Chapter 10-Shock To The Heart
-Kayla-
Kayla sighed and changed the channel on the TV in the break room for the umpteenth time. It was a busy night and everyone was off doing something. Drew was in the field on an ambulance call, TC was most likely coming off a patient to hang out with Jordan, and who knows what everyone else had planned.
Nothing was on TV that night. It was a Monday night at 9 and there was nothing Kayla was interested in watching. All the good shows had ended their seasons within the previous weeks and there was nothing but crappy reruns now. There was an MMA fight being replayed—one she hadn't seen—but it didn't feel the same watching it without TC there.
Their relationship was mostly back to normal. After T's near death experience with Sawyer, the two had started hanging out together more. Kayla was a little clingier due to the knowledge she could have lost her brother and had had more nightmares in the previous few days. TC had spent a couple nights—or rather, days—at Jordan's, and that's when her nightmares were the worst. At least Bentley was there to snuggle with when she woke up scared and thinking she was back with Osborne. Other times she would dream of Thad's funeral and TC lying in a new coffin next to Thad.
But things were mostly better. Kayla had her phone back, and while not fully ungrounded, she had a lot more freedom to do things. The main condition was that, for a while at least, Kayla had to ask TC about going places. It was somewhat comedic to her. She was 18 and fully capable of taking care of herself, but she was still under the control of her brother. His house, his rules as he liked to put it.
Kayla hummed and swung her legs off the stiff couch and tossed the remote onto the coffee table. There was nothing to watch, nothing to read, nothing to do. She stood up, skipping over to the door and stepped out into the hallway right as TC rushed by to meet Drew, who was doing chest compressions on top of a man on a gurney being pushed in. She blew out a breath and turned to go find someone else to hang around.
She plopped down next to Molly at the nurse's station and smiled, spinning the chair around.
"You look a little bored," Molly commented, typing something into her computer.
"Yeppers," Kayla agreed. "Got anything for me to do?" The nurse nodded and grabbed a stack of files and handed it to the teenager absentmindedly.
"Can you input these?"
Kayla nodded and opened the first one, being greeted with the name of an 82-year old woman. Putting in the files didn't take very long and she vaguely noticed Ragosa walking by into the waiting room. There were a lot of cases that night, including a man who'd fallen into a bus after his parachute didn't deploy.
Molly was on the phone when Kayla finished the files. Not wanting to disturb her, Kayla stood up and walked around a little bit but eventually headed back into the break room. Everyone else was busy with their patients.
Ragosa was in the break room talking Spanish to the wife of the guy Rick had brought in. Two kids were playing at the pool table, most likely the children of the woman.
"Ah, Kayla, perfect!" Ragosa greeted her, walking over. "Can you hang out with this family for a little while? Maybe play a couple games with them, keep 'em occupied before we have more news on the husband." The children hadn't noticed her yet, but their mom was watching her.
"Yeah sure," she replied, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. Ragosa smiled in thanks before turning to the kids.
"Ok, you two line up," he ordered, smiling. "Boom, and boom." He handed each of them a $5 bill.
"Five dollars?!" the little boy asked, eyes wide and excited.
"Yes," Ragosa affirmed, pointing at them. "And it's not to gamble, it is for snacks. And don't spend it all in one place." The mom had walked up behind them and was smiling while she held her coffee.
"Why not?" the little girl wondered, looking up from the currency to Ragosa.
"I don't know, it's what my dad used to tell me, but it never made sense," he answered before smiling again. "Ok. Have at it! Go crazy!"
"Yes!" the kids said, running off back to the pool table.
"Yes," Ragosa echoed before remembering Kayla was standing next to him. "Oh, this is Kayla. She's gonna hang out with you for a little while." The kids nodded before being engaged in their game again. Kayla walked over to join them as Ragosa said a few words to their mom before leaving.
As she looked over, Kayla could see TC walking past the window, wheeling a man on a gurney.
-TC-
TC and Dr. Chavez pushed the jumper through the halls of the hospital towards the OR, right past the elevator opening to reveal multiple people.
"Will? Will? Oh my god," a frantic feminine voice sounded behind the group and soon a woman was keeping pace beside TC as they walked, holding the leash for a dog that was struggling to keep up. "Will, how is he?"
"This is uh, this is Kim, Will's uh," Kenny introduced.
