by Marla Monroe
“Hell, yeah. Take all of my blood if you need it.”
“Can we see her?” Tripp felt useless because he couldn’t give her his blood.
“I’m going to let you both back there, but you can’t touch her right now. Scott, my nurse, is setting the blood donor gear up. You’ll be on a table right next to her. Since I’ve already checked that your blood is compatible, and we don’t have time for all the usual blood tests and such, you’re going to give directly to her.”
“Anything to help her.”
“All right, come on back. Remember, don’t touch her.”
They followed the doctor to the back through the double doors. When they walked into the large room, all he saw at first was a lot of stainless steel and white. Then his eyes focused on the table in the middle of the room where Piper lay with tubes running all over her body. She had a mask on and bandages to her shoulder and chest. There was blood all over the place. It scared Tripp to death.
“Keith, can you take off your shirt and get up on the table for me?” Scott, the nurse, had walked up while Tripp was staring at Piper.
Keith pulled off his shirt and jumped up on the table. He watched his best friend lay back as the nurse put a cuff around his arm and checked his blood pressure.
“I need you to calm down or we can’t take your blood. Your blood pressure is too high.”
Keith nodded and took some deep breaths before closing his eyes. Tripp watched the other man slow his breathing and relax against the table. A few minutes later, the nurse tried his blood pressure again and nodded.
“Looks much better. I’m going to start the process. Be still for me. It’s going to sting for a few seconds, but it will ease.”
“I don’t give a damn if it hurts like hell. Get on with it.”
Scott smiled and began prepping Keith’s arm.
Tripp watched what they were doing to Keith, because the more he stared at Piper, the sicker he felt inside. As Scott stuck Keith, he felt like his heart was breaking. He had always been in charge of everything and everyone. He’d had to learn to back off some with Piper and with the fact that he wasn’t the head honcho for the ranch. It had been difficult, but he had managed. Now he felt like less of a man because he couldn’t provide what his wife needed. Never mind that Keith was his partner and he could.
He watched the blood travel up the tube and into what looked like a giant filter and then over into the tube that would connect Keith and Piper together. Scott let a few drops of blood fall to the floor before he connected it to Piper’s tube. Then he adjusted the flow and began to check on her.
“Tripp. I need you to watch Keith for me. If he gets weak or sick to his stomach, let me know. I don’t want to jerk anything out of either one of them.” Scott looked directly at Tripp.
“I’ve got him.” Tripp walked over to watch his buddy. He put his back to Piper. He couldn’t bear looking at her and not know if she was going to make it.
“How are you doing, buddy?”
Keith nodded. “Got it covered. I’ve given blood before.”
“I have, too, but it’s been a while, though.”
“She’s going to be okay, Tripp. I feel it in my bones. She’s going to be just fine.”
“Fuck, Keith. I hope so. I’m dying inside. I feel like I’ve failed her. I was supposed to keep her safe.”
“You weren’t the only one, Tripp. I was supposed to as well.”
“Listen up, you two. She needs you at your best. If you’re going to wallow in self-pity, maybe you need to go back outside.” Scott stood by her and looked down his nose at them.
“He’s right, Tripp.” Keith seemed to be thinking positively.
“Okay. I’ll try.” He drew in a deep breath and turned to look at her.
She still looked white-faced with blood splatters all over the blanket that covered her. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and blinked back tears. He would be strong for her. She would survive and need him to help her. She had called for him when she called for help.
After thirty minutes had passed, Scott returned to Keith’s bedside to recheck his blood pressure. He sighed and returned to check on how Piper was doing. Then he adjusted the flow. It looked like it was going much slower now.
“Are you stopping it?” Keith asked.
“I’m slowing it down some. We don’t want to cause her to go into heart failure by giving it too quickly. How are you doing over there?”
“I’m fine. Just see about her.” Keith looked back up at Tripp.
“He’s fine. Keep going.” Tripp wouldn’t lose them both. He’d put a stop to it when it was necessary.
Twenty minutes later, Keith seemed a little more lethargic. Tripp squeezed his hand and his buddy squeezed back, but without his usual strength.
“I think that’s about all you can get out of him.”
Scott nodded and disconnected them.
“Wait. Don’t listen to him. I’m fine. Take all of it if you need it.” Keith was breathing hard when he finished fussing.
“I’ve got all I need for now. We’ll see about later. She needs to adjust to so much new blood in her now.” Scott bandaged Keith up then returned to check on Piper.
“How is she doing, Scott?” Tripp stepped a little closer.
“She’s holding her on. That’s good at this point. The doc will be back in a few minutes after he’s looked at her blood work.”
“Tripp. I want to see her. Help me.”
Tripp walked back over to help Keith off the table and walk toward Piper’s bed. He reached out, but Tripp stopped him.
“Remember, don’t touch her. She’s already a little pinker looking since you gave her your blood.”
“You think so?” Keith didn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah. She’s not as pale as she was when we first walked in.” Tripp could see the difference and felt better about her.
