long to get your pain med." She offered Sam the pills in a little cup. "You need to get up and walk tonight. I'll be back in about a half an hour and we'll give it a try.
She breezed out of the room.
It was clear Sam was starting to fade on them. Kim could see the lines around
her eyes tightening indicating she was in pain.
"Hey Sweetie, why don't you take a little nap and we'll see you in the morning,"
Kim encouraged. Sam yawned in answer.
Both women kissed her goodbye. Sam was already drifting off to sleep by the
time they made it to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley arrived on the surgical floor the following afternoon. She's been in surgery
all morning and had just finished up with the last of her surgical and post-op
notes. Several of her patients were ready for discharge and she needed to do
the final notes on them as well. She sat finishing her charts at the work area
adjacent to the nurse's desk. Something made her turn and look down the hall.
Coming slowly down the hall using a walker was Sam McKenna, Jess and Kim
by her side. Riley marveled again at the striking resemblance the two sisters
shared. If she didn't know any better, she would swear they were twins. Sam's
head came up and she made eye contact with Riley; the two women stared at
each other oblivious to their surroundings. Jess and Kim both stopped when
Sam did looking around to see what had so suddenly attracted her attention.
Jess smiled over at Kim and inclined her head to where Riley sat working. Riley
was up and out of her chair heading for Sam without conscious thought. Sam
smiled widely as Riley approached. She tried to straighten up as close to her full
height as possible. The two women stood there smiling at each other neither
speaking. Jess shook her head in amusement conveniently forgetting how she'd
acted when she and Kim first met.
"Hi Riley." Jess greeted.
Riley mentally shook herself realizing she'd been staring at Sam. It wasn't hard
to do she was a beautiful woman.
"Hi," Riley greeted all three women. Damn, I forgot how tall Jess was and Sam sure isn't any shorter. Riley thought as she craned her to neck to make eye
contact with Sam.
Sam smiled to herself. She'd known the little doctor was short but hadn't realized
how short. It was the first time they'd stood together. Riley's head came to the
middle of her chest. Oh yeah, her mouth is at just the right height, Sam's baser
side spoke up. Sam quickly shook those thoughts away.
"So how goes the walking Sam? Don't over do, take it slow and easy. I don't
want to have to put you back together again." Riley smiled to take the implied
criticism out of her words.
"Ok I guess," Sam sighed in frustration. "I'm just disgusted at how weak I am."
"It's to be expected," Riley reassured. "I know it's hard. You're used to being active but trust me, take it slow and allow your body time to heal. If you rush it,
it'll just prolong your recovery."
As they talked they slowly headed back to Sam's room. It was obvious by the
time they reached her room that she'd had enough. Riley stood by as Kim
helped Sam back into the bed. She approached the side and reached out
stroking Sam's sweat dampened hair back from her face. She was unaware she
was even touching her it seemed so natural. "You're doing great," she
encouraged. "I'm on call tomorrow so I'll stop by and check in on you. The nurse
gave me your message that you were ready for your visitor restrictions to be
lifted so I made the appropriate changes to your chart. No parties now." She
warned before heading out.
"What did she mean visitor restrictions?" Jess asked as soon as Riley left.
"I told them I didn't want any visitors. So she set it up that the only one's allowed
to visit were family."
Jess nodded. She and Kim had wondered why none of Sam's fellow officers had
been by to visit. She wasn't surprised by the request. Her sister didn't want
anyone to see her when she felt vulnerable. Jess couldn't blame her she
would've felt the same way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley's Saturday had started out bad and gone downhill from there. She's been
called in at 4am for a MVA involving four vehicles and a total of twelve patients,
six of which required emergency surgery. Even with the backup surgical team, it
had been a marathon. It was now 4pm and she'd been in surgery for the last
twelve hours. She was on call until tomorrow at 7am so decided to head for the
on-call room to grab a couple of hours sleep.
Things remained quiet. It was 8pm when she awoke. Deciding to check on her
patients, she headed for the sixth floor. She had checked several patients and
decided to pop in and see Sam for a few minutes. She heard the laughter
coming from her room from several doors down. She frowned looking up the
clock on the wall. Visiting hours had ended thirty minutes ago. She entered
Sam's room to find several police officers clustered around her bed. They were
laughing and talking to Sam and each other. Riley noticed one of the officers, the
only woman sitting on Sam's bed close to her side. She felt an irrational surge of
annoyance at the woman. Sam looked tired, the lines around her eyes tight,
which Riley knew signified she was in pain. None of her fellow officers seemed
to notice.
Riley strode up the end of Sam's bed and loudly cleared her throat.
Conversation ground to an immediate halt. Sam smiled when she saw Riley.
"Hey..." Sam stuttered slightly realizing calling Riley by her first name might not be such a good idea. "Dr. Connolly." She introduced Riley to the officers
standing by her bed. Explaining she was her doctor. The woman sitting by Sam
turned around when Sam introduced her. She nodded in greeting. Riley decided
right then and there she didn't like the green-eyed blond not one bit. She just
rubbed her the wrong way. She refused to consider just why she'd taken such an
instant disliking to a woman she'd never even spoken to.
