A Very Odd Couple 15
--------------------
Previously on ER.
Dave was attacked on his way home from work. Recovering in the
hospital, he started suffering from nightmares. Luka told Dave
that he too had suffered from nightmares after an incident in
Croatia, and tried to help Dave realize that he was not to blame
for the assault. Carter returned from Atlanta and tried to help
Dave as well. He was shocked to find out that Dave knew all about
his addiction, as it wasn't common knowledge in the ER. After a
final check-up from Elizabeth, Dave was cleared to leave the
hospital, but insisted on walking through the ER rather than let
his colleagues see him in a wheelchair.
--------------------
Dave stared tiredly out the window of the car as Luka drove. He
knew that he probably should have let Luka wheel him through the
ER instead of insisting on walking, but he hadn't been able to
bear the thought of his colleagues seeing him like that. Not in
the ER.
Occasionally Dave responded to Luka's attempts to engage him in
conversation, but for the most part Luka might as well have been
talking to himself. Sighing, Luka pulled to a stop in a line of
cars waiting for a green light.
"So, what would you like for dinner this evening?" he
asked. "I thought I could cook you something special to
celebrate your discharge from the hospital."
There was no response from Dave. Surprised, Luka looked over to
the passenger seat. Dave had sunk down into his seat. His arms
were wrapped tightly around his body and Luka could see that he
was trembling.
"Dave?" said Luka, puzzled. "What is the matter?"
Dave didn't respond. He continued to stare fixedly out of the
window. Luka followed his line of vision and saw that Dave was
staring at a small alleyway leading off the street.
With a sickening chill, Luka realized that he had stopped the car
outside the alleyway where Dave had been attacked. "Oh God,
Dave," he said. The blaring of car horns interrupted him and
he noticed that the traffic light had changed to green. Hurriedly
he drove away. A few blocks later, he pulled into the side.
Switching off the engine, he turned to Dave. "I am so sorry,"
he said softly. "I didn't realize...I drive this way almost
every day...I never thought...I never thought it would upset you
so."
Dave turned to Luka, with tears in his eyes. "It's not your
fault," he said, his voice cracking. "I knew...I knew
we were going to be passing it. I...I just thought I could handle
it. I mean..." He swallowed hard, "I thought I'd be
okay with it..."
"I should have taken another route home," said Luka.
"You should not have had to face this...not so soon."
"How can I ever get past this if I can't even look at the
place where...where it happened?" he said sadly.
"You will get past this. You just have to give it time.
There is no need to rush things."
"I just hate the way it makes me feel. I don't want to be
like this forever."
"You will not be," said Luka reassuringly. "It may
take time, but you will get better."
"Didn't take long for Carter," said Dave, sighing.
"I mean, he was in and out of Curtain 3, his first week back...and
he was stabbed."
"You are not Carter," said Luka firmly. "Your
recovery will not take the same path as his." Luka hoped
that this would be true. He couldn't bear the thought of Dave
becoming an addict. "Carter tried to do too much too quickly.
He did not allow himself sufficient time to heal and paid the
price. I will not let you suffer the same fate. That is a promise."
"I'm not gonna turn to drugs," said Dave quietly.
"I know they're not the answer."
Luka looked at him in surprise. "You knew?"
Dave shrugged, "I found out by accident. Carter talked to me
about it...helped me understand a few things..."
"Then you understand why I do not wish you to rush into
anything. Please Dave. Continue with your Psych appointments and
remember that you have friends and family who care deeply for you
and want to help you. You are not alone."
"I know that," said Dave softly. "Thank you."
---------------------
Dave spent a long time on the phone to Chris that night. Luka
wasn't eavesdropping intentionally, but he did hear Dave speaking
to her about the attack, telling her more about it than he had
done before. When Dave was finished, he handed the phone to Luka.
"She wants to talk to you," he said.
Luka nodded and took the phone. "Chris, how are you?"
he asked.
"I'm doing fine," replied Chris. "Better now that
I know that Dave's back home. I was thinking of coming to Chicago
tomorrow to see him. I've got about thirty hours between shifts,
and I was hoping I could crash at your place again. If that's
okay."
"Of course it is okay," replied Luka, with an
involuntary smile. "It will be good to see you again."
"That's great," replied Chris. "See you tomorrow
then."
---------------------
The day after Dave returned home, Luka quietly opened the front
door. He hadn't wanted to leave Dave alone less than twenty-four
hours after he had been discharged, but Dave had expressed the
desire for home-made lasagna and Luka hadn't had all the
ingredients. Not wishing to disappoint him, Luka had decided to
make a quick trip to the Mall. Of course there was no such thing
as a <quick> trip, but Dave had assured him that he would
be fine for a few hours.
After the phone call from Dave's sister, he and Luka had talked
for a long time about a lot of things that had been troubling
both of them. Dave had seemed a lot more relaxed than he had been
for weeks and Luka was relieved to hear the next morning that
Dave's sleep hadn't been disturbed by nightmares. Hopefully it
was the beginning of a full recovery.
He pushed open the door to the living room where he had left Dave
sprawled on the couch. Hopefully Dave would have managed to get
some sleep by now. To his surprise, Dave wasn't there. Puzzled,
he checked the rest of the ground floor, but without success.
"Dave?" he called, starting to get worried. "Dave,
where are you?"
He heard a muffled sound coming from upstairs and took the stairs
two at a time, in his haste to find out where it was coming from.
"I'm in here," called Dave from the bathroom.
Luka opened the door to see Dave slumped against the side of the
bathtub.
