Nate Kelly (bloodandnerve) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2017-12-27 02:37:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #september 2017 |
Who: Dominik and Nate
With: Nurse, Livia, Ioana (NPCs)
What: Wake up little Susie
When: Sunday, 9/24, early morning
Where: Mercy Hospital, Dom’s room.
Status: Complete
Dominik hated hospitals, the cold atmosphere, the clinical smell, and the boredom wrought from long hours of being alone. He was no stranger to ending up here and it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Mags had done this on numerous occasions, and being as she was, she could convince an elephant to fly. A clumsy boy, she would say through her teeth to the police, to the hospital. To anyone listening. Dominik never said anything, how could he? She controlled every aspect of his life, but not anymore.
His head was swimming when he finally came to, vaguely remembering the events like he’d dreamed up the entire thing. He’d seen Nate, mostly flashing a light in his eyes, a lot of voices around him. The look on Magda’s face as he was unceremoniously given a shove down the stairs. The worst part? He couldn’t remember arguing with her, or why she’d done such a thing.
Dom lifted his heavy lidded gaze, his limbs were dead weight and nothing about this made him feel okay. He felt unsafe, threatened in this medicated state. He couldn’t lift a finger to defend himself if he wanted to. His skin was crawling, itching, and he felt like he would burst out of it at any moment- and the shaking. The shaking just wouldn’t stop. He curled onto his side, hissing as the I.V. got in his way. He was tempted to rip all of the tubing and needles out of his arm just to get comfortable.
He ran his free hand over his face, wincing when he came across a bandage above his right brow. He didn’t want to look in a mirror, not now, not ever. He felt as if he’d been hit by a truck and dragged along the road. He was cold, then he was hot, he kicked down his blankets with quite a bit of effort on his part, his legs swinging over the side of the bed as he rolled off onto the floor.
He didn’t need to be here. As soon as he’d left the bed, the alarms had gone off to alert the nurse that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He broke into a cold sweat as he pulled himself to his feet using the railing on his bed, a wave of nausea passed over him just as the nurse rushed into the room. She was paging the doctor to let him know that Dominik was awake, and trying to escape.
“Mr. Zaharia! You have been through quite an ordeal, let’s get you back into-”
Dominik had vomited bile all over the floor, he continued to shake- offering no apology, but the nurse could see it in his eyes.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the morphine, you look like you’ve been scratching yourself too. Let’s get you cleaned up and back in bed before Dr. Kelly gets back.”
Dom said nothing as she helped him out of his gown and into a fresh one, thoroughly embarrassed that he wasn’t able to do any of this himself. He just stood there hanging onto the railing of his bed as she cleaned his face, and the scratches on his arms.
“You must’ve done this in your sleep. I know it itches, but try not to itch. You can get an infection.”
The lights flickered as Dominik settled into his bed again, he offered a worried look to the nurse that supplied his answer, “It’s been going in and out all night since you arrived,” she stared at him one long moment, checking his vitals and writing them down on his chart, “odd,” she noted. “If you’re feeling up to it, can you tell me where these bruises came from? Anything you tell me is safe. It’s between myself and the doctor.”
“No,” he answered. He honestly didn’t know where they’d come from. It felt like his limbs had been snapped and set back into place in a hurry.
“Good news is, no broken bones aside from that nasty concussion. You’re going to be here for observation. Ring if you need anything at all and nothing but ice chips until that morphine has run out.”
Nate had been a little over halfway through his night shift, just coming off of his ‘lunch’ break, when Dominik had been brought in. It hadn’t been busy at the time, so it was easy for him to get himself assigned to his sister’s close friend. Nate had known him for just about forever too, he considered him to be almost like a little brother. His heart sank to get the initial reports from police and the paramedics, that Dominik had gone down a flight of stairs, sustained a concussion, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder and broken clavicle on his right side, badly sprained right ankle and broken radius and ulna on his left arm. The police report was ultimately calling it an accident, though the report seemed odd to Nate, as if they thought it was something else at first. That seemed confirmed by a paramedic saying Dominik had muttered something about not letting her near him. It all worried Nate quite a bit, but he focused on assessing and treating Dominik’s injuries first.
He looked as bad as it sounded when Nate saw him, but as he assessed him, the actual injuries didn’t seem as bad as they should be. X-rays were taken and they confirmed it, somehow there were no broken bones. Nate wanted to rage against the paramedic who’d done the initial assessment and had clearly flubbed it, but he stopped himself. This wasn’t right. The bruises, how bad he looked, it all pointed to him being injured as described in the report. He just wasn’t now. Nate knew enough to suspect magic was involved, but of course couldn’t say so. He couldn’t even say how, he knew of healing through magic, and this was somehow different, at least different from what he knew of it.