"His girlfriend," she finished.
"You got a dog," Chavez commented, looking back at the two.
"Oh, hey pooch," TC greeted, looking down. The fluffy animal kept close to Kim's side.
"Max is Will's. I took him out for a night hike and I-I just came as fast as I could," she explained.
"Cute," TC commented.
"Look, I'll take the dog," Kenny said, moving over to touch Kim's shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be right outside, ok?" Kim nodded and handed Kenny the leash before she jogged to catch up to the doctors as the OR doors opened.
"Is he gonna be okay?" she asked, referring to Will.
"Uh, he's in bad shape," TC told her, letting a pair of nurses take over pulling him into the room. "Look, I don't mean to be brief, but he needs surgery and we need consent."
"Who makes his medical decisions?" Chavez inquired, picking up right when TC finished.
"Uh, me," Kim answered, looking through the open doors. "I-I do. Just please, do whatever you have to do to save him." Chavez exchanged a glance with TC and nodded before ducking into the room.
"Ma'am, could you come with me?" TC asked as the doors were closed. "Please?" Kim strained to look into the room for just a moment longer before turning and following TC down the hall.
-Kayla-
Kayla watched as the two kids alternated hitting the cue ball at the solid colored balls. They were having fun and she wasn't too bored watching them. She had played for a little while but getting your butt kicked by two 12-year olds wasn't exactly boosting her ego. She'd gladly and graciously backed out of the game to watch.
The girl suddenly set down her pool stick and backed up, her breathing starting to come in short gasps.
"Are you okay?" her brother asked, moving over to touch her arm as Kayla put her phone on the counter and came over. "What's wrong?"
The girl moved away and Kayla caught her as she fell to the floor, unable to breath.
"Help! Help us!" the boy started to yell as Kayla crouched in front of the girl, trying to help her breath.
"Doctor! Doctor!" her mom cried out, hovering anxiously.
TC suddenly pushed into the room, having seen the girl fall and then heard the pleas for help. Kayla moved out of the way to let him get close to the girl and soon she was placed on a gurney moving towards a trauma room.
He ordered a nurse to start her on a medication as Ragosa pushed the other end of the gurney in, filling TC in on the girl. Kayla kept the boy in the hallway, watching nervously.
"Her mother said she has asthma but she hasn't had an attack in years," he told TC.
"Ok, well tell her stress can cause a relapse in symptoms," he answered. Ragosa translated as TC started working on the girl.
"That's it, Isabella, that's great," he praised, holding a stethoscope to her chest as she breathed from a medicated tube. "Deep, slow breaths for me." Ragosa said something else to the mother.
Kayla had turned the boy back to the break room when they had closed the curtain on the room. As they were walking, he had suddenly gripped his mouth and lurched forward. Quickly thinking, Kayla grabbed a bucket from the stack next to her and held it under him right as he threw up.
"TC! Out here!" she called, rubbing a hand on the boy's arm as he puked. Slinging his stethoscope around his neck, TC jogged out of the room to look at the scene in front of him.
"It's getting worse," Kayla told him, glancing up for a moment from the boy.
"Ok, Drew," TC called, motioning the other doctor over.
"On it," he replied, jogging to the boy and Kayla. "Here, let's get him to trauma 3." He slung the boy up into his arms as Kayla moved back. "Is this the girl's brother?"
"Yeah," TC nodded, blowing out a breath.
"This is getting weird," Drew commented, ducking into trauma 3 with the boy. Kayla exchanged a worried glance with TC before glancing down at the bucket of puke she was holding, making a disgusted face. She held it out to TC to take but he backed up, holding his hands away.
"Uh nope," he said, backing back into the girl's room. Kayla looked down at it again and grimaced, looking towards Molly for what to do with it. The nurse gave her a sympathetic look and took it from her hands. The teenager looked around awkwardly before dashing towards the bathroom to wash her hands.
She walked back into the break room to find Kenny rummaging through the fridge asking about if dogs liked peanut butter.
"You really don't know anything about dogs, do you?" Jordan asked from where she leaned against the counter.
"Eh," he grinned.
"Where is this dog anyway?" Jordan inquired.
"He's tied up outside, freaking barking like crazy," Kenny answered, standing behind the door of the fridge. Kayla winced in sympathy for the dog and poured some coffee from beside Jordan before moving to stand next to Paul, offering him a chip from the bag she had stolen from TC's stash.
