AN: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews. Please remember this is a violent story. Let me know what you would like to see happen. ALSO, I am not a doctor or nurse or anything medical related so my knowledge of medical stuff does not go beyond using ice on a sore... whatever. If anyone is in the medical field, I would love your input and advice.
THIS POV IS FROM THE ER DOCTOR:
You yawn, trying to cover the exhaustion that is evident all over your features. It has been one hell of a shift already; and you have only been on for three hours. You have five hours to go, if everything goes well. And it never does.
You are fortunate in your position and you love not just your job, but your career. Emergency medicine was the perfect fit for your needs; constant motion, unpredictable, essentially running on adrenaline. And just in the last few years had you been promoted to chief. This was your ER and you ran it with compassion and unbridled expectations for the staff. Well, that and cold pizza and a shit ton of caffeine. You made sure the staff, all of them, not just the doctors and nurses, were provided and taken care of. Day and night shifts and one of your doctors had called in; he was employed with the police department as part of their tactical unit. He was the physician that would be stand by during a hostage situation. And tonight, he had been called out. You never asked questions, you trusted those you worked with. You would speak with him the next shift and make sure he was doing alright. He always was. He was a damn good physician and one you did not want to lose.
"Dr. Hank?" You turn and look up and see the charge nurse stepping into the break room.
"Sonya, please, I have told you many times, please call me Alex." You smile at her.
She laughs, "Alex, we have a trauma coming in, chopper is landing in five. I think you need to handle this one?"
You quirk your eyebrow at her, wondering what that statement was about. Your staff is highly trained, any of the doctors currently working could handle a trauma. She hands you her phone and you look to see a live stream. "What?"
"That is what is headed our way," she nods towards the phone in your hands. And you watch as you head your way to the roof, a large team behind you. Your mind is spiraling as the images come flooding in. You reach out and hand the phone back.
"I need a Cliff's Notes version," you tell her, dawning your protective equipment You and the quickly assembled team cram in the elevator that is specially reserved for situations like this. It is only used to transport patients from the helipad to the ER. And it is incredibly fast. After all, your ER is one of the biggest in the area.
"I do not know much, but from what I have gathered, an FBI agent was abducted…"
"I saw the news conference is that who is…"
Sonya nods, "Yes, they found her and she isn't in good shape. Jake is with her," she explains as the chopper comes into view. Jake, the ER physician who left for his SWAT call. "From what we know so far is that she was found without a pulse, compressions were started instantly but they were unable to determine how long she had been without a heartbeat." You nod, taking it all in. "Jake got to her and was able to administer meds and get her pulse back. They intubated her on the scene; Jake said he is too busy trying to keep her breathing and has not looked at her injuries yet."
You glance up and see a parade of lights and sirens flooding towards the hospital, the chopper is getting ready to land. "Does security know?" You ask. "Let them know that they need to be prepared, the media will be here any minute."
You stand back as the chopper begins to descend and as it does, you look up to see media helicopters circling. "Shit," you mutter under your breath, this woman, deserves privacy, especially now. You shake your head and rush towards the now grounded chopper.
"Alex," the door has already flown open, it's Jake. "Damn Alex," he works with you and the team to pull the gurney out of the chopper. Jake still wearing his SWAT uniform. "You are about to have a circus descend on the ER."
"I don't care about that right now, tell me about her." The team is already rushing the gurney towards the elevator, each member already doing their task, an unspoken, coordinated effort.
And Jake does, he tells you about her condition, her breathing, meds he has given, bleeding he has tried to stop. "She's bleeding everywhere Alex," he tells you as you finally reach the ER.
The team works as one, it is a controlled chaos.
"Alright honey, it's okay," you soothe as you press your stethoscope to her chest. You watch as the staff pulls the blankets away and see the state of her injuries. "Okay, okay, we are going to help you," you tell her. You reach and touch her hand, gentle as you are sure her wrist is broken. "We are not going to hurt you, you are safe."
And you work on her, you, and your teamwork for what seems like hours, there are guards posted at the door now. You work to stop the bleeding, to keep her breathing, to read X-Rays and lab results, to preserve evidence that you find. You know the FBI will want it.
