Author's notes: Hate me. It's alright because I hate myself. I really needed to have this up a whole lot sooner, but I couldn't find my spark to write. I love these characters too much to just toss something down and call it good, so I waited. (Hope you consider this decent enough writing…If not? So be it) Plus I misplaced the damn thumb drive - I know I need to save it in another place too.
I'm thinking two more chapters should have it done. Thanks for hanging in there!
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The two men carrying the stretcher that contained Sam were moving at the fastest pace they could. Before leaving the crash site they had immobilized his neck and started him on an I.V. and oxygen. With his stats looking as good as expected, they wanted to get him loaded into the helicopter as quickly as they could.
Jules followed along behind, she was carrying Sam's personal backpack. She had found it sitting next to his seat and since she didn't have anything to carry, she had decided to bring it along. Besides, she had told herself, he would want the contents back once he was out of the hospital.
The group made it into the clearing where the helicopter was waiting. The pilot jumped down and slid the side door open to allow the men access to load the stretcher. Once inside, the medics started working to secure the man.
"Get strapped in, we will be in the air in five minutes."
Jules moved to her seat and put her headset back on. "When will the other copter get here for the others?"
"The other copter had to go out on an emergency call; child with an allergic reaction to something. We'll get you dropped at the hospital and I'll refuel. I should be back within ninety minutes, two tops." The pilot informed her. "
The aircraft rose from the ground and began the trip back. Jules looked at her boyfriend and sent him a silent plea, "Hold on Sam, I'm here and I love you."
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Greg watched as the medic looked over Spike. He had so many emotions swirling around in him; anger, relief and concern. The damage to Spike's face spoke of the vicious beating he had received at the hands of Javier.
"I think I've got you ready to move." The medic told Spike. "If we go slow do you think you can walk?"
"Yeah. I don't want to be any trouble."
"Spike, it's not a question of your being trouble. Are you up to it? Because if not, I'm prepared to strap you to my back and carry you." Greg's tone was serious.
"Copy boss. I'm alright. A little dizzy." Spike shook his head slightly. "Please don't tell Ed I admitted to that."
"Secret is safe with me buddy."
The medic and Greg both reached down and helped Spike up to his feet. A sharp intake of air was the only indication of the pain the man was feeling.
"Spike, are you alright?" The medic inquired.
"Ribs."
"Let's get them wrapped. Greg, help me move him over here and I'll bind them up." The medic indicated the wing that was at a perfect level to sit the injured man on.
Opening the Spike's jacket and pulling his shirt up, the medic whistled low, "I don't think I've seen colors like this since a paint truck hit a moose."
"Don't make me laugh." Spike hissed as the man began wrapping an ace bandage around his torso. "It is really hard to breath."
"I can imagine. Let me feel your abdomen again." The medic frowned slightly. "I didn't feel anything but, I don't like this bruising on your sides. Let's get back to the clearing. They should be sending the second copter to pick us up." He glanced at Greg and gave a quick head nod in the direction of the plane. "Greg, can you give me a hand? I think we left some equipment inside. We'll be right out Spike."
Greg followed the medic into the plane. He knew that there was no equipment inside that needed retrieval. "What's wrong?"
"Spike might be bleeding internally. That bruising on his side might be caused by a slow bleed from somewhere."
"From where?"
"I can't be sure, but in looking at the amount of damage to his body it wouldn't surprise me if it's his liver or spleen. Upper body trauma."
"Is he going to be alright to walk?"
"I think that the faster we get back to the landing site, the better it will be. We will definitely make better time with him walking. If we need to, we can carry him. I think he will be the best judge of that."
Greg's face was grim as he reviewed the situation. "I suppose you are right. Let's get moving. I want him on a copter and out as quickly as possible."
"Agreed."
The men walked out of the plane and over to where they had left Spike. The injured man was sitting quietly, eyes closed and his free arm was protecting his ribs.
"You ready to get out of here Spike?" Greg put a cheerful tone into his voice.
"I don't know, I made some nice personal touches here and it has been growing on me."
