Quid Pro Quo

by Sherryl Hancock

“Get her stats, and get me current readings,” Finley said to the nurses, then reached out to take both of Cassie’s hands in hers. “Cassie, when you say days, how many?”

  “Like three—it started on Sunday,” Cassie said, seeming to calm with Finley’s hands in hers.

  “Okay, and when you say sick, what kind of stuff?”

  “She said she had a headache and body aches… She said she had a fever and…” Cassie said, chewing her lip as she struggled to remember.

  “Any specific pains?” Finley took in Kai’s color, which was almost gray—she didn’t quite seem the vibrant woman she’d seen before.

  “She said her side hurt,” Cassie said. “She thought she’d just overdone it at the gym, and then that stupid Kathy hurt her too…”

  “Kathy?” Finley said. “Hurt her how?”

  Cassie shook her head. “It seemed like the same spot, her side.”

  “Which side?”

  “The right,” Cassie said, touching her own side at a spot near the belly button, low and to the right.

  Finley grimaced. “Okay, and what happened tonight to bring you in?”

  “She doubled over and screamed in a way I really never want to hear again, then she passed out. I called the ambulance.”

  “Okay.” Seeing that Kai was coming to, Finley moved over to her, taking her hand and squeezing it. “Kai?” she said, loudly enough for Kai to hear over the noise of the ER. “Kai?” Finley queried again, a little louder this time, putting her hand down next to Kai’s head and leaning down to be heard as she looked for any response.

  As soon as she got close to Kai’s head, she could feel the heat emanating from her—she clearly had a fever. “Kai? Come on, squeeze my hand if you can hear me!”

  She felt the faintest squeeze and nodded. “Okay, I want a work-up on her now—blood, urine, the works—and I need a CT down here right now!”

  “Kai?” Finley called. “Come on, you heard me, open your eyes for me, okay?”

  Kai’s head started moving back and forth, and Finley could feel her tensing and starting to breathe heavily. Finally she opened her eyes, and Finley could read agony in them.

  “Okay, that’s good. Can you tell me what hurts?” she asked, wanting to confirm what Cassie had told her.

  Kai’s right hand lifted from the table, shaking heavily as she touched her side, exactly where Cassie had. She dropped her hand again, and Finley noticed her take a handful of bedsheets, grasping them tightly as her entire body shook with the effort to contain her pain.

  “Kai, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain you’ve ever been in, what’s your pain like right now?”

  Kai was breathing heavily, blowing her breath out through her nose, as if she were doing Lamaze breathing. “Ten,” she gritted out.

  “Okay, have you thrown up at all while you’ve been sick?”

  Kai nodded, her lips tense with the effort to keep from yelling in pain.

  “Kai, I suspect you have appendicitis, and if I’m right we’re going to need to do surgery right away. Are you going to be okay with that?” Finley was worried Kai would pass out again from the pain and suspected Cassie wasn’t old enough to give consent.

  Kai was still breathing heavily, and it was obvious she was putting all of her focus on trying to handle the pain.

  “Kai! You with me, handsome?” Finley said, trying a little bit of a flirt to get Kai out of her head for a minute—it worked like a charm.

  Kai’s eyes opened again, widening slightly at the question, but she nodded as she blew her breath out slowly.

  “So you’re okay with surgery?” Finley said. “If needed, of course.”

  “Yes,” Kai bit out, her eyes going to Cassie. “She’s sixteen… She needs…”

  “Okay, I got it,” Finley said. “Can we call your parents.”

  Kai and Cassie both exclaimed “No!” at the same time, and Finley couldn’t help but grin.

  “They’re… in… DC…” Kai said slowly.

  “Any family local?” Finley asked.

  Kai shook her head, gasping again as pain shot through her. Finley grabbed her hand immediately.

  “Stay with me, Kai, just hold on. Can I call Remi?” she asked, receiving a shocked look from Kai.

  After a long moment, Kai nodded. “Her number is—”

  “I have it, don’t worry. Where’s my CT!” Finley yelled, growing more and more worried about Kai’s pain; she was beginning to wonder if the appendix had burst. If it had, the clock was ticking.

