Disclaimer: I disclaim everything. LiteratiLoverNo1's vid 'Finding Each Other' on youtube started this - I watched it, felt for it and had to do something about it. Here's the result.

A/N: I wanna know what you think - liked it or not, your opinion matters and is equally anticipated.

'Washington Correctional Facility call,' the ambulance speaker sounded and Rory threw a glance at Ezra.

'Ever taken a prison call before?' he asked.

Rory shook her head no.

'Well, there's a first for everything,' Ezra shrugged. 'Just... don't be easily surprised?' he suggested.

Rory looked incredulously.

'Sometimes inmates do strange things in order to get some time out,' Ezra explained as he steered the ambulance out of the hospital parking lot.

'What things?' Rory frowned.

'Swallowing tape-covered razors,' the man shrugged.

'What?.'

'An inmate had managed to swallow four.'

'Jeez.'

'Yeah. The X-ray was impressing.'

'I bet.'

In a couple of minutes Ezra parked the ambulance in front of the prison building. The walls were covered by electrical wire. Rory shivered slightly.

'Ezra,' she let a breath out, 'I'm a little nervous.'

'Don't worry,' Ezra gave her a wink before he got out of the ambulance and took the first aid kit from the back seat. 'It's chain reaction. You watch for the patient, I watch for you.'

Rory smiled back.

'Thanks, Ezra.'

'Any time.'

They started for the main entrance where an official was already waiting for them.

'When are you gonna take me back?' Helen joined Jess on his way to one of the ER rooms.

'I'm not,' Jess muttered and quickened his step.

'I've always been loyal to you,' Helen insisted.

'Loyalty would mean telling the truth,' Jess huffed.

'I never lied to you.'

'You kept it from me.'

They entered the patient's room and Jess went towards the sink. Helen followed.

'Thanks for the tickets, though' she said casually.

'What tickets,' Jess asked evenly while scrubbing his hands.

'The NBAs you got for me three days ago,' Helen chirped, disinfecting her hands as well.

'What are you doing?' Jess paused, watching her.

She held a pair of sterile gloves out for him to put on.

'Assisting you,' she shrugged.

'Save it, Louise is here to...'

'Oh, you mean the young preppy nurse I sent up to check on that patient with pulmonary embolism on floor fourteen?'

'There's been no such patient tonight.'

'Oops,' Helen put a hand before her mouth, feigning surprise. 'My bad.'

Jess rolled his eyes and put the gloves on, hiding his amusement behind irritation.

Helen took a spinal tap kit and followed him to one of the beds.

'I need...'

'LP set, observation for meningitis, bed five.' Helen finished for him readily.

Jess gave her a look.

'I just know,' Helen shrugged.

'Yeah,' Jess sighed, 'You just know.'

Helen smiled smugly.

'Where's the patient?' Rory asked as the official led them on through what was probably the fifteenth corridor since they entered.

'Infirmary.'

'Are we making circles around it?' Rory asked a little impatiently. 'I feel like I'itoi.'

She felt a gentle squeeze over her shoulder and turned to see Ezra.

'Don't be nervous,' he smiled encouragingly. 'Nothing bad is gonna happen.'

'I just have this uneasy feeling,' Rory sighed. 'It's nothing, though.'

The official entered a room with shut blinds and then made them a sign to follow.

'Here we go,' Rory muttered to herself, making an effort to stand taller.

The hospital speaker crackled from one of the upper corners and Jess looked up.

'Available team at the back exit, available team is needed at the back exit...'

He exchanged a look with Helen and they started for the back exit.

'Something happened,' Helen shook her head as they saw the two policemen pulling a stretcher towards them.

'Is that Rory?' Helen narrowed her eyes.

Rory was kneeling on the stretcher on top of the patient, performing external cardiac massage.

'Poisoned inmate, started with ataxia, nausea and vomiting, then he got tachycardic,' Rory reported exasperatedly while doing rapid chest compressions. 'Come on, Ray, don't even think of standing up a Gilmore.'

'Monitor, Adrenaline, Atropine and intubation set,' Jess demanded after checking the man's pulse and pupils.

They entered a room.

'Defibrillator,' Jess mumbled as soon as the man was attached to a monitor. 'Defibrillator, now!' he said out louder then.

