Vin came awake with a start and sat upright in the bed. He gasped and tried to suck in air as the nightmare he’d been having replayed before his eyes.
“Vin, it’s okay,” Dunne tried to get through to the other man.
Vin slid his legs over the side of the bed, even as he forced his eyes open. “JD get me to Chris’ room.”
“Vin...”
“Now, JD, or I’ll fuckin’ go myself!” He stood on shaky legs as the dream continued to plague him. Flashes of Chris twisting in agony stabbed through his mind. The headache that had been a little easier was back, only this time it roared through his body as well as his head. He swayed on his feet and felt JD reach for him. “JD, please...you gotta get me t...the...”
“I will, Vin, just sit down for a minute while I get the wheelchair.” He eased Vin back on the bed and hurried out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~
“What’s wrong, Caitlin,” James Magruder asked as he entered the room.
Caitlin knew the Trauma doctors kept each other up to date on their patients and she knew this man didn’t need a list of the man’s injuries. “He started having trouble breathing and we can’t seem to wake him up.”
Buck listened to the doctor and nurse talk about Chris Larabee and turned to see the others standing outside the door. He saw the worry and concern on their faces as they looked into the room.
“Buck, the doctor wants us to leave,” Travis grabbed the trembling man’s arm as he led him from the room. They stopped just outside the door as another nurse entered the room.
Buck turned towards the elevator just in time to see a very pale Vin Tanner being pushed towards them by JD Dunne.
Vin held his head in his hands as he saw the others standing outside Chris’ room. He knew his dream had been right and that Chris was having problems. He heard the commotion going on in the room and heard the doctor say something about having to put Larabee back on the ventilator. “God, No!” Vin cried as he joined his friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Magruder worked diligently with the nurses but nothing seemed to get through to the man on the bed. “Get ready to intubate!”
“No! Buck, push me in there!”
“Caitlin, close the door!”
“No! Dammit, listen to me!” Tanner said as he stood up too quickly and swayed on his feet. “Just let me talk to him!”
“There’s no time...”
“Yes, there is, Doc, please don’t put him on that damned machine again. Just give me a chance.”
“You’ve got as long as it takes us to set up to intubate him!” Magruder snapped.
“Buck, get me in there!” Tanner said as he dropped into the chair. He felt the chair pushed forward and as soon as he was in reach he placed his hand on Larabee’s shoulder. “Hey, Cowboy, you having problems? Come on now, ya gotta relax or they’re gonna hook up that damned ventilator again. I know you don’t want that to happen, so just calm down and listen to me.”
The soft Texan drawl broke through the pain and nightmares and Chris sucked greedily for air. The pain speared through his left side and he coughed harshly, crying out as the tube seemed to grate against his flesh.
Magruder stared from one man to the other as Larabee seemed to calm down before his eyes. The softly spoken words seemed to get through whatever was causing the panic in the injured man. He watched as the eyelids fluttered and finally opened.
“V...Vin, Buck,” Larabee whispered as he saw the two men standing beside the bed.
“Hey, Stud, ya ‘bout scared the life outta all of us,” Wilmington said as he watched the green eyes.
“S...sorry,” the blond apologized softly.
“Mr. Larabee?”
Chris turned and faced an older man dressed in white and frowned at him. “W...who are you?”
“I’m Dr. Magruder. I work with Dr Barrett. How are you feeling?”
“I’m...”
“Fine,” Tanner finished for him and three smiles were born with those two words. “Tell him the truth, Chris.”
Larabee tried to sit forward in the bed, but a hand on his shoulder stopped any further movement.
“Mr. Larabee, it would be better if you stayed still.”
Chris realized the man was right as each move caused him to feel everything that was done to him. He sucked in air and tried to remove the oxygen mask. A soft hand on his made him stop.
“This stays put, Chris,” Caitlin explained as Magruder went over the readings on the monitor.
“Caitlin, he seems to have stabilized, but I want you to repeat his blood gases just to be sure.”
