Chapter 9

There was even more blood than Annie had first thought. But first thing was first: the wound needed to be sanitized. The last thing Antonio needed was an infection on top of everything else. Not bothering with gauze Annie poured the alcohol directly on the wound after warning Antonio it was going to sting. Next came the clotting powder. Annie had to have Elena open them, her gloves were too wet from the alcohol. To be on the safe side, she used four packets before getting the others to help her wrap a gauze bandage around Antonio. She thought it was over then, that that was all it would take to save him. She was wrong. It was just the beginning of the fight. Because that's when Antonio coughed up blood.

"Damn it!" She cried, banging her fist against her leg while the others stared in horror at both Antonio and Annie. "There's internal bleeding."

"What do we do?" Nick asked frantically, gripping his father's hand firmly.

"If there's internal bleeding, he needs surgery. To stitch up the organ damage and stop the bleeding from the inside." Nick wanted her to do it. Was begging her to. But Annie didn't know if she could.

"I've never been in the OR let alone participated in a surgery. Doctors do surgery, Nurses' aide them. The only thing I've ever practiced any type of surgical methods on was a corpse in a cadaver lab. It doesn't really matter if you screw up on a corpse." She exclaimed frantically. The last thing she wanted to do was have Antonio die at her hands. She would never get over that. If she tried surgery and it failed, she would have to live with the fact that Antonio died because she screwed up.

"I don't have a lot of choices Principessa." Antonio murmured, his voice filled with pain. "I can't go to a hospital and I will die without surgery. I trust you. It is better to try and fail then not try at all." Reaching out his free hand for her Annie took it as she deliberated his words.

"I'm scared," Annie whispered, tears in her eyes. Either way she would blame herself. If he died because she refused to try, or if he died at her hands from her attempt at saving him. At least he had a chance if she tried.

"Anch'io, Principessa. Dobbiamo essere forti. dobbiamo essere coraggiosi." Nodding in agreement Annie wiped the tears with the back of her arm before giving new orders.

Grabbing the scissors from Clay, Annie cut through the bandage they had just wrapped around Antonio. Before touching the wound she poured isopropyl alcohol over her gloves to sanitize them. She would need a scalpel, needle and dissolving stitches, facemasks and gloves on everyone staying, more gauze and alcohol, and lots of light. Most of the items needed were in her lab kit which was in her book bag. Elena went to retrieve that. There was no time to try and numb the site and no anesthetic for Antonio to go under, so Annie told Nick to grab a wooden spoon for Antonio to bite on when the pain started. It was an old practice used in the civil war era, but it's all they had.

Before starting Annie gave everyone their instructions. Nick was to keep track of his father's pulse. Since there was no anesthesia there would be nothing counteracting the body's natural increase of blood pressure from the stress and the pain. If his pulse became too fast Nick needed to calm his father down by any means he could: talking, cold compresses, anything to decrease the stress because there would be no way to decrease the pain. Elena needed to keep the supplies nearby and sanitize them before giving them to Annie. Clay was on light duty, holding a 90 watt lamp above Annie's workspace while Jeremy was working on setting up a blood transfusion. Antonio would be needing more blood after the surgery and the only blood available was from one of them.

The first cut was the hardest. A part of Annie wanted to drop the scalpel and run away, but she knew she couldn't. Summoning all her courage she made the incision perpendicular to the wound. She winced at the grunt of pain Antonio let out, but forced herself to press on. If she remembered her anatomy correctly, then the organ most likely cut from the fight would have been the bottom of the Ileum. At first it was as if she was looking at an impossible jumble of organs, but then she found the sigmoid colon and went up from there.

It took a while for her to find the part of the ileum that had been severed. Long enough for her to fear she would be too late. That there would be too much blood loss or too much stress. When she found it she let out a mumbled 'thank god' before asking Elena for the needle and the sutures. Bracing herself once more Annie pulled the needle through the topmost part of the damage. It was torture pulling the sutures through the skin of the organ. Antonio's body would twitch in pain with every stitch and sewing through the ileum was not near as smooth as sewing a button. The ileum took twenty-seven stitches to close up. Annie counted each and every one. Even after that she wasn't done.

The exterior of the wound was wiped with an alcohol soaked gauze pad before Annie began stitching up both the incision and the wound. This time she didn't use dissolving sutures, since she'd be able to remove these ones when the time came. The wound and incision took a total of forty stitches. Antonio had, unfortunately, remained conscious throughout the entire process. Annie was half hoping the pain would have been enough to knock him out, but a wolf's pain threshold was much higher than any human's. After Annie had tied off the last stitch, Jeremy was hugging her, muttering thanks and telling her she'd done well.

