"We've got a collision coming in. ETA three minutes. Two casualties; one drunk driver and the driver of the other car."
Dr. Merlin Emrys sighed. He'd been on call for the past 35 and a half hours, and was meant to be off in less than thirty minutes. Was meant to be going home and crawling into bed with Arthur. His boyfriend. Not that anyone here knew he had a boyfriend, of course. It's not that he was ashamed of Arthur, or of being gay. It's just... Hospitals, doctors, he wasn't sure how they'd react. They all had to spend so much time here, on too little sleep and too much stress; he didn't need to add any extra tension to that mix.
Plus, in his first week here, he'd seen how one of the other doctors had reacted to a gay patient. How he'd cringed away before he could reaffix his professional mask. Merlin didn't want them to look at him like that.
He hadn't seen Arthur properly for over a week. Arthur was a lawyer, and a damn good one at that. Which meant that he worked almost as many hours as Merlin did. But at least Arthur kept vaguely sociable hours. At least Arthur slept at night, when it was dark. And finally, tonight, Merlin was meant to be sleeping at night as well, sleeping at the same time as Arthur, in his arms. Hell, Merlin had been hoping for some sex even.
At the sound of the ambulance arriving into the bay, Merlin shook these thoughts out of his head, and headed out into the rain.
"White male, non responsive. Lacerations to the head and arms. Possible broken femur." The paramedic reeled off the man's vitals. "Blood alcohol level at 0.17."
More than twice over the legal limit, this was the drunk driver. The cause of the accident. Merlin swallowed heavily. He knew some doctors had a hard time reconciling the fact that they have to treat everyone who comes into the ER. Murderers, paedophiles, rapists; no matter what they've done they deserve an equal chance at life. Sometimes it's hard to remember the oath they have all taken but they manage, in the end.
"Ok, let's get him into trauma one."
Dr. Lance Grayson glances at Merlin; "you alright with this one?"
"Yeah, sure, you wait for the other ambulance."
Merlin wheels his patient inside, putting the circumstances of his injuries to the back of his mind. It's not his place to judge, but to heal.
Merlin loses himself into his job, mind completely intent on his patient. He catches in his peripheral vision when the other driver is brought into the adjacent trauma room, but doesn't give it a second thought.
Although his patient looks bad, he is stabilised fairly quickly, but he remains unconscious. Merlin snaps off his gloves and pushes his way into the other trauma room which is still a flurry of activity. As Merlin walks in the man's heart falters, and is shocked back into a healthy rhythm.
"What do we have here Lance?"
"Other driver, white male, was conscious and responding to questions when we brought him in. Severe head wounds, broken arm, two broken ribs, punctured lung. Heart has stopped twice. We need to intubate."
"On it," Merlin responds, and crosses over to stand behind the man's head, reaching out to grab an intubation tube.
He has the tube halfway down the man's throat before he really looks at him, before he recognises him.
Arthur.
Merlin's hands are suddenly shaking. His breathing coming in short gasps. He feels like his heart has stopped beating as well.
It is Arthur who is bleeding out on the bed before him. It is Arthur whose heart cannot maintain a stable rhythm. It is Arthur who might die due to a drunk driver. The man whose life Merlin has just saved.
"Dr. Emrys." Lance's voice his stern, shocking Merlin out of his stupor. "He needs to be intubated. Now."
Merlin responds more due to muscle memory more than anything else, sliding the tube down Arthur's throat and hooking it up to the oxygen supply. Then he backs away slowly. He is unable to take his eyes off Arthur, his beautiful Arthur lying broken on the table in front of him. With a choked sob, he flees the room.
Chapter 2 to follow soon! All my medical knowledge comes from tv shows etc, so I apologise for any errors!