“Yes, Doctor,” Caitlin said as she readied to take the blood from the injured man.
Magruder looked into the patient’s eyes and then listened to his chest. He frowned as he heard congestion building on his lungs. “Breath in,” he ordered again and listened as Larabee did as he was told only to moan as he coughed harshly.
“Sh...it,” the blond wheezed as he closed his eyes.
“Don’t fight it, Mr. Larabee, you need to cough to get rid of the congestion.”
“I kn...ow,” the blond gasped as pain lanced through his side. He felt Wilmington’s hand on his shoulder and smiled at the ladies’ man. “It’s o...kay, Buck,” he assured his friend.
“Mr. Larabee, how’s the pain right now?” Magruder asked as he looked into the blond’s eyes once more.
“Its not too bad,” Chris answered as he tried to move once more. “What’s wrong with my leg?”
“Your hip is broken and we’d rather you didn’t move around too much. Now I’m gonna leave you in Caitlin’s capable hands, but I want you to rest as much as you can and if you get the urge to cough don’t fight it!”
“I won’t,” Larabee told him and glared at the snickering men standing beside the bed.
“You may be facing pneumonia if you don’t!” Magruder warned. “Gentlemen, don’t stay too long.”
“We won’t, Doc,” Wilmington said as the physician left.
“Caitlin, have me paged if there are any more problems.”
“I will, Dr. Magruder.”
Larabee stared at the man sitting beside the bed. He could see the fading bruise from where the younger man had been shot in the head. He closed his eyes as he fought to get his churning stomach under control. His belief that Tanner was dead was put to rest at the mine, yet he couldn’t help staring into the blue eyes. The nightmares he was suffering from were a constant reminder of how easily his friends could’ve been killed by Maguire. The man’s face continued to haunt him, whether he was awake or asleep. He didn’t realize he’d been drifting until a hand touched his arm. He turned a weak smile on the sharpshooter.
“I’m okay, Vin,” he lied as a shudder ran through him. “Just tired right now.”
The tracker knew it was a lie, but he understood Chris wasn’t ready to talk about what happened. He knew it would do no good to try and force the blond to talk, it would happen when he was ready. “Ya want us to leave you alone?”
“N...No!” he knew his voice sounded pleading, but for once he didn’t care. “Don’t go...not yet.”
“I won’t,” Tanner assured him.
Caitlin finished taking the blood samples and passed them to the second nurse who helped her and Magruder. “Thanks, Marcia,” she said as her friend left. She listened to Larabee’s voice and knew he was exhausted, yet she understood why he didn’t want to sleep. She’d watched his face while he was sleeping and could tell he was being haunted by nightmares. She knew some of the story about what he’d been through and wondered about the cruelty of human beings. How any man could do something like this to another man was beyond her.
Chris listened to Vin and Buck talking softly, yet none of their words penetrated his mind. He knew something was wrong and his eyes snapped open. “Jesus, Vin, kill them!” he cursed as heat raced through his body.
“Chris, take it easy!” Buck said as he watched the dawning horror on Larabee’s face.
“Oh, Jesus, they’re killing me,” Larabee watched as tiny spiders crawled over his skin. Their legs sent shivers of rippling pain through his body and he shifted upwards away from them.
“Chris, it’s okay,” Tanner tried, but his voice had no impact on his friend.
“What’s wrong with him?” Buck asked the nurse as Larabee continued to cry out, sometimes in pain and sometimes in horror.
Vin was quiet as he watched his friend, there was something familiar about what he was seeing and he tried to grasp it.
Larabee twisted on the bed even as the nurse pressed the button to call for help. “No!’ he screamed as the tiny creatures nipped at his skin and tore into his body. His hands pushed and shoved at the scurrying arachnids as wave after wave of pain and nausea raced through him.
“Shit!” Vin cried as he realized what was happening. “He’s having a flashback.”
“What?” Wilmington asked as he tried to keep his friend on the bed.
“A flashback. Maguire gave him LSD and he’s tripping.”
