"You heard her," Doc's wife, Maria, snapped, pushing her way into the room with a stern, no-nonsense scowl. "Hades gave you an order. Get out."
A shudder ran through me at her words, but I kept my mouth shut as Lucas and Cass reluctantly left the room. When they were gone, Maria closed the door firmly behind them and crossed over to my bed with a warm smile.
"Sir," she greeted me with a sigh. "You've definitely looked better."
For some reason, that amused the hell out of me, and a startled laugh escaped my chest. But it was quickly followed by a flare of pain, and I groaned.
"You probably need to use the bathroom," Doc commented as he checked my IV line, and then he hummed under his breath. He disconnected the line from the cannula and gently peeled my blankets away. "I knew we were only a couple of hours away and didn't want Lucas fumbling around with a catheter."
"And I appreciate that," I replied quietly, internally flinching at the thought of having anyone between my legs. I was dressed in a pair of unisex sweatpants and a loose T-shirt, so someone had handled me, and that was enough.
Doc offered me a hand to help me up, but when I pointedly didn't take his offer, Maria pushed him aside and offered me her arm instead. Smart woman, she knew what she was doing. I gave her a tight nod of appreciation as she helped me ever so slowly to my feet, not rushing me when I needed to pause and let my head clear.
Eventually I made it to the attached bathroom to pee—rehydrated now, thanks to the saline drip—and back to bed once more.
In the meantime, Doc had set up all the equipment he needed to fully check me over. I gritted my teeth, knowing full well how invasive this was all going to be but also understanding it was necessary.
"I'm going to get this done as quickly as possible, Hades," he told me in a low murmur, "and Maria can do the rest, okay?"
I jerked a nod and blew out the breath I was holding. "Hit me with your best shot, Doc. I can take it."
He gave a soft snort of laughter, indicating for me to lie back down on the bed. "That, I don't doubt."
With his wife's help, he ran through a physical check from head to toe. He thoroughly cleaned the nasty mess of my shoulder and muttered some comments about needing surgery to repair the AC joint that Chase had fucked up. The damage was where the collarbone met the shoulder blade. It didn't sound like an urgent thing, though, so I said nothing and let him continue.
I winced a couple of times as he tested my ribs, so he used the portable x-ray machine he'd set up to check for breaks. Sure enough, three ribs on the left and two on the right were fractured but not at risk of puncturing anything.
It was impossible not to notice how careful Doc was about limiting the physical contact between us, and I appreciated the fuck out of him for it.
When he was satisfied with everything he wanted to check, he packed up his things and gave me a tight smile. "I'll leave you with Maria and pop back when she's done. Are you feeling hungry at all?"
Was I? I didn't even fucking know. My stomach was a mess of knots and anxiety; I doubted I'd keep any food down even if I tried. But my logical brain told me that I needed food in order to recover, so I nodded to acknowledge him.
"I'll tell Lucas to get you something easy," Doc told me, then gave Maria a nod before leaving the room. Before he closed the door fully, I heard the rumble of voices in the hall. Clearly Cass and Lucas hadn't been willing to go any further than right outside the room.
Maria opened up her own medical bag on the chair beside the bed and gave me a long look. "Do you want to talk?" she offered after an extended silence. I arched one brow in response, and she bobbed her head. "Fair enough. The offer is on the table if you change your mind."
From her bag she pulled out a small packet and popped a tiny white pill out into her palm. Without a word, she handed it to me, and I damn near choked with how fast I swallowed it down.
That done, she pulled on a pair of gloves and got to work on her part of my physical.
"How long ago did you get your IUD?" she murmured as she took the swabs necessary for testing. "I should have checked your file, but everything was a bit of a rush."
I swallowed past the tension in my throat before I could reply. "Only a year ago." And they lasted for five. The pill she'd given me was just an extra precaution, and one I was more than happy to take.
She finished up and helped me back under the covers before sitting down with a sigh. "Hades..."
I tensed. As weak as I was, as damaged, abused, and fragile as I was, I didn't feel like Hades anymore. She was strong and unshakable. I was nothing but an empty shell of that woman.
"You need to talk to someone," Maria said quietly.
I shook my head—not just to deny her statement but to shake away that painfully depressing thought that had just filled my head. Where the fuck had that even come from? I wasn't an empty shell. I was a goddamn survivor.
"Boss, believe me when I say I won't breathe a word of this to anyone," Maria continued. "I'm not stupid. But for your own wellbeing, I want you to seriously consider therapy."
I gave a bitter laugh, meeting her sad eyes. "I was way past the point of help even before this happened, Maria." That statement didn't reassure her, though. If anything, it just made her more worried. "I have coping mechanisms," I offered, as though that was sufficient.
She pursed her lips, frowning, but gave another nod and sigh before standing up. "We're all done. From what Gerry was muttering, I understand you're going to be on antibiotics for a while for that shoulder. I'll let him back in here to give you his final assessment, though. Unless there's anything more you want to talk about with me?"
I shook my head. "I'm alive, Maria. That's the only thing that counts."
She huffed a sound like she disagreed but moved over to the door to let Doc back in. He slipped in and quickly shut the door again, blocking anyone else from pushing in after him.
Maria gave him a rundown of everything in quick, clinical terms, and to Doc's credit he didn't give me any pitying glances. After all, he'd patched me up before, so none of this should really come as any great shock.
"Okay, boss," he announced, sitting down in the chair to give me a stern look. "Here's the plan. I've got you back on antibiotics and have given Lucas clear instructions on how and when to dose that. You will need surgery to regain full range of motion in that shoulder, but I can appreciate that's maybe not the top of your priority list right now."
"You'd be right about that," I agreed. If it wasn't life threatening, it could wait. Besides, it was my left shoulder, and I was right-handed. So long as I could still fire a gun, I would be fine.
Doc nodded. "I'll make an appointment for you to see a friend of mine in Toronto when you're well enough to make the trip. He's the best in the business, and I wouldn't send you to anyone less." He ran a hand over his tired eyes. I had no clue what time it was but could imagine he had been dragged out of his bed to be here. "I know you told me earlier, but remind me again. Roughly how often were you injected with those drugs?"
I'd given him the pertinent facts of my abuse while he'd checked me over, filling him in on the drugs when I asked to be taken off the morphine.