Pain

Jason barely opens an eye at Katie, but manages a bit of a grin. “You bet. I got this one over here,” he gestures to the scar over his left eye, “And now I’m gonna have one over here,” he points to the other side. “Pretty, eh?” He stops, wincing a little at how much it hurts to talk.

He pauses, taking a few breaths and wishing for the painkillers to start working. Glancing up again, he manages to turn his head a little to see her. “Could you…call Kyle tomorrow…” He shifts his gaze to the clock on the wall. It was after midnight. “Today… and tell him that I…I can’t make it to….Mike’s thing?”

Jason cringes a little. “Aw, dang…I’s supposed to pick Camryn up for that.”


Rick listens to Misty and nods grimly. “Alright. We can get into his knee, but I want to do it right away. The more we wait, the more it will fester.” He sees that Misty is upset, so takes charge. “Let me prep and you can assist me.”

As Rick changing clothes and cleaning up, Reese sees his niece go out in the hall, and slowly follows after her. Seeing her at the water fountain, he gives a little sigh. He hadn’t liked it from the beginning that she’d fallen for Carson. But there was no point in saying ‘I told you so’ at a time like this. She was hurting, and harsh words would do no good.

Approaching her, he sets a hand on her shoulder, rubbing her back a little. “Take it easy, Misty,” he says softly. “Rick needs you in there to help him right now. Just hang in there a little while longer.”


“Mmm…” Rick frowns at what he sees after opening up Jason’s knee. With Jason sedated, it was easy to work, but the damage wasn’t what he wanted to see. “He had part of this knee replaced before when it got smashed, and there are parts here that have been ripped out of place on impact. He must have taken quite a blow.”

Shaking his head, he directs Misty to hand him several tools, beginning his work. “Oh, he’ll walk again alright, but he’s going to have some nerve to do it – this baby’s going to be pretty painful, and I don’t know if that will ever go away.” Rick sighs. “Just what he needed. Why can’t the innocent doing their job ever come out on top? It just isn’t fair…this kid has been through too much the way it is without another injury piled on top.”

He didn’t mean to be blaming Carson directly, but the implications of his words did point in that direction. Rick knew that Carson knew Jason had a bad knee, and apparently he hadn’t cared. It made Rick’s blood boil just to think about it. These people here at TJY…he took them all as his patients and friends personally, and any time one of them was hurt, it hurt him too.

Finally finished with the task, Rick closes the knee back up again with stitches and wraps it, putting the brace back on to stabilize it. “Alright…when he comes out of the anesthetic, I’d say keep him quiet so he doesn’t move, but he’s not going to with as painful as it’ll be. Hopefully the painkillers will just help him sleep through most of it though.”


She doesn’t want to come. Carson paces the cell like a caged animal, despite the pain it evoked. “Argh, Misty!” he growls. He’d been informed that he was out of luck with his request to see her.

Still pacing, he stops, hanging on the bars for a moment. He was all alone down here right now, and shouting did no good, but he didn’t care. “All I wanted was for you to get my dang cell phone!” Nobody else believed him he needed it, but he thought that Misty would.

“Come on!” He raises his voice, kicking at the bars, even though it sends pain ricocheting through his body. “An innocent person is gonna die if I don’t get my phone!”

His shouting is desperate and angry. He was so angry. Angry at this whole thing, and angry with himself. “Get me out of here!” he yells, but there’s no one there to listen.

Turning, he leans his back on the bars and slides down to the floor. The ramifications of this were horrific. Someone was going to die. It would be his fault.


Bret can't help a weary smile. He just couldn't say no. "Alright. Breakfast it is."

Standing and stretching, he stifles a yawn, then walks Charlotte to the door to bid her goodnight. Stopping before he opens it though, he turns to her. "Thanks...for just...being here when I needed company." The loneliness the he liked so much to hide couldn't avoid being reflected in his eyes. "I appreciate it..."

He reaches out a hand and brushes Charlotte's cheek. "Fate has been good to me this last week. This just doesn't happen every day to guys like me...meeting angels."

Pausing, he locks eyes with hers for several moments, just letting himself fall into their depths. "I'd flip a coin," he whispers. "But I don't want to take the risk of losing..." Wrapping his arms around her, he pulls her close to him, tilting his head until his face is inches from hers. His eyes ask her for permission.