Disclaimer: I don't own Trauma, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.

I hope everyone enjoys this fic!

Chapter 2

Reuben had not had many dealings with Marisa's mother, Leticia Benez, but the stories Marisa had told had given him some warning as to what she would be like, still she was intense, especially so as Rabbit was emotionally and physically exhausted.

Rabbit sat down tiredly in a chair offered to him by one of the nursing staff, as he dialled the number he'd gotten from Marisa's cell phone.

"Hello?" A heavily accented Latino woman's voice came across the line.

"Yeah, can I speak to Mrs Benez?"

"Speaking. Who is this?"

For once in his working life, Rabbit didn't pretend that everything was fine, as he had so often done with patients and their families, he couldn't, "Ah, um, Mrs Benez, this is Reuben Palchuck, I work with your... I work with Marisa. Look, I've got some bad news."

He heard a sharp intake of breath, before Leticia shakily asked, "Please, what's happened? Where's Marisa? Was she hurt? I told her that job was dangerous..."

Rabbit allowed the woman to have a bit of a rant before he broke in, telling her, "Marisa's pretty sick, we're at City Hospital, ICU room 205, she asked me to call you."

"Oh meja ...I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay, and ah, drive safe alright."

Leticia arrived in a panic, it took Rabbit close to thirty minutes to calm her down enough to understand that she couldn't just barge straight into the room, she needed to prepare first, both emotionally for the fact that when she went in there, her daughter was going to be hooked up to all manner of equipment, very unwell, and also practically by putting on all of the personal protective wear.

Then, even once Rabbit deemed that Leticia was calm enough and ready to go in, they were forced to wait another fifteen minutes as one of the ICU nurses, Kaitlin Fisher was midway through putting in a catheter, something that Reuben just did not want or need to see, and as it had been explained to him all procedures must be done in as sterile or an environment as possible for Marisa's safety, that certainly meant no visitors in the room.

So, the unlikely pair sat there outside Marisa's hospital room, waiting to be allowed in, eventually Kaitlin came into the anteroom where they were waiting.

"You can go back in now Reuben, and ah.. Mrs Benez I assume?"

"Yes, please how is my child?"

Kaitlin tried to offer the older woman a reassuring smile, but it fell somewhat short. "She's hanging in," The nurse went on to elaborate, "Her vitals are stable, she's tolerating the ventilator well, she has suffered a number of seizures, but we are now treating her with mannitol to relieve the pressure within her brain, which should help. We are just waiting now to see how she responds to the antibiotics, and we will just need to treat symptoms of the disease until the antibiotics take effect. We gave her a sedative when we placed the breathing tube, and because she's been very agitated we have been continuing to lightly sedate her as well as placing soft restraints on her arms so that she will not hurt herself, but she is aware of her surroundings, and you can talk to her."

"Okay, thank you."

Mrs Benez and Reuben then followed Kaitlin back into the room, all wearing masks, gowns and gloves.

Marisa was completely exposed, venerable, it was a position that just hours ago no one could have imagine she would be placed in. Reuben would have averted his glance, but the sight of the line snaking into her chest, allowing five different drugs alongside fluids into her body, it caught his eye, that and her general condition; just in the time he had been out of the room it was clear that her condition had worsened, to be honest it scared him.

Even sedated, her body continued to shiver as fevers raged, and then just as quickly become flushed and sweaty, another reaction to the fever, and Kaitlin could not go far from Marisa's bedside, as Marisa was repetitively vomiting, not dangerous as she the breathing tube protected her lungs, but it still required the nurse to manage it as Marisa could not help herself.

Seeing Marisa like that, it was rough on Rabbit, but as difficult as it was for him, for Leticia it was so painful, it tore at her unbearably, that was her baby girl lying there, Marisa survived being shot at in Afghanistan, and now it looked likely that she was going to lose her life to an illness that she'd contracted treating an old man in a nursing home.

Rabbit moved to Marisa's bedside, he took hold of her hand gently as he spoke to her, "Hey partner, how're you doing?"

Marisa rolled her eyes at Rabbit.

"Sorry, stupid question," Reuben apologised, he fixed her blankets, covering her up as he said, "The nurse said that you are doing okay." Reuben lowered his voice as he told her, "I wish there was something I could do."

Marisa tried to raise her hand, and though she was stopped short by the restraint, her wish was clear, she wanted him to hold her hand.

For a moment he did, "Your mum's here now, I'm gonna go outside for a bit, but she'll be here. Okay?"

Reuben and Leticia quickly changed places in comforting Marisa, and then Reuben stepped out of the room, planning to go find himself a strong cup of coffee and something to eat.

The nurse was calm, and worked to put Leticia at ease, or at least as much so as possible; she got her a chair, spoke to her further of Marisa's condition, and offered her a cup of tea before she too stepped out to the anteroom to give the mother some time alone with her ill daughter.

