A/N: Sorry this update took awhile, I've been pretty busy and I should also be updating "Not Like This" sometime this week, hopefully. I hope you guys like this chapter, and once again, I'm not a medical expert so if I make any mistakes please bring them to my attention. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Lakeshore Hospital, six hours later, Kelly's POV:
We sit in silence. All of us are thinking about Matt, about Gabby, about the terrorist attack that rocked our city today. We finished our job about a half hour ago, and left it to the police to figure out the rest.
Three hours after we had arrived at Chicago Med, Chief called off the search in what was left of the structure. One of Eric Whaley's men almost caused a collapse, so he decided we better get out of there, for our own sake. Eric's men kept searching, and about an hour later, a part of the hospital collapsed on them.
Other squad teams dug the men out without causing a secondary collapse, and amazingly, within a half hour all of them were discovered.
Two of them were found dead, the rest critically injured. Eric was in surgery right now, along with three of his men. Another one of his men was rushed to the emergency room, where they stabilized him and he now sat in the Intensive Care Unit with his family at his bedside.
Of the two that died, one was killed instantly in the collapse when his head was hit hard by a large slab of concrete. The other man was pronounced dead in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.
After the collapse, the hospital seemed much more stable, so we resumed our search and were able to pull out a couple of other alive victims before retrieving the deceased. After Truck companies got everybody to triage, they helped the police with crowd control before jumping in to also help Squad companies.
Long story short, all of us were tired. Our muscles ached, our throats were dry from yelling and lack of water, and our minds were full of worry for the ones on the other side of the OR doors. Especially Gabby and Eric. From what I've heard, Gabby's arm is in tough shape and she lost a lot of blood. We're expecting news on her condition any second now. Eric has head and leg trauma, but that's all we know. He'll probably be in surgery for awhile yet. Even though the guys didn't know Eric very well, not as well as I know him at least, they were still worried. He once was a member of our house, even if it was always temporary. He served next to us, and that meant he was a brother.
I saw Renee for the briefest of moments, about twenty minutes ago. We were both at the vending machine, each of us getting a bottle of water. We made awkward small talk and I told her Eric is a fighter and that he'll get through this before we went back to our respective waiting rooms.
When the guys and I first got back to the hospital, the doctors told us about Matt. His condition was as bad as we had guessed. His head had suffered another traumatic blow, and after a CT scan, doctors had found more bleeding. Luckily the bleed was less than three centimeters, so surgery was not needed. Instead, they gave him medication to lower blood pressure and relieve swelling. Because of his epidural hematoma a few months ago, and the fact that his skull was forever compromised by that trauma, his brain couldn't handle this "extra" amount of trauma and he fell into a coma. And until he wakes up from it, we won't know how bad his condition actually is.
I refuse to say if he wakes up from his coma, even though the doctors warned us that he might never open his eyes again. I simply refused to believe that Matt will never wake up. Last time the doctors warned us that he might not pull through, but he did anyway. He'll do the same again this time. I was sure of it.
Currently, Matt was being closely monitored. His brain was being monitored for increased pressure, which would mean a bigger bleed was forming. We weren't allowed to see him at the moment, because it was too early in the stages of his coma and the Doctor's checked on him every five minutes for any changes.
I look around the room at everybody. The whole crew was here, their faces worn and their bodies looking limp with exhaustion. Some bowed their head in chairs, others stood up to make sure they didn't fall asleep. Shay was on my right, picking at her fingernails worriedly. Chief was on my left, staring straight ahead with watery eyes, but refusing to look weak in front of his men.
Herrmann stood against the wall, looking at his feet and rubbing his forehead, obviously in deep thought. Cruz sat down in a chair next to him, praying. Mouch was across from me, his head leaning against the back of the wall and his eyes trained on the ceiling. Otis and Mills sit on either side of him, both staring straight ahead. Rafferty sits on the other side of Shay, rubbing her shoulder assuringly. Clarke leans against the wall next to Herrmann, his tired hands rubbing his aging face. Capp enters the room with a Gatorade, and sighs heavily before sitting in his sit next to Chief.
"Did you hear anything while you were up, Capp?" Herrmann asks tiredly, desperate for any answers.
"Sorry guys, nothing," Capp says just as tiredly, shaking his head.
I lean forward in my chair and rest my elbows on my knees, my head in my hands. I needed somebody to tell me that the bombs weren't a terrorist attack but a freak accident, Gabby's arm would be alright, that Eric would live, and that Matt awoke from his coma and is as good as new.