"Don't thank me yet." Annie whispered. "The surgery is done, but I can't promise I didn't do something wrong. He still needs to heal from it. And for that he needs a bag of fluids, a blood transfusion, antibiotics, blood thinners, and probably some pain killers to help keep him comfortable."

"I can go to the hospital, take just what we need discretely. I've done it before, just tell me what you need." Clay insisted. Annie knew he could do it. She had seen him do it before. Clay oftentimes used torture to make the Mutts stay in line. In order to keep them in their human form he needed Morphine. There's not many doctors who would write a prescription for Morphine because the 'patient' needs it to continue torturing someone. So Clay had needed to steal it or get it off the black market. In this case stealing would probably be faster.

"I'm going to need several 1000 ml 0.9% Normal Saline bags and a IV ports to go with them, some Antibiotics, preferably Penicillin, Ampicillin or Cefuroxime, Warfarin 1 mg but lots of it so we can control the dose as we go, and the Morphine you normally get for the Mutts." Annie rattled off the list to Clay, who looked a little lost until Elena handed him the list she had recorded. "Elena, go with him. He'll need a lookout. And for heaven's sake. Be. Careful." Annie stressed the last part. Clay getting caught stealing would not do his reputation any good.

"Don't worry Princess, I've done this before. We'll be fine." Clay murmured, kissing Annie on the head before grabbing his jacket and heading out with Elena.

"How are you doing Antonio?" Annie asked as she removed the spoon from his mouth. His face had a sheen of sweat over it and he looked exhausted as Hell. Annie couldn't imagine the pain he had just gone through. The surgery wasn't nearly as hard for her to do as it was for Antonio to experience.

"Hanging in there, Principessa." He murmured, wincing as he spoke.

"Don't worry, Clay's gonna get you something to help with that," She whispered as she kissed his forehead before turning to Nick. "Are you up for giving blood? He needs it desperately and since you're related by blood you're probably our best bet at a match." At his affirmation, Annie dragged a seat next to the table. They would do the first transfusion in the kitchen, as she didn't feel it prudent to move Antonio to the makeshift infirmary upstairs until he got a little more rest.

Removing her bloody gloves Annie tossed them in the trash before donning a clean pair. With two fingers she felt for a good vein on Antonio's right arm, telling him to make a fist for her as best he could. When she found a prominent one she wiped the spot with alcohol took one end of the tubing Jeremy had strung up and carefully inserted the needle into the vein. At least this job she felt a little more in her element doing. They had practiced this enough times in lab for Annie to be confident in it. As soon as Antonio was set she moved to Nick. He watched her as she prepared his own arm like she had his fathers before inserting the other side of the transfusion tubing into his arm.

"Annie," Nick whispered after she had started the blood transfusion. As soon as she turned towards him he pulled her down with the arm not hooked up to the machine and kissed her with everything he had. "Thank you."

"I wish everyone would save they're thanks until we found out if it worked." Annie murmured as she straightened back up. She was nervous that Nick and everyone else would get their hopes up only to have them crushed.

"Have a little more faith Principessa. You did amazing. And if it makes you feel any better this thank you is for trying. There'll be another one when it succeeds." Nick winked at her, successfully getting her to smile, albeit it was a small one. Her smile didn't last long as the thump of Jeremy collapsing on the other side of the table had her rushing towards him.

"Jeremy!" Annie cried as she reached him, helping him to sit on one of the chairs before pulling his shirt up to examine his wound. "This doesn't look good," Annie murmured, as she rushed to get the supplies that sat on the stove. Jeremy's wound was still bleeding, and swollen. She had been so focused on helping Antonio she hadn't realized just how bad Jeremy's own wound was. There wasn't much she could do for him until Clay came back with the medicine, but cleaning the wound with alcohol, applying hemostatic powder and pressure to stop the bleeding was a start. She was in the middle of stitching up Jeremy's wound when the sound of a car pulling up out front interrupted her.

"You go get that. I'll finish this up." Annie hesitated causing Jeremy to murmur 'go' to her as he took the needle from her. Before she left the room she glanced back at Nick, he looked as if he wanted to come with her. He couldn't, he was hooked up to the transfusion tubing, so Annie sent him a small smile, her way of saying she'd be fine.

