Disclaimer. This is fiction, the only medical training I have had is a first aid course. I recommend if you are interested in first aid that you seek professional training. I am not responsible if anyone puts into action anything they read in this.
If you haven't been please make sure to read all A/N from me, especially at the end of chapters. Some contain additional information about what has happened and could be the difference between saving a life and ending it.
This is more of a fun chapter after the seriousness of the last one. The delay in this chapter has partially been down to the fantastic weather the UK is experiencing at the moment – my muse and imagination are both sunbathing and refusing to do anything. The inspiration for this chapter came from First Generation Scot.
I have been wondering if I should continue or just remove the story. When I started I didn't take into consideration how hard it would be to constantly hurt the characters that I love. My idealism was to teach people some basic first aid in a relatively fun manor, however with a lot of injuries how can you make it fun? The first chapter with Ranger was easy and fun, and I hope this will be too, however for all other chapters it will be a lot heavier (could you make a stroke fun?), and looking at the number of reviews for each chapter (8 for chapter 2, 3 for chapter 2) shows me people do not enjoy the serious stories much. So is it worth continuing to write a story if people do not want to read it? All the doubt makes it harder to write. I still don't know if I should continue but I had an idea for a fun chapter and thought I should share it.
The house in it is based on the William Trent House in Trenton (the oldest house in Trenton according to Wikipedia), it is now a museum, but you'll have to ignore that bit for the sake of fiction. I have also changed and updated where some of the rooms are to match how I imagine they would be now.
Chapter 3 – Sometimes things are better left alone, sometimes you make a tent
As part of her ongoing 'development' Ranger had decided that Stephanie needed to understand all aspects of what Rangeman does, including instillations. Steph's understanding of the systems and how they worked was limited; while she had consulted on a few jobs to get a female perspective she had never seen it any further along.
Today she was riding along with Hector and Slick to install a new top of the range system in the home of a multi-millionaire. From what she understood of it the system compromised of cameras, alarms and motion detectors and she was going to be helping install them. When she was first told she would be doing this she tried to explain to Ranger that it was a bad idea, with her history someone would probably end up getting electrocuted.
"Babe" Ranger had started "Hector and Slick know what they're doing, no one will get hurt because of you, I promise" he tried to reassure her.
"It's your fault if anything happens, I've told you this is not going to be good" She turned and left his office. Probably not the most mature response but it was how she felt.
Steph woke up the morning of the instillation with a feeling of dread. She went through her morning routine, having a shower, putting on a little makeup and pulling her hair up. At 9am a Rangeman car pulled up outside her building and she went down to meet her ride.
"Hola, Hector. Hi Slick" she said climbing into the back of the vehicle.
"Hola," came Hectors reply, Slick just glanced at her in the rear view mirror. It looked like today was going to be fun, one man who only spoke Spanish and another who didn't speak at all.
They drove in silence for the next 20 minutes to the resident they were to be working at. On arrival at the location Steph was amazed at the size and grandeur of the place. Calling it a house was an understatement, mansion was a better description. It was an old looking brick building with a big tree out the front with a beautiful white wood and glass turret on top in the centre of the building.
Slick began the briefing "This is the oldest house in Trenton, Trenton was named after the man it was built for, William Trent. Ground floor we have 3 parlours, and a kitchen, the second floor has 4 large bedrooms with recently added en-suites and there is a basement with a games room/ safety room. 2 main entrances, 12 windows on the ground floor, 14 on the second. Cameras will monitor entrances and exits as well as cameras in the corridors. Motion sensors on the windows will activate cameras monitoring them. Panic alarms will be fitted throughout the house that will be silent in the house, but alert Rangeman when activated. The owners are currently away and will be for the next week while we do this at their summer house. Questions?" Stephanie was just wondering what she could do all day, at least she didn't have to worry about talking to owners, maybe she could find a book somewhere, it wasn't something she'd normally do whilst working but this wasn't a normal day.
Slick and Hector grabbed the kit they would need out of the back of the car and led the way into the house. It was just as beautiful inside as it had been from the outside. She looked around trying to take it all in. While it wasn't as grand as she imagined some of the old houses in Britain could be it was beautiful in its own way.
Slick decided it would be easiest to do it a room at a time. She followed them into the room and was sad to see all the furniture had been covered over, presumably to stop it getting dusty while the owners were away and they were working. Hector walked over to one of the windows and started examining it, touching around the edges and opening and closing it. Steph looked out the window, expecting to see a beautiful view that would match the beauty of the house, and was sad to see the fence and road outside. It didn't see right and wondered what the surrounding area looked like when the house was first built.
