2020-03-20 - Covid in Alexandra - Darcy, Sam, Vincent and Fiona

Friday, March 20, 2020

Sam Wright parked the squad car back at the cop shop and began walking through the park.  Everything in Alexandra was within walking distance of everything else, but he took the time to consider the latest news.  It was not news he enjoyed delivering as a police officer… not that he ever had to deliver news like this in his short career.  Knowing Darcy was with him, he paused at the door to the apartment of the building, reached out and rang the bell.

Vincent D’Antoni was lounging on the couch, reading biology books.  That was his major… or would be once he declared one.  First step to his being a pathologist.  He didn’t have to study, as he had been accepted at the university, as had Fiona … but classes for them would not begin until September.  He hoped the world was normal again by then, as he and Fiona still had a wedding in October.  The last ferry had been only the early morning hours of the day before and almost everyone Vincent considered family was safe on Alexandra.

Darcy slouched a bit and felt a pit in her stomach. She watched Sam ring the bell as if it was all happening in slow motion. She breathed slowly and deliberately, readying herself for this conversation. Giovanni meant so much to Vincent and it didn't look good for the older man.

Fiona was lying down on the bed in her ugliest and oldest pajamas, the lights around her dimmed and the blinds drawn. She had two cold cloths, one on her forehead and one at the base of her neck. It was a migraine and she was just waiting for her meds to kick in. She heard the bell and waited, really hoping Vincent was getting up to answer it.

Vincent heard the bell and got off of the couch.  He knew Fiona was not feeling her best and so he made no demands on her.  “I got it.”  he called out, knowing he really didn’t have to in such a small space.  Moving through the kitchen, he opened the door from the kitchen to the stairs and jogged down them, opening the door at the bottom.  He arched his brows immediately, seeing his mom and Sam Wright.  “Oh, hey.”  he knows he sounds surprised, but he is.  This is unexpected… and unusual.  “Come on in.”  he backs up a little to let them in and close the door behind them before leading them up the stairs towards the kitchen, asking along the way.  “What’s up?”

Sam backed up when the door opened and nodded at the greeting.  He follows Vincent up the stairs and into the kitchen, here he glances around, having never been in their apartment before.  Before he answers, he looks quickly at Darcy.  He and she are more or less precisely the same rank within the police department, but Darcy was also Vincent’s mother by her adoption of him when he was fifteen years old, just before Alexandra left the world.  In some ways, it might be easier for her to deliver the news, but at the same time, she may be too close.  He inhales deeply and considers his words.  “Giovanni Bittetto was just admitted to the clinic, Vincent.”  he pauses and realizes there is no good way to deliver the news.  “Dr. McKinney believes that he has Covid-19.”

Vincent blinks as Sam speaks.  “No…”  he murmurs, his mind immediately going to Giovanni’s age, heart condition and love of cigars.

Darcy looked pained watching Vincent react to the news “I’m sorry Vincent. I know what he means to you. We can’t let you see him because of the nature of this virus….but I know you and Fiona did see him….so you also need to get tested for it and isolate yourselves until results come back. We can find a way for you to speak to Giovanni…remotely. This is a lot I know.” She looks at him with genuine compassion.

Fiona sat up in bed with a grave look on her face, the washcloths sliding off her and falling into the covers. Giovanni? Oh god. She stood up slowly, pushing down the pain and the edge of nausea and forced herself to walk to Vincent. The migraine was a small problem compared to what he must be feeling. She walked up behind him, nodded at Darcy and Sam and took hold of Vincent’s hand, quietly offering her support.

Sam listens as Darcy comforts Vincent and explains things.  “We're supposed to bring you in now, as a matter of fact…”  he sees Fiona come out and take Vincent’s hand and offers a slight smile.

Vincent tightened his jaw as he listened to Darcy and squeezed Fionas hand when she came up behind him.  “We’ve already been isolating … Colleen insisted.” he murmurs, almost absently and bites his lip.  “I just didn’t …”  he looks at Darcy.  “You brought him to the clinic?  So … you could get it too.”  he is only half aware he is clumping his mother in with ‘old’ even though logically, he knows better.

