Hi everyone, I'm back with more of a challenge than a story.
I had an idea whilst writing a few days ago, I realised there's a lot we don't know about our favourite brothers and a lot of questions that lurk around them. So, my idea was, if you let me know the questions you have always wondered about Ethan and Cal and I'll try and come up with my take on them as a story. I think this would be a really fun thing to do and so feel free to make the questions as random and as silly as you like, the more challenging they are to answer, the more interesting they will be to write. For example: "Why is Ethan called 'Nibbles'?", "Why does Cal hate his father so much?" or something really random like "why is Ethan left handed?" (And I would have to come up with a back story to this, not just say "he's left handed because he is, that's it"). I think this will be a good way to get you lot involved as readers which I always enjoy doing so please feel free to leave a review or PM me of any unanswered questions, wonderings and what if's around the brothers and I will do my best to write up something worth reading, I will also name the person who left the review/message if you would like as credit. This could completely go to pot but it's worth a try right? Let's just say it will be interesting...This will be a collection of (short-ish) stories and one shots called "Answered questions and what if's" plainly because that's what it will be. I will try and update as much as I can but I will be writing as I publish so I doubt my much loved daily updates will be happening...*takes a deep breath*
This is one "what if" I came up with last year, based on one of my favourite episodes 'Born Lucky'. I hope you enjoy and want to get involved, thanks, Kayxxx :)
What If – Cal was driving.
"Wow they're letting you drive? They're obviously in a rush! I'm just glad I'm not going, it's like taking part in a rally race being a car with you" Ethan mocked.
"He drives like an OAP!" Cal rolled his eyes looking at Max.
"No Cal, safely. That's how I drive. Safely." Ethan shook his head and looked back down at his notes.
"Well make sure you're back in time for the pub call anyway, first round is on me" Max announced with a grin.
"The rally race begins" Cal joked clapping his hands together; he looked at his brother who just shook his head unimpressed. Cal turned and headed out the door and into the car park.
"Wasn't it your idea for the funding? Shouldn't you be going?" Robyn asked confused.
"Yes I believe it was but I'll allow him to take the credit this time, after all they probably would get there much faster with him driving like a maniac! Plus I'm not really much of a public speaker" Ethan explained as he turned for cubicles.
"Right is everyone ready for our little road trip?!" Cal announced as he jumped into the driver's seat of the people carrier. He looked around at the unimpressed looks of his colleagues.
"Work trip." Lily corrected him.
"We have been for ten minutes now, waiting for you." Connie spoke firmly.
"Well, I'm here now" Cal forced a smile as he met the older woman's gaze. He slowly came to the realisation that this was not going to be the "fun road trip" he'd imagined. Well, being in the car with Connie, Ash, Tess and Lily, he could think of more interesting people to spend the trip with. He put the key in the ignition and turned up the radio in hopes it would lighten the mood. He pressed down on hard the pedal and started to drive but being stopped suddenly by Connie who frantically placed her hand on the steering wheel causing Cal to halt.
"Doctor Knight!" She yelled, hitting the radio off, "Your seat belt!" She ordered.
"Oh come on" Cal laughed and switched the radio back on.
Connie switched the radio off once again, "We are not leaving this car park until you put on your seat belt. Do you understand me?" She protested still with her hand over the steering wheel. Cal looked at her amused, unaware as to why she was being so strict.
"How many people do you treat on a daily basis who have been involved in a car accident and have been worse off than they would've been if only they had on their seat belt?" Connie looked at the younger man whose smile slowly dropped.
"Yes of course" Cal spoke with a hint of sarcasm and put on his seat belt, "there...can we go now?" Cal mocked as he looked toward Connie.
"Yes" she replied, more calmly.
"I'm afraid there's been a car accident involving our doctors and Tess" Charlie announced. Ethan's heart plummeted as he heard these words, all eyes looked towards him. He leaned back against the counter in hopes it would steady him as he felt weak. Cal, his brother was driving that car. "The driver of the other vehicle is on his way in" Charlie continued.
