"The fever won't abate. Other than that, I'm fine. You look beat, Dave." John said.
Dave grinned. "I *am* a little tired, but I'll survive. So, are they making any progress with figuring out *why* you have the fever in the first place?"
John shook his head. "Not yet, no," he slowly replied. "I had been hoping that taking a nice warm bath would help, but..." John stopped short of telling Dave that Dr. Kirn had not approved of that idea yet. Instead, he decided to see if he could Dave to help him get that bath. "But I keep getting interrupted. Are you on your break?"
Dave nodded. "Yeah, just started it. Why? You need someone to stand guard?"
He smiled. "Something like that. I just need time to get the water going and get in there without being interrupted. Once I'm in, it won't matter. Do you mind?"
How could he mind doing something to help Carter feel better? Dave shook his head, then stood and turned the chair around so that he could see the door and the television. "Go ahead. No one will get past me," he said, grinning.
"Thanks, Dave. I really appreciate this." John got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Once there, he found himself not really liking the way the warm water felt against his skin, and he kept reducing the flow of the hot water until the water was nearly cold. Strange how good that felt since it had been John's experience with fevers that cold water would almost hurt when it touched him. "As long as it doesn't hurt now, that's all that matters," John muttered as he stripped off the hospital gown. He stepped into the tub, his mind not even registering the fact that there was no sensation of cold as he immersed his body into the water. All John's brain knew was that it felt good to be in the water. John kept the water running until it reached the overflow valve before turning it off. And then he couldn't resist holding his breath and lowering his head under the water -- that was even better, he thought. He had been right that getting into a tub of water was all he needed in order to feel better.
A knock at the bathroom door made him surface. "Yes?"
"You okay in there?" Dave's voice was muffled through the wood.
"I'm great. This is really helping a lot. I feel better already. Thanks."
"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" John could hear the grin in Dave's voice and it made him smile in return.
"That's exactly right. You don't have to waste the rest of your break time waiting on me to get out. I'm okay in here."
"Okay. I'll come up to see you later then." Dave replied.
"Sounds good." He took a deep breath and let his body slide under the water once more. It wasn't as good as swimming in the river had been, but it was still nice.
John opened his eyes, noting how the world above the water seemed blurry and unworldly as he looked at it through the water. That wasn't something he had paid much attention to when he had been in the river, mainly because he avoided the surface as much as possible, and the times he did surface to get a breath of air, he didn't pay any attention to how the world looked from just under the surface. He was already looking forward to a return swim, maybe not in the river, but definitely in a body of water larger than the tub or the pool at the house, so he could see if things looked different when seen through salt water as well as fresh.
The sudden opening of the bathroom door startled him, and he was sputtering as he sat up. "What?" Then he saw it was Dr. Kirn, and the man didn't look happy.
"Just what part of 'no baths until we know what's causing the fever' didn't you understand, Dr. Carter?" Dr. Kirn's voice was harsh and John immediately felt as if he were a five year old kid in trouble for the very first time. And he didn't like that feeling at all.
"I understood what you said. But..."
"There are no *buts*, Dr. Carter. You either understood it and intended to follow my instructions or you didn't. It's a good thing that Dr. Malucci decided to let the charge nurse know you were taking a bath or else you might have actually gotten away with this foolish stunt." Dr. Kirn grabbed a towel. "Pull the plug and step out of the tub. Now."
"I feel much better," John insisted, but he did as instructed. As he stepped out of the tub though, he felt self-conscious about standing in front of his doctor naked and dripping wet. That feeling didn't last long as Dr. Kirn handed him the towel. "I'll be just outside the door." Then he man left, closing the door behind him.
John quickly toweled himself dry, then put the horrible hospital gown back on before returning to his room. Dr. Kirn was there as promised, as was the charge nurse. As soon as John was in his bed and covered by his blankets, she was busy taking his vitals. John could feel the anger as it poured off of Dr. Kirn and he knew the man was waiting for the nurse to leave before telling him once again how foolish he had been. But it hadn't been foolish, the bath had made him feel better immediately. And, John was still feeling good from it, even if it had ended abruptly.
The nurse noted his vitals on his chart, her face impassive.
"Well?" Dr. Kirn asked.
"His temperature is normal, sir. As are his other vital signs."
"Let me see that." Dr. Kirn took the chart from her and looked it over. "The thermometer must be inaccurate. Go and get another one so we can take an accurate reading."
"Yes, sir." There was a slight smile around her mouth and John knew that she didn't agree with Dr. Kirn's assessment of the accuracy of the thermometer. Neither did he.
"I told you that a bath would make me feel better and it has," John said.
"There's no way that a five minute bath could make your fever abate. Provided it really has," Dr. Kirn replied. "If, and I use the word loosely, your temperature is back to normal, then it's because it was already going down when you decided to ignore my orders."
"You know that's not true. It wasn't all that long ago when you were in here and my temperature was still elevated. I know how I felt and I know that it was still higher than normal when I went into the tub. It was the water that made it go down."