Darcy held up a hand as she saw Vincent's concern start to spiral. Then she made a point of saying "Take a deep breath..." And taking one herself so folks could join her. After her full exhale she inhaled and said "We're careful." She hand gestured to the distance between them which was safely 6 feet. "We have protective gear which we'll put on before you get in the car with us. We did for helping Giovanni as well. We disinfect the vehicle after transporting anyone who needs help as well as travelling with the windows open. If we all focus on breathing towards the outside, we don't have that stagnant exchange of air that would potentially contain more droplets." She sighed before the next part "I have to warn you about the test...the swab is...invasive and you may have to work to suppress your gag reflex."

Fiona nodded and caressed Vincent's hand "I've seen the pictures. We have been isolating...but there was a family dinner first. Does everyone present need to be tested?"

Sam nods as Darcy speaks.  “The car is back at the shop, but we can walk with you to the clinic.”  He considers the best route, where they are the least likely to run into anyone in the late afternoon.  “We’ll walk along the back of the shops here, right out of your front door, but turn at the 10 Alarm and cross the street and go through the parking lot between the clinic and the pharmacy to get to the back door of the clinic.”  which he rarely called the emergency room door.  He pulls out two masks.  Then he looks at Fiona.  “I doubt it.”  he reassures  her.  “But you can ask the doc.”

Vincent licks his lips and, thinking that’s not good, swallows hard and pinches the bridge of his nose.  “Fuck.”  he grumbles, realizing he shouldn’t be touching his face.  Taking a deep breath he nods and glances at Fiona.  “We’ll go once you’re dressed.”  he’s in old comfy sweatpants and a t-shirt.  Good enough for getting a Covid-19 test, he reckons.

Darcy nods along with Sam “Yeah that should be nice and quiet.” She winces at Vincent’s struggle. His reactions make her want to reach out and hug him but she can’t so she speaks more freely than she normally would do in a room with other people “Vincent, I know this is hard. I love you. I’m here for you.”

Fiona sighs and then dashes around the screen to their bed and fishes clothes out from the dresser. She hurries to the bathroom to change, just hearing Darcy and tearing up as she closes the door. Bleary eyed she yanks on a pair of cargo pants, a bra and a long sleeve long john shirt that she pulls an old Teagan and Sarah concert t-shirt over. She wipes her eyes and then looks at her hands and grits her teeth. No face touching. She quickly grabs a tissue to carefully wipe her tears, puts it in the garbage and then washes her hands like she’s about to perform surgery. She ignores the mop of her hair, which is unlike her and rejoins the others , thankful her migraine meds are starting to kick in. Fiona simultaneously pulls a hoodie on and steps into her slip on shoes. “Sorry I took so long.” In reality, she was gone about 4 minutes.

Sam doesn’t outwardly react to Darcy speaking to Vincent.  Professionalism in small town police is not always easy.  When Fiona returns, dressed, he puts the masks on the kitchen island beside their stove and nods.  “Put those on and let’s go.”  He heads down with them and together they walk to the clinic.

Vincent’s body sort of jerks as he forcibly stops himself from moving to hug Darcy.  “I love you too, Mom.”  he replies and concentrates on his breathing while Fiona gets dressed.  He takes the face mask and puts it on, immediately realizing he is annoyed by the heat of his own exhalations on his face, but he doesn’t say anything.  Following, he folds his arms, tucking his hands under his armpits trying not to reach for Fiona.  Could he touch her?  Should he?

Dr. Susan McKinney is in her office, on the phone, with the door open.  Her door and the glass emergency room hiss open and Sam, Darcy, Vincent and Fiona come in.  She blows out a breath.  “My patients are here, Adum.  I can call you with a better idea in a few hours.”  she pauses.  “Yes, sir.  Goodbye.”  she hangs up the phone and turns, her own mask still in place.  She doesn’t need to move it just to talk on the phone.  “Room two.”  she says by way of greeting, going immediately to the middle exam room and opening the door for them.

Darcy saw Vincent fight not to hug her and swallowed hard. She donned her own mask. She had already put on gloves. She had grown used to the discomfort of them and had a generally high tolerance given the things she had to wear in her military days. She looked gratefully at Susan after their incident free walk to the clinic.

