Leanne was first to hear the gunfire. She ran over to the nurses' station and grabbed a phone. As she waited for the line to ring, she called out, "Everyone, evacuate. Get everyone out!" Jesse began to usher all of the walk-ins out and help stabilize the criticals and get them outside. Leanne spoke into the phone with frantic urgency, "There is an active shooter at Angels' Memorial. I need EMT, police, everyone you got. Redirect the ambulances to another hospital. I'm in the process of clearing everyone." The dispatcher responded and Leanne hung up and ran back into the building to check. She saw Jesse taking someone out and called to him, "How many more left?"
He replied, "Just this one. Leanne, don't go back in. This isn't some little kid that took his daddy's gun. This is a trained sniper. Whoever this person is, they aren't just firing randomly."
Leanne shook her head, "Jesse, this is my ER. If there is someone left in the building, then it is my responsibility. You know you can't stop me. Please don't try."
Jesse looked at Leanne and said, with sadness lingering slightly in his voice, "I know, Daddy. But be careful, alright?"
Leanne nodded and entered the ER. She saw Christa and Malaya clinging to each other. They sat in a pool of sticky, scarlet liquid. Leanne began to run over, but before she could make it to them, she heard a bang and the already distressed Christa screamed in fear and grief, "Leanne!"
Leanne felt like she was falling with no end. She collapsed to the ground in pain. Crying out with all the pain, her ears rang and she soon realized what had happened. She wheezed out a couple times and looked at Christa and Malaya. She whispered, "I'm sorry." Christa was sobbing wildly and Malaya was staring on in shock. Leanne's cry out had brought Jesse running over. The police had also arrived, and Jesse pointed out the sniper to them, of whom they promptly arrested for attempted murder and assault.
After the man was detained, Jesse knelt at Leanne's side. He murmured, "Lea, you'll be okay. Just relax." He placed his hands over the wound and called out, "I need a gurney over here!"
As soon as the police gave the all clear, everyone rushed in to help. They checked up on Christa, who had been grazed with a bullet, but it was a minor injury. Everyone was most worried about their ER director, Leanne Rorish. A flurry of activity surrounded her as they moved her to center stage. She was the only patient in anyone's minds at the moment. Everyone worked their hardest and their best for the woman who had been 'Daddy' for years.
As they took Leanne up to the OR everyone stood around grimly. Their faces showed nothing but sadness, pain, and tragedy. Everyone there knew that the bullet had been too close to Leanne's spine for it not to have caused any permanent damage. It was likely that she would never walk again, and that weighed on everyone's shoulders. The hospital was pretty much closed down for the moment, so they were able to just sit and cry.
Jesse sat with Christa in one of the rooms. Jesse held Christa in his arms and said to her, his voice gentle and calming, "Christa, this is hard for all of us, trust me. I know first hand. But we all need to stay calm. Take a few days off. Go hang out with Malaya. Help her. We hopefully won't be busy for a while."
"But Jesse, I want to be there for Dr. Rorish when she wakes up."
Jesse replied, "Alright. You rest here, I'll page you when she wakes up. Could you also tell the rest of the residents and Dr. Hudson for me?"
Christa nodded and said, "Of course. Before you call us, just take some time with her. Help her, because we all know what's going to happen."
Jesse stared long and hard at the floor before saying, "It's going to be hard for her to adjust. Especially in the ER. Not sure if she'll ever return to us."
Christa closed her eyes and replied, "I hope that she does. I can see that she is very much needed around here."
Jesse nodded and solemnly left to upstairs.
Leanne had just come out of surgery, but she was still unconscious. Jesse sat by her side, holding her hand and waiting patiently for her to wake. Even though he hated the thought of having to break the news to her, he knew that was his duty as her friend.
Hours later, Leanne began to wake. She turned her head slightly and a smile came upon her lips as she saw Jesse sound asleep from all of the day's action. She felt weak, but she couldn't help but watch how peaceful Jesse looked as he rested. She called out gently, knowing fully well that Jesse would be upset if she did not wake him as soon as she awoke, "Jesse, I'm awake."
Jesse practically fell out of the chair he was in. He sputtered, "L-Leanne!"
Leanne raised an eyebrow. Jesse rarely stuttered. In fact, the last time she had heard him stutter was when he had to tell her that her whole family had died. "Jesse, what's wrong? How are Christa and Malaya?"
Jesse had a pained look on his face as he spoke as softly as he could manage, "They're all fine. Christa just got grazed slightly, but it's merely a superficial wound."
Leanne looked Jesse in the eye and demanded, "Tell me what's going on, Jesse. Don't hold back, please. Just tell me. Please just give it to me straight, Mama."
Jesse winced at his nickname. He knew that after this, she probably wouldn't be able to speak with him like that for a while. He said, pain lacing his voice, "L-Lea, I'm so sorry. The bullet, it hit your spine, and it's likely that you will never walk unassisted again."
