Chapter One: Recovery
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Since the second season of The Night Shift has premiered, I decided to do a sequel to Pumping Blood. It would be beneficial for you to read the first installment in order to completely understand what is going on here. Just like last time, I would like to stress that all of the dialogue is taken directly from the episodes of The Night Shift, except for one special Finn and Rachel scene that I've written to add depth to the episode. The fic takes place two months after the events of the finale happened. As a general disclaimer, I do not own Glee, The Night Shift, or any of their themes. The chapter titles come from the name of each episode of The Night Shift. Thank you all for reading this note, and I hope you come back for the subsequent chapters!
The first thing Rachel heard when she woke up before she was ready was the sound of someone's cell phone going off in the background. "Please don't let it be mine," she mumbled, burying her head into her pillow.
She heard a chuckle beside her in bed and she rolled over to see Finn get out of bed to answer the phone. "You're in luck this time, sweetheart."
"You have to leave now, don't you?" Rachel said, sitting up in the bed.
"Search and rescue calls," Finn said, giving Rachel a half smile. "I'll see you after your shift though. Thanks for letting me stay over."
"No problem. I'll see you later, Finn."
A little while later, Finn was standing on the edge of a cliff with bungee cables around his waist. He took a few deep breaths then start repelling down the cliff.
"The chopper's on his way and rescue says they're about 20 minutes out," Finn's partner, Trisha said as he kept repelling down.
"The kid doesn't have 20 minutes," Finn said.
"Okay, I'll rig up and join you."
Finn got to the bottom of the cliff and went over to where a little boy was lying there. "Alright, let's see here. Yo soy un doctor. Me llamo Finn." Finn took off the backpack and looked at the blood on the boy's leg and tried to move it. He reached for his walkie talkie and grabbed it. "Okay, he's in shock. He's got an open wound, a tib-fib fracture…he needs to get out of here ASAP. I'll give a signal to pull us up and tell the chopper to get his ass here."
The night shift was just about to start at San Antonio Memorial Hospital and things were already off to a crazy start. Artie was walking with a patient and was instructing him on what to do with his medicine. "And, hey, thank you for your service to the country."
"Thank you," the patient said as he walked out of the ER.
Artie watched him walk off as an announcement came on through the PA system. "Phone call for Doctor Abrams. Paging Doctor Abrams."
Artie walked behind the nurses' station and picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Doctor A – oh this is gross!" Artie said, pulling the phone away from his ear as he made a disgusted face. He tossed the phone as the nurses started laughing. "Sam! Wherever you are, you're dead."
"I wouldn't take that crap if I were you," Kurt said, coming out from a trauma room.
Rachel opened the curtains to one of the trauma rooms and walked out with nurse Molly. "Okay, give him another 15 minutes rest then send him home with the antibiotics. Thanks Molly," Rachel said with a smile on her face.
"You're welcome," Molly said looking at something in her hand.
"How'd it go?" Puck asked from where he was sitting at the nurses' station.
"Check this out, it's a night shift special," Rachel said, walking over to where he was. "Two guys fought a duel with nail guns outside of the Alamo. The first guy missed, second guy didn't."
"Well, I hope he already had kids," Puck said, looking at the x-ray that popped up on one of the computer screens.
Rachel nodded as she worked on something on the tablet.
"No, please stop! I – I don't know how you handled all this paperwork when you were in charge," Puck said, gesturing to the pile that one of the nurses had just given him.
"I do not miss that part of the job," Rachel said with a smile.
"Rachel, I need you!" she heard her best friend from college, Santana Lopez, say from the front entrance of the hospital. "Male and female, both 40s. Status post-penetrating rebar injury while riding a motorcycle."
Rachel ran over to where the gurneys were being brought into the hospital and helped Santana pull them in. "Okay trauma one. Uh, rebar? What?"
"Flew off the back of a truck on the 410. Male with a through-and-through skull injury, GCS of 4-6-5 somehow. Female with a penetrating throat injury. She's tachy with a BP of 90 systolic and her stats are holding."
"What's with the splint?" Kurt asked, following them into the trauma room.
"Gross abnormality of the distal radius from the fall. It's closed," Santana said.
"Okay, this is going to need sutures," Puck said, gesturing to the female patient.
"Alright, I'm on it," Rachel said. "Let's get trauma down here for a consult ASAP."
"Doctor Weston is in surgery, I've got to call in Doctor Chavez, the new night surgeon," Molly said.
"Hell of a first shift for him. Thank you," Rachel said, getting a file from Santana.
"Really could've used Finn on this one," Kurt said. "You don't take a doc like that out of the ER."
"Agreed. But you know Finn, it can't stop him from working," Puck said.
Back at the cliff, Finn was working on getting the kid back up the cliff. "Hold on, he's choking." Finn stopped climbing and worked on getting the kid steady. "Okay, come on, I got you," Finn said as the kid started gasping for air. "You got something in there? I need you to cough."
"What's going on?" Trisha asked from where she was standing at the top of the cliff.
"He's got a partial airway occlusion. If we take him up any further, his airway's gonna block. I need you; he's completely obstructed."
Trisha ran towards the truck and started getting her gear on to help Finn as he started working on clearing out whatever was stuck in the boy's throat. "I'm coming down with your med kit."
"Son of a bitch. He's got a cotton ball stuck down his throat. Hand me a J-wire."
"A cotton ball?" Trisha asked, clearly confused.
"Yeah. Some coyotes across the border, they soak cotton balls in juice to feed the kids instead of food. But they don't digest so they choke easily." Finn turned his attention back to the boy. "Come on, get in there," he said as he started feeding the wire into the kid's throat.
"Finn, he's turning blue. You got this?"
"I need to clear his airway with the retrograde J-wire," Finn said as the kid started coughing. "Ah, there we go."
"Hang in there, buddy," Trisha said.
Finn pulled out the cotton ball and tossed it over his shoulder. "There we go. Yes. Welcome back. Okay. Let's make our back up. Nice and slowly," Finn said to Trisha.
Back at the hospital, they were trying to figure out what to do to get the rebar out of the couple. "Sir, hold still. Don't even move an inch, okay?" Puck said. "Your wife is being sedated on pain medication."
"We need to keep you lucid so we can track your neuro exam so we can't give you any pain meds right now," Rachel said.
"I don't feel any pain."
"None? What about your wrist?" Puck asked.
"I don't care about my wrist, I care about Mary. It's my motorcycle and I never let her touch it."
