I hope I did ok with this chapter. I don't have any sort of medical background but I did the best I could with the research I did. Hopefully it's not too awful.
"Are you sure he said 20 minutes?" Blackburn asked Jason as he looked at the clock. Everyone was accounted for except for Clay and command was getting tired of waiting.
"Positive. He only lives a half hour from here but because of the weather and road conditions its taking him longer." Jason replied trying to be optimistic but knowing if Clay said 20 minutes he no doubt would be there in 20 minutes. It was now pushing 35 minutes.
"I don't know how much longer we can wait. Command is ready to get the ball rolling. Give him a call. See how far out he is." Blackburn said.
Jason shook his head and stepped into the hall to call Clay. It went straight to voicemail. He tried again and received the same results. Blackburn entered the hall moments later to get the scoop.
"Phone went straight to voicemail. He probably turned it off. Said something about getting in a big fight with Stella and she keeps calling." Jason told Eric.
Blackburn rubbed his face. Clay should know better than to turn his phone off. "Alright. I don't like it but I guess we just have to start without him. If we end up heading out with Alpha we can fill him in on the details on the plane."
Jason and Eric returned to the room and informed command that they would be starting without Clay. Once they took their seats command began briefing everyone on the mission. 45 minutes into the briefing there was a loud knock on the door. Everyone knew briefings were not supposed to be disturbed so it threw everyone for a look. At first they thought it was Clay but then again they knew Clay was smart enough not to disturb the meeting.
A member of Alpha's support staff who was standing by the door, poked her head out of the door to see who it was. She then looked over at Eric. "Lt. Commander Blackburn. It's for you." She informed him.
"Can it wait? We're almost finished in here.' He asked.
"I'm afraid not." She told him.
Eric had an uneasy feeling. His mind instantly went to his wife, thinking maybe something had happened to her. He figured he would see Clay sitting on the bench outside the room once he got exited the room.
Once he was out of the room he was surprised to see only one other person outside of the room.
"Are you Lt. Commander Eric Blackburn?" The man asked him.
"Yea. What's this about?" He asked.
"Clay Spenser is on your team correct?"
"That's correct. Now what is this about?" He had a bad feeling in his stomach.
"I'm sorry to inform you but he was in a serious accident tonight. He was flown to Hampton Medical Hospital in serious condition."
"What? Are you sure it was or Clay Spenser? Eric was in both denial and disbelief.
"I'm positive. The cop said he was wearing dog tags. That was the only identification they had. They figured someone here would have his family contact information." She told him.
"Thank You." Eric said and then sat down on the bench right outside of the room, contemplating his next move. 'There's no way those guys will deploy safely knowing one of their own was hurt' Blackburn thought to himself. A minute later he stood up and entered the room. Before he could say anything he and Jason made eye contact and Jason knew it had to be about Clay.
"Commander, you said this could be done with one team correct?" Eric asked the commander.
"It would be harder but it is possib…" He was respectfully cut off.
"With all due respect sir, Bravo has to pull out. Sending us would do more harm than good." Eric said.
"I'm assuming there's a good reason for this?" The commander asked.
"I wouldn't pull out if it wasn't." Eric replied.
"Very well. Bravo, you guys are dismissed. Lt. Commander I expect a good explanation when this is all over."
"No problem. Thank you sir." Eric said as his team stood up and exited the room. They were all curious and worried about what was going on except for Jason. He knew whatever it was, wasn't going to be good.
"What happened to him?" Jason asked as soon as everyone was out of the room.
"Car accident. He was flown to the hospital in serious condition. That's all I know." Blackburn sighed.
Everyone's head dropped as they took in the news. "Does Stella know?" Sonny asked.
"Doubtful. The cops said the only ID they were able to find was his dog tags. They asked us to contact the family." Eric told the group.
Jason and Eric were the only two who knew Clay and Stella got in a huge fight but they weren't sure how big of a fight it was. "I'll stop by his place on the way, let her know, see if she needs a ride to the hospital." Jason said as they headed towards the parking lot to head to the hospital.
"I'll go with him, if you don't mind having some company?" Sonny said.
Once they reached their cars everyone but Jason and Sonny headed towards the hospital, while the other two made a pit stop at Clays apartment.
/
As soon as the medics loaded Clay into the helicopter, the flight medics got to work. Their main focuses were his breathing and the hypothermia that had begun to set in. His body temperature had dropped to 91 degrees. His entire body shivered, attempting to warm him back up. They covered him with blankets where they could and turned on the heat until it was uncomfortably warm. One medic had carefully placed a bag valve mask over his mouth and nose, taking note of the swelling on the left side of his face and the deep cuts all over his face. She would squeeze the bag connected to the mask every 5 seconds to help deliver warm humidified oxygen to help warm his airways and raise his body temperature. They placed him on warm IV fluids to help combat the hypothermia. He was connected to all sorts of wires to monitor his vital signs.
It was a 10 minute flight to the hospital. Halfway there his body temperature had finally risen to 92.7. The flight medics were happy with the small progression. He was in no way out of the woods as he had a hoard of other injuries that desperately required attention but it was a step in the right direction.
As they were approaching the hospital, Clay began to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and didn't recognize anything. He went to turn his head to look for something familiar but something was preventing his from turning. His mind was sluggish and he was trying hard to remember anything that he was doing before this moment. 'Was I on a mission that went sideways? Where am I? Why can't I move? Is my team ok? Why does everything hurt? It's getting really hard to breathe' Clay thought in his head. He began to panic. Nothing made sense to him at the moment.
"Calm down. You're on your way to the hospital. You were in a car accident." One of the medics informed him as she noticed his eyes open, the pain and panic on his face and his heart rate picking up.
Clay couldn't calm down. His mind still wasn't entirely there, all his training temporarily out the window. He now knew he was in a car accident but couldn't remember how it happened. He tried hard to think of anything other than the intense pain but it was impossible. Everything hurt. Each breath caused more and more pain in his sides making it harder and harder to breath.
"Clay. I really need you to calm down. I know you're in pain but we are preparing to land at the hospital. They'll be able to help better with the pain. Ok?" The same medic said calmly. She really didn't want to have to intubate him during the landing but she would if she had to.
'Preparing to land? What does that mean? Am I in a helicopter? What the hell happened?' he thought to himself. Suddenly it hit him. Stella, the fight, the mission, the team, everything. It overwhelmed him. Any chance he thought he had of calming himself down was gone. The breathing became harder and the pain more intense. Next thing he knew the mask on his face was removed and he saw the intubation kit in the medic's hand. 'Well shit' he thought seeing the kit in the medics hand and that was the last thought he had before being welcomed back into the darkness.
As the helicopter landed there was a trauma team waiting on the roof to rush Clay into the OR. The flight medics briefed them on his condition, wished them good luck and carried on with their day. Their job to get Clay to the hospital alive was done. It was all in the trauma teams hands now.
