Title: Searching for the hero
Author: Ceindreadh
Fandom(s): Holby City
Genre: Gen, hurt/comfort
Characters: Serena Campbell, Dominic Copeland, Zosia March, Arthur Digby, Guy Self
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Zosia blames herself when Dominic is hurt while trying to help her
Disclaimer. I don't own the Holby City characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Notes: The problem with writing for a continuing show is that canon moves on. I've taken S16ep30 "my name is joe" – as my jumping off point (I'm also ignoring the whole Raf-Amy-Harry storyline because I really hate it)
Serena Campbell had finished her shift, signed off on all her paperwork and was just about to leave the hospital when the alarm was raised.
A distraught Zosia had almost knocked her over in the corridor, before grabbing her by the arm and babbling about a man with a knife.
"Slow down, Zosia," said Serena, as she'd tried to stop the younger woman from pulling her along the corridor. "What man? What knife?"
"In the staff room," said Zosia, "He stabbed Dom...he needs help..."
Serena's face froze, "Doctor Copeland? Have you called Security?"
"They're on their way," said Zosia, "Please, come with me."
By the time they reached the staff room, there was no sign of the attacker, who Zosia said had been the relative of a deceased patient. A security guard was crouched down beside Dominic, who was sitting slumped against a wall, a knife sticking out of his chest.
"Do not touch that knife," ordered Serena as she picked her way around the streaks of blood on the floor around Dominic.
"I wasn't going to, Ma'am," said the guard, moving away. "I just wanted to check was he still breathing."
"Well I'll take over from here, thank you. Get me a backboard and a trolley," ordered Serena as she knelt down beside Dominic. "Dominic, can you hear me?"
Dominic's eyes flickered open, "Ms Campbell...it hurts..." He coughed, producing flecks of blood.
"I'm sure it does," said Serena, "But we'll soon fix that." She spoke with more certainty than she felt. To Zosia who was standing beside them, she said, "Give me your stethoscope, and see what OR is free, and we'll need a chest x-ray." There was no reply from Zosia, who was staring at Dominic, a look of horror on her face. "ZOSIA!" said Serena, "Either help me, or find somebody who can." She took the stethoscope from Zosia and went back to her primary survey. "Decreased breath sounds," she muttered to herself, "No surprise there...but where's all the blood coming from..." Out loud she said, "Dominic, did he stab you anywhere else?"
"Back..." Dominic groaned.
"All right, I'm going to need some help here to move you." By now the staff room was filling up with people and it didn't take long for Serena to locate the wound on Dominic's back, just above his waist. He cried out in pain as he was lowered onto the backboard which had been brought in. "Dominic," said Serena, "I'm going to have to take you into surgery now."
"Am I...am I going to die?"
"Not if I have any say in the matter," said Serena. "Come on people, let's move." She was about to stand when Dominic pulled at her arm. "Yes Dominic?"
"Must be...must perks of the job..." Dominic's eyes closed for a few seconds but he forced them open again. "Getting...getting best surgeon at Holby...patch me up..."
"No need to play me, Dominic?" Serena smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm going to look after you."
Serena was feeling somewhat less confident as she worked on Dominic in the operating theatre. The knife had been relatively straightforward to remove. Well, as straightforward as a knife in the chest could be. Remove the blade, drain the blood from the pleural cavity and insert a chest tube. But it was the wound to Dominic's back that had given Serena some pause as she examined the scans.
"That's just a little too close to the spine for comfort," she said to the OR nurse. "Page Mr. Self, I'd like him to remove this clot."
"Serena," said Guy, over the intercom. "This had better be important. The hospital is swarming with police officers. Something about a stabbing on the ward, one of the patients?"
"Not on the ward," said Serena, "The staff room. And it was a patient's relative. He cornered Zosia and stabbed Dominic when he walked in on them."
"Zosia! What happened, is she all right?"
