ER

ER

I do not own / am not associated with the NBC show The Black Donnellys in any way.

(Unfortunately...)

With Sean and Kevin back at the bar, Tommy was left standing alone in the hallway as the paramedics took Sarah into the ER. It was then that his body started to throb. From exhaustion and emotional drain, he collapsed to his knees on the floor.

"Tommy?" he heard a woman's voice call him and for a split second, in his delirium and pain he thought it was Sarah. "Tommy, is that you?" The voice came closer to him to reveal a young woman in bright purple scrubs and multicolored hair.

"Holly?" He breathed, barely able to lift his head to look at her, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh my God Tommy, what happened to you? Here lie down." In the middle of the hallway, she helped him to the floor. "Can I get some help over here?!" She called out to the doctor and male nurse standing just a few feet away from them. They immediately rushed over with a stretcher and all three of them hoisted him up onto it.

"Tommy, do you know what happened to you? Do you know where you are?" She held on to his arm as they led him to a private examination room.

"I'm fine, really, I just need to see Sarah," he tried to get up but she and the nurse held him back down.

"Sarah's here too? Tommy, what happened?" A look of fear spread across her face.

"I just need to see her!" He tried to get back up, fighting as hard as he could but with no avail.

"Son, just let us check you out and you'll be good to go," the doctor nodded.

"Tommy, this is Dr. Harris. Just let him check you out okay, and then you can see Sarah." She squeezed his hand reassuringly as the doctor looked him over.

"What are you doing here?" He finally rested his head back down on the stretcher.

"Sheehan's isn't the only job I have you know. I'm taking nursing and my placement was here," she nodded trying to keep his attention from the doctor. She could tell he didn't like them being so close to him. "I have to put myself through school somehow." He smiled a little then cringed as the nurse started to sew the stitches on the side of his abdomen.

"Why is Sarah here?" she leaned over and whispered to him. Without answering, he looked distinctly at the doctor who was busy working away at putting him back together. She nodded her head in understanding and straightened back up, waiting for the men to finish.

"There you go." Fifteen minutes later, the doctor snipped the last stitch on his shoulder. "Holly, would you take care of the paperwork for me please? I need to get back to the floor." He smiled at them both before leaving the room.

"Sure thing Dr. Harris. Thanks again." She smiled back as he shut the door behind him Tommy sat back up on the stretcher swinging his feet to the side. He looked himself over, checking out the stitches on his side, before putting his shirt back on properly.

"Okay Tommy, why is she here?" Holly stood up beside him.

"When can I see her?" He stood up, careful not to hurt the stitches.

Holly sighed figuring he wasn't going to give her an answer. "Whenever they're done with her, I don't know! But I'm going to have to call Mr. Sheehan Tommy; he needs to know Sarah's here." Holly shook her head with her hands on her hips.

"No! Wait..." he looked like he was trying to find something to say.

"What? I need to call him; he has been looking for her since she didn't show up for her shift this morning."

"He'll kill me if he sees me Holly, like literally kill me okay? He hates me."

"Did you give him a reason to?" She cocked her head to the side.

"No, he just hates me because I'm his daughter's boyfriend." He shook his head, "And I guess it doesn't help that I'm a Donnelly..." he straightened his clothing as much as he could with his limited movement.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Holly followed behind him as he hobbled out of the examination room.

"Look, I really can't explain it all right now. I just need to figure out what's going on with Sarah." He stopped, turning around to look at her. "Holly, please," his face softened so much she actually felt bad for him, not even knowing what was going on. "That's my girlfriend in there, you know? I love Sarah more than I even knew I did." He took a deep breath as she stared up at him. "I just need to know if she's going to be okay."

Holly looked around for doubtfully for a moment then back up at Tommy who had his hands on her shoulders.

"Okay, okay, I can probably find out what's going on but I don't know how long she's going to be in there," she shook her head defeated.

"Thank you Holly," he held her to him tightly. Now she knew why Sarah was with him, he definitely knew how to hold a woman.

"Okay, okay, before you pop Dr. Harris' stitches..." she pushed herself away before she got lost in those arms. She turned away and walked into the ER, staying off to the side. It was only about five minutes she was in there, when Mr. Sheehan came from what seemed like no where and punched him square in the face knocking him to the ground.

"You rat bastard! You little shite!" He kicked Tommy as he tried to get back up. "I'll kill you!" Turning from the ER Holly came running out to meet them, along with three security guards from down the hall.

"I told her you were nothing but trash! I told her you were going to get her hurt, and now she's here! I'll kill you!" He struggled against the security guards holding him back from kicking Tommy who was still on the ground.

Tommy thought to himself how Nicky must have thought of all of this, which is why they didn't kill him after beating him almost to death. There would be enough other people to try and do that for him. Holly helped him, coughing and panting up off the ground.

"That is my daughter in there, mine! My whole world you had displayed unconcious and out on the street you bastard!" He continued to fight the guards.

"You're not the only one who loves her Bryan!" Tommy checked his lip to find it bleeding again.

"But I'm the only one allowed now aren't I?" He stopped fighting the guards and shook them off. "I had to hear it from one of my customers that my little girl was dumped outside your bar, looking like a punching bag someone went to town on. Do you know what that's like? To hear that kind of thing from a complete stranger and to not have been able to do anything about it? Of course you don't. You have absolutely no respect for anyone or anything, you and the lot of you." He growled so fiercely Holly had goose bumps all over her body.

"By God Tommy Donnelly, if I catch you near my Babby again, I will kill you." He stared Tommy down before walking past him and standing outside the ER door, looking in on his daughter.

Holly looked back at Tommy who just stood in place looking angry and hurt and ashamed all at he same time.

"Come on Tommy," Holly took him by the arm, let's go fill out that paperwork okay?" She smiled up at him. He looked at her with the deepest, saddest eyes she had ever seen on any man. "Come on."

Once they were out of sight, she pulled him to the side of the hall. "Listen, Tommy."

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen to Sarah you know, I was actually trying to keep her away from all this mess."

"Tommy, listen to me!" His head jerked up to look at her, as if he hadn't known she was there. "If she's bad and she's put in ICU tonight, Mr. Sheehan won't be able to stay in there tonight. He'll have t wait outside the room."

"How's that, she's her father?"

"If I know the resident here in the ER, he'll ask him to wait outside the first night. He'll want fully check her out incase it's a family sexual assault thing."

"Holly, no way was it like that and you know that!" He looked dead at her.

"Shhh, keep your voice down. I know Mr. Sheehan would never in his lifetime do anything like that but he'll keep her in there anyway. He's seen things like that before." Tommy just shook his head at her. Never in a million years.

"What are getting at with all of this Holly?" He rubbed his sore ribcage.

"Come back tonight at around two a.m. Meet me back around the loading dock in the paternity word, I'll let you in to see her. I'll know what happened by then"

"Yeah?" He half smiled.

"Just be here okay, I could be kicked out of school for this." She looked around then began to walk slowly towards the receptionist at the entrance to the ER.

"Thank you," he pulled her close with one arm and kissed her forehead, bumping his split lip as he did. "Damn it!" He put his hand up to it. "Thank you so much Holly," he smiled anyway.

"All right, okay, just fill these out for me," she discretely slid him the clipboard. When he wet to fill it out he saw it was just a piece of paper with her number on it. "Call me or text me when you get here, I'll come and let you in," she whispered. "Okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Holly, I'll see you at two," he put the paper into his pocket and left the hospital.