'Clear!' Everyone jumped back as Mark yelled furiously, before holding the paddles to the man's chest.
'Mark, I don't think…' began Carter, but he could tell Mark wasn't listening.
'Clear!' he yelled again.
'I'm getting Weaver' said Carol, snapping her gloves off and tossing them into the bin as she headed out the trauma room doors.
'It's been 40 minutes, Mark.' Carter had a pleading tone in his voice – watching Mark expending so much desperate energy on a lost cause was making him anxious, and besides, he wasn't even supposed to be in trauma.
'What's going on?' asked Kerry as she stopped dead in her tracks. The assembled staff had all long since stopped working on the patient, and Mark had given up ordering them to go on. Yet he continued to use the paddles, refusing to give up on the patient.
'Mark,' said Kerry softly, placing a hand on his arm, 'it's over.'
He stopped and turned to look at her. Beads of sweat hung on his forehead, his expression a mix of determination and fear. He looked back at the body on the table, then slowly around the room, at the looks of sympathy from his colleagues, before carefully placing the paddles back on the charger.
'Time of death….8.29' he said softly, his voice strained with emotion, before slowly leaving the room. Without a word, the nurses began to clean up the body, whilst Carol, Kerry and Carter followed Mark.
'Mark, your shift ended at seven, go home,' said Kerry as they headed into the lounge.
'Home?' he began, 'Home to what? Everything there reminds me of her. When they find her, the first place they're going to bring her is here. And I'm going to be here for her. I'm going to take care of her.'
'She wouldn't have wanted you to do this, Mark. You're running yourself into the ground. And what about Jake? When was the last time you spent any time with him?'
Carter poured each of them a coffee as Carol, Kerry and Mark took a seat at the table.
'Wouldn't have?' said Mark, annoyed.
'Excuse me?' replied Kerry.
'You said she 'wouldn't have wanted me to do this'. She's not dead, Kerry. I know she's not dead.'
'We know that,' Carol interrupted, 'But like you said, the first place she's coming is here. And she's going to want to see her husband and her son, happy and healthy.'
'I'm not going anywhere.' Mark replied stubbornly.
'You're right,' said Kerry, 'You can stay in the hospital, but you're not going out there to treat patients, Mark.'
'I'm still chief of this department, Kerry, and I'll do what I like.'
'You will not compromise patient care. You're in no fit state to be working. I only let you treat minors because I thought it'd take your mind off things, but then I find you in a trauma room….'
'There was no-one else around to take it' he interrupted.
'Then you should've paged me…'
'There was no time!'
'You should've let Carter take over when he arrived.'
'He arrived too late.'
'So then why were you still working on him when I got there?'
'Because I thought he had a chance.'
'And you were wrong. Your medical judgment is impaired and I'm afraid I can't let you work, Mark.'
'What? I'm the Chief, Kerry…'
'Not any more. As of this afternoon I've been made acting Chief. I'm sorry Mark, but everyone agrees that you can't be an effective Chief in the current circumstances.'
Mark took a few seconds to take this news in.
'I see,' he said, 'You just couldn't wait to take over, could you Kerry?'
'It's not like that and you know it' she said, exasperated.
'A-hem,' said Detective Warner, who was standing in the doorway. 'Dr Greene, there's been a development.'
'You've found her?' Mark said hopefully.
'No, but there's been a report of your friend's car – Dr Doug Ross – found abandoned about fifty miles out of the city. We're sending some units out now to check it out.'
'Doug's car? Where is he? What does he have to do with Susan?' Carol bombarded the Detective with questions.
'He's our top suspect for the kidnapping,' Warner replied, 'We haven't found him yet though – just the car.'
'That's crazy,' said Carol, 'Doug wouldn't do something like that'.
'I'm afraid all our leads suggest he would, Miss Hathaway,' replied Warner, 'We'll have a better idea when we pick up the car – forensic evidence, that sort of thing.'
'I don't believe this,' said Mark, 'You should be concentrating on finding my wife, and here you are, towing Doug's car for him? As if he hasn't caused enough damage. Doug would love this – center of attention once again.'
'I think we all just need to calm down here. We're doing everything we can' said the Detective.
'I don't have time for this rubbish,' said Mark, 'I have patients to see.'
Kerry followed Mark as he stormed back out into the ER, whilst Carol tried to comprehend what was happening. Carter, meanwhile, poured himself another cup of coffee – just as he had suspected, it was going to be a long night.