Magruder rushed back into the room and frowned at the scene that met his eyes. The patient was twisting and crying out as if something was crawling all over him. He heard what Tanner had said and knew he needed to do something fast. “Caitlin, get the restraints!”
“Shit, Doc, do you have to?” Wilmington asked.
“He’s gonna do himself more harm than good like this,” he warned. “You two are gonna have to leave.”
“Doc, its a flashback!” Tanner warned. “He was forced to take LSD!”
“All right! Now get out of here!” He didn’t wait to see if the two men left as he took the Velcro restraints and attached them to the bed and Larabee’s arms, making sure he kept them above the bandages already covering the wrists.
Chris fought to get away from the visions slamming into his mind. He knew in his heart they couldn’t be real, but each time he tried to shut them out he felt the mandibles bite into his body. He struggled to get away, but his strength was slowly leaving him. The spiders began to change, taking on new features, and elongated bodies and again a scream erupted from his throat. His breath came in hitching gulps as he tried to bring air into his lungs. He fought to get the images under control as he felt his wrists encircled by something and his movement was severely limited. Pain didn’t register as he shifted his leg on the bed, but that movement was also curtailed and he cried out in rage.
Magruder knew he needed to get the patient calmed down and began talking softly to him. He didn’t want to resort to drugs to calm him, but if Larabee continued to struggle the result could be damaging to his recovery. He knew from previous studies how important it was to talk calmly and try to get through to the victim.
“Chris, listen to me,” his voice was smooth and even, devoid of any sense of urgency as he spoke to the injured man. “You’re fine. There’s no one around here to hurt you.”
Chris continued to struggle, but the spiders were of no concern as his body seemed frozen in place. Maguire slowly walked towards him, and his breath caught in his throat as he saw the long needle in his hand. The hated voice spoke to him, the words taunting and painful, yet he could not drown them out. He screamed, deep and guttural, pain lancing through his skull as he fought to get away from the sharp needle coming towards his eye.
“Get that fucking thing away from me!” Larabee screamed as his body refused to obey his commands.
“Caitlin!” Magruder called to the nurse and ordered a dose of Valium and watched as the nurse drew the drug into a syringe. “Come on, Chris, listen to my voice. I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“Fuckin’ Bastard, kill you!” Larabee hissed, spittle dripping from the corners of his mouth as his head whipped back and forth on the bed. The nurse quickly injected the requested meds into his IV.
“Get Mr. Tanner back in here,” Magruder ordered softly. He continued to talk to Larabee in an effort to get him to calm down. He knew it wouldn’t take long for the Valium to take affect, but he still wanted Larabee to see one of his friends before he went to sleep. He heard the wheel chair being pushed up to the bed. “Talk to him, Mr. Tanner.”
“Hey, Cowboy, how are you doing?”
The haunting voice was back, but this time there was something different about it. It didn’t cause the same horror or pain that the first one had. It didn’t pinch his skin or bore into his body as the spiders had. He felt a calmness seeping past the pain and anger and slowly opened his eyes. He swallowed painfully, his throat dry, his body shaking as he tried to control his warring emotions. He licked his lips and frowned as he tried to move his body. His arms and legs were immobile and he turned a terrified gaze on the man sitting beside him.
“V...Vin,” he croaked desperately.
“I’m right here, Chris. Ya just hang on and I’ll watch your back.”
“Tired,” Larabee mumbled through dry lips.
“Mr. Larabee, don’t fight the medication. Just rest and sleep.”
Chris turned to the doctor and tried to decipher his words. The combination of exhaustion and drugs were pulling him under and he turned back to his friend. “Be here....wake up?” he asked and knew he should feel guilty as he saw the IV running into the younger man’s arm.
“I’ll be here...”
“Chris, Vin needs to sleep. I’ll stay with you.”
Larabee smiled thinly as he felt his body and mind give into the need for sleep. “Buck, stay. Vin...sleep...Nathan give ho...rse p...piss,” he smiled as his face relaxed in sleep.
