Chapter Text
“Roger base, we have both men on board and heading back to camp.”
“10-4 Air Rescue, ambulance is waiting.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It was over.
His time in hell. And, he supposed, his life. As he knew it.
Once the rescue chopper landed, Rhett could feel the stretcher being carried.
“Rhett, honey, it’s me. It’s Jessie.” She looked so beautiful through her tears and worry. The relief and love shown through.
But all Rhett could do was mourn his friend. His best friend. The only other person beside Jessie he wanted to walk through this life with. The thought that he had to live the rest of his life without Link tore at his heart.
“Link.”
“Don’t cry baby, we got you. You’re going to be fine. I just know it.”
She doesn’t know yet. I’m sorry baby I did all I could. I tried with everything I had in me. When she finds out, oh god, when Christy--.
“Link.” He cried
A serious man in a flight suit with a cross emblazoned on the shoulder approached and placed his hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “Ma’am we have to get him in the air ambulance.”
Jessie held on to Rhett’s hand and tearfully said, I love you, as they wheeled his stretcher to an awaiting helicopter. This one was outfitted with a dizzying array of medical equipment.
As the helicopter took off, the man in the flight suit made quick work of examining Rhett, searching for injuries, and asking Rhett a number of questions.
“Med Center this is AirAm Rocky, ETA is 12 minutes. 42-year old male. Lost 4 days out in Wolf Pass. Vitals, BP 140/90, Pulse 110, Resp 24. Alert & oriented x3. No obvious injury sites; however, loss of movement in lower extremities bilaterally. Negative reflexes, negative Babinski. 18 gauge IV started, Ringers Lactate to gravity.”
“10-4 AirAm Rocky. We heard you had two?”
“Negative, Med Center. AirAm Nova is not enroute yet.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rhett stared at the rapidly dripping IV chamber thankful for the hydration. The nurse had explained that he couldn’t drink anything in case he needed to go to surgery. But she had given him a wet washcloth to moisten his lips during his bath.
The big clock in the ER bay showed him that he had only been there 20 minutes. His mind was numb and struggled to keep up with everything. One minute he was fending off wolves and literally the next he was laying on a hospital gurney.
The flurry of activity around him stopped as a young man in a crisp white lab coat entered the room.
“Mr. McLaughlin, I’m Dr. Benton, your neurosurgeon.” Rhett raised his hand wearily under the weight on IV tubing and blood pressure cuff.
“Unfortunately, we need to take you to surgery immediately.” The doctor slapped two x rays on a backlit screen. “You can see here you have three grade four ruptured discs in your lumbar spine. I believe if we alleviate the pressure on the spinal cord quickly, we can preserve some function in your legs.”
“Sure. Great.” Rhett still could care less about his own health, he needed to know where Link was. “Have you heard anything about the man they brought in with me?”
Without looking up from the chart the surgeon answered, “I’m sorry. No one else has been choppered in.”
The doctor seemed to grow smaller as Rhett’s vision narrowed, his world crashing around his ears.
Rhett wanted so badly to talk to Jessie about what happened. To make sure she understood he did all he could. “Can I wait for my wife?”
“We really need to go now.” Dr. Benton finished with his chart and handed it to the nurse, “Prep him and I’ll meet you in Pre-op in 20.”
The doctor finally made eye contact, “We’ve got one of the preeminent neurosurgical teams in the area. You’re in good hands with Dr. Rosenstein and me.” And with that he left.
Rhett wished he could care.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“He looks like he’s sleeping.” Rhett whispered as he carded Link’s bangs from his face.
“He is sleeping Rhett, they have him knocked out so he doesn’t fight the breathing tube,” Christy scolded while rearranging Links hair back the way it was before.
“I know that, I just mean he looks like he could wake up and start telling us all what to do at any minute,” Rhett said with a smirk.
Rhett and Christy turned to the sound of someone pulling a chart from the pocket in the door.
“Hi Dr. Rosenstein, do you have any news?” Christy stood and stepped towards the doctor anxiously.
“Hello, Christy.” The portly doctor turned to Rhett giving him a brief head-to-toe assessment. “Rhett you’re looking strong. How many laps are you walking now?”
“Just completed two this morning.” Rhett smiled then turned his attention to the man in the ICU bed. “How’s Link?”
“We have him on the strongest antibiotics there are but ultimately it’s up to Link to fight this. Our boy here is fighting this infection with everything he has. His white count is coming down and his fever is gone.” The doctor quickly scanned the thin metal chart, turning a few pages. “I foresee removing the breathing tube in the next few days.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you Dr. Rosenstein.” Christy looked relieved and sat back at her husband’s side to continue her loving vigil.
The doctor put a hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “Rhett, I heard that you took very good care of your friend out there in the wilderness. I wanted you to know that if it wasn’t for your vigilant care of Link’s wounds we would be looking at a very different outcome.”
Rhett smiled and ducked his head. “I did the same thing he would have done for me.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 months later ...
“Link, dammit, quit stealing my cane!” Rhett frustratingly yelled as he looked around from his seat.
“Fine, here.” Link got up from his desk and held out the shiny black cane. “I like yours better than mine. Yours has flames. Mine is just dull grey.”
Rhett yanked away the cane from Link with mischief in his eyes, “That’s because I’ll have mine longer.” He held the cane up and admired as the red and yellow flames curled around, “You’ll just have one temporarily.”
“But still …” Link pouted. “My scar is manlier than yours.” Link absentmindedly ran his fingers along the scar through his shirt.
“Mine is 8 inches long!’ Rhett exclaimed.
“Yeah but it’s on your back. Mine’s right here where people can see it.” Link puffed his chest with pride.
“Maybe we can go back where we don’t talk to each other.” Rhett spun around his chair towards his desk with a grin.
“No such thing, bo. You’re stuck with me.” Link caught the back of his chair with the handle of his cane and pulled Rhett back around. “Til Death Do Us Part.”