Kaitlin would have to go back in just minutes later, but Leticia still appreciated the time.

While he was out of the room, giving Leticia her time with Marisa, Rabbit made the most of the time, and not only in his quest for food, but in hunting down Marisa's doctor. Reuben needed to hear from the guy himself what was happening, what the plan was, and most importantly if Marisa was going to pull through, things were getting too intense for his liking, and way too fast.

The doctor did help to ease his fears. "Our hope is that with aggressive treatment we can prevent any progression of the meningococcal meningitis to septicaemia. That's why we've done all this so quickly, sedating, intubating, and getting in the central line, it all actually makes her look much sicker than she is at this moment, at this moment she is stable. Her condition is very critical, don't get me wrong, but..."

"It could get worse."

"Yes, it could still become much worse. That's why we're doing what we're doing, so far it appears to be working, she's responding to the antibiotics, so fingers crossed we've got it in time."

"So she will make it?"

That the doctor could not answer, he skirted around the question instead, "The next few days will be critical."

While Mrs Benez was with Marisa at the hospital, Rabbit had to go back to the station, he had a shift, and he would have to work it, but he had decided the moment they had received the diagnosis that he would take leave until Marisa was better.

At the station Rabbit was pounced on by at least dozen medics seeking information on Marisa; he barely spoke to them as he headed straight for the captain's office.

Captain Basra was sitting at his desk when Reuben entered. "Rabbit. It's good to see you, glad your test came back clear. Are you good to work today?"

"I am, but I've gotta sort out some leave. Marisa's in the ICU, I want to be there with her."

"Of course, of course that's fine. How is she?"

"Critical. Reckon the doctor thinks she's not going to make it."

The antibiotics didn't work as hoped, they were definitely slowing the progress of the life threatening infection, but by no means had it stopped. The days that followed were difficult going on unbearable for everyone who cared about Marisa as she fought for her life.

As the doctors had initially predicted, her condition would become much graver before it improved. Despite the powerful antibiotics, Marisa's condition continued to deteriorate, septicaemia set in just hours after she was admitted to the ICU, her body was failing.

Marisa soon became dependant on the ventilator to breathe for her, the doctors started her on enteral nutrition via a nasogastric tube a couple of hours after that, next her kidneys failed, and she had to be placed on dialysis, they would not recover, and then finally her circulatory system began to shut down and DIC, a life-threatening inability for her blood to clot set in, she was treated aggressively with multiple transfusions of platelets and plasma, and to a degree it worked, the DIC was brought under control, but she still had to be placed on a cardiac bypass to ensure that her blood continued to circulate through her body. Marisa was on life support.

Then, on the third day, when everyone thought that Marisa's condition could get no worse, one of the ICU nurses was changing the bedding on Marisa's bed, and Rabbit, who had remained in the room to help, noticed the beginnings of a dark, purplish rash on Marisa's legs as soon as he saw it, the medic in him knew what he was seeing, it was the classic beginnings of a meningococcal rash, but the part of him that still was holding onto the hope that Marisa would get better, that this wasn't what he logically knew it was, pointed it out to the nurse, Cathy. "Hey, check this out, would you?"

After that things seemed to speed up for a while, calling down doctors, ordering tests, before it settled back down to the steady chaos that was the ICU.

Over the hours that followed the rash spread from her legs to her torso and arms, her ears and face, by the following morning there were very few clear areas of skin left.

Dr Lawrence called Mrs Benez and Reuben to meet with him in his office just minutes after he checked on Marisa; they knew that the news would be grave.

"I think it's time to discuss what is the best way to proceed in caring for Marisa. As you must know her condition is extremely critical, she has been on complete life support for close to thirty six hours now. I'm sure that neither one of you wants to see her suffer."

"What're you saying doc? Yeah she's sick, but she's going to pull through, you don't know her, she's so strong," Rabbit said with determination, there was no way he would let this happen.

But it wasn't his decision to make, ultimately the decision would rest on Leticia's shoulders. "Is she in pain doctor?"

"We have her on quite high doses of morphine to relieve pain, but in her current condition there is no way to know for certain. I would like to discuss with you whether you want us to continue with the treatment; if we removed her from the life support, Marisa could go peacefully. In my opinion, given that the antibiotics have not proven effective, your daughter's chance of surviving is very slim."

"But there is a chance?" Reuben just wanted this point clarified.

"Yes, but in my professional opinion-"

"But there's a chance."

Leticia broke in, stopping the terse discussion in its tracks, "I do not want my child to suffer. Please."Leticia broke in, stopping the terse discussion in its tracks, "I do not want my child to suffer. Please."

As though it was destined, at that moment the phone on the doctor's desk rang shrilly.

TBC...

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