Take a Ride - 1. Story

“What say we stay in tonight?” Chris raked his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. He loved moments like this, just relaxing together, Jerry’s head cradled in his lap on the couch. A definite plus to staying home was that Jerry couldn’t get in trouble, theoretically at least. Not that he tried to, but he’d never met anyone that was more of a magnet for trouble or more accident prone than his boyfriend. He didn’t begrudge it at all, he loved Jerry, but he was just too tired to go out.

“I thought we were going to go to that new restaurant?” Jerry sat up and Chris’ fingers slid free of his hair.

“I know you want to, but I’m really tired tonight. I thought we could just stay in and have a game night, maybe order some pizza.” He didn’t know why he’d been so tired lately, but it didn’t seem to matter how much he slept; he still ended up exhausted by late afternoon.

“Are you okay?” Jerry’s brow furrowed and he reached out and laid a hand on Chris’s forehead. “Are you getting sick?”

“I’m fine.” Chris smiled and reached up and took Jerry’s hand in his own. “The restaurant will still be there tomorrow, so what do ya say? Stay in tonight, go out tomorrow?”

“Okay, but are you sure you feel up to playing games? We could make it an early night.”

“I’m sure. How about Monopoly?”

“If you’re sure.” Jerry didn’t look convinced but stood and headed down the hall anyways.

He shook his head as Jerry turned too sharp and slammed his shoulder into the corner. Jerry cursed and rubbed his shoulder but didn’t stop. While his boyfriend was busy getting the game, Chris headed to the kitchen and poured both of them a glass of iced tea.

***

“I’m glad you suggested staying in; we haven’t done something like this in forever.” Jerry rolled the dice and moved his little metal dog forward nine spaces only to end up in jail. “Shit!”

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.” Chris chuckled and scooped up the dice. They’d been playing for nearly an hour and Jerry was in jail more than he was out of it. He rolled and moved to Chance. He grinned as he read the card which was the, ‘Take a ride on Reading. He moved his metal car to the space and collected the two hundred for passing Go. He laughed at the frown on Jerry’s face as he bypassed Boardwalk. “Sorry, not getting any money from me this time.”

“Why don’t you ever end up in jail?” Jerry palmed the dice but didn’t immediately roll.

“I guess I’m just lucky.” Chris shrugged, during the entire game so far he hadn’t landed in jail a single time. Jerry had rolled triple doubles three separate times, got the go to jail card twice, and he didn’t know how many times the pouting man had landed on the go to jail space.

“Yeah, well, why don’t you give me a little bit of that luck? I’m tired of being in jail.” Jerry finally rolled again, but failed to get doubles now that he actually needed them. “I’m going to get something to drink. You want anything?”

Jerry sounded aggravated. Chris just smiled and shook his head as Jerry stood and headed into the kitchen. Maybe he shouldn’t have suggested Monopoly, but it was one of Jerry’s favorites. At least, when he wasn’t ending up in jail. Chris smiled and rolled the dice.

***

Chris struggled to open his eyes. It felt like there were weights holding them down but he finally managed to open them only to see a guy and a woman leaning over him. Something was over his nose and mouth, and whatever it was, he wanted it off. He reached up to do just that and heard a voice from next to him as a hand gripped his arm and lowered it back to his side.

“No, no. I need you to leave that on.”

Chris shook his head and reached up again only to feel his arm once more grasped and lowered to his side. He could feel his panic rising and struggled to breathe as he tried to remember what had happened.

“He’s panicking.” One of the faces leaned over him again, and this time he realized the guy was wearing a paramedic’s uniform. “Chris, Chris, listen to me. I need you to calm down.”

Jerry, where was Jerry? Why wasn’t he with him? He had to find him and reached up once again to take off what he now realized was an oxygen mask.

“No babe, you need to leave that on.”

Chris closed his eyes as Jerry’s voice washed over him. He felt hands on either side of his head and opened them to see Jerry’s face upside down above him.

“It’s okay babe; you’re going to be fine.” Jerry didn’t sound like he believed it.

“Okay, we’re stable. Let’s move him. Sir, I need you to move back.”

Jerry disappeared from his vision, and he felt as whatever he was lying on was lifted into the air and started moving. He turned his head and saw Jerry off to the side, tears streaking down his cheeks as he stood with their friend Josh. Their eyes met, and Jerry must have seen something in his because he instantly moved and started walking next to the stretcher.

“Can I go with him?” Jerry reached out and laid a hand on Chris’s shoulder.

“If you ride in the front where you can buckle in.”

