Rick carefully slotted Kate into the front seat and belted her, closing her door softly, before going round to the trunk.

He quickly threw the Alexis named "Surprise Snow Survival Set" out of its clear tub, and into the trunk, bringing the tub with him as he rounded the car, and got into the driver's side.

"Kate? I'm gonna put this on your lap, and if you need to be sick, I want you to try and aim for that for me, okay?" Rick asked slowly, gently sliding the middle sized tub onto her lap.

Kate didn't say a word, but one of her hands wrapped around the edge, and Rick took that for his answer.

He quickly strapped himself in and started the car. "I'm gonna drive fast, and I'm sorry, but I'll be safe, and I promise that I'm not gonna let anything happen." He rambled as he mirror-signal-manoeuvred out into the road, putting his foot down just a little more than he would on a casual trip, in order to get them there fast.

Vomiting post head trauma wasn't good and he needed a doctor's opinion fast.


Kate slurred at him, rolling her head against his arm, as he placed the, thankfully empty, tub in the back seat, and lifted her into his arms.

Rick shut the door with his hip, and cradled Kate close, trying to keep his heart rate in check and whispering promises to keep her safe into her hair.

He marched fast, making his way straight to Emergency and waved down the first person he saw that looked even remotely like a medical professional.

The young woman in scrubs came straight to his side.

"What happened?" She asked quickly.

"She was in a car accident yesterday, and received a grade three concussion. She was brought in by ambulance. She was discharged this morning, after being signed off, and went home under my care. She seemed to be fine, if a bit quiet, until about half an hour ago, when she started to throw up. Since then, she has been limitedly verbal, and what she has said, has been slurred. She's listless and lethargic. She hasn't thrown up again, but I thought it wise to bring her in."

While Rick was reeling off information, a bed had appeared beside him, which he carefully set Kate down on, at the end of his speech.

"Okay, her name and any other injuries we should be aware of?" The woman asked quickly, flashing her penlight into Kate's eyes, one at a time, as she did.

"Kate Beckett. Broken nose, broken collarbone, internal abdominal bruising." He recited, squeezing Kate's wrist when her hand shot out to him. "I'm here, Kate." He murmured softly.

"Right, we'll take her through, get her assessed and re-admitted. I'll come get you once we're done." The woman in scrubs gave him a quick smile, before nodding to the, until now unnoticed by Rick, orderly at the head of the bed to get Kate moving.

Rick squeezed his girlfriend's wrist one last time before letting them take her.


Rick sat, head in hands, carefully controlling his breathing.

Kate had been back there for longer than could be possibly good, and no one had been out to see him yet.

He'd left in such a rush that he had nothing with him, not even Kate's phone, so he had no way to even let Jim know that his daughter was back in the hospital.


Every time the door had opened since Kate had disappeared through it, Rick's head had shot up, so the woman from earlier found his eye quickly. She leaned round the door to see him in his chair right in front of her.

"Hi. We called Kate's next of kin, who has asked us to allow you kin rights until he gets here. So you wanna come on though, and we'll discuss her condition?"

Rick jumped from his seat and followed her quickly, his heart sinking as she opened a door to an empty room and indicated for him to sit down.

"I'd rather stand. Look, I've had to do the bad news speech for a few years now, just spit it out." He sighed, locking his hands behind his back, bracing himself.

"Okay." The woman sighed. "My name is Kelly Barker, I'm a trauma doctor." She gave him a small smile. "And I have to apologise first."

Rick stopped breathing.

"Yesterday, Ms Beckett had several tests run, to check for injuries post her accident, which I'm sure you're aware of."

Rick nodded quickly.

"And one of those tests was a CT scan, which is..."

"I know what it is." Rick interrupted impatiently. "What's wrong with her?"

Kelly nodded. "The beginnings of swelling in Kate's brain, was missed." She winced when Rick fell to perch on the table behind him with a thud. "Her brain has been slowly swelling since the crash last night, she should never been released."

"Is, is she okay?" Rick asked quietly, desperate and terrified. She'd slept twice, had spent all that time in his company, and the whole time her brain had been a time bomb counting down. What could have happened, if she hadn't have been sick, didn't bear thinking about.

"We have her on oxygen, and are trying to reduce the swelling with IV fluids, and medication. We're going to give it a few hours. If there is no improvement, or if anything gets worse, we will be forced to perform a Ventriculostomy."

"You're gonna drill a hole in her skull?!" Rick shot up from the desk, and Kelly took an involuntary step back.

"We're going to try very hard to avoid it, if we can." Kelly reassured him calmly.

"Can I see her?" Rick pressed, needing to see her with his own eyes.

"Of course, you can sit with her while we're monitoring her."