Leanne stared at Jesse in shock. "You're lying to me," she said, with all the seriousness in the world.
Jesse couldn't bear to see Leanne's face. He looked down and away. He fiddled with his pager, sending a page to Christa. "Leanne, if you need some alone time, I'll step out."
Leanne let a tear fall and choked out, "No. I need you here."
Jesse apologized, "I'm really sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm sure that you would rather hear it from me than anyone else."
Leanne nodded and said, "Mama, come here. Sit with me."
Jesse nodded, moving from the chair to sitting right next to her. He said quietly, "I paged the residents and Neal. They're on their way up to see you."
Leanne nodded. "Jesse, could you help me sit up?"
He placed his hands firmly on her back, supporting her and placed pillows under her back. "Good?"
She smiled and said, "Yes, thank you very much Jesse."
Jesse took Leanne's hand and said, "Leanne, it's ok to cry. You're going through something that is horribly painful. This isn't the time to be the strong Dr. Rorish. Right now, it's okay to be Lea again. It's okay to be vulnerable right now."
Leanne leaned slightly on Jesse and said, "I know. Do you think this place would be able to manage without me?"
Jesse asked softly, "It depends. How long are you planning to leave?"
Leanne looked up at Jesse and admitted, "A long time, if not forever."
Jesse said, "Lea, you know that everyone needs you."
Leanne interrupted, "Jesse, I have a successor chosen already."
"And I know who you're talking about. Trust me. it isn't the lack of attendings that we would be worrying about. It's your expertise."
"You know that he was under me for 6 years, 4 as part of an emergency medicine residency, and then another two as a trauma fellow. He thinks the same way that I do and is just as likely to get fired for caring too much."
Jesse shook his head and said, "Leanne, no one can replace you. I'm not going to try to convince you; at least, not right now, but later on, I might. But I already know you're likely to be too stubborn, so I'm inviting you to come visit whenever you would like, maybe watch the emergency department for a while. Perhaps watching the dysfunction will give you pity for us."
Leanne merely rolled her eyes, chuckling lightly.
Seconds later, the residents and Neal walked in. Seeing Leanne grinning, they were very glad for the head nurse. Leanne turned to Jesse and whispered to him, "Can you call TC for me? Tell him what happened and explain my proposal?"
Jesse nodded and said to the group, "I'll be right back."
Leanne turned to Christa and asked, "Christa, are you alright? I heard that you were hit by a bullet."
Christa stared at Leanne with disbelief.
Leanne smiled and said, "I know, I know. You already know what's happened to me. I'm just concerned, not about your physical health, because I know that you are fine, but about your mental health. When this all happened, you cried out and that cry played my heartstrings like a violin. I'm worried for you, Christa."
Christa looked at Leanne and sadness flashed across her face. She was careful to only reveal this emotion to Leanne, and not to the other attendings and residents surrounding her. "Dr. Rorish, you have been part of my family since I've been here. Watching you get shot was horrifying for me. I was full of anguish. That anguish is not healing or getting better." She continued in a lower voice, as if she was scared of her fellow residents hearing her, "In my mind, you are daddy. You are my daddy. I saw where the bullet hit you. I knew from the start that there was a very slim chance that there wouldn't be spinal damage, and I'm sure you and Malaya knew that too. Walking away from you, when I knew what was going to happen, was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life. There was nothing that I wanted more than to just cry and sob. Instead, I was left wondering if that should have been me paralyzed instead of you. You are the life and soul of Angels' Memorial. You have taught so many people and are so much more experienced than I am, and yet, you cannot be too many years older than I, and perhaps you may even be younger than I."
Leanne looked up into her older resident's eyes and rebutted, "Christa, you can't think like that."
Christa interjected, "Leanne. I heard what Jesse said. You said you probably will never return, and that's heartbreaking for any future, past, or present residents and attendings here."
Everyone looked at Christa in shock. None of them had known that Leanne was going to be leaving for good, this soon. Malaya burst out, "Dr. Rorish, you can't leave!"
Leanne looked sullen and replied, "It's hard for most able-bodied people to keep up in Angels, let alone a paraplegic doctor."
Angus took his turn in speaking, "Dr. Rorish, you aren't just any person though. You know this hospital better than you know anything else! The only person who probably knows more about this place and more about everything, is probably Jesse, and he can't do it alone."
Leanne was taken aback by the fact that even Angus was begging that she stay. Only one thing could be more surprising…
"Dr. Rorish, you have helped me become the man I am today. To lose you is still something unimaginable for me. It's hard for me to believe that a strong woman like you would just give up," Dr. Mario Savetti said, staring Leanne in the eye.
Leanne was startled and taken aback by the fact that even Mario was trying to get her to stay. She stuttered out, "I-I don't know!"
