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“Yes!” Sway whooped, then lowered his voice, still grinning broadly. “I was praying they would be. Did you tell her, yet?”
Cayson nodded, sitting at one the computer terminals. “I did. She was really happy.” Cayson smiled at Sway. “But, I tell you. I don’t think she would’ve pulled through if it weren’t for you.”
“But, I didn’t—”
“Before you say that,” Cayson stopped him. “I’ve never heard Ms. Debbie laugh and play like she did when you brought her that little furry troublemaker. She was radiant and in good spirits for days after that. The patient’s mental stability will have an effect on their trial results as well. There’s no better medicine than laughter. That’s why I knew you were the right person for this job. To keep the patients uplifted. Ms. Debbie has been talking in future tense the past couple days. Going on about how many new cats she’s going to get when she has her new kidney. Hope, Sway. You give your patients hope. If they forget why life is so precious… you remind them. Then they have a drive to want to live again. You showed her that, just because she lost her other cats, there’s still plenty more that need a good home.”
Sway took Cayson’s compliment to heart. It was hands down the best one he’d ever received. Dr. Chauncey could see how much his nursing profession meant to him. Sometimes people didn’t understand why he gave it his all, but if they’d been on the other side of the curtain like he had, then they would understand.
Stanton had been in ICU for three days before he was taken off life support. Sway remembered how amazing those nurses had been to him and his mom. They’d helped them through it all, as if it wasn’t just their job but ingrained in their hearts to care for others. From that day, Sway had known he only wanted to care for those who were too down to care for themselves.
Sway went back to his office, his day was winding down and it hadn’t been half bad. The morning had flown by as he caught up on the things the fill-in charge nurse hadn’t understood. By late afternoon, he’d cleared his inbox and had touched base with each of his nurses. Dr. Dominick was in and out of department budget meetings all day, so he’d been lucky to avoid the awkwardness he knew was coming. Tweetie told him play by play what had happened between him and Brian when he’d come to the house. Sway couldn’t believe the man had had the audacity to take it to that level. That was crossing a serious line coming to his home at midnight. It didn’t matter what time he’d left work. Brian was leaning on him to tell Cayson, but Sway was still hesitating. Now, after hearing about Ms. Debbie advancing and feeling positive that she was going to live… how did Sway step in and shut down the entire trial and hand her and the rest of the optimistic patients, a death sentence.
He went to the dry erase board with all their patients’ names and updated some changes he’d made on the schedule. He checked his watch and saw it was after six; Brian was meeting him in the front in a few minutes. He wanted to try to be on time, since they were meeting Dana and Ford at Applebee’s. It was Friday and he couldn’t wait to get to Brian’s. Tweetie was doing respite hours for his mom all weekend, so Sway had packed a duffle and gave it to Brian to take to his house. His mom didn’t warn him to slow things down, she recognized the kind of man Brian was. He wasn’t one he’d let slip through his fingers. Sway thought of the way Brian had cared for him while he’d been ill. He’d been in and out of consciousness, but every time he’d cracked his eyelids Brian had been there. He’d bathed his warm forehead with a cool cloth in the middle of the night. He’d fed him when Sway could finally hold down soup and cleaned up any that he didn’t. Never once did his boyfriend grimace or complain. Sway was still smiling when he locked his desk drawer.
“Someone is feeling a whole lot better.”
Sway’s good feeling evaporated at the sound of Dr. Dominick’s voice. Sway reluctantly peered up and jumped a little when his office door slammed shut.
“Oops. Didn’t mean to close that so hard.” Dr. Dominick moved farther in the room. He was dressed to impress as always, wearing an expensive-looking sweater, and tailored slacks. “I’ve just been so nervous. I heard you were sick… through the grapevine. I don’t particularly like being left out of the loop in my own department.”
“Dr. Chauncey sent me home. I suggest you confront him,” Sway said, having had enough.
