CHAPTER 49: TRUTH, DARE and CONSEQUENCES
Four hours had passed since Brian and Justin were brought into the Emergency Room at Allegheny General Hospital. It took some doing, but with the blessing of the Hospital Administration, Daphne and Troy were allowed to take over the surgeries for both of the prominent businessmen. Admittedly, upon hearing the news, Daphne shook and cried while being held by Troy. It took several minutes to regain her composure, but once she did, it was game on. She was determined that Brian would live through this even as she made Troy promise that he would do all in his power to save the man whom she viewed as her brother. She absolutely refused to accept a life without Justin Taylor-Kinney as a major part of it.
They methodically went through the motions of scrubbing up to remove any trace of bacteria from their skin, keeping conversation to the barest minimum. For his part, Troy knew that Daphne was trying to hold herself together; to treat this case as business as usual for her own sanity. In all honesty, he wasn’t far from feeling the same. From their first meeting while he was treating Daphne for the miscarriages, he had liked the two men. They’re bond with her was the stuff of legends; a friendship he could only ever dream about, let alone bear witness to. But it was when Daphne regaled him of the tales and traumas during their tumultuous relationship, that Troy began to respect and admire the Taylor-Kinneys. Not only that, but as he’d begun to know them for himself, he’d come to love them as his brothers as well. It made the success of these surgeries even more paramount, since he also understood that the two men played an integral role in keeping their makeshift family together. With all of the bullshit the men had endured thus far, it made no sense to him that they should die at the hands and behest of their enemies. NO! Brian and Justin were destined to live long, lucrative, and robust lives. He would do everything within his power to see that happen. Getting into the groove of how he meant to go on, Troy ushered Daphne out of the scrub area.
“No matter what greets you in there, keep your cool Dr. Chanders. Remember that you are more than capable of doing this, but more importantly, remember that you have never let Brian down before. You won’t do so now,” he said to her gently.
“I will. And remember your promise to me that you will take care of Justin. Whatever it takes, Dr. Bradley, bring him through this.” She looked into his eyes beseechingly, before turning to enter the OR to the left of where Justin was laying.
When each of them arrived in their respective rooms, each was met with obstinance at first. Troy actually had to pull rank and threaten to demote Dr. Bertier, who was still gunning for Troy’s position within the hospital, as the Chief of Surgery. As for Daphne, she simply threatened to surgically remove the balls of Dr. Murphy if he didn’t get the fuck out of her way. When he went to complain to the Administration, after a brief standoff in which Daphne would not be placated nor ordered to play second fiddle within the OR, he was told the reasons she and Troy were given these particular surgeries to perform. Fortunately, to forestall any other arguments, a new trauma case, in which both surgeons were going to be needed, came in with the arrival of Evangeline Charles.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~VOL II
Brian was dreaming. It seemed that while he laid there unconscious, his brain decided to replay every moment he’d ever had with Justin. During the really low points, the moments when he felt that his heart was breaking, Brian flatlined. Daphne worked her ass off to bring him back. After being stabilized, he fought like hell to remain that way.
“That’s right Brian, fight for him… fuck! Fight for me,” she crooned softly as she kept repairing the artery, which was the most important one in the body. There wasn’t a doubt that Brian had lost a lot of blood, but the way the vein was shot through, made it even more difficult because as fast as Brian’s body was producing the life-sustaining cells, was as fast as he was losing them all over again. In addition, she had to make sure that there weren’t any other areas where internal bleeding was occurring which would drop his fluctuating blood pressure even lower. It was a tricky surgery, but the help of the oxygen machines, she was winning this battle to save the life of one of the most important people to her.
As she worked, she spoke to him as if he was conscious, adamant that he would know that he wasn’t alone, and that Justin needed him to pull through. She knew if nothing else, after all of the hard-won battles between the two men, that now that they have finally gotten their shit together, he wouldn’t give Justin up that easily. She was banking on that fact, even as she began the process of closing him up. After another hour and all the repairs had been done, Brian was on his way to post-op, and finally Daphne allowed herself to break down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*VOL II
Troy arrived in the OR, and taking a look at what the previous surgeon had done, he was relieved that they had called him in. There were several fragments left within the area that would have left Justin paralyzed had they drifted towards the spine. What was worse was that it appeared that the arrogant, self-serving son of a bitch, Bertier, was going to leave them in there, thinking that Justin alive and breathing would have been enough for the vivacious artist. It was only through conscious effort and thought that Troy stayed where he was and didn’t march up to the office to kick the shit out of the man. He would certainly be making the board aware of what would have been a most egregious act. If he had his way, Dr. Thaddeus Bertier would lose his medical license behind this, since it was a clear act of both negligence and malpractice. It would also work in his favor because the asshole was also a known homophobe.
