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"It's higher, Frank. You need to go to the hospital."
"How high?"
"103.8." Frank blinked blearily up at Abby, his eyes struggling to open beyond a squint even with the lights off. His head was pounding, the constant ache making it difficult to see or move or speak.
"Okay," he mumbled but made no move to sit up. Just a few hours ago, Frank woke up with typical flu-like symptoms. Abby, the wonderful woman that she was, took the day off work to care for him when it became clear that he couldn't push through it like he normally did. His head ached from the moment he opened his eyes with intense muscle pain following shortly after. Nausea and dizziness kept him firmly planted on the bed with the lights off to not disturb his sensitive eyes. Over those few hours, his fever had progressed from 100.7 to something that required hospitalization.
"Just not The Pitt." Abby huffed from where she was pulling on a jacket.
"It's the closest hospital, Frank. That's where I'm taking you." He sighed but didn't protest. He didn't have the energy to do so. It's just that tomorrow was supposed to be his first day back to work after his rehab, and he would prefer to not show his face for the first time in ten months in such a sorry state.
Getting in the car and driving to the hospital was difficult. Abby huffed and grunted as she basically carried Frank to the car and he did his best not to throw up all over his wife. Once he was buckled up, he rested his head on the window to try and cool the burning in his forehead. Every bump in the road made his head hurt (along with the cruel sun) and body ache. Sometime along the way, Frank started to complain of a stiff neck that just added another pain to occupy his struggling mind. He knew that all these symptoms meant more than just the flu, he was a doctor after all, but the haze that settled in his brain made it too hard to think about.
If getting in the car was bad, getting into the hospital was terrible. Once again, Abby struggled to fully support Frank who did little to help her and he was deposited into a chair. Abby tugged a mask over his face before moving to stand in the reception line. Frank tried to watch her, but the noise and the bright lights in the waiting room left him unable to open his eyes. He just slouched in the uncomfortable chair with his eyes pressed shut and aching arms wrapped around his body. His head stayed up, however, because his neck refused to move without an incredible amount of pain erupting from it.
Abby came back a few minutes later, but Frank did little to acknowledge her presence. He simply smiled softly when she ran a comforting hand down his arm. They waited for many long, painful minutes with no change. People around them coughed and cried and yelled. Lupe called names occasionally, but none of them were Frank's. So, they sat quietly. Frank's breathing picked up and a chill built in his fingers, but he didn't make much noise.
It wasn't until a strange tingling built up and the wave of nausea crashed over him that he moved. He weakly gripped at Abby's hand and tried to push out some sort of warning or question or unintelligible noise, but then he was tipping forward and hitting the ground.
-
Robby heard the commotion before he saw it. He was coming out of a patient's room just as Whitaker and Mel were racing into the waiting room. There was more yelling than usual coming from the room and Robby jogged over quickly. He expected to see a fight breaking out or a sick patient demanding to be seen. He did expect to see Frank Langdon seizing in the middle of the floor.
"What's going on?" Robby kneeled next to Frank just as Whitaker rolled him on his side and tried to maneuver a discarded sweatshirt under his head. Mel made quick work of pushing nearby chairs out of the way and shooing other patients away before carefully removing the mask over Frank's nose and mouth.
"He just collapsed," Abby cried, her hands hovering over Frank like she wanted to touch him but was too scared. A gurney appeared, but Robby kept his eyes on Frank.
"Why are you here? Is he sick?"
"He woke up with a fever and in a lot of pain. I finally convinced him to come in when the fever got worse." Frank's movements slowed until he was still with the occasional twitch.
"Just over one minute," Whitaker said before looking at Robby for guidance. Right, he was the attending .
"Alright, let's get him on the gurney."
Frank was deposited in Trauma 2 with just about every eye on him. Robby angrily shouted at people to get to work as Frank was hooked up to machines and voices started to call out his vitals.
Low BP. Tachycardia. Tachypnea.
"He's waking up!" Robby whipped his head to Frank who was blinking slowly at the ceiling and groaning. His eyes moved under his eyelids, but he never fully opened them. Robby made his way over, weaving between the nurses and lines.
"Hey, look at me, Frank. Open your eyes." He listened to Whitaker call for IV fluids and a temp check.
"He— the light. It hurts his eyes. He can't really see." Abby was huddled in the corner of the room, her eyes open wide in fear. Robby wanted to tell her to get out, but he didn't.
