A/N: You know how in the last author's note I joked about tornadoes? Remind me not to do that again. Those bastards are listening. I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update but this whole month has been absolute chaos, this week especially. You know that town Moore you've been hearing about on the news, the one that got halfway demolished by the largest tornado ever? Guess where I live. Yeah. Luckily we were just far enough away from it to avoid damage but it's been a long week, so bear with me please. Anyways, I should shut up and get to the story, so here you are. :) As usual, reviews will be answered and are greatly appreciated.
Johnny snapped back into awareness as he hung up the phone, looking at the rest of the A-Shift crew, who were waiting anxiously. "Roy says the docs have finished their exams. Jenny's got an epidural hematoma; they want to have her in surgery by five. He wanted to know if I could be there." He directed the last part to Cap, and his unasked question was quickly answered.
"Go," Cap told him firmly. "I'll find somebody to cover for you."
"Thanks," Johnny replied gratefully. It took him less time to change out of his uniform than it took him to get into it in the morning and he just about hit the door running. "I'll call you when there's any news," he called over his shoulder on the way out. The other men of Station 51 sank into a somber silence, each of them thinking over the situation.
None of them knew what an epidural hematoma was, but they knew from Johnny's reaction and the speed with which they wanted to get Jenny into surgery that whatever it was, it wasn't good. "Jenny's going to be okay, right Cap?" Marco asked quietly as they sat around the table. Cap shrugged and shook his head slowly. He had no more of an answer then any of the others.
"I don't know, Marco. But I know that every doctor in that operating room will be doing the best job they can and I know that she'll have a lot of people behind her. That and God's grace are all we can ask for." As Station 51 went about the next few hours, each man who went into the kitchen for any length of time inevitably found themselves staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring.
Johnny pulled up outside of Rampart twenty minutes after four and parked as quickly as possible, hurrying into the ER. "Dix? Where's Roy at?" he asked.
"He's in the cafeteria," she told him. "I guess you heard the news?" He nodded wordlessly. "I'm glad you're here. He and Joanne are going to need your support." She shook her head with a sigh. "Of all the small things that could happen, slipping on a trampoline is what puts her in the hospital." She checked her watch. "Kel wants to have her in surgery in less than an hour. Joanne's taken Chris home to find somebody to watch him and bring Roy a change of clothes."
"I'm gonna go catch up with Roy," Johnny told her. "See you later Dix." He hurried off towards the cafeteria and caught Roy on his third or fourth cup of coffee.
"Hey junior," his partner greeted him wearily. "I'm glad you could make it."
"You'd have to hold me back," Johnny replied, echoing Roy's words from an hour that seemed to be an eternity ago. He reached out and gripped the other man's shoulder. "She's gonna make it Roy; you gotta believe in her." He nodded slowly.
"I know, junior, I know- and I do, too. If there was anyone who could make it through something like this it would be her. But she's only seven, Johnny; she shouldn't have to be going through any of this." Johnny stayed silent, letting his friend expel all the emotions trapped inside of him. "She spent her morning at a birthday party and now they're going to put her under anesthesia and drill a burr hole through her skull and who knows how long it'll take her to recover after that? No one should have to deal with that. Why does it have to be her?" Johnny sighed trying to find the answer to an unanswerable question.
"I don't know, pally. But I know she's got her family and everyone from the station behind her." Roy smiled wanly.
"That's not really an answer, junior."
"I know, but I don't really have an answer to give. Did I ever tell you about the time a tree branch almost fell on my friend's head?" Roy looked at his partner, confused. Normally he could follow Johnny-logic but right now it was getting away from him. "It was smack in the middle of winter and there was an ice storm the day before. He and I were standing by this tree and all of sudden there was this crack and the branch came about five feet from clocking him right on the head."
"I'm not getting the point, junior."
"The point is, if he'd been two seconds slower that branch would've rung his bell, but because he wasn't he came out fine. It's all just chance, and sometimes chances work against you. That doesn't make it any easier but that's just how it goes." Roy sighed.
"You know, Johnny, you're right on both counts." Joanne arrived at that moment. She hugged her husband tightly and then seized the unsuspecting Johnny.