Once Dominik seemed to be stable and was resting, Nate went to check on the rest of his caseload for the night. He wanted to wait a little longer before calling Reagan. It was still the middle of the night and Dominik was going to be okay, it could wait a couple more hours.
He was on his way down the hall when he heard voices coming from Dominik’s room. He was awake. Nate went right to the room, though he wasn’t due to check in there for a little while. As he entered, he could see the nurse beside the bed, stooped down and finishing to clean something up. It looked to Nate as if Dominik had been sick, not surprising Nate considering the concussion.
He stepped over to the foot of the bed and looked over at Dominik. It made him angry to see him like this. He knew there was a history of domestic problems in Dominik’s home, knew that things had been bad there for Dominik before. Nate didn’t have to be told what this was.
“You know who I am, right?” He chuckled and rolled his eyes, of course he knew, but he had to ask. “I just have to ask a few questions. Dumb questions, but bear with me.” He started into a quick mental status exam, to see how his memory and concentration were. Nate asked the date, asked his address, had him remember a few words for him (horse, brick, banana) and had him recall them at the end. He had him spell a word and do a simple computation, taking notes of all the responses and any other observed irregularities. By the time he finished, the nurse had finished cleaning up and had left the room.
Nate moved over to the side of Dominik’s bed, the side without vomit on the floor, and rested a hand on the bed rail. “You look like shit”, he observed.
Dominik hated tests, well, just being here in general. He answered everything to the best of his ability, the medication and the injury to his head had him wanting to curl up again. He cast his gaze on Nate as he neared him on the clean side of the bed, picking at the I.V. and itching around the skin despite the Nurse having laid more tape over his arm to prevent this.
“Captain obvious,” he stated, ever the sass master. He was grateful that his doctor was someone familiar. “I feel like shit, was I hit by a bus?” He would avoid the obvious, though he honestly couldn’t remember how it happened or why Magda had decided to give him a shove down the stairs.
His mouth was dry, and his eyes slightly unfocused. He couldn’t concentrate on any one thing without feeling frustrated. He suspected without the morphine, he was in a world of pain. He’d thank Nate for the good stuff later. He inhaled sharply through his nose when the pain behind his brow bypassed the numbing effect. “When can I go home?” it was always the first question, and he already knew the answer.
Home. He couldn’t go home to that, and he couldn’t let his family stay there as long as Mags was around. She was a fucking menace on a power trip. Dominik stretched and it almost looked uncomfortable, tears welled up in his eyes as he just fell into whatever position his body had seized into. The lights flickered again and the machines he was hooked up to restarted. The more upset he got, the more those emotions played with the power. The medication could only do so much to keep him calm.
Nate rolled his eyes, expecting some kind of talk back. He knew Dominik, he could take it. “Yeah. Hit by a bus”, he deadpanned. “You really need to start watching out for that damn bus.” He understood Dominik not wanting to talk about it. Most d.v. victims wouldn’t, would make up excuses, cover for the person who hurt them. He did wish Dominik would talk to him about it, not as a doctor, but as someone who was worried about him.
He wasn’t sure what to say about home. He knew the doctor answer, that he had to stay for some observation, but he also didn’t want him going back. He recognized the power flicker for what it was, though it made him think back to earlier in the shift, when all the power had gone completely out. Thank goodness for back up generators. He looked at Dominik’s face, seeing how upset he looked.
“Hey. Dom. Look in my eyes.” He wanted him to focus. “It’s okay. You’re okay here. I wouldn’t let anything hurt you here. Right?” He expected an answer from him. He could protect him here, but once Dominik left, that was a different matter.
Dominik met his eyes very slowly. He was embarrassed, in pain and frightened. He was well over six feet, but he seemed fragile in that moment. Mags had done a lot of damage over the years and yet, he thought that she was someone he could rely on. He never thought she would literally try and kill him.
And for what? She clearly upset about something. Dominik couldn’t remember the argument, nor even seeing the woman until she forced him down the steps with a little help from her magic.
He didn’t want to think about it. He smiled, but it didn’t hide the distant look in his eye. “I know, thank you. It’s stupid,” he slurred, the medicine was kicking in again. “I don’t understand why, why, why... “ his brain was going through some sort of loop, he made a miserable sort of noise, shutting his eyes to the world, “I can’t talk about it.”
It hurt to think, but there was something else preventing him from saying another word.
“Don’t tell Reagan,” he worried what she would do, he definitely didn’t want her in harm’s way. Mags was a lot more powerful than she let on. “Tell her the bus story,” he never watched where he was walking when he was texting. It was believable.
As far as Nate was concerned, there was nothing to be embarrassed out. Dominik looked like a grown ass man now, but Nate had known him since he’d been a little boy. He could still easily recall some of Dominik’s more embarrassing childhood moments.
