Trail of Terror : The Journey Back

A/N: Especially for those who are waiting anxiously to hear how Steve is doing, here is a quick update just for you. I have researched the medical details as thoroughly as I can.

Chapter 7

"Did the Doctor say anything else?" Mike asked anxiously.

"No, I'm afraid not, it was just a brief message but he did say he wouldn't be too long. They're very busy up in the Theaters today. Another gunshot wound came in just a while after your partner."

Mike frowned at the thought of that creep being anywhere near his partner after the hell he had put him through and even if he hadn't actually shot Steve, he had every intention of doing so and that was enough for him to be nervous of having him anywhere remotely in Steve's vicinity.

"Yes, I heard about that alright. Well thank you for the message."

"You're welcome Lieutenant. I'm sure the Doctor will be down shortly."

Mike watched as the nurse walked away and then glanced back to check on Nancy. She still seemed to be sleeping but Mike felt suddenly very restless. His nerves were on edge and the sense of foreboding he had earlier wouldn't leave him be. Sure, Steve made it through the surgery and for that fact alone Mike was thankful and relieved but his gut instinct, which normally served him well, was telling him that Steve wasn't quite out of danger just yet.

Mike started pacing back and forth. To anyone watching, it was probably very annoying but Mike didn't care. All he knew was that it helped. The movement calmed him a bit and satisfied his need to do something, even if it was just to exercise his legs a bit. He must have covered the corridor back and forth for at least twenty times before a green clad Doctor appeared from the elevator down the corridor and when he first spotted him, Mike froze where he stood. He felt his blood turn cold in his veins as he waited to see if this was indeed the much anticipated Dr. Newman. He watched with bated breath as the Doctor stood at the nurse's station momentarily and when the red haired nurse pointed in his direction, his heart began to pound a little faster.

He remained frozen to the one spot and watched nervously as the Doctor came towards him, trying to ascertain by his expression if his inner niggling concerns were valid or not. But the Doctor's face gave nothing away. Extending a hand towards Mike, he spoke quite casually.

"Lieutenant Stone?"

Mike nodded and shook the Doctor's hand and mumbled nervously.

"How is he Doc?"

"Let's take a seat shall we?" the Doctor said and Mike thought he might just collapse where he stood. His legs grew weak at the Doctor's words. He remembered in a momentary flashback the words the Doctor's used eleven years ago when they told him how serious his wife's condition really was. "Let's sit down Mr, Stone. Nurse, would you fetch us some tea please?" Those two phrases were never good from a Doctor. Dr. Newman saw Mike's hesitation and placed a hand on his arm.

"Lieutenant? Please?"

Mike snapped out of his tormented memories and shakily made his way over and sat down beside the Doctor. But he couldn't help himself from commenting.

"Doc, if you're asking me to sit down, that's not normally a good sign. Is my partner in trouble?"

"The Inspector was lucky in many respects. The bullet he was shot with was of a low caliber and seems to have been shot from quite a distance. As such, it had spent most of it's kinetic energy by the time it struck Steve. It penetrated the middle of his back on the right hand side and tore through some muscle and tissue, but as the bullet had slowed down, Steve's lowest rib stopped the bullet from traveling any further. However ..." The Doctor paused slightly and Mike cringed inwardly. That was the other word Mike hated to hear a Doctor using. "However ..." They always delivered the bad news at the end of the positive news separated by a "However ..." He dry swallowed hard as the Doctor continued." ... the bullet broke the rib in half. Somewhere during the transport here to the hospital it looks like one part of the broken rib moved and lacerated his right lung."

Mike gasped and put a hand over his mouth to muffle it.

"That's why he couldn't breathe in the Medevac chopper?"

"Yes, the lung was partially collapsing and air was building in the chest cavity constricting his breathing even further. The emergency procedure that the EMT performed stabilized his breathing until we got him to surgery. "

Seeing the color drain from Mike's face the Doctor decided he had better try to keep things more positive if he could, but there were other less than positive things he had to further explain first so he settled for trying to tell him everything as quickly as possible so that he could then take his time to process everything in his own time.

"He had lost a lot of blood and his blood pressure was staying quite low so we had no choice but to intubate him and put in a chest tube to stabilize his condition for the surgery. Then, we retrieved the bullet, repaired the lung, reinflated it, reset the broken rib and stitched him back up."

"A chest tube?" Mike asked shakily." How long will that have to stay in for?"

"Normally it stays in for a day or two just until we're sure there will be no further build up of air around the lungs. In the meantime it keeps his chest clear."

Mike was trying to process everything but his brain wasn't cooperating.

"What exactly are you trying to tell me Doc? Because quite frankly, I don't understand some of the medical talk you're using."

"Sorry Lieutenant, basically at the minute, we have a machine helping the Inspector breathe ..." As he saw Mike's face change to one of shock the Doctor quickly continued. "It's only temporary, until he gets his strength back a little and can breathe by himself I can assure you. But right now his lung and chest are going to be very sore and normally what happens with patients is when it hurts to breathe they tend to take shallow breaths so as to avoid the pain and therefore they don't take in the oxygen they need. He needs to be taking deep breaths right now to avoid fluid building up in his lung and to keep it clear. This machine breathes for him so that he doesn't have to do the work himself. It will allow him time to heal and rest a little and it gives us time to get his vital signs back stable again. However ..."

