Saturday,

September 7, 2012

10: 50 AM

New Orleans Hospital

Daily nurses and doctors barge into room 204 to monitor Kane's vitals. They take his blood pressure, listen to his lungs and stomach or gut, and the hundreds of stitches and staples that are supposed to keep Kane held together. Valli heard that they had also used screws and metal tools to secure certain areas, bones needed to be reconnected along his lower ribs and his pelvis had cracks in it. The doctors are more concerned about the internal bleeding returning, which is why they come in daily, at the same time each morning and evening. They need to keep an IV in Kane's arm, and a manual feeding system to ensure the large, pliable body gets all the nutrients it needs. The sight of a feeding tube down Kane's throat is rough and difficult to witness, the bulge of it hidden in the man's neck is disconcerting for both Sunny and Valli.

Kane has been medically induced into a short coma, unofficially. They've kept him drugged on enough pain medication that he hasn't woken up for longer than five minutes. When he does wake, they put him back under after checking the tube, and his vitals. A nurse comes in the afternoon to bend Kane's limbs or walks into Valli lifting and bending the man's legs to avoid him getting stuck in stiffness. Sunny will carefully shift her nephew's arms and fingers; Valli works on Kane's ankles and toes. They try desperately to avoid irritating the wounds that litter the man's torso and hips.

Kane briefly wakes, each time he is too disorientated to process that his Aunt and boyfriend are in the corner watching him squirm in confusion and anger (he has been captured too many times to be fearful of waking up restrained) of where he is or why something is stuck in his throat. Sunny finds it slightly amusing that the first thought Kane has, even as out of it as he is, is to fight the doctors and nurses who attempt to hold him down. Still, it's hard to watch and she needs to remind herself to allow the professionals to handle her boy this time. She needs to tell herself that Kane doesn't need her at the moment, he needs real help. Not her street smarts or Hunter smarts for when they're injured. Whiskey, sewing thread, and gauze won't fix this. Her eyes well with tears, but refuse to fall with such a crowd of people in the room.

For Valli, he closes his eyes to trick himself that he is still blessingly blind. He doesn't wish to witness his strong, tough boyfriend chopped down to this wiggling mass on a hospital bed under this group of male nurses who try and mostly fail to pin him. Originally, there were women nurses who tried to help. When Kane's surgeon realized the man was much too violent, too rough in his struggle, and that some of the women were being shoved backward into the wall or chairs. The man demanded more male staff to come in, to pin Kane's legs down with belts.

This is how the doctors must leave the man, strapped to the bed for his and the staff's safety. There is no strap over his chest, nor his torso, yet they have his arms buckled down to the bedpost and his long legs tacked down. Valli understands it's for everyone's safety, that Kane is too drugged on the medicine to comprehend he is a danger to the staff whenever he becomes conscious and he can't control his instinct to fight. However, it's very hard to witness someone you love tied down and then fight against that strap with groans, growls, and slurred words of protest. All he wants – is eager to do is rush over to Kane and make him calm down. To just hug him, whisper assurances in his ear. Yet he can't because he needs to let the doctors do their jobs.

Emma has kept on the phone, she texts and calls every few hours to be kept in the loop of developing news. Sunny usually answers the messages and leaves Valli to himself or next to Kane. While she informs Emma of their day at the hospital, Valli is bucked down by Kane, using a damp cloth, paper towel, or small ice cubes to wet the unconscious man's lips. Valli has insisted Kane be "washed' – rubbed down – by himself or Sunny. He watched one of the nurses at first to understand how to properly do the action, then he refused to allow the nurse to return for the job. Rather, he did it himself with the staff in the room to monitor them. Carefully he rubs Kane down, meticulously caring for the wounds to the point the doctor is begrudgingly impressed.

The wounds littering Kane appear to be healing slowly, the doctors are happy and they praise his ability to bounce back from such a fatal injury. They check the internal sutures and the stitches needed to close the extensive damage and are pleased each time they speak to their patients' family.

The Hunters know it's Addy's doing. That the Witch's spell is the reason Kane is recovering when normally, he'd be just as unlucky as Addy was. Valli is thankful his Aunt is giving Kane the strength that she is still looking out for him. There will never be a day that goes by, that he will not look at Kane and think, thank you, Auntie.

She is the only reason Kane is still breathing, if not for her the doctors wouldn't have a chance to save him. The wounds were too fatal to be survived by himself. If it wasn't for Addy's spell, Kane most likely would've failed to make it back to the house – let alone the hospital. Sunny silently thanks the witch for saving her son more than once over the week they're with Kane in the room. She'll always be reminded of the woman and she'll remind Kane to be extra careful because he was given a second chance; Addy gave him her chance. That is not something you can be reckless with.

Today is no different. Emma spoke to Sunny early this morning, Valli hunkered down at Kane's side with an ice cube and the pair of loved ones waited for the drama that would unfold once the staff came to check on their patient. Kane is still tied, and Valli massages a little dollop of lotion on the thick wrist the strap rubs against. His skin under the restraint is slightly irritated, so the doctors suggested lotion or an ointment to soothe it.

