Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 15- Medication

At that point, I had completely stopped trying to walk and was leaning against a wall, facing him while he stared me down with his strict gaze. I felt as though all the blood must have left my face, but he continued nonetheless. "It's much worse than you're letting on, isn't it, Eliana? They did much more than slightly cut up your feet for you to need this much medication. Much worse things happened to you wherever you were, and you never gave us up."

Angelo took a step back so that he wasn't crowding my space as tightly, "So, I'm going to ask you again, would you like me to call the doctor to your room? He's already in the building and on our payroll. I won't even say anything to the others if you do, it's only us in this hallway and I have no one to confide in anyways. This has nothing to do with weakness or strength or independence, it's about making sure that you're getting the best care possible and utilizing every research to make you as comfortable as we can."

I couldn't avoid his gaze, and I had the feeling that he would see through any sort of lie I might try to spin. "I.... I think it would be a good idea for me to check in with a doctor. Thank you, Angelo."

He nodded, not quite smiling all of the way, but almost allowing the side of his mouth to pull into a grin. "Alright, let's get you back to your room and then I'll go get him."

It took a few more moments of stumbling and deep breathing to get me there, at which point Angelo helped me up onto the bed where I waited for him to return with the doctor. Whatever medication I had been given before was obviously wearing off, and by the time they returned, I was laying on my back trying not to move.

After staring at the doctor in confusion, I finally remembered where I had seen him before. He was from the hospital that Ezrah had ended up in, he had been very kind to both of us. I gave him the best smile that I could manage and he stepped a little bit closer, "How are you feeling today, Ms. North?"

"A little sore and achy." I was trying to keep my heart rate down down in the presence of a doctor. They tended to make me nervous, but it wasn't as bad as being in a real hospital.

He clicked a pen light and raised it to my eye level, but when he reached to touch my face and his fingers grazed my black eye, I flinched back. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize the medication had worn off so much. Could I see how you're healing under your shirt?"

I nodded, for the first time wondering who had changed me into these leggings and loose shirt. I could feel the tightness of a sports bra, so I didn't mind at all. I had forgotten that Angelo was in the room until he hesitated, "Would you like me to leave, Eliana?"

"You don't have to unless you want to make it to your meeting."

"Well," He chuckled. "No one was allowed in the room when the doctor was stitching you up, I wouldn't mind being able to report to Alessio how long you'll need to be on rest."

The doctor chose that moment to raise my shirt, and I heard Angelo swear under his breath. I glanced down at the hands pressing on my stomach, and the pools of dark blue, purple, and yellow that covered my ribcage.

"Ms. North, before I give you any more medication, I need you to tell me what hurts the most."

I nodded, closing my eyes because this was too similar to another experience that I had buried much farther down in my memory. I didn't want to focus on anything but the pain. Most of it was manageable until he pressed on my lower right ribs and an involuntary whimper forced its way up my throat. I managed to turn it into a cough, which hurt my chest, but I had a feeling that it wasn't the most convincing thing for everyone else in the room.

"Yeah, that hurt more than the others."

"I was worried about that the most. You've got a couple fractured ribs on this side, and some deep bone bruising in other parts of your body. I'm pretty sure that you've had multiple concussions over the last week or so, but most of your real fractures and breaks are in smaller parts of your body, toes and fingers mostly. Any deep cuts I already stitched up, including the one.... On your back. Do you remember getting it?"

A shiver racked my spine, "I remember the pain."

"It was much larger than I usually see," He sighed and pulled up a chair next me, placing himself between me and Angelo, who was leaning against the door. "That was a nasty one, worse than even some of the other ones that I've stitched up for these men before. I'm sorry, but there's no way it won't scar, even stitching it up."

"I'm not so worried about that. I've got other scars, it just adds to the collection."

I was trying to be lighthearted about the whole thing, but he frowned, "It covers almost your entire back."

"I know the drill with stitches. I'll try not to bend or do anything to pull them."

"Have you had any internal injuries before? Any scar tissue on organs?"

"Maybe, I've been in a few nasty incidents before, but the medical attention that I got for them was.... Not the best."

"I only ask because you've got some scars that seem to be long healed, and I want to make sure there's not something in your medical history that I should know about."

There was a hesitation in my voice, and I knew that they could hear it loud and clear. I didn't know what I could say without giving up a past that could connect me to a death and probably get me arrested. "Nothing serious. Barfight type stuff, you know?"

My eyes flickered to Angelo, and based on his narrowed eyes, he didn't believe me in the slightest. The doctor pulled me attention back, "The burns on your chest and back are fresh...."

"Yeah, one of them smoked. He didn't like using an ashtray."

"I should warn you as well that your nose might not heal straight, it's rather badly broken."

"Alright."

"As far as medication goes, I can give you something to dull this, but if I give you the safest maximum dose, you'll be rather disoriented. You'll need to stay in bed for a while, and I'd recommend against hard foods and rich ones that might make you sick. Bed rest is imperative, I don't want you walking around anymore. It's the same medication I gave you after you first got here and I had to do some surgery, it knocked you out for a couple of days."

I nodded, "That's fine by me, I wouldn't mind being asleep for a while."

"Alright, take these four pills," He handed me a small cup, "And I'll be in to check on you every once in a while. I'm going to use a heart monitor as well, I'll be back with the equipment in a few minutes."

The doctor stepped out of the room, leaving Angelo and I alone. I avoided his gaze and threw back the pills and water, hoping that it kicked in soon. "Eliana..... May I say, you're handling this all rather well."

I tried to laugh it off, "What should my reaction be? There's no point in panicking, what's done is done, the best that I can do is heal."

"Not only that, but you obviously know what we do, you may have permanent damage to your body, and you've said nothing in complaint.... And you lied to the doctor."

"I...."

He held up his hand to stop me, "It may not have been an obvious lie, but you at least lied by omission when he asked you about past injuries. I'm not going to say anything to anyone, and I don't think that you're doing it for a malicious reason, but the people around here are perceptive. They might catch on if you're trying to hide something."

"Thank you," I sighed, leaning back into my pillows. I was starting to feel slightly sleepy, but I knew that he was right. "Don't feel like you have to stay for any of this, I'll probably be out in the next couple of minutes. Have fun at your meeting, I hope I didn't make you miss anything important."

Angelo gave me a curt nod, "Is there anything you need? Anything you'd like me to tell Alessio?"

"No, thank you... actually, if you wouldn't mind giving my thanks to Leonardo as well, I would appreciate it."

He gave one more nod and then left the doorway. I sighed and closed my eyes, desperate for the sleep that would take the edge off of my pain.

Hello everyone! Now that I'm on a break for a couple months, I'm trying to update more. Please let me know what you're thinking, especially if this story feels too slow? Too fast? Dull? Not enough character development? I'd love to know what you're thinking, or vote/comment! I'd really appreciate it-

Elizabeth