“Horse piss?” Buck asked.
“I don’t know, Buck,” Tanner laughed, yawning tiredly. “Doc, will he be okay?”
“He should sleep for several hours, but you need to know he could have more flashbacks like this. I want the restraints left where they are right now,” he said as he examined Larabee’s leg and hip. “Caitlin, I want X-rays to make sure he didn’t damage the hip further.”
“I’ll call them right away, Doctor,” the nurse answered.
“Mr. Tanner, let one of your friends take you back to your room and get some sleep.”
“Looks like Orrin’s coming to get you, Vin,” Wilmington told the younger man as the healer came into the room.
“Take care of him, Buck,” the sharpshooter said as Travis took the handles of the chair and wheeled him from the room.
“I will, Vin.” Buck sank into the chair and settled in for a long night. He watched the doctor make notes in the chart and then nodded to him as he left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orrin wheeled the chair into the room and helped the younger man onto the bed. He knew how hard it was on Vin to see Chris going through the flashbacks and pain. He also realized they’d have to make sure the sharpshooter didn’t neglect his own health.
“Lie down, Vin,” Travis ordered. He could see the tracker was in pain as he eased down on the bed.
Vin pulled his legs over the edge of the bed, but didn’t lie down. The room was spinning once more and his stomach churned. He saw Travis reach for the basin and was grateful to him as he lost the contents and eased back on the bed in misery once more.
“Vin, I’m going to get your nurse,” Travis told him.
“D...don’t need her,” the injured man mumbled.
“Yes, you do. You don’t need to be strong all the time, Vin. We’ll take care of both you and Chris.” He pressed the button on the pillow and his call was instantly answered.
Vin heard Travis tell the nurse that he’d been sick and was in pain. “Thanks, Orrin,” he muttered as he curled into a ball on his left side. He had no idea how long he laid in misery, but he knew it couldn’t be much longer than a minute or two.
“Vin, I’ve got Morphine and Zofran for you.”
“Thanks, Mandy,” he said, but didn’t open his eyes.
“I know you want to visit your friend in ICU, Vin, but you can’t neglect your own health. Make the visit shorter next time.”
“We’ll see that he does,” Travis assured her as she hurried from the room.
“Go to sleep, Vin,” the older man ordered.
“Hmm,” the soft voice was barely audible and Travis could tell he was almost asleep. He settled down beside the injured man and picked up a magazine from the table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris tried to move and frowned as his arms and legs refused to move. He moaned softly as pried his eyes open. Memories came back and he looked to his right, smiling thinly at the worried brown eyes looking back at him.
“How are you feeling, Chris?” Jackson asked.
“Like I went a couple of rounds with that wrestler JD likes,” Larabee moaned softly as he realized how true those words were.
“The Rock?”
“Yeah,” Larabee answered softly.
“Chris?”
The blond turned his head and smiled at the nurse standing beside the bed. “Anne?”
She smiled at him, and Chris wasn’t surprised when it lit up her face. “That’s right, Chris. I’m gonna be looking after you tonight and I want you to know that if things get really bad I can increase the morphine,” she explained.
“I w...will,” Larabee said as he lifted his head and looked at his arms. “Why?” he asked simply.
“Chris, you had a flashback...”
“Flashback?”
“From the LSD Maguire made you take,” Jackson answered.
“God Dammit!” Larabee swore and felt tears well up in his eyes.
“Easy, Chris,” Anne said as she took a cloth and washed his face. She could tell how much it would affect this man if he let the tears fall and she saw them. She nodded at the medic as he smiled gratefully at her.
“How long do these stay on?”
“Dr. Magruder wants them left on at least overnight, Chris. If there are no further episodes they’ll be removed in the morning,” the nurse explained.
“Just overnight, Chris,” Jackson assured him as he patted his friend’s shoulder.
“Chris, I’m going to put some cream on the marks on your chest,” Anne explained as she took a tube of ointment from the table. “It might sting a little, but it’ll feel better once I’m done,” she assured him.