Rory got off the stretcher and started unbuttoning the man's shirt.

'No time, tear it,' Jess said, taking the defibrillator electrodes in both hands.

Rory nodded and tore the shirt, uncovering the patient's chest.

'Charging,' Jess said loudly.
Rory stepped back.

'Keep away!'

Ray's body convulsed and dropped back onto the stretcher.

'Again,' Jess said after checking the monitor. 'Keep away!'

Another electroshock. Rory looked up at the monitor. Nothing.

'Again...' Jess recharged the electrodes. 'Keep away!'

'It's not working,' Rory shook her head. 'Helen, we need to ventilate him.'

Helen nodded and gave her an ambu mask.

Jess started compressing the man's chest.

'Atropine,' Rory demanded while ventilating the man with the ambu.

Jess checked Ray's vitals and shook his head to Helen.

'Come on, Helen, Atropine, now!' Rory repeated.

Helen obliged.

'Defibrillation,' Rory instructed and Jess charged the electrodes again, exchanging another look with Helen.

'Keep away!' Jess warned before defibrillating.

The ECG on the monitor kept a straight line.

'Adrenaline,' Rory told Helen.

Helen obliged reluctantly.

'Intubation set!'

'Rory...' Helen tried, but Rory cut in, 'Intubation set, Helen!'

Helen obliged.

'Come on, Ray,' Rory pleaded, fitting the tube into the man's trachea. 'I'm in,' she gave back the laryngoscope. 'Ventilation.'

'Rory,' Jess said quietly, but she ignored him. She linked the laryngeal tube to the mechanical ventilation monitor and then went back to external cardiac massage.

'Come on, Ray, don't stand me up,' she panted while compressing the man's chest rhythmically.

'It's over, Rory,' Jess said calmly but firmly.

She made a few more compressions, then slowed down.

'Ror...' Helen put a hand on her shoulder, but Rory shrugged her off.

Then Rory made a step back, inspecting Ray's lifeless body on the stretcher. His eyes were half shut and looked glazed. Rory took a breath in and left the room quickly.

She ran into the break room, taking the uniform jacket off and throwing it on the floor. She felt for the wall and sat on one of the leather benches in the lockers room, putting her head in her palms.

She could feel her heart racing, limbs numb. Her head was a rushing storm. She felt her eyes pricking and her stomach was a tight knot.

Then she felt the leather of the bench sink under someone's weight.

She looked up to see Jess.

He was leaning over his knees, head to the side, studying her with a serious expression on his face.

As she looked up at him, she felt her eyes pricking even more. His concern was somehow much harder to bear than his criticism right now.

'Go away, Jess,' she sighed, hiding her face back in her hands. She tried to breathe in and out slowly, deeply, hoping this would help her calm down. Her stomach felt really sick.

She stood motionless for a while. Probably a few minutes. Probably more. Her head was swimming through images, skipping between visions of electrical wire fence and ECG monitors. Minutes kept passing, she didn't keep track. She thought maybe she was dreaming and last night would hopefully be all gone when she woke up.

'I don't know what I thought,' she spoke then, her voice raspy. She knew Jess was still there, although he hadn't said anything.

'I wanted to do something that matters,' she continued, more to herself than to him. 'Have a life that would count. Become a doctor, save lives. I must've thought...' she paused and shook her head, a drop trying to escape her eyelid and slide down her palm.

'You know what struck me?' she let out a humorless laugh, 'In there, I wasn't even afraid that the patient wouldn't make it... I was shocked by how fast it happens. Like somebody switched him off... Life goes so quickly.'

'When I first lost a patient, two years ago, I went to a karaoke,' Jess spoke then.

Rory looked up and frowned, her eyelashes sparkling.

'I wanted to feel... alive. I guess.' he shrugged. 'It took me less than a verse of 'Library Pictures' to get the exact amount of humiliation that did the trick,' he admitted then, a smile tugging at the ends of his lips.

Rory stared at him for a moment before she let out a weak laugh. Then another one, more confident and sincere. Jess smiled too.

'You're gonna be all right, Gilmore,' he said and stood up then.

'Jess...'

'Yeah?'

'Thanks.'

He gave her an acknowledging nod before he left.

A/N: Your opinion matters.