"I've always said you're all ass, little brother," Jackson teased.
Lance flipped him off, then sighed as the I.V. tube got caught on the bed frame. "God, I hate this. I just want to be up with Angus."
"We'll get you there as soon as we can. You can't do anything but wait right now, and you can do that here just as easily as the surgical waiting area," Megan told him. "Dad will come back and let us know what's going on."
"I can't lose him." Lance closed his eyes again, but the tears escaped anyway.
"Here." Megan handed him a tissue.
Lance took the tissue, glad that no one was trying to tell him that everything was going to be okay. He didn't need the lies when they all knew that Angus's life was in danger, if not already over. God, seeing his ghost was something Lance would never forget. The instant feeling of loss. The knowledge that what theyshared was over, at least in the physical. Now he had no idea what to think. It could go either way. If his ghost was free from his physical form, where was he? Where was Betty?
The curtain moved again and Lance found an older man in scrubs walking into the room. He wiped at the tears and tried to focus.
"I'm Doctor Bigelow. I hear you've got a dislocated shoulder." The man glanced at a chart that had been in a tray by the door. He was probably pushing sixty with graying brown hair and eyes that showed his fatigue. "And like most of our other patients tonight, you've got some glass that needs to be removed." He shook his head. "Never seen anything like this."
"It was hell," Megan told him.
"You were all there?" Dr. Bigelow let his gaze travel over Megan, then Jackson. "You should probably get that cut on your arm looked at." He pointed with a pen at the cut on Jackson's arm.
"Just waiting until those with worse injuries are taken care of. This is nothing. It can wait until others are seen." Jackson rested his hand on Megan's shoulder. "And she's already been seen."
"Then it looks like you get my full attention." Dr. Bigelow came to stand beside Lance's bed. "If you two don't mind waiting in the hall for a few, I'll get some help and we'll get that shoulder back in place, then start cleaning up those lacerations and removing the glass."
"Lucky me." Lance sighed.
"Be right outside the door." Jackson tapped the foot of the bed as he walked out with Megan.
Lance took a deep breath and prepared for more pain. The sooner the better, because once he was done here, then he could be upstairs waiting for Angus.
CHAPTER FIVE
"Well, that's a side of you I never wished to see." Jeremy's voice filled the room and a moment later he came around the bed so he was facing Lance.
Lance rolled his eyes since he couldn't speak to Jeremy with a nurse in the room. If he started talking to ghosts, they'd send him for brain scans to make sure he wasn't suffering from some major head trauma. Funny, since it had been head trauma that originally gave Lance the ability to see ghosts. He was definitely not happy that Jeremy had floated into the room just as he was lying with his bare ass exposed and a nice nurse plucking glass fragments from the tender skin. This was not how he wanted his co-workers to see him.
Despite being a ghost, Lance considered Jeremy a co-worker. The young man had decided upon his death to stick around the morgue and learn all he could about doing autopsies. He had a brilliant mind, and Lance had no doubt if Jeremy was still alive, he'd make a great medical examiner someday.
"Was at the morgue and they started bringing bodies in from the explosion. I remembered you saying you were going to Desorio's for dinner tonight, so I hurried over there. When I didn't find you there, I decided to check here. Is everyone okay?" Jeremy asked.
Lance couldn't talk to Jeremy. Still, he needed to let him know what was going on. "Has there been word about my husband? He's up in surgery." He figured saying husband might get him more information than just saying boyfriend. It also let Jeremy know that Angus was in surgery.
"I can check once we're done here. Surgery is backed up due to the number of injuries tonight. He may not even be in there yet," the nurse told him.
"He was already in there. It was serious. My mother-in-law is one who is waiting for surgery. The others that were with us are all okay." He stared at Jeremy as he spoke.
"I'll see what information I can get once we're done. We've still got a lot of glass to get out of your legs before we finish. How's your pain?" she asked.
"I can't feel anything you're doing, but my shoulder hurts, and my lower legs."
"I haven't numbed that low yet. You've got a pretty good laceration on one calve. I'm guessing that is what you're feeling. I can give you something stronger for your shoulder once we're ready to move you to a room upstairs," she informed him.
"Not staying. Going to surgery waiting room when done here. Don't need to stay overnight." Lance glanced back at the nurse. "I'm a doctor. I'll be fine."
"I will let you discuss that with our doctor here. My orders are to admit you. Don't stress on that right now. We still have a good half hour or more of work here to finish. You have glass everywhere."
"Had the large windows behind me at dinner." Lance sighed.
"I'm going to go see what is going on with Angus. I'll be back." Jeremy floated out of the room.