"Oh my God," said Luka as he rushed to Dave's side, and
knelt down beside him. "Are you all right? What happened?
What are you doing?" Luka was nearly frantic with worry. He
had given Dave strict instructions, <not> to climb the
stairs unattended, because although Dave's injuries were healing,
he was still suffering occasional bouts of dizziness.
"I'm fine," replied Dave. "Just a bit worn out."
That was an understatement. It had taken Dave almost half-an-hour
just to get from the living room to the bathroom. There had been
a moment on the stairs, when he had lost his balance and had
spent a few anxious minutes, clinging to the railing, willing
himself not to pass out.
And now with his heart pounding, and his body aching, he was
almost regretting his earlier impulse.
"What are you doing upstairs?" asked Luka, checking
Dave's pulse as he did so.
Dave looked embarrassed. "Well, I got fed up with my hair
being so filthy and greasy, so I thought I'd wash it. Only, by
the time I got here I was too exhausted to do anything. I was
just trying to catch my breath for a minute."
"You wanted to wash your hair?" said Luka in disbelief.
"Yeah, man. When I was in the hospital, they used this
crappy dry shampoo on me. It hasn't been washed properly for
weeks."
Luka shook his head in incredulity. "Do you have any idea
how much of a scare you gave me?"
"Sorry, Luka," said Dave with a repentant expression on
his face. "But I thought I'd be finished and downstairs
again before you got back."
"And just how did you think you were going to manage without
getting your cast wet?"
Dave looked at the cast on his left arm. It was hard to see the
plaster under the cover of all the signatures on it. "Oh,"
he said. "I hadn't thought of that."
Luka rolled his eyes. "Okay then. Now that you're here, I
suppose we had better do something about it."
"We?"
"Do you think I would let you do this alone? Come, kneel
over the side of the bath, and use your good arm to keep your
balance. I will get a plastic bag to keep your cast dry."
After wrapping Dave's arm securely in plastic, Luka checked his
watch before removing it and rolling up his sleeves.
"Chris should be here soon. We will see if we can get you
finished before she arrives."
So Luka set to work. His task was not made easier by Dave's
persistent wriggling.
"Careful," said Dave. "You're getting suds in my
eyes."
"Keep them closed," ordered Luka. "And stop
squirming so much."
Dave yelped as Luka sent a stream of water down his neck.
"Sorry," said Luka, unrepentantly, "But I told you
not to move."
Finally Dave was lathered and rinsed. Luka wrapped a towel around
his head and helped him to a seated position. Dave tried to towel
dry his hair one-handed as Luka replaced the bottles on the shelf.
"Uh-oh," said Luka.
"Uh-oh, what?" asked Dave.
"Do you know if Chris left some stuff here the last time she
stayed over?"
"Dunno, I guess so. She wouldn't want to be carrying stuff
back and forth. Why d'you ask?"
"I was just wondering what this product 'Nair' does."
"What?" yelped Dave. He dropped the towel and tried to
pull himself up to where he could look in the mirror. Everything
looked okay. He turned around to see Luka in fits of laughter and
holding a bottle of shampoo.
"You..." said Dave. His eyes fell on the shower
attachment, which was dripping idly in the tub where Luka had
left it. Quickly he reached for it.
"You would not dare," said Luka.
"Oh wouldn't I?" Dave quickly flicked the 'on' button
and started directing the resulting stream of water at Luka. Luka
tried to wrestle it away from Dave. He wasn't trying too hard,
because he didn't want to hurt him. Within a few minutes they
were both soaked.
Neither of them heard the door open, and so both were startled
when they heard Chris say, "Oh, if I only had a camera with
me."
They stopped struggling in surprise.
"I let myself in," said Chris. "And I was
wondering where you'd both got to. Don't let me interrupt you."
Luka and Dave looked at each other for a moment.
"Shall I?" said Luka nodding in Chris's direction.
"Go for it dude," said Dave with an evil grin.
In a quick movement, Luka let go of Dave, and grabbed Chris.
Taking her by surprise he had her almost in the bathtub before
she recovered and started struggling.
"Oh no," said Chris as she tried to pull her feet under
her.
"Oh yes," said Dave as he directed jets of water at her.
A few minutes later, all three of them were soaked, and the
bathroom looked as if a tidal wave had hit it.
Their fun was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
"Are you expecting anyone?" asked Luka.
Dave shook his head. "Not me. Are you?"
"Well don't just stand there," said Chris. "Go get
it."
Luka grabbed a towel and tried vainly to make himself look
presentable as he hurried down the stairs. Chris got out of the
bathtub, and helped Dave out to the hall, to where they could
hear what was going on.
--------------------
Luka opened the door to find Kerry standing there.
Kerry raised her eyebrows at the sight of Luka standing there
dripping.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"Everything is fine," said Luka. "We just had a
bit of a problem with the plumbing."
Upstairs, Chris and Dave heard this and tried not to burst out
laughing.
"Plumbing, good one," said Chris. "C'mon we'd
better get you looking presentable before you see your boss."
"Yeah, don't want her thinking I'm a total slob,"
laughed Dave, leaning on Chris as they walked back to his room.
"I've missed that," said Chris. Dave looked at her
curiously. "I've missed your laugh, your smile."
Dave put his good arm around his little sister. "It's been a
rough time sis, I know. I'm just glad that I've had you and Luka
to help me get through it. I mean I know I've still a long ways
to go, but I'm getting there."
"I know that," said Chris, "And you know I'll
always be there for you."
-------------------------
Part
XIV