Annie got to the front door a beat after there was a knock. By sniffing the air Annie detected who it was before opening it. The pack so did not need that right now. She did a quick double check to make sure there was no sign of blood on herself before opening the door. "Sheriff," Annie greeted in a neutral tone.

"Annie," the Sheriff started, it was obvious Annie was not who the Sheriff had hoped would answer. "Is Clayton Danvers here?" Annie's heart jumped to her throat at the question. Had they found the body Elena had moved? If so, why would they still be looking for Clay, the body was no longer on Stonehaven property which should have gotten the police off of Clay's back. Her fear only increased at the thought of Clay and Elena possible returning with a car full of stolen medicine while the Sheriff was. This was not good.

"He had some business to attend to," Annie responded, hoping that didn't sound too suspicious. It was the best she could come up with. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

The Sheriff studied Annie. It's not that she didn't trust the girl, on the contrary she felt Annie was very nice, however she didn't want to burden her with information about death especially its possible connection with her brother. The girl had heard enough rumors about murder and death already.

"Is Jeremy Danvers home?" The Sheriff asked hopefully.

"It's, uh, not a good time," Annie answered, knowing how bad that must sound. But Jeremy was in the kitchen, where Nick was giving blood to his father through a homemade transfusion setup, finishing stitching up his knife wound. None of that was exactly legal, and Annie knew it would only force more questions on the pack as well as more suspicion and scrutiny. They had enough of that at the moment, they didn't need more.

"It's never a good time to talk to the police," the Sheriff responded with a smile. "We have a situation on our hands, we found Michael Braxton's body." Annie was stunned, not sure what to say or do next, until, to her surprise, Jeremy spoke from behind her.

"Morning Sheriff," Jeremy greeted her, the sound of pain barely evident in his voice. "Annie, could we have a moment," he murmured to her, nodding his head ever so slightly before inviting the Sheriff inside. For a moment Annie only stared in shock as the Sheriff entered Stonehaven. Never before had Jeremy invited a human into their home. Not while Annie had been there. When Jeremy sent her a look Annie shook herself out of it, quickly making her way back to the kitchen while Jeremy showed the Sheriff into the den. This was beyond surreal.

"What's going on?" Nick asked as soon as Annie had returned.

"The Sheriff's here. They've found Braxton's body." Annie murmured as she sent a warning text to Elena. It wouldn't be good if they came back with the Sheriff there.

"They still suspect Clay?" Nick asked, sounding confused. Annie muttered an 'apparently' as she went to check how much blood he'd given so far.

"That's enough for now," Annie remarked as she carefully removed the needle from Nick's arm then Antonio's. "As soon as the Sheriff leaves I'll get a gurney from upstairs so we can move Antonio to a bed." Grabbing a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff from her bag Annie stepped closer to Antonio. He looked a little better now, but she still needed to check his vitals. His pulse was still a little high, as well as his blood pressure, but that was expected. They weren't high enough to be too alarming. Wrapping the stethoscope around her neck Annie moved towards the fridge, grabbing a bottled water and handing it to Nick. He needed to hydrate after giving blood.

When the Sheriff left, Jeremy returned to the kitchen. His wound was bleeding through the gauze as he hadn't had a chance to finish stitching it up before joining Annie at the door. Grabbing another pair of gloves Annie started over, sanitizing the wound then finished stitching it up. She was getting a lot of practice with sutures today. Ordering Jeremy to rest, Annie waited until he complied by taking a seat by the fire in the den. Once he was settled Annie went to retrieve the gurney for Antonio. Nick followed her, knowing the gurney itself was old and heavy.

"So, do most nursing students lab kits come with sutures?" Nick asked as the pulled the gurney out from the storage unit in the makeshift infirmary.

"No, I swiped some extra supplies during the Cadaver labs." Annie admitted as they made their way slowly down the stairs. "I figured they'd come in handy. Today proved me right." Nick smiled in response, finding it amusing that Annie would steal.

When they made it back to the kitchen they had to position themselves carefully. There were only two of them, as Annie refused to let Jeremy help. She didn't want to chance his wounds reopening, besides helping was not resting. As Nick stood on one side of the table Annie stood on the other side with the gurney. Since the gurney they had didn't have wheels, just handles to carry the patient on, Nick would need to lift his father off the table by himself, just enough for Annie to slip the gurney underneath them. The transfer went smoother than Annie had anticipated.

