awoke to someone standing over me. “Who’s there?” I asked.

“It’s just me.” Dr. Stephans turned on a small light above my head. “I wanted to check on you before I left for the night.”

I heard a strange snort from across the room. I sat up and saw Nathan sleeping on the couch. “What’s he doing here?” I asked more or less to myself.

“He told the nurses that he wasn’t going to leave you. Nice guy you’ve found for yourself.” Dr. Stephans was smiling at me. “Good for you. I’ve always feared that you’d end up a lonely old cat lady.”

“I don’t like cats and I barely know the guy.”

“Well, he volunteers with the rescue squad so he comes through here as often as you do. He’s a great guy and if you don’t grab him, there are a half dozen nurses who would gladly take him off your hands.”

“Yeah, but one day soon he’s going to realize that our first date, if anyone could call it that, was punctuated with me leaking out of every opening in my body and feeling like I’d opened up a few extra crevices to do the job.” There was another loud snort from the couch.

“Well, he snores. You can always use that as leverage.” Natalie stifled a laugh. “Well I should go and get some sleep myself.”

I shook my head, laughing too. “Before you leave, can you please get this thing out of my hand? You know how I feel about needles.”

“Sure, so long as you’re feeling better,” she said, reaching for a glove off the table next to the bed.

“Yup, I’m feeling great. A bit squishy from all the fluids I’ve had pumped into me.” I turned my head away as she pulled the needle out of me and ignored the small flip my stomach made as I thought about the IV. Dr. Stephans turned the light off and left the room after saying good night to me. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the open blinds. Nathan was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal he’d scrounged from somewhere. “Good Morning!” he said way too jubilantly, standing up and walking over to me. “The nurse already came through. You’re lucky Dr. Stephans signed your chart about taking out the IV last night because the nurse was cursing up a storm about you removing it yourself. I’m not sure how you slept through it, though maybe the fact that that the nurse was muttering the whole tirade helped. You hungry?” He took a bite of cereal and milk dribbled down his chin. This guy was much too cute for his own good. “Dang,” he cursed as he wiped his chin on his sleeve.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I’m starving. I think I had more food in my stomach when I was born.”

“Well, you’re in luck again because Dr. Stephans also wrote that you’re allowed solid foods in your chart. I’ll go see if I can find the food cart for you.” He put his cereal on the bedside table and left.

I couldn’t help myself and grabbed the bowl to take a just a bite. It was wonderful and I quickly ate it all, even drinking the milk. Nathan came back a few minutes later with a tray full of food that he set on the rolling bed table. He reached for his cereal bowl and saw that it was empty. I tried to hide the smile on my lips, not looking at him, but was unable to do either. He shook his head and grabbed the Danish off the tray, mumbling about a man’s cereal not even being safe and sat on the edge of my bed. I snorted a laugh and dug into the eggs and sausage. There was too much food on the tray for me, even in my famished state, but Nathan was quick to help me eat it all.

I leaned back on the pillows, content. “Have you heard when I can leave this place?”

“Dr. Stephans wants to check on you when she gets in this morning and she’ll probably let you loose then. Oh,” he turned towards me, looking at me seriously. “I took the liberty of going to your house to get you some clean clothes last night. I wasn’t able to, though. I opened the door and felt a static electric shock. I took a couple more steps inside and got a feeling of dread, like if I didn’t leave right then, things weren’t going to end very well for me. So, I turned around and came back here. Could you please explain to me what that was?”

I coughed. “Umm…well, don’t freak out again, but that was magic. I don’t have a conventional burglar alarm. What you felt were the warnings that you aren’t allowed. If you’d stayed any longer you would have gotten a much heavier shock that probably would have knocked you to the floor for a while. Sorry about that. If you’d told me that you were going, that wouldn’t have happened unless you tried to touch something that you aren’t allowed to touch.”

“Hey, I’m fine. It’s my fault for entering your house. I’m actually a lot more accepting of your abilities now than I was 16 hours ago. I’ve seen just how much you give of yourself and it’s not scary or evil.” He held my hand, looking down. “You’re a saint who wears a pointy black hat to keep people away.” He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb. “Actually,” he said, looking up, “I’m wondering if you can put that spell on my apartment so I never have to worry about intruders again. You don’t know how upsetting it is to wake up in the morning to find a squirrel eating peanuts on your head…so messy,” he said grinning. I smacked him with my free hand, my stomach doing flips again, but this time they were pleasant.

