Author: ajangel912
Title: Putting the Pieces Back Together Part 2
Rating: R
Category: John Carter/Abby Lockhart
Archive: Ask first
Previously, Carter and Abby were injured at an AA meeting after a man with a bomb blew himself up. On the way to County, Carter got a panicked look on his face.
"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked, only to be greeted by silence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carter sighed deeply, leaning his head against the backrest. Things were beginning to pile up, suffocating him.
"If I go in there, saying I came from the AA explosion, everyone that didn't know about my narcotic addiction, will," he began slowly. "Not to mention, I was supposed to have gone home sick, so why was I at an AA meeting to begin with?"
Abby understood exactly what he was implying. He would have to tell Kerry about the Vicodin, and she wasn't sure he was ready to do that.
"Carter, you need to tell Kerry what happened...the whole thing. What drove you to the pills in the first place. She can help you, she is on your side," she paused, unsure of what else to say. "We should have gone to another hospital, but I didn't think that far ahead. You can't run away forever. You might not be ready just yet, but.…I don't think you have a choice."
Somewhere in the back of John's mind, he knew Abby was right, but his thoughts would not come to him clearly. Rolling his head towards the door, he exhaled, "I know".
He popped open the door, finding it extremely heavy, and proceeded to step outside. Trying to take a deep breath, he found that the simple task of standing up had exerted him. Struggling to catch his breath, with no such success, he began walking to the ER. After only a few steps, the burning sensation in his chest forced him into a coughing fit, resulting in his knees giving out and him collapsing into the cold snow.
"Carter! Carter, Oh God!" Abby gawked. Quickly regaining her composure, she knelt beside him checking for a pulse. She was soon interrupted by Kerry, Malik, and Chuni rolling a gurney her way.
"It's Carter," she said before they could reach the now unconscious man. "He's got a weak, but steady pulse."
"Malik, help me get him onto the gurney! Abby, what happened?" Kerry asked frantically, recalling the last time he had to be loaded onto a gurney.
"There was an explosion at the church."
Knowing she could get details not immediate to his condition later, Kerry began checking for breath sounds.
"Let's go to Trauma 2, now! Randi, page Benton and tell him its Carter! Dammit, he's got shallow breath sounds on the right and none on the left! I think he's got a collapsed lung. Get me a number eight ET tube. Abby, check his pupils. Someone get a foley in here and call for a portable chest!"
"Pupils are equal but sluggish; he must have hit his head when we fell. We're gonna need a CT."
"How far did he fall?" Kerry asked.
"Just to the ground. He wasn't complaining of anything but his head lac will need sutures. Take a look at his left wrist, it looked pretty swollen earlier. Carter...Carter, can you hear me? Come on, wake up."
John could hear voices, far away. He was drifting between the sweet surrender of unconsciousness, and the harsh reality of being awake. The only thing he was really sure of, is that everything on his left side was burning with a passion and didn't seem to be letting up. As he slipped back to sleep, he heard Benton's voice boom into the room.
"What the hell happened?" he asked looking at his former student who was now intubated, bleeding, and swollen everywhere.
"There was an explosion at the church. Carter should tell you about it, not me," Abby explained, hoping his intent on finding what had injured Carter would not breech his privacy.
"Ok, let me check the belly. I need a lavage and get a portable ultrasound in here. Has anyone given him anything for the pain?"
"Um, Dr. Benton, maybe we should wait on anything too strong and stick with Advil." Abby didn't want Carter in pain, but after his slip up, she wasn't sure anything more than a couple of Advil was safe.
"Portable chest is here, back away," Kerry suddenly announced. Grateful for the minor distraction, Abby stood behind the trauma doors and watched Carter carefully. Just two hours ago, he was fine. Then he had taken the Vicodin. It *was* partially her fault. The man at the AA meeting was right, little as she wanted to admit it. If she had watched him closer and spent less time wrapped up with Luka, he might not have panicked. Then, they wouldn't have been at that AA meeting and wouldn't have been in the room when some psycho decided he wanted to die. Becoming overwhelmed with emotion, she ran towards the Ladies room to escape. Locking herself in a stall, Abby started to quietly sob. After a few minutes, Chuni barged in to the bathroom.
"Abby, Abby, Carter's waking up and I don't think he knows what's going on."
Having no time to spend washing her tear stained face, she rushed from the stall straight to the Trauma room.
"Carter, Carter...hey." She grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
"You remember what happened?" Receiving a nod, she to decided continue explaining his condition. "Right now, you're fine. We had to intubate you because you were having some trouble breathing. We're going to get an x-ray of your left wrist and Dr. Benton is doing an ultrasound on your belly to check for internal bleeding."
Turning from him slightly, she asked Kerry the results of the chest x- ray.
"Carter, you had a collapsed lung but we fixed that, the chest x-ray shows three cracked ribs and one broken rib on your left side but we're worried you might puncture your lung so you can't move for a while."
Interrupting Kerry, Benton began explaining the findings of the
ultrasound, trying to stay calm so he wouldn't upset Carter.
To be continued