amount of pain she'd felt. There were two incision lines. One started right at the
hollow below her hipbone extending past the bend where her pelvis met her leg
and down to her upper thigh. There was a second suture line running right below
the bend where her leg met her pelvis to the right of the first one. It ran down the
inside of her upper thigh. Riley checked to make sure all the sutures were intact.
Sam grimaced in pain as Riley slowly rotated her leg to get a look at the sutures
high up on her inner thigh.
"Sorry," Riley said patting her hip in sympathy. The incision looked red and
swollen, which was normal. There were no signs of infection. "Everything looks
good Sam. No sign of infection and for the amount of suturing I did minimal
swelling. I know it hurts but you need to take the pain meds and use the leg as
much as possible without straining it. We'll get you a walker to start with then
you can work up to crutches." Riley said.
Sam relaxed as Riley gently applied a new dressing. She was just finishing up
putting on new tape and was so focused on not hurting Sam she didn't hear the
door to the room open.
Jess and Kim stepped in the doorway and took in the scene in the room. Sam
was lying back with one arm over her eyes as the small red-haired doctor
worked between her legs. Jess couldn't resist tweaking her sister. She cleared
her throat loudly.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Jess asked in an insinuating tone.
Riley jumped at the sudden sound behind her. She jerked her hands back and
blushed even though she knew she hadn't been doing anything remotely
embarrassing. Sam's eyes popped open and met Riley's slightly embarrassed
gaze. She glared at her sister's grinning face and snapped at her. "Knock it off
Jess!"
"What? What'd I do?" Her answer was a hard jab in the ribs from her wife. One
look into Kim's face and Jess instantly sobered. "Sorry." She murmured
contritely.
Sam smirked at Jess as if to say, 'you're in trouble'.
"Hello Dr. Connolly. How's my troublesome sister today?" Jess asked trying to
take the focus off her poor attempt at a joke.
"Please call me Riley," she reminded her. She removed her gloves and smiled at
Sam gently patting her leg before covering her back up. "She's doing well.
Incision looks good with minimal swelling. She's still on antibiotics and pain
meds. She should be ready to start getting up and moving around this evening.
I'm estimating a week and a half to two-week hospital stay. She'll then go home
and into outpatient rehab."
"Hey I am right here you guys. Damn, you talk about me like I'm not even in the
room." Sam complained.
Jess and Kim both watch with interest when Riley placed her hand on Sam's
shoulder.
"Sorry Sam, professional hazard." Riley said squeezing her shoulder.
Kim sat a large bag on Sam's bedside tray. The aroma coming from the bag was
heavenly. "Real food as requested." She told Sam leaning forward to kiss her
lightly in greeting.
A very loud growling sound interrupted Sam's thank you. Riley blushed when all
eyes in the room turned to her.
"Well Sam I'll check on you tomorrow. Have a good evening." Riley had taken a
single step away from the bed when Sam reached out and took hold of her
forearm pulling her back.
"Please stay and have something to eat. I'm sure there's more than enough."
Sam gave Riley her best puppy dog look. She glared at her sister when she
heard her snicker.
"I'm really not that hungry." Riley denial would've been more believable if her
stomach hadn't chosen that moment to growl even louder. She blushed at the
behavior of her protesting stomach.
Kim spread out the food containers on Sam's over the bed table. "Come on Riley
there's more than enough. It's from Sam's favorite restaurant Dim Sum. You like
Chinese?" Kim asked ignoring Riley's comment about not being hungry.
Riley's stomach answered for her and Sam surprised her by pulling her down to
sit on the side of the bed. She tried to get up but Sam even injured was
amazingly strong.
"Come on Doc. We can't have you falling into your patients on the operating
table." Sam teased her.
Riley gave in relaxing on Sam's bed and helped herself to the food Kim had
spread out on the tray she'd slid between them. Riley moaned with pleasure at
the first taste of the wonderful Sesame chicken. It was one of her favorites. Sam
felt her heart pick up speed at the sound and was thankful she wasn't still
hooked up to a heart monitor.
Riley was amazed at how comfortable she was around the other women. They
laughed and joked comparing stories of the various experiences at the different
hospitals they'd worked in. Sam was captivated, her eyes never leaving the
doctor for long. She was mesmerized watching Riley's many varied expressions.
She frowned suddenly realizing she could easily fall for the beautiful doctor.
She'd never been involved with a straight woman and wasn't about to start now.
She knew that way lead to heartbreak. Sam unknowingly let out a big sigh,
saddened by what might've been. Riley immediately caught Sam's change in
expression; she quickly got up and approached her.
"Are you alright? Do you need your pain meds?" She asked softly in concern.
Unconsciously she took Sam's hand in hers stroking the back of her hand with
her thumb.
Sam forced herself to smile though it was half hearted at best. "No I'm fine, just
tired."
Riley suddenly realized she was acting as if she was visiting a friend and not
checking on a patient. As much as she enjoyed the company of the three
women, Sam was her patient. Riley berated herself; she again had started
thinking of Sam as a woman and not as a patient. Riley turned to Jess and Kim.
"Don't tire her out too much. She's still weak. She does need to try and walk a bit
tonight but don't let her over do."
She turned back to Sam trying to regain her professional demeanor. "I'll send the
nurse in with your pain med. You might want to take a little nap before trying
your walk. Don't over do it" She smiled at Sam unable to help herself. "Don't
make me have to come back into the hospital."
Riley quickly made her exit, waving to the women as she left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kim had been watching the interaction between Sam and Riley while they'd
been eating. Riley's eyes rarely left Sam's face when she was speaking and
even when she or Jess were talking she'd watched Sam; obviously taken with
her. Kim had interacted with many patients in her career and it was clear to her
that Riley Connolly cared for Sam well beyond her concern for a patient. She'd
thought Sam might be beginning to have feelings for the doctor as well. Now she
wasn't quite sure what was going on.
She sat down on the side of Sam's bed. When Riley left the room, Sam had
leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Kim stroked Sam's arm
until she opened blue eyes so familiar to Kim. Even though she appeared
outgoing, friendly, and affectionate the total opposite of Jess, in many ways she
was the same. Her emotions ran deep and she never let anyone get too close
emotionally. Many people thought they knew Sam but the truth was all they ever
saw was the tough cop persona she presented to the world. None of them had
ever seen the true Samantha McKenna. Kim herself hadn't realized the depths