"Sir, you need to keep calm and you need to keep moving around or you're going to endanger both of you," Puck said.
"Okay, I'm done here, let's get some dressing on it," Rachel said, starting to trail off as a new doctor came into the trauma room. Her eyes followed him as he walked around the two patients.
"Ah, Doctor Chavez, I presume," Puck said.
"Call me Joey."
"I can take that, Doctor," one of the nurses said as Joey started to take off his backpack.
"Brody will be down as soon as he can. He's still elbows deep in a splenectomy case. Everybody huddle up. Let's get some information here." Everyone stepped away from the patients and walked over to where Chavez was. "We need to get this helmet off. Are they both medicated?"
"The wife is. The husband is conscious but reporting no pain," Rachel said.
"Really?" Chavez said, sounding impressed.
"But he is pretty freaked out." Mercedes said.
"Alright, I'm going to work on getting the helmet off. You guys complete the secondary survey on the wife," Chavez said. "Let's roll."
"Are you going to be okay in here? I'm getting paged," Puck said as he started taking off his gloves.
"We've got this. What's the patient's name?"
"Craig," Mercedes said.
"Craig, got it." He walked over to where Puck was standing and took something out of his pockets. "Mind if I borrow this? Thanks." Joey walked over to where the patient was and started talking to him. "Hey, Craig? You do yoga?"
"Uh, no?"
"No? Alright, well, you're going to learn it right now. Just follow my pen here. Now, I want you to focus on your breathing. The sound of the saw can be a bit unnerving and the breath is the bridge between the mind and the body," Joey said as Rachel and Mercedes shared an incredulous look. "The longer you exhale, the more relaxed you're going to be. Can you do that?"
"I'll try," Craig said weakly.
"That's great. Drill please." Mercedes handed him the drill and he thanked her. "Namaste everybody."
Outside of the trauma room, Kurt and Puck were walking around and talking. "So, the new night surgeon, Chavez," Kurt started. "What's he like?"
"Oh, Doctor Granola? A little too touchy-feely for my taste."
"Oh god, I forgot it's Jesse's first night back," Molly said from where she was standing at the nurses' station.
"That's just what I need. Another pain in my ass," Puck said.
"Evening, gentlemen," Jesse said, coming over to the nurses' station. "Molly. Puck!" Jesse said, pulling Puck in for a hug. "Good to have you back. How's the wife and kids?"
"Good. They're good."
"Good," Jesse said before turning to Kurt. "Kurt! How's Blaine doing? I hear you guys moved in together, right?"
"He's doing as well as could be expected. Should get his prosthetic leg any week now."
"You tell him to never give up hope" Jesse said. "I didn't, and this guy right here didn't either," he said, gesturing to Puck. "Isn't that right, Puck?"
"Uh, yeah. Is everything okay with you?"
"Yeah. It couldn't be better. You survive a tumor, cheat death, and everything else seems like small potatoes. We dodged a bullet, Puck."
"Well, actually—" Puck started.
"Well, you didn't. But you get my metaphor, right?"
"Yeah."
"We're survivors."
"I get it," Puck said.
"Anyway, it's the first night back. Lots to do," Jesse said, turning back to Kurt. "See you boys around."
Puck and Kurt watched him walk off. "That was weird, right?"
"I don't know who that was," Kurt said.
"Hey, I need a trauma room," Finn said, coming into the hospital carrying the little boy from the cliff. Trisha was following right behind him.
"Trauma three," Puck said, coming out from behind the nurses' station to follow him in.
"Okay. I found this little guy in the wild, probably abandoned by a coyote, with an open tibia fracture, an infected leg wound and severe dehydration. He's got a 40cc per kilogram bolus through a sterile I.O. line. Send off a CBC, a CMP, and get ortho here ASAP."
"Finn, I hate to break it to you, but technically you're still suspended," Puck said gently
"Right," Finn said a little sadly. "Sorry. Sam, Doctor Puckerman is going to ask you to start some antibiotics for the open fracture and the wound infection."
"Got it," Sam said with a smile.
"And Doctor Puckerman is also going to tell you that Doctor Hudson, although a brilliant doctor, has been a pain in his ass since the day they met."
"Yeah, but you still love me, huh?" Finn said.
Back in the other trauma room, Chavez had finished drilling the helmet on the patient. "Alright, I'm gonna slowly take this off of you."
"The bar is stable for now," Rachel said.
"That's great. Craig, how are you feeling?"
"How's Mary doing?" Craig asked.
"She's good. She's resting," Mercedes said.
"Can I hold her hand?" Craig asked.
"Of course," Rachel said. She lifted up Mary's hand as Mercedes lifted up Craig's hand so they would be able to hold each other's hands.
The door to the trauma room opened and Brody walked in and sighed. "Sorry, the surgery took a lot longer than expected. What do we have here, Mercedes?"
"A reduced wrist fracture on the man, a sutured relac on the woman, and a large piece of rebar causing all types of problems."
"So what we need to do is separate the two of them without killing them," Chavez said to Brody.
"I don't want to cut them apart without seeing what structures may be damaged. There's no way we can fit them in the CT like that."
"What if we cut it at both ends? Maybe—" Rachel started to say.
"We'll handle it from here, Rachel. This is surgical case now so you can go back to the ER."
Rachel swallowed thickly and looked around. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."
"We need to clear the body half of this helmet. Let's be ready to stabilize his head," Brody said.
Rachel took off her gloves and trauma gown and pushed the door open to the trauma room with a sigh. She walked across the hall and pushed open the door to one of the new break rooms and saw Santana sitting in there.
"Rach, check this out. I found the perfect picture for throwback Thursday."
Rachel shook her head and walked over to her best friend. "Oh my god," Rachel said, taking the phone from Santana. She started laughing at a picture with the two of them in matching Spice Girls tee shirts and jeans. "Sophomore year? God, we were so into the Spice Girls."
"Um, still into the Spice Girls." Santana said, gesturing to herself. "So, Brody still being a dick to you?"
"Yeah. He's acting like—"
"Like he moved down here and you dumped him to get back with Finn?"
"I am not back together with Finn. And it is way more complicated than that."
Santana let out a chuckle. "Complicated and Finn? No way," she said sarcastically.
"Well, it's better that he's complicated than—"
"Boring?" Santana said with a knowing look, causing a small smile and eye roll from Rachel.