Maybe she would be all right. Maybe they wouldn’t lose her after all. He prayed that they would get another chance to keep her safe.
“Better go back to the other bed. The doc isn’t as forgiving as I am about needing to see her. He’ll throw you out.”
They shuffled to the other side of the bed. Tripp helped Keith sit back on the bed. He figured the other man needed to lie down and probably needed something to drink as well. Once the doctor had come back he would suggest that he get some water. There had been pitchers of water and glasses outside in the waiting room.
“Tripp, Keith. Come on back to my office so I can go over this with you. Scott will come get us if there is a problem.” Jeff indicated another door.
Tripp had to help Keith follow the doctor into the office. Jeff lifted an eyebrow at that and disappeared for a few seconds. He returned with a pitcher of juice and a glass.
“You need to drink this. You gave too much blood.”
“I’m fine.” But he drank the glass that Tripp poured. Tripp filled it up again, but he sipped this time.
“What’s going on?” Tripp asked.
“She’s got a very serious bite on her shoulder. It looks like a dorrie bite because of the double row of teeth marks. She already has some discoloration of the skin around it. We’ve cleaned it up and sutured what we can, but some of it is going to have to stay open to drain.”
“What sort of discoloration are you talking about?” Tripp figured they needed to know what to expect.
“It’s a pale yellow color around the edges of the wound. There is a small streak that runs from her elbow up her arm to her shoulder. I didn’t find any other injuries by the dorrie.”
“Did she lose a lot of blood from the glass?” Keith asked.
“Not as much as you would have thought. It hadn’t cut into anything major, but it was very close to one of her arteries. She’s very lucky. Most of the blood loss came from the dorrie bite.”
“How long until she wakes up?” Tripp wanted to tell her he loved her.
“That, I don’t know. It’s going to depend entirely
on her, although I do hope she won’t wake up until tomorrow. She needs the rest she is getting right now.”
“Is that all?” Tripp asked.
“The other thing is that she has the same strange cell and enzyme in her blood that everyone around here has. That’s good to some degree, because it seems to help with some of the injuries.”
“I want to take your blood while you’re here and see if you are carrying it, too. Scott got some of yours, Keith. And that is where the worry comes in.”
“What do you mean?” they both asked at the same time.
“Keith, you have that strange cell plus the toxin that you evidently got from that plant that you got sick from. It’s similar to the one from the thistle plant that Carmen, one of the other women, got sick from, but not exactly the same.”
“I’ve still got some of that crap inside of me?” Keith shook his head.
“The thing is, it’s not bothering you at all, but I don’t know what it’s going to do to Piper since she didn’t have it to begin with.”
“Oh, hell. I gave it to her.”
“Calm down, Keith. She didn’t immediately have a reaction to it, so maybe it won’t affect her. If it does, it should be a mild one since she didn’t get a full-strength dose like you did.”
“But she’s already hurt, Doc.” Tripp ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Won’t it make things worse?”
“I don’t think it will. If it keeps her sedated for a few days, all the better. She’s going to be in an awful amount of pain, and this way, she might not feel it until she wakes up.”
“I don’t think it works that way.” Keith finally spoke up. “I knew what was going on around me. I just couldn’t move or talk.”
“Did you feel any pain or discomfort, though?” Jeff asked.
“Actually, I don’t remember any.”
“We’ll go on the assumption that you didn’t. It’s really all we can do. If it works like that, then we might have found a natural way to put people into a temporary coma when they get hurt to combat shock. We really don’t have a lot of medications here since we won’t be getting shipments from earth much longer.”
“Is she going to be okay? That’s all we really want to know.” Tripp wanted to go back to sit with her.
“Barring an infection, she should recover. So far, no one that has the enzyme in them has gotten any type of infection. I think it is a natural immunity to whatever types of bacterial bugs are on this planet.”
Both men sighed in relief. She was going to be okay. Keith slumped back against the back of the chair after setting his empty glass down on the desk.
“You need to eat now, Keith. The cafeteria isn’t open right now, but there are a couple of places to eat down the street.”
“I’m not leaving her. I’ll get something later.”
“You are leaving her and getting something to eat or you won’t be allowed back there with her again. I don’t want you falling on top of her. You’ll pull out my stitches I worked so hard on.”
“Fuck!”
Keith rubbed his face and stood up a little too fast. Tripp had to steady him before they walked out of the office.
“I have to see her before I go,” he insisted. The doctor nodded and led the way
They walked up to her with Scott on the other side adjusting her fluids. Keith leaned over but didn’t touch her. Tripp held him up for safety.
“I love you, baby. You rest and come back to us. We’re here waiting on you.”
When Keith stepped back, Tripp scooted up and leaned in to whisper in her ear. He told her that he loved her and was waiting on her.
“Just rest now, Piper. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
Tripp looked at Scott and nodded at the other man. They would go eat, but they would be back soon. They expected her to still be there when they returned.
“Don’t worry about Piper. I’m going to take good care of her.”
Keith followed behind Tripp as they filed out of the surgery room and back into the main waiting room. Keith collapsed onto one of the chairs.
