Sam felt his body lurch forward as his knees went through the ceiling tiles and he fell to the floor. He twisted at the last second and landed on his right side with a thump, dust floating down after him. His head hit the floor before he could get his arm all the way up to protect it and he was out cold.
"Holy sh-" Lucas exclaimed as he stared dumbfounded at the blonde man on the floor. Suddenly, everything went crazy as two men burst through the storage room door they'd tried to get through and a man and a woman burst through the front door. They were yelling commands at him but he just stared at them. He was in awe of what just happened. He came out of his stupor when a bald guy pointed his gun right in Lucas' face. He put his hands up.
"Good choice." Ed nodded, his voice gravelly with emotion. He saw Sam lying on the floor unconscious and was barely able to contain his anger.
"Sam?" Wordy knelt down next to Sam and checked for a pulse, it was strong. He could see the black and blue starting to form on the side of Sam's head where he must've hit it on the floor. "Get a medic in here!" He looked up panicked and called towards the front door. He put a hand lightly on Sam's arm. He leaned in. "Sam, don't move. Medics are coming."
"Memic?" Sam murmured. He took a breath and barely contained a groan. Shit he hurt all down his right side. He opened his eyes and locked with concerned brown ones.
"He's awake. Sam? Stay still. The medics are here and are taking you to the hospital." Jules looked at him. She could see the pain in his blue eyes and it shot a bolt through her heart. She didn't care that they weren't together, she still cared for him. If she was honest with herself, if he hurt she hurt.
The first medic knelt down next to the woman. "We've got him." He said gently. He watched as she stood and backed up into the young, dark haired officer. The officer then put his hands on her shoulders and was whispering quiet reassurances into her ear. It took them almost a half hour to get their patient ready to transport to the hospital.
Sam could hear and feel things happening around him, but they seemed to be at a distance. He could feel the pain med they gave him starting to work and the pain ease. Everything started getting fuzzy around the edges and he fought to keep his eyes open. He tried to lift his right arm up to wipe at his eyes, but that caused searing pain so he put it back on the gurney. Where is she? He saw her before, but she disappeared from sight. He lifted his left hand up as he felt himself start to move. "Jules." He whispered pleadingly. She was his light in the dark, his lifeline. She would help him.
"I'm here Sam." Jules stepped forward and took his outstretched left hand in hers. Her heart skipped a beat at the contact. Why can't things be easy for us, she thought as he looked at him and followed the gurney to the ambulance.
A moment later the meds took hold and Sam smiled. "Amboo ride?" He asked happily as the medic lifted the head of the bed slightly.
The medic looked at Jules with amusement.
She smiled at the medic. "You must've given him the good stuff."
"Is he allergic?" The medic's face fell and he asked with concern.
"No." She shook her head as she helped him get the gurney in the ambulance. "He's just really out of it when he has it so he says and does funny things."
"You comin'?" Sam lifted his brow, winced at a small bolt of pain and grinned at them, then looked past Jules and the medic to the concerned faces of his team. He used his left hand to wave emphatically and smile at them. "Be right back! Goin' for a ride!"
Spike looked at Wordy and Ed and bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Well, he's not in pain." He looked back at Sam and waved.
Jules hid a smile as she followed the medic into the ambulance. She sat down on the bench and took Sam's hand in hers as the medic checked Sam's vitals.
"Strap in. It's gonna be a BUMPY ride!" Sam said as he looked around the ambulance in anticipation.
"How are you feeling sir?" The medic asked.
"His name is Sam." Jules offered.
"But it's s secret." Sam answered, looking at the medic seriously. "You can't tell anyone. Otherwise," he looked at Jules, "my girlfriend will have to kill you."
Another stab to the heart. Jules looked away. She wished with all her heart that they could still be together, but they went through that already. They both had to move on. She looked at Sam. "We aren't dating Sam."
"No?" Sam asked innocently, feeling a pang of regret. He thought she was his. He tugged at the neck brace, not liking the restriction.
"Not any more." Jules said as gently as she could as she pulled his hand from his neck. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek but pulled it back when he put his hand over hers and tried to pull the base of her palm to his lips. She loved it when he kissed and nibbled that spot.
Sam frowned, but looked at the medic and smiled. He put his left hand up by his mouth and whispered. "I slept with her!"
"Samuel Winston Braddock!" Jules gasped then looked at him angrily.
The medic looked at Jules then back to Sam. "Lucky you." He smiled.
Jules looked at the medic with a danger in her eyes. "Change the subject oh so help me-"
"Right." The medic saw the fire in her eyes and realized he probably wouldn't survive "so help me" so he looked at Sam. "So what do you like to do for fun?"
Sam giggled and said softly, "her." He flinched when a punch landed on his left leg. "Ow. I'm gonna tell mommy on you." He pouted.
The medic tried hard to stifle his laugh but it didn't work and it came out as blast. "Ha!"
Jules gave him the stink eye again and turned to Sam. "You did a great job being our eyes Sam. We couldn't have done it without you."
"I needs to practice landing. Take off is easy, but landing without landing gear sucks." Sam shook his head slightly but winced and stilled.
"No practice until after you're off the pain meds." Jules warned.
With a chuckle Sam said, "landing without landing gear isn't landing at all."
"Ok. We're here Sam." The medic said and put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "You just relax ok? There's going to be people around you, talking to you and asking questions. You just answer as best you can."
Sam looked at the medic before he climbed out. "Questions the questions persons. Got it."
Jules laughed and climbed out of the ambulance. She followed the gurney into the hospital and stopped in the ER waiting room. She called after the medics, "make sure they put him in soft restraints. He'll hate it, but it's necessary."