Back in the trauma room, Brody and Joey were trying to figure out the best way for surgery. "Our safest option without a scan is to cut the rebar as close to you as possible, and that will keep the weight of the bar from shifting toward your side."
"Does that mean it shifts to her side?" Craig said. "Is it going to be bad for Mary?"
"There's potential respiratory distress and some damage to her vocal cords, but better to that than damage to your brain tissue which can't be repaired."
"I can't let that happen. She's a schoolteacher. She needs her voice."
"Craig, we respect your concern, sir, but you need to know the stakes here," Puck said. "If you have significant brain damage, you may not come out of this."
"Craig, you need to hear me," Chavez said, getting closer to where Craig was laying on the bed. "There are no great options here. There are going to be risks no matter what we do. Now, you need to let go and trust us."
"We have more ways to help her if she gets into trouble than if you do," Mercedes said.
"I'll take that risk," Craig said as he squeezed his wife's hand again. "Mary, if something happens to you, I won't care if I live. I won't let them cut if it hurts you."
"Mary, we need you to stop moving," Brody said as the machines hooked up to her started beeping.
"Her stats are going down to 90," Mercedes said.
"What's going on, what's beeping?" Craig asked, concerned for what was going on with his wife.
"Her airway is filling up with blood," Puck said.
"He disruptured the blood clot. We need to get the rebar out now. Hand me the bone saw," Brody said.
Nurse Molly peeked her head into the trauma room. "Puck, we're shorthanded. I need you to see an acute stroke patient."
Puck scoffed and shook his head. "When it rains, it pours, right?"
"Mercedes, you're up," Chavez said.
Down in his office, Jesse took the lid off the candy jar he kept on his desk and looked at the visible part of his scar on his forehead. His phone started ringing and he fixed his hair before answering it. "Jesse St. James," he said as he rubbed a hand over his face. "Yes. Yes, Mr. Clark. I was just, uh, working on those numbers for you. And the new insurance mandate. And the MediCare and MediCaid projects. I'm all over it. Okay. Thank you. Bye." Jesse hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. He was in for a long night.
Back in the main part of the hospital, Finn and Trisha were walking around while waiting for a new call to come in.
"Well, I don't want to be a bother. It's just a sore neck thing but I've been waiting for, like, three months for an appointment from the VA."
"Trisha, stop. Just…consider it done," Finn said as they got to the lobby. "Go wait in the waiting room and I'll set it up."
"Hey Finn!" Puck called when he saw Finn in the lobby. "That kid's doing better."
"Great," Finn said. "Listen, can you make sure to see my friend Trisha tonight? She's been a big help to me in therapy group and I—"
"Of course we can. But we have to be careful now. Jesse's back and if he finds out we're doing this off the book then we're done."
"Yeah, I got," Finn said as he started to walk away.
Rachel and Santana opened the door to the break room and started laughing at something they were talking about. "No, that's exactly how it happened." She stopped when she saw Finn and her face went neutral. "Finn."
"Santana," he repeated in the same tone of voice. "May I have a word with Doctor Berry?"
"Sure," Rachel said with an eyebrow raised as Santana walked off. Once she was out of earshot, a soft smile appeared on her face. "I like it when you stop by."
"Well, actually, I had to bring in a patient. But I could go out and come back in and pretend like I came here to see you if you like," Finn said, making the smile grow wider on Rachel's face.
"Yeah, okay," Rachel said as she started laughing.
"Hey, Finn!" Artie said, coming up to the two of them. Rachel felt her shoulders slump and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep her frown from showing. "It's good to see you," Artie said with a large smile on his face. "I've been working on the vets. Mum's the word on that one. It's a bit busy but I got it so…cool."
"That's great," Finn said. "Can you make sure to see my friend Trisha?" Finn asked, trying to get Artie to leave so he could keep talking to Rachel. "See you around, buddy."
"So, have you seen the new break room? It's pretty cool, right? You…you wanna play some pool after the shift?"
"Hey, Artie, maybe you should get a start on those vets," Rachel said, trying to get Artie to leave.
"Yeah, like now even," Finn said.
Artie nodded and walked off and Rachel turned her attention back to Finn.
"Hey, uh, Rachel?" Puck called from where he was in the nurses' station. "A little help, s'il vous plait, with the doctors' schedule?"
Rachel's face dropped and she looked up at Finn. "Not so good with the paperwork. He has been doing this for weeks. Don't leave, okay?" Rachel said, putting her hands on Finn's biceps and squeezing a little.
"I won't," Finn whispered as she walked off. He waited a few seconds and followed her to the nurses' station.
"So, just so you know, Finn, if you hurt her again, you're going to have to deal with me," Santana said as she was filling out paperwork at the nurses' station.
"Easy, Sannie, I'm not gonna hurt her. It's not like last time when I came back from the war. You know it's different now. I'm taking it…slow."
"Like I said, hurt her, and you're dealing with me," Santana said, looking up from the clipboard.
"Puck, I just got a call from the courthouse. There's some type of major crush injury," Molly said, coming up to Puck to hand him the information she got from dispatch. "They said they can't move him and he's critical."
"Rachel, I'll let you take this one," Puck said, handing her the paper.
"On it. Santana, we're up," Rachel said, grabbing a medical bag from underneath the desk. She smiled at Finn and gave him a slight head nod. "Catch you later."
Finn winked at her and leaned over the desk. "Hey Molly. Where exactly was that crush injury?"
At the courthouse, Rachel and Santana were greeted by other paramedics who were giving them an update about what happened. "Guy got stuck in the elevator, panicked about being late for something and tried to squeeze out. That's when the elevator moved and—"
They turned the corner and saw a teenaged girl frantically screaming and was being held back by another paramedic. She grabbed one of Rachel's arms and pulled her back. "You have to save my dad. You have to."
"Okay, I'll do my best," Rachel started walking towards the elevator and gasped. "Oh…my god." She rushed towards the man who was crushed between the floor and the elevator shaft. She got down on the floor and went to lift up his head, which caused the shaft to slightly move down.
"We have to work fast," Santana said, looking back at the daughter.
Rachel followed her gaze. "Yeah."
Back in the trauma room, they were working on stopping the bleeding on Mary while Craig was trying to calm down. "How's she looking?"
"Looking good," Chavez said. "I'm making an incision on the trachea."
"I'm ready with the trach tube," Brody said. He inserted the tube into Mary's throat. "Tube is in. Inflating the balloon."