"Thank you for being here; Jenny will love getting to see you before- before they take her in." Joanne rubbed the moisture out her eyes and continued. "I took Chris to stay with our neighbors for the night and I brought you some clothes, Roy." She handed the outfit over where it was promptly placed on the next seat and forgotten about as Dr. Early entered the cafeteria. He took the remaining seat at the table.
"We're ready to start prepping Jenny for surgery. You can see her in a few minutes before we take her in. I just want to warn you that you need to be quiet. She's experiencing a severe headache and we want to keep her as relaxed as possible before we operate." All three nodded their understanding; five minutes later, they were allowed in to see Jenny.
Roy crouched down next to her bed and took her hand. "Hey baby, your mom and your Uncle Johnny are here to see you," he said quietly. Jenny's face broke out into a wide smile.
"Can I say hi to them?"
"Of course you can. The doctors are going to take you someplace else in a few minutes but they said we can see you first." Joanne went on her daughter's other side and smoothed the little girl's hair back from her forehead.
"Hi mommy," Jenny said. "I have a headache."
"I know you do, sweetie, but the doctors are going to make that go away," Joanne told her. "And your daddy and your Uncle Johnny and I are going to be right here when you wake up."
"Really? I'm kinda nervous though." Johnny stepped forward, standing next to Roy.
"We sure are, little miss. You just relax and let the docs do their job and we'll do the worrying for you." Johnny gave her his best joking grin but it wasn't too far from the truth. All three adults knew they probably wouldn't even sit down until Jenny was out of the operating room. They talked for a few more minutes before an orderly came in.
"We're ready to take Miss DeSoto up to the operating theater now." Johnny, Roy, and Joanne left the room reluctantly while Jenny was wheeled to the elevator. They stared after the doors as they pinged shut and Jenny vanished from their sight.
"So now we wait- again," Johnny remarked quietly, once more echoing his earlier words. "I told the guys back at the station that I'd call 'em when there was any news. I guess I'll go do that." He ran a nervous hand back and forth along his hip and went to the nurses' station. Cap's familiar greeting was rushed and perfunctory, as though he knew exactly who was calling but had to make sure.
"It's me."
"What's the news?" Johnny could practically hear the scramble as the others crowded around the phone. A-Shift wasn't so much a crew as they were a family, and all the men there considered Jenny a part of that family.
"They've just taken her into surgery; Brackett said the operation usually takes about two hours minimum so I guess I won't have much news 'til then." Cap's voice was hesitant as he asked his next question.
"What's the operation going to be like?" Johnny sighed, knowing that the details were not pleasant.
"When she fell on that trampoline it fractured her temporal bone and that made the artery start bleeding into the space between her skull and the stuff that covers her nervous system. They need to go in and drill a burr hole through the temporal bone to evacuate the clot and repair the artery." On the other end of the line, Cap swore quietly.
"Tell Roy and Joanne we're all praying for her. Oh, and Johnny- if you don't call us the second she gets out of surgery I'll have you on latrine duty for a month." It was a thin joke, but at least it got a smile out of the paramedic.
"Understood, Cap. I'll pass the message along. Call you back around seven." He hung up the phone and gazed distantly at the wall, sending up a prayer of his own- for Jenny, for her parents, and for the doctors. Then he took in a deep breath and headed back to the waiting area. It was going to be a long two hours.
Brackett and Dr. Early were tense, to say the least. They'd done this sort of operation a hundred times before (approaching literally, in Joe's case) but never on the child of their friend. There had never been as much at stake for them as there was now, and they were determined not to let anyone involved down.
They went slowly and carefully, drilling the burr hole and draining the hematoma. It was big- nearly forty cubic centimeters of blood had been filling the small space between her brain and the dura mater and more continued to flow out as they suctioned it away to repair the middle meningeal artery. It was only luck that kept her from needing a transfusion before the job was done.
A little over two hours later both men heaved a sigh of relief- the operation was finished, and Jenny had made it through. She was by no means out of the woods, but she had definitely found the trail. While Dixie made the arrangements for getting Jenny settled into a room, they headed downstairs.