"Spike, if you've got energy to joke, you've got energy to walk. Let's get going." Greg teased the younger man.
Spike rose from the plane wing and the three men made their way back towards the landing site.
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The helicopter went immediately to the regional hospital that was located in Fort Hope. As soon as they landed, the emergency room crew rushed out to off-load the injured man. Jules untangled herself from the seatbelt and headphones and followed behind.
Once inside, a nurse stopped Jules. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you into the treatment room."
"But he's my…" Jules stopped short. What role was she currently acting on? "He's my boyfriend."
"I understand, but the doctors need room to work. Let's go over and I'll get some information from you. I promise, as soon as they know something I will pass it along to you."
Jules glanced back in the direction that they had taken Sam. "Alright."
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Donna hung up the phone and looked at the members of her team, their faces etched with the worry over their missing colleagues. She smiled lightly at Winnie Camden. Donna knew that Winnie had been at the station almost around the clock and the stress and lack of sleep were beginning to take their toll. Silent tears trickled down Winnie's face as she waited for the update.
"They have found Sam and Spike."
Everyone held their breath as they waited to hear the condition in which the men had been found.
"Sam has been flown into the hospital, according to Ed; Sam has a very serious head injury."
Winnie wanted to shout out, "What about Spike!" But she stayed quiet, knowing that Donna would tell them everything she knew.
"Spike was also injured, but they felt that he was stable enough to allow them to get Sam out fast. The rescue team is going right back for them."
Turning shakily, Winnie walked over to the nearest chair and sat down slowly. The tears of worry had now been replaced with tears of gratitude. She put her head in her hands and let them flow.
Donna walked over and placed a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder. "They are going to be fine. Winnie, you've been here for long enough. I'm going to have one of the guys drive you home."
"I'm fine." Winnie looked up at the leader of team three.
"You're tired and this has been a real emotional case for you. I wouldn't want something happening to you on the way home."
"Thanks. I'll go grab my bag."
"No problem. Jeff," Donna called over to one of the members of team three. "I want you to run Winnie home."
"Sure thing Boss."
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Jules was sitting in the waiting room when Ed, Wordy and Lou came in. "He's in surgery right now."
"What did the doctor say?" Ed crossed the room to sit next to her.
"There was a head injury that was causing a buildup of pressure. They are going to but in a catheter to drain some of the fluid off."
"Did they think that he's going to be alright?" Wordy inquired.
"The doctor wouldn't give me any percentages, but I'm really worried. If we were back home, there would be a team of surgeons that could do this. Up here I'm sure that this doctor doesn't see this type of injury very often."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Replied Ed. "It's rough country around here and I'm sure there are more injuries than we would imagine."
"Besides Jules," Lou sat on the other side of his friend. "Think how often you've told Sam that his skull is too thick. This will be the time when it's a good thing."
"Has someone called his parents?" Jules suddenly struck by the realization that others were waiting to hear about the status of the injured officer.
"Already taken care of." Wordy reassured her. "Ed also called back to the barn and let the others know that we found them."
"How soon until the copter gets back with Spike?" Jules asked.
"They were going to refuel and fly out again. They thought it would be at least an hour or so before they would be back." Ed answered and looked at his watch. "Hopefully they should be on their way back already to pick up Spike."
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The rescue medic could see that the young man's strength was beginning to wane; the pace they had set at the onset of the walk back to the landing area had continued to slow. It would be another half mile before they would reach the clearing where the helicopter had sat down. He hadn't heard the sound of aircraft returning and that was also a concern. If Spike was bleeding internally it would be imperative to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.
"Need a break."
The ragged breath of the injured man was loud in the quiet of the woods. The older man had moved up to help provide support as they walked back along the path they had broken on the way in.
"Sure Spike." Greg braced himself to help support his friend. "You just let me know when you think you are ready to start again."
Spike was quiet, save for the harsh sounds of his respiration's.
"Are you doing alright buddy?" Greg knew that the young man would keep going until he dropped.