The doctors watched and breathed a sigh of relief. "The bleeding has stopped. Virtual fist bumps all around," Chavez said.
"Now that we've got her airway secured, we can safely remove the rebar from both of you. There's a neurosurgeon waiting for you up in OR 1 and we're going to take care of your wife in OR 2, right next to you," Brody said.
"Thank you Doctor."
Chavez took a deep breath and started doing a yoga pose in the trauma room. Mercedes gave him a weird look and he let out a slight chuckle. "You should stretch in between surgeries. It'll be good for you."
"Okay," Mercedes said with an amused look on her face.
Back at the courthouse, Rachel and Santana were trying to figure out the best way to get the man out from underneath the elevator shaft. "He has a large friction rub. He's bleeding around his heart," Rachel said.
"Hey, how's it going?" Finn said, squatting down behind Rachel.
"What are you doing here?" Santana asked as a smile broke out on Rachel's face.
"She was sent out on a major crush case alone. I thought Rachel could use the help of a good Samaritan," Finn said simply.
"Or an adrenaline junkie," Santana responded.
"I could definitely use the help. This poor man is having labored breathing. He needs his airway stabilized but I can't intubate him in this position."
"We have to do a nasaltracheal. I've done it a dozen times before on the battlefield," Finn said as he started to put on the medical gloves. "When a soldier can't be moved, it's the best way to intubate. Santana, can you hand me a 6.0 endotracheal tube?"
"I'll place a nasal airway for dilation," Rachel said.
"I'm also going to need some blankets here to prop him up," Finn called to the other paramedics who were waiting for more instruction.
"We're going to take care of you, sir" Rachel said, trying to calm the man down.
Back at the hospital, Puck was updating the surgical board as Jesse came up from behind him. "How's it going tonight?" Jesse asked, looking at the board.
"Well, you know what they say. A third of the time boring, a third of the time regular, a third of the time crazy," Puck said.
"I see Rachel's got the crush injury on site, you just saw a stroke patient, and Kurt is taking care of a sore throat."
"Is there something I can help you with, Jesse?" Puck asked, trying to get to the bottom of why his boss was looking at the surgical board and questioning him.
"Nope. Carry on," Jesse said with a laugh. "Actually, if it's alright with you, I thought I'd hang out down here tonight. You know, I learned a lot about being a patient myself. I realized I spent too much time cooped up in my office. I need to be in the ebb and flow. Get my hands dirty, you know? I need to be more involved."
"All night every night?" Puck said, starting to get anxious about Jesse being up in their business constantly.
"I'll stay out of your way. I promise." He pat Puck on the back and started walking towards the nurses' station.
At the courthouse, jacks were being put into place to try and get the man out from being trapped.
"Okay. All the jacks are in place. Listen up. No one does a thing until Doctor Berry gives the signal okay?" Santana said, addressing her fellow paramedics. They all nodded in understanding. "You only look at and listen to her, got it?"
"Okay guys. On my count. One crank at a time. Understood?" She turned her attention to Finn. "Finn, you ready?"
"Let's do it."
"Okay good. On my count. One. Two. Three," Rachel said. The paramedics on each side of her pushed down on the jacks as the elevator shaft started to rise.
"Again," Finn said as he was pumping air in through the man's nose.
"One. Two. Three," Rachel said and the elevator started to raise again. Only this time, blood started seeping out onto the man's shirt.
"He's bleeding out. We're losing him," Finn said.
"His temperature's crashing," Santana said.
"Get the elevator back down now!" Rachel said as the blood seeped through his shirt.
"It's crazy, but the elevator is keeping him alive," Finn said, taking off his jacket to put over the man's chest so his daughter wouldn't have to see the blood on his shirt. "Its weight is stopping him from bleeding internally."
"He most definitely has severe injuries to his heart and aorta," Rachel said.
"Exactly. So if we move him, he dies. And if he stays, he dies. What he needs is ECMO."
"We can't do that," Rachel said. "ECMO is never done outside of a hospital."
"Just because it hasn't been done, doesn't mean that it shouldn't be," Finn said. "If he has no blood in his body, then he cannot bleed out when we move the elevator. We have at least 30 minutes to get him to the OR and repair his injuries. ECMO's his only chance."
"Even if we get approval, and that's a huge—"
"It's still better than if we don't try," Finn said.
Rachel sighed and turned to look at the daughter. She was sitting on the bench with her head in her hands. "Let's do it. I'll make the call."
Back at the hospital, Puck and Jesse were in the trauma room examining the kid that Finn brought in earlier. "Look at that. Heart rate's coming down, he's got color in his cheeks. You're looking good little man."
"You got ancef and gent for the open fracture?" Jesse asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Puck said, slightly confused at how Jesse knew that.
"Hey, Puck? Rachel's calling from the scene. She needs to speak with you right away," Sam said.
Puck nodded and followed him out of the trauma room. "Rachel, what's up?" He listened for a few seconds and his eyes widened. "ECMO in the field? Are you nuts? Jesse's never going to approve that."
"Just pass me through to Jesse," Rachel said through the phone.
"He's right here, hold on. Hey, Jesse, Rachel's on the phone and needs to talk to you."
Jesse walked over and took the phone from Puck. "What's going on?"
"Before you say no, I need you to listen. Jesse, you know I lost my father at a young age. And your kids almost lost you."
In the OR, Brody and Joey were working on getting the rebar out of the woman's throat. "Brody, would you mind if I put on some music? I like it when I suture. I find it activates sensory pathways that complete with pain pathways. It reduces anxiety and all sorts of good things."
"You know, I'm not really a music guy in the OR."
"Some other time then."
"Let's focus on getting this rebar out of here right now." Brody focused on pulling the rebar out from the woman's throat. "And…it's…out. Beautiful. No bleeding. Needle driver and 5.0 vicro to me please and let's close her out."
"Doctor Weston," one of the nurses said, coming into the OR. "Sorry to interrupt but Rachel needs to speak with you."
"Well, I'm a little busy right now."
"They're taking an ECMO unit out in the field and they need a surgeon."
Both of the doctors stopped working on Mary and turned their attention to the nurse. "What?" Brody asked incredulously.
"I've never heard of that before," Chavez commented.
"Jesse approved this?" Brody asked.
"It's already being loaded," the nurse said.
"Go ahead, Brody. I just have to close and Mercedes can be my second set of hands. If they're going to do that, you need to be out there."