Ethan pulled himself together, "How about the driver of our vehicle?" He managed to whimper.
"That's all I know, sorry" Charlie replied, placing a comforting hand on Ethan's shoulder. "I know it will be difficult treating our own and so if anyone feels at all like stepping down, do so." Although Charlie spoke to the entire watching crowd he motioned his words towards Ethan, who kept his head down deep in thought. "Understand?" Charlie spoke raising his voice causing Ethan to snap out his thoughts enough to give a slight nod in reply. "Right, Robyn, Ethan, you're with me" Charlie ordered.
Robyn placed her hand on Ethan's back motioning him to walk. "Cal will be fine, he's a strong man!" Robyn whispered in hopes to reassure him but it was as though he hadn't even heard Robyn speak.
He sped up and walked alongside Charlie. "Charlie how bad is it?" Ethan whispered into Charlie's ear not really wanting to get an answer in case it would be bad.
"All I know is what I just said" he replied awkwardly as they made their way to the hospital entrance to be met by a bloody Connie.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked concerned, "We'll have to get that arm checked out" he spoke looking at her bloody arm.
"I'm fine" Connie replied firmly.
"You can't work with your arm like that" Charlie protested.
"Well I can at least offer advice". Connie looked up to meet Ethan's concerned gaze, it pained her to make eye contact with him.
"Mrs Beauchamp, how is Cal?" He whimpered.
Connie looked at him for a moment, unknowing as how to answer "he's...he's stable. They're working on getting him out of the car, he should be fine" she lied, forcing out a smile.
Ethan let out what he could of a sigh of relief and followed the trolley with the driver of the other vehicle on into the hospital.
"How is he really?" Charlie whispered as Ethan hurried off.
"Not good" she admitted.
Charlie had asked Ethan if he could treat Cal when he was brought in as he was the only doctor on hand to do so. Although he was reluctant to have such a huge pressure on his shoulders he agreed; his brother needed him.
"All this to get back in time for the pub! There are easier ways Caleb" Ethan joked as he inspected his older brother whose face was covered in blood and chest was badly bruised, it brought pain to Ethan just to see his brother in such a state. Never had he looked so...vulnerable.
"Ethan..." Cal mumbled as a tear trickled down his cheek.
"Don't try to speak, I know what I'm doing" he reassured him with a smile.
Ethan pressed on the chest of his elder brother who lay before him wincing in pain. As he pressed by his ribs Cal's arms shot up and grabbed Ethan's, ordering him to stop. "Okay so Cal's lashing out, I've seen him fight and I wouldn't want to be on the other side of it so let's get him something for the pain" Ethan mocked as he made his orders to Lofty and stood back allowing him to do his job. As he stood back out of view of Cal, his smile slowly dropped. His face turned to worry as he watched on haunted by what was happening.
Ethan stood at the nursing station doing anything possible to get the worry he had for his brother out of his head as Cal had been sent off for a CT scan. He felt physically sick the fact he had to leave Cal just for the mere half an hour it would take the CT to be done, however, he would be reunited with his brother a lot earlier than expected as he turned to find some porters rushing a trolley which his older brother lay on back into RESUS.
"What happened?" Ethan called in worry as he followed the trolley through the doors.
"Right, let's get another blood gas" Ethan called as he hovered over his brother.
"Give me an update" Connie announced as she burst through the doors.
"Heart rate's increasing, BP diving" Lofty replied as he read off Cal's monitor.
"Okay, scans reported back yet?" She asked as she looked at Cal's pupils.
"No, he went off before they had a chance to do them" Ethan replied, "Do you think this is an intracranial bleed?" Ethan suggested lowering his voice.
"It's a bleed but it's not from his head" Connie replied as she placed her stethoscope in her ears, Ethan's eyes shot down to Cal's bruised chest instantly.
"Right he's got a serious blunt chest trauma, let's not discount that" she spoke as she listened to Cal's chest with her stethoscope, she then pulled off his neck collar and examined his neck,
"Muffled heart sound, engorged neck vein, pulsus paradoxus" Connie stated looking up at Ethan.