Nodding slightly, Spike took a deep breath that caused a look of pain to flash across his face. "Just have a catch in my side."
The medic glanced at his watch to see how long it had been since they had started their walk. "We've been going pretty hard for the last forty minutes. If you think you can make it for another ten we should be close to the place where they will pick us up."
"I'm good. Let's go." Spike wasn't able to mask the pain that filled his voice.
"Are you sure?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, once I sit down I'm not getting back up."
"Sure thing. Let's go then." Greg started forward with the younger man leaning heavily upon him.
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"What kind of hold up?" Ed barked into the phone. "No, I understand, but how long do you think it will be?" The scowl on his face deepened. "Alright, call me as soon as they are in the air."
He turned back towards the waiting room and looked at the curious faces meeting his. A call from the local constabulary had informed him that the helicopter had returned to the airport to refuel; however once it had fueled a warning light had indicated that there might be a mechanical problem. The second aircraft was in the process of returning, but was still far enough out that it was going to be a while before they could count on using it.
"What was that all about Ed?" Wordy could tell from his leader's face that something bad had happened.
"The helicopter can't go get Boss and Spike yet."
"What!" Lou was up on his feet in an instant. "Jules said that Spike was injured too."
Holding up his hands to indicate they should calm down, Ed continued. "I understand the concern, hell I'm worried too. They are going to get them as soon as they can safely. It won't do any good for the copter to go down while trying to rescue them."
"Spike was so beat up." Jules spoke with a shaky voice. "But, he didn't seem to have any injury that seemed life threatening. They wouldn't have left him if he did."
"That's right." Ed reassured the others. "Besides the Boss is with him and another medic. They'll be here before we know it."
Lou sat down and picked up the magazine he had been blindly flipping through. "I hope you're right."
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They had arrived at the landing site not a moment too soon. Spike had reached the end of his endurance. The medic shook out an emergency blanket and set it on the ground to help protect Spike from the cold ground. Greg helped his friend lower himself down.
"Let's get you comfortable." Greg fussed with the blanket, anxious to do something that might bring his friend a measure of relief.
"Bed would be good." Spike gritted his teeth against the pain.
"Remember that when you are clamoring for your discharge papers." Greg placed a reassuring hand on Spike's shoulder and then stood. Seeing the medic standing looking at the empty sky, Greg walked over to join him. "I would have thought they would be back by now."
"Should be, but there are a million things that could have held them up."
"Spike seems to be doing alright for now."
"He is, but I'm really worried that he might still be bleeding internally. We will need to keep an eye out for shock. Keeping him warm will be the biggest problem right now. Walking kept him warm, but now sitting out here he will start cooling down."
"Could we start a fire?"
"Finding dry, dead wood would be a real chore with the snow that's already on the ground. I think if we don't see the copter coming back in the next half hour, then we start thinking about what to do next."
"I'll start working on the wood. I'd rather be prepared and not need it."
"Agreed. I'll head back into the woods a ways. I thought I saw some on our way out." The medic stopped to check on Spike before he left. "How are you feeling?"
"Lots of pain in my lower back and side." Spike admitted.
"Hold tight. They should be back real soon." The medic looked to the sky again and thought to himself, "I hope."
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"Jeff?" Winnie inquired from the passenger seat of the black suv. "Would you drop me off at Spike's parents instead?"
"Sure, what's the address?"
Winnie gave the address and sat back to mindlessly watch the scenery pass. She had called the older couple after Donna's announcement. They had already received a call from the department about their son being found, but Winnie could hear the anxiety in the woman's voice.
Pulling up outside an older two story home, Winnie pulled her bag out of the back and thanked Jeff for the ride. She then shouldered the bag and headed for the door. She had no sooner knocked on the door when Mrs. Scarlatti opened the door.
"Winnie! Thank you for coming over. I told Dominic that you were coming to sit with us." She pushed the door open and the aroma of zesty cooking filled the air. "I made a little something for us to eat. You are so thin, you haven't been eating."