"Son of a bitch," Brody said, setting his tools down on the tray.
"Jocelyn, could you please page Doctor Jones for me?" Chavez asked. "And go ahead and turn on the music."
In another part of the hospital, Kurt was coming out of one of the rooms and was talking on his phone to Blaine. "No, you get two pills four times a day. That's it. Blaine, you can't take any more. It's not good for you. I know. I'll see you in the morning."
Behind him, Artie was talking to Trisha. "Sorry it's taking so long, but I swear you're going to be next."
"Oh, I've waited months to see a doc so a couple of hours is nothing. Plus I've never had a doctor give me soda and chips before," Trisha said with a smile on her face.
"Wait, Sam, where are you going with those?" Kurt asked, gesturing to the many boxes of syringes in Sam's hands.
"Artie needed some extra supplies for the vets."
"Oh, that's good. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you something," Kurt said, following behind Sam.
"What's up? Everything okay?"
"How long have you been sleeping with Mercedes?"
Sam started laughing uncomfortably. "What are you talking about?"
"Sam, I've been in the closet for 20 years. I know when someone's keeping a secret. Plus I saw you two at the River Walk on Friday."
Sam stopped walking and turned to face Kurt. "Okay, okay. But you can't tell anybody."
"Is it a hook up or…?"
"You can't…well, it started off like that. But I don't know. I mean, it feels like…like it's turning into something else now," Sam smiled at Kurt and opened the door. An air horn sounded and a puff of flour exploded all over Sam. He coughed at the unexpected flour that went in his mouth.
"You said Artie sent you in here?" Kurt asked from where he was standing in the doorway, trying to hide the smile on his face.
"I am going to kill him. Artie better watch out," Sam said as he sneezed.
Once Brody arrived at the courthouse, he rushed in to find out what was going on at the scene of the accident. "Where are they?" he asked two people who were walking away from where the elevator shaft was.
Rachel heard his voice and sighed. She gave Finn a pat on the back and started to stand up. "Let me deal with him. You'll just piss him off," Rachel said through gritted teeth. She walked over to where Brody was standing and narrowed her eyes.
"What the hell are you doing and what is Finn doing here? He's still under suspension."
"Let's just focus on this man, alright? His pressure is tamponding severely from his injuries. Yes, the ECMO is a Hail Mary, but we have to try. We can't just let him die here," Rachel said, trying to keep calm when dealing with Brody.
"I don't want him to die here but you just said it. It's a Hail Mary. If you try it and it doesn't work, you're putting yourself and the hospital in the crosshair for a lawsuit."
"Still doesn't mean it shouldn't be done," Rachel said, feeling her patience get tested.
"It's cardiac bypass in an elevator shaft." Brody heard the machines from the hospital get to where he was talking with Rachel and turned around to face the workers. "Just hold off on those for now. Rachel, listen to me. Just listen to me because you didn't listen to me last time with Milo and he ended up dead and you were under investigation—"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, this has nothing to do with that."
"It has everything to do with that. It has to do with your judgment and the bad decisions you made."
Finn was starting to get annoyed. Making sure Santana had as much control as possible over the man in the elevator shaft, he got up to go help Rachel out in the situation with Brody.
"Excuse me?" Rachel said, a shocked expression crossing her face.
"What the hell is going on?" Finn asked, joining in on the scuffle. "Look, you need to listen."
"To you?" Brody scoffed. "Last time I saw you, you were having a nervous breakdown in my OR. It was so bad they had to suspend you. I don't even know what you're doing here."
"Brody, stop," Rachel said, trying to get the two of them to stop fighting.
"No, it's fine. Go ahead and get it out and say what you want to say," Finn said. "I don't care what you think of me but just because you're pissed off at Rachel and got your feelings hurt, you're just going to let that man die?"
"No, I'm not going to let that man die, I am pointing out—"
"Point it out later," Finn said. "Look, I hate to say this but right now, you are the only one who can save that man. They need you."
Brody looked back and forth between Finn and Rachel and sighed. "Fine. But we're doing this my way. You understand? You do everything I say because that is his only chance. You got it?"
Finn pursed his lips and nodded. "Sure. Whatever you need."
Brody turned towards the people who were helping with the man stuck in the shaft. "Everybody listen up. We're going to do a veno-artery bypass. I don't have access to the heart from the chest or the groin so I'm going in through the neck. We need cool saline and bags of ice – lots of them – and we need the venous and the arterial circuits flushed and ready to go."
"Alright, Santana, let's go," Rachel said as the two of them started walking towards the machines brought over from the hospital.
As the paramedics were dumping ice around the man, Finn was checking his vitals. "It's working. We need to slow down his brain metabolism. We need more ice."
"It looks like that's it," Brody said. "Blood is drained and the core temperature is holding at 16.5. We have 30 minutes to get him through the OR or the tissue starts to die."
Off to the side, Rachel was sitting and trying to keep the daughter calm. "He's not going to make it, is he?" she asked.
"We don't know that," Rachel said.
"No, you're just saying that to make me feel better. But he wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for me. I got this stupid speeding ticket and I can't lose my father. He's all that I have."
"Alicia, I promise you that we are going to do everything that we can. Doctor Weston is our top surgeon. So right now, I just need you to be strong."
"That's what they said when my mom died. I'm so tired of being strong."
"Alright, people. We've got to move," Brody said.
Rachel sighed and looked over at Alicia. "Okay honey. We've got to go now, alright?"
Back at the hospital, Kurt and Artie were giving Trisha her exam to figure out what was wrong with her. "Wait, so you're a captain? I was just a grunt," she said.
"There's no such thing as a grunt. Give me your hands," Kurt said, holding his out for her to take. "Finn told me how kick ass you are out in the field so we're giving you the A+ treatment. Push for me. And pull."
"How long have you been on the Vicodin?" Artie asked, looking at Trisha's chart.
"Months. It's the only thing that helps. Truth is I need them to block the pain so I can train. I want to re-enlist, I want to learn to fly choppers. I want to kick some ISIS ass like that woman fighter pilot from the UAE."
"I like the sound of that," Kurt said with a smile on his face.
The smile on Trisha's started to fade. "Yeah, but the pain keeps me from training. I won't pass a physical and I can barely do three push-ups."
"Can you put your chin to your chest?" Artie asked.
"I just need to pass a test, save the money and get a chiropractor to fix my neck." She lifted her head back up and started coughing and wheezing.