"Doctor March is uninjured," said Serena. "Which is more than can be said for Doctor Copeland."
"Where is Zosia," said Guy, "I need to find her."
"She's with Doctor Digby in the relative's room," said Serena, "He's going to take her home after she's given her statement to the police. Guy, I know you want to be there for her, but right now this young man needs you in your professional capacity. I don't mean to be cold, but Zosia can wait...Dominic can't."
Guy looked over the scans. "It looks like a simple enough blood clot. Should be well within your level of expertise."
"It's rather too close to the spine for my liking," said Serena as she carefully inserted the chest tube. "And since we can't keep our junior doctors safe, we can at least give them the best treatment available." She paused before continuing, "Consider it a perk of their employment."
"And you're sure Zosia is okay?"
"Nothing a stiff drink and good night's rest won't cure," said Serena, "A prescription I intend to follow myself when I've finished here. Now are you going to scrub in and join me or not?"
"Here you go," said Digby, holding out a paper cup of tea to Zosia, "I put three sugars in it...for the shock."
Zosia took it with shaking hands and sipped it automatically, grimacing slightly at the taste. "Thank you," she said, "Is...is there any news on Dom?"
Digby shook his head as he sat down beside her. "Still in theatre. I'm sure Ms. Campbell will let us know once there's any news."
"There was so much blood..." Zosia shuddered. The sound of the door opening made her look up quickly.
"Excuse me," said Nurse Jackson, "But the police would like to take a full statement from you."
"Oh can't they wait?" said Digby, "I don't think Zosia's up for talking to them right now."
"I can do it," said Zosia, putting down the tea. "You can send them in." She shrugged off Digby's pat of reassurance.
"So what actually happened?" asked Guy as he expertly made the incision. "Who did this?"
"The relative of a patient, so I understand," said Serena, swabbing away the blood. "He followed Zosia into the staff room, threatened her with a knife. Then when Dominic walked in looking for Zosia, the man just stabbed him in the back."
"Sounds like Doctor Copeland was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Guy.
"And had you seen this man before?" asked Police Sergeant Jones.
"Only once, earlier, out on the ward," said Zosia. "I was treating his partner, and she'd passed away a few hours before. He...didn't take the news well." There was some irony, thought Zosia in that after all the times she'd screwed up, all the mistakes she'd made, this time, she'd gone by the book completely. She'd assessed her patient, made a preliminary diagnosis, run the appropriate tests and consulted with Sacha every step of the way. But there had been nothing anybody could have done. Unfortunately Ben Lockhart hadn't believed it and had been singularly unimpressed by Zosia's efforts to explain it to him. So she'd retreated to the staff room only to have him follow her, close the door behind them and pull out a knife, blocking her only route of escape.
"Dominic was looking for me," said Zosia, "He...he walked into the room and Mr. Lockhart was standing behind the door, and he just stabbed him in the back..."
"Mr. Lockhart," said Zosia, trying to keep her voice steady, "Ben, please, put down the knife and we can talk about this."
There was a noise at the door and Zosia's heart lurched as she saw a figure fumbling at the keypad. "Send them away or I'll kill them," hissed Ben, taking up a position behind the door.
The door finally opened, and Dominic stuck his head into the room, "Zosia? Ah, there you are. Those blood tests on Mrs. Jennison came back. You said you wanted to know immediately."
"I'll be there in a minute," said Zosia, "I just need...I just have something to do first. Okay?"
She could see Dominic looking at her curiously, "Are you all right? You were practically yelling at the lab half an hour ago to get a move on with the bloods." He stepped into the room and the door closed behind him.
"NO!" Zosia felt like she was screaming but she couldn't force a sound through her lips. She wanted to shout at Dominic, to scream at him to watch out, to notice the figure standing behind the door, but all she could do was watch as Ben plunged the knife into Dominic's back. Dominic cried out as he crumpled to the ground and Ben, bloodied knife in his hand advanced inexorably towards Zosia. Paralyzed with fear, Zosia couldn't move. "No," she said, her voice barely audible, "Please...don't..."