When Hector started pulling out power tools Steph moved away, not wanting to be too close and risk injuring Hector. Hector and Slick worked methodically installing everything and calling Rangeman periodically to check if things were working before moving on to the next task. Steph tried to show an interest in what they were doing, but she just kept drifting off into thought.
After several hours of work Steph started feeling hungry and hoped that they would soon be able to stop for lunch. She changed between wondering where they would go and what they would have for lunch and, when it appeared they weren't going to take a break, if she could walk into Trenton. She didn't want to give up as it would let Ranger down; if he sent her here he had his reasons, even if she couldn't work out what those reasons were.
She was slouched on a covered sofa watching Slick. While he didn't say much, like most merry men he was a pleasure to watch, the tight t-shirt showing his every movement. He currently had a pressure nail gun in his hand with scary looking 4 inch nails that were shot out of it. Looking back on it Steph still could not work out what happened next.
He had been nailing away when Steph decided to ask about lunch. It appeared that Slick had forgotten she was there and jumped at her voice. He didn't just jump but he twisted around to her and somehow the nail gun, which was operated when force was applied at the end where the nail came out, came down and there was the sound of the nail gun firing. Followed by Slick's exclamation of surprise and pain as a nail was driven through his derrière.
Slick reflexively dropped the nail gun with the unfortunate consequence that another nail was discharged that ricocheted off the solid floor and into his shin on the same side that the first nail had gone into. Steph's first reaction was that she knew something would happen; her second was that she better get the first aid kit.
"I'm so sorry," she apologised "Lay on your side with your injured leg raised it you can; I'm going to get the first aid kit from the car". She turned and ran to the car, before remembering Slick still had the car keys. She went back in and grabbed the keys off Slick, giving him an apology before going back to retrieve the kit.
Hector had helped Slick get down and was holding his injured leg as elevated as he could without causing problems to the nail in his buttock. He was on the phone; she presumed it was to Rangeman telling them she had managed to do it again. At least they were close to Trenton so response shouldn't take long.
She got the scissors out of the first aid kit and carefully cut some of the fabric away to give better access. She cut it so there was a circle left around where the nail was sticking out and was able to gently remove the remains off the nail as it had been pushed slightly away from the skin by the force of the shot. Had they not been Rangeman trousers she might have been more careful in cutting the trousers by cutting along the seams where possible so they might be able to be repaired later. Once it was free she looked at both sides of the sound, but there was nothing she could really do for the side where the nail went in, but the head of the nail was acting as a plug preventing blood from exiting there.
She got 2 dressings and placed one on either side of the nail so it was between them and no longer sticking out, careful to move it as little as possible. Had it been a bigger object there would have been a tent over the object. She then got another bandage and carefully wrapped it around the leg and dressings to hold them in place with the dressing over the wound at the other side to protect it as much as possible. This would keep the wound as stable and sterile as possible and she was glad the nails weren't longer. If they had been and they had stuck out over the dressings either side she would have wound the third bandage around either side of the nail.
She took a quick look at the other nail, but with its location it wasn't possible to cover it with any dressings and she wanted to disturb it as little as possible so she chose to leave it. Sometimes the best thing to do is to call in the experts and leave it alone until they arrive.
While doing it she was constantly talking to Slick, asking him the normal AMPLE questions to pass on to the paramedics when they arrived. She also found some sheets to cover him over with to keep him warm and reduce the risk of him going into shock, although with a nail in his backside and another through his shin she wasn't sure how effective she would be, but every little helps.
"Water please" Slick asked.
"Sorry, I can't give you any, I can put some on your lips if they're dry, but that's all you can have for now." She knew that there was a good chance that he would need surgery and the emptier his stomach was the less chance there would be he could have a reaction to the anaesthetic. It was also told to them that it is unadvisable to give anything to people who might be going into shock caused by physical trauma as it could cause them to be physically sick, causing them even more pain.
A few minutes later the paramedics arrived and got slick onto a stretcher before whisking him off to the nearest hospital to have his recent additions removed. As he was being taken away a Rangeman car pulled up with Ranger in the front sheet. He took a quick look at Slick, letting him know Bobby would be waiting at A & E to help with him before coming over to Steph.
"Me saying you couldn't injure my men was not a challenge." He greeted her with a smile.
Steph sighed "I warned you something would happen. I could feel it."
"Babe." He sighed and kissed her on the top of the head before leading her to his car.
When a wound has something in it ALWAYS leave it alone. If it has cut through a major vessel or artery it will be keeping the blood in, to remove the object would allow the blood to leave and someone could bleed to death in minutes.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
If you're looking for something else to read I highly recommend financebabe. Her stories are amazing. Most recommended are Being a Woman and 3 of Hearts.