by pebble/scifipony
Fandom: Tracker (2024)
Characters: Reenie Greene, Colter Shaw
Words: 3,029
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Friendship, Colter-Whump
Warnings: Gunshot wounds, blood
Author's Notes: Written for the Whumptober event on tumblr, for the prompts "ICU" and "Gunshot Wound". Originally posted to FFN and Squidgeworld.
NOTE: Set during late S1/early S2.
The little rental sedan took a turn way too fast, almost ending up in the woods off the side of the road. Reenie forced herself to breathe deeply as she got the car back under control. She couldn’t afford to crash.
Crammed into the back seat, his long limbs having no space to stretch out comfortably, Colter was growing more and more listless as the drive continued. He needed medical help. Or a miracle.
Reenie fought down the latest surge of panic and tried to focus on driving. Every glance into the rearview mirror only made her more on edge. She’d seen Colter injured before, but he was so pale right now, and his movements were increasingly less noticeable with every passing minute. It was hard to say if he was even still conscious.
The car skidded around another turn, leaving behind tire marks on the lonely mountain road. She wished they’d grabbed his truck instead of her little rental. This vehicle was not made for rough terrain. In the moment, though, there hadn’t been time to rationally think everything through. Her car had been closer so that’s what they’d grabbed. Maybe if Colter had been more lucid at the time, he would have run the percentages and figured out that they had a better chance of making it back to town in his big pickup truck, but he hadn’t been.
Reenie still didn’t fully understand how everything had gone wrong so quickly. The case had been over, mostly. Colter figured out the location of the kidnapped victim and called it in to the police. The two of them were getting ready to head out to join the rescue party when that gunman had appeared out of nowhere. When they first agreed to go investigate their suspect’s cabin, it was with the certainty that the kidnapper was still with the victim. They hadn’t counted on him having an accomplice.
Thankfully, Colter had managed to subdue the shooter and they locked him in one of the cabin’s storage rooms until police could arrive. It wasn't until after the initial adrenaline was leaving Reenie’s system that she’d noticed the growing pool of red on her friend’s shirt. He must have taken a bullet during the scuffle.
Waiting for an ambulance would have taken too long, especially on these back roads, so Reenie quickly made the decision that driving to the hospital themselves would be better. Given how rapidly Colter’s condition had already deteriorated, that was definitely the right choice.
Finally, the road turned from dirt to pavement and began to level out. She passed a road sign, declaring the town to be a few miles ahead.
“We’re almost there,” she said, more for her own benefit than her half-conscious passenger. “A few more minutes. Just hold on a little longer, Colter.”
There was no response. She hadn’t been expecting one, but the silence still drove another spike of fear through her.
It took all of her self control not to keep watching him in the rearview mirror, checking for any signs of life. Or to stop herself from pulling over. She wasn’t medically trained; the best way to help was to get him to someone who was. That knowledge didn’t make the drive any easier.
By the time the car screeched to a halt in the hospital’s emergency loading area, Reenie couldn’t tell if he was still breathing or not. Whatever she shouted to the medical personnel, it did the trick. The car was descended upon by a team of people pushing a gurney. Reenie was politely shuffled out of the way so they could focus on Colter.
Someone was asking her rapid fire questions, determining how long ago he was injured and what his rate of decline had been. She tried to answer every one of his questions, though she was barely aware of her own responses. Every bit of her focus was on the still body they were currently strapping down to the gurney.
They were in motion a moment later, the medical team getting him through the emergency doors and then through another set of doors, taking him to the nearest available room. More medical personnel were appearing to join the team. The reinforcements should have been reassuring, but Reenie found the sheer number of people working on Colter to be even more concerning.
Someone, a nurse probably, gently but firmly guided Reenie away. She resisted until the woman pointed out that the doctors needed the space. The best way to help Colter was to let them do their jobs.
She was deposited in the waiting area, a hard plastic chair and a foam cup of vending machine coffee her only source of comfort. It was only after she was left alone to wait that Reenie realized how badly her hands were shaking.
“Miss?” a voice broke through the numbness setting in. The nurse was back, holding out a set of scrubs. “Would you like to change? There’s a restroom right around the corner.”
Reenie glanced down at her clothes. Bloodstains were soaking through the left side of her shirt and jacket, where she’d been helping support Colter during the walk to the car. The cuffs of her sleeves were spattered as well, probably from trying to put pressure on the wound. Colter had had to walk her through the process of stemming the blood flow and applying a makeshift pressure bandage. It was a first aid lesson that would be permanently seared into her memory.
“Thank you,” she said, wincing at how shaky her own voice sounded.
Getting the blood washed off her hands definitely helped. She disposed of her clothes, knowing she’d never want them back. If he survived, she was definitely charging Colter for the ruined outfit.
A lump lodged in her throat at that thought.
