A moment in time

Good news and bad news

"He's got pinpoint pupils..." Will described to Erin whispering quietly in the corner of the hospital room in order for Jay to remain in his slumbered state. "Shallow breathing... and if his blood pressure gets any lower we'll have to fix that too."

"What are you saying Will?" Whispered Erin looking back at Jay who was still asleep.

"He's been using... we're waiting for the tox screen report but given his history I'm going to assume its oxy."

"His history?"

"Umm ... yeah when he came back from his second tour... it was . It was really bad. The worst part was withdrawal. He handles withdrawal terribly. I hated watching him go through it."

"Yeah withdrawal really sucks."

"How exactly would you know?"

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"Will what the hell are you doing?" Jay yelled holding his still slender arms angrily across his freckled chest.

"Mom died stop being an ass and leave me alone already."

"She always told us to stick together, I'm not going to disrespect her by leaving you... not when your high... not like this Will."

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"Just take my word for it."

"Gotcha"

Jay began rooting under the thin hospital sheets pulling them off quickly as the final remnants of sleep left his aching body. He quickly went to stand up. Falling down with and audible thud a split second later.

"Whoa, careful buddy." Will said grabbing his baby brother under the arms and helping him back into the bed. "Your blood pressure is borderline, so if you stand up you're going to pass out."

"I feel like I got hit by a truck," Jay explained rubbing the top of his head. "And my back feels like it's going to explode."

"It does?"

"Yeah hurts like hell," Jay gritted out, his blue eyes glazed with a cloud of tears.

"Okay I'm going to order some tests," will said placing a reassuring hand onto Jay's leg.

Several hours later Will returned with the results from Jay's array of tests. He felt like a pin cushion, constantly being stabbed, poked and prodded.

"Good news and bad news, which would you like?"

"Good, I need some good news."

"Okay good news is, I figured out what's wrong, your kidneys are overcompensating from the drugs and that's why it hurts so bad."

"And the bad news?" Erin asked grabbing hold of Jay's hand and giving it a light but reassuring squeeze.

"You gotta go through withdrawal meaning I can't give you anything to help with pain. He's kinda just gotta ride it out."

Jay let out a slight whimper at the thought. Withdrawal. He knew the hell his entire system was about to go through. He knew. This was going to be hell.