A/N: If this scene seems oddly calm despite the fact that serious medical attention is required, I couldn't figure out how to fix it, and besides, I wanted them all to be as calm as they could be given the situation.


~In a world gushing blood day and night, you never stop mopping up pain~ - Aberjhani


February 14, 1990

Sandy was sure she had only just closed her eyes.

Her head had hit the pillow and she'd been out like a light.

She might as well have only blinked, for as soon as her eyes were closed, she'd been dragged from her sleep by the terrified screams of her youngest child.

Bolting out of bed, she had raced for the door, Michael right behind her. Her heart was in her throat and it was pounding intensely.

She hadn't heard JJ scream like that since...

Since the morning she had found her older sister in the bathroom, blood oozing from the deep gash in her wrist.

The hallway light was already on as James had raced out of his bed, terrified that something had gone horribly wrong, that the chemo was doing more harm to his sister than good.

There were no words spoken as the scared parents took the stairs two at a time, turning on every light they passed as they went, their son right behind them.

Sandy was the first to reach the door, throwing it open as her other hand fumbled for the light switch. When she finally found it, she flicked it on, taking hurried steps towards JJ's bed.

She nearly screamed.

JJ seemed to be covered in blood. It was coming out of almost every orifice imaginable; her eyes, her nose, her mouth, and even between her legs from what she could tell. Sandy wasn't exactly sure. All she knew was it was coming out of her kid, and it was meant to stay there.

"Oh my god," she gasped, quickly turning towards the door. "Keep James outside! Keep him out there and call an ambulance!" she instructed, knowing that if James saw JJ in that state, he would be horrified. When Michael nodded and dragged James off to the kitchen, Sandy turned back to her hysterical little girl.

"It's ok, it's ok," she said gently, smiling a little at JJ to try and reassure her. Reaching over to the bedside table, she grabbed a washcloth off the stack they kept there and gently wiped away the blood on JJ's face, her hands shaking as she did. "It's going to be alright, try to calm down"

"Why...am I...bleeding?" JJ sobbed, her tears mixing with the blood coming from her eyes.

"The chemo probably steamrolled your platelets. It's alright. You're going to be fine, ok?" Sandy replied, keeping the washcloth underneath JJ's nose to try and soak the blood gushing from it. "We'll go the hospital and they'll have you all fixed up in no time, ok sweet girl?"

At that moment, Michael came into the room, the phone to his ear. "It's my eleven year old daughter. She's bleeding. Profusely"

Sandy gave JJ quiet reassurance as Michael paused to listen to the dispatcher.

"From where sir?"

"From everywhere," he said a moment later.

"Does she have an existing blood condition or recent trauma?"

"No, she's being treated for cancer"

As he walked out of the room again, Sandy looked over at JJ. "I need to go and get something for you from my bathroom. I'll be right back, ok?"

JJ nodded, taking the washcloth from her mother's hand and holding it against her nose as Sandy got up and left the room. Her sheets were soaked with blood, as were her pyjama pants and the bottom of her shirt. She had felt a lot calmer as soon as her mom was there. If her mom was there, she was safe.

She found she was struggling to keep her eyes open as she waited for her mom to return. It felt like hours had passed already since her mom left the room.

Unable to fight off the drowsiness, JJ closed her eyes, hoping to rest them for just a second.

"Jen, stay awake for me baby," came her mother's gentle voice. "Let's get you into some clean clothes"

"I'm still bleeding," JJ mumbled, her words slurring together as she fought to focus on her mom's face.

"I know. Come on, let's get you up," Sandy said gently, sliding an arm beneath JJ's shoulders and helping her to sit up. JJ leaned heavily against Sandy, her eyes drooping closed as she sat slumped over on the edge of the bed.

Making sure JJ was stable and wasn't about to topple over, Sandy moved over to her dresser to grab some clean clothes. She made quick work of helping JJ undress, not wanting to leave her daughter's skin exposed to the air for too long; she knew blood loss would make her body temperature begin to drop very quickly.

Much to JJ's dismay, she was unable to handle her underwear by herself; she was simply too tired and too sluggish to coordinate herself. After her mom had positioned a sanitary napkin in her underwear to try and keep her clothes free of more blood, she had tried to pull them up on her own, but found she just didn't have the energy. She had reluctantly allowed her mom to finish dressing her.