No. She wasn’t going to let herself entertain the possibility that he wouldn’t pull through. This was Colter, after all. He was a danger magnet and still managed to make it through every mishap.
‘You’d better make it, Colter. I’m not taking care of that expense myself.’
She returned to the waiting room. There were a few other people scattered around the space, but not many. She guessed that, being so far from any large population centers, they didn’t see a lot of business. Especially out here in the mountains where most people preferred to solve their own problems.
The wait was almost worse than the drive. The TV in the corner was tuned into some sitcom, but she couldn’t pay enough attention to follow what was happening in it. The clock on the wall mocked her as the time crawled by at an excruciating pace.
With nothing else to keep her from going insane with worry, she tried to make herself do something productive.
Reenie made a quick phone call to let Velma and Teddi know what was happening. She tried calling Bobby as well, but it went through to voicemail. Glancing at her watch, she realized for the first time how late it was getting. Not wanting to tell him in a voice message, Reenie instead asked him to call her back and hung up.
Another few hours dragged by before a doctor finally approached her. He introduced himself, though she barely heard the name and didn’t fully register it.
They took a seat in a corner away from everyone else.
“According to his paperwork, you have medical power of attorney for him,” the doctor said, glancing at her for confirmation.
This was news to Reenie, but she kept her surprise to herself and simply nodded.
Technically, she had been the one to draw up the original paperwork on the matter. Colter had been injured pretty seriously on a job and she’d convinced him afterwards that having someone he trusted as his medical proxy wouldn’t be a bad idea. Apparently his mom was even more paranoid about doctors and hospitals than he was, so that had effectively eliminated her from the list. Since Reenie was more likely to be on hand in an emergency than Velma or Teddi, he’d considered her the practical solution to the problem.
Of course, that had been years ago, before their falling out and subsequent reconciliation. She was surprised he hadn’t removed her from the position during that time when they weren’t really speaking to each other. The idea that he had still trusted her to make his medical decisions for him was… well, probably somewhere between touching and concerning. Certainly not something she was planning to examine anytime soon.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked, needing to know that much at least, before the worry drove her mad.
“As long as he remains stable overnight, he should be,” the doctor told her. “There is still the risk of infection setting in, but we’ll be monitoring him closely throughout the night in case that happens. Thankfully, our surgical team was able to repair the damage from the bullet without any complications. We’ve also treated him for the lost blood and fluids. He’s going to be sore for a while, but as long as he restricts his activities while his body finishes recovering, there shouldn’t be any more danger.”
Reenie almost scoffed, knowing that trying to make Colter ‘restrict his activities’ was as likely as convincing him to go to therapy. He really was the worst at self care.
The doctor dumped a ton more information on her, mostly relating to the treatment Colter had received, and outlining a medical plan for the immediate future. Reenie only half listened. She could check all the charts and paperwork later, but for now she only had one question on her mind.
“Can I- is he allowed visitors?”
“He’s in the ICU for tonight so we can better keep an eye on his condition,” the doctor said. “But he can have one visitor, as long as you let him get his rest. Also, don’t be alarmed when you see him. We have him sedated and on a ventilator so his lungs have a chance to heal a little — his left lung took some damage when the bullet went through. There will also be leads for monitoring his heart, oxygen levels, and blood pressure.”
Reenie nodded. She was grateful for the warning, but she unfortunately had some experience with this, so knew to be prepared.
The doctor explained a few more details about what the next twenty-four hours would look like, then excused himself. The poor guy looked exhausted. Reenie shot another glance at that hated clock on the wall and was startled to see how much later it had gotten since the last time she’d looked. She didn’t bother asking about visiting hours — they would need their full security team on hand if they wanted to remove her from the premises now. Not until she had a chance to see for herself that he was okay.
The intensive care department wasn’t very large. Reenie was directed to the room Colter was currently housed in. She thanked the hospital staff and took a moment to gather her nerves before stepping inside.
The sight was enough to freeze the breath in her throat.
As the doctor had warned, Colter was unconscious and surrounded by machines. Beeping and chirping quietly as they monitored every part of his healing process. Hissing as they breathed for him. An IV to keep him hydrated and another to keep him from waking too early.
There was something deeply unsettling about seeing him this way.
In all her years of knowing him, Reenie had never seen Colter Shaw be truly still. He was restless by nature. Sometimes that meant disappearing without notice only to pop up on the other side of the country a few days later. Other times, that meant tapping his fingers impatiently against his leg as he half-listened to what she was saying, part of his brain already mapping out his search route. Even when asleep, he never seemed to truly rest — twitching and shifting around to a distracting degree.
Now, he was so unnaturally still it felt wrong. Not a single part of him was moving on its own accord. Even his eyes weren’t shifting under the sealed lids, trapped in a dreamless state of imposed unconsciousness.
