Lara 2

By the time she returned from break, Clint’s fever was rising.  When she entered the room, he was beginning to sweat, the beads of moisture standing out on his forehead.

“I need to take your temperature again,” she said, looking away from him so he wouldn’t see the concern in her eyes.

“It’s awfully hot in here, Lara,” he said, and shoved the blankets covering him down to his knees.  There was fresh blood on his dressing, and she suppressed a start.

“Turn your head,” she said, and inserted the thermometer as he restlessly complied.  His hairline was beginning to moisten, too, and when the reading came back, it was 2 degrees higher than it had been earlier.  “Your fever is rising,” she said.

He turned his head away.  “That’s why it’s so hot in here.”

“Yes,” she said, and reached for the pitcher of ice water on the tray by his bed.  “Would you like some ice?”

“I’d like some water.”

“You can’t have water yet,” she said, feeling as if she were torturing him.  “I can give you some ice chips.”

He swallowed in annoyance, then nodded.  “Okay.”

Carefully, she spooned them into his mouth, noticing her hand was trembling slightly as she did.  

He swallowed them, then closed his eyes.

“I’m going to call your doctor,” she said, and put the ice chips out of reach.  “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, Lara.”  He kept his eyes shut.

She walked from the room slowly, then hurried down the hall to the nurses station.  At her terminal, she picked out the name of his physician, then dialed the number, tapping her fingers on the desktop as the phone rang.

“This is Dr. Grey’s office,” a faintly nasal voice said.

“This is Lara Leone, from University Campus.  I’m calling about one of Dr. Grey’s patients, a Clint Carrigew.”

“Yes?”

“His fever is rising,” she said.

“I’ll notify the doctor,” the voice said, and the line disconnected.  She began to make a note of the call in the computer, then glanced up as a shadow fell across her desk.

It was a tall, dark-haired man, with livid facial scars and a lidded, contemptuous expression.  When their eyes met, he tried to smile.  He shouldn’t have, she thought.  It made him look even more sinister.

“Can I help you?” she asked, tightly.

“I’m looking for a friend of mine up here.  A Clint Carrigew.”

“I can’t verify that we have a patient here by that name,” she said.

“I know he’s here, lady.  The ambulance drivers told me when they picked him up..” The man leaned toward her in an almost threatening manner, his slightly stale breath buffeting her.  “I was there when he got stabbed.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s still here,” she said, standing up quickly.  “If you return to the waiting room, I’ll check to see where he’s at.”

“Who are you, his mother?”

“I’m his nurse,” she retorted.  “What’s your name, please?”

“Just tell him I work for Gabe.”  The man smirked. 

“I need a name,” she said.

“Or what?”

“Or I won’t look for him,” she said.  

The man’s lip curled slightly.  “Tell him Ron wants to see him,” he said. and headed back to the waiting room, his hands shoved into his threadbare pockets.

Hurriedly, she walked down the hall and re-entered Clint’s room,  He was dozing, his breathing slightly rapid.

“Clint,” she said, and touched his bare shoulder, surprised by the warmth of it.

His eyelids fluttered open.

“There’s a man named Ron here who said he works for Gabe.  He says he wants to see you.”

“Who?” His brow wrinkled.

“Ron.  He said he was there when you were stabbed.”

Something flickered in Clint’s eyes, and then they were blank again.  “Tell him I’m not here.”

“Okay,” she said, and turned to find the man slouching in the doorway, looking faintly amused.

“Don’t you want to talk to me, Clint?” He approached the bed slowly, his hands still in his pockets.

“You’re going to have to leave,” she said, walking toward him more boldly than she felt and blocking his path.

“Who’s gonna make me? You?”  He grinned.

“I’ll call security if you don’t,” she warned.

He threw his head back and laughed.  “You really think I’m worried about your security staff?”

“Get the hell out of here!” she shouted.  One of the nurses passing by stopped to stare, then came toward the room slowly, followed by a nursing assistant.  

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly.  For a moment, she thought he would continue forward, and then he seemed to think better of it and took a step back.

“All right, Lara.  I’ll be on my way.  But you better grow some eyes in the back of your head.”  He slowly left the room as several more nurses gathered in the doorway.

“Who was that?” Mandy asked, coming forward to put a hand on her arm.

“An unwelcome visitor.”  She could feel herself trembling slightly with anger, and took several long breaths to calm down.  Then she turned back toward Clint, who was watching her with a slightly bemused expression..

“Thank you, Lara,” he said, and flashed that unbelievable smile at her again.

She swallowed, hard. “Who is he?” she asked.

“He’s one of my…coworkers,” he said, and his expression became faintly ironic. He reached for the ice chips, and she quickly went forward and snatched them away.

“What does he want?”

He shrugged, then winced a little.  

“Do you want me to call the police?,” she asked.

“No,” he said, sharply.  

“Well, what do you want me to do to make sure he doesn’t come back again when I”m not here?”  She folded her arms.

“We can talk about that later,” he said, and closed his eyes.