Chapter Text
He entered the emergency room as briskly as walking with leg braces would allow him, and made his way straight over to the admissions desk. The young woman behind the desk looked up as he approached, and raised her hand to point at a metal stand with a dispenser on it.
"Sir, if you are not experiencing any signs of a heart attack or do not have an injury that requires immediate medical attention, please take a number, then have a seat in the waiting room, and one of the triage nurses will be with you as soon as possible."
"Oh, no no I'm not here because I'm sick or hurt. I'm here because I got a call from a friend who is currently being treated in the E.R. I've come to see about her and hopefully take her home if she's ready to go."
"Name?"
"James Rhodes."
"Your friend's name?"
Shaking his head, and rubbing his eyes he said, "Sorry, long day. Potts. Virginia Potts."
The young lady nodded, and typed in the name, "Yes, we did admit her to triage about ninety-five minutes ago."
"Can I see her please?"
"Yes, but only after I have verified that you are on Miss Potts's emergency contacts list, and I've seen some identification."
"I am on her contacts," he replied, while he pulled out his ID for her to see, "I'm listed as James Rhodes."
"Yes, sir, I see that. Thank you."
Although she didn't actually roll her eyes, Rhodey thought he heard a mental eye roll in there somewhere. But he wasn't going to say anything about it because she didn't actually roll her eyes and because he was very tired which meant starting something with her over something so minor was the last thing on his mind. Like he had told her, it had been a long day, and he had not long been in bed when--
"Yes, sir, I see your name listed under Miss Potts's emergency contacts. If you want I will call back to triage and let them know that you'd like to come back and see Miss Potts."
"Thank you."
She nodded, picked up the phone, and after dialing a number spoke into the phone. He silently stood by as she said what she had to say to get him cleared. The conversation lasted less than thirty seconds. She hung the phone up and looked back at him.
"If you go through that door there, you can go back to see Miss Potts now. She's in Triage Curtain One."
"Thank you."
He stepped up to the door she had indicated, and waited until he heard a buzzing noise before he pulled on the handle to open it. He entered the inner part of the emergency room, and was greeted by another young woman dressed in mint green scrubs.
"May I help you, sir?"
"Yes. I'm looking for Triage Curtain One." About the time he finished speaking he heard the murmur of a woman’s voice that he knew.
The nurse pointed at a curtained section, confirming for him where Pepper was.
"Thanks."
He started towards the curtained area, and was stopped short of the curtain when a police officer who had been standing off to the side stepped into his pathway.
"Sorry, sir, but you can't come any closer."
Rhodey looked back at the curtain, and saw a couple more police officers were standing just outside the area, and were probably directly in front of a gurney or hospital bed.
"Could you please clear the area, sir?"
He looked at the officer, "Listen, my name is James Rhodes, and I'm a friend of hers. I'm also on her emergency contact list, and she called me, asking me to come down the hospital to take her home when the doctors are ready to release her."
"Could I see some I--"
The edge of the curtain was pulled back, and Pepper's face peered at him from around it.
"It's okay, officer. I know him."
The police man nodded, and returned to where he'd previously been standing. Pepper motioned for him to come over to where she was.
"Hey," he said as he joined her.
"Hey," she responded.
Rhodey studied her for injuries, and she looked okay except for a bandage around her left wrist. Hopefully it was just a sprain and not actually broken.
One of the police officers cleared her throat, "Um, Miss Potts, excuse me, but we have a few more questions we need to ask you, ma’am.”
Pepper nodded, giving them a quiet, “Okay.”
He didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt the police officers any further. He put a hand on Pepper’s shoulder to let her feel he was there, and would be there when she needed him.
Another five minutes total went by and they were as alone as someone can be in a hospital ER with only a curtain giving them privacy from the outside world. Once they were gone, Pepper looked at him and crumbled.
"Hey, hey, there. It's alright," Rhodey said, immediately enveloping her in a hug, "I know you're a little banged up and all but that's all right?" A doctor hadn't been back to see her, and she hadn't told him anything herself because the police just left literally a minute ago, but yes, she seemed to be okay.
Well there was the fact her wrist was hurt too, and she might have a bruise on one of her cheeks but she was okay. She was as okay as someone could be after what had happened.
Pepper continued to cry for a few minutes though, and because she's always been one of the strongest people he's ever known in his life, but she had been irrevocably changed after Tony died, and Rhodey is at a loss what to do. So he just keeps on hugging her, and he lets her cry it out. She is just about settled down when another person dressed in scrubs, this time a man, appears at the foot of the curtained area they're in.
"Miss Potts?" he asked cautiously.
With a couple of sniffles, Pepper pulls back from Rhodey, and while wiping at her eyes turned her head to look at him, "Yes?"
"I'm Doctor Baker," he said, "I have taken a look at your x-rays and..." He trailed off with what he was saying, the direction he was looking in was that of Rhodey.
"Oh, it's okay, doctor, he’s family. You can say everything in front of him."
The doctor nodded, "Okay, then. Your wrist isn't broken but you do have a very bad sprain. Before we cut you loose, I would like to put a splint on it so remains immobile. You will need to rest it for the next forty-eight hours and apply ice compresses. You can use frozen vegetables for that, just make sure you wrap them in a towel, and don't leave it on your wrist for any longer than ten minutes at a time. You'll also need to elevate your wrist to where it's above your heart, try using a pillow or the back of a chair to help with that."
"What about pain?" Rhodey asked since she didn't.
"Over the counter pain meds will do fine. Just make sure it's an anti-inflammatory like Advil, Aleve, or Motrin. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask me?"
"How long will it take for my wrist to heal?"
"Normally if the sprain is a mild one, a few days to one week. But in your case, although it doesn't require surgical intervention, your injury may take anywhere from a few weeks to heal completely to maybe a month or two. There's no way of knowing exactly."
Pepper nodded, "Okay, thank you, doctor."
Doctor Baker waited a beat to see if either of them would say anything else, "Alright, I am going to send a nurse over to splint your wrist, and we'll get you out of here."
"Thank you, Doctor Baker."
He gave them a nod, and disappeared, jotting down something on the clipboard as he went.
"So," Rhodey began once they were alone, "Can I ask you what happened exactly? Because when the hospital people called, beyond telling you were not seriously hurt or didn't have any life threatening injuries, they wouldn't tell me much."
"Well, I went to a business dinner earlier tonight, and I got mugged afterwards."
He gave her a long look. He had already figured out as much. "Happy wasn't with you."
"No, he wasn't, and before you say I should have had him with me, the dinner was in a very upscale part of Manhattan where I didn't think I would need him to be with me." Tears started glistened in her eyes again, "But that was stupid obviously, and thanks to me doing something so stupid such as not having Happy or someone with me, I've lost something I won't ever be able to replace."
Rhodey felt the knot that had been in his stomach since he had gotten a call about her being in the emergency room tightened when she said this. What exactly did she mean she had lost something that she couldn't replace?
As if she was reading his mind she told him, "What I mean is I've lost one of the necklaces given to me by Tony."
"He stole one of the necklaces that Tony gave you?" he asked slowly, as though he were uncertain as to whether or not he had heard her correctly.
Pepper looked at him, nodding, and she was about to confirm what she said when she was interrupted by the arrival of the nurse.
"Okay Miss Potts, I'm here to put the splint Doctor Baker would like for you to wear on... that is if you're ready for me to do so?"
"Yes, I'm ready."
"Well, let's get you splintered up so you can get out of here and maybe get you home in time to get some sleep!"