No. 19 - JUST A SCRATCH

bitten | bleeding | stabbing

@whumptober2021

@whumptober-archive

This is a follow-up to one of last year’s prompts!

Fao was taken through to resus, prealerted on the way. He was gently told off, told he should have called an ambulance instead of driving home, to which Sheila would have laughed. As if Fao would listen to that.

They struggled with cannulating him, but thankfully his blood pressure wasn’t too bad for him and they seemed to have the bleeding almost under control.

“Honestly, I’m really not that bad. I’m fine.” He protested.

“Stabbed isn’t fine.” Sheila muttered worriedly.

“It’s only a little bit stabbed.”

“That doesn’t make a difference!”

“I’m fine. Honestl- ow.” He whined, his jaw tense. “That fucking hurts.”

“Sorry, Fao. We’ve got to do this.” The doctor by his side apologised. “We need to check this.”

“Can I at least have some pain relief?” He groaned.

“It’s on the way.”

He huffed. “Usually like to give my patients analgesia before I prod them.” He grumbled.

“You’ve said you can’t have morphine, we’re having to get some ketamine in.” He said sharply. “And we need to stop the bleeding before you decide to bleed out on us.”

“I can’t have morphine because my BP tanks and it makes me vomit everywhere. I’m not being fussy, I just can’t tolerate it.” He snapped.

“Yes, yes. We’re getting it.”

“Sorry I’m such an inconvenience.” He muttered

The nurse beside him sighed. “You’re alright. We’re just getting you sorted. I’ve got your pain meds here, just need your arm.”

Fao gladly offered it. “Thanks.” He breathed, tipping his head back with a pained groan as the Dr aggravated things again, pain lancing through his side.

“Try and stay still. It’ll make it easier.” He said. “You’ve had your pain relief now.”

“Tryin’.”

Sheila edged her way back to his side again, taking his hands. “You’re okay. Just keep breathing, I’m right here.”

“Breathin’ hurts.”

“I know, I know. But the meds will help soon.”

“Mmhmm.”

“And you can tell me all your secrets again.”

“Got none.”

“I think that’s a lie.”

He shook his head. “Isn’t.”

“Sure, sure.” She smiled at him. “You’ll be okay.”

He gripped Sheila’s hand tightly as they did something particularly painful, a whine escaping him without it meaning to.

“Shh, shh, shh. I’ve got you. You’re okay. It’s okay.” She turned to the doctor. “Can’t you at least warnhim?!”

“Sorry, but I’ve got a job to do.”

She returned to facing Fao, silently fuming. “Focus on me instead.”

He looked up at her, trying to focus on her and breathing through the pain. He just wanted it to be sorted - less fuss and more time to rest.

“I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

“‘M okay. Could go home.”

“You were stabbed, sweetheart. You’re not going home just yet.”

“Jus’ a few stitches and ‘m done.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“‘M hungry.” He grumbled.

She had to laugh. “That’s what you’re thinking about?”

“Better than anythin’ else.”

“It is. What are we getting then?”

“What did Fred cook?”

“It was a lasagne. Quite nice.”

Fao groaned. “I want lasagne.”

“You can have some when you’re home.”

“Fao, we’re going to get you to CT. You need a scan, and we’ll go from there.”

Sheila glanced at them. “Surgery?”

“It’s a possibility. We’ve got the bleeding under control at the moment, but he has lost a lot of blood. That’s obvious by his blood pressure too. We’re not sure where the bleeding is coming from, and we won’t be until we get the scan.”

“Fuck that.” He grumbled. “Stitch it and send me home.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t do that.”

“Fao, you’re staying.”

“Jus’ for CT then.” He said softly.

“We’ll take it.” Sheila smiled at him. “You’ll be okay.”

“Yeah. Hurts.”

They were quick to wheel him round to CT, and even quicker to do the scan. It felt like an eternity to Sheila, waiting with bated breath to find if her eldest needed another surgery.

Fao hated CT, it made him stressy and feel like he was out of control. He knew it would be over quick, and it was nothing compared to what Finn went through, but it still stressed him out. He struggled to breathe through it, and then was left waiting whilst they made a decision - he figured he’d be seeing one of the team soon. One of histeam.

“Fao. A surprise to see you here. It’s usually Finn, isn’t it?”

“Thought I’d change it up.” Fao said, voice strained.

“Yeah? Trying to one-up him?”

“I always say that, and that they have to outdo the other.” Sheila added.

“I’m not too bad though. It’s okay.”

“You say that,” the surgeon continued, “we’re going to admit you to HDU, keep you in a few days. We’re hopefully not going to need to do surgery, but you do have a laceration to your kidney.”

Fao groaned. “Really?”

“It could have been a lot worse.”

“How long on HDU?”

“Until you’re stable enough to go home.”

He rolled his eyes. “I should have seen that coming. What’s the plan before that, though? Are you going to send another poor reg down to suture?”

“Are you going to be an ass?” There was a hint of familiarity to his tone.

“Not all of the time.”

“Then I’ll suture.”

“Who are you under today? Coates?”

“Do you want him instead?”

“No, I was just curious.” Fao said, shifting a little in an attempt to get comfortable.

“How’s your pain doing? We can get some more, might do some sedation for the stitches, just where it is and what’s happened. What do you think?”

“The pain is shit, but I don’t need sedation. Just so long as you’re good with your local.”

“We’ll top up your painkillers, get that more regular. I’ll be back in a few minutes to do your stitches.”

“Thanks. Had a hard time getting them in the first place.”

“We’ll sort that.”

“No morphine, yeah?”

“We’re not trying to get rid of you.”

“Thanks.”

“We’ll look after you, you know that.”