Chapter 21
Dr. Knight placed the paddles on Ryan's chest one more time, then triggered the machine.
Everyone looked at the heart monitor, holding their breath.
"Normal sinus rhythm," a nurse reported, relief flooding her voice. "He's back."
Alexx let out a shaky breath. That's it, baby, she thought to him. Stay with us, now. Stay tough.
"Someone find that damn bleeder and tie it off!" Dr. Knight barked. "And get surgery down here to take this guy up!"
Alexx looked at the door. The CSI team was still watching intently like four statues. Alexx caught Horatio's eye and nodded.
He nodded back.
(+)
"Joanie, I need more suction, I can't see a damn thing in here."
"We're getting down to where the glass shard is. I think I see it…"
"Dr. Bell, his sats are dropping."
"Squeeze in two more units."
"We're out."
"Well, call the blood bank and get some more! Sean, can you see the glass fragment?"
"Yes, I think I… Oh, God."
"What is it? More suction, Joanie!"
"The glass… It's lodged in his inferior vena cava."
"What?"
"We have to be quick, Harry. Once we pull it out, he could bleed out if we don't clamp it immediately."
"Damn it…"
"Everyone, get ready. This is gonna get really messy."
"Make that four more units from the blood bank, Sarah! Before we do this, let's check, Sean."
"Three of the wounds were minor, nothing major hit. Two punctured his kidney, sewed that up and we shouldn't have to remove it. One perforated his renal artery, but we got it under control. That's all of them, right?"
"Now we just have this mother to deal with…"
"It'll be okay, he's young and strong."
"Yeah, and he's been bleeding out for two hours!"
"Calm down, Harry! I need you here. We can do this. Okay?"
"…Okay."
"Okay. Give me the clamp. On my count, you remove the glass."
"...I'm ready."
"One…two…three!"
"Whoa!"
"Damn it, damn it! Suction!"
"Oh, my God…"
"I got my hand on it… Damn, I can't see anything."
"BP's down to 70/40, pulse 200!"
"We're losing him!"
"V-tach!"
"Charge the paddles!"
"Almost got it… Got it clamped, go!"
"Clear!"
"Still in v-tach!"
"Charge again. Clear!"
"Asystole!"
"God damn it, come on! Starting chest compressions, run in 5 mgs atropine!"
"Shocking again. Clear!"
"Still no pulse, resuming compressions."
"There're a lot of people here for this guy. They're out in chairs. Someone should go talk to them, prepare them...?"
"I'll do it."
"You want epi?"
"Yeah, 5 mgs."
"I still got nothing on the monitor. Flat-line."
"Sean..."
"Come on, give the epi a chance to work!"
"He's gone, Sean..."
"Don't give up yet, Harry. A few more minutes..."
"He was dead before they gave him to us, Sean."
"...Harry, he's a cop."
"... All right, one more round of epi, 5 mgs. Charge the paddles again."
"There. The vena cava's closed up. I'm taking the clamp off."
"Clear!"
(+)
Ryan opened his eyes.
He was lying on a rather comfortable hospital bed. Outside the window, the sky was the grey-tinged blue of just before dawn. The lights were off in this room, but there were plenty of lights on in the hallway.
How did he get here? Why was he here? And where was everybody else?
Ryan sat up in bed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, placing his bare feet on the cool tile floor. He stood and walked to the door.
There was no one in the hallway, but he suddenly heard a phone ring to his left. He padded quickly that way, his bare feet making no noise on the floor.
He came to what must have been a waiting room. It was empty, save for a small group of people sitting near the window.
It was his team.
A wave of relief washed over Ryan. They hadn't left him alone, they were just waiting. He walked toward them, but they didn't seem to notice him approaching.
Two people suddenly exited the elevator and walked toward the team. It was Calleigh and Eric. Calleigh hugged Alexx.
"How is he?" Calleigh asked. "We got here as soon as we could, it took the night-shift people forever to come cover me at the scene."
Alexx tried to smile at her, but her chin quivered and tears were in her eyes. "He's fighting, honey."
Ryan frowned. Who was hurt? He quickly scanned the group. Everyone seemed to be there, except Tripp. Was he okay?
