by Carol Roi
She shook her head. They would be fine; their senses were just overloaded. Staying to help them wouldn't have been of benefit to anyone if she'd been found at the scene. Banks wouldn't have any reason not to arrest her for Eolia's death, and there would be no rescue in the nick of time by the FBI on this occasion. Better she left than have to explain her bloodstained appearance, and why she was holding a bloody sword standing over a decapitated corpse. A grim smile crossed her face. She hoped Megan was a good tap dancer, because she was going to have to come up with one hell of a story to explain what happened.
An hour later, Diandra returned to her apartment, not completely drained, but enough of the edge burned off that she didn't feel like she was bouncing off the walls. Grabbing the phone, she punched in Megan's cell number. At her companion's sharp "Connor," she said, "It's me. Where did they take Blair and Jim? I want to head over there."
"Cas-Gen. But I just spoke to Joel. He said they were insisting on going home, so as soon as they can check themselves out, that's where they'll be heading. Probably would get to the loft by the time you made it to the hospital."
"Okay, Pajara, I'll wait here for them." Hanging up the phone, she took a look at the remains of her living room. The coffee table was done for, so was the throw rug. And for the second time in two days there was a pool of drying blood that needed mopped up. Sighing, Dee grabbed the cleaning supplies from the kitchen and went to work.
Captain Joel Taggart had made the unfortunate mistake of stopping by the Major Crimes division after his evening workout in the PD's exercise room, and had compounded that mistake by answering a ringing phone. He hadn't heard the radio traffic earlier, having turned off his portable radio while he exercised, and the news from Simon that Ellison and Sandburg were both enroute to Cascade General Hospital had shocked him. Not even during the hopefully peaceful holidays could those two catch a break.
Joel parked his department-issue maroon Crown Victoria in the Emergency Room parking lot and hastened inside the bustling environment. Pausing at the registration desk long enough to flash his credentials and to inquire after the whereabouts of his fellow detective and Jim's civilian partner, he walked back toward the treatment rooms.
"Sir? Excuse me, you can't be back here."
He turned at the sound of that tired voice and found himself face to face with a very worn out looking, older blond nurse. Reading her name badge, Joel smiled his best I'm-harmless smile and held up his badge and ID. "I'm here to see about the officer that was brought in earlier, Kristine."
"Oh! That one. Ellison, right? And his friend, Blair something or other?"
"That's them."
"Follow me." Kristine turned sharply on her heel and led the way to exam room 8. "Your detective is in x-ray right now, but you can see the other one while you wait. Poor soul really had the crap beaten out of him." She pushed open the door, then excused herself as a patient started howling from inside one of the other exam rooms.
Entering the softly lit room, Joel found his eyes quickly lighting on the graduate student. Blair appeared to be resting, nearly buried under several blankets. His face clearly showed the effects of having been brutalized. Shaking his head, he sat down in the only chair available as he quietly observed, "I hope who ever did this to you got their ass seriously kicked, Blair."
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He had heard the soft footsteps enter his room, but opted to play 'possum' until he was sure it wasn't another nurse, x-ray tech or doctor that had entered. Hearing Joel's concern, Blair cracked open one eye and whispered, sadly, "She did, Joel."
"Sandburg! You're awake?"
The student tried to sit up. "Owch! Yeah, I heard you come in." The pains shooting through his abused ribs made him think twice and he settled for just lying there. "Where's Jim?"
"He's here, down in x-ray. Blair, what the hell happened to you?" Blair felt the older man appraising him. "Something really terrible happened, didn't it?"
He wasn't sure what, exactly, he should tell Joel about Lee Eolia's attack on him. Sighing, Blair closed his eyes, "You could say that, Joel."
Leaning over the bed, the detective reached out to brush a strand of hair from Blair's forehead. "Blair, you have to tell someone, make a report on your assault. Tell me what you can, for now, and I'll follow up with you in a couple of days. I'll try to keep it 'in the family', so to speak."
He knew that Joel was right, that he'd have to talk to someone about the incident and the idea that the man was willing to help him, to follow-up with him personally, keeping it inside Major Crimes… "I was at Diandra's place, Lee Eolia had been staying there for a while, and she came in, upset and not in the best of moods." It wasn't the truth, not entirely, but it would be one way to lay the ground work for the rest of the report. Once he knew what had really happened and what the others, namely Jim and Megan, put in their reports, he could tailor his version to match theirs. "She'd been contacted by the real thief from QuestScape, who wanted to meet her, alone. I tried to stop her, asked her to wait until Jim or Megan showed up. She went nuts on me..."
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James Ellison regained consciousness with a yell. Then he backhanded the person who had just shone a very bright light in his eye. "Get the hell away from me!"
The Doctor pushed off the wall that he'd just been thrown into, waving off the nurse who had burst into the room, and in a very sarcastic voice said, "Well, I see you finally decided to wake up, Detective." He dimmed the overhead lights to a soft twilight.