Neal spoke softly, "Leanne, just look at it from my perspective for one second. All your residents are begging for you to return to the ED already, and we haven't even hit Code Yellow yet. When we hit Code Black, everyone is going to be lost, whether we have TC and Mike here or not. We're just the workers in this hive. You, my friend, are our queen. Without your directions and instructions, the feeling of organized chaos is going to dissolve into pure anarchy. You are our leader. What great team can work without a leader?"
Leanne looked up at Neal. He did have a very good point. She tried her best to respond, "Look, I'll consider it. Maybe in a couple years."
They all looked at her with pleading looks, looks that melted her heart. Leanne was about to cry, because she wanted to go back, but at the same time, felt that she would just be a burden and that she wouldn't be the same kind of helpful and useful as she had been before. There was nothing worse than having a member of the team being weak, and slipping into Code Black.
Jesse re-entered the room. He said to Leanne, "TC said that he's going to catch the next flight that leaves out of there. He said it'll still be a good ten or so hours before he'll depart and another three hours from there. I also got a page from downstairs. They're wondering where all of their doctors are. The police reopened us up and they've hit Code Red already."
Leanne looked at everyone who was surrounding her like they were crazy and exclaimed, "Why are you all just standing here? Hurry up and get down there before we hit a Code Black and have absolutely no doctors! You're short a doc already!"
Christa looked down at her feet and corrected, "Make that three."
Leanne stared at Christa incredulously and said, "What did you just say?"
Malaya spoke up this time, defending her and her friend's choice, "Jesse gave Christa and me a week of paid leave. He basically suspended us."
Leanne growled at Jesse, "Jesse, what is the meaning of this? You need everyone you can get!"
Jesse shrugged and said, "They aren't ready for it yet. They'll just end up standing around and getting in the way. I'll say you're more ready than they are to move on. This was a very traumatizing experience for them both. If you're so worried about downstairs, Christa and Malaya can take you downstairs to watch us because like I said, you are always welcome here."
Leanne cocked her head at Jesse and said, "I literally just had a spinal injury and you want me back down there already?"
Jesse smiled and said, "Even if it's just for one moment. It will help with the morale down there."
Leanne sighed and responded, "Alright, just for one second."
Jesse grinned happily and said, "See you later!" He ran downstairs, to try and control the Code Red, so that Leanne wouldn't come down to a Code Black. He wanted to make this as easy as possible for her. He called out as he walked down the aisle, "Clear this aisle! Leanne's coming down!" Everyone looked at Jesse, who was radiating joy. They began to clear the aisle with speed.
Christa and Malaya began to help Leanne into a wheelchair. Christa turned around for a second and let a tear fall from her eye. Seeing Dr. Rorish so vulnerable and so helpless was heart-breaking for her. She was used to Leanne commandeering the Emergency Department. Now, she was helping her teacher into a wheelchair. She quickly shook the thought from her mind as she helped Leanne finish transferring. "Dr. Rorish, let's head on down before they hit Code Black."
Leanne nodded and began pushing her wheelchair outside. Christa and Malaya followed closely behind their ER director.
Soon enough, they reached the ER. As they were leaving the elevator, Leanne hesitated. She whispered hoarsely, "Time to go back to the place where this all happened." She straightened out her back and entered the Emergency Department. She watched the busyness of her department and saw how busy it is. Within seconds, she watched as the board flashed Code Black. Jesse called out, "Mass Casualty, GSWs and a couple IEDs."
It took Leanne all the resistance in her body to not rush out into center stage and try to help. She tried her very best not to get closer.
Jesse turned to look at her, and could see the longing in her eyes. He called out to the trio, "If any one of you wants to help, feel free!"
Leanne trembled slightly. Christa felt the vibration and asked, "Leanne, if you're up to it, go ahead."
Leanne shook her head, sadness and pain filling her body. She disagreed, "I'm just going to be dead weight. I'm not going to be much help."
Christa laughed lightly and assured, "Dr. Rorish, not only are you the best doctor in this room, you also know this place amazingly well. Even if you were just sitting aside and giving orders from a gurney, you'd still be ten times better than anyone there."
Leanne chuckled lightly and said, "Do you really think that I'm that amazing?"
Christa responded, "Everyone thinks that. Dr. Rorish, everyone here admires you and respects you, no matter what they say to you or do to you, they all love you and need you."
Leanne smiled and said exasperatedly, "Alright, alright. I'll try it, okay? But not on center stage. I don't want to get in the way for the criticals."
Christa grinned and said, "I'm just glad that I managed to convince you to at least work with the yellows. Maybe after spending some time there and realizing you're still useful, you'll come back to full-time sooner than you expected."
Leanne scoffed, "Yeah, yeah. Just until TC gets here."
Christa replied happily, "You'll see, Dr. Rorish, you'll see."
Leanne just shook her head as she rolled away.