"I'd be barking like crazy too if somebody left me out there," the doctor told Kenny. "Uh, you know what, give him my sandwich, it's chicken, he'll love it." She turned to leave the room and Paul chased after her, asking about some patient.
Kayla exchanged a look with Kenny and walked over to the fridge. There were a couple of sandwiches, a half-eaten bag of grapes, some salsa, a half-drank soda, and a couple random tubberware containers.
"Uh, that one's Jordan's," she said, pointing at the sandwich in a baggy with a J on it.
"Thanks Little C," Kenny answered, grabbing the food from the fridge and shutting the door.
"Little C?" Kayla inquired, screwing her face up in confusion.
"Yea, Little Callahan. Little C," Kenny explained. She shook her head, not really liking the new nickname.
"You better be calling T, Big C, if you're gonna call me that," she answered. Kenny shrugged, chuckled, and dashed out the door.
-TC-
TC stood in a group with Drew, Topher, and Ragosa discussing the recent findings on the janitor's family.
"Okay, we got two sick kids," Topher started, looking to Drew. "What did your exam of the boy reveal?"
"Benign abdomen but persistent vomiting and diarrhea," he told the older doctor.
"Sounds like the flu," TC said. "But no fever and doesn't explain the girl's respiratory symptoms."
"Maybe it's psychogenic," Drew theorized, talking with his hands. "Two different emotional responses to seeing the trauma with their father?"
TC shook his head. "Within minutes of each other? Unlikely?"
"I thought it might be food poisoning so I asked the mom where they shop, who does the food at home, and if they've been using herbs from the garden," Ragosa added.
"Way to take initiative," Topher said.
"Oh, thanks," Ragosa answered, smiling a little as the others stared at him.
"And?" Topher raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, they eat the same thing everyday," Ragosa informed them. "But she did say they've been really tired lately."
"Probably from working at night as janitors," TC said.
"Some people gotta do what they gotta do to survive," Ragosa replied.
"Not at twelve," Drew threw in, sipping from his coffee.
"If it helps, I can run point on this," Ragosa offered. "Be the middle man for all the information." Topher nodded.
"Alright, you got the job. Let's solve this. I hate seeing sick kids," he said. Ragosa nodded, turning away.
"I'm gonna go check on the boy," Drew told the others, turning to walk away as well.
"Yo Toph, there's a call for you on line one about the base jumper," Kenny announced, walking over to TC and Topher.
"I guess they wanna sue the city for putting a bus in the way," Topher said, half-joking as he moved to follow Kenny.
TC raised his eyebrows in affirmation. "Yup." He looked contemplative, struggling with trying to figure out what was going on with the family.
-Kayla-
Kayla did a double take as she walked past a desk and saw Rick walking in, leaning heavily on one crutch.
"Hey," she greeted, bouncing over to meet him. "What's up?"
"Hey Kayla," he answered. "Uh, not much. My leg's just bothering me." Kayla frowned.
"Do you want me to get Drew?" she asked. Rick shook his head as Krista walked over.
"Hey Rick, what are you doing here?" The doctor was smiling as she reached the pair. She looked down and concern grew on her face. "You hurt your leg?"
Rick gave a smile akin to a grimace. "Ah, I don't know, maybe. It's probably nothing. Look, do you have a second?"
"Yeah," Krista answered, nodding and looking around. "Yeah, let me just find Drew."
"Uh, actually, let's not," Rick said. Krista smiled, confused. "I'm serious."
"Uhm, I'm just gonna go bug Kenny or something," Kayla said. "I hope your leg feels better." She dashed off down the hallway before either adult could answer.
Kayla poured a cup of coffee for herself and a cup for the mother of the two kids. The woman was extremely worried about her husband and children. Kayla was trying to use to her broken Spanish to reassure her that her family had the best team of doctors around to figure out what was wrong and fix it.
TC was smart, one of the smartest people Kayla knew. She hoped that he could quickly diagnose what was wrong with the family of four before something even worse happened.
Kayla left the break room and brought the two cups of coffee into the girl's room. Isabella had wanted to show her mom the cool games she was playing on the tablet someone had given her. Kayla handed one of the coffees to the mother, who was standing against the wall leading into the room and watching her daughter.