Blinking away the tears that had formed due to the assault on his sensitive eyes, Jim took a good look at the young, blond man with the quirky smile on his face. "Sorry, I tend to wake up meaner than a snake."
The physician nodded. "I should've known better, I read your file before I came in here. You're extremely photophobic, have a number of idiosyncratic reactions to common over the counter drugs and have been treated for severe concussions and migraines in the past." Jim watched as the doctor placed the light pen back in his pocket, then cautiously approached his patient. "By the way, I'm Dr. Matt Douglas and I have to admit, you've had me stumped for about an hour, Detective."
"You an intern?" The doctor looked too young to be a full fledged physician, "What do you mean, an hour? Where's my partner?" Jim tried to push up on his arms, only to be firmly pushed back on the bed.
The doctor chuckled. "I'm a neurologist, did my internship years ago." He put a restraining hand on Jim's chest, holding him immobile on the exam bed. "As for your partner, he's being treated for a number of cracked ribs and a bruised sternum by another doc. IF you behave and let me finish my exam, I'll make sure that you can see him before I place you in a room upstairs."
"No way, I'm not staying overnight, Doctor."
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Doctor Matt Douglas scrubbed his face. "I see Kristine was right about you." He was starting to wonder if moving his practice to Cascade was such a great idea after all. He'd never had this much trouble from the cops he treated in Los Angeles. But his dealings with those street-tough officers had taught him how to deal with stubborn patients that were permitted to carry weapons. Putting all the steel he'd learned over the years into his voice, he pinned the Detective with his eyes. "All right, Ellison. I'll make you a deal. Pass my exam, convince me you can take care of yourself if I discharge you, promise to follow up with me in two weeks, and I'll consider not admitting you for observation."
Staring into the flint-hard blue eyes of the patient, Matt could see the man striving not to lose his temper. The officer's jaw line was actually twitching as Ellison ground his teeth. "Fine, Doc. I'll pass your damn exam, I have a roommate or a neighbor that can help me -- if I need it, which I won't -- and I'll gladly follow up with you in two weeks. Now, can we get on with this?"
"Certainly." Matt
smiled, as he helped the patient sit on the edge of the exam bed, then tried to hold his tongue when the man's eyes widened at the sight of the rubberized mallet he pulled from a storage drawer.
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"Jim? You awake?" While the doctor left Jim alone for a few minutes, Joel must have taken the opportunity to slip into his room.
Sitting up on the bed, his head still spinning from the pain meds Dr. Douglas had administered, the Detective smiled crookedly and greeted his friend. "Yeah, I'm awake. Have you seen Sandburg, Joel?"
Reaching out a steadying hand, Joel helped Jim to sit up as the man slowly swung his legs off the table. "I've seen him. He seems to be doing okay for someone who got the shit beat out of him. The doctor's in with him now, and she kicked me out. How are you doing?"
"Then he's doing all right?" He waited to see the detective nod an affirmative before he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to cut off the pain in his head. "Good. As for me, I've been better."
"Jim, I have to ask this… What happened tonight?"
Having had the chance, while being examined by Dr. Douglas, to stretch his hearing and listen in on the conversation his guide had had with the concerned Captain, Jim was able to back up Sandburg's story. "I'm not really sure, Joel. I came home from the station, saw that Dr. Pallas' apartment door was open and went to investigate. You'd heard that we'd had a break in there yesterday?" He waited until the former bomb squad leader nodded to continue. "Well, I thought that maybe the burglar had come back, only when I entered the apartment, I found Blair unconscious and pretty well banged up. When he started to come around, a few minutes later, I found out Lee Eolia had gotten a call from someone claiming to have the hardware that was stolen from QuestScape, that she wanted to go meet this man on her own and Blair tried to stop her."
Joel nodded. "That's pretty much what Blair told me. He said she went a little nuts on him; when he tried to restrain her, to hold her back, she attacked him."
Jim sighed. "Yeah, that's what he told me too." Trying to keep his answers short, Jim answered the rest of Joel's questions to the best of his muddle-brained ability. The medication that Douglas had given him earlier was starting to cut through the headache, but it was also making it very hard to think. He was still concerned about what he thought he'd seen, and felt, when that second "Quickening Storm" had blown over him and Blair, but it was his Guide's physical reaction that worried him.
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"Excuse me, gentlemen." Doctor Douglas stepped into the room, interrupting the quiet interrogation that was going on. "Detective Taggart, I understand you have a job to do, but I wish you had asked me if I thought Ellison was up to talking, before you sneaked in here."
Joel looked at the tall young man. "Sorry, doctor, I didn't think you'd mind and if Jim here didn't want to talk, he would have tossed me out himself."
Matt tossed the film carrier onto the counter. "Oh, that wouldn't surprise me a bit." Stepping over to his patient's side he looked into the man's eyes, happy to see the pupils were finally starting to retract back to 'normal' for the level of light in the room. "Your CAT films came back normal, Ellison. And I can see that your eyes are starting to react normally again. Is the shot helping the headache?"
