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“I will,” he said, taking a sip. He leaned back against the pillow. Glancing out the window he saw that it looked like a blizzard and thanked his lucky stars he wasn’t out in it.
––––––––
BRIT WIPED HER TEARSaway as Doc strode into the room with a blank look on his face.
She wondered if he would tell her about Luke or if he would leave it up to Kim to do that.
“How are you doing Brit?” he asked as he looked at her clipboard. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
Brit swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. “Not as much now...”
Doc looked at her over his glasses and said, “On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, what would you rate yours at?”
She almost laughed at that. The worst pain she ever felt was when she had passed a kidney stone. She was told it was worse than childbirth. Something she vowed never to experience. She licked her lips and said, “It was at five, I guess. But now, more like two.”
“Good, good.” He came around the bed, took the thermometer and put a disposable probe cover on the end, he then stuck it in her ear. When it beeped, he said, “Even better, your temp is now at a solid 96.9°.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, we can now uncover you and get you dressed. If your temp doesn’t go down, in an hour you can go home.” Doc turned away to toss the probe cover into the garbage.
“But my clothes got soaked when I jumped in to save...” The tears started up again as she whispered, “...Luke.”
Washing his hands he said over his shoulder, “Dean stopped by and brought you some dry clothes.” Taking a fist full of paper towels, he turned drying his hands and stopped when he saw her face. “Are you okay?”
Brit nodded vigorously, not trusting herself to speak without blubbering like a fool.
The look Doc sent her said he thought otherwise. “Are you sure there isn’t something you need to tell me?”
She shook her head.
Doc nodded. “Okay then. Do you mind telling me why you’re crying?”
As Abbi’s sobs echoed in her mind, she just couldn’t bring herself to say it.
A knock on the door had both glancing at it. There stood Abbi and Ben with smiles on their faces.
“Is it okay if we come in?” Abbi asked.
Doc glanced at Brit. When she nodded, he said, “Sure, I have to do some quick paperwork.” He took the clipboard then looked at Brit. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He looked at Abbi and Ben and said, “Make it quick, she needs to get dressed soon.”
“Oh, we will be,” Ben said, stepping aside to let Doc pass by.
Abbi came into the room and stood beside the bed. She patted Brit on the leg. “I just wanted to thank you for jumping in to help Luke.”
Brit looked at her and wondered if she might be in shock. Abbi was standing there with a stupid grin on her face. She should be running up and down the hall screaming her head off instead of being this... this happy go lucky person. Maybe Doc gave her a shot of something to calm her down.
She realized then that she should say something when there was a long awkward moment of pure silence. Brit licked her lips and said, “Um... you’re welcome...”
“Kim told us how she told you not to... but Doc said that if you hadn’t, he wouldn’t have made it.”
Brit hugged her legs to her chest and buried her face in knees. “I’m so sorry Abbi, I should have jumped in sooner. I just didn’t—”
“What? Wait, what?”
Brit looked up with her face streaked with tears. “I’m sorry... he didn’t make it,” she choked out.
Ben came around Abbi and said, “Whoa, whoa wait a minute. Luke’s alive, he’s doing just fine.”
