I smiled and smoothed Nico's hair off his forehead. "He's incredible," I said.
Nathan and I both looked up as Dr. Patel came into the room.
"OK, Allie, I've just looked at the images, and it is only a soft-tissue injury as I suspected. No muscles, organs or major blood vessels were hit. We will need to cauterize and suture the wound and be mindful of infection since it was a penetrating injury.He is going to be sore for a while, and he'll need to take it easy, but he'll be just fine.
"Would you prefer to wait outside while we get him stitched up?"
"No, I'd rather wait here, if that's OK," I told her. She nodded and gestured to the chair in the corner.
"That's fine, you can sit there. Mr. Peretti appears to be out, thanks to the pain medication. That's probably for the best.I will numb the area anyway, to be sure he is as comfortable as possible.
I was impressed with their efficiency as Dr. Patel stitched the wound closed with Nathan's assistance. She talked me through each step, explaining that she was cauterizing the small blood vessels in the part of the wound where the tip of the knife went in the deepest. She then placed nine stitches to close up the surface of the skin where the blade penetrated. Sheapplied a layer of antibiotic ointment over the sutures before she bandaged him and gave me instructions for caring for the wound and watching for signs of infection.
"He can leave as soon as he wakes up and we're sure there are no lingering effects of the medication. He will be sent home with a slightly lower dose of pain medication, although I would advise he use those only under supervision. He seems to be more susceptible than most to the effects." Nathan snorted and flashed me a grin, as Dr. Patel smiled and shook her head.
"He was quite entertaining down in radiology," she said ruefully. "I have also prescribed an oral antibiotic as a safeguard against infection, and the antibiotic cream which should be applied regularly."
I thanked her for all of her help before she left, leaving Nathan behind to enter notes in Nico's computer chart and clean up the supplies they'd used from the suture kit.He and I were talking softly about his favorite Storm Front songs when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Nick and Angela standing there. Nick was pale under his normal olive-skin tone, and Angela looked devastated. I quickly moved to the side and opened the door wider, so they could come in and see Nico.
"He's going to be all right. He's sleeping because of the pain medicine, but he just had his stitches, and there is no internal damage. He'll be just fine."
Angela burst into tears at my words, and she flung herself into Nick's arms. He held her as she sobbed against him, trying his best to hide the tears of relief in his own eyes.
"Just give her a few minutes. She worked herself up into quite a tizzy in the car on the way over here. We're just lucky hisNonna was already in bed when Becca called, or there'd be two of them raising a ruckus in here."
Angela leaned back and glared at Nick. "Oh, just shush or I'll tell your mother you said that!" she threatened. Nick and I laughed, and I had to smile as Angela turned and grabbed me.
"Are you OK, sweetheart?She didn't hurt you, did she?"
"I'm fine, thanks to Nico. He pushed me out of the way and covered my body with his." My voice wavered on the last word, and I felt my knees get weak as the horror of the night really hit me.
"He saved me," I sobbed. Angela tried to catch me as my legs gave out, but Nathan was a bit faster. He grabbed me and gently guided me to the chair, instructing me to sit there while he checked me out.
"I'm OK," I assured him. "The paramedics already did all of that."
Nick crouched down next to my chair and put a firm hand on my knee.
"Listen to the man, baby girl. Let him check you out, just to be safe. You know that son of mine will tear this place apart if something's wrong with you."
Nathan took my blood pressure and heart rate, which were both elevated. No surprise there. He removed the bandage on my elbow to inspect the wound, along with checking out the scratches on my arm from my first run-in with Psycho Barbie. After applying more antibiotic ointment and new bandages, he told me he was going to ask the doctor about prescribing an oral antibiotic for me.
"One of those scratches on your wrist is pretty red and inflamed. I think it would be better to be safe than sorry, especially now with an open wound on your elbow, too."
Everything else checked out fine, so he told me to stay seated and he would bring me a soda and a snack to make sure my blood sugar level was maintained.
I smiled gratefully at him as he hurried off, returning moments later with a small tray for me. Dr. Patel walked in behind him.
"Allie, Nathan tells me that you felt a bit light-headed.You need to eat and drink something, but first I'd like to see the injuries to your elbow and wrist that he mentioned, if you don't mind."
She took only a few seconds to glance at the scratches and scrapes, before agreeing that they should heal fine, but she thought an oral antibiotic would be a good idea. She confirmed that I had no medication allergies and that my pharmacy information was the same as Nico's, then made some notes on the computer. She nodded approvingly at Nathan.
"Good catch, Nathan," she said, nodding approvingly at him. She turned back to me and pointed to the tray Nathan had brought in.
"Sip that, and eat slowly. You've had a shock to your system tonight, even without any major injuries. It won't do Mr. Peretti any good if you let yourself get run down," she admonished gently before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.
"Allie?" I heard Nico whisper, his voice more raspy than usual. "You OK, Sunshine?"
I tried to jump up to rush over to him, but was stopped by Nathan. "Let me help you, please."