  She leaned down next to Kai’s ear. “I will take care of her, Kai, and I’m going to take care of you. Just hold on a little bit longer, okay?” She looked over at a nurse. “Please take Cassie to the waiting room. Cassie, I’ll be out there to talk to you in a minute, okay? Promise.”

  Cassie nodded. “KaiMarou?” she said, her eyes worriedly scanning her sister’s face.

  “I’ll… be… okay… Cass,” Kai said, forcing her voice to sound as normal as possible.

  Cassie left then, and Kai pressed her eyes shut, squeezing Finley’s hand.

  Once the CT scan arrived it was quickly determined that Kai’s appendix had indeed burst, and all kinds of dangerous bacteria were currently coursing through her blood.

  “Let’s go, now!” Finley yelled, pointing toward the door. She walked along with the gurney as the nurses moved it. “Kai, I’m going to go talk to Cassie. You’re going for pre-operational prep—I’ll be up there in just a few minutes. I’ll be the one in the mask, in case you were worried,” she said with a wink, and saw the faintest grin twitch at Kai’s lips. “Get her up there now, and start a heavy-duty round of Cefotan in an IV right away.”

  After talking to a terrified Cassie and calling Remington to get her to come down to the hospital to sit with her, Finley made her way up to scrub in for surgery. She walked into the operation room and went straight over to the table, looking down at Kai.

  “Hi, remember me?” she said, her smile reaching her eyes—the only part of her Kai could see at that point.

  Kai nodded, feeling a little more comfortable since they’d started some low-level anesthesia that was taking some of the pain away.

  “Okay, we’re gonna take care of this now,” Finley said. “I’ll do my best to leave as small a scar as possible,” she added with another wink.

  “That’s what they all say,” Kai muttered softly.

  “Aww, there she is,” Finley said, laughing softly. “We’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

  Kai nodded.

  “Okay, honey,” said the anesthesiologist, smiling down at Kai. “Slow, deep breaths now…”

  Minutes later, Kai was unconscious.

  Five hours later an exhausted Finley emerged from the operating room. She was drinking from a bottle of water and did not look happy in the slightest. Taking a deep breath, she headed down to the waiting room to talk to Cassie, who was now flanked by Remington and Wynter.

  Finley squatted down in front of the girl, her surgical cap still in her hands. It was obvious she’d been crying. Her eyes skipped over to Remington and Wynter.

  “Okay, she’s out of surgery,” Finley said. “Her appendix had burst like we’d thought, and there was a lot of cleanup to do—that’s why it took so long.”

  “Is she going to be okay?” Cassie asked, her lips trembling.

  “I’m going to do everything I can to take care of her, Cassie. I promise you that. She spiked a fairly high fever during the surgery, so I’m probably going to keep her for a few days to make sure that resolves properly.” She looked at Remington. “Is Cassie okay to stay with you?”

  “Nan kou,” Remington said, then winced. “Of course.”

  “Can I see her?” Cassie asked.

  “I’m afraid not tonight,” Finley said, glancing at Remington pointedly. “Let’s see how tomorrow goes and maybe you can see her then. She’s just sleeping at this point anyway, okay?”

  Cassie nodded, looking worried.

  Finley s
tuffed her cap in the back pocket of her scrubs, then reached out to take Cassiana’s hands. “I promise you that I will personally see that she’s taken care of to the very best of our abilities. I will take care of her myself as much as possible, okay?”

  Wynter hugged Cassiana around the shoulders. “Finley is really good. She took great care of Memphis when she was badly hurt a few months back. If anyone can make Kai better, it’s Finley, okay?”

  Cassiana nodded. She looked overwhelmed, but better now that she’d had more assurances and knew that a doctor was going to take care of Kai, not just nurses—that helped too.

  Wynter and Remington got up to take Cassiana home, and Remington pulled Finley aside.

  “How is she really, Fin?” she asked, her tone no-nonsense.

  “Technically I can’t tell you anything, Remi. But I can tell you she’s in bad shape. I’ve never seen it this bad before—it was a huge mess in there, which is why I had her on the table a lot longer than I would have preferred. She spiked a hundred and five during surgery.”

  Remington blew her breath out, nodding.

