Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or any of the characters in this story.
A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)
Ch.11 Unfortunate Gathering
"You're stuck here till tomorrow aren't you love?" Spencer asked as Dana put her shoes on.
"Yeah. What time do you get off?" She asked him.
"Nine in the morning the day after tomorrow." He told her.
"I'm covering the pit tonight." Dana informed referring to the emergency room.
"Me too." He answered with a smile
"Hopefully things are slow." Dana said, and it want because she didn't want to work but because she rather not have people hurt for once.
"Yeah, I'll see you later then." Spencer said leaving the room. Dana worked all day and then headed to the emergency room later that night. It had been a slow night for the most part.
"Mitchell we have incoming I need three doctors." One of the attendings ordered.
"Where's Larne." Lucy the attending asked one of the nurses who came out to the ambulance area.
"I've paged him. He's on his way." One of the nurses answered.
"Ok. We have three incoming firefighters." Lucy told Dana as one of the ambulences arrived. Lucy took the first patient.
"What do we have?" Lucy asked the EMT.
"Shattered wrist, smoke inhalation, 3rd degree burns." He said as they lead the women in the stretcher away. The next ambulance arrived within seconds and Dana rushed forward.
"Skull fracture, 2nd degree burns, and sever smoke inhalation." The EMT said not wating to be asked. Dana looked at the man on the gurney and was shocked to see her old friends face.
"Michael?" she whispered the man only managed to groan.
"I've got this one take the next one." Spencer said taking over. Dana let him take her friend and thought back to the last time she'd seen him. He'd come to visit her in the hospital, and had been the only person capable of making her laugh. She had always liked him and he was one of Carters best friends at the station. She pushed all her thoughts away as the next ambulance arrived.
"What do you have?" Dana asked as the unloaded the last person.
"Head injuries, 1st degree burns and sever smoke inhalation." The EMT said. Dana looked down at the unconscious man in the gurney and was momentarily stunned. She recognized the face even if it was completely covered in soot.
"Carter." She said, and quickly went into professional mode.
"Get an MRI sat, keep that oxygen mask on!" Dana told the nurse that was assisting her.
"What about the burns?" the nurse asked.
"Keep them clean, but I need that MRI now!" she said and he was rushed away allowing her surprise to return. Carters head felt fuzzy as he drifted in and out of consciousness. His shoulders and lungs felt like they were on fire, and he felt as if he was being suffocated.
"I need you to stay awake, but keep your eyes closed ok." A women's voice said and he managed to choke out an "ok"
He woke up in a room and his stomach felt like it was in knots, and top of that the ceiling kept spinning around him. He noticed that someone stood next to the bed and wondered if sitting would ease the spinning.
"Can I get up?" he choked pulling away the oxygen mask.
"Sure hunny, put you need to keep the mask on." An older woman in light blue scrubs answered.
"Is that better?" she asked once she had helped him up. He was glad that he had been given scrub pants instead of a gown even if meant he had to be shirtless, but then again that was also a good thing since his back kept stinging and he had no idea why.
"Yeah." His voice was raspy and his throat sore but at least the spinning had stopped, now to get his stomach to settle down would be the trick he thought as he waited. He took of his mask again and took in a deep breath that only had him gasping for air.
"Keep it on." The nurse said putting it on. "Doctor will be here in the minute." She told him leaving him in the room alone. He managed to feel better so long as he didn't move, the only thing left was the throbbing in his head and his throat. Dana stood outside the door and saw Carter was facing the opposite direction. Maybe she could just give the case to another doctor then he'd never know she was there; the only problem was there was no one else. The only thing that kept her from running in the other direction was the fact that she knew it was her responsibility to help him. She took a deep breath and mustered all her strength to go in.
She went in and stepped right in front of him placing the stethoscope on his bare chest. His eyes widen in complete disbelief as he stared at the girl in front of him, he was so stunned he couldn't say anything. Dana tried to focus on his beating heart and avoided looking at the blue eyes that were gawking at her.
"Dana!" he said as taking off his mask recovering from the shock.
"Put the mask on." She said trying to make her voice sound as calm as she possibly could.
"Your…Your back…When?...Did?" he stammered of out his voice only slightly raspy. His head had cleared up, but upon seeing her everything became a mess inside his thoughts.
"Put the mask back on." She said again putting a bit more force into her words.
"We need to talk." He finally said after coming back to his senses.
"I'm working." She answered still not meeting his gaze.
"Are you kidding me Dana!" he shouted getting Dana to look him in the eye for the first time since going into the room.
"The last time I saw you, you were on a hospital bed then you disappear for two years and the first thing you say to me is that you're working!" he shouted anger all over his voice. Carter throat was burning inside but he didn't care all he wanted was to get a real conversation out of her. She didn't answer and he started feeling as if the air was being sucked away and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get enough.
"Put the mask back on I'm not asking again." She warned. He gulped for air and tried to steady his breathing.
"Not until you say we'll talk." He said hoarsely in between gasps.