Bracing herself for the weight Annie took the bottom half of the gurney by Antonio's feet. They moved slowly towards the stairs, with Nick taking the lead as they climbed them. Although Annie was a werewolf and stronger than a human female, she was still the weakest member of the pack, not to mention she was emotionally as well as physically drained from performing surgery. It took all of her concentration to make it to the second floor where the room was set up for Antonio. Relief filled her once Antonio was transferred to his 'hospital' bed and she found herself leaning against the nearest wall when it was over.

"You should really get some rest," Nick said, worry laced in his voice, as he joined Annie against the wall. She looked exhausted with a sheen of sweat covering her face that trapped a few lose hairs from her ponytail against it.

"He's right Principessa, you need your rest as much as Jeremy and I do." Antonio murmured softly. He looked slightly greener, most likely from the transfer. Immediately Annie pushed herself off the wall and went to check his vitals again.

"I'm fine." She insisted as she took his pulse. As she suspected it had risen slightly. "I need to be awake when Clay gets back so I can set you up on medication. I'll rest later." Thankfully Clay returned shortly after the transfer. Annie sent Nick down to get her bag as well as to bring the supplies upstairs when she heard his car pull up. She knew Jeremy would want to talk to Clay about the Sheriff's visit.

"Clay definitely came through," Nick announced as he brought the bag full of materials and medicine Annie had asked for. "Jeremy's having him and Elena track down Cain." Annie paused in her examination of the bag's contents when Nick said that.

"They're going after Cain?" Nick nodded in response, making Annie sigh. "I hope they're careful. Cain is…Incredible Hulk strong."

"He's strong, but he's sloppy. They'll be fine." Nick assured her. "Now, what can I do to help?"

Annie had him setting up the fluid bag on a hook and loading up a syringe with morphine diluted with sterile water while she inserted a new tube into Antonio's left arm. Adding a Y port she connected one of the two ports to the fluid bag—after mixing in the Penicillin— and set up a drip so that Antonio would remain hydrated as well as receive around the clock antibiotics. Next she used the syringe to slowly administer a morphine push over five minutes through the second port. Once the fluids and pain were taken care of she moved on to the Warfarin. Starting with a 5 mg dose, she had Antonio take five of the 1 mg tablets with the water that Nick had brought. After that Antonio was all set until his next doses. The Warfarin would be administered every 2 hours while the morphine would strictly be used on an as needed bases seeing as they only had but so much of it.

As soon as everything was set up, Nick was forcing a bottle of water into Annie's hand, claiming she needed to look after herself as well. She downed the bottle in record timing, not realizing how thirsty she was. After that Nick made her shower and then sleep. Annie only consented when Nick allowed her to sleep in the extra hospital cot beside his father. The closer she was to Antonio the faster her response to any medical dilemma or emergency, God forbid that there was one.

While Annie slept Nick sat in a chair between her cot and his father's. He thought his father had been asleep too, but he hadn't. Antonio had been observing his son as he studied Annie and the way the boy looked at her, Antonio could tell his emotions ran deeper than infatuation. Nick might not know it yet, but the way he looked at Annie was the same way Antonio had looked at Nick's mother: like he would do anything to protect her from the world.

"You should tell her how you feel sooner rather than later." Antonio murmured, startling Nick.

"I've never been one to admit my feelings dad, you know that." Antonio did know that. Nick preferred to be somewhat of a Casanova before Annie, always having fun but never emotionally attaching to anyone. He wasn't used to expressing emotions deeper than lust. Before Antonio could offer up any words of wisdom when it came to women, the sound of Elena and Clay returning echoed up from the foyer.

"Wow, I've always wondered what this place looked like." Cain's obnoxious voice sounded sarcastic. Clay shut him up by saying he should wait till he sees his guest room.

The commotion downstairs was enough to wake Annie. She sat up, seeming a bit drowsy, asking what was going on. Nick quickly moved to her side, trying to force her to lay back down, and calmly explained that Clay and Elena had just returned with Cain. He eventually got her to lie down once she realized, for the time being, everyone was okay. That state of momentary serenity died twenty minutes later when there was a thump from downstairs.

"Annie!" Elena shouted frantically. At the sound of her name Annie bolted from her cot before Nick could try to stop her, taking the stairs two at a time. Before her name was called, Annie had heard Elena murmur Jeremy's name. Something was seriously wrong. Nick followed after Annie once his father assured him he would be fine alone. He found Annie kneeling beside Jeremy's body while Elena cradled his head and stated that it couldn't be just blood loss.

Jeremy's pulse was slow, but strong. Pulling up his shirt and removing the gauze pad Annie looked on in horror at the severe discoloration of the skin. Elena was definitely correct, this wasn't just blood loss.