"Beck's triad" Ethan swallowed hard, Connie nodded slowly.
"Oh he's got a tamponade" He announced as he looked down at his older brother with tears welling up in his eyes.
"It's fine, I've missed them in the past, it happens" Connie replied in reassurance.
Ethan never missed anything, he always ensures he covers every possibility, oh why did the one time he missed something have to be when his brother's life was at stake?
"But we need to do a pericardiocentesis right away, I can't risk it with my wrist you're going to have to do it" she stated as she looked up at Ethan. He froze in shock as he felt his heart plummet.
"Alright Ethan?" She asked snapping him from his frozen state.
"...don't we need an echo?" Ethan spat out.
"No we don't have enough time we're going to have to go blind" Connie protested.
Ethan took in a deep breath and looked down at his older brother who was deteriorating so rapidly before his very eyes.
He swallowed hard and looked back up at Connie, "Mrs Beauchamp I- I've never done one before I-" she cut him off.
"Well now's the perfect opportunity to, alright?" She replied, "Ethan?" She called again.
He had to do this. "Yes" he replied with a nod of determination.
"45 degree angle to the skin, about here" she guided Ethan's hand to the point on Cal's chest where he had to plunge the needle.
"He's just a patient, he's just a patient" Ethan thought repeatedly as he held the needle in his shaking hands.
He took in a deep breath and moved the needle towards his older brother's bruised skin, but just as he was about to make contact with him he shot a glance up to his face. This wasn't 'just a patient' this was his brother; the last person he had left. His brother lay dying before him, he literally had Cal's life in his hands, if this went wrong...he shuddered at the thought.
"No" he muttered as he put the needle down. He stepped back away from the bed taking deep breaths in attempt to calm himself.
The sound of beeping that came from Cal's monitor suddenly quickened, "I don't want to worry anyone but he's in VT, with a pulse" Lofty announced sheepishly.
Ethan ran his hands through his hair and looked toward the door, it had never been so tempting to just run away and give up...
"Ethan, the pericardium is filling with blood and it's squeezing his heart if we don't do this now we're going to lose him okay?" Connie spoke out.
He couldn't give up. If this was the other way around would Cal give up? No way.
He picked up the needle and went back in, "you can do this" Connie whispered.
With the guidance of Connie at his side he pushed the needle into his older brother's chest, and retracted the blood from the sac that was squeezing his heart, the beeps from his monitor returned back to normal and Lofty spoke out, "OBs are back to normal, blood pressure is coming back up" He smiled.
Ethan released a shaky breath which he hadn't even noticed he'd been holding in.
"Well done" Connie praised.
He walked into the room where Cal lay sleeping, recovering from today's events and took a seat beside his bed.
"Never do that to me again, you had me questioning my medical skills and we both know that's something I'd never do" Ethan joked.
"Cal, without you..." His voice trailed off, he didn't want to think of a world without his older brother "...let's just say I wouldn't have anyone to moan at, or anyone there to tease me constantly, which, now I think of it doesn't seem too bad" he joked though tears brimmed in his eyes.
"You know that I'll always be here for you, I don't need to tell you that. I'll keep coming back for you Caleb because, you're my brother and I'll always protect you, I just will. You could literally tear my life apart and I'd still be there for you to fall back on if you ever needed me...that's not a free pass to do that though" he smiled sadly.
"Mum always loved the fact you lived life on the edge and always ended up going against the odds but hey, look at me, today I carried out my first pericardiocentesis at it was a success, what are the odds?" He joked as tears trickled down his cheeks which he wiped away with the back of his hand.
"Caleb, I'm so glad that you came back, because, I know I don't let it show much but I need you, here, with me, because you're all I've got left on this planet and I don't really plan on losing that anytime soon" he whimpered. He moved in closer to his brother and reached out to grab his hand but stopped just before it, "I love you Caleb" he whispered.