“O...kay,” Larabee agreed and closed his eyes. He could feel her soft hands as she smoothed the ointment over the healing lash marks on his chest and arms. It did sting for a few seconds, but it felt cool almost as soon as the sting left the wounds. He felt her ease back the blanket and do the same with his thighs and he felt the flush enter his cheeks.
Anne felt him flinch and spoke softly to him. “I’m almost done, Chris. Does it feel any better?”
“Y...yeah,” he answered honestly.
“That’s good, Chris. Now, I need to do your back, but I’m gonna need a little help with that. Terri is coming in right now to help me. Mr. Jackson, could you move back for a few minutes?”
“I’ll be right outside the door, Chris,” the medic told him.
“O...okay,” Larabee mumbled tiredly. He felt the nurses ease him up and the same gentle touch smoothed the ointment across his back and down to his hips. He swallowed thankfully when they eased him back on the pillow.
“Chris?” Larabee opened his eyes and looked once more at the nurse. “Would you like some water?”
“Yeah, please,” he answered softly. A straw was placed at his lips and he took a few sips.
“Anne, let me know if you need me for anything.”
“Thanks, Terri, I will,” Anne assured her as Nathan Jackson returned. She saw Larabee had stopped drinking and placed the glass back on the table. “Just let me know when you want more, Chris.”
The movement had jarred his hip and he bit back a cry of pain. He was tired, yet feared the dreams that awaited him once he surrendered to the darkness. He kept his eyes closed, knowing Jackson would see the fear in them. He didn’t want anyone knowing he feared sleep and he almost laughed as he realized the last nightmare had happened while he was awake. ‘LSD Flashbacks!’ he thought angrily. The pain had a stronger hold on him and he realized it was probably due to the flashback he’d suffered through earlier. He didn’t realize he’d made any sound until Anne’s soft hand was on his shoulder once more. He looked up at her, expecting to see pity, but there was none there. What he saw was sympathy for what he was going through and he returned her smile.
“Anne, can you? I mean can I...”
“You need another shot?” She saw the slight nod and readied the morphine. She looked at Jackson as she injected the extra pain medication, and knew it wouldn’t be long before her patient fell asleep.
Nathan watched as Larabee’s face finally relaxed and he seemed to fall asleep. He watched as the nurse replaced the IV bags and added a small bag of antibiotics. He turned towards the door and smiled as JD walked into the room. The kid looked haggard and Nathan knew it had nothing to do with his being tired. Each time the young easterner saw Chris or Vin he seemed to pale considerably.
“How is he doing, Nate?”
“I’m okay, Kid,” Larabee answered, surprising both Anne and Nathan.
“That’s great, Chris!” JD exclaimed as Jackson stood up and he sat down.
“Chris...”
“Go, Nathan, the kid got my back. Right JD?”
“Right, Chris! You want some water?”
“No thanks, JD.”
“Okay. Nathan, Buck and Ezra are waiting for you to go get something to eat,” Dunne explained.
“Alright, JD. Chris I’ll see you later.”
“Get some sleep, Nathan.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that?” Jackson smiled as he left the room.
Anne looked up as Dr. Magruder came into the room. “How are you doing, Mr. Larabee?”
“Better,” the blond answered as he watched the doctor going over his chart.
“I’m glad to hear that. Your blood gases are okay, but I want you to stay on the oxygen. If it’s still okay in the morning maybe we’ll switch you to the canulas. The X-rays didn’t reveal any new damage to the hip, so we got lucky there...”
“C...can you take these off?” Larabee asked.
“Not tonight,” he saw the disappointment in the sea green eyes. “If there are no further episodes tonight we’ll dispense with them tomorrow. For now I’d like you to try and sleep.”
Larabee let his eyes close without answering. He knew the doctor was doing what he thought was best, but the restraints carried through to his dreams and slammed him back into Maguire’s hands. He fought against sleep, but soon drifted off. A soft whimper escaped his lips, but went unheard by the three people in the room.
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