Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone except the other Drs. All belongs to Saban!
6:55. Five til 7. Five minutes until her shift was over and Dana could go home and curl up in bed with her fiance. Five minutes until she had a whole week to herself to do whatever she wanted. At that moment the night shift started making their way into the E.R. and start getting caught up from the others that worked the day shift. Two more residents came walking over to the service desk where she was sitting, glancing at the clock every chance she could.
"Hey Day. Did you catch that Lakers game last night?" Jacob Price said as he took the seat beside her twirling around to face her.
"Oh yes of course. It was a real slam grand with that touchdown at the buzzer," she said laughing with the others within hearing range while she was packing up her supplies. Soon enough she was walking towards the exit door to head to the resident locker room. "Ya'll have a good night!"
"Eh it's slow," Amy Matthews said as she leaned against the counter. As soon as the words had left her mouth a look of complete fear crossed her face. Dana froze with one hand on the door and slowly turned to look at her as Amy starts shaking her head as Jacob and Dave Allen, the other resident working the day shift with Dana, looked at her with disbelief. Before any more words could be said the in coming emergency phone on the counter rang. All eyes turned to look at it without moving. On the third ring a nurse finally broke the spell and picked up the phone. 30 seconds later she put it back on the holder.
"Five alarm fire in a restaurant downtown. Five ambulances incoming. 4 patrons, 1 firefighter. 4 minutes out," she said looking around the room then going to prep the other nurses working. When the word fire came out of the nurses mouth Dana knew she would be staying to help but as soon as the word firefighter was spoke she froze. She stood her ground, frozen in fear until an intern bumped into her. She quickly ran back to the counter throwing her bag behind it and running to grab her trauma gown and wait outside with the other residents.
Three minutes later the first two of the four emergency vehicles arrived. Seeing 2 other residents head to the first two ambulances she waited for the other two to arrive. And she didn't have to wait long. A short 30 seconds later the final two ambulances came screeching into the emergency bay. Her and 2 interns found their way to the back ambulance just as the paramedic came around the end.
"Multiple burns to arms and back. Possible neck and back injury. They found him under a pillar. Unconscious. This is the firefighter," she said as her and an intern opened the back doors.
"Ryan?!" Dana yelled seeing her brother walking out of the back end of the red vehicle.
"Hey Sis. Fancy meeting you here. Didn't you get off at 7?" he asked as he helped wheel the unconscious covered man into the hospital and into a trauma room.
"We got the call right before I walked out the door. I couldn't just walk out. Carter will understand," she said glancing up at her brother. That's when she caught the look that crossed her older brothers face that made her freeze. With a second glance at her brother she whipped around as an intern was uncovering the firefighters face to reveal her fiance laying on the table with his eyes closed. But as soon as one of the interns put a cleansing pad on one of the burns on his arm his eyes shot open and a scream came from his mouth.
"Push ten of Hydromorphone!" Dana said moving from one side of the room to Carter's side in three strides and putting both hands on the side of his head making him look at her. "Carter! Carter! Look at me. You were in an accident. You're at the hospital. You have a lot of burns on your arms and back. We are going to put you back under so we can clean everything ok?"
"I...I...hands... I can't...feel," he squeaked out between gasps for air. One hand moved from his face to the hand laying on the table beside her. Glancing at it while squeezing it she quickly moved her eyes back to his face and she could tell he wasn't feeling her hand in his.
"Page Neuro now! Don't put him under he needs to be awake when Nero gets here. Carter honey I need you to stay awake for me ok? Can you do that?" Dana asked looking at him again. When he lightly nodded his head she let out a sigh of relief now knowing he most likely didn't have a broken neck or spine. "Page Plastics too."
Right as she said that the head of Trauma, Dr. Barnes and the head of Neuro, Dr. Cope, walked into the trauma room. One of the interns quickly rattled off what they knew while Dana stayed focused on keeping Carter focused on her. The two attending doctors quickly made their way to Carter's side and head.
"Dr. Mitchell is there a reason you aren't helping the others clean the burns?!" Dr. Barnes asked/yelled over the chaos of the room. Dana heard what he had said but it didn't truly process as she could start to see Carter's eyes slipping closed.
"Hey! Carter! You stay awake! You promised me you'd stay awake! You can't break that promise do you hear me?!" she said squeezing her hands a little tighter on his head to get his attention.
"Dr. Mitchell! Why aren't you helping the others?" Dr. Barnes asked again this time louder. But before she could say anything she heard Ryan speak up from the back of the room where he had been shoved into a corner.
"That's her fiance," was all that he had to say before the room grew silent beside his heart monitor beeping steadily.
"Dr. Mitchell I'm sorry but you know the protocol. You can not be on his case. Someone get Dr. Spear in here to take Dr. Mitchell's place please," Dr. Barnes said his voice getting softer. Dana knew what she had to do, so as soon as Dr. Spear walked into the room she slowly let got of Carter's face.
"Remember don't break that promise Carter," she said before backing away from him and towards the door with a glance back at the man on the table. She could feel the tell-tale sign of tears about to fall from her eyes so she hurriedly made her way out of the trauma room and out of the E.R. all together. She knew her brother wouldn't be far behind so she made sure she went at a brisk but easy to follow pace until they were completely clear of prying eyes and ears.
As soon as the door to the exam room she had chosen to hide in shut behind her brother she was a sobbing mess in his arms. He instantly engulfed her in his arms, one going around her shoulders and the other to her head to pet her hair. Ryan wasn't sure how long they had been standing there when she finally pulled away from him but he knew it wasn't long enough for her to be totally ok. But then he figured it was her job to not show too much emotion.
"What was he even doing at the fire? It was his day off," she said wiping her face dry with a kleenex from the box on the exam table.
"We tried to control the fire with the crew we had but it just kept getting away from us. So chief called in the off guys. Just as they were getting there we learned there were still some civilians in the restaurant. We tried to stop him from going in alone but you know Carter, he has no sense of fear. He got two of the three out but when he didn't come out with the third one soon we went in to find them. A pillar had collapsed on them about 50 feet from the door. Carter was shielding the little boy from the fire but he was unconscious when we were finally able to lift it off and pull them out."
When he was done explaining what had gone down during the fire she just scoffed and shook her head slightly, laughing softly.
"Of course he had to be the one to go in. Our fearless leader," she said as tears threatened to spill again. But before anything else could be said Dana's pager beeped on her hip.
'911. Grayson.' was all it read.