“Well, how is the patient doing this morning?” Dr. Stephans came through the door. I reflexively tried to pull my hand out of Nathans, but he sensed me about to do so and held on tight. I looked at him, saw his comforting smile, and relaxed, leaving my hand in his as though it was the most natural thing ever. Natalie noticed, smiled, and left it at that. “I brought you some clothes since yours were… well they had to be burned as soon as we got them off of you. Hurry up and get dressed, the parents want to visit you, then you’ll be free to leave.” Natalie put the bag of clothes on the chair and left.

“Alright, let me up,” I told Nathan, shoving off the blanket. He moved and stood ready to catch me should I prove myself incapable of standing, but I was fine. I made sure the robe was covering me and grabbed the clothes off the chair and took them into the bathroom. The room had been cleaned while I slept, thankfully. I used the soap and shampoo provided and took a much deserved hot shower. I grimaced when I pulled out the clothes Natalie had brought me. I usually wear t-shirts and jeans, nothing too fancy, but Natalie seemed to think that I should dress up, bringing me a light blue sundress with spaghetti straps. She’d thought of everything, though, including a raiser and shave cream in the bag. I thanked her silently, because I was a bit prickly at the moment. I hopped back into the shower to shave quickly and didn’t even nick myself. She must know me better than I thought because the strapless bra and panties were the right size and the dress fit me well. A pair of casual flip flops completed the outfit. I had a feeling that I might be wearing my birthday present for this year. I combed my hair, collected everything I’d used into the bag, shut off the light and took a deep breath before I opened the door.

Nathan was lying on the bed watching TV. He glanced at me when he heard the door open, but sat up quickly and stared at me when he realized what I was wearing. I was embarrassed, but appreciated his enthusiastic reaction to my looks. “Stop that,” but I laughed at his expression. He didn’t reply. His face was similar to how it had looked when I made the papers fly around the room. I waved my hand in front of his face and he barely registered the movement. “What in the world?” I put my hand on his forehead and searched for what was causing this reaction. When I found the cause, I pulled away from him quickly. “Odd,” I said to myself. He was aroused and for some reason, that was causing the catatonic state. I gritted my teeth, put my hand on his neck and pulled the arousal into myself. He shook his head groggily and I bit back the urge to kiss him. Women are just not built to hold the same level of stimulation as men. No wonder males never seem to be satisfied.

“What was that?” Nathan asked me. “One minute I’m looking at you, then next I feel like a total dunce.”

“Don’t ask,” I said, turning my back on him. I hoped that there wouldn’t be any visitors until I’d managed to reel in the fire that was currently running through me and planting itself in the pit of my stomach.

“Are you okay?” he asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I pushed his hand away, moving further away from him while still not looking at him. “Don’t touch.” I put my head between my knees breathing deeply trying to push out the effects I was feeling. We kept completely still for the next five minutes, I tried not to think about the color and depth of Nathan’s eyes that I felt staring at me trying to figure out why I was acting so strangely. After what felt like an eternity I felt Nathan’s need finally leave me. I sat up and straightened my back. I turned around and looked at him. “Guys are weird,” and left it at that. Nathan looked as though I’d hit him with a frying pan, he was so confused.

“Will you ever explain to me what just happened?”

“No. Probably never.”

With impeccable timing, Dr. Stephans knocked on the door and opened it. “Scarlet, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. James. You helped their daughter Natasha recover from the infection.” As though I didn’t remember. I did wonder which baby Natasha had been, though, but it would be awkward for me to ask that detail. I shook hands with the James’ and prepared myself for the excessive thanks that I would receive.

“I don’t know how we could ever thank you enough,” Mr. James was saying while Mrs. James rung my hand and let a small sob escape. They were a young couple, and Natasha was probably their first child. “Let us pay you for your service. What is your fee?”

“Oh, you really don’t have to pay me. I never charge for emergency calls,” which is the truth. “Your thanks is enough payment.”

“No, we insist. We don’t take charity from anyone. Is $2000 enough?”

“No, no, no!” I said waving my hands.

“You want more? That’s fine.”

“No! I don’t want payment. Really.” Why do so many people think that payment is the only way to say thank-you? I really just want a simple thank-you and maybe a nice word passed on about me to other people.

Mrs. James grabbed me and hugged my neck, crying. She seemed to be a very emotional person. She was blubbering something into my ear that I didn’t understand, but made for a much better expression of gratitude than her husband’s insistence that he throw money at me. I awkwardly patter her back. Mrs. James hung on me for a few minutes before her husband stepped in to pull her off of me.

“Well, thanks again,” said Mr. James. He took his wife tenderly beneath his arm and led her out of the room.

It seemed like a sudden goodbye until I turned around and saw the check lying on the table by the bed. He’d wanted to get out of there before I could give it back to him. I shook my head. The check was made out for $5000. A young couple they might be, but they were certainly not poor.