"Do you need some water or anything?" Artie asked as Kurt handed her a few tissues.
Trisha shook her wiped at her mouth. She pulled away the napkins and saw blood.
"Has this happened before?" Kurt asked as he shared a look of concern with Artie.
"A couple of times."
"Okay, take a deep breath and relax. Artie, we're going to need a chest CT and remember it's off book." Kurt turned his attention to Trisha. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
In another part of the hospital, Chavez and Mercedes were leaving the OR with the wife still medicated. "Check a neuro exam on arrival then queue two hours overnight," Chavez said to the nurse as they were leaving.
"So I take it that was your first rebar to the neck too?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah. I've seen fence posts, broken hockey sticks, swords, knives, RPG—"
"RPG?" Mercedes asked, cutting him off. "Grenade? You were in the military?"
"Yes ma'am. Air Force Academy, class of 1999."
"You don't seem like the military type."
"And what type is that?" Chavez asked with a slight scoff in his voice.
"I mean, you're just more of the yoga quoting, Enya listening meditating type," Mercedes said, trying to cover her tracks. "Did you see any action?"
"Yeah. A couple of tours in Iraq."
"You know Kurt was in Iraq. As a medic. I think half our shift served in the military. Were you just stationed here and decided to stay like everyone else?"
"Nope, I'm a local boy. I just came back from Florida to take care of my parents."
"God, that's so sweet. You must really love them."
"Not really," Chavez said with a smile.
From the main entrance to the ER, there was a flurry of activity. "Everyone move! Let's make some room!" Rachel called as they started to wheel in the man from the elevator.
"We have to start the rewarming right away or his brain will die. We're back in the hospital so tell the OR we're cracking his chest the second we get up there. Make sure they know I'm doing a median sternotomy," Brody said as they all ran into the ER.
"I got it!" Santana called as she ran off.
"Let's go, let's go. Keep him steady," Brody said. "Doctor Chavez, meet me there."
Finn stood in the lobby of the ER as he took off his gloves and watched as they took the man from the elevator to the OR.
Once they were in the OR and working on the patient, Brody started talking to Joey. "I gotta say, when I first saw the elevator on this guy's chest, I didn't expect him to make it this far."
"It was a good call by Rachel. Ballsy. This guy had no other option," Chavez said.
Brody gave him a look and changed the subject. "So a dual rebar operation and an ECMO…that's a hell of a first night for you."
"Piece of cake compared to my first night in Al-Anbar province. A suicide bomber walked into a market. We heard the blast from five miles out. I've never seen so many body parts. And they were everywhere. Stuck to the walls."
Brody looked up in surprise. "Sorry, man. I had no idea."
"Don't be sorry. I mean, how could you know? I hadn't even thought about that in years. So, no music in the OR?"
"I find it too much of a distraction."
"That's cool," Chavez said as he started humming. He started laughing when he saw the look on Brody's face. "Just messing with you."
In the radiology suite, Trisha was getting her CT scan done but was having trouble because she kept coughing and moving. "Oh, Trisha. Just a few more minutes darling," Kurt said into the microphone. "Hang in there, okay?"
Puck looked at the scans that were starting to show up on the monitor. "That's not good," Puck said, squinting to get a better look at screen.
"Hey, I just got word that Trisha needed a scan," Finn said, coming into the radiology suite. "What's going on?" he asked, looking back and forth between Kurt, Puck and Artie. He turned his attention to the computer screen. "Son of a bitch," he sighed.
Once they got Trisha out of the CT machine, they moved her to the break room so they could talk about what they found in the scan.
"It's a tumor?" she asked skeptically.
"It's a stage 2 pancoast tumor at the top of your lung. That's what's been causing your neck pain," Finn said. "Not a pulled muscle."
"No way. I don't even smoke. I swear. I've never even smoked. If someone's smoking, I walk away," Trisha said.
"I saw one of your duties in Afghanistan was working in the trash pits," Puck said. "You were exposed to all sorts of chemicals for hours every day."
"They said it was safe," Trisha said through gritted teeth. "So what do I do?"
"We get it out of there."
"Don't BS me, Finn. You know I'm a straight shooter."
"And so am I," Finn said. "We're going to take care of you, okay?"
In the lobby of the hospital, Jesse was getting chewed out by his boss. "I shouldn't have to take 15 phone calls in the middle of the night because you approved an ECMO in the field!"
"It needed to be done," Jesse said, trying to remain level headed.
"I don't even know what to say. Do you have any idea how much that costs?"
"Yes."
"And yet you did it anyway! What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell did you do that? I'm waiting."
"I did it because, um, I wanted to do one decent thing on this job before I quit," Jesse said.
"You're quitting?"
"Yeah. I quit. I don't want to do this job anymore. I had a piece of my brain removed to get to my tumor. Most people could barely recite the alphabet after that but I have all of my faculties and I refuse to push paper at a place where everybody hates me," Jesse said as tears of frustration sprang into his eyes. "God, this feels so good. You have no idea how good it feels to finally do what you want to do. So yes. I quit. And I could not be happier."
"You have your desk cleaned out by morning."
"I already started."
Jesse's boss gave him a furious look before he started walking off. Jesse turned around and saw all of the doctors and nurses who weren't doing anything gathered around to talk about what was going on. He took off his sport jacket and started walking towards the doors.
Alicia was in the bathroom, washing off all the makeup on her face off as she tried to calm down from the events that had preceded her. She heard the door open and saw Rachel come in.
"Hey, you," Rachel said softly. "The nurses said I would find you here."
"My dad always hated this stuff. But he never said anything. He just let me be me."
"Well, I have some good news. I just spoke with the OR and so far, your dad's holding up."
Alicia let out a jagged breath. "Thank you. I called my aunt from Dallas. She's coming down."
"Good. That's really good. Alicia, I want to apologize to you. For what I said earlier. About being strong. I don't even know why I said that to you because I always hated that when adults said that to me. I never understood why I had to be strong and why I couldn't cry and why I couldn't have feelings. Feelings are good, Alicia. Don't ever let anyone tell you how to feel."
"I don't know how I feel. I'm just numb."
"Well, uh, do you mind if I stay with you until your aunt gets here? You know, maybe we could be numb together."
When Rachel said that, Alicia broke down and started crying and laughing at the same time. "We could cry, too. I'm cool with whatever," Rachel said, trying to make her feel better. She wrapped her arms around Alicia and rubbed her arm, trying to do anything to make her feel better.
