Penguin - 9. Chapter 9

Daniel

The guy that held the door open for me and Penguin was totally checking me out; although that could be because I looked like I’d been through a round with Evander Holyfield. I still had my black eye from Trevor and the cast on my left arm. My ankle was mildly sprained and I could walk on it just fine, but with a slight limp.

I walked up to the reception desk to sign Penguin in. All therapy animals had to be on an ‘approved’ list and, of course, Penguin was on it. It felt very strange bringing Penguin to the hospital without Sean. I felt a sharp stab of pain when I thought about Sean. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get rid of the guilt over what happened. I knew Sean would tell me that it wasn’t my fault, but that’s not really true.

I entered the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The guy that had opened the door for me walked in behind me. He smiled at me. “Cute cat.”

I smiled back at him. “He’s a therapy cat. He comes here regularly to help the patients feel better. He has a real knack for knowing who needs him the most.”

“You look like you could use him, yourself. What happened to you?”

Now I was sure the guy was checking me out. He was cute, but I wasn’t interested.

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

The guy looked chagrined. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

I nodded reassuringly at him. “It’s ok.”

The elevator dinged and opened. We both exited and turned right.

“I’m not stalking you, I promise,” the guy laughed. “I’m here to see a friend of mine. He’s on this floor. Although I could stalk you, if you wanted…” he looked me over and winked at me.

I smiled half-heartedly. “I’m flattered. You’re really cute and under other circumstances…” I trailed off as we both stopped in front of the same door. I raised an eyebrow at him.

He held his hands up. “This is my friend’s room, I swear!”

I opened the door and heard the steady beeping of the machines. I both loved and hated that sound. The good thing was that it meant strong vital signs, but I hated the fact that they were there in the first place.

I put Penguin’s carrier on the foot of the bed and opened it. Penguin stretched and yawned. He chirped inquisitively, and then curled up into the occupant’s side and lay there, purring. The beeping slowed into a more relaxed rhythm. I didn’t think I would ever cease to be amazed by Penguin’s effect on people.

“I thought that looked like Penguin. I’m Eric and you must be Daniel.” He held out his hand.

I shook it and smiled. “Sean’s talked about you. You were good friends in nursing school.” I gave Sean a quick kiss on the forehead before I sat down in the chair next to his bed and took his hand.

Eric looked sheepish. “I’m so sorry for hitting on you. I had no idea you were Sean’s boyfriend.”

I shook my head. “No worries, man. Like I said; I’m flattered.”

Eric looked at Sean worriedly. “How is he?”

“He’s doing better than the doctors thought he would. I don’t think they expected him to pull through.”

“He always was stubborn. Michael used to say that sometimes he’d rather deal with a mule.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I can understand that. So you knew Michael?”

“We all used to be in the same study group. You guys must be pretty serious if he told you about Michael.”

I ran my hand down Sean’s cheek. “I can’t imagine watching someone you love go through that.” I frowned. “Actually…yes, I can.” I squeezed Sean’s hand.

We both turned when we heard the door open.

“Let me get that for you, sweetheart.”

“I can get it myself! And I’m not your sweetheart!”

Robbie rolled his eyes and made a crazy sign behind Sean’s sister’s back. I stifled a laugh.

Siobhan set a tray of coffee down on the table. “Eric! I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?” She gave him a big hug.

“Fine… I just stopped by on my way to work to see how he’s doing. I’ll stop by again later. It was great seeing you again, Siobhan. Daniel, it was nice to finally meet you.” He looked at Sean sadly, and then walked out the door.

Siobhan walked over and kissed me on the cheek. “How’s the patient today?”

“I just got here so I haven’t seen the doctor yet, but he looks the same. Penguin seems to be helping his vitals.”

“I’ll go track down a nurse and get us an update.” She glared at Robbie as she brushed past him. “Troglodyte,” she muttered.

He grabbed his crotch. “You know you want it.”

He was lucky she was out of earshot.

Robbie stared after her and shook his head. “Damn she has a nice ass. I wouldn’t mind getting me some of that. Too bad she’s a frigid bitch.”

I groaned. “Oh my god, Robbie. Don’t let Sean hear you talk about his sister like that. And could you manage to not think with your dick for just one day? Hell, even one hour!”

“Hey, I haven’t gotten any in over a week now so I think Robbie junior is entitled to do some thinking for me. There’s gotta be some hot nurses around here I can bang.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just promise me you won’t sleep with Sean’s sister. I’ll kick your ass for him and then he can kick it again when he…”

Robbie walked over to me and squeezed my shoulder.

“When he wakes up, I’d like nothing more than for him to kick my ass.”

I smiled and bumped my shoulder into his hip.

Siobhan returned with a nurse and doctor in tow. The doctor looked at Sean’s chart and smiled. “His vitals have been nice and steady for the past twenty-four hours and the surgical site is healing very nicely. I think it’s time we started to wean him off the sedatives so we can assess the extent of any brain injury.”

Penguin stood up, stretched and yawned, then sat next to Sean looking at the doctor. I swear he was taking in every word the doctor said.

The doctor chuckled and petted Penguin’s head. “Don’t worry…you should have your owner back soon.”

Penguin blinked at him and licked his paws.

*****

The doctors started to wean Sean off the sedatives that afternoon. They had kept him sedated during the week after the shooting in order for his body to heal from the bullet wound and surgery. He had lost a lot of blood before the paramedics arrived and he suffered what they called an ‘anoxic event’, which apparently meant that his brain had been deprived of oxygen. They didn’t know what effect this was going to have on him and I was warned that he may have suffered significant brain damage. I refused to allow myself that thought.

We were lucky that the police had arrived when they did. Trevor was about to fire another round into Sean when they shot him. Trevor didn’t survive, so I never had to worry about him coming after us ever again.

I was half-asleep in the chair next to Sean’s bed when I felt my hand being squeezed. I sat up and saw Sean watching me groggily.

“Hey, sweetheart… you’re awake!” I lightly trailed my fingers along his cheek. “How do you feel?”

“Wha…what happened? Where am I?” He croaked.

Penguin sat up and purred loudly, headbutting Sean’s chin.

Sean smiled and petted Penguin. Pen mrowed and curled back up in to Sean’s side, nudging his hand so he would keep petting him.

I poured a glass of water and helped Sean sit up so he could take a sip.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I remember going to your apartment with Robbie. We were going to get you out of there.” His eyes got big and he started to shake. “Trevor had a gun and was going to shoot you!”

I took his hand again and entwined our fingers. “You shoved me out of the way and he shot you instead.” I whispered. “You saved my life.”

He smiled at me sleepily. “Good.” He tried reaching up to me with his left hand, but hissed sharply in pain.

“Don’t try to do too much; you still have a lot of healing to do.” I ran my fingers through his hair and leaned down to give him a quick kiss. Sean had other ideas, though and pulled me to him with his right hand and kissed me deeply. I moaned into his mouth and allowed access to his probing tongue. We didn’t last too long before Sean was gasping for breath.

“I take it the sedative has worn off.” The doctor sounded amused.

I pulled away from Sean and turned bright red. The doctor asked Sean a ton of questions and seemed satisfied with all his answers. Sean fell asleep right after that and the doctor assured me that he was fine; he’d be sleeping quite a bit over the next few days and it looked like there wasn’t any brain damage. I thanked the doctor as tears ran down my face. Penguin stretched and jumped into my lap. I picked him up and hugged him to my chest. I’m not sure which one of us was more relieved.