"Okay folks," Riley said using her best doctor voice. "Party's over, Officer McKenna needs her rest. Visiting hours were over thirty minutes ago." Riley
remained at the foot of Sam's bed as the officers filed out.
One of the men leaned down to Sam. "Man, you get all the luck... the doc is hot!"
He told her quietly but not quietly enough. Riley heard every word. She tried not
to blush when Sam responded, "You got that right."
Riley noted with displeasure the blond was the last to leave. She leaned over
and squeezed Sam's shoulder in farewell saying something to her Riley couldn't
hear. Sam smiled in response.
Once everyone had exited, Riley approached the head of the bed. "Are you
alright?" She asked concerned at the tired slump of Sam's shoulders. She
placed her hands on Sam's shoulders massaging lightly.
"I'm okay," Sam sighed relaxing into Riley's gentle touch. She was hurting and
exhausted but had maintained a cheerful front to her fellow officers. "It just
hurts," she finally admitted.
"When was your last pain med?"
"Umm I forget, lunchtime maybe."
"Damn it Sam! You need to take the pain meds I prescribe. They won't help you
if you don't take them." She chastised her sternly.
"I know," Sam muttered looking down at the blanket.
"I'm going to get your meds now, I want you to take them and get some sleep."
Riley returned quickly with a syringe instead of pills. Sam raised her eyebrow in
question looking at the syringe suspiciously.
'It's Demerol, I can tell from looking at you that you over did. I want you to rest."
Riley stepped to the other side of the bed and motioned for Sam to roll onto her
side. She pulled back the blanket and Sam's gown just enough to expose her
hip. Sam flinched when Riley injected the Demerol. She rolled onto her back
when she finished. Riley put the syringe in her pocket and resumed her
massage of Sam's shoulders
Sam was soon drifting off to sleep under Riley's gentle massage and the effects
of the Demerol. "That feels so good." She murmured sleepily.
Riley stayed until she was sure Sam was sound asleep. She straightened her
blankets and gently brushed the hair from her face before quietly leaving the
room. She sighed to herself; she just couldn't seem to help the feelings the
beautiful cop stirred in her. No matter how many times she told herself the
woman was her patient and promised herself she would remain professional
with her, her resolve faded with one look into those amazing blue eyes. Only two
weeks, you just have to make it two weeks. Then she'll go back to her life and
you can go back to yours, she told herself as she made her way back to the on-
call room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam was sitting in her hospital bed feeling sorry for herself. Kim and Jess had left to return to LA and work. They had both taken an emergency leave of absence and their time was up. They
assured her they would return when she was discharged. She had tried to convince them she
didn't need any help. Jess had informed her that their younger brother Fra
k was coming as wel with his wife Cheryl. Frank and Cheryl would be staying with her until she got back up on her feet. Cheryl was a nurse and so would be able to keep an eye on her incision and make sure she didn't overexert herself.
Sam hadn't seen Riley all day. She smiled despite her glum mood when she
remembered the gentle massage Riley had given her as she drifted off to sleep
last night. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her room swung
open. Sam frowned as a woman sauntered in and stood at the foot of her bed
reading a chart. The woman was dressed in scrubs with a lab coat over them.
Her brunette hair was tucked up under a surgical cap. She appeared to be in her
late 40's. The woman just stood there totally ignoring Sam. She finally looked up
her brown eyes making brief contact with Sam's before looking back to the chart
in her hand.
"I'm Dr. Thompson." The woman stated as she stepped to Sam's bedside and
attempted to pull the blanket back. Sam grabbed the woman's wrist stopping
her. The doctor looked at Sam in shock then jerked her arm away. "I need to
look at your incision." She stated reaching for the blanket again.
Again, Sam stopped her; she could see the woman was getting angry. She didn't
care. "Where's Dr. Connolly?"
"I'm covering your case today." The woman arrogantly informed Sam, ignoring
her question.
Sam still hadn't moved her hand from the edge of the blanket. She met the
woman's angry eyes. "I prefer to be seen by Dr. Connolly. When will she be in?"
The doctor let out a frustrated sigh. Riley hadn't told her what a difficult patient
this was. Her voice became patronizing as if she was explaining to a stubborn
child. "Today is Dr. Connolly's day off. She asked me to look in on you and check
your surgical incision. OK?"
Sam released her hold on the blanket without further comment. Dr. Thompson
pulled back Sam's blanket and flipped her gown up over her abdomen exposing
her from the waist down. She put on rubber gloves as Sam pushed the gown
back down trying to preserve at least some of her modesty. The woman quickly
pulled the tape and bandage off seeming not to hear Sam's gasp of discomfort
at having the tape removed so abruptly. She poked at the incision in several
places before roughly rotating Sam's leg and pushing it up to examine the
sutures on her inner thigh. Sam hands clenched into fists and she bit her lip to
keep from crying out in pain at the rough handling of her leg. The woman
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