Thank you to all those people who have kept reading and reviewing if i have not thanked you personally and the PMs giving me a kick up the bum/encouragement when needed to finish these stories...i am working on it !
Chapter 7
It was only when the monitoring equipment was attached that it was realised by everybody that they could possibly lose him.
He's Tachy….
…Pressure is dropping…
We need to get him there now….
….he's going into hypovolemic shock….
They'd been to the hospital enough times with him to know that it was bad. Really bad.
And it was out of they're control completely.
Kate stood in shock as they rushed past her towards to awaiting ambulance. Gibbs was focused on Tony so didn't see that she hadn't completely left yet.
What had she done? She'd not looked back to see where he was…she'd not kept an eye on her partner…she'd not….
"It's not your fault, my dear."
Ducky had appeared, as if out of the blue and she wanted to argue with him about that but she couldn't find the words. Her voice had left her and all she could do was watch everything now. Her hearing was fading and vision was going grey. She thought she heard people around her saying hushed things as if they didn't want her to hear, in case it hurt her….but she wasn't a child….she'd been doing this job for a while now…she didn't need protecting!
Damn it!
It wasn't supposed to be this way; he said that he'd be fine, that he would be right behind her. How dare he lie to her!
How dare he give her hope, only to have it cruelly ripped away the instant they escaped.
The last thing she saw, as the world greyed out from the crash her body had been telling her had been coming, was the paramedics rushing passed her, Tony choking on bright red blood and then going completely still…
Then her mind seemed to skip, everything faded then reasserted its self into the forefront of her mind.
They had been pushed to the outside of a perfectly sterile area, though they were still able to see what was happening through the windows of the trauma room.
But she was so entirely focused on the scene in front of her, that even though the rest of the team was there, that she wouldn't have noticed any other member of the team even if they were to touch her...
There was a hive of activity surrounding Tony's bed, attaching leads, monitoring, writing and giving orders.
Monitors screeched their displeasure are what they were reading and the teams efforts increased exponentially.
Doctors and Nurses were working frantically but controlled as if it was natural to them, trying to gain IV access setting up the defibrillator pads. Getting drugs ready and people starting CPR on her partner.
Everything slowed down to the point that she didn't realise that she had been standing there watching everything that happened for about 20-30 minutes, in her mind it had been a lot shorter and nothing made any sense. Why was she alone? Where was the team?
And she saw everyone leave the room with solemn faces, they just seemed to walk past her, ignoring that she was there completely which added to her desolation.
"But you didn't shock him?" Usually that is what they did right?...right?
A doctor walking past must have heard the question because he said, "He wasn't in a shock-able rhythm," and walked away as if that explained everything.
But it's right there…on the monitor…the heartbeat! She wanted to scream.
The tinny beep reverberating loudly around the room in the silence that had followed the rush of sounds and movements.
Gone were the bodies that stood around the bed, neither giving or following orders.
Gone were the bodies that stood waiting in turn to try to revive the life that had too early been stomped out.
Everything was just wrong and the little beep didn't match up with what she was actually seeing and she remembered a question that had been asked.
"Do we all agree that the actions we are taking are futile?"
She remembered the solemn nods of all the heads around the bed.
But she hadn't agreed. And where was Gibbs? And what about Tony's next of kin?
She could never agree with something that would cease the life she had been determined not to lose since this whole mess had started.
"Caitlin, what are you doing here my dear?"
"I was..." But she couldn't answer through numbness that was spreading through her veins like ice across a lake.
"There was still a heartbeat on the machine."
Ducky sighed, and another presence left from close to them, Kate thought it was probably her boss but at this moment she couldn't take in the surroundings apart from focusing on the one thing that was on her mind.
The tiny blip on the monitor that was contradicting everything she knew. And it was screeching in her mind to a level higher than a fire alarm. As it reached a crescendo level...
That was the moment she woke up with a start.
x-X-x
She looked around, McGee sat sleeping in what looked to be a very uncomfortable hospital chair, but that was it and he looked haggard, worn out even in his sleep. How long had see been asleep for? Where was everyone else? Why was it every time she woke up recently there was always someone missing?
There weren't any monitors going crazy but her heart was racing even so, so many questions were running around her aching head.
How long had she been asleep for? what was Tony's condition considering the dream she had just had she had no idea if it had been real or imagined though and nothing beyond that mattered right now.
She took note briefly, that her injuries were minor…
…Tony's body convulsed into a coughing fit, crimson life dribbling out of the side of his mouth…she needed to catch it and put it back in…though she knew the thought was hopeless…but the stillness she was now faced with scared her more…
The thoughts her mind were so roughly shoved into the forefront, it almost sent her body spinning to the floor from the edge of the bed that she had started to get out of.
"Whoa, Kate, you need to rest." McGee's voice was firm but there was something else there as well, and she didn't like it. Not one bit.
When her head finally stopped its spinning and the nausea settled she questioned the younger agent, just trying to sound like a concerned partner and nothing more, however, she didn't know how successful that would be right now.
Not with what she had remembered in the last few moments after jumping awake, and not with what she felt deep within her. She asked her question and tried to guess the emotion in her partner's expression.
"Where is he?"
That, of course, was when the door opened and Gibbs stepped in looking worse for wear.
And that only increased her fear ten-fold.
Maybe, her dream had been real...
TBC
I know its an evil cliffy but hey...im not in control of how the story wants to be written...it has a mind of its own haha...sorry about the lateness third year of Nursing and working in A&E is hard work lol...if anyone can guess/figure out the kind of rhythm I was referring to i will give you virtual cookies lol