Back in the break room, Trisha was sitting there, still completely shocked about what happened. Puck drew the blinds and started talking to Finn about the best way for treatment. "So she can't get into the VA for months because of the backlog."
"At which time her cancer will be stage 3 or 4. Too late for her to survive."
"The pentagon buys $200 million planes that nobody wants but a soldier can't get a doctor," Kurt scoffed.
"I hear that," Puck said. "And she has no insurance and no savings so she can't get a surgeon to do it."
"Why don't we just check her in here like everybody else?" Artie asked. "I mean, get her tests done on book and just do it here. We have a great thoracic surgeon on staff."
"And we have to treat everybody who comes through those doors," Finn said, standing up. "Surgeons don't. They just treat emergencies."
"This is an emergency," Artie said.
"Not technically. I mean, it will become one. Let's at least do what Artie says. Let's get her checked in and get it started. Let's present the case to surgeon. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it." Puck said
Rachel needed fresh air and she needed it fast. She hadn't been this bored in months and her being on sutures and broken limbs was not helping her boredom. So she decided to go out to the parking lot and think.
She walked out of the hospital and saw Finn working on his motorcycle. "Planning your escape?" she asked, walking over towards him.
Finn chuckled and turned to face her. "Yeah. Puck thought it was better if I wasn't hanging out inside the hospital. Suspension and all."
"That little thing," Rachel said. "It's a weird shift. There's the ECMO and the motorcycle accident."
"That is why I never let you on my bike," Finn said.
"Well, it was a pretty amazing thing to witness, you know? I mean, this guy has a piece of rebar through his brain and the only thing he can think about is his wife."
"Well, I guess if you find the right woman, you'll do anything for her," Finn said, smiling up at Rachel, causing a new smile to spread across Rachel's face.
Finn felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he reached in to get it. "Puck wants me back inside. It's about Trisha."
"I heard about that," Rachel said softly. "I'm sorry, Finn, that's really sad."
"I never told you how great she was for me. I didn't want to burden you with my therapy."
"You're not a burden," Rachel said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"I know that. I just need to get there myself. She's a real ball buster for me. She was the first one to call me out."
"Oh yeah?" Rachel asked, following Finn back inside. "How?"
"Well, she was like 'Your brother got himself killed' and that Thad dying was his fault, not mine. Said he was reckless and had no business sending a doc in there first. That was an NCO's job and that he put the entire platoon at risk by putting the medical officer in jeopardy. And the entire group completely agreed with her."
"But did you agree with her?"
"You know, if it wasn't me, I probably would have but…it's hard to look at it that way."
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Finn. You've changed. I've seen it."
"When I had my breakdown—"
"Breakthrough," Rachel corrected.
"Yeah. You know, you said you would always be there for me and…you have. I just wanted to say that it meant a lot to me," Finn felt his phone vibrate again and he looked down at it.
"I guess we should go back inside," Rachel said.
"Oh, don't make any plans for two weeks from Friday," Finn said, tossing Rachel the towel he used to work on his bike.
She caught it and her eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" Finn turned and looked at her and made a face then walked inside the hospital. "Finn, why?"
Once Finn got back inside, Puck met up with him. "So I spoke to the thoracic surgeon about Trisha. It's a no-go."
"He can't do one pro bono surgery?"
"Actually, he does several a month. He can only do so many. He did say he'd cut his fee in half, so all we need is 15 grand. You got that?"
"What do you think?"
"That was rhetorical," Puck said with a smile. "I'd be surprised if you had 15 bucks. Sorry brother," Puck said as he started walking away.
Finn ran a hand through his hair as he started walking away. He was going to get Trisha that surgery if it was the last thing he did.
Puck walked into the recovery room that Mary was in. "Excuse ma'am, but we thought you might want to share the room with your husband." Puck smiled as her face lit up.
"He should just be coming to," Mercedes said as they started to wheel in Craig.
"Talk about beating the odds," Rachel whispered to Mercedes.
"Ma'am, we needed to sedate your husband to pull the last of the rebar out," the neurosurgeon said. "It had shifted and the pain was just too intense."
"Mr. Woo, can you hear us?" Puck asked Craig to try and wake him up. "Remember me, I'm Doctor Puckerman. I worked on you when you came in. Mr. Woo? You're here with your wife and she's right next to you, sir."
"Mr. Woo?" Mercedes tried. "Do you want to say anything to your wife?" she asked, gesturing towards Mary's bed. Craig turned his head and smiled when he saw her.
Everyone was surprised when he started speaking Chinese. "Mr. Woo? I need you to speak to me in English," the neurosurgeon said. Instead, he kept speaking in Chinese.
"I don't think he can," Puck said.
Mary wrote something down on a piece of paper and tore it off to hand to Puck. "She says her husband grew up in a bilingual family."
"That explains it. I was able to preserve his speech but the rebar must have injured the English language centers of his brain," the neurosurgeon said. "He's going to have to completely relearn it."
"Well considering that a pole went through his brain at 70 miles per hour, I think things could be a hell of a lot worse," Rachel said.
Mercedes came back in the room holding two tablets. "Okay, I downloaded a Mandarin to English app and I figured that way you could talk and we could explain," Mercedes said, handing the two of them the tablets.
"That's a great idea, Mercedes. Mandarin to English. Who knew?" Puck said.
Back in the waiting room, Finn was talking to Trisha. "I'm in shock. I thought you said the surgeon couldn't."
"I know but he got an opening in his schedule. There's a certain amount of pro bono cases per month, one fell through, and it's just lucky timing," Finn said. "You're up next."
"Oh my god!" Trisha said as she started laughing. "Oh my god. Thank you!" she said as she kissed Finn on the cheek. She stood up when she saw Kurt come into the waiting room and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you." She pulled away with a big smile on her face. "Did you hear? The surgeon agreed to do it! I'm going to live!"
Back in the OR, Brody and Joey were looking at the stats for the man crushed in the elevator. "Core temperature is back up to 98 degrees. So far, so good," Chavez said.
Rachel came into the OR. "How's it going? How's the ECMO patient?"
"You're just in time for the moment of truth," Brody said. "Let's come off bypass."
The three of them watched the monitors closely. "It's not beeping," Rachel said.
"It just needs to wake up," Brody said. "Give me the paddles."
"Clear."
"Come on, come on," Rachel whispered. She didn't want to be the one to tell Alicia the bad news.
