As Jac walked into work that morning she sensed something was going on. She was right, she enterned Darwin ward to find complete and utter chaos.
"Ollie!" She shouted, summoning the F1 "what the hell's going on?" She saw the fear in his eyes as he gulped and replied
"There's been a massive train crash, something like fifteen carriages and St James' is already near breaking point." Jac's eyes widened as he hurried away
"Shit" she exclaimed under her breath. At that moment she saw a flash of glimmering brown hair and felt someone furiously brush past her. It was Sahira sobbing again, closely followed by Hansen.
"What was that about?" She queried, as the registrar scuttled off towards the toilets. Mr Hansen gave her a patronising look and ignored her. Instead he called everyone together for a Henrik style pep-talk.
"Right people we've got a major incident on our hands today, Darwin will now be the designated overflow ward for Keller and AAU. We also need some extra staff to go down to the crash sight and deal with some of the remaining patients before they arrive to us. Ms Naylor" Jac looked up startled "I don't think Mrs Shah is in any fit state for this today, I would like you and Nurse Maconie to join the paramedic team and get down there as soon as possible please." Jac hesitated and looked at Johnny, he turned his gaze away from her, she nodded at Hansen in reluctant agreement. "Thank you team, and good luck, I believe you may need it." With that Hansen left and headed back to his solitary and isolated office.
Jac and Johnny started towards the paramedic's bay in complete silence. Jac was looking around her and picking her finger nails nervously
"Johnny..." she began but was abruptly cut off.
"No Jac, whatever you have to say I don't want to hear it, we've got enough on today as it is without your mind games" Johnny hissed. Jac felt like her heart had fallen in to the pit of her stomach, she returned to silence and continued walking, her head hung in shame. This way no one would see the regretful tear glide down her cheek.
They arrived at the scene, via different ambulances, to see the shear extent of the accident. Like nothing either of them had seen before. The air was thick with dust and debris. There were train carriages everywhere tipped over and driven into walls. You could almost feel the pain of what had already been lost there that day.
Jac followed Jeff towards the tracks were they met a police officer.
"There's still loads of them, there are three more carriages just on this side." All three of them looked at each sorrowfully.
"Right Jac, you take that one" Jeff suggested, pointing her towards and overturned carriage "and i'll see what's going on down there" he continued gesturing in the oppsosite direction. Jac nodded, took a deep breath and headed towards the train.
She found herself having to climb on to the side of the train and lower herself through the doors which were wedged open. The air was so thick inside that she found herself struggling to breathe, never mind see. She took a torch from her jacket pocket and pointed it in various directions, not that it was much use.
"Hello?" she called hopefully "is there anyone in here?" She coughed violently as the dust crept down her throat but then she heard a small cry.
"Hello?" she called again louder "where are you? My name's Jac, I'm a doctor I can help." She heard a small voice reply with
"I'm down here, please help me, my leg's stuck and..." her voice teetered away in a soft murmur. Jac felt the adrenaline rushing through her body, she shone the torch towards the voice and as if by magic noticed two pain stricken eyes staring back at her. She rushed towards the survivor
"Hello" she said breathlessly whilst beggining to assess her then best she could "what's your name? Can you tell me where it hurts?" The patient weakly replied
"ah...it's Carol and...it's just...my leg...I can't...move it." Jac shone her torch towards Carol's leg to see it trapped precariously under a chair surrounded by and excessive amount of blood.
"Okay Carol, i'm going to go down thre and fetch my bag to get something to stop the bleeding." Jac said as calm as possible. Carol grabbed Jac's hand, she turned around and saw the fear in her patient's eyes
"No, please don't leave me" she croaked, panic etched in her voice. Jac felt a sudden pang of empathy towards this woman
"I'll be two seconds" she promised "if I can't stop this bleed then things are going to get a lot worse, a lot quicker" her voice cracked as she said this. Carol nodded and gently released Jac's hand. This situation was relatively new to Jac, the people she treats have always been saved from their life or death situation and she was just there to patch them up. She'd never had to do reassurance before, she always had a nurse to do that for her. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes as she thought about Johnny. 'No, not now' she said to herself 'come on Naylor, pull yourself together, that poor deluded woman needs you to save her life!'
Meanwhile Johnny and Dixie we're patching up minor head injuries and the odd broken bone when Jeff and three others came rushing over with a patient on a stretcher.
"Where's Jac?" he questioned breathlessly. Johnny and Dixie looked at each other puzzled.
"She was with you..." Dixie said, a hint of worry in her voice. Jeff's eyes widened
"I sent her to check a carriage for any other casualties...you don't think she's done something stupid do you?" Johnny's eyes lit up with fear as he jumped up and ran towards an over turned carriage.
"JAC!" He shouted out to her, panic coursing through his beautiful scottish voice. He leapt on on to the side of the overturned train, causing the whole think to jolt sideways, sending Jac flying across to the other side and the wound from Carol's leg to start splurting blood excessively. Johnny heard a scream from inside, not Jac's though. He lowered himself through the doors and ran to the end of the carriage, again causing it to shudder dangerously.