"Gracias," she whispered, keeping her gaze on the girl.
"De nada," Kayla answered, smiling as she watched the girl tap away at the tablet.
Kayla was maybe halfway through her coffee when the mom stumbled before righting herself with a hand on the wall. A few seconds after Kayla had decided she was okay, the woman fell against her, pushing the both of them to the floor in the hallway. Kayla's coffee fell and spilled across the floor as they went down.
Slightly winded, it took Kayla a short moment to sit up and flip herself around to see the mother seizing on the floor. She lurched forward to hold her head before she slammed it against the hard floor. Ragosa and a couple nurses reached them a few seconds later and Kayla moved out of the way to let Ragosa stabilize her head while a nurse ran to get TC.
TC and Topher ran up together and immediately crouched on the floor next to the mom.
"Has it been catatonic activity the whole time?" Topher asked as he arrived. Ragosa nodded and moved to give TC space. Kayla stood up and pressed herself back against the wall to get out of the way. Isabella was crying at them to make it stop.
"Alright, push 10 of diazepam," Topher ordered, Ragosa moving to take the woman's arm.
"Hand me an ambo bag and place a line," TC told Ragosa as he tried to get the needle in her arm.
"I can't get an IV on her, she's moving too much," Ragosa told them. Kayla bit her lip and moved into the girl's room to hopefully try and reassure her.
"Okay, give her to me. I'll go high in," TC took over as Topher held the mother.
"What the hell's going on with this family?" he demanded. Kayla bit her lip as the mom slowly stopped seizing. She ran a hand down her face, tired and worried.
TC and Topher worked with a nurse to get the mother onto a gurney and into her own room for tests and treatment. Everyone was confused, the entire family was sick. But they were all having different symptoms and at different times.
Kayla sighed, spoke a few reassuring words to Isabella, and walked back into the hall. Someone had already cleaned up her spilled coffee—talk about an efficient shift—and everybody was going about their business after the scene.
The teenager walked outside to get some fresh air and sat on a bench, gazing up at the stars—what little stars she could see with all the hospital lights messing with her eyes. It was actually quite nice just outside the hospital doors. Inside was controlled chaos, but outside was free and peaceful.
Pulling her phone out of her back pocket for the first time during the whole shift, Kayla noticed a couple missed texts from Wes. He had a football game that night all the way in Dallas and would be gone the weekend for it. Apparently there were going to be a lot of college scouts there, too. While he already had offers for a full ride, he wanted to keep his options open and hopefully appeal to his dream school.
'Won the game. Scored a touchdown for you :*'
Kayla smiled at his text and the kissy-face emoji. He was such a dork, but she loved that about him. They'd gone to see a movie two nights prior, one of the few nights she had been let out of TC's prison sentence, and it had been his turn to pick what they saw. Of course he'd picked the horror movie, knowing full well how much Kayla hated horror movies and being scared in general. He'd just used it as an excuse to 'comfort' her whenever she got scared—which was the entire movie basically.
'Won my heart, too,' Kayla shot back that text. It was early in the morning and he would most likely be sleeping and recovering from the hard game he'd played.
After checking her emails and looking at a few funny cat videos, Kayla tucked her phone safely back in her pocket and made her way back into the hospital and to the break room. When she got in, she noticed Ragosa sitting on his laptop looking at pictures of the family.
"Trying to figure out what's going on?" Kayla asked, grabbing a chocolate bar she'd hit at the back of the silverware drawer.
"Yup," he answered, sighing, not really paying attention to Kayla. "There has to be something that connects all of their symptoms. Something that matches it all." She nodded and plopped down on the couch, picking up a People magazine one of the nurses had left.
Less than a half hour later, Ragosa picked up all his stuff and left, most likely to try and do a little more research somewhere else. Kayla rubbed her temples as a headache started to grow behind her eyes. Lack of water mixed with fatigue was getting to her.
"Maybe just a short nap," she murmured to herself, tossing the magazine on the coffee table and leaning her head back. She was asleep in minutes.
-TC-
Resuscitating the base jumper was simply not a decision TC could regret. Even if he got sued for violating the DNR, he couldn't regret saving the man's life. Especially when his girlfriend was standing there screaming and crying at them to save him.
As he walked towards the break room in desperate need of caffeine, Jordan fell into step beside him. She wound her arm in his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Well, hello there," she greeted. TC yawned and smiled down at her.
