Dr. Adam Casey stood waiting in the bay when the ambulance pulled up at University Hospital. He began to examine Joshua the moment the gurney’s wheels touched the ground. “I need a major suture kit in Exam one,” he snapped, trotting next to Joshua’s gurney. “And I want a CT scan stat!”
“Adam!” Colin cried, trying to grab the doctor’s sleeve as the attendants hurried Joshua through the hospital’s doors and toward the examination room.
“Not now, Colin!” Casey replied, then spun to face him as he tried push past him.
“No!” Casey told him. “Stay out here.”
“Adam, I need to be with him!”
“Not right now you don’t. Stay out here ‘til I examine him.”
“Goddammit, Adam!”
“Colin,” a low voice murmured, and Colin felt David’s two hands land on his shoulders from behind. “Stay with us, buddy.”
Colin hissed out a breath and jerked away. “Let me go, David! I’m going with Josh!”
“No,” Casey said, “you’re not! And the longer I stand here debating it with you, the longer your husband isn’t getting the treatment he needs.” He shot David a glance. “Keep him out here!” He spun away and entered the exam room, shoving the door shut behind him.
Colin took one hesitant step forward, but David moved in front of him and grabbed both his arms. “Jesus Christ, Irish, pull yourself together! Josh needs Adam right now a lot more than he needsyou!”
Colin’s breath caught, his face a mask of agony. His clothing, hands and face were smeared with his husband’s blood. “Josh,” he whispered, and as he swayed on his feet David and Nate led him to a chair.
“Davy, we have to clean him up,” Nate stammered, his voice choked with tears. “We can’t let Josh see him like this.”
David looked around and spotted a nurse. “Go ask that nurse if she can get us a set of scrubs big enough to fit him.”
Nate dashed to where the nurse stood and spoke to her, pointing back to where David was easing Colin back onto his feet. She nodded and beckoned for Nate to follow her while David led Colin into the men’s room.
“C’mon buddy,” David encouraged, standing next to Colin at the sink. “Wash this blood off your face and hands.”
Colin stared at his blood-smeared face in the mirror, his eyes welling with fresh tears. “Jesus,” he whispered. He lifted his hands and peered down at them, then at his clothes. He turned and stared into David’s eyes, his face white, his eyes wide with shock and fear. He hitched in a trembling breath. “I’ve got his blood all over me!”
David grabbed his hands and drew them under the faucet flowing with warm water. “He has a head injury, Colin! Think! You know how badly head wounds bleed. Josh is gonna be OK. Now wash this blood off your hands and face. He can’t see you like this. You’ll scare the hell out of him.”
He applied soap to Colin’s hands and arms, then slid them back under the water, watching as it flowed to the drain in a rivulet of red.
Nate burst into the room holding a set of green hospital scrubs and three face masks. “These should fit him,” he told David, then moved to Colin’s other side. “C’mon, big guy,” he begged. “Stay with us. We need you to be strong.” He wet a towel and tried to wipe the blood from Colin’s face, but Colin took the towel from his hands.
He lifted his head and stared into the mirror, forcing himself to slow his breathing, staring at his blood-stained face. Then he bent and sluiced his face and head with the flowing water, scrubbing his fingers over his face and through his hair, watching as the red-stained water swirled down the drain.
He stared into the mirror for another long moment, then looked down at his clothes. “Did you say you had something for me to...”
“Right here,” Nate said, holding out the scrubs and a face mask.
Colin nodded then yanked off his clothes and hurled each garment to the floor. He took the hospital attire from Nate’s hands and quickly donned both the scrubs and the face mask, then wheeled and stalked out the door with his two friends scrambling behind him.
David stopped and turned. “Nate, go back in there and get those bloody clothes. Put them in a trash bag or something.” Nate stared back at him, his face white. “Can you do it?” David asked. “Baby, if you can’t I’ll take care of it.”
Nate swallowed hard, then pushed David in the direction Colin was walking. “Stay with him. You have a better chance of slowing him down than I do.” He wheeled away and bolted back into the men’s room.
Colin was standing at the exam room door. There was no window and he slammed his fist against the metal door in anguish.
“Colin,” David said, his voice as low and calm as he could manage. “Let Adam take care of him. There’s nothing you can do in there except be in the way.”
Through the door they heard Joshua call Colin’s name. With a sharp cry, Colin jerked away from David and pushed the door open, coming face to face with Adam Casey. The doctor was pulling Joshua’s gurney toward the door followed by several hospital staff.
“Out of the way!” Adam blurted, shoving Colin from the doorway as the gurney moved past him on its way toward the elevators. “Take him up.”