"Jac!" He coughed and spluttered. "we need to get out of here, it's not safe!" She noted the terror in his eyes and turned back to her patient.
"She's losing a lot of blood, we really need to get out of here" her voice wobbled, she was close to tears. "Johnny she's arresting!" she shouted. She began chest compressions, Johnny checked her pulse. He placed his hand gently on Jac's shoulder
"Jac, we both know that even if you get her heart going again she's lost way too much blood for her not to arrest again. You've done all you can." Jac continued feebly then collapsed tearfully into Johnny's chest, sobbing
"she was so afraid...I told her i'd help her..." her voice was little more than a terrified whisper now. Johnny hugged her tightly, strokeing her hair gently, he could feel her breath on his skin and it was like nothing she'd done mattered anymore.
The pair heard Jeff shout from outside the carriage
"Jac? Johnny? You really need to get out of there, this thing's going to give way any minute!" Jac raised her head and looked at Johnny, it was so dark that all he could see were her twinkling blue eyes staring back at him." He put his hand gently around her and pulled her to her feet. They stood back as two firemen carefully lowered a ladder through the precariously wedged open doors and summoned them forward. Johnny made Jac go first, he watched as she cautiously took each step upwards, she took extreme care not to look down...was the ice queen afraid of heights? Johnny knew so little about this unusual woman but today was just a step forwards in getting closer to her. Anyway he knew he loved her, what more was there to think about.
Jac emerged from the side of the battered train slowly. She suddenly felt a bit hazy, almost faint, she stopped half way up the ladder. Jeff was perched on the edge ready to help her out
"Jac?" he said slowly. it was only when he shone a torch in her direction that he saw the blood seeping through her top, spreading down her side. He gasped in horror as Ms Naylor clung on to the ladder weakly. "Guys!" he practically screamed at the rest of the crew "can I get some help over please!" He shuffled himself forward as far as he could and stretched his arms under Jac's arms and around her waist.
"What's going on?" Johnny called nervously from below.
"She's wounded Johnny, there's a lot of blood, we need to get her out of here now!" he replied, struggling to hold on to her weak body. Johnny climbed up the ladder behind the injured consultant and tried to take as much of her weight as possible. He put his arms around her hips and let her body rest into his
"You're okay, I won't let you fall" he whispered encourageingly into her ear. Jac's eyes flickered, the colour had gone from her face.
"Come on Jac stay with me" Jeff willed her as he and Johnny edged her body upwards carefully. They gently strapped her onto a stretcher and hurried to get her out into the open. As they emerged into daylight it was clear that a shard of glass, most probably from a window, had punctured Jac's side and the blood was spreading rapidly.
"Can we get some pressure on this please!" Dixie called, rushing to get an oxygen mask on her. Johnny followed them into the back of an ambulance, trying his best to stem the bleed. The next few were a bit of a blur for Johnny. They arrived at the hospital and the ED department took her away into rescuss where they rushed around her trying to stop the bleed and keep her heart going. At one point he remembered standing at the window praying to a god he didn't believe in when she went into cardiac arrest. They eventually took her into theatre and removed the glass which he had been told was scarily close to her one remaining kidney. The next few hours were just spent waiting and hoping.
Jeff came by at one point "do they know how it happened?" he asked sitting next to the broken man and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"When I jumped on the side of the carriage it jolted side ways. She fell backwards...it must have happened then." Johnny shivered at the thought of him being the one to cause the accident. Jeff looke at the nurse sympathetically and reassured him
"it you weren't there, she might not have got out at all. Not long after you left that whole part of the bridge completely collapsed." Johnny's eyed widened and he sighed at the thought of all those people but he couldn't help but think 'what if she had been in there?'
With that thought, a nurse came walking down the ward towards Johnny. He'd never seen her before, she wasn't overly tall, quite pretty, and she had beautiful orban hair, not unlike Jac's.
"Mr Maconie?" she queried "Jac's waking up if you want to come and see her." Johnny jumped out of his seat
"seriously?" he asked in disbelief "how is she?" The nurse smiled and replied
"She's still very groggy but so far the bleed seems to have stopped. She's very lucky."
Johnny followed the nurse down to a side room where Jac lay, she was attatched to the usual machines and had tubes and wires coming out here there and everywhere but she still looked stunning. He sat down by the side of her and held her hand. Her eyes fluttered open, she looked at him and smiled beautifully, the way she does.
"Johnny" she whispered. Johnny tightened his grip on her hand
"shh, don't talk, just rest" he encouraged, stroking her fiery hair.
"Johnny, i'm so sorry" she continued weakly "I'm so sorry I hurt you, please forgive me." Johnny looked at her in shock and said jokingly
"have you got a head injury as well?" She laughed silently at him.
"Seriously" she carried on, wrapping her fingers around his "I love you." Johnny couldn't believe his ears, this was mad...
"I love you too" he said smiling at her as a tear fell down his cheek."