Once she had JJ dressed, Sandy wrapped her up in a thick blanket, scooping her into her arms and carrying her out of the room. JJ was still holding the cloth to her nose, albeit not very well, and it was clear the bleeding wasn't going to slow on its own any time soon.

As the ambulance pulled into the driveway, James rushed up to his mom, the worry evident on his face.

"Is she ok? Mom, why did Dad have to call an ambulance?" he asked hurriedly, his voice wavering on every word.

"I think her platelets are low. Remember just after Christmas, when she had that nosebleed and it was because of her platelets? I think it's the same thing, just a little more serious," Sandy said gently, trying to reassure her son that everything would be ok.

She had seen so many changes in her son since JJ's diagnosis. The biggest one being that he was far more sensitive and far more prone to anxiety attacks. He'd only had one mild one in the last five months, but Sandy knew that chemo would bring enough incidents to tip the scale.

Hearing Michael at the front door, speaking quickly and calmly to the paramedics as he led them into the house, Sandy moved away from JJ's temporary room and towards the front entryway.

As she reached the front hall, she caught sight of the two paramedics. Both were rather young, but from what she could tell, incredibly professional and serious about their job.

"Here she is," Sandy said softly, gently jostling JJ to try and keep her awake.

One of the medics stepped forward, giving Sandy a comforting smile as he lifted his penlight to check JJ's eyes.

"Ok, she's not very alert, but she's conscious which is good. How much blood do you think she lost?" he asked, looking up at Sandy with striking green eyes.

Sandy shrugged. "Hard to say. It's all over her bed though"

Michael was quick to lead the other medic through the house to take a quick look at JJ's bed. They knew it wasn't going to help get an accurate figure, but it was a start.

"Let's get her out to the ambulance and we can start some IV fluids to keep her volume up. I can carry her out if you like. It's a little icy out there," the first medic said warmly to Sandy. For the first time, she noticed his name tag. Jake.

"I need to grab my coat, so that would be great," Sandy replied. Jake nodded, holding out his arms to take her.

"Come here sweetheart," he said gently, holding JJ securely in his arms as he turned and headed out to the ambulance.

When Sandy finally made it out there with her coat and shoes on, the second medic, Alan, right behind her, she found Jake talking calmly to JJ, trying to keep her oriented and alert.

Alan jumped in the driver's seat, starting the ignition before turning to quickly speak to Jake.

"I would say definitely a litre, possibly two," he relayed. Jake nodded, before sliding along the bench a little so that Sandy was able to sit down.

As they pulled out of the driveway and began to head for the hospital, Jake reached up for a bag of saline.

"Ok, let's get an IV started-"

"She has a central line, if that's easier," Sandy cut in.

"Ah, of course. You came prepared today, didn't you JJ?" he said with a smile. Turning to Sandy, he got the end of the saline tube ready to go. "Can you just grab her line for me?"

Sandy obliged, appreciating that he hadn't simply stuck his hand down her daughter's shirt; she knew in some situations it was unavoidable, but she was still glad he had asked.

Retrieving the end of the line, she watched as he hooked it up and opened the valve on the bag, hanging it from a hook above the gurney.

Jake worked quickly and calmly, always talking to both Sandy and JJ, even managing to elicit a few spoken responses from JJ once the fluid had started to increase her volume a little.

"So what's she being treated for?" he asked as he took her blood pressure. "They mentioned on the radio we were responding to a little girl being treated for cancer"

"Stage four medulloblastoma. Brain cancer," Sandy said sadly. She hated those words. They were like venom on her tongue.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I assume she's doing well, aside from tonight?" Jake replied. Sandy nodded, reaching over and taking JJ's free hand.

"She's in remission. Chemo is just maintenance. But clearly this first round isn't going too well," she explained.

Jake nodded in understanding. "Believe it or not, Alan and I have been called out for lots of kids after their first round of chemo over the last couple of years. It seems to be a recurring theme that the first is always the worst. JJ's very strong. I'm sure you'll find it's her platelets or something in her counts. A transfusion or two and she'll be sprinting out of the hospital tomorrow"

Sandy laughed, knowing that JJ was always a bundle of energy after a transfusion. "She probably will"

JJ squeezed her hand, finally managing to bring her eyes up to meet her mom's. When Sandy bent down to kiss her forehead, she closed her eyes for a moment, smiling ever so slightly.

When her mom was there, everything was ok.

When her mom was there, she was safe, even from cancer.