CHAPTER ONE

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"Dr. Altman!", the voice of one of the assistants ripped her unpleasantly out of her well-deserved break. Was there no-one else around? After a ten hour marathon in the operating theatre she had deserved not to be disturbed in the only free minutes she had, before going back to check on the MRTs of her patient. It had been a serious mistake to come anywhere close to the Emergency Room to have a break.

The assistant who had called her name before finally caught up with her.

"Where is Dr. Bailey?", Teddy asked, biting in her sandwich, implicitly telling here that whatever was going on here wasn't really her business.

"I already called for her but she didn't answer. Please, we need somebody or this guy's gonna die!"

As she looked up from her sandwich, she found the assistant holding up her hands - the sterile gloves smeared with blood all over. So this was really serious. "What do we have?" They both started rushing back the corridor.

"A man, mid 40s, seriously beaten up or... whatever, two gunshot wounds in the abdomen."

"What do you mean by whatever?", Teddy hissed at her. She hated inaccurate reports.

The assistant was pretty lost for words how to describe what she'd seen. "Just have a look.", she stammered and pulled the curtains open.

Another assistant was just cutting the man's clothes off, while the paramedics who had brought them here still pressed gauze firmly onto the blood-covered abdomen.

Teddy rushed over to the bed and put on gloves before she shone a light into his left eye to test his light reflex. There was no part of this body which one could touch without putting a sterile glove on - everything seemed to be covered in blood. His face was bloody from being beaten up, his checks and temples slowllen black. Probably a broken cheek bone, broken nose,... she couldn't catalogue all of his injuries now.
Shifting her attention to the two gunshot wounds, she ordered another two bags of blood and yelled at the assistant to get them an operating room ready.

"We couldn't stabilize him on the way here.", the paramedic mentioned as he cautiosly lifted the gauze from one of the wounds to let Teddy have a look. The bullet was stuck in his body.

"Where did you pick him up?"

"At the harbour, fifteen minutes ago. Two harbour workers saw him falling over the railing of a freighter after being shot. They pulled him out of the water."

"Was he underwater for long?"

"No, he was even barely counscious when we got there."

Teddy looked up. "Conscious?", she asked. That was hardly believeable, juding by the man's injuries.

The man couldn't believe it himself. "I'm not jokin' you."

"Dr., the operating room is ready.", the assisstant told her, while Teddy still examined the shot wounds. She gave him a thirty percent chance of surviving, as she handed the gauze back to the paramedic, to press on the wound. "Bring him there", she murmured, "I'll get ready."

One day later

"This almost feels like Baghdad.", Teddy whispered, looking at their patient. Standing at the window to the room in the intensive care unit, next to Owen. The stranger was his patient by now.

"You did a great job", Owen silently said. He tried his best not to let it sound... he couldn't even put it in words. At some points, he was thinking three times of every word that he'd say to her, for she might misunderstand. "Getting those bullets out was no easy job.", he remarked, looking at the x-rays that they'd made to locate the bullets. She had been in the operating room for three hours already when his shift had started and when he had taken over.

"Like I said - reminds me of old times.", she smiled at him and nodded at the patient. "What are his chances?"

Owen shrugged. "Hard to say. Fifty fifty? Did you see his other injuries?"

"Yeah, I did." Teddy bit her lower lip. By now, she'd had the time to read through the complete lst. The form which they usually used for their diagnosis hadn't been large enough. Seven broken ribs, numerous other broken bones, includng his left arm and leg, nose and cheekbone, bruises and cuts alll over his body, most likely from being lashed, several second-degree burns, obviously somebody had tried to lit him on fire with an accelerant. This man was clearly a victim of unspeakable violence. "What did the police say?"

"They took a picture of his face but... that won't really help, I guess, the way he looks like. They said they'd come back in a few days."

"Alright. Shall we go in?"

They put on their face masks and went in.
Just like expected, their patient was awake - still confused from the anesthetic, but on the verge of waking up.

Owen examined the bandages around the man's abdomen. No more blood oozing through. A good sign. Also, his blood pressure was quite steady - no internal bleedings for now.

Teddy went over to the left side of the bed. "Does that look familiar to you?", she asked, pointing at one of the tattoos on the man's arms. "Could be an ex-soldier. I saw it yesterday in the OR"

Owen had a look at it. "Could be... I'm not sure... infantry maybe?" The rest of the man's arms were bandaged, so no more hints avaiable.