  “Would she want us to call her family?” Finley asked gently.

  “No,” Remington said, shaking her head. “Definitely not yet, not until we know something definitive. She’s a fighter, Doc. Don’t count her out just yet.”

  “I hope she is, ’cause she’s going to need to fight here.”

  Remington nodded. “Whatever you need, no matter what, not matter how much, you call me and I’ll pay it, okay? She’s got a lot to live for,” she said, smiling over at Cassiana. “And that girl needs her desperately.”

  “I’ll do everything I can, Remi, you know that.”

  “I do,” Remington said. “Mèsi, Doktè,” she added—Thanks, Doc.

  Finley smiled and hugged Remington, her mind already back on her patient.

  As Finley passed the nurses’ station a few minutes later, heading for the recovery area, a familiar voice called out to her.

  “You gonna go get some dinner after that marathon, Miss Fin?” Jackie said from her place at the counter.

  Finley grinned. “Yeah, right after I check on her.”

  “She’s resting. Something you need to do right now. You’ve been on for eighteen hours.”

  “I know,” Finley said, feeling exhaustion catch up with her suddenly. “I’m just going to do a check, okay?”

  Jackie shook her head as she watched Finley go through the doors toward the recovery rooms. Inside, Finley walked over to Kai’s bed. She took her hand, checking her pulse and looking at her watch. Her eyes blurred for a second and she had to restart her counting three times.

  “I don’t know about you, handsome,” she said, glancing down at Kai, “but our first date really wore me out,” she added with a grin.

  She sat in the comfortable chair next to Kai’s bed, watching the monitors. Kai’s temperature had come down to 103, but it was still of concern. A minute later she was asleep in the chair.

  Jackie walked into the room twenty minutes later and saw Finley huddled in the chair. Shaking her head, she reached over to pull a blanket from the cupboard and put it over Finley. She checked Kai’s monitors, and as she looked down at the woman she couldn’t help but feel a stab of jealousy at even the small amount of fine physique that was on display. There’d been a lot of talk from the nursing staff about Kai Temple and how incredibly fit she was. The rumors had not been wrong—this woman was definitely a sight to behold.

  Kai felt like she was swimming through quicksand as she came to. The distinct sensation of needing to throw up was prevalent, so much so she was afraid to actually move her head in case it would make it worse. A low moan escaped her lips as she became aware of the pain and heat.

  It was Kai’s moan that woke Finley. She got out of the chair quickly, moving to the side of the bed.

  “Kai?” she said, taking her hand and checking her pulse as she watched for more movement.

  “Mmm?”

  “It’s Doctor Taylor. Do you remember me?”

  Kai nodded, her expression pained.

  “Okay, you’re hurting. What level are we talking, one to ten?”

  “Eight, maybe nine.”

  Finley winced. “Okay, hold on.” She reached for the nurses’ call station button. “Jackie, can I get some help in 10B, please?”

  “Right away, Doc Fin,” Jackie replied promptly.

  Finley could see that Kai was starting to breathe deeply again, to handle the pain. She shook her head; the woman didn’t whine and cry, that was for sure.

  “Kai, still with me?” she said, taking Kai’s hand and squeezing it. She could still feel the heat of the fever. Damnit.

  “Hey, talk to me. What’s happening? Is it pain, is it nausea—both?”

  Kai nodded, swallowing convulsively. “Both,” she said softly.

  “Okay, okay. We can take care of both, Kai. Just hold on to me for a second. I have some help coming.”

  Jackie walked in. “What do you need?” she asked immediately, seeing Finley’s worried look.

  “I need ten ccs of morphine. And a Zofran, fast,” she added as she felt Kai’s hand squeeze hers in rapid succession.

  A minute later Jackie was handing her the pill.

  “Kai, you need to put this under your tongue… Good, just let it melt, don’t chew it. It’ll ease the nausea. And I’m putting some morphine in right now, which will help with the pain, okay? Still with me?”

  “How do you know Remi?” Kai asked, surprising her.

  Finley grinned. “I helped a friend of hers out a while back—Memphis?”

  “Cassie?” Kai queried.