Entering the house, Winnie sat her bag down and waited for the opportunity to get a word in. Spike's mother was always talkative and now with her worries about her son, she chattered on without seeming to pause to breath.
"Plus I thought there would be left overs so when Michelangelo gets home there will be something for him to eat." She moved Winnie further into the house, to the living room. Dominic Scarlatti stood as the women entered.
"Hello Winnie."
"Mr. Scarlatti."
"No, just Dominic." He waged a finger at her. "No need to make me feel older than I do already."
"Sorry." Winnie sat down on the couch, knowing that he would stand until she did. "Have you heard any more?"
"No." Dominic's tone was angry. "The department said that the boys were found and they were alive, but nothing more. Not even when our Michelangelo will be coming home."
"Grazie a Dio egli è sicuro." Mrs. Scarlatti crossed herself as she gave thanks to God. "Michelangelo's job is so dangerous, but we never thought that it would be something like this."
"Ah," Dominic waved his hand in a disgusted manner. "He takes too many risks. He should work in a laboratory like his brother. Benito has offered to find Michelangelo a job, but does he take his brother up on this gracious offer. No, he says he likes protecting others. As the youngest, his place is here, with his family. Not flying to the wilderness."
Winnie knew that this was a point of contention with her friend and his family. As the youngest of five, Spike felt obligated to live with his parents; especially since his sisters and brother all were older and married. She knew if she couldn't get the subject changed, she would be hearing more of Dominic's complaints about his youngest child's chosen profession.
"Papa!" Mrs. Scarlatti chastised her husband. "Winnie doesn't want to hear this. Are you hungry Winnie?"
Not wanting to disappoint the woman who equated food with love, Winnie smiled gently. "I've been so worried I haven't felt like eating much, but I could eat some."
"Good, come with me to the kitchen and I'll get you a plate. I was telling Michelangelo the other day that we hadn't seen you or Lewis lately. That Lewis is such a nice young man. Both him and Michelangelo should find nice girls and settle down, start a family." She gave a sideways glance at Winnie.
"So what is that delicious smell?" Winnie ignored the look and steered the direction back to a more comfortable one. She would plan on staying with the couple until they knew for sure that Spike was safe.
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Spike could feel the cold radiating from below him, but he felt as if he were past caring. The pain was coming in waves and all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and sleep.
"How are you doing?" The medic knelt down by the injured man and started a new assessment of the man's condition. From the lowered respiration rate and the fast, thread pulse, the medic knew that shock was setting in. The golden hour of optimal rescue has long since passed and he knew that each passing minute was only increasing the likelihood of additional complications.
"Hurts." Spike could barely get out the single word without cringing with pain.
"I wish I had something to give you, but without a doctor's approval I can't do much Besides, they took the drug bag when they took your friend. Hang in there and we will be leaving soon."
"Said that before."
"You're right, but the copter seems to be taking a little longer to return than I had hoped."
"Sleep."
"Just rest, we are going to start a nice, roaring fire and let you sit around it. Maybe we can roast some marshmallows."
"No singing."
"You got it Spike. I'll be right back, I'm going to help Sergeant Parker with some more wood."
Spike didn't answer and closed his eyes. His breathing was very uneven and for a moment, the medic was worried that the young man had stopped breathing. But a painful sounding inhale indicated that he was still fighting to breathe on his own.
Greg came over pulling a large dead branch. "I wish I had a chainsaw. Never ran one, but I'd take one now."
"I know what you mean. I wasn't cut out for being a lumberjack."
The two men set about building a fire using the dead wood they had collected. It wasn't long before they had a small flame licking at the dry wood.
"Warming him up should help. Right?" Greg inquired.
"It will help. I just wish I had the drug kit with us so that I could start an IV. It would go a long way to helping him, he's getting shockier all the time."
"They should have been back already." Greg's tone was angry.
"There will be a good reason for them not being back, it's not like they are stopping at Timmie's for a cuppa."
"I know. I'm just worried."
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The pilot looked at the mechanic with a look of disgust. "We've got an injured man waiting for transport and you're telling me that the problem could have been solved forty-five minutes ago!"