“Man. You may have to just bring something back for me. I’m not sure I can walk that far.”
“Tough shit. You’re coming if I have to carry your ass. Now get up and come on.” Tripp put his arm under Keith’s arm and pulled him up. Then he headed for the door with him.
They stopped at the first restaurant they came to and ordered steaks. It would be beef from the cows they helped look after. For a second, Tripp felt fairly proud of that, but then he sobered and thought about Piper again. He shouldn’t be thinking about anything but her. They almost lost her, and he guessed that they still could if something unforeseen happened. He sure didn’t need to be thinking about himself. He turned to Keith. The other man was fiddling with the salad that came with the meal.
“Eat, Keith. You need your strength. We’ve got to be able to take care of her when she comes home.”
“What if she doesn’t come home?”
“Shut the fuck up, Keith. She’s going to be fine. The doc said so. You’ve got to have a little faith, man.”
“I know. I know. I can’t help it. Seeing her with all that blood all over her and then that piece of glass sticking out of her chest just about did me in.”
“Well get it out of your system because if you aren’t in a better mood when we go back, you can stay in the waiting room.”
“Hell, no!”
“Then straighten up.”
Keith nodded and continued to eat. Tripp was almost finished with his. He ordered another drink then waited while Keith finished up his steak. They paid the bill with credits from their account. Then they hurried back to the doctor’s clinic. Scott was waiting on them in the waiting room.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Tripp tried to storm past the man, but Scott stopped him.
“Hold on. She’s okay. She had a seizure a few minutes ago, but she’s fine now. In fact, she’s better. I just wanted you to know what was going on. We have the rails up and padded so if she does it again, she won’t hurt herself. We were very lucky that I was standing right there with her when she started shaking all over. I was able to hold on the table without hurting her.”
“Thank God.” Keith’s mouth finally closed. “Can we see her now?”
“I have chairs set up for you next to her. Don’t touch her yet. We need her totally free of everything that could contaminate her until we know how she’s going to do after that surgery.”
“Okay, we won’t touch her.” Tripp just wanted to get back there and see for himself how she was doing.
Scott nodded and led them to the back again. She wasn’t in the big surgery room anymore. She was in a smaller room that still looked complicated to him. It wasn’t just an exam room. She lay in a bed with padding on the side rails that were up all the way around her. Her color looked even better now than earlier, and her face seemed more relaxed and not as if she was fighting pain.
“What do you think?” Keith asked.
“She looks a lot better.”
“I think so, too. I wonder if she can hear us.”
“Don’t go breathing on her either, Keith. You can talk to her from here.”
“I don’t know what to say anymore. I just want her to get well so we can take her home with us.”
“Tell her that.”
Keith just sat there for a long time before finally leaning forward and talking to her.
“We miss you, baby. Please hurry up and get well. We want you at home with us.”
Tripp nodded, and they sat for a long time just watching her breathe. It stilled a lot of the turmoil inside of him just to watch her breathe.
Chapter Twenty
Piper wanted to scream. Her shoulder hurt so badly. She opened her mouth but couldn’t only get out a squeaky groan.
“Piper? Can you hear me, baby? It’s Tripp and Keith. We’re right here with you.”
They had come for her. She knew they would come get her i
f she called them. Her shoulder burned. Why did it hurt so much?
“Tripp?”
“There you are, baby. Open your eyes for us. I want to see your beautiful eyes, Piper.”
She struggled but finally pried them open. She had to squint against the bright light overhead. The blurry images of Tripp and Keith were made worse by the tears in her eyes.
“Keith?” She tried to focus on him, but her shoulder made that nearly impossible.
“I’m here, too, baby. You’re going to be fine. Just keep fighting for us.”
She closed her eyes again. It was just too much effort to keep them open.
“My shoulder hurts.”
“I know, baby. Try to relax, and maybe it won’t hurt so much. I’m going to go get the doctor to get you something for pain.”
She recognized Tripp’s voice. He sounded so worried. She wished she could reassure him, but she really didn’t have the energy. She was so tired.
“I’m here with you, baby. We’re not going to leave you alone. One of us will always be with you.”
Keith was almost desperate sounding. Was she dying? God, it felt like it. Had the dorrie chewed off her arm? She tried to move it but couldn’t. Panic set in and she began to toss her head back and forth in order to make it move.
“Easy, Piper. Don’t jerk around. You’ll pull out your stitches. Scott! Tripp! She’s jerking around in here.”
“My arm.” She managed to get out the words. She wanted to know if her arm was still there.
“Easy, baby. Scott is going to give you something for pain.”
“Tripp, my arm.”
“I know it hurts, baby.”
“No! I want my arm.”
“She thinks her arm is gone,” a strange voice said. “Your arm is still there, Piper. It’s just all bandaged up to keep you from moving it.”
“See. I want to see.”
“I’m going to give you this medicine, and then I’ll show you your arm, okay?”
“Okay.” She was panting now.
She could hear the men talking, but it sounded farther away. Had she moved? She didn’t remember moving.