"Hey."
"How's that family that came in doing?" she inquired. The night was filled with interesting cases, including that one.
"Eh, still don't have a clear idea of what's going on, but we're working on it," he answered. "What about that one girl that came in?"
"Ah, that's a bit more complicated. Toxic Shock Syndrome, but I can't tell you any more than that. Doctor-Patient Confidentiality must be utilized in this case," Jordan told him. "Speaking of which, I gotta go make a few calls. See you later."
She stretched up to give him a kiss before spinning around with a grin and walking off down the hall.
"Later!" TC called after her, smiling lightly as she raised a hand in farewell. He continued his trek to the break room and found it completely empty except for Kayla.
She was asleep on the couch and mumbling while doing so. He smiled and closed the door most of the way to shut out the noise from the ER and walked over to the counter for coffee. His smile fell as he picked up the empty pot. Nobody in this place had the courtesy to make a new pot if they were the ones to finish it off.
As he started a new brew, Kayla stirred and woke up. She spotted her brother standing near the counter and she stood up, moving to sit at one of the tables as he turned around.
"Hey," she said, pulling her jacket sleeves down to cover her cold hands.
"Hey yourself," TC answered, pulling a chair out backwards to sit across from her.
"Haven't been able to talk to you much tonight," Kayla remarked, breathing deeply as the smell of fresh brewed coffee—albeit, terrible coffee—invaded her senses.
"I haven't been able to breathe much," he joked. "Busy night."
"Yeah, aren't you working with that base jumper as well as the family?" she inquired, eyebrows pulling together.
"Yup," TC nodded, popping the 'p'. "The man's girlfriend had us treat him but his brother apparently is his primary decision maker. And the man had a DNR. So it's just one big complicated mess."
Kayla whistled lowly. "Doesn't sound like too much fun there, T."
"I'll just be glad when this night is over," he answered, rubbing his face in fatigue. "You still planning on joining me for breakfast?"
"Not like I have a choice, with not other ride or anything," she joked.
"Yea, I called yesterday. The mechanic thinks it would just be best to junk it and get a new one. I'm looking into it," TC told her. Kayla nodded absentmindedly. A new car might be nice. Any car would be an improvement. It had been months since her crash and she was still without a car.
The coffee pot dinged and TC stood up to go pour himself a cup. As he was doing so, Chavez walked in and over to him, looking slightly annoyed.
"So you intubated Will," he said, more of a statement then a question. TC looked over at him and Kayla tensed as she prepared to watch this pissing contest.
"I did," TC replied as he looked back down to where he was finishing preparing his coffee.
"You shouldn't have. He didn't wanna suffer, ok? He signed the DNR. That was his choice," Chavez told him. Their tones were calm but tight as they talked.
"Three months ago," TC fought back, speaking softly. "Who knows what he would have wanted today?"
"Actually, I do," Chavez answered, causing both Callahan siblings to look at him. "Gwen gave me his things and I found this in his wallet." He held up an object Kayla couldn't see from her point of view. TC sniffed and took it, unfolding the paper.
He cleared his throat before reading. "'You're my everything, Kim. I love you. In time, I hope you come to understand my decision. I didn't want to burden you and I need my life to end the way I lived it, on my terms." TC folded the paper up, not meeting Chavez's eyes.
"You were wrong, TC," he told the former. "He didn't open his parachute on purpose. He wanted to die." With that, Chavez walked out of the room leaving TC staring at the folded piece of paper. Kayla swallowed roughly, moving to stand by her brother.
"You okay, T?" she asked, pressing her forehead to his shoulder.
"Yea, I just have to go deal with this," he replied, giving Kayla a weak smile as he grabbed his coffee and left the break room. Kayla sighed as he went.
-Kayla-
Kayla walked out of the break room to head to visit Isabella and her brother just as Kenny was pulling a struggling Paul out of the waiting room. He was yelling at some patron and Kayla raised an eyebrow as Jordan came out, looking ready to rip a new one in Paul. She did not want to be there to see that.
Kayla plopped into a seat beside Isabella, smiling at the little girl.
"I like your gown," she stated, referring to Isabella's pink one with purple butterflies on it.
"Me too," the girl replied, looking down at her gown before back at Kayla. "Do you know what's wrong with my mom?" The eldest shook her head.