The charge nurse returned with a new thermometer and the reading didn't change. "See? The bath worked. Now you can release me and get back to patients who are really ill." John said, trying his best not to smirk after the nurse left.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere, Dr. Carter. There are still some tests that need to be run to find out why you had the fever in the first place. And just because your temperature is back to normal right now, we have no guarantee that it won't go back up. You're staying here overnight, if not longer."
"I'm not your lab project, Dr. Kirn. If my temperature is back to normal then there's no way your tests will discover the cause of the fever and you know it." John's patience with being in the hospital was quickly reaching the breaking point. He had grown to hate it when he had been stabbed. Going back afterward to have the take down for his colostomy had been bad enough and John didn't see the need to stay now. He threw the covers back and got to his feet. "I'm leaving AMA if I have to."
"And I'll call security if you even try," Dr. Kirn coldly replied. "I will not have you leaving here and jeopardizing your health, Dr. Carter. You *will* stay here overnight."
The two men faced off against each other, both stubborn as each one felt he was in the right. It was John who finally broke the silence.
"You and I both know that security can't keep me here against my will, so your threat is hollow, Dr. Kirn. But, I *will* make a deal with you. I'll stay here until the next vitals check. If my temperature has risen again, then I'll stay put. But if it's still normal, then I'm out of here." It would be another four hours before the next vitals check, but John felt confident that his fever was a thing of the past.
Kirn thought that over for a minute or so, then nodded. "Fair enough. But if your temperature has risen, then even if it goes down again, you will stay here until we find the cause, agreed?"
John nodded. "Agreed."
"And no more baths."
John nodded again, reluctantly this time. "Agreed."
Kirn smiled and inclined his head in the direction of the bed. "Get back in bed then and be bored. Take a nap, rest. Enjoy the time off from the hustle and bustle of the ER."
John climbed back into the bed, but he didn't feel like resting. "I'm used to working and it's not so easy to enjoy being away from work when you're a patient in the same hospital. Trust me, I've been there and done that already and it was enough to last me a lifetime." He straightened out the covers and arranged the pillows behind his back and head, then tried to relax against the mattress.
"I know, and I'm sorry that you have to go through this again. But none of us want to see you ill. I'll be back in four hours to see how you're doing."
"I'll be dressed and ready to go," John replied. He grinned broadly at his doctor as he watched the man leave. As the door closed though, his grin quickly faded. Being in the hospital was bringing back far too many bad memories. Memories he had thought were long gone. Now that he was feeling better he didn't want to be thinking about Paul Sobriki, Lucy Knight, butcher knives or syringes filled with fentanyl. He wanted to go home where he wouldn't have to think about much at all. A new memory surfaced, one of the freedom he had felt while swimming and the simple joy of being in the water. A small smile graced his lips as he let that memory grab hold in his mind and he allowed it to push all the other ones aside.
Kerry was seated in the lounge, coffee at hand, going over reports when the door slowly opened and Randi stepped partially into the room.
"Yes?" Kerry asked as she looked up from her work.
Randi smiled slightly. "Dr. Carter's family is here. They'd like to speak with you before going up to see him."
Kerry carefully regarded Randi, noting that the woman didn't seem dismissive of the Carter clan. Nor did she seem completely at ease. Kerry had only met Millicent Carter and that had been close to a week after Carter had been stabbed. She sighed and closed the file she had been reading. "Would you ask them to come in here?" Kerry asked as she got to her feet.
"Sure thing." Randi disappeared and the door swung closed. Kerry glanced at the coffee maker, judging there to be enough fresh coffee should one of the Carter family desire any. At the moment, the offer of fresh coffee was about the only concession she was willing to make for them. While she had upbraided Dave about his attitude toward Carter's family, she shared the same sentiments. Unlike Dave though, she *had* spoken to Carter's mother and father on the phone, so she had some idea of what they were like. Despite that, she found herself hoping that meeting them in person would change her opinion of them.
The door opened again and a couple walked into the room. The woman looked immaculate, even though Kerry knew she had just stepped off of a plane from Europe. She was fair skinned, with dark hair and intense eyes, just like Carter's eyes often were. That had to be his mother, Kerry thought.
"Dr. Weaver? It's finally good to meet you in person," the man said as he extended his hand to her. "Jack Carter, and this is my wife Eleanor."
Kerry was to her feet by then and as she shook hands with Jack she gave him a careful look over. He was tall, just like his son, and there was a family resemblance. John definitely took after both parents and Kerry found herself wondering if John's brother and sister looked like their mother or father. She had never seen photos of Bobby, nor seen photos of Barbara, but John had spoken often of them when he had lived in her house. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, Mr. Carter. It seems that since John moved out of my house, all my phone conversations with you have been to give you bad news about him." Kerry gestured to the table. "Please have a seat. Randi said you wanted to speak with me before you went upstairs?"