Fiona fiddled with her mask a bit, tucking her hair behind her ears and out of the way. She instantly hated the whole process but accepted it. The walk was surreal. She didn’t even have any quips and this was hardly the time. She gave Susan a little weak wave and filled into room 2 with Vincent.

Sam moves into the room with everyone else and stands a bit off to the side.  The Alexandra clinic used to be an apartment building and none of the rooms were terribly large.  Five in one room was close quarters.  Ironic, considering.  But they were all masked at least.  On a cart are two tests and he arches his brow, slightly.  That answered his question about whether he or Darcy would be tested.

Vincent moves into the exam room and uses the excuse of space to move closer to Fiona.  He sees packages he expects are the tests and knowing the kind of test it is, he swallows.  Knowledge of human anatomy told him that this was not going to be comfortable.  Opening his mouth, he gets ready to ask Susan about Giovanni.

Susan waits for them to get in the room and closes the door behind them.  “Thanks for coming, you two.”  she even managed to make it sound like they may have had a choice.  “Giovanni told me that he saw you two after his return from Vancouver.  The night of the 15th.  And your family dinner was the night of the 14th.  I remember because Colleen told me before the meeting about it.  Giovanni also told me that he went straight home and saw no one but you two.  He also told me he tried to practice safe distancing, but his apartment is quite small and your visit was more than ten minutes so …”  she shrugs.  “Better to be safe than sorry.”  she holds up a hand to stop what she knows will be questions from Vincent.  “Tests first and I will answer your questions as Kitty runs them in the lab.” she promises.

Darcy hung back near Sam. They had been working together so much she didn’t distance from him. If he was exposed so was she. Regardless, she didn’t like the look of the swab. She looked between Vincent and Fiona, feeling bad for both of them.

Fiona’s eyes went wide at the swab and she asked the dreaded question of Susan “Where exactly do you stick that thing?” She slid closer to Vincent for moral support. Seeing as they were in this torture chamber together.

Sam bites his lip and then sighs.  He’s delivered them.  Now he can free his mind a bit … and his mind turns to his brother.

Vincent listens to Susan and nods, once.  Giovanni had told it as it had happened, but Vincent still wanted to know how Giovanni was.

Susan takes one of the tests and half chuckles behind her mask at Fiona’s question.  “Up your nose.”  she announces, opening it.  “Technically into your nose and straight back.”  she nods at Vincent.  “You first, so you can bombard me with questions.”  She hopes her tone is light enough.

With a snorted laugh, Vincent tilts back his head.  “I’m ready.”

He wasn’t.  Not really.  He’d never felt anything as uncomfortable as that test in his life.  But soon it was over and the test was sealed and set asite.  Then Susan took the second kit and turned to face Fiona.

Darcy watched Vincent take on the swab, looking impressed with his tolerance of it. She glanced at Sam and watched as Susan shifted to Fiona.

Fiona tensed up visibly and then gave herself a little pep talk out loud "Ok...give me a second." She wrung her hands beside her and shook her head around trying to shake out her horror and then let her arms gracefully slide to her sides and put her head up "Ok....let's do this." She shuddered as the swab went in, trying not to move and then felt a tickling in her nose, and pressure, and more tickling....oh no! Fiona wrung her hands again, looking wide eyed at Susan just before she lost control and let out a huge sneeze, swab still half in her.

Sam watches the test with a clenched jaw.  He strongly suspects that Vincent is just masking his discomfort.  Manning up, as it were.  But it still didn’t look comfortable.  He arches his brows at Darcy and turns his attention to Fiona’s turn.  When she sneezes, he winces.

Vincent cleared his throat after the test and sniffed, but checked himself before he reached for his nose.  He watches as Susan administers the test, holding Fiona’s hand in the hopes of comforting her.  Then Fiona sneezes and he inhales.  “You okay?”  he asks her when the sneeze is done.

Susan is a pro and saw the sneeze coming.  Removing the swab fast, she turns to seal up the test.  “Sorry about that, Fiona.  It’s a very invasive test.”  She takes both sealed bags and hands them to Sam.  “Could you take these down to Kitty, please.”  she asks him.  “She’s running our tests.  Thank god she was willing to learn how to run a PCR machine during our time away.”  Kitty had become the towns lab technician while the island was cut off, due to her classes before then.