"I'm not a doctor, I couldn't even begin to guess," she told the younger girl as Ragosa walked over to join them. "But I'm sure she's okay."
"Hey sweetie, I know you've been asking about your mom," Ragosa started. "That was real scary what you saw. But don't worry, the doctors are gonna take really good care of her. Everything's gonna be okay."
Isabella started getting a panicked look on her face, growing increasingly more scared with each moment.
"Isabella?" Ragosa asked.
"I can't hear you!" she exclaimed, practically yelling.
"Ok, look at me—"
"Why can't I hear anything?!"
"I'll be right back. Give me one sec." He held up a finger and backed out of the room.
"Mr. Ragosa! Mr. Ragosa!" Isabella cried after him as Kayla reached out to let the girl grip her hand tightly. "Mr. Ragosa please help me!"
"Hey, TC! Topher!" Ragosa called out. Topher glanced over and TC's head popped out of a room. "The girl just lost her hearing."
"Yeah, ok, we're on it," he replied, both jogging over to the girl's room where panicked cries were being heard mixed in with Kayla's soothing tones.
A nurse approached Ragosa. "I talked to the mother. She's screaming about someone named Rosaro but we can't find him."
Ragosa shook his head. "I don't think Rosaro is a person. I think she's asking for her rosary beads. Check her purse."
Kayla moved out of the girl's room as TC and Topher crowded the bed and walked over to where Kenny and Paul stood with Jordan. Drew was walking some guy past who had a bloody nose.
"I'm gonna sue this entire hospital!" the man announced as Jordan glared at him.
"For what, I didn't see anything?"
"Me neither," Drew added. Jordan handed an ice pack to Paul as Kayla reached them.
"There you go, sweetie," she said before walking away. Paul placed it on his elbow. Kayla could only assume he'd gotten into a fight with the man who was threatening to sue.
Kenny looked thrilled. Paul was just staring at the floor.
"Ok, alright, first of all," he started, causing Kayla to grin. "You were like a junkyard dog in there, righ'. You really got in there." He was miming punching now. "So you give 'em the one-two, ha ha. We gotta work on your left, aight? Your left isn't turning over….what started that?"
"He raped my patient," Paul told him. Kayla tensed from beside the pair.
"Wow, really," Kenny murmured, putting a hand on the top of the desk, all traces of joking gone. Kayla swallowed hard.
"Yeah," Paul nodded, looking back down at the ice pack.
"Good fight man, way to step up," Kenny told him. "I'm proud of you." With that, Kenny walked away leaving Paul and Kayla.
"For what it's worth, Paul, you were right in hitting him. He deserved it. And I don't think anybody on this shift is feeling bad for him," Kayla said softly, placing a hand on his arm. Paul nodded, continuing to look at the floor. She smiled lightly, patting his arm once more before walking away to leave Paul to his thoughts.
-TC-
"BP's dropping," Nurse Ramirez announced. The girl was breathing heavily and sweating with her eyes half closed.
"Her lungs are filled with secretions, we have to intubate," he told the other two.
"Okay, push the ketamine now," TC ordered as Topher lowered the bed.
"Stats are down," Ramirez said. "Seventy percent." Ragosa rushed in as TC was moving to the girl's head to intubate.
"I think I found out what's wrong! I found farming tools in the truck and the kids' shoes caked in mud. I think it's pesticides, probably from a second job in a field," he told the three.
TC started pushing the tube in the girl's throat. "Pesticides. Vomiting, pulmonary edema, hearing loss, all points to organophosphate poisoning."
"Organophosphate is supposed to be banned," Topher said, looking at TC as he finished intubating and attached the bag.
"Her stats are not coming up," Ramirez interrupted.
"BP's down 65, she's crashing," Topher announced, rushing to grab a syringe.
"Ok we gotta go with this, she needs atropine. Ragosa, take that," TC ordered, handing the breathing bag to Ragosa. Topher came up to the girl's IV.
"IV's infiltrated," he said as TC pushed a syringe in. Nurse Ramirez had taken over the breathing bag.
"I need a spinal needle," TC told Ragosa.
"Michael," Topher said, handing him a tray after he handed TC the needle.
"Hold on, sweetie, stay with us," TC coaxed, "c'mon, c'mon." They shifted her slightly and TC swabbed an area of her stomach with iodine before pushing the needle in and injecting atropine.