The medic from the back of the ambulance looked at her and nodded. "Got it. Don't worry, he's in good hands."
Jules watched them disappear behind the swinging ER doors. She sighed, turned, walked to the uncomfortable orange plastic chairs and sat down. A few minutes later, Ed, Wordy and Spike walked into the ER.
Spike walked to Jules and sat next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded when she looked at him.
Wordy sat on the other side of Jules and put his hand on her shoulder too. He looked up at Ed who was pacing in front of them. He could see that Ed was trying to walk off his anger and guilt but it wasn't working. "Ed." He said softly.
"I shouldn't have let him stay up there. He didn't belong up there, damn it." Ed was taking gasping breaths as he paced. He put a hand over his mouth then let it drop and shook his head.
"It's not your fault Eddie, it's mine. I convinced the Boss to let him stay up there." Wordy shook his head.
"We all agreed." Spike added and looked between Wordy and Ed.
"Yes." Jules chimed in. "We all knew there was a risk that something might happen while he was up there, but we agreed. We share the guilt." She said with finality.
Ed stopped pacing and looked at her. He shook his head and continued pacing. "No. I'm the Team Leader. He's emotionally compromised and I should've-"
Wordy stood and stepped into Ed's way. Didn't he see that they all carried some piece of guilt? Why did he always take all of it? "Easy Ed. We all messed up, so we all shoulder this one." He put a hand on Ed's shoulder. When Ed started to protest, Wordy shook his head and smiled. "Not this time."
After a long pause and a sigh, Ed nodded. He agreed only a little with what Wordy was saying, but he pushed his guilt down for now.
A half hour later, Dr. McKenzie walked into the waiting room. "Sergeant Parker?"
Everyone turned at the accented voice. Greg smiled and put his hand out to the breath-taking redhead in front of him. "Yes. I'm Sergeant Parker."
After a moment, Wordy nudged Spike who immediately closed his mouth.
"I'm Doctor McKenzie. I'm taking care of Samuel Braddock. I wanted to come give you an update. First, the medics said that Mr. Braddock-"
"You can call him Sam." Jules interrupted.
"Ok, Sam." Dr. McKenzie nodded at Jules, a little peeved that she was so rudely interrupted. "The medics said Sam is a little, uh, out of it when he's on heavier sedatives so we have put him in soft restraints and are goin' to be tryin' a lower dose of pain meds. We'll see how he responds. Now, his injuries.
He broke two ribs and bruised several others so he's havin' a little trouble breathin'. That is our main worry. We don't want to, but we may have to be intubatin' him if it gets worse. He broke his humerus, the upper arm bone, close to the elbow joint. The orthopedic surgeon will be lookin' at that soon. He's bruised his hip and knee, but both seem to be ok. The X-ray tech is lookin' at those images now that we've confirmed his arm is broken. We'll be takin' him for a neck and spinal CT to make sure there's no injury there.
All in all, Sam is lucky. He may have saved his spine from any major damage because of the way he landed. I can allow only one of you in with him right now. I'll be back out after we have all of our tests back. I know this is a lot of information, but are there any questions?"
The team looked at each other. They were trying to take in all of the information, but they had an unanswered question they didn't dare ask.
Greg looked at the drawn and worried faces of his team, then looked at the gorgeous doctor in front of him. "Are any of his injuries, life threatening?" He tried to keep his voice steady but it was difficult.
Dr. McKenzie gave them all a reassuring smile. "Not unless his breathin' gets worse, but we be keepin' a close eye on that."
The group gave a great sigh of relief and looked at each other.
"Thank you doctor." Greg nodded. He loved her brogue. He turned to the others in askance.
"You go Boss. Give him our love." Jules smiled.
"Yeah but no kisses." Spike gave Jules a pointed look, then backed away when she tried to punch him. "Ok ok! Give him kisses." Spike laughed.
"I'll leave that to you Spike." Greg smiled. He turned and followed the doctor through the swinging door.
Spike watched the doctor's swinging hips until they disappeared. He was startled when Wordy leaned over and said, "not a bad view." Spike looked at Wordy and raised a brow. "Yeah. For me."
"Yeah, well my eyes may wander, but my heart belongs to my girls." Wordy put a hand over his heart and gave Spike an emotion filled look.
"That and Shelly would kick your butt." Spike laughed and put a hand on Wordy's shoulder.
"Well there's that." Wordy dropped his hand from his chest and laughed.
##### ER treatment room #####
"Hey Sam. How're you feeling?" Greg sat on the chair next to Sam's gurney.
Sam looked at Greg with frightened eyes. "I'll be good. Please can I get up?"
Greg's heart dropped at Sam's pleading voice. "You're good Sam. We're just keeping you safe. It's only for a little while ok? We need to get you fixed up first."
"Ok." Sam nodded as much as the neck collar would let him and looked at the boring ceiling. He blew out a breath over his lips making a funny noise. He smiled and kept doing it, liking the way it made his lips feel.
"So I guess you aren't in pain." Greg smiled.
"Nopey nope nope." Sam smiled. He pulled on the collar. He hated how restrictive it was. A nurse came in and he looked at her pleadingly. "Take this off now?"
She walked to the opposite side of the bed from Greg and put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Not yet sweetie. We're going to CT." She looked at Greg. "We'll be back." She unlocked the bed and made sure the IV bag was hanging from the a pole on the bed before she started rolling Sam out of the room.
"What's a CT?" Sam asked as his feet headed for the door.
"A CAT scan." The nurse smiled.
"No doggies allowed." Sam said seriously.