"Increase the joules to 20," Chavez said. They shocked the heart again and heard the monitor start beating. "Stats are rising."
"Come on, take it to the rack, baby."
The three of them watched the heart as it started beating on its own.
"Alright, you did it, Brody," Chavez said.
"That was amazing. Really amazing," Rachel said.
"I'm going to disconnect the tube," Chavez said.
Rachel took a deep breath and swallowed. "Brody? I'm really sorry about how things turned out between us."
Brody turned to look at her. "Yeah well, you got what you wanted. Let's close." he said, turning back to the patient.
Kurt was walking down one of the hallways when Molly stopped him. "Kurt, honey, can you help me this please? I need to get it straight and I can't get it up there," Molly said, nodding towards the poster in her hands. "Will you hold it for me?"
Kurt gave her a look and stuck two fingers on the center of the poster while Molly tapped it up. "Perfect," Molly said, stepping back. All of a sudden, Kurt was being pinned against the wall as Artie and Sam ran around the pole with saran wrap and circled around him a few times.
"Doctor Chavez, come here. You have to see this," Molly said as Joey was walking by.
"That's amazing. That is amazing," Chavez said as he started laughing.
"We're just one big happy family. Right Kurt?" Sam asked as him and Artie started posing next to Kurt as the staff took pictures on their phones.
"I think I'm going to like working here," Chavez said with a smile as he walked off.
Puck walked into the break room and saw Jesse smacking his head on the table. "You okay?" Puck asked.
"No, I am not okay. I made a huge, massive mistake. You see these big speeches in the movies and it looks cool and the guy gets the girl and the job and the music plays…well that ain't happening. There's no music. There's no girl. I am so screwed. What the hell was I thinking?"
"Clearly, you had some things you needed to get off your chest." Puck said, coming over his a cup of coffee.
"Why couldn't I have waited? He was thirty seconds away from firing me. I would have had a severance package, I would have had COBRA insurance…do you have any idea how much insurance costs for a year for a family?"
"Absolutely. It's about 20 grand. And you know we don't get insurance here. What are you gonna do?"
Jesse sighed. "Actually, I'm going to…I've been studying to take the boards and get my MD."
"That is why you knew how to treat the open fracture," Puck said, sitting down at the table next to Jesse. "Good for you. You know, I was in residency with a 50-year-old lawyer who changed careers. It's never too late. You know, the one thing I learned from almost dying? You have to live in the moment. That is the best that we can do."
"I hope I didn't make a huge mistake tonight. Because right now it really feels like I did."
"I have to show you something. Come on," Puck said, getting up from the table.
The two of them walked to a recovery room where the man was recovering from his heart surgery. "See what's going on in that room? That's because of you. That girl has her father back because of you. Doesn't feel like a huge mistake to me."
"Thanks Puck."
Puck started to walk off then turned back around. "You know, it's about an 80 percent pay cut, but we have an opening for a physician's assistant. You know what it is. It's a lot of scut work and paperwork and a lot of ego humbling but if you really want to pass your boards and be a doctor there's no better way to learn."
Jesse started laughing. "A physician's assistant?"
"Yep. And with your med school, you're more than qualified. Just think about it. And if you hate it, you can always quit. You have the speech down."
At the end of the shift, Puck met up with Finn in the lobby. "So I talked to the surgeon," Puck started. "He said you gave him the 15 thousand to pay for Trisha's operation."
"Really?" Finn said nonchalantly.
"And then Sam said he saw your bookie riding off on your old Harley. Selling Thad's old bike…that was an unbelievably amazing thing you did for her, Finn. Of course, if you want to pay me back the 800 bucks that you owe me…" Puck trailed off.
Finn started laughing. "Yeah. I don't know man. I learned I need to let some of Thad go. You know, figure out what's me and what's me trying to be like him. I thought maybe it could help both of us move on from a bad hand."
"I hope it does," Puck said. "I love you brother."
"I love you too. And you're never getting the money back."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Puck asked good naturedly.
"Puck, Finn, you guys need to see this," Mercedes said, peeking her head out from the break room.
Finn met up with Rachel in the doorway and they shared a smile as Kurt walked by. "What's going on?" Finn asked.
"Santana uploaded a video of you and Rachel from back in the day," Kurt said as he took a sip of coffee.
Santana looked around Kurt. "Halloween at our apartment. Remember?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows.
"Oh god. Oh god no," Rachel said, covering her face with her hands as everyone started laughing.
Puck turned towards the computer and saw Finn dressed as Hermione Granger and Rachel dressed as Harry Potter. "I think I just found my new screen saver."
"Nice legs, Hermione," Sam said to Finn.
"Okay, okay. Not Hermione. Her-MAN-ee. You know? And Rachel is Harry Paw-ter. Like the paws on the tie? The costume shop was very specific about that," Finn said as the video changed to Rachel smacking Finn's thigh with a wand for the camera.
"I had a little too much tequila that night," Rachel said, looking at the screen through her fingers. "Revenge is swift." Rachel said, turning to Santana.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How the hell did Finn score those tickets?"
"What tickets? What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, completely confused.
"The Spice Girls. Front row. Two weeks from Friday. You and me!"
A look of excitement crossed Rachel's face. "Oh my god, are you serious?"
"Yes!" Santana squealed. "It's unbelievable."
Rachel nodded and turned around to face Finn. She walked towards him and led him out of the break room.
The two of them walked to the elevator in silence and got in behind a huge rush of people. "So, how'd you score those tickets?" Rachel asked, leaning against the bar in the back of the elevator. "They were sold out months ago."
"I got them months ago. I knew you'd like them," Finn said.
Rachel smiled and ran her hand down his arm and took his hand in hers slowly. She kept looking forward as the elevator doors open. She waited for the people on the elevator to leave before she started walking towards the front of the elevator. Finn went to step around her and she put her arm out to stop him from moving. The doors started closing and Rachel pulled the emergency handle.
"What are you doing?" Finn asked.
Rachel gave him a flirty shrug and started unbuttoning the first few buttons of her plaid shirt. She stopped in front of him and pulled the tops over her shoulders.
"I thought you wanted to take it slow?" Finn said with a slight hitch in his voice.
Rachel ran her hands down his shirt and looked back up at him. "I lied."
Their lips crashed into each other's and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Finn lifted her up and automatically her legs went around his waist as he backed her up against the elevator wall as they kept kissing.