"That's right," Jack said as he pulled out a chair for his wife and settled her at the table before he himself hovered behind a chair, clearly waiting for Kerry to sit first. "We had some questions and knew that you'd give us honest answers."
Kerry toyed with the idea of standing for the entire meeting, just to see if Jack Carter would remain standing or if he'd finally sit. In the end though, she sat back down, not quite up to taunting the man to that extent. She had gotten her fill of 'gentlemanly' ways when John had been her boarder and she could now say that he learned his manners from his father.
"I'll try my best to tell you what I can. But since John is an adult I can't divulge details of his treatment."
"I understand that, and I promise we won't push you to reveal anything that would be considered private. But we are concerned about John," Jack said as he sat down, his hand reaching out to clasp his wife's. "and it's our understanding that he...went for the swim right after his shift ended."
"That's what I was told," Kerry carefully replied. "He had stayed past the end of his shift to help do the Q & A on the charts and Dr. Chen urged him to go home." Kerry could say that much, since it was what Chen had told her. "He was looking tired and distracted, and he had been looking that way for a week or so." Kerry suddenly realized that she had no idea if John's parents knew about his addiction or his stint in rehab, so she ended her narrative at that point, opting to wait for Jack to ask something else.
"And you didn't suspect him of taking drugs again?" Jack firmly asked. Kerry didn't miss the fact that the entwined hands tightened against each other as John's parents waited for her answer.
"At first, but his behavior didn't match the way John behaved when he was using, so I discarded that. And, once he was brought in here after his swim, his blood work revealed that there were no narcotics or other medicines in his system." Kerry could clearly see his parents relax at that news and she continued. "The witnesses who saw him say that he stopped at the river, looked over the railing for a bit and then began to strip down to his underwear. He didn't jump in, but carefully climbed over the railing and dove into the water. It was well past dark when he finally came out, at just about the same point where he went in, according to the police. John had been swimming for five hours, but apparently didn't feel the cold until he came out of the water."
Jack and Eleanor exchanged quick glances and she nodded slightly. Kerry found herself feeling slightly antagonistic toward the woman. Why didn't she ask anything about her son? Was she as cold inside as she was projecting?
"John was physically okay when he came out of the river, so why did you keep him here overnight?" Jack asked.
"As a precaution. The Chicago River isn't known for its cleanliness, Mr. Carter. Later in the night, John's temperature rose and nothing we could do would bring it down. He was moved upstairs first thing this morning and assigned an on-staff physician, Dr. Sam Kirn. Dr. Kirn is pursuing all leads in an attempt to find out the cause of John's fever. John doesn't have an infection, which was my first suspicion. They're even checking to see if the fever might be psychological in nature."
Eleanor slowly shook her head, but she still remained silent and Kerry felt like screaming at the woman. How could she have stayed away when John was stabbed and now be so calm about what was going on? If Kerry had a child running a high fever for no reason she'd be concerned. And if her child had taken a several hour long *dip* in the Chicago River, she'd be concerned.
Jack's voice broke into Kerry's thoughts. "Did John say anything about why he went swimming?"
"He said it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He told me that once he was in the water, he had a rush of freedom and never wanted to get out. The police seemed to believe him when he told them that he had never left the water during the five hours he was in." Kerry remembered something else John had told her. "This morning, when we were getting ready to move him upstairs, he told me that he was sure his fever would go away if we'd just let him get back into the water. Any water."
Eleanor and Jack looked at each other once again. "We've let this go too long," Eleanor said, a slight accent to her voice let Kerry know that the woman was from one of the British Isles. But hadn't John mentioned that once in passing? That his mother's family was Irish or Scottish? Something like that anyway. At the time, Kerry had thought he meant a few generations back and not that his mother was from over there.
"We'd like to see him now." Jack told her.
"Of course. I can take you up there since you don't know your way around the hospital," Kerry replied.
"We can find him, but thank you for the offer. What's his room number?"
Kerry told them and then she watched them leave. No sooner had the door closed behind them then it opened again and Malucci walked into the lounge.
"Man, she is one cold looking woman, isn't she? So, what did they have to say?" He asked her.
Kerry didn't even bother to go through the motions of telling Malucci to not even think things like that about John's mother. It would have been too hypocritical since she was thinking nearly the exact same thing.
"Nothing much. They just had a few questions. Carter looks more like his mother, don't you think?"
"He's not so cold looking, but he does resemble her a bit. Not that uncommon. I look more like my mother than my father, but my cousins all look like my Uncle Al." Malucci replied.
"I suppose." Kerry briefly wondered whom she looked like, then she chased that thought away. At her age she should have been beyond wondering about things she would never know. "Don't you need to get back to work, Dr. Malucci?" She returned her attention to the reports she had been reading, effectively dismissing Malucci from her thoughts and the room.
"Right." Malucci quickly left the lounge, leaving Kerry alone once more. She looked up and stared off into space, wondering once again why John's parents had found it so easy to stay away when his life had been in danger, yet had come running now.