But life doesn't work like that. It isn't that generous or fair. Instead, it gives you a slap in the face and forces you to keep moving on. The bombs were most likely a terrorist attack, Gabby's arm has a slim chance of being saved, Eric might not come out of this alive, and Matt may never wake up.
Those were the facts, and even though they were hard to accept, they weren't going to change unless I wake up and this was all a dream.
Footsteps coming into the room are what force me to look up. A surgeon who looks just as tired as all of us, takes a deep breath before speaking. "Are you all here for Gabriela Dawson?"
"Yes we are," Chief answers, standing up and everybody else doing the same.
"Miss Dawson had a severe brachial plexus injury in her left arm, which means she damaged the nerves of her plexus," the surgeon says, crossing his hands at his waist. "She probably got it from both the impact of the blast, and also the impact of hitting the pavement. We were able to save her limb, that was actually not much of a concern once we realized she busted up her brachial plexus. We tried our best to fix her nerves, but until she wakes up, which should be in about a half hour, we'll be able to find out how bad she actually injured herself. We'll test her motor functions, and after that, rehab and therapy are most likely the way we'll take this recovery. Some brachial plexus injury patients can have little movement in their fingers, but complete movement in their elbow and shoulder. Other patients can have little or no movement in their elbow and shoulder, but complete movement in their shoulder. And in rare cases, patients can have little or no movement everywhere on their arm. Therapy will help loosen and stretch the muscles in her arm, and the exercise in rehab will help her retain her range of motion. Rehab might be a bit down the road though, since she also suffered severe external injuries in her arm. She lost a lot of blood, so we set up a transfusion. She has quite a few stitches, especially on her arm, so we'll have to take them out before she does rehab. We also diagnosed her with a moderate concussion, so we'll have to monitor that for the next few days. We took an MRI of her neck and spine, and found even more injuries. In her neck, it looks like she sprained a joint, tore a muscle, and we found a bulging disc. Therapy looks like the best way to go for that, and she should heal from it in about four months. Her arm may take up to six months to heal completely, but it's hard to tell right now."
Everybody in the room lets out a collective sigh of relief. Gabby was going to be alright. She'll wake up soon, and she'll get better. Now we just need Matt and Eric to do the same.
"Thank you, doctor," Boden says, offering a small smile to the man.
"You're very welcome, and thank you guys for helping out this city the way you do."
"We're happy to do it," Boden replies, nodding. The surgeon smiles and walks away, off to another patient. Boden turns to me and claps my shoulder, and I look up at him, a relieved expression on my face.
"Call Antonio and tell him the news, I'll go ask for some more information on Matt and ask when we can see Gabby," he says, and I nod, already digging out my phone. He nods once before turning towards the nurse's desk in the hallway, walking over. I look around the room, happy to see some lifted spirits before I dial Antonio's number.
"Dawson," he answers, his voice scratchy and tired.
"Hey Antonio, it's Kelly. I know you're busy right now, but we just got news on Gabby and from the sounds of it, she's going to be just fine. They saved her arm but found a brachial plexus injury, and she has a few neck injuries but with therapy and rehab she'll heal perfectly. They have her on blood transfusions and the anesthesia hasn't worn off yet, but in at least a half hour we'll be able to see her."
"That's great, I'll be down there as soon as I can, thanks for the call, Kelly," he says, and I don't fail to notice how relieved he sounded. "I'm guessing you guys have heard about Casey?"
"Yeah," I say softly, looking down. "We found out when we first got here. How did you know?"
"When I brought Gabby in, they told me. I was going to tell you guys, but I didn't want to distract you from your job. Is there anymore news on him?"
"Just that we can't see him for awhile yet, he's practically being hovered over by the doctors," I say, sighing deeply.
"Well I guess that's better than them not giving a damn," Antonio says, and I can hear a car start in the background.
"That's for sure. Have you guys gotten anywhere with the case?"
"Back at the scene, a couple of witnesses told us that one man looked very strange. He was out of place and had a dark backpack on. That's all we've got though. We're still digging and have a lot to look through yet. I'm on my way, we'll talk more when I get there."
"Alright, sounds good man. See you in a few," I say, hanging up and putting my phone away. I sigh again, running my hands through my hair.
Gabby is okay. She's alive, her arm is still attached, and she'll recover. Physically, she's fine. But once she wakes up and finds out about Matt, her emotions will be a whole different story.
A/N: Sorry this is short and kind of uneventful! It's more of a fill-in chapter, and I promise the next one will be better. :) On another note, I'm wicked excited for the crossover, and I can't wait! Tomorrow is going to be a long day.