He could hear the change in his voice. It meant Dominik would be getting some needed rest soon, and hopefully a bit of peace too. It also meant that Nate’s questions were likely to stay unanswered for now.
When Reagan was mentioned, and the request, Nate’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t at all like the suggestion that he lie to his sister. That was what Dominik was asking, in doing so he was pretty much calling himself out on his bullshit.
“Why should I?”, he asked firmly. He’d better have a good reason, and maybe the reason would contain a hint of the truth about what was going on here.
"Magda is dangerous," if Dominik couldn't handle what she could throw at him, he worried what she could do to anyone that stood up to her. It took a lot for him to admit it, and the thought scared him, "I think she was trying to kill me."
That look on her face said as much when he tipped backwards down those steps. It frustrated him that he couldn't remember why they'd had an argument or what it was about.
"I don't like lying to Reagan, or to you," or anyone else he was close to. It was his way of protecting the people he cared about. Perhaps for the first time since he woke up, he felt safe. Floating in that morphine, safe, content, no pain. His eyes started to slip shut, but he fought the urge to sleep, "Tell her what you need to tell her."
When he thought he could finally sleep, his mother and sister had walked into the room. Livia immediately went to Dominik’s bed side, stroking his hair and going into hysterics again. Ioana had to gently pry her mother off of him when Dom reached up to push her hand away.
Dominik’s sister turned to Nate, sighing very softly. Relieved that he was okay. “Can I talk to you?”
Nate wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the blunt truth. His face showed his concern, but he kept quiet, letting Dominik speak. He could hear in his voice that the meds were really getting to him, that he probably wouldn’t be coherent for much longer. Maybe that was why he was being so forthright in the first place. Or maybe the meds were making him say crazy things, but Nate didn’t think so.
Dominik really seemed to be fading a moment later, leaving Nate with the question of what to tell his sister. He didn’t get the chance to dwell on that question, as Dominik’s mother and sister entered the room, his mom loud and upset. He wasn’t thrilled at them being there either, though it was also a story he didn’t know at all in full, he’d always assumed there was a good reason for Dominik not being with them. The mother did seem concerned though, and the sister seemed maybe to be more in the role of an adult than she should have to be for her age.
When Ioana asked to speak with him, Nate nodded his head and walked around the bed again and toward the door. He steeled the thought of doctor-patient confidentiality into his mind, realizing in doing so that was something that as a doctor he should be applying to what he tells Reagan too.
Ana smiled, but the sad truth lay behind it. She was grateful Nate was willing to hear her out. What she told him when they left the room, well, she didn’t want anyone else to hear. Their family was crazy enough, and she didn’t want Dom to seem like he belonged in the mental ward. “Magda wasn’t arguing with him, but I think she pushed Dominik to prove a point to the entity that inhabits him.”
She was fully aware of of strange it sounded. When she found out that it was Nate who was taking care of him, she felt a little relieved. No one else would believe it. All the families had their secrets. When she started speaking, her tone was even and hushed so they wouldn’t be overheard,
“He got up after the fall, he was angry. It wasn’t him though. I think it was the entity. Dominik takes her wrath so we don’t suffer, he thinks we don’t know, but we do. I can’t help him, I’ve tried. I don’t have the ability. My mother wants nothing to do with magic. It’s the devil’s work, she says.”
She leaned over to look into the room, letting out a heavy sigh. Her mother was smothering her poor brother with too much affection, “Is it bad?” she asked, “He’s going to be okay?”
Nate led the way out of the room and into the hall. It was quiet and empty, but he he took a few steps from the door, for privacy’s sake, and quietly asked “What’s up?”
The first thing he heard was that Magda had hurt Dominik on purpose. What was said next was stranger, and his facial expression showed it, though he’d wait with the questions and comments until she was done. He was wondering to himself what she meant by ‘the entity that inhabits him’. The rest of it was confusing to him as well.
“He’ll be okay”, he told her. “Other than the concussion, he’s actually not hurt bad at all.” That brought him to another question he had. “He was hurt worse, but he was healed. Do you know anything about that?” Maybe she’d been able to do something to help. Maybe crazy Magda had felt bad about what she’d done and had tried to help.
“Dominik doesn’t know,” as far as she could tell. He never indicated that he knew he was possessed. “My mom says it’s punishment for something she did when he was a baby. She’s convinced it’s not a human spirit.”
“Magda walked away when the paramedics got there, I don’t think she healed him. She didn’t seem to care,” Ana gave a little shrug, “she seemed content enough to let him lay there. The fireman had to get him breathing again.” It was a relief to hear that he was going to be fine.
“I’m going to take her out to the waiting room, she isn’t going to leave him alone,” the girl was peering into the room again, watching Dominik attempt to push her away. They were speaking in Romanian, so she called out to her mother in their language- asking her to join her outside.