He still didn’t know what was going on and was still scared but he was glad to know Jerry would still be with him. Jerry’s hand left his shoulder as Chris was slid into the ambulance. Two paramedics climbed in after him, and he heard a door open and shut.

“Is he going to be okay?” Jerry’s voice again.

“He’s going to be fine; now I need you to buckle up.”

Chris wanted to look at Jerry but couldn’t move his head enough to look up front. Instead he focused on the two paramedics sitting next to him, one on either side.

“Are you doing okay? How are you feeling?” The woman placed a hand on his arm as the ambulance started moving.

“Scared.” Chris managed to speak through the mask. Actually, terrified would probably be more accurate, but scared would work. “What happened?”

“You’re going to be okay; you passed out.”

He felt a prick to his finger, but the pain barely even registered.

“It’s going up. It’s reading at 50 now.”

Chris had no idea what they were talking about. What had gone up? He wanted someone to explain to him what was going on, but he felt kind of out of it and probably wouldn’t understand anyways. Before he could think too much about it, the ambulance stopped and the back doors were opening. The first thing he saw when he was slid out of the ambulance was Jerry standing there, waiting.

He was wheeled into the hospital, the doors opening with a whoosh, and taken down a hallway. The bright lights hurt his eyes and he was grateful when he was wheeled into a room where the lights didn’t seem to be quite as harsh. Jerry kept pace with the stretcher, and it was only his presence that kept Chris from completely freaking out. A nurse came in and greeted the paramedics before turning to Chris.

“Okay, we’re going to shift you over to the bed, okay?” The nurse took hold of the bag of fluids as the female paramedic spoke to him. Chris nodded that he understood. “Okay, on the count of three. One, two… three.”

Chris helped as much as he could but moving was difficult. His entire body ached but with the help of the paramedics he was able to shift over onto the bed. They had just got him settled and the nurse was replacing the breathing mask with a nasal tube breathing line when a knock sounded on the door and a woman in a white lab coat walked into the room.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Sumner.”

“I’m Chris and that’s Jerry.” Chris managed to point at his boyfriend but kept his focus on the doctor as she looked at him.

“Can you tell me what happened, why you’re here today?”

Chris shook his head. All he knew was that he woke up on his living room floor to paramedics kneeling over him and then the ambulance ride. Then he remembered what the paramedic had told him.

“I passed out.”

The doctor looked at the remaining paramedic. Chris hadn’t even realized that the female paramedic had left the room.

“When I arrived on scene I found the patient unconscious and immediately took a reading of his blood glucose levels which turned out to be extremely low at thirty-five. I started him on a glucose infusion; his reading while in transit had risen to fifty.”

The doctor nodded and made a few notes on the clipboard she carried as the paramedic left the room. As soon as he was gone, the doctor turned back to Chris.

“Was anyone with you when you became unconscious?”

“I was.” Jerry moved closer to the bed and rested his hand on Chris’s shoulder.

“How long was he out of it?”

“Five, maybe ten minutes at the most.” Jerry squeezed his shoulder and Chris reached up to grasp Jerry’s hand with his own.

Chris saw the doctor’s eyes rest on their clasped hands for a moment but she didn’t say anything to which he was grateful. He wasn’t ashamed of who he was or who he was with but he normally didn’t do much in public. At the moment though, he needed the connection with Jerry.

“What was he doing before he passed out?”

“We were playing Monopoly. I got up to go get something to drink and when I came back, Chris was face down on the floor. I called his name but he didn’t answer me.” Jerry’s voice hitched and Chris squeezed his hand, encouraging him to continue. It wasn’t only the doctor who was learning what had happened. “I rolled him over and saw he was still breathing and called nine-one-one.”

“He was lucky you were there.”

The entire time the doctor was talking to them, the nurse was moving around the room. She took his blood pressure, pricked his finger again, and took his temperature.

“Had you eaten today, prior to the attack?”

Finally, a question that he could answer.

“No, I’d had a couple glasses of iced tea, but I hadn’t really been hungry.”

“From what you’ve said, and from the notes taken by the emergency responders, I’m fairly certain that your loss of consciousness was caused by a diabetic crash due to low blood glucose levels.” She made a few more notes on her clipboard. “However, I want to do a couple other tests, just to rule out anything worse.”

“What tests?” Chris really didn’t want to go through any more tests than he absolutely had to. Hospitals made him nervous and the sooner he could be out of it, the better. At least they hadn’t made him change into one of those damn gowns.

“I want to do an EKG and a CT Scan as well as some blood work.”