And then she saw Ben stumble and trip, falling heavily to the ground only feet away from her the knife still clenched in his outstretched hand. Behind him, Dominic clung to Ben's leg with a bloodied hand. "Dominic!" said Zosia, taking a step towards them.
"RUN!" hissed Dominic, through teeth clenched in pain. "Get help...now!"
"So I ran," said Zosia, bitterly. "I ran and left Dominic behind, and by the time I got back with Serena, that madman had stabbed him a second time."
Beside her, Digby opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it again.
"Serena," said Jones, looking at his notes. "That would be?"
"Ms. Campbell," said Digby, "She's in theatre now, operating on Dominic."
"Well I'll need to speak to her as well," said Jones. "Doctor March, is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all you remember?"
Zosia shook her head, "Just find him, please."
Guy was just about to close up when Serena was paged over the intercom. "Ms. Campbell, sorry to interrupt, but the police would like to speak to you."
"Tell them to wait until we're finished here," said Serena.
"I can handle it on my own from here," said Guy. "You go and deal with them."
"Page me if there's any problems," said Serena, "And let me know as soon as he's in post-op." She stopped by the trolley where she'd placed the knife that she'd removed from Dominic's chest. "I'm guessing they'll want this as well."
"Thank you, Ms. Campbell," said Jones as he took the bagged up knife from her. "I'll get this booked into evidence."
"Is there anything else you'll need from me?" asked Serena, looking at her watch. "I believe I've told you everything I know. Not that I actually saw any of the events that transpired in the staff room, only the aftermath."
"Doctor March has given us her statement," said Jones, "And of course we'll need to speak to..." he checked his notes, "Doctor Copeland, as soon as he's out of surgery."
"Well you certainly won't be speaking to him tonight," said Serena, firmly. "He's been through major surgery and he won't be in any condition to give any sort of statement before morning. Maybe not even then if I don't think he's up for it."
"We do need to speak to him," said Jones. "And sooner rather than later."
"I do understand, but right now, my patient's well-being must take precedence. Come back in the morning and we'll see how he is then. And now if you'll excuse me, I must speak to Doctor March myself."
"Digby, Zosia," said Serena as she walked into the relative's room.
"Ms. Campbell," said Digby, standing quickly. "How is Dominic?"
"Mr. Self should be just closing up about now," said Serena. "Right now he's still in a serious condition, but he's stable. We'll know more in the morning, but barring any complications, he should make a good recovery."
"Why is my father operating?" asked Zosia, her face pale. "I thought you were going to do it?"
"I called Mr. Self in just to be on the safe side," said Serena, "Otherwise he would have checked in on you himself." She noted Zosia's lack of any snide rejoinder about her father. That alone was enough to tell Serena how affected she was by events. "Now, I think you two should both go home and rest."
"No," said Zosia, shaking her head, "I want to see Dom. He...he saved my life."
"He's going to be under sedation for much of the night, Zosia," said Serena. "Go home, and I'll let you know if there's any change."
"She's right," said Digby, "We're no use to Dominic right now."
"I wasn't much use to him earlier," said Zosia, bitterly. Pulling herself together, she said, "Okay, fine. I'll see him in the morning."
Serena watched as the pair left the room and then made her way back to post-op.
"Ah, Serena," said Guy, as he wrote up his notes beside Dominic's bed. "It doesn't look like that clot caused any damage, but I'll reassess Doctor Copeland in the morning." He handed her the chart. "Poor kid, he's going to be out of action for a while."
"Thank you, Guy," said Serena. "I was just speaking to Zosia. She and Digby are going to head home. If you hurry, you might catch them."
Guy glanced down at his patient, "I should really stay until he's ready to be transferred."
"There's no need," said Serena. "He's my patient as well, and besides, I told him I'd look after him."
To be continued