“I just wanted you to know what we saw and heard. If anything changes, can you call?”
She noticed Dominik trying to get out of his bed, pointing Nate in his direction, “he’s as stubborn as my aunt. Ursu, Nu!”
Nate was still trying to make sense of what she was saying. He did know that such things were possible, but Dominik? Having an evil spirit in him? He couldn’t see it. All that was obvious to him was that Dom’s aunt was the evil one, and he still wasn’t sure what to think of the rest.
He didn’t get a chance to ask any more questions as Dominik’s mother was being anything but a calming presence and Ioana was getting distracted by her again. He sighed. “Yeah, I can call…”
When he saw Dominik starting to stand again, he rushed back into the room. “No, no, no, no”, he said, brushing past Dominik’s mother as Ana tried to get her out. Nate put a hand on Dominik’s chest.
“Settle down”, he told him. “It’s okay. Remember what I said?” He glanced over his shoulder to be sure they were actually stepping out.
“She said she would take me home,” Dominik was tired and evidently confused. Whatever Livia had told him had gotten him out of bed. When he glanced up at Nate, he appeared unfocused and ready to collapse again. His eyes had shifted from blue to completely black for a split moment and he let out a frustrated sigh as he shuffled back over to his bed.
He couldn’t get comfortable. Everything was unfamiliar here. “I remember. I have to lay down and you didn’t even buy me dinner,” he frowned.
“They always leave,” he said a little sadly, watching his mother and sister walk out the door. “Will you stay, Doc?”
He shook his head when Dominik mentioned going home. That wasn’t going to happen. Not for a little while, and even then, Nate didn’t feel comfortable about it. At least they were leaving for now, he noted. Looking back to Dominik, Nate’s eyes caught Dom’s as he saw… What did he see? A flicker of black for a split second. Nate doubted himself and focused on getting Dom back into bed.
He smirked at the comment. “I’m afraid you’re not really my type, big guy.” He rested a hand on Dominik’s back as he navigated him back to the bed. “But I do need you to rest. If your stomach feels better in a few hours from now, they’ll have a little bit of breakfast for you. But don’t worry, they won’t keep you longer than they have to. There’s always a need for hospital beds.”
He gave Dominik the support he needed to climb back up into the bed and even helped to pull the paper thin bedsheet over him. “I can stay a few minutes, yeah.” As time was mentioned, he did realize he’d have to be back on his rounds soon, but he did want to talk to Dominik a little more in light of all this craziness.
Once Dominik seemed settled back in and after another glance behind him to make sure the family really was gone, he looked back at Dominik, studying his eyes for a moment. “Dom… Is there any place you could stay after you leave here? Anywhere you could go? I’m worried that home might not be the safest place for you.”
“That’s too bad,” he started, stifling a yawn, “I give really good head,” he wasn’t even sorry he said it; nor would he remember hitting on Reagan’s brother later. Dominik blinked very slowly as if fighting off sleep, unable to keep the next yawn at bay. He was shaking like a leaf under that thin blanket. He wasn’t cold, the meds were making him do it.
“Stay?” he asked softly, he had a hotel room that he kept for himself when he needed to get away, but other than that? He could ask Darren if he needed to. He remembered dinner on Friday. It had been a disaster, save for one thing.
Darren. His eyes widened some as he began to sit up again, he could not stay still longer than a few moments. He had to call Daws.
“I can ask, but I don’t want to impose. Can I get something to sleep?”
The comment earned him a strange look from Nate, though he didn’t say anything. The doctor was used to strange and sometimes inappropriate comments from patients on meds, though he wouldn’t have expected that from Dominik, who he knew, had known for ever.
He noted the reactions from Dom, and wasn’t sure if he was trying to fight off the drowsiness or embrace it, like he was saying when he asked for more meds. He gave the request a moment of thought before answering.
“I don’t think it would hurt, though you seem pretty tired already. Lay back and try to relax, I’ll have the nurse look in on you in just a minute, she can give you something if you need it.” He had a feeling Dominik might be asleep already by the time she came in. Quietly, he added, “If you do need a place for a little while, I’ve got plenty of space. You don’t need to stay there.” He really wanted Dominik to understand that. He didn’t any to see him hurt any more.
“Rest now”, he instructed as he started to move, rounding the bed to head toward the door. He’d give Dominik his rest and check in on his other patients.
Dom knew he could go to Nate if he needed that guidance or even a kind word. Or if he needed a swift kick in the ass. He was the brother he never had. He knew he was going to call Reagan, there was no stopping him there. He appreciated that the man had offered him a place to stay.
“I’ll try,” and he was out like a light, curled up in the most uncomfortable position imaginable, but he seemed to be okay there. At least he wasn’t bothering the staff.