"Poison," Annie whispered to herself in horror. "I think the knife the Mutt used was dipped in poison." She stated louder, turning towards Elena and Nick.

"Well, what do we need to do to find an antidote?" Elena demanded, horrified at the prospect of Jeremy being poisoned.

"We need to know what kind of poison we're dealing with. I can't guess at something like this. The wrong course of treatment could kill him." Annie explained, becoming frustrated. They had just gotten Antonio out of the woods, now Jeremy was in critical condition. All because of Santos and his Mutts. They were going to pay dearly for this.

"Maybe Cain knows. Clay can…work with him and try to get the answer." Nick suggested.

"He needs to work fast. I'm not sure how long he has. If he can't get it out of him by tomorrow, we're going to have to figure something else out." Annie stated. Her consent had Nick going to inform Clay of the new situation. While he was gone, Annie and Elena moved Jeremy up to the spare cot that Annie had napped on after applying fresh linens to it. Annie brought a dish of cool water and cloths to apply to Jeremy's forehead to try and help counteract the fever.

"What's happened?" Antonio whispered from his bed as he watched Elena and Annie work around Jeremy.

"He's been poisoned. Clay's trying to get what kind out of Cain." Elena answered while Annie set up a fluid drip for Jeremy, using one of the bags meant for Antonio. Jeremy need to stay hydrated if his immune system was trying to fight off the poison. If they ran out of fluid bags Annie would just have to send someone to get more.

…BNB…

"I couldn't get anything out of Cain yet." Clay grumbled, kicking one of the chairs in the infirmary and startling Annie awake. She hadn't slept much the previous night, getting up every two hours tending to Antonio and Jeremy.

"I still had twenty minutes." Annie grumbled back at him after checking her watch. Knowing it wasn't worth trying to fall back to sleep, she tried to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. "What's our next move?" She asked as she took a sip from the bottle of water on the table beside her chair.

"I'm going to find the other Mutts, or at least the human woman," Elena declared, ignoring Clay's stern look. "We need to find out what poison was used and Cain isn't talking."

"I'll get him to talk," Clay insisted gruffly. Annie had the distinct feeling she was about to witness a lovers quarrel and she couldn't escape it. Making the best of it she went to tending to her two patients, praying that Nick would come back upstairs soon, and braced herself for the awkwardness.

"We don't have time to wait and hope Cain knows something and tells you. You keep working on Cain while I look for the woman." Clay didn't like it, but he sensed it was a battle he would lose. Instead of fighting it he insisted Nick go with Elena, just as Nick himself was returning with a fresh pitcher of cold water to replace the room temperature water in the bowl by Jeremy's bed.

"Normally I would love to hunt down Santos' Mutts with you Elena, but I'm scheduled to give my dad more blood this afternoon." Nick addressed the suggestion as he handed Annie the pitcher. Thanking him Annie poured it into the bowl before applying new cool cloths to Jeremy's forehead while Elena was arguing she could go by herself.

"Any sign of the Mutts and you're going to call me. I'll be there." Clay demanded, caving in to Elena's request. He knew there was no other way. Annie needed to stay to look after Jeremy and Antonio, not that he would send both Annie and Elena out without backup, and Nick was required to stay as blood donor.

"Any sign of trouble, I'll call." Elena agreed, before brushing past Clay and out the door. Clay waited until the front door closed before going back at it with Cain.

"I thought you'd still be sleeping," Nick commented as he took the seat beside the one Annie had slept in.

"It's only a little earlier than when I planned on waking up. No big deal," Annie shrugged as she repositioned Jeremy's pillows before setting up a new fluid drip for Antonio. He was still sleeping as Annie hooked up the new bag. It was a good thing, he needed rest, though Annie had been pleasantly surprised at the recovery Antonio was making.

"You need sleep Annie. I could take over for a while. Let you get some rest." Nick offered. In truth he was a little worried. Annie had been on her feet for practically 24 hours straight now. The little pockets of sleep she got didn't count as they didn't even total 8 hours combined.

"I'm fine Nick. I've pulled some all nighters for exams, this is nothing." Annie insisted. When Nick was about to protest further she silenced him with a determined look. "I am finally able to actually contribute to the pack. I haven't felt useful since I arrived home. Please, let me do the one thing I am capable of to help."

Nick kept his opinions on Annie's sleeping habits to himself after that. Annie was far from being inessential to the pack, but if saving Antonio and helping both him and Jeremy recover helped her to feel useful, then he was not going to take that away from her. Instead he made sure she ate at appropriate times and stayed hydrated; taking care of Annie as she took care of Jeremy and Antonio. Anne made sure Nick was drinking his fair share of water as well, knowing hydration was key for an easy blood transfusion.

