Vin slid his legs over the edge of the bed and looked towards the clock on the far wall. He knew Chris was probably sleeping, but he wasn’t tired and knew Sanchez would be there. He always enjoyed talking to the soft spoken ex-preacher. The man had a way with words and always seemed to be able to talk about anything and get his point across. He looked at the hated IV pole and knew he’d be getting rid of it first thing in the morning. He felt so much stronger and wanted out of the hospital and he wasn’t listening to anyone else who tried to manipulate him. ‘It ain’t gonna work anymore, Cowboy!’he thought as he pulled open the door.
Vin frowned at the activity in the hallway as a Gurney was rushed out of Larabee’s room, a familiar form lying on top of it, on his side, legs drawn up to his chest.
“Josiah!” he called as the elevator doors opened and Nathan, JD, Buck, and Ezra hurried out. “Shit!”
Vin raced for Larabee’s room, nearly tripping in his IV pole in his haste to find out what was going on. He heard Jackson ask the nurse where she was taking Sanchez just as he entered the room to find two nurses examining his friend.
“Chris!” he called as he saw the pain on his friend’s face.
“What’ve we got, Julia?” Bridger asked, racing into the room just ahead of Nathan Jackson and Buck Wilmington.
“Abdominal cramps, nausea, skin is cold and clammy, headache,” she answered as she attached a BP cuff to Larabee’s arm.
“Doc, what the hell happened?” Wilmington asked.
“Who are these people?” Bridger asked as he listened to his patient’s heart.
“Friends of Chris’,” Carolyn answered.
“Well get them out of here!” Bridger snapped. “Chris?”
Larabee opened his eyes and tried to focus on the man who called his name.
“Can you tell me what caused this?” the doctor asked.
“D...don’t kn...know...ju...just star...ted...” he tried to pull his legs up.
“We need you to lie still, Chris,” Julia told him as she finished with the vitals.
“Julia, his heartbeat is a little slow. Let’s get started on bloodwork and put him on a full mask. Tell the lab I want the results Stat!” Bridger ordered.
Jackson pulled his eyes away from the man on the bed and looked at the vase of flowers. Something about it nagged at him and he tried to remember the exact warning he’d been given.
“You men will have to leave!” Carolyn warned as Julia hurried to take the requested blood samples.
Vin shook his head as he continued to be hypnotized by the pain filled face of his best friend. “Not ‘til we know what’s...”
“Look, we need to run tests and we need you to wait outside. I promise I’ll let you know as soon as we know anything,” Carolyn told him.
Buck looked at the pale tracker and knew the shock of seeing Larabee like this was taking a toll on him. He looked at his long time friend and saw the slight nod towards the door. He knew the blond wanted him to get Vin out of the room and he nodded back, sighing at the look of relief that briefly crossed the ill man’s face.
“Come on, Vin, we need to let them help Chris,” Wilmington said.
“Can’t leave him, Buck,” the tracker hissed softly.
“You’re not...we’re not, Vin. We’ll wait just outside the door,” the ladies man assured him as he reached for the trembling man.
“Not gonna go far, Cowboy,” Tanner said as he was led from the room.
“Nathan, you coming?” Wilmington asked.
“Y...yeah...be right there,” the medic said as he walked to the small bedside table, keeping out of the way of the doctor and two nurses. He frowned as he looked at the vase of flowers, the forgotten warning from the day before prying its way out of his subconscious.
“Roses...” Jackson mumbled
“Chris, just relax for me,” Bridger said.
“Carnations...Nathan hissed.
“Julia, his heartbeat is really irregular here. We need to find out what’s causing this!” The doctor warned them as he gently palpated his patient’s abdomen.
“Baby’s breath,” the medic frowned as he listed the flowers in the vase.
“....sick...” Larabee wheezed as the cramps continued unabated.
Jackson looked at the final flower and tried to remember what was so ominous about the beautiful wonder of nature. His eyes lit up and he turned towards the people around Larabee’s bed.
“I know what it is!” the medic snapped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ezra and JD stood outside the examination room where an ER nurse and doctor were taking care of Sanchez. So far they’d taken blood samples and were setting up an IV, but that was all the two men knew.
The youngest member of the team paced back and forth, barely holding his emotions in check as he wondered what was happening to two of the six men he looked up to. This was his family, and when they hurt, he hurt, and right now his own stomach was tied up in knots.
“Why don’t they come out and tell us what’s going on?” he asked as he stopped in front of the door for the tenth time since they’d arrived in the ER.
“It’s only been fifteen minutes, JD. They won’t know anything until they get the results of the tests back.”
Dunne looked towards the gambler, fighting to keep his fears from showing, but unable to do so as he remembered his last image of Josiah Sanchez trembling on the stretcher.
“He’s going to be all right, isn’t he, Ezra?”
“I’m sure Josiah will be just fine.”
“Wish we knew what was going on with Chris.”
“Me too, and I’m sure someone will come down and let us know as soon as they get a chance.” He watched as the younger man began pacing again, his hands running threw his hair as he passed the closed door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josiah lay on his back and tried to think, but pain and nausea made it nearly impossible to do so. He felt the nurse take blood samples and insert the IV but he wasn’t sure why that was being done.