“It doesn’t matter what they want to do; you’re going to have any tests they think you need.” Jerry’s tone brooked no argument and Chris didn’t even try. It wasn’t often that Jerry took charge, but when he did there was no use in arguing.

“I’m going to go and order those tests while you get changed into a gown.”

Damn! There went the idea of not having to wear one of the open backed gowns.

“I’ll just disconnect this for a moment,” the nurse separated the tubing from his IV and removed the breathing tube, “so that you can get your shirt off and then I’ll step out for you to finish disrobing.”

Well, at least they were going to give him a little bit of privacy. It only took a few moments until the hospital gown covered his chest and the nurse reattached the IV, resettled the breathing tube, and then left the room. He carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, only to wobble slightly. He reached out to use the bed to steady himself, but Jerry was already at his side.

“Careful, I don’t want you to fall.”

Chris leaned on Jerry as he undid his jeans and let gravity pull them to the floor. He couldn’t remember ever being so weak, and he didn’t complain when Jerry helped him to sit back on the bed. Jerry knelt and removed his shoes before pulling the jeans the rest of the way off. He stood and folded the clothes neatly before setting them on the counter.

“I’m used to telling you to be careful, not the other way around. What happened to my klutz?” Chris just wanted to lighten the moment but with the way Jerry’s lower lip trembled, he didn’t think he was successful.

“You scared it right out of me.” Jerry’s voice trembled and Chris could do nothing else except pull him close. Jerry was shaking in his arms, and Chris hated that it was because of him. “I thought I’d lost you. I came back and found you on the floor and I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m sorry babe.” He ran a hand over Jerry’s back, trying to comfort him. “You’re not going to lose me.” Chris pressed a kiss to Jerry’s temple. “You’re going to be stuck with me for a long time to come.”

Chris felt a vibration against his hip and leaned back slightly. Jerry clung to him for a moment longer before wiping his eyes and pulling his phone from his pocket.

“It’s Josh. He’s in the waiting room and wanting to know if you’re okay.”

Jerry’s voice still wasn’t steady but Chris knew that it would take time for his boyfriend to get over the scare. Hell, it was going to take time for him to get over it. Not wanting to scare Jerry any more than he already was, Chris did his best not to let on exactly how terrified he was.

“Why don’t you go out and update him. Bring him back with you if you want to.”

“I can’t leave you.”

“We both know how it works; it’s going to be a whole bunch of hurry up and wait.” At least Chris was feeling a lot more alert than he had been when he first woke up. He was finally able to understand what was going on around him which was a relief in and of itself.

“You sure?” Jerry sounded as uncertain as he looked.

“I’m sure.” Chris kissed him lightly before carefully moving his legs back up onto the bed. He would be so glad to get out of this damn hospital.

***

“Okay, so everything else looks good. Your CT scan and your EKG were both normal.”

Chris’s shoulders slumped in relief. He’d been afraid the doctor was going to come in and tell them that there was something seriously wrong with him. Plus, if everything came back normal, he was hoping that meant that he would be able to leave.

“So, does that mean I can go home?”

“You can. You’re going to feel really achy and probably tired for the next few days, so I don’t want you working until Monday. I haven’t found anything that leads me to believe your loss of consciousness was caused by anything other than a sudden drop in your blood sugar.”

“So what does that mean?” Jerry stepped closer and slid his hand into Chris’.

“This could be a one-time episode caused by lack of nutrition. I can’t be certain that it won’t be an ongoing problem, which is why I want you to follow up with your own physician. Spells such as this can be a warning sign of something more serious, such as diabetes.”

“I’m diabetic?” He had a grandma who was diabetic and he really didn’t want to have to be on the diet that she followed religiously.

“Not necessarily, though you could be. Your regular doctor will probably want to run further tests to determine that.” She pinned Chris with her gaze. “You are very lucky you had someone with you. With as low as your levels were, if he hadn’t reacted as quickly as he did, you could have ended up in a coma.”

Chris heard the gasp from beside him and looked over to see Jerry’s had lost all color. A glance at Josh leaning against the wall showed a similar pallor. Not that he had enjoyed hearing how severe it could have been.

Diabetes wasn’t just a one-time thing and if there was even the possibility that he had it, he’d do whatever it took to ensure something like this didn’t happen again. Including, despite his dislike of going to the doctor, following up with his own doctor. He wouldn’t leave Jerry, no matter what it took. Besides, if something happened to him, who would keep Jerry safe?

“I’ll have a nurse come in and disconnect everything and you can get dressed and go home. The nurse will have all your discharge papers, with instructions and a prescription for hydrocodone. You’ll probably be very achy for the next few days, so take them if you need to.”