With a nod, Sam takes the bags.  “Sure.  She and I need to talk anyway.”  he blows out a breath.  “I’m going to have to move in with her, at this point.”  and he goes without another word.

Darcy's eyes went wide at the sneeze and then she couldn't help but laugh a little. Poor Fiona. She nodded along about the conversation between Sam and Susan about Kitty "Yes that's a lifesaver."

Fiona pulled back and shoved her face in her hoodie sleeve "Shit! Sorry!" She muffled and then looked gratefully at Susan. Darcy's laughter was contagious and Fiona laughed too "I'm fine." She offered to Vincent "Just a nightmare of a patient." She came up for air and reattached the mask to her face as Sam was walking away.

Vincent laughed a little bit as well.  “You’re not that bad.”  He argues for the woman he loves.  But now that Sam is gone, he looks at the doctor.  “So Giovanni is Patient Zero in Alexandra.” he closes his eyes.  “Is he … how is he?  Can I see him?  I know he’s like super high risk, but…”  he clears his throat and tries not to let it quaver when he asks.  “What is his prognosis, Dr. McKinney?”  He knows it can’t be good, but he hopes maybe miracles could happen.

Susan grins under her mask.  “I’ve had worse, believe me.”  she tells Fiona.  Then she looks at Vincent.  “Well, he isn’t Patient Zero, first of all.”  she tells him.  “Someone died at the Olin this morning.  A few hours before Giovanni was brought in.  They’d been at the Olin since the ferry started running again.”  She gives no more details. And then inhales and exhales slowly.  “Vincent, your mom’s told me your plans for the future.  The pathologist plans anyway.”  she looks at Darcy.  “Maternal bragging rights.”  she returns her attention to Vincent.  “So you know that you can’t be exposed to Giovanni.”  she holds up a finger.  “But I can set him up with telecommunications.  Skype or FaceTime or whatever if he’s up for talking.” She pauses and decides to treat him like a man instead of the kid she’s seen for checkups the last several years.  “Giovani is eighty-six years old, a cigar smoker and had a heart attack five years ago.  His prognosis right now is serious but stable.  He’s on medication and oxygen.  I’ve moved him to the clinc’s ICU unit.  It’s literally right beside my apartment.  I can see to him 24 hours a day.”  She inhales deeply and exhales slowly.  His prognosis is not good, but she has to hold out hope.

Darcy watches Vincent's questioning with compassion and then nods along with Susan as she answers and adds "It's true. I can't give details because it's an ongoing investigation, but yeah patient zero was not Giovanni."

Fiona steps away from the group as Vincent questions, seeing the hand sanitizer dispenser and taking a good squirt after her sneeze. She sympathizes with Vincent and appreciates both he and Susan. She still feels like a bit of a hazard for sneezing like that. Her expression turns curious about the death at the Olin. Another one. god that place was cursed. Her mask back on she looks at Vincent "Is Giovanni tech savvy at all?"

Vincent nods to Darcy about the investigation.  He knew the town had not wanted the Olin rebuilt, but some representative of the hotel had demanded it.  The concession, apparently, was that the hotel be rebuilt at half its original size.  Since then two people had died in the hotel; the representative and Kinsie Dale.  Before that, he wasn’t sure about the curse, but now he thought there might be something to it.  He opens his mouth to reply to Fiona’s question and coughs, catching it in his arm and not thinking about it much.  “Not really.”  he clears his throat.  “He doesn’t trust it much, but someone put a security app on it, so that might help.”  he sighs deeply and coughs again.

Susan looks at Vincent as he coughs, but says nothing about the symptom.  “I can help him.”  she replies.  “I’m making a deal with the librarian for two of their four laptops.  Unless he has one, although at this point I don’t know who would go and get it for him.”  She looks between the pair.  “I heard you two got engaged.”  She hopes to distract them a bit as they wait.  “Congratulations.”

Darcy had taken notice of a poster on the doctor's wall momentarily but when Vincent coughed she shifted her gaze and when it happened twice in a  row she whipped her whole head around to stare at him with concern "You ok?" She drilled.