The nurses who reviewed Kane had just left, the man was still asleep and they simply took vitals – blood pressure, temperature and changed the bandages they replaced the night before. Now, all who is left is the main doctor assigned to Kane. A man by the name of Dr. G Roberts. Neither Sunny nor Valli care enough to ask what the G stands for, the man is here for Kane and they don't want to socialize with anyone. Roberts is in his early forties (at most) of average height and has a small, forming bald spot at the back of his head. Dull, near-emotionless green gaze, he has that distant coldness of doctors that rubs Sunny the wrong way.

Out of the corner of his eye, Valli observes the doctor flip through his papers on a clipboard. Wonders what the man will stay, if they can return home – even if he knows they won't release Kane until he wakes up to demand to leave. They can't keep him unless they find a reasonable claim, but if they say he's relatively clear and merely want to watch him – they can't hold him once Kane himself denies any more treatment. This will happen, and Kane will demand to be released the moment he is back within an understanding mind. On the small couch by the window, behind Valli, sits Sunny. She is reclined, foot over her left knee as her intense eyes stare holes into the doctor's head, impatiently waiting for him to leave.

"Well..." Roberts starts, eyebrows jumping then furrowing in puzzled amazement. One of his shoulders shrugs, the man almost speechless. "Mr. Ranger looks almost perfect. His vitals are great and he's healing faster than we expected. I'm honestly pretty shocked."

Sunn offers a half-hearted smile, quick and easy to miss. It could count as a smug smirk. An arm rises to sling over the back of the couch, almost cocky in response. "He surprises everyone."

"I mean, given the state he was in when he was brought in, I'm going to be blunt, I didn't think he'd make it through the night." The doctor blinks, flipping a paper over to glance at what is written then up to Kane, where Valli is quietly wetting his lips with an ice cube. Perplexed, he continues. "But, I'm amazed at how well he is healing! No signs of internal bleeding, our work is holding up, and he's sleeping well. The medicine is working. I'm — he is the perfect patient, considering. If violent."

"He doesn't like other people," Valli responds to the last part, meeting the professional's gaze with an eerie, knowing soft smile that catches the man off guard.

It's the first time the doctor has heard the scarred man with the patient speak directly. Roberts doesn't understand why this makes him uneasy, as this pair only wants to care for their loved one. Yet, he feels they know more than what they told him upon Mr. Ranger being checked in. The violent reaction of the patient is odd as well. Of course, he had past patients who needed to be restrained, but never has he witnessed someone as threatening to staff as Mr. Ranger is – especially unconscious.

"When can he stay awake?" Roberts turns back to Sunny, who has now leaned on her knees, hands folded and suddenly dead-serious intense.

"I – um, well. Considering how well he is doing, how he is responding to what we're doing – the medication, the feeding tube, and how he's healing. I'll have them start to lower the doses, and by ... ah..." The doctor tilts his head, peeking at his clipboard again and mentally doing his math. He uses his hands as he speaks, the clipboard shifting in the air with his movements. " – It's Saturday, so probably around Monday- Tuesday that medicine should be weaning off, and he should be able to wake up and stay up for however long he can."

Pleased, Sunny nods understandingly. "Good."

"Take the restraints off if you're done," Valli adds, quietly and calmly instructing. He doesn't look at the doctor and doesn't want to. He wants to keep his focus on Kane, memorizing his peaceful features. The unwrinkled forehead, the calm shift of eyes under libs, his soft plump in a tranquil line and damp. There is no sign of stress, and he likes staring as he knows Kane will switch completely the second he wakes. "Put them back on when you take the tube out completely."

"I'm sorry, but the restraints will need to stay put, for his and our safety." Roberts refuses, wincing at the immediate scarred glare he receives. "The tube will need to stay in until he wakes, so he can keep getting all the nutrients he needs. Right now, he is in danger of hurting himself or us if he wakes with the tube in and we don't want that to happen."

At this, Valli childishly ignores the doctor. Irritated they can't take the tube or restraints off, yet he reluctantly understands. He merely wants Kane to be as comfortable as possible, and the tube and straps don't fit that restful image in his mind. He'll be happy once Kane can speak, and open his eyes longer than five or even ten minutes. That would be a great reassurance to him and Sunny. To hear his groggy and gruff voice say a word, rather than the garbled protests towards the staff. Already, he plans on teasing his partner about needing the buckles and straps because he was too violent. In his head, Kane proudly jokingly wears a smirk and a laugh.

Valli wonders if Kane realizes they're here with him and that he isn't alone. Surely, he can feel them at his side. Since they've kept him knocked out, he hasn't been able to see his loved ones. The staff kept Valli and Sunny away from the bed once Kane started stirring whenever the medicine wore off slightly, with the command to avoid getting close to the shaking bed as they fought with Kane. He knows for a fact, that he and Sunny could have calmed the man down, but if the staff won't listen to the patients' Aunt when she told them this – what else were they supposed to do besides watch? Getting closer would have only resulted in being held back by nurses or demanded to leave the room. They choose the lesser battle.

For now, the only thing he – and Sunny – can do is hold Kane's hand and promise to be here when he wakes up. There is no doubt he'll be grumpier than he was already.