“Mr. Sanchez?”
The ex-preacher turned to look at the doctor who’d given his name as Stanfield and swallowed against the building nausea.
“I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
“O...kay,” the patient groaned.
“Was there anything you and Mr. Larabee could have eaten to cause this?”
“N...no...didn’t eat together,” Josiah told him, frowning as he tried to think, but couldn’t clear his head of the cobwebs invading his mind. “W...water...” his voice trailed off as he closed his eyes and wondered how Chris Larabee was faring.
“I’d rather you didn’t have anything by mouth right now, Mr. Sanchez,” the doctor explained and watched as the patient seemed to be trying to tell him something.
“No...” Sanchez’s frustrated voice hissed. “...water...me and Chris...drank...same water!”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“I know what’s doing this!” Jackson said as he picked up the vase and grabbed one of the flowers.
“What are you talking about, Mr. Jackson?” Julia asked.
“They’ve been poisoned.”
“What?” Bridger asked as he continued to examine his patient.
“Lily of the Valley. It’s a toxin from this flower. Nausea, abdominal pain, headache, clammy skin, and irregular heartbeat.”
Bridger turned from his patient and frowned. “I know Lily of the Valley is poisonous when consumed, but...”
“It’s probably in the water...” Jackson said, not really hearing the doctor.
“But why would they...”
“Look, Doc, my bet is it somehow got into the water they were drinking,” The medic said and hurried to the bed.
“Chris, did you and Josiah drink the water in the pitcher.”
“Y...yeah...J’siah was th...thirsty...hospital d...dry,” Larabee answered.
“That gives us a place to start,” Bridger said. “Carolyn, get the water in the pitcher to the lab. Tell them we’re looking for a toxin possibly produced from a flower called Lily of the Valley!”
“Yes, Doctor,” Carolyn said as she grabbed the pitcher and frowned at finding it empty.
“Take this!” Jackson said as he passed her Larabee’s glass.
“Have those analyzed as quickly as possible!” Bridger ordered.
“G...God,” the blond cried out as the cramping and nausea intensified.
“Mr. Jackson, I’d like you to leave now!” the doctor snapped and turned back to his patient.
Nathan took one last look at Chris Larabee and knew there was nothing more he could do and that he’d just be in the way if he stayed. He also realized Vin Tanner needed him right now to make sure he got the rest he needed. He turned away from his friend and walked out of the room to find the two men standing on either side of the door. Two sentries, who needed to stand guard over a downed comrade. He knew they’d seen the nurse hurry from the room just before he did and was ready for the burst of questions from the two men.
“Nathan, what’s wrong with Chris?” Wilmington asked and Jackson held up his hand to stop them from asking more questions.
The medic took a deep breath and looked at his two friends.
“Buck, you remember what I told you when we were at the hotel?”
“About the message from...
“Yeah, well I remembered what he told me in that dream, both dreams,” Jackson explained.
“What?” Tanner asked.
“He said Chris and Josiah would get sick and to look at the vase. That something so beautiful can make us forget how deadly it can be.”
“Nathan!” the ladies man snapped frustrated at the medic’s seeming to beat around the bush.
“Lily of the Valley,” Jackson told them.
“What’s a flower got to do with what’s wrong with, Chris and Josiah?” Wilmington asked as an older man hurried towards them and pushed his way into the room.
“Who the hell is that?” Tanner asked.
Carolyn was returning and heard the question and tried to alleviate some of their concern, but she knew her next words would only add to the tension.
“That’s Dr. Albert Foster. He’s a cardiologist.”
“What?” Buck and Vin asked at once.
Jackson knew the effects of the toxin produced by the flower and he looked at his friends.
“One of the problems with Lily of the Valley is that it effects the heart...”
“Fuck!” the ladies man cursed and stomped across the floor, slamming his hands on the wall.
“That’s not gonna help anything, Buck,” Jackson warned.
“Nathan, how long before they know if it’s the flower?” the tracker asked.
“They’ll test for that right away and Dr. Bridger told them to make it a priority. I don’t think it’ll take much time.”
“We need to find out who is trying to poison Chris,” the sharpshooter said softly.
“Yeah, we do, but where do we start?” Jackson asked.
“I wish I knew,” Wilmington said as he watched a cleaner wiping up a spill near the elevator. He shook his head and turned back to his friends.
“We start with finding out if there’s anyone in the hospital who might’ve known Chris before and is holding some kind of grudge against him,” Tanner told them.
Buck frowned as something tugged at him, something about the last few days at the hospital.
“Buck, what is it?” Jackson asked.
“I’m not sure, Nathan, but...”
“What?” Tanner asked.
“The person doing this might be closer than we think,” Wilmington said.
“What makes you say that?” he medic asked.
“A feeling...”
“Well then we go on that!” Tanner said and found the other two staring at him. “Look, so far we’ve been given little signs of what’s going on. Sometimes we see someone or just hear something, but other time it’s a feeling, an instinct, and we haven’t been steered wrong yet. Buck...”
“I know, Vin. I’ll keep trying to remember what’s bugging me about this.”
“Good, because I don’t think this person is going to stop until Chris is dead,” the tracker hissed.
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