It was just as Annie was hooking Nick up for another transfusion that there was a knock on the front door. Why was it every time Nick gave blood they received unwanted company? Once she had the transfusion set up she went out to the hall, trying to find out who had come. Clay was just slipping back in through the front door as Annie peered down at him from the landing.

"I'm heading to the station with the Sheriff for questioning so she can 'cross me off her list'" Clay explained quickly as he grabbed his jacket from the coatrack. "Hold down the fort while I'm gone."

It was like déjà vu when Annie returned to the infirmary and Nick asked what was going on. Just like the last time he was giving blood the Sheriff had shown up to talk to Clay. Except this time Clay was there, and had left with the Sheriff instead of inviting her inside. It was a smart move. The last thing they needed was the Sheriff to know they had a prisoner downstairs they were torturing in a cage they kept rigged up in their basement, or that Annie was practicing medicine illegally upstairs on two of the pack members.

"I'd rather it be the Sheriff than another Mutt come to challenge the pack," Nick stated as he took another sip of water. Annie nodded her head in agreement as she took Jeremy's temperature. He was burning up with a 104 degree fever, and all Annie could do about it was apply more cool cloths.

With Clay no longer able to try and get Cain to talk they were relying wholly on Elena finding the human. Annie hoped that she would hurry, Jeremy didn't have too much time left. As if knowing they were waiting on her, Elena called shortly after Clay had left. Annie put it on speaker phone as she was disconnecting the transfusion from both Antonio and Nick.

"Did you find her?" Annie asked as she worked the needle out of Nick's arm.

"Not just her, but Le Blanc and Marsten." Annie interjected asking Elena why she hadn't called Clay first. "This is more important. I know what Jeremy's been poisoned with. It's ricin."

"Ricin, are you sure?" Annie clarified, her hopes diminishing.

"Yea, I'm positive." Elena assured her. "Do you need me to pick up the antidote on the way or do you have what you need there?"

"There is no antidote for ricin," Annie whispered dejectedly. The only hope they had was a blood transfusion to try and get the poison out of Jeremy's system. Elena was silent for a moment before revving the engine and saying she'd be home soon.

Annie wasted no time in transfiguring a new transfusion set up. The faster Jeremy got new blood the better the chances of him surviving. Nick had asked if there was anything he could do to help, but it wasn't a two man job and he had already given enough blood to Antonio. So Annie hooked herself up to the transfusion tubing, giving Jeremy her blood. There had been no time to compare blood types for compatibility, she could only hope his body wouldn't fight her blood.

This time it was Nick forcing Annie to drink water to help with a blood transfusion. Knowing it would help she drank, and kept drinking until she couldn't fore anymore water into her system. Annie had to guestimate how much blood it would take to clean Jeremy's system. Truthfully she probably overestimated, but she would rather be safe than sorry. Elena arrived home before the process was done, running to Jeremy's side and asking how he was doing. Jeremy murmured a positive answer, but it was clear he was still suffering. It would take a couple nights rest for him to get back to himself.

Around the time Clay returned from the Sheriff's, and found out Elena had disobeyed him by not calling him when she found Marsten and Le Blanc, was when Annie disconnected the tubes from her and Jeremy's arms. Both he and Antonio were asleep by that time, lucky for them. They couldn't hear the rehashing of Elena being bitten echoing from downstairs. Nick and Annie were not so lucky. Wanting to busy herself so as to distract from the fight Annie stood to return the tubing to the basket of used materials needing sanitized. She only made it several steps before her vision began spotting and she crumpled to the floor, blacking out.


TRANSLATION OF ANTONIO'S DIALOGUE: "Me too, Princess. We must be strong. We must be brave."

A/N It took a bit longer to write this one as it had a lot of technical things in it. Also, I'm in my sixth year in pharmacy school on Rotation and the workload picked up a bit. I want to include a disclosure/apology here for any med students or nurses. I am sorry for any medical inaccuracies. I am not a doctor or nurse and I don't claim to have their knowledge. As a pharmacy student I know drugs more than surgical procedures and even then, I practice in a community setting and so I am not as familiar with hospital protocols. I did my best with what I knew. I hope any inaccuracies weren't too distracting/annoying! I would love to hear what you all thought! Thanks to those who review/favorite/follow. It means a lot to me!

Rach

xoxo