"Damn, there's that word again!" Mike thought to himself as the Doctor kept talking.

" ... we've decided to move him from Recovery to ICU in a little while to help us with his monitoring. "

"Intensive care? " Mike dry swallowed again painfully as his saliva seemed to have deserted him all of a sudden. " Wait ... you said until you can get his vital signs back stable again. So his vital signs aren't stable now?"

The Doctor paused again before answering.

"No ... I'm afraid not. We're still transfusing blood back into him and we're seeing slow progress in his blood pressure coming back up but his body temperature is all over the place. When he came in he was almost showing signs of hypothermia, his temp was so low but now ..." The Doctor inhaled a deep breath, far too deep for Mike's liking before finishing his sentence." ... it's heading in the opposite direction. We're concerned that perhaps he might have got some germs into the wound and that he could be developing an infection. But we'll just have to monitor that very closely. You told the EMT that he's allergic to penicillin?"

Mike didn't speak as the words "infection" hit home. He thought about how dirty the wound had been when he had seen it first and knew that although he had cleaned it as best he could, it had probably been that way for quite some time and the germs would have had ample time to do their worst. The Doctor saw how worried the Lieutenant was and reached out again to touch his arm.

"Lieutenant, Are you alright?"

The Doctor's words broke through Mike's thoughts and he looked at him slightly embarrassed at being caught a million miles away.

"Sorry ... " he mumbled " This is all just a lot to take in ..."

"I realize that. I'm sorry I can't be more positive right now but the next twenty four hours will be crucial in Steve's recovery. That's why it's essential that he's monitored closely in Intensive care. For the next eight hours or so, we'll be keeping him sedated and on the respirator. After that, all going well, we'll chance removing it. As soon as he's breathing ok by himself and his vital signs have settled, we'll consider moving him up to a room. Once he's breathing ok and his vitals are stable, it's just a matter of the healing taking place."

Mike nodded and then vaguely remembered something.

"Did you ask me something before I zoned out a little?"

"Yes, I just wanted to confirm that the Inspector is allergic to penicillin?"

"Yes, he is. He had a bad reaction to it about a year ago."

"Ok, well we can give him other types of antibiotics if necessary. I'm hoping we won't need to."

"Doc, you said that Steve was lucky, well no offense but he doesn't sound very lucky from what you've just told me. What did you mean by that?"

"Well, he was lucky the bullet was stopped by his rib and didn't travel any further. It didn't hit any other internal organs or major blood vessels. The reason he bled out so much was merely because it was bleeding out slowly over an extended period of time. If it had hit a major artery he would have bled out much quicker and mightn't have made it as far as he did. Also ... " again the Doctor paused briefly " ... the bullet missed his spine by about three inches. That's lucky in my book Lieutenant. Believe me, while things aren't as good as we would like them to be, he's had luck on his side so far. There is one other thing ... He ... he flat lined on us once during the surgery but we got him back quickly. He's quite a fighter, that partner of yours. Let's just hope his luck holds out for the next twenty four hours. "

"Flat lined" ... Dear God! Mike thought, suddenly glad the Doctor had insisted he sat down. More shakily than he would have liked he asked.

"Can I see him?"

"I'll let you in to see him for a few minutes once we get him fully settled up in Recovery. Bear with us for about a half an hour and I'll come and bring you up. Is that ok?"

The Doctor stood up and Mike did too only more slowly, almost afraid his legs wouldn't hold him up but relieved when they did.

"Yes, thank you Doctor, for everything. I appreciate all you're doing for him." he said as he again shook the Doctor's hand.

"To be honest, I can't take all the credit for getting him this far. If the EMT hadn't performed the needle decompression in the chopper when he did, I doubt he'd have made it to me at all. He was the one who truly saved your partner's life Lieutenant."

"It was that close huh?"

"Yes ... but try not to worry too much. He's young and strong and he seems to be a fighter. Let's keep positive, ok?. Things could have been a lot worse, believe me. I'll be back shortly to take you up to see him."

Mike nodded gratefully and watched as the Doctor turned and headed back the way he came. The he sat down quickly as his legs felt wobbly again. He tried to process the amount of information the Doctor had given him but only jumbled, broken words and parts of sentences came back to him. "Machine breathing for him ... possible infection ... his spine missed by three inches ... flat lined ... wouldn't have made it ..."

Mike shook his head annoyed that only the negative things were coming to the forefront of his tired and overwrought brain. Steve would make it. "HE HAD TO!"

He glanced back at Nancy who was still sleeping peacefully and turned back around to stare at the window in front of him. Another half hour wait lay ahead for him before he could see Steve but what state would he be in when he did see him? It didn't bear dwelling on, so he forced that out of his mind and concentrated on a flock of birds outside who were flying so purposefully across the striking blue sky in the early afternoon sunshine. Soaring so high where there were no troubles or anxieties. For a brief moment he almost envied them. Then he stood up gingerly and made his way back to Nancy. Sitting back down beside her, he pulled the blanket back up over her shoulder and then settled back in the seat to wait for the Doctor's return.