"Yeah, if I was a psychic. The checklist for this problem is specific. We go through it in the same order to make sure that the problem is taken care of. For all I knew it could have been the first thing on the list or the last."
"But it was just a fucking fuse!"
"It's replaced now. If you are so damn anxious to get in the air, run your pre-flight checks and stop bitching at me." The mechanic snapped and turned to leave the hanger.
"Strap in," the pilot spoke to the medics flying with him. "We're going to haul balls."
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"The family of Sam Braddock?"
The group looked up as a woman in surgical scrubs stepped into the waiting room. Jules felt her legs go weak and she looked at her friends around her.
"We're his teammates." Ed spoke as he stood, waiting for the woman to close the distance between.
"No family?"
"We're his family." Ed's look was firm.
"I wanted to let you know that he is out of surgery and the surgeon will be out shortly to speak with you. I can tell you that his vitals are very strong and we will be moving him up to intensive care as soon as we can."
"Thank you." Ed was polite and gave her a small smile. "That's very good news. We've been pretty worried about him."
"I'm sure you have. Once he is in ICU, we will have to limit the visitors."
"Understood. Thank you again."
The nurse nodded and returned the way she had come.
There was a collective sigh of relief as the members of Team One began to quietly celebrate the good news about Sam.
"I wish they would get here with Spike." Jules remarked. "How long has it been?"
"About three hours since they took Sam into surgery. Didn't you say that it looked like Spike was doing o.k.? I'm sure that they will be in soon." Ed sat back down next to Jules. "It's like you said before, if they thought his injuries were serious, they would have brought both him and Sam."
"Don't worry Jules, besides knowing Spike, he'll use this to get back at Sam." Lou imitated his friend, "Samtastic, I walked back to civilization with one leg chewed off by a polar bear just so you could fly back in style."
The others smiled at the thought of Spike rubbing it in to get a rise out of Sam.
"You're right Lou. Spike will probably milk this for a month of Timmies." Jules found that her hands had stopped shaking, the knowledge that Sam was doing fine had calmed her.
A short, balding man entered the room. " "Family" of Braddock I assume." He pulled up a chair and sat down to go over the details with the group. Occasionally stopping to answer a question, he tried to give them all the information he could. "So, I would expect that barring any complications, we can expect Constable Braddock to be awake in several hours. I have a CAT scan scheduled for him tomorrow and we can see if the fluid has been reduced. I can't say for sure, but I think looking at the first scan we did, I wouldn't expect any lasting damage."
"Oh, thank God." Jules said and the tears sprang to her eyes. Lou placed a comforting hand on her back, as did Ed. "When can I see him?"
"Once ICU has him settled you should be able to go up. I should warn you however, we did shave his hair."
"He's ex-military, so it's a look he's had before." Jules reassured the doctor.
"He'll look like you Ed or the Boss." Lou teased. "And you too Wordy. Damn, Spike and I will be the only two guys on Team One with hair."
"God only made so many perfect heads", Wordy spoke seriously. "The rest he put hair on."
The doctor stood and rubbed his own barren scalp. "I would have to agree with you. It was nice meeting all of you. I can see that Sam will be in good hands."
The doctor left and the others relaxed back into their seats. Wordy pulled out his phone to text Shelly and Lou picked up his magazine.
Ed's phone began to ring. "Good timing." He stood and answered it. "Ed Lane." He looked at his co-workers and gave them the thumbs up. "That's good news. Thanks. Let me know when you are back in radio contact."
Putting the phone back into his pocket, Ed reassured the others. "They are on their way to get Spike and the Boss."
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"His blood pressure is dropping. Let's get his feet elevated and see if that will help a little." The medic slid his pack under Spike's legs.
"What can I do?" Greg was crouched down close to the young man.
"Keep a close eye on his breathing; I know it's getting harder for him to breath. Try to keep him calm, I know he seems really out of it, but your voice will help."
"Hang on with me Spike." Greg firmly gripped the hand of Spike. "Just stay with me."