"Okay, that's okay. Can you hear me, Frank?" He responded with a low groan. "You had a seizure."
"Temp is 104.3."
"How long has he been sick?" Someone, maybe Mel, asked into the room.
"Just a few hours," Abby answered. She stumbled over her words, but quickly listed out a jumbled list of symptoms. Fever, body pain, sensitivity to light, nausea, headache, stiff neck.
"Check his torso," he called suddenly before moving to do it himself. He pulled Frank's sweaty t-shirt up to reveal his stomach and swore. A pinkish-purple rash spread across his torso. Mel gasped before moving to tug up Frank's sleeves to reveal the same rash.
"Meningitis?" Whitaker questioned.
"We'll need to run some blood tests and get a lumbar puncture to make sure." Meningitis. How could he have gotten meningitis?
"Will he be okay?" Abby moved closer and peered over Robby's shoulder to look at the rash that covered her husband's torso. Her eyes widened even more as she stumbled back.
"We are going to take care of him, okay, Abby? You don't need to worry. Why don't you go find Dana and have her take you to the family room? We need to run some tests but will update you as soon as possible."
Abby looked like she was going to protest the longer she stared at Frank who just continued to groan with each touch to his body, but she eventually nodded. Jesse led her out of the room and Robby turned back Frank.
"You'll be alright, Frank. We need to take some blood and do a lumbar puncture to confirm a diagnoses of meningitis. We'll give you some IV antibiotics now." Robby looked up and nodded at Whitaker who quickly moved to get the proper medicine. "Do you hear me, Frank?"
Robby knew he likely had no clue what was being said to him, but was pleased when he nodded. A stray tear slid down Frank's face from his closed eye and Robby wiped it away gently.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of you."
-
Frank woke up in the ICU some time later. At first, he didn't feel any different from how he arrived at the hospital, but days passed and he felt better. His body stilled ached and it was hard to open his eyes for long periods of time, but the impending doom of potential death was no longer present.
Abby stayed with him as often as she could. She was a grounding presence in Frank's otherwise messy mind, and did well to pull him back to reality when the confusion made it hard to stay calm. She brought the kids once he was better enough to hold a short conversation and didn't look minutes away from death. They lifted his spirit considerably.
When Abby couldn't be with him, he slept or was entertained by his coworkers. Mel showed up the most, typically before and after her shift just to make sure Frank was doing okay. She chatted with his quietly and told him about the crazy patients she had. Pretty much everyone else visited once or twice just to check in. Frank would insist he was fine even though he clearly wasn't seeing as he was confined to an ICU bed with IV antibiotics being pumped into his body.
Robby showed up for the first time a couple weeks into Frank's ICU stay. Abby and Mel and Dana all said that he would visit soon, but Frank knew it was just to make him feel better. He tried to convince himself that he understood and didn't deserve Robby's care, but it still hurt. Despite everything that had happened between them, he still thought they could be friends. But, just like everyone said, Robby did show up.
It was late, likely after the day shift, when Robby knocked on the door. Frank waved him in since speaking loudly still wasn't as easy or painless as he would like it to be. Robby entered like he wasn't sure he should, but eventually sat on the chair beside the bed. They looked at each other in silence for a moment.
"Thanks," Frank said. "For taking care of me," he added when Robby didn't react.
"You don't need to thank me." Silence.
"Robby, I'm sorry. I got sick right before my first shift and I've left the hospital short staffed for long enough. I shouldn't have—"
"Jesus, Frank. You shouldn't have what? Gotten sick?" Robby sighed and rubbed at his forehead. He looked tired. "I'm not mad at you. You don't need to apologize."
"But you didn't visit me until now."
"I was worried. It was…scary seeing you that day. You were really sick, Frank." He paused before continuing. "Abby told me that you didn't want to come to The Pitt for help. I don't want you to feel like you can't ever not be perfect when you're here."
Frank nodded and held back annoying tears that blurred his vision. He felt silly wanting to cry, but after months in rehab all Frank wanted was for things to go back to normal. Robby talking to him, comforting him was normal. Frank being in a hospital bed and two weeks into his meningitis recovery were not, but he couldn't complain.
They didn't say much more, but Robby did pull Frank into a gentle hug before leaving with a promise of returning soon.