Fiona's face felt hot from the mask. Her hair too....her hair felt really hot. She checked her pockets for a hair tie needing it off her now. She looked worried as Vincent coughed too and then gave Susan a weak smile that no one could see "Thanks." As she found the hair tie and scooped her hair up her neck was visibly wet from sweat. Fiona was burning up.

Vincent half grinned behind his mask.  “Thanks.” he replied at almost the exact same time as Fiona.  At the same time, Darcy shot a question at him.  “What?”  he blinked.  “Oh just .. yea.  I mean …”  he thought about it and looked at Fiona who looked like she was sweating.  Symptoms from the last day or so start to make a very scary sort of sense.

Susan nods instead of smiling because of her mask.  “Well, let's start an exam, since I have both of your charts here.”  She pulls out a couple of thermometers.  “Open up.  Both of you.”  and she will put thermometers in both of their mouths, and then, one after another, make note of their pulses and blood pressures.  Of course, they could simply have colds or flu, but in this day and age …  she knows the test results will be up soon.

Darcy looked between Vincent, Fiona and Susan with a growing sense of dread. They were sick. She didn't need the doctor to tell her. They were young and it probably wouldn't hit them as hard but the symptoms were obvious. "Ok kid..." She sighed out at Vincent.

Fiona ran a hand  along the back of her neck after she put her hair up and her eyes went wide "Oh my god I'm sweating buckets here...." She half heard Susan and then saw the thermometers come out and deflated. "We're fucked aren't we?" She pulled down the mask and opened her mouth, trying not to exhale on the good doctor. That would be the last thing this town needed,,,,to be down Susan McKinney. She stole a sideways glance at Vincent and gave him a resigned look.

Vincent heard Darcy.  His Mom.  Among the last people he wanted to worry about him.  He tries to give Fiona an encouraging and loving look as he pulls down his mask and opens his mouth.  As his temperature was taken, the doctor took their other vital signs.

Colleen moves to the exam room door and pulls it aside.  She is gowned and masked and in her hand are two sheets of paper which she hands to Susan.  Then she moves beside Darcy and looks at her daughter, who is damp with sweat.

Susan takes temperature, blood pressure and pulse from her patients and just before the removes the thermometers from their mouths, Colleen walks in and hands her two sheets of paper.  Before looking at them, Susan takes the thermometers and records the results in the corresponding chart.  Then she places the thermometers in disinfectant and finally looks at the sheets she was handed, placing each in the right chart as she does.  Then she turns to them and addresses Fiona.  “No, you are not fucked.”  she reports.  “But you DO have Covid-19.” she looks around the room.  “Given your age and that both of you are in perfect health otherwise, you should be able to survive this.”  She wants to calm both her patients and their mothers.  “Now, have you two been in contact with anyone AFTER your trip to see Giovanni?”  she asks, gently.

Darcy gave Colleen a weak smile from behind her mask and a little nod. Then she just just slumped waiting for their answer. How many people were she and Sam going to have to notify and get in here for testing? She hoped Vincent and Fiona had just holed up.

Fiona slid her mask back on and furrowed her brow thinking "No one....oh shit wait. shay dropped by. And I made him a sandwich. A PB and J of doom." She felt suddenly sick with guilt and looked up at her mother with shining eyes "I'm so sorry....I really didn't think we..." She looked at Vincent and then just started crying. It was all so surreal and overwhelming.

Vincent immediately takes Fiona into his arme.  They’re both infected, he figures, and so it won’t matter now if they are less than the recommended feet apart.  And even if they weren’t, he was going to comfort his woman.  He clears his throat.  “That was … um … yesterday.  I mean … I guess we figured it was yesterday then this morning … we woke up feeling like …”  he coughs and sighs.  “Yea … like this.”  he holds Fiona, rubbing her back and feeling more than a little guilty himself.