She wanted to shake him, just to make him respond.
Pulling over a chair, Reenie took a seat beside his bed. It was hard and uncomfortable. She winced, knowing how sore she was definitely going to be by morning.
After a moment’s hesitation, she reached over and grabbed his hand, careful not to jostle the IV port or oxygen monitor attached to it. She refused to be self conscious about the gesture. It wasn’t as if he’d ever know.
“You had better be okay,” Reenie told him sternly. “I haven’t put up with your nonsense for four years to lose you now. Not like this.”
~~~~~
“Hey, I warned you about messing with that.”
Colter sighed, letting go of the IV line again. He wasn’t trying to pull it out, exactly — he wasn’t quite at that level of desperation yet — but he couldn’t help fidgeting with it. He’d only been awake two hours and he was already restless.
The doctors had finally left a few minutes ago, after poking and prodding and asking a million questions. They’d offered additional painkillers, but Colter turned them down. Partly because of his belief that they slowed down the body’s natural healing process, but mostly because he didn’t want to be too drowsy to leave as soon as he could get them to turn him loose.
The nurse, apparently satisfied that he wasn’t going to rip out his own IV, went back to jotting down notes on his medical chart. Colter used the moment to scan his hospital room again. He’d done so after first regaining consciousness, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough.
Something that caught his attention this time around was the chair beside the bed. The way it was pulled so close, while the others were against the wall, indicated that someone had been using it.
He frowned at the chair, wondering.
“Don’t worry,” the nurse said, shooting him a conspiratorial smile, “I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”
“She?” He turned that over in his mind for a second, trying to recall the moments immediately preceding waking up here. “Reenie?” he guessed.
“She’s been giving Dr. Keaton a real workout,” the nurse laughed. “Making sure everything with your treatment is running smoothly. Insisted on reviewing every decision and double checking all the paperwork.”
Colter shook his head. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”
“No offense, but I think we’ll all be a little relieved when you can get out of here.”
“Well, I can agree with that,” Colter said. “Speaking of which, how long do you think before that can happen?”
The nurse shot him an incredulous glance. “You’ll have to ask Dr. Keaton that question when she gets back. But I wouldn’t count on it being today,” she added.
Colter hummed noncommittally. He wasn’t going to bother arguing the point with her. If the doctor didn’t let him leave willingly, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to sign an AMA form to leave a hospital.
The door swung open a second later and Reenie reappeared. She had a coffee cup in one hand and was arguing with someone on the phone with her other.
The nurse sent her a disapproving look. “No cell phones,” she said, in a tone of voice that indicated this wasn’t the first time saying it.
Reenie sighed and said a hurried farewell into the phone before hanging up. Colter didn’t miss the way her eyes scanned automatically over all the monitoring equipment as she turned to face him, or the concerned expression on her face as she looked him over. Apparently the nurse hadn’t been exaggerating her investment in his recovery.
“Well, I see you finally decided to rejoin the waking world,” she commented. “How are you feeling?”
Colter shrugged, wincing as the movement pulled at his stitches. “I’m fine.”
“Right. I’ve heard that one before.”
The nurse chimed in as she finished with his chart, “He’s already talking about escaping here.”
Reenie shot him a look that clearly said ‘she had better be joking’. He sighed, not bothering to deny it.
“I’m okay,” he insisted again. “Just need some rest back home.”
“First, you are not fine,” Reenie said sternly. “You were shot and had surgery. Second, by ‘home’ you mean your trailer — one that is not in any way set up for at-home recovery. And one which doesn’t have a medical staff on hand to help if something goes wrong. So, absolutely not. Stay put until the doctor clears you.”
Colter opened his mouth to argue back, but stopped himself. He took in Reenie’s appearance, really took it in, for the first time since she’d walked in — the dark circles under her eyes, the slightly disheveled hair, the clothes that she had clearly purchased from a Walmart instead of her usual designer outfits.
His gaze flitted over to the abandoned chair again. The one that didn’t look even remotely comfortable and yet had clearly been occupied a lot the last couple days.
Sagging back against his pillow, he admitted defeat.
“Fine,” he sighed. “But I’ve at least earned the right to something better than hospital food.”
Reenie stared at him surprise, taken off guard by the easy victory. Given his track record, Colter didn’t blame her for expecting more of a fight.
A moment later, her expression softened. “I’ll see what I can arrange,” she promised, shooting him a grateful smile.
This was going to be a long few days, but if it helped ease some of his guilt at having freaked out Reenie, then he’d endure it.
The immediate concern eased, Reenie sat down in the chair and took a sip of her coffee, a mischievous edge creeping into her smile. “By the way, when you do get out of here and collect that reward, I have a wardrobe bill to send your way. And I can guarantee it will not be cheap.”
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