They all watched the screens with bated breaths for a result.
"It's not working," Ragosa said, breathing hard. Topher and TC both held up hands indicating they should wait just a few more moments.
The machine started beeping regular stats again and everyone breathed a sign of relief. TC nodded.
"Yeah, there we go," he murmured, pulling the needle out and disposing of it in the box Topher was holding.
"Well, that was, uh," Ragosa breathed out, exchanging looks with TC as the doctor put his stethoscope in his ears.
"Great job," Topher told Ragosa as he moved to the other side of the girl. "Glad you've been studying."
"Yea," Ragosa mumbled, breathing hard.
"You okay?" Topher asked, pulling items out of a baggie kit.
"Yea, yea I just, uh," he started before Topher cut him off.
"You got rattled. It's okay. You wanna be a doctor, get used to it," he said as Ragosa looked at the back of his head. "Not something you can study for."
TC smoothed a hand over the girl's head as he listened to her breathing. They were all just glad things had turned for the better.
-Kayla-
The ER was abuzz with the life-saving actions of TC, Topher, and Ragosa—the one who pulled it all together. He had finally figured out what had been causing them all to get sick and the family was moved next to each other to recover. Kayla was pretty proud that he was becoming a better person and a better part of the lifesaving team.
There were only a few more minutes left of shift and then pancakes and bacon and hash browns would soon be in Kayla's grasp. That is, unless TC messed around with the others instead of getting his stuff to leave.
Kayla pulled her jacket off, shoving it in her backpack. With all the excitement from the night it smelled like vomit and antiseptic cleaners. Kayla's first rule of hanging out a hospital all night: always have at least two spare changes of clothes with you. She tossed her hair up in a bun, checking to see how she looked in the mirror after such a long night. Not too bad, but she'd definitely seen better days.
The teen pulled out her phone and noticed Wes was awake and had responded to her text.
'That's the win I was shooting for. See you tomorrow night?' Kayla bit her lip. TC had shifts the next three nights in a row. There was a possibility he could be convinced, but she was still nervous about getting him to let her hang out with Wes.
'I'll try to convince the warden, i mean, TC. Hopefully J' She slid her phone back into her pocket as TC came into the locker room to grab his stuff.
"There's one thing I have to take care of before we leave, but it should take maybe two minutes, max," he told his younger sister. Kayla sighed lightly, nodding in the mirror as she watched him rush to change shirts and run out the door again.
She swung her backpack onto her shoulder and walked out of the locker room. As she did, she saw Rick leaving the break room with a frown on his face. Normally, she would have gone and tried to find out what was wrong, but he didn't look to be in a talking mood.
TC walked by with a dog on a leash and Kayla did a double take, following a few moments later. When she walked outside, she saw Jordan with TC and the pooch. Jordan and TC were leaning in for a kiss and Kayla averted her eyes, awkwardly staring at the sky or the roof of the hospital or the parking lot. It was another couple minutes before TC jogged over, this time dog-less.
"You ready to eat?" he asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder as he put on his sunglasses.
"I've been ready since shift started," Kayla answered, putting a bit of an over-dramatic tone into her voice. TC chuckled and unlocked the rental car—he still wouldn't let her on Thad's bike with him. The ride to the diner was filled with two siblings singing terribly along with 80's classic rock. If anybody she knew—especially Wes—had seen the two, Kayla would have been mortified for life. But hey, there was no other person she enjoyed embarrassing herself with more than TC. Except maybe Wes. It was a close tie…
-.-.-.-.-.-
Wow, an update! An actual chapter update! I know you're all thinking it, I am too. Sorry it took so long. I explained in my Author's Note I posted a couple of days ago that I didn't realize it had been so long. I do hope you can forgive me. Pretty please?
Thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter (Eyes Look Your Last). I thanked y'all personally in my A/N and what I said then applies now. Your kind words mean everything to me and make this all the more worth it.
I also uploaded a new chapter to "Little Callahan" yesterday. It was a scene referenced in this story a couple chapters back (something about Top Gun?). I'm also a few hundred words into the first chapter for the One-shots I had previously talked about doing.
If you liked this chapter, don't forget to favorite and follow it! And, as always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! That's how I know what I can do better to make this story better!
xoxo
L