“Thank you Doctor.”

Chris watched the doctor leave, and before he could say anything he had an armful of shaking Jerry. He ran his hands over Jerry’s back and looked to Josh for help, but Josh just sort of shrugged.

“It’s okay babe, you heard the doctor.”

Jerry pulled back and looked up at him. Chris’ heart twisted in his chest at the sight of tears streaming down his lover’s face. He reached up and wiped them away.

“Yes, I heard her. A coma!” Jerry’s voice had risen an octave, maybe two. “No more. You will eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Even if you’re not hungry.”

“I promise.” He did, he never wanted to see Jerry like this again. He could deal with a lot of things, but seeing the man he loved so clearly terrified was not one of them. He’d do whatever it took to make sure Jerry never had cause to feel like this.

***

“We really appreciate this Josh.” Chris was so glad to finally be released. All they were waiting on now were the paperwork and prescriptions and they could get the hell out of this place.

“Not a problem. I’m going to go pull my truck around to the doors.” Josh left the room and only seconds later a nurse was walking in his walking papers. He scribbled his name on the bottom where he was supposed to and listened to the instructions the nurse gave him.

“Dr. Sumner wants you to follow up with your own physician but if you have any further problems she wants to see you back here.” The nurse handed Jerry the papers before turning back to Chris. “Now, what say we get you out of here? Would you like me to get you a wheelchair?”

“No, I can walk, thanks though.” Chris stood and Jerry wrapped a supporting arm around his waist. The nurse led them down the hallways and stayed with them until Chris had been deposited into the back seat of Josh’s truck with Jerry.

“So, where to?” Josh put the truck in gear and pulled away from the hospital.

“I just want to go home.” Chris rested his head against the window. They’d given him Benadryl just in case he had any reactions to the medications they’d given him and he was bone tired. He just wanted to go home and crawl into bed.

“What about your prescriptions?” Jerry squeezed his thigh.

“How about I drop you guys off and once we’ve got Chris settled I can go to the pharmacy for you? That way you can just go home and not worry about having to go anywhere.”

“Thanks Josh, but we can’t ask you to do that, plus I don’t know if they’d let you pick up the narcotic.” Jerry slipped an arm around Chris and pulled him close.

“You didn’t ask; I offered. Besides, I’ve picked up enough prescriptions for you that they don’t even call and verify anymore.”

Chris chuckled at the truth behind Josh’s words. There had been so many times that, after a trip to the hospital, he couldn’t leave long enough to pick up pain pills for Jerry. “Thanks man, I’d appreciate it.” Chris yawned and snuggled closer to Jerry’s warmth.

“As soon as we get home you’re going straight to bed while I fix us some dinner.”

“You’re going to cook?” Chris loved him, he really did, but Jerry was an absolute disaster in the kitchen. He didn’t know how many times he’d had to treat burns before he’d taken over nearly all of the cooking. He suddenly remembered their original plan and breathed a sigh of relief that Jerry wouldn’t have the opportunity to hurt himself. “I thought we were going to have pizza.”

”I guess, though ….” Jerry looked out the window and didn’t finish his thought.

“What’s wrong babe, besides the obvious?” Chris hoped that whatever was bothering Jerry was something that he could alleviate. He was surprised by the tears brimming in Jerry’s eyes when his boyfriend finally looked at him.

“You spend the majority of your time keeping me safe and taking care of me. I just wish I could have done the same for you. Maybe if I’d got up earlier and made you breakfast, or brought you lunch more often… Something to make sure you were eating. ”

Chris pulled back, hating that Jerry was so upset over something that had been beyond his control. He tried to keep his voice as steady as possible as he reassured him.

“You do take care of me. There’s nothing you could have done to prevent it.” Jerry still didn’t look convinced and a glance at Josh showed that he was trying not to listen, or at least pretending not to. “Who’s the one who called for the ambulance? Who’s the one who didn’t leave my side the entire time I was in the hospital? You’ve been there every step of the way.” Chris paused and took a deep breath. “You were the only thing that kept me calm during all the tests, during all the poking and prodding. I couldn’t have handled it without you by my side.”

“But—“

“No, no buts about it. I can handle whatever we find out, because I know, at the end of the day, you’re not going anywhere. I love you. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together, just like we always have.”

“I love you too.” Jerry reached up and wiped away the tears that had escaped before cuddling close.

Despite feeling achy, Chris wrapped his arms around Jerry. He’d continue to offer whatever reassurances Jerry needed because every word he’d said had been nothing but the truth.