To Protect and To Serve

-Sasuke-

“You’ve never asked for it this way,” Shikamaru regards me skeptically.
“Just shove the goddamn needle into my arm!” I roar. He tucks the cash into his pocket and turns my arm over. “You have small veins.”
“Yeah. They’re rollaway veins too. Use my hand. There’s one that goes toward the knuckle of my left ring finger.” He nods, finds it and jabs me. I snarl as tears of pain spring from my eyes. “Give me more,” I growl. “I have the cash. I have to make up for lost time.”
“Same needle?” he asks.
“Whatever you want!” I shout in frustration.
“Wrong answer.” Naruto is behind Shikamaru. His face is solemn, grave. Slush squishes underneath his sneakers. Shikamaru moves quickly out of the path of the squealing taxi. What the hell? Naruto and I aren’t so lucky.

THUD.

“—ing, but people can hear when they’re in coma.” A shaky, feminine voice with a heavy Spanish tinge. Shaky breathing. “It’s been a week, Sasuke. You have to wake up. You can’t leave me like Angel did.” Soledad. Give me your hand. I’m awake. Can’t you tell? And what happened with the taxi? It was green and I remember the license plate perfectly. The driver slid on a patch of ice. It was an accident. Don’t charge the driver with attempted vehicular homicide… “Hatake’s been here, and Umino…I’ve been here every day.” She lists off other officers we’ve both worked with or talked to during my time on the force. I must be important. I can’t move—my hands. My hands can help me. I don’t know American Sign Language.

A cold, gentle, smooth small hand grasps mine firmly. The machines beep louder. Ugh, the…medical…smell of a hospital. “You know the drill—once for yes, et cetera.” I squeeze her hand. “How long have you been awake?”
I’d frown if I could. I squeeze twice. “Oh, sorry. Uh, did you wake up today?” Once. “Was I here?” Once. “Is this the first time?” Once.
“Okay. The paramedics brought you and Naruto in a week ago. Your drug dealer called the ambulance but was arrested anyway. The taxi driver slipped on ice. The taxi, I mean. Do you want me to ask the A.D.A to give your dealer a reduced sentence since he called the ambulance?”
Once.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She stops talking. I tighten my grip on her cold, small hand. “Naruto was flung over the windshield of the car. His jaw was broken so badly, it had to be wired shut. He has big bruises and is limping, but he’s healing quickly. He refused crutches…he’s been here as often as I have, and he’s just as worried.” The machines beep steadily. “Sasuke…” What? She makes a noise in her throat. “You took most of the impact. Your body flew into the air and slammed onto the car’s roof and windshield upside-down. Your legs are bruised, your sacrum and tailbone are fractured, you bled internally and…don’t be surprised by the bruises on your torso…and your arms. Your left hand has an oval bruise that’s a handsome shade of pirate green. Originally, it was indigo. Was that from the needle?” Once. Slow. Shame.
“Okay. Your arms are bruised and have surgical incisions because glass was removed. Your head—”

Don’t stop, Soledad. I need to know. Am I going to be okay?
“You suffered—well—I should tell the doctors—ow!” I grip her hand tightly and feel her knuckle pop. Then I feel her cell phone vibrate. Don’t leave me. I just want to know what’s wrong in my head. What’s in my throat? What’s in my mouth? My arms—oh, this doesn’t feel good. I fall asleep again.
“He’s waking up! I knew he would. And I can talk to him now that the wire was removed! Soledad! This means his condition isn’t critical anymore!”
What?!
“They’re going to take him off life support now!”
“Not if you don’t shut up. You’re scaring him. Look at the machines,” my best friend growls at my boyfriend as several people rush into the room. They say things that doctors and nurses say, and do things that doctors and nurses do. It’s such an unpleasant experience. I can feel every part of it and I’m glad I can’t see it.

Light. Bright light. No machines—there they are. I close my eyes and open them. I repeat these actions slowly and multiple times, trying to fully adjust to my new surroundings. “Oh, don’t touch your head!” a nurse chirps nervously. “My head. Soledad, I fell asleep before you told me about my head…my brain. Am I okay?” Raspy whispering. I must be thirsty. She smiles a watery smile. Naruto immediately reacts. “You smiled! Oh my—”
“Shut up, you’re ruining it for me,” I snap. Rasp, rather. Soledad laughs through her tears. “You remember. You were wide awake.” Hiccuping sobs. “I was squeezing her hand,” I explain to Naruto. A doctor pushes a Dixie cup of water at me. Soledad, Naruto and I stare at her blankly. “They’re used to Styrofoam cups of steaming coffee.” A blond woman with the largest breasts I’ve ever seen explains our confusion to the doctor. “We call it sludge,” Hatake offers. The blond woman grins. “We call ours tar.”
“Sasuke, you have staples in your head,” Soledad finally tells me.

The—bed, I guess—I’m lying in is adjusted so I’m sitting up. Tubes and cords are taken away. The next day, the staples holding part of my head together are removed. A few days later, after the bandages are removed from my head, I am discharged from the hospital. I call Soledad and she drives me home. She and Naruto spend the weekend looking after me, fussing over my predisposition to become addicted to the white horse pills. Not the antibiotics, though. Just the Percodan. It’s a very potent painkiller.

I don’t become addicted to the painkillers. I start smoking. Soledad starts drinking and stops. I learn that the blond woman is the director of the FBI and the reason she was outside my hospital room is she was looking for Naruto. He’s highly prized by his work. Soledad and I are by ours. Hatake and Umino enter into a domestic partnership. Soledad smiles a lot now. Naruto and I also enter into a domestic partnership. I meet Naruto’s mother, Dadi, and forget until that moment that he’s adopted.

I know you want me to say Naruto and I stay together till we’re ninety-five and have old people sex, but that hasn’t happened yet. We’re only twenty-eight. We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us.