Colleen swallows hard at the diagnosis.  It isn’t a surprise, but it’s like a punch in her stomach.  She pulls out her phone and begins to type and speak at the same time.  “I’m telling your Dad to put Seamus in Logan and Kurt’s place.  They can stay in his room.  Shay’s bed is big enough.”  she employs a combination of her maternal calm with her professional and sounds, to herself at least, completely collected.  She sends the text and looks at Vincent holding Fiona and speaks to her daughter.  “It’s not your fault.”  she assures them.  “Seamus has been checking in on the family… so I have to tell them all and they can all start their isolations over .. not that they should be going anywhere anyway.” she blows out a breath and tightens her jaw.  “Seamus … doesn’t qualify for testing.”  she tells them.  “Owen does, with his job at the grocery store.  Your Dad does because of his work in the power station.  Michael does because he’s a cop and I do because I’m a nurse.”  she shrugs.  “There are very few tests.  Not enough to test everyone in town once, never mind multiple times so…”  she looks helplessly at Susan.

Watching her patients, Susan feels for them and their situation.  Colleen explained most of it, but Susan wasn't surprised when she ran out of steam.  So she finished.  “So we’re not going to be testing anyone that isn’t showing symptoms unless they’ve been exposed to someone already infected, like you two.  However, considering Seamus’s age and health, I think he, like you two, would be able to fight the virus off on his own and won’t need hospitalization.”  Despite her best efforts, an imploring tone comes into her voice.  “We have so many seniors in town … I want to save some for them.  Just in case.”

Fiona just buries her face into Vincent's chest and cries and cries. She hears the words around her but she's simply overcome. She knows Seamus is young and healthy but the fact that they've put anyone at risk is too much for her. Her own mother is in the room now, risking herself like she will be every day. Dr. McKinney and Darcy are the same. Uncle Mike was a cop too as her Mom mentioned. Owen worked in a bloody grocery store. He would have to deal with all the crazies. Her father oversaw hundreds of employees. Giovanni will likely die...which makes her think of her Gran and Yuki and Great Uncle Uilick and just keep sobbing. Damn this virus.

Darcy blinked hard at Fiona's emotional reaction. She had been on a roller coaster fighting her own. It was a lot. She steadied her breath and nodded at Colleen and Susan and then looked painfully at Vincent and Fiona. She wouldn't be seeing much of them after today now, not even from a distance. Her heart ached. The apartment had been quiet since Vincent moved in with Fiona. Now it was about to get really quiet. But the distance would save them.

Vincent holds Fiona close, feeling her sobbing and takes in a deep breath.  “Okay…”  he begins, partly to himself.  “Mom.  Colleen.  Just … you know … keep in touch.  We have whatever app we’ll need to actually see each other.” he sighs.  “I guess you may as well tell Granma and  Granpa .. and Aunt Mari.  Tell Aunt Mari she can call or FT or whatever she wants.  And tell Gran I promise not to read any Harry and Megan news, so she can give me the gossip before anyone else.”  He wants to assure everyone that they’ll be OK.  He looks at Susan.  “And set Giovanni up.  I’d like to talk to him.  Make sure he’s …”  he stops himself before he can say ‘okay’ and goes with “comfortable.” which sounds worse, in too many ways.  “Tell him I'm call Vincent and let him know what’s going on.”

Colleen watches her daughter and wants to hold her like Vincent is, but knows she can’t.  She swallows hard, thinking of her family.  They could lose so much and had, in one day, gotten a true gut punch delivered to them by the virus.

Susan watches and nods.  “I’ll call in some meds for you guys.  The pharmacy will leave them beside your door, then send a text message so you can go down and get it.”  the new world way of delivering things.  “For the most part, take care of yourselves and I want to see you both in ten days.  Recovery time seems to range from 12 to 32 days, so we’ll see how you’re doing in ten and work from there.”  she bites her lip, glad of her mask to hide the nervous facial expression.  She looks at Vincent.  “I’ll deliver the message and I will keep you updated on his progress.  I promise.”  she tells him.  Her look at Fiona is compassionate.  “You two should go home and settle in.  Lots of rest and fluids.  That’s your best bet.”  she realizes how like recovery from a cold or flu that appears and knows that may be one of the largest problems they face in this crisis.  Turning toi Colleen she simply says.  “When you’re ready, I’ll be upstairs.”  Colleen knows where.  With Giovanni.