Teddy shrugged. "I dunno. I think I've seen something like this before, in the army."

Owen took a deep breath. Even though it was not that important, he actually wanted to find out who the guy was. He had carried nothing on him - except for the clothes he wore. "Let's give it a try...", he murmured and leant over the bed, looking into the half open eyes of their confused patient.

"Soldier!", he said - loud, into the man's face.
There was an immediate reaction.
For a few moments, the man's view centered on him and got a little clearer and more focused. He showed a reaction upon being called a soldier.

Owen looked to Teddy, who only nodded at him to go on. The practice of yelling at an intensive care patient was not common at the Seattle Grace - but where they had been - in Iraq - it had almost been their standard procedure to wake them up and get them out of the intensive care as quickly as possible, to make room for the next patient.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

He couldn't see clearly - that frightened him. A man leant over him, yelling at him... something.

English?

Was it really English was this man spoke? ... Must have been the first English word in months.

They guy was asking him for his name and rank.

He tried to focus his view a little more. Was it just a trick of Cheng's men? Was he still in China, and were they playing with his mind now, making him blieve that he was back home? Must be... although the room, was quite okay. They copied a whole US hospital room to fool him... expensive, but well built.

Soldier! Your name and rank!

He wouldn't answer. No way. No matter how much Cheng's trick had improved, he'd not fall for them.
He lay back and closed his eyes for a moment. At least he felt no pain. They must have given him something. When he looked down on his body, he even saw the bandages around his arms and torso.
Nice trick of Cheng. One he actually liked. Well... making him believe he was in a US hospital inlcuded treating all his wounds. That was just part of the game, he reminded himself. It was nothing that they had done for him because they actually cared about him. For months, they had let him rot in this prison cell. They hadn't treated any of his wounds even once. Not even when they had started to suppurate and got infected.

Again he heard that man's voice asking for his name and rank.
Damn it, they knew his name and rank. No need to answer this.
He focused his view on the man. It was hard, but after a while he could see him almost clearly. It was a caucasian, blonde haired man, probably in his forties. He didn't look like one of Cheng's men. Where would Cheng get somebody like him from?

"Come on, this is senseless. It was too early.", Teddy murmured after she had watched Owen's fourth try to talk to their patient.

Owen already wanted to try if for a fifth time - but he knew she was right. He couldn't overstress that man after all he'd been trough. Maybe tomorrow.
He followed his patient's view, he wearily tried to turn his head after hearing another voice in the room.

Owen pushed himself away from the sickbed. "Yes, too early.", he murmured at Teddy. "Let's come back in the evening."

Right as she turned around to leave the room, Teddy felt a touch at her arm. She turned around and looked down at their patient, who had grabbed her left arm. The fingers of his bandaged right hand closed around her forearm.
"Owen", she silently said to order him back here. Finally their patient showed some kind of reaction.

Surprised he looked down on the man who had acted like he wasn't even able to speak - that guy was actually even able to move.
"He's saying something", Teddy whispered so silently that only Owen would hear it.

As she tried to rip her arm free from him, his grab only got harder. Angrily she tried it once mroe - remembering that there were severe burns beneath that bandage. How on earth did he manage to hold her like this?

Owen grabbed his bandaged arm and started to press against the bandage until he could take no more. With a wince he let go of her.

Teddy looked into his eyes, spellbound. She'd never seen a view like that. He wanted to tell her something, but he couldn't get any words out.

"Let's go, we're just confusing him and stressing him too much.", Owen softly guided her away.

As they were at the door, she looked back once more. Their patient's eyes were still on her, ripped wide open. He still stretched out his bandaged hand, trying to grab something that was far out of range: her.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"..dre..." was the only sound he had managed to say.
He hadn't thought that speaking would be so hard, after only a few months of silence.

He had wanted to cry out her name, hold her back and ask her so many questions about what she was doing here and what this was all about.
Audrey.
She couldn't be in China... or could she?
She wouldn't play along in Cheng's plan to fool him. Never.
So maybe this wasn't China, after all?

He tried to say her name a few more times, to get his voice back.

He lay there, alone, staring at the door through which she'd left.

"Audrey", he finally managed to whisper. That single word was a like a prayer now.

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I always wondered how it would be if Jack Bauer met Teddy Altman... hope you enjoyed it! Please review!