Nathan had an amused look on his face. Natalie had slipped out of the room at some point without my notice. “Quiet you,” I told him. I picked the check up and put it into the bag of toiletries.

“You don’t charge for emergency calls?” Nathan sounded genuinely interested.

“No, I don’t. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be of any help in an emergency, so I never charge. Most of the time I’m only able to relieve the pain and let them have a good last hour with their families, and unfortunately a lot of people know of the rumors about me and think I can cure the dying, which just isn’t true. I try to stay away from the emergency calls and don’t charge for them no matter what the outcome because then it would seem like I’m just here for the money.”

Natalie knocked again and brought in the Jacksons. This couple was much more appreciative in a way that I could handle. I was hugged by both of them and the mom handed me a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers. I thanked them both genuinely for the presents and we parted pleasantly. They promised to keep me updated on Thomas’ progress.

“Now, that’s my type of people,” I said, smiling.

Natalie brought in the last parent, a single mother named Anne Richely. She told me that she was too poor to pay me anything, which I assured her, was fine, and thanked me heartily for saving her son, John.  Her thanks were short, sweet, and perfectly wonderful.

Natalie showed Ms. Richely out then came back into my room. “Ralph is with Stacy and Charlotte right now. She told me that she’ll talk to you later. Well, let’s sign this paperwork so you can get out of here.”

Nathan grabbed my bag and Natalie walked with us to the door. We were walking past the nurses’ station outside the ICU hall when Dr. Vickers called to me.

“Scarlet,” he said, walking up to me. “We tried to call you last night. Sarah Mahoney was brought in yesterday and it looks serious. Her family was wondering if you could make her last moments easier. Do you mind?”

“No, I don’t mind at all. Nathan? It shouldn’t take too long.” I didn’t wait for his reply, but followed Dr. Vickers to Sarah’s room. I hated these calls and the less time I spent thinking about what I was doing, the easier the task went.

All of Sarah’s family was around her bed, right down to her youngest granddaughter Elizabeth. Sarah’s son Kenneth shook my hand as I walked to Sarah’s bed. “I’m glad you could come. She’s always spoken so highly of you and the comfort you’ve brought her. We’re sorry for bothering you at a time like this, but mother is insisting that you come.”

“It’s not a problem. I’d love to help.” The family cleared a space and I walked up to stand next to Sarah.

“Hello Sarah, how are you feeling?” I brushed the hair off her forehead while I began pulling the pain out of her. I also pumped some of my strength into her.

“I’m feeling much better with you here, sweetheart.” She was able to sit up a little bit and her eyes were clear. I moved my hand from her forehead to her hand. “You’re looking nice today, new dress?”

I smiled. “I borrowed it from a friend.” I turned my head away from Sarah and coughed. I found the morphine inside of her that she wouldn’t need with her pain gone and took it too, using it to hide the pain I now felt. “Well, Sarah, I’m going to let you spend some quality time with your family. I’ll see you later.”

I didn’t look at her family, but Elizabeth took my hand and whispered thank-you as I walked out of the room.

I leaned against the wall with my eyes closed. Nathan put his arm around my shoulders, “Come on, let’s get you home.”

The ride home was quiet, but the morphine I’d taken was working pretty well. They hadn’t given her a very heavy dose. I guess they were waiting until later to do that; to deaden the pain, but leave her unable to talk to her family clearly. Nathan walked with me into the house. I stopped just inside of the doorway and debated lying down in the dark drawing room. Instead I ended up sitting on the stairs crying. Nathan knelt in front of me and pulled me into a big hug. I put my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder. He didn’t try to comfort me with words, just rubbed my back. We stayed like that for nearly ten minutes, even after I ran out of tears.

I pulled back and ducked my face while I wiped away the tears. “Thanks,” I said, my voice hoarse. I checked my watch. 2:30. I stood up. The pain of the final stage of cancer was gone, but the pain of losing a dear friend was going to take a lot longer to disappear. I cleared my throat. “You can go if you want. I’m just going to putter around the garden for a few hours.”

“Do you want to be left alone? Because sometimes it’s nice to have company even if we don’t talk.” Nathan was looking at me with an expression of real concern.

“I’m fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve done that particular task and she lived a full life. I can’t prevent death, but I can make it less painful. I’ve had plenty of practice getting over loss. It doesn’t make it any easier, but I heal.” I smiled and gave him a playful shove. “Go. You have your own life. If you get hungry, dinner is at 6:30. I’ll make something besides Lasagna. How does fried chicken sound?”

He smiled slowly, giving a half nod. “Fried Chicken sounds great. I’ll see you later, then.” He let himself out of the house.