Roy, Johnny, and Joanne had been watching the Los Angeles sky fade from blue to black while their stomachs turned so much that they didn't even consider eating dinner. All three shot to their feet when the doctors emerged, and the wide smiles on both men's faces told them everything they needed to know for the moment.
"She made it through," Brackett announced. "Dix is working on getting her settled in a room in the SICU and we're going to keep her sedated overnight to help with the pain. She won't wake up until tomorrow morning at the very least, and probably not until later, so I suggest that you guys go home and get some rest and food." Roy and Joanne didn't even say a word, just hugged each other tightly while Johnny smiled wider than they'd ever seen.
"Aw, that's great news," he told them. "Still, after this day I think I might need some sedation myself before I can get any rest." Dr. Early gave a slight laugh.
"Well, you can get yourself some food, at the very least. Obviously there's much more to discuss but it can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, just be thankful that she's still here. And we mean it when we say to rest. All of you will need to be strong to be any help to her." They left Johnny and the DeSotos and went to shower and change.
"Oh God, I was so worried," Roy told his partner quietly. He took a seat as the adrenaline began to wear off and the shakes set in. He continued to smile, though, more grateful than he'd ever been that his daughter would live. "I guess Brackett's right, though; we probably should get some rest."
"And food," Johnny remarked. "I don't think any of us have eaten for the last five hours. I don't know if I've got the energy to make anything though- all this worrying sucked it right out of me." He started, remembering Cap's standing threat of a month of latrine duty, and jumped to his feet. "I'm gonna go call the guys. Cap told me to get back to 'em the minute we heard anything or I'll be scrubbing the john for a month." Roy gave a wry smile.
"When Cap says it, I believe it, junior." The two men shared a relieved smile and Johnny darted back to the nurses' station once more. He couldn't dial the number fast enough.
"It's me," he preempted the captain, not wanting to wait any longer.
"How'd it go?" The anxiety in his voice was almost palpable.
"She made it!" Johnny told him. "They're getting her set up in an SICU room and they're keeping her sedated overnight, but she survived the surgery and they evacuated the hematoma and repaired the artery." The cheers of the other men of A-Shift echoed over the connection.
"That's fantastic. Are you guys staying there or not?" Johnny laughed.
"Nah, we've all been given strict orders to rest and eat and come back in the morning. After the adrenaline wears off the resting won't be a problem but none of us exactly want to cook dinner."
"Well I've got an easy solution for that," Cap answered. "We haven't eaten yet either, so why don't you guys just come to the station? Marco's doing the cooking and we all want to see you three."
"I don't think you're gonna find much objection to that plan, Cap," Johnny replied. "I'll ask and make sure but I reckon we'll be seeing you in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and rejoined his friends, extending Cap's offer of dinner at the station, which was eagerly taken up on. They were all reluctant to leave- none of them wanted to set foot outside of Rampart until Jenny was with them, but they knew Brackett was right when he told them to rest. Being exhausted wouldn't do anybody any good.
It didn't make it any easier to leave, though. Compared to the time spent waiting for news, the time spent driving to Station 51 seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Soon enough they were pulling up in the parking lot. It had only been seven hours since Roy left, but it seemed a lot longer and he knew that the night, when he was alone with nothing but his thoughts for company, would seem longer still.
"Thank you so much for inviting us," Joanne told Cap when they were inside.
"It's not a problem at all," Cap responded. "We're just glad you could make it." He left the obvious implications of his words unspoken; no need to dwell on what could have happened. Then he smiled at them. "Well, dinner and some very anxious men are waiting for you in the kitchen, so why don't we head on in?" The moment they entered the kitchen they were swarmed by the other men, all simultaneously asking how they were, and after many reassurances they were all finally seated at the table.
"Okay, amigos, I've made enchiladas with rice," Marco announced to the world at large, placing a still-steaming tray onto the table. As soon as the smell hit his nostrils, Roy's stomach abruptly began to remind him that he hadn't eaten anything for the better part of the day and he grabbed a plate. All of them dug in, but the conversation and joking that usually accompanied all of their meals was absent as each of them thought of Jenny. They knew she had a long haul ahead of her, and it would take all her strength to make it back, but if you were to ask them to place a bet, each and every one of them would have put their money on her, and nothing else.