  “She’s staying with Remi and Wynter tonight—you don’t need to worry about her. You worry about you for a little bit, okay?” Finley looked over at the monitors and could see that Kai’s heart rate had slowed in response to the lack of pain. Good. “Feeling better now?”

  Kai blew her breath out slowly, closing her eyes for a long moment, as if she were checking, then nodded.

  “Yes, thank you,” she said, her voice still low.

  “I need to do a couple of things right now while I’ve got your attention, okay?” Finley said, looking over at Jackie. “Jacks, can you get me a consent form?”

  “Sure thing,” Jackie said, and bustled off.

  “Kai, I need to know if it’s okay for me to one, call your family if anything happens and I need consent for things, and/or two,” she added hurriedly when she saw the immediate negative reaction at the idea of her contacting Kai’s family, “can I talk to Remi, or is there anyone else you trust more?”

  “No, Remi is good.”

  “Great, I just need you to sign to that effect, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, the other thing is this,” Finley said seriously. “We had a lot of cleanup to do in there, and you spiked a really nasty fever during the surgery. I had you on my table a lot longer than I like to have anyone, so that’s a factor too.”

  “I thought surgery was supposed to make me feel better,” Kai said, leaning back into her pillow.

  “Well, yeah, but I think you’ve already got a secondary infection, and that’s what I’m going to need you to fight.”

  “It’s serious?” Kai asked softly, her eyes already starting to close.

  “It can be. So you’re going to need to rest and just do your best to get in touch with that inner warrior of yours. Tell her to kick some ass, okay?”

  “I don’t want Cass to know about… serious,” Kai said, her voice fading.

  “I won’t tell her anything I don’t have to. I’ll filter through Remi.”

  Kai nodded slowly, her eyes closed now. She was asleep a moment later.

  It was two days before Kai’s fever came down to a level that Finley was more comfortable with, but it hung at a hundred degrees. Kai noted that it was Finley more often than not who did her monitor checks. On day three she commented on it.

  “Are you that short-staffed
?” Kai asked as Finley checked the blood pressure needle on the cuff she had around Kai’s arm.

  “Hmm?” Finley asked, her mind focused on her task and worrying about the lingering fever.

  “I thought nurses did this kind of stuff.”

  Finley grinned. “They usually do.”

  “So…”

  “So, I promised your sister and Remi I’d take care of you personally, so here I am.”

  Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly, her look assessing. “You do that with a lot of patients?”

  “No,” Finley answered honestly. “But we kind of run in the same circle, albeit a large one, so that makes you a bit special. So how do you know Remi?” Finley had been curious for a couple of months now, since seeing her at The Club.

  “Well, I trained her for her last fight in New York, among other things,” Kai said, grinning.

  “Oh, wow, that was you? She was awesome in that fight.”

  “Well, that part was all her. I just made sure she was ready,” Kai said humbly.

  Finley smiled. “Well, it looks like you did a good job. Right, you’re doing a lot better, but you need to rest a lot, okay?” she said with a pointed look. “You don’t look like the kind of woman that rests much.”

  A lopsided grin tugged at Kai’s lips. “I tend not to, that’s true, but in this case I will.”

  “Good. Don’t want you messing up my good work.”

  “Can’t have that,” Kai said smoothly, her dark eyes sparkling mischievously.

  Finley’s expression flickered, even as she turned her head to the side. “Why do I sense that you can be quite evil when you want to be?”

  “Good instincts?” Kai widened her eyes slightly as she grinned.

  “Uh-huh. Rest, you,” Finley said, poking her finger into a very muscled shoulder.

  “Ma’am, yes ma’am,” Kai murmured mildly, even as she laid back and closed her eyes obediently.

  Finley watched her for an extra few moments.

  The woman was wickedly sexy in ways Finley had never thought she found attractive. She clamped down on those thoughts; right now Kai Temple was her patient and therefore completely off limits.

  The following day, Cassiana was finally granted a visit with her sister. Remington, Wynter, and Finley had discussed it previously, but Finley had really wanted to wait until she felt that Kai was out of the woods. Remington, who’d seen Kai a couple of times while she’d been unconscious and so pale it was scary, had wholeheartedly agreed.