The elevator opened again and Tripp stepped off, looking as if he'd just woken up. "Thanks for calling me," Tripp said. "What's going on?"
"He's still in surgery, Frank," Horatio answered quietly.
"How bad is it?" Tripp asked.
The silence was enough of an answer.
Now Ryan was scared. Surgery? He didn't understand. He didn't remember anyone from CSI getting hurt bad enough to need surgery. What was going on here?
Ryan looked around at the team, panic rising in his chest. His eyes suddenly found Walter.
His friend looked terrible. He was exhausted and shaky, his head in his hands as he sat between Jesse and Natalia. His neck was bruised. There was blood all over his pants and shirt.
Ryan's thudded painfully in his chest, something in his mind clicking.
A doctor in surgeon scrubs suddenly came into view from behind a door across the room. A sign over it said "Authorized Personnel Only."
He pulled his bloodstained gloves off and tossed them in a biohazard trash can. He had a grim look on his face as he slowly walked toward the team. They all watched him approach warily.
"I'm Dr. Barnes, I'm with the team working on your colleague now, Officers," he said.
"How is he?" Eric asked tensely.
Ryan noticed only Walter wasn't watching the doctor, his head still in his hands.
The doctor took a deep breath, as if carefully choosing his next words. "We were able to suture most of the lacerations. Six of the seven were reparable."
He paused.
Natalia looked nauseous. "And the seventh?" she asked quietly.
He sighed. "That was the one with the glass fragment still in it. It lodged in his inferior vena cava, the large vein in the abdomen. The glass blocked most of the bleeding, but when we pulled it out... he started bleeding out and his heart stopped."
Calleigh put her hands over her mouth and leaned against Eric. He put his arm around her, his face like stone.
"We're shocking him and giving him intravenous medicine, trying to get it going again. But I have to warn you, the likelihood of that is very low. Right now, he has about a 90% chance of mortality."
"Oh, God," Jesse whispered.
Alexx turned away from the doctor, tears pouring down her face as she put a hand over her mouth.
"We're doing everything we can," he said somberly. "I have to go now, but I will come back as soon as I know something, okay?"
"Thank you, Doctor," Horatio said tightly.
Dr. Barnes nodded and walked away.
Ryan stood there, his mouth gone completely dry. It couldn't be...
Was he dead?
Everything suddenly came crashing back to him. An explosion, darkness, blindness, a thunderstorm, an attack, pain, choking, falling, bleeding, dying...
Holy shit, I'm dead!
"I remember this case five years ago," Calleigh suddenly said quietly. Everyone looked at her. "There was a shooting in the emergency room between some gang bangers? There was this young mother and her baby girl there. Ryan took care of them, especially the baby. He was so sweet with them. Even when the mother turned out to be the nanny that had kidnapped her from a neglectful mom. He took care of that baby as if she was his own."
Those members of the team that had been around back then smiled, remembering. Eric kissed Calleigh's head and rubbed her arm soothingly.
Ryan looked around at all the faces. They were all sad, frightened.
Natalia looked ready to throw up and Jesse looked ready to kill someone. Calleigh and Eric held each other close, as a single tear dripped down her face and he tried to stay strong for the both of them. Tripp's face was confused, as if he couldn't understand why or how this was all happening. Alexx kept her back turned to everyone else, hiding her face as she fought to stem the flow of tears from her brown eyes.
Horatio stood like a statue, his face unreadable. He stood with his team, and yet he was apart from them. Ryan remembered everything Horatio had done for him, from giving him the job he loved so much to putting everything on the line to help him keep it. He was like a father to Ryan. And judging by the look in Horatio's tormented blue eyes, Ryan got the feeling that it was mutual.
Walter looked like all he wanted was to crawl into a dark hole and die. Ryan's heart broke at the sight of it. He knew that no matter what anyone else tried to tell him, Walter would always blame himself for Ryan's death. Ryan couldn't bear to think of his friend living like that. It would destroy him.
Ryan couldn't let that happen.
He was still needed. His team, his family, needed him. Future victims needed him. His friends needed him. He wasn't done yet!
I'm not ready to die!