So Troy went about the business of doing the entire surgery all over again, bagging not only the bullet, which was lying to the side of Justin’s body instead of in the sterile bowl as it was supposed to be, but a total of eighteen fragments. Closing Justin up, he spoke for the first time since his discovery.
“There, Little Brother, you should be able to fully recover now.”
He made a last few adjustments and issued orders to the orderly about how Justin was supposed to be situated once he reached post-op. He also asked that the orderly see the Nurse in charge, to make sure that Brian and Justin Taylor-Kinney occupied the same room, both in post-op and when returning to the main floor. He wasn’t sure how long that would be for Brian, but the least he could do was to make sure it was ready when he was well enough. He had no doubt that Daphne had done well during the surgery; the rest would be up to Brian.
The staff exited the operating room, taking care of their ablutions before he turned to them again for a detailed accounting of what had transpired before his arrival. After listening carefully to the staff of Surgical Nurses and Technicians, all of whom advised of various contretemps from the time the first incision was made, he said, “I need you all to make your statements. What Dr. Bertier did was not only heinous, but life-threatening in the extreme. Had I not removed the fragments surrounding the entry and exit wounds, Justin Taylor-Kinney’s quality of life would have been severely affected.”
“He threatened us,” Patty, one of the newer OR nurses, answered him. “Monica, the lead Surg Tech on this, told him that he wasn’t following proper procedure in reference to bullet wounds. It was her job to know what should enter and exit the body so that everything would be accounted for post-op, especially the bullet and fragments. He told her that if she knew what was good for her, she would shut the hell up and just count the fucking gauze. As for the rest of us, he said that if we valued our jobs, we wouldn’t mention anything that happened during the surgery to anyone beyond the operating room.”
Troy nodded, thinking that based on what he’d witnessed when he first arrived, it was exactly what had happened. “Don’t worry about it, especially since I will be filing my own grievance against him when I have finished notifying the family and seeing to my patient and his partner. I’m not sure how familiar you are with this particular patient…”
“I’m very familiar with Justin Taylor, which is why I asked to be in here,” Monica spoke up. “I took care of him the night he was bashed at his prom some years ago. He’s the reason I went back for my Masters degree in nursing, which allows me to be in the OR. I never thought I would encounter him within the hospital walls this way again.” She dropped her tear-filled eyes.
Troy placed a hand on her shoulder before speaking. “Look, I don’t want any of you to worry. My report alone would get him investigated, but in conjunction to yours, Dr. Bertier and those like him won’t be able to get away with giving half-assed care to our patients. Our oath to do no harm was just violated.”
Troy left them murmuring and agreeing with his assessment of the situation, as he went in search of Daphne. He knew that this situation had taken its toll upon her, probably much more than the rest of the family waiting to receive word. He found her just coming out of the post-op room assigned to Brian and Justin. Across the hall, laid the woman responsible for all of this. Troy grabbed her around the waist quickly before the firebrand made her way there.
“Let go of me!”
“No, Daph. I won’t let you blow your license on revenge against that bitch. Fate will take care of her far better and more efficiently than you can. Let it go. Besides, we have to go to the waiting room to inform the family.”
She sighed deeply, releasing some of her pent up anger. “What happened with Justin? It seems that Murphy was intentionally trying to fuck up the surgery. Had it not been for Carl and Jason’s insistence that we be in there, the results would have been dire. I did lose Brian a few times while starting the fucking procedure from scratch, but he’s back and I think he’s going to pull through it… at least, I pray so. He lost so much blood; it’s a miracle he’s even lying there instead of in the morgue.”
“I know, but hey… he’ll pull through. Just think of all the gratitude he’s going to bestow on you when this is all over.” He pinched her side, hoping to bring a little levity and comfort to the situation. “He might even come out of this a het.”
She snickered. “Yeah, like that will ever happen. Brian Taylor-Kinney is the most ho-ho-Homo in the entire world… well, next to Emmett. And my best friend would NEVER forgive me if his soul mate traded teams.” They shared a genuine laugh then.
“Come on, Dr. Chanders. Let’s go tell the family and put a smile on their faces to rival Justin’s.”
She nodded and they started down the hall, both cautiously optimistic that everything would be alright for their brothers-in-love. Passing the orderly who had taken Justin to post-op, Dr. Bradley nodded and smiled as the man made sure to tell him that the nurses said his orders would be followed to the letter. Troy grinned and brought Daphne up to speed on what had taken place with Bertier, equally happy and relieved that Daphne had requested the same of the staff in her OR. In their glee and victory, neither noticed that the hulking figure of the orderly- or the man known in certain circles as the personal eraser of FBI agent Phoenix, Bruno Joshsam, - disappear into Evangeline Charles’ room.
By the time, Daphne and Troy finished delivering the news, cheers could be heard all the way to the top floor of the hospital where Doctors Bertier and Murphy were awaiting the results of an emergency meeting of Allegheny General Hospital’s Administration.