"Oh, my God, Eric," Ryan cried, "what happened here?" He could barely see with all the tears running down his face.
Eric ignored Ryan, and just held onto Calleigh, as if he was in a tug-of-war with the Grim Reaper and he refused to lose.
Calleigh lifted her eyes to Eric and smiled sadly at him through her pain. She spoke in agony and very softly told Eric, "This was . . worth it; you . . . are ok. . . . I . . . just couldn't . . . watch . . . you . . " and then she sunk into unconsciousness.
"Cal, . . . . Cal, no . . .no! Why? Oh, God, no, please. Querida, don't leave me, hang on." Eric was mumbling over and over.
Ryan tried to help Calleigh through his tears. He told Eric, "Not now, not now. Pull yourself together, man! She needs you. We have to stop the bleeding! Don't go nuts on me now."
Ryan made Eric look at him and meet his eyes. Ryan ordered Eric, "We need to keep her breathing and put pressure on her wound. Remember your ABC's. Eric, keep focused if you want to help her.
"A - Airway - is her airway open?
"B - Breathing - is she breathing sufficiently on her own?
"C - Circulation - is her blood moving sufficiently to pump oxygen to all her organs? We need to put pressure on and stop or slow down her severe bleeding."
Calleigh's breathing became more labored as she lay unconscious; air from her right lung was escaping from the bullet hole.
"She was shot in her right lower chest, Ryan. I think it punctured her lung."
"Hand me the plastic wrap from your kit," Ryan told Eric. "We need to make an airtight seal over the hole in her chest to keep her lung from collapsing."
Eric handed Ryan the plastic square and they taped it over the hole leaving one corner not taped as a vent. This allowed her lung to fill with air as she breathed without it collapsing any further.
"Now let's see if there's anything we can do to slow her bleeding."
Footsteps were heard as police officers and medics rushed upstairs. The medics opened their gear as the assailant was taken away by the police. Frank Tripp looked as if it took all of his self control and then some not to beat the shooter into a bloody pulp.
No matter how quickly an ambulance arrives; when a loved one needs one, it's never quick enough. To Eric and Ryan, five minutes seemed like five hours.
The medics took over Calleigh's care and put her on the gurney and into the ambulance.
Horatio spoke briefly to Eric and Ryan; Eric answered him in monotones, too preoccupied with Calleigh's condition to give Horatio his full attention. Horatio told Natalia and Ryan to go back to the bedroom to find out what this unidentified shooter was doing there. It was Horatio's intent to be in the interview room when Frank spoke to the suspect.
Eric insisted on riding in the back of the ambulance with Calleigh. Generally, with a patient so seriously injured, family and friends were barred so that they would not interfere with the care and treatment of the patient. However, Eric was CSI, and professional courtesy gave him the allowance to ride the rear of the ambulance as long as he did not hinder the medics in the care of their patient.
Eric held Calleigh's hand when allowed and spoke to her almost continuously. "Calleigh, fight. I need you to fight, querida. Stay with me; I need you. Please, querida, please hold on. Please don't leave me, querida." Eric voice was rough with unshed tears and internal torment.
Medics were generally immune to the emotional words and the crying of the family and friends of their patients; they needed to be able to concentrate soley on their patients without the added interferance of distractions if they wanted to help them. However, even the medics were touched by the clear love and agony in Eric's voice as he spoke to Calleigh.
They arrived at the hospital and immediately sent Calleigh to be prepped for surgery and wheeled her to the OR unit.
Eric was left behind as only emergency personnel were allowed further down the hall. He dutifully filled out paperwork for Calleigh, smudged with his tears, and then was given directions to the waiting room.
The waiting room was easy enough to find, even in his turmoil. He found one of the private side rooms and paced back and forth. He awaited the arrival of the rest of the team; he knew they would be on the way to the hospital shortly.
Now Eric had all this free time - free time on his hands to think and to worry - and to blame himself.
Eric knew that soon he would have to give a verbal and written report of his and Calleigh's and Ryan's ordeal; the bureaucracy wanted it within a few hours so that it was still fresh in his mind. Ryan already probably gave his report, which would take some of the pressure off of Eric; however, Ryan was not upstairs when the bullet was fired.
* * * * * * * * * *
Lucy went to the hospital to try to comfort Eric and see how she could help him. Eric had called her in tears and told her that Calleigh had been shot and that she was in surgery. Lucy left her work and cancelled her class for the evening. She wanted to be available for Eric if he needed her.
Eric looked so tired and worried that Lucy's heart cried for him. Eric was in agony. He couldn't think, couldn't even see straight.
Horatio, Ryan, & Natalia were all talking quietly in one area of the waiting room with Alex, finding some comfort with each other.
Eric, however, sat alone in a corner by himself, his face in his hands, staring at the floor but not seeing anything. He had rejected the companionship and support of his friends and was just wallowing alone in his misery.
Lucy went to the corner to Eric, sat next to him and just held him carefully in her arms. She didn't say a word.
Finally, when Eric looked up at her, her eyes were full of compassion.
"I am so sorry, Eric. Are you able to tell me what happened?"
Eric gave her the basic facts about the shooting, and then told her what was eating at him the most; where he failed Calleigh the most.
"Lucy, I froze. I have all this training; we have to take a basic first aid course as part of our job. And I froze. Not only did Calleigh take the bullet for me, but I sat there and did nothing. If she dies; it's all my fault. How could I be so useless and stupid? I should have protected her and helped her, and I didn't."
Lucy continued to just hold Eric and keep him company. She knew that he was not ready to hear any words that would absolve him of his blame. In Eric's mind, he wanted, no, he needed to feel guilty right now. His actions after Calleigh was shot were normal reactions for anyone, even professionals; Eric held Calleigh to give her comfort and to receive comfort, to bond together from the horror. However, Lucy knew that she could not remind him of that now; his mind was in too much turmoil.
Calleigh was still in surgery and everyone was waiting - still waiting and waiting. Time moves differently in an OR waiting room; Eternity doesn't seem half as long as waiting for the surgeon does.
Finally, hours later, the surgeon entered the room with his assistant. The surgeon waited while everyone gathered around him; his face giving nothing away. Finally, he spoke. "The surgery went as well as could be expected. The bullet hit a rib, punctured her right lung, and damaged her liver. She lost a lot of blood. We fixed everything that we could find; we are still awaiting results on some tests.
"She's in our recovery room now, at least for a few hours. She will then be transferred to our SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) and we'll see from there how long she needs to stay. As of right now, she's doing as well as can be expected. If all goes well, she should, cautiously, make a full recovery."
The surgeon paused a moment to see if there were any questions.
Horatio asked, "When can we see her?"
"Well, she's still unconscious, and that will probably be for a few more hours. You won't be able to see her until we transfer her to SICU, but we will limit the amount of people in her room to one or two at one time. It's going to be a while yet; there's nothing you can do here now. If you want my professional opinion, leave and come back. It'll still be at least 3 or 4 hours if not more."
Eric looked at the surgeon, "If we leave and something goes wrong . . . . " He trailed off, not wanting to mention the unthinkable.
The surgeon looked at all of them in turn. "If something goes wrong, it will go quickly and you still would not be allowed near her during that time." He then softened his voice, "Listen, I can't tell you what to do, but you can't do anything here. Go deal with your people and your paperwork. My assistant will call Horatio at the slightest change. When she wakes up, you can see her."
"Thank you, Doctor," Alex said. "We'll do as you suggest." She motioned her friends and colleagues out of the room and to the elevators.