"Yes. Does that mean I can get out of here?"
"I suppose so, but you'll have to do so against my better judgment…"
"AMA. Got it. Just give me the paperwork and I'll sign it."
Sighing, Matt shook his head and gathered up the film carrier then handed his patient his business card. "I'll get Kristine or one of the other nurses to bring the discharge paperwork in. That card I just handed you has my office number on it, as well as my pager number. Remember, you have an appointment with me in two weeks and you're to page me if you have any problems with vision, hearing, vertigo or nausea for the next 24 hours."
"Thanks, Dr. Douglas. But I'll be fine." As if to prove his point, Jim hopped off the exam table and started to slip out of the patient gown he'd been dressed in, reaching for his shirt and sweater.
Matt Douglas knew when a patient worked that hard to prove he, or she, was all right, the only thing you could do was give in gracefully. He stepped out of the room, walked over to the Physician's desk and started writing up his notes. Handing off Ellison's chart to a passing male nurse, along with a prescription order, the young doctor washed his hands of the whole mess.
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The man that had entered the exam room with such authority was dressed in faded blue jeans, a light blue dress shirt, a slate blue tie barely tightened around the neck and white lab coat. Joel wondered if he was just getting older, or if the doctor really was as young as he looked. He listened carefully to every word that was exchanged between Ellison and the Doctor, knowing that the Doc was going to lose the argument before it even really began.
Joel smiled to himself as he watched the young doctor leave in disgust, barely making it to Jim's side before the man fell to the floor. "Jim? Are you sure you should be leaving the hospital?"
Jim straightened his legs, pushing off the table to regain his balance and finished dressing. "I'm fine, Joel. It's just the drugs Dr. Douglas gave me that are making it a little hard to navigate."
"Okay, if you say so." He wasn't convinced, but he also wasn't about to stand between this man and his partner, which is where he guessed Jim wanted to go. A male nurse, dressed in purple scrubs, walked in carrying a clipboard and a small bottle of pills.
"Jim Ellison, I thought I recognized the name on the board." The man was just over six feet tall, dark hair rapidly graying at the temples, his light brown eyes laughing behind gold framed glasses.
"Hey, George. That my paperwork?"
"Sure is, standard Ellison AMA stuff. And I took the liberty of getting your 'script filled at the hospital pharmacy." George handed over the clipboard and bottle of Fiorinal. "I understand that you broke Doctor Douglas in just right."
Jim scribbled his name on the paperwork, tore off the carbon copy underneath to stuff it in his pocket, where he'd shoved the bottle of five painkillers and returned the clipboard. "Don't tell me, his first night?"
"First night on call for the ER. He's been practicing here for about four months. Pretty sharp doctor, for a twenty-five year old prodigy." George smiled as he left the exam room, paperwork in hand.
"He's younger than Sandburg?"
Joel led his friend to Blair's room, where the kid was also signing AMA paperwork. Ten minutes later, he was helping them out to his car to drive them home. After contacting Megan Connor at the crime scene and asking her to make sure that Ellison's truck found its way home, which she promised to do, they were on their way.
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Doctors Douglas and Celeste Willhite watched as the two men they'd treated walked out of the emergency room, escorted by a rather solicitous Detective, then they walked back into the blessedly silent ER. "Celeste? Did your patient AMA on you as well?"
"Sure did. But I'm used to that with those two." The forty-something, tall, brunette answered as she handed her co-worker a cup of coffee. "By the way, welcome to Cascade and congratulations on handling Detective Ellison so well, Matt."
Sipping the overly strong brew, he nodded. "Thanks. I take it those two have a history with the hospital?"
Glancing at her watch, Celeste indicated the Doctor's Lounge and started to explain as she led the way into the private sanctuary. "Oh, Matt, you don't know the half of it…" The door shut, closing off the rest of the world and allowing the two doctors a respite.
Dee had just dumped the last bucket of dirty water down the drain, and was bagging the sponges and towels she'd used to clean the blood from the floor when she heard the elevator ding, indicating its arrival on the third
floor. Voices reached her ears, one of them Blair's, though it was soft and slightly slurred. Stripping off the rubber gloves she'd been wearing, she dropped them into the trash too, and headed for the door. Opening it, she found Joel Taggart juggling both Sentinel and Guide while trying to get the door to 307 open.
"Oh my god. What happened?" she said, feigning surprise for the captain's benefit while smoothly relieving him of Blair. She slid an arm around his waist gently, feeling him lean against her, his eyes half-closed.
"Ang'l?"
"Right here, baby."
"Hmm...h'rts...wh're's Jim?"
"He's right here too, sweetheart. Joel's just getting the door open, and then we'll see about putting you to bed."
"'kay." He started to slide down her body, and, afraid to squeeze him too tightly, she simply scooped him up with a grunt.