"Carter put it on!" she said shouting at him for the first time. She snatched the mask out of his hand and tried placing it on his face but even disoriented he was quick and caught her wrist before she could put it back on. His grip was strong and he wasn't letting her go.
"Say it." He managed and went into another coughing fit. She knew that he was stupid enough to choke to death unless she agreed.
"Fine! We'll talk." She said reluctantly. He released his hold on her wrist and she placed the mask back on his face, he grabbed her wrist when the mask was inches from his face.
"Promise?" he said.
"I promise." She said and forced the mask on his face.
"The results are in." the nurse said making Dana jump and pull her arm away from Carters grasp.
"Thank you." Dana said taking the MRI scans. The nurse started to coat the burns on his back with an ointment while Dana looked over the results.
"Concussion." Spencer said making Dana jump, she hadn't noticed him walk in. Carter took quick noticed of the way the stranger put his hand on Dana's lower back.
"Yes it's only mild though so that's good." She said still looking at the results.
"Doctor do you know how Michael is?" Carter asked making both of them turn to look at him.
"He has a linear skull fracture, some 2nd degree burns on his arm and smoke inhalation, but he's going to be ok." Spencer answered.
"Mask." Dana warned but Carter ignored her and continued on.
"Thank you." He said to Spencer.
"No problem. Now if you don't mind me asking how exactly did you burn a whole right through your shirt don't you wear gear?" Spencer asked lifting a burnt shirt with a huge hole in the back. Dana noticed the shirt for the first time and knew what Carter had most likely done to get the hole.
"You went in with out your jacket?" she asked irritated at him. Carter was a daredevil in many ways but she had always been worried that his stunts would get him trouble if he wasn't careful.
"Of course not." He told her offended that she would think that. "I took it off and gave it to Michael." He said after a moment.
"The mask." She said again, and this time he put back on since the air was beginning to escape him again.
"That's odd." Spencer mused as he looked at Carter's chart.
"What?" Dana asked concerned.
"His oxygen are a lot lower than his friend Michael's were." Spencer told her showing her the chart. Dana wondered how that was possible since they had been told Michael was in there without a mask and then she realized what Carter had done. She went over to were Carter was sitting and he looked at her surprised by her actions.
"You took off your mask! Are you trying to get yourself killed do you realize how stupid that was!" she shouted at him, angry that he had been so careless.
"He was suffocating" Carter said raising his voice a bit.
"You could have passed out in there!" she countered.
"I got out didn't I?" he shot back.
"Barely." She argued back.
"I was out a good ten seconds before the building came down!" he told her. Dana's eyes widen as she realized that he went in to a collapsing building, and he grimaced as he realized that she hadn't know about the building coming down.
"I was just kidding!"
"Are you insane!" they shouted at the same time.
"Do you two know each other?" Spencer said cutting into their argument.
"Yes." "No" they answered at once.
"He's Ryan's friend."
"Worked with her dad." They said simultaneously.
"We were on a team." They said together, Dana glared at Carter who just shrugged.
"Uh ok then." Spencer said.
"Mask." Dana said again. "Oh forget it!" she said and brought out the nasal tubes instead and attached them to the oxygen tank and then to Carter's face.
"The morphine you asked for Doctor Mitchell." The nurse said giving Dana the morphine.
"Morphine? Just use aspirin." Spencer told her. Dana shook her head as she went to Carters side.
"He has a high pain tolerance, but that also means that normal drugs are too weak when he is pain." Dana explained as she injected the morphine.
"Love can I have a word." Spencer said.
"Rebecca he's going to be drowsy, but keep awake for another 20 minutes and then he can go to sleep." Dana told the nurse and headed out.
"Yes." She said as she met Spencer in the hall.
"We're professionals first remember that Dana." He said and walked away. Dana sighed and then looked into the room where Carter was. She turned and left and kept herself busy working on her other patients avoiding going back to Carters room. Eventually she knew she had to go back into the room and check up on him. She went around three in the morning and hoped he'd be asleep.
"What are you doing?" she asked seeing Carter getting up from his bed.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said coldly and Dana caught him just as his legs gave out, and pushed him back into the bed.
"When are you going to learn that I want to know…"
"Who I save next not who I save last." Carter finished for her. He had heard this every time he done something she thought was crazy and dangerous to save someone. She gave him a small smile.
"Exactly." She said, looking into his beautiful blue eyes. They were so captivating all she could was stare into them. It was the first thing that she had noticed when they first met, he had been saving someone with his crazy stunt back then too she thought.
She could live and die in his eyes, and then she mentally slapped herself for thinking it, and then became very aware of how close they were to each other. He was still shirtless and he could feel the heat of his body, they were both holding each other's arms and an electric current seemed to be passing where there skin touched.
"We need to talk." Carter finally said shattering the moment, and that was enough for Dana to go back to being guarded.
"I'm going to take some blood so we can check your oxygen levels again." She said going to the other side of his bed. Carter was so frustrated how she could be so open one minute and then have an iron wall around her. He shook his head agitated by her attitude and closed his eyes until she had left the room.
E/N: So what do you think? Carter and Dana finally meet again. Please review and let me know how you like there little encounter. :)