Two hours later, you feel that she is stable enough for you to step out and speak with her family. To tell them what you have found and what you think. You look over at the team, nurses and other doctors completing tasks. Blood is all over the place, tubes and wires, gauze and more blood is all over the floor.
"Let's clean her up a bit before we bring the family in," you say. It's not for their sake, not to protect them. But your patient. To restore any sense of dignity because judging by the injuries, you know this had been a horrific violation. And then Jake tells you all that occurred, that it was livestreamed, and thousands of people had watched it happen. And you feel sick.
You reach over and begin wiping blood away from her, you know the photos have already been taken of her state. "Let's get some of this off, what do you say?" You tell her softly, gently wiping her face and arms. Under the dried blood, you start seeing bruises already forming; this woman had gone through hell.
"Sonya, can you…"
"I've got her Alex," the nurse says softly, taking the rag from you and continuing her task. You nod and help another nurse pull a clean sheet over your patient, wanting to protect her.
You smile and step out, your hands shaking. You were about to tell the FBI about the injuries that their agent had endured and you yourself were mad, you cannot image how they will react. You step outside the trauma room and into a circus. There are police everywhere, media everywhere, men and women in FBI jackets everywhere. You can hardly walk.
"Alex," you turn and see the head of security rushing towards you. "C'mon," he pulls you in a different direction as the rest of security works to ensure you are not followed by the mob. "We put them in a secure room, away from that…" he gestures towards the mass of people behind you. "We are working to get them all out."
"Thanks Curtis, you know how much I appreciate all of you." You reply softly and suddenly Curtis stops and looks at you.
"Alex, don't do this to yourself. You have done what you can to save her, the rest is up to her and God."
He knows you well, he knows what you are thinking. You can only shake your head and knock on the door. You take a deep breath and walk in.
Instantly, the gravity of the situation hits you. There are five people crammed into the tiny room, all still wearing their vests. Three of them have blood on them.
You bite your lip and walk over. "Is anyone here her husband?"
"He is on his way, he will be here in a few hours," one-man steps forward. His sleeves covered in dried blood. "I am Agent Jareau's supervisor," he tells you quickly and you gesture for him to have a seat.
"My name is Alex Hank, I am the chief of emergency medicine here. When Agent Jareau came in, she had numerous life-threatening injuries." You pause, "she is not in good shape right now. We are waiting for her to condition to improve before we send her to surgery."
"But she is alive?" You hear one of them say and you nod your head.
"She is but the next twenty-four hours are critical. She has lost a lot of blood, she has significant internal and external injuries that we are working on."
"Is she breathing on her own?" Another member asks, looking up at you.
You shake your head, "no, she is not. She is completely dependent on the ventilator right now. I think she will be for a few days; she needs to be kept sedated. We need to give her body as much time to heal as possible. Her injuries are extensive, her legs are both fractured, and we are discovering burns and lacerations."
"Everything done was live streamed," the stoic agent speaks up. "We know what was done."
You swallow, "then you know she was sexually assaulted. We are waiting on our OBGYN to arrive but know she will need surgery for those injuries as well. There is something not being said and the silence is unrelenting.
Finally, the lone female agent speaks up. "We know she was assaulted with an external object; nothing was removed from her at the scene as we didn't want to risk any further injury."
You close your eyes, recalling finding the object on the X-RAY. "We removed it, the trauma it alone caused was horrific, but we have it and it's in an evidence bag." You lick your lips as you continue to explain all the injuries you have found so far. Her fingernails are gone, having been ripped off. You tell them about her broken jaw, numerous rib fractures, burns on her inner thighs, the list goes on and on.
"What questions can I answer for you?" You address the group as they all look down.
"Can we see her?"
You nod and stand up, "of course you can; I am sure she will know you are here. There is a lot of tubes and wires and machines, you will see her injuries. But don't be afraid to talk to her, let her know she is safe." You encourage and lead them down the hall. You pause for a moment before turning to the female agent.
"If you want to come with me first, lets make sure she is decent."
The female agent nods and the men stay outside, granting you the unspoken respect.
"Dr. Han…" the female agent begins but you interrupt her.
"Alex, please call me Alex." You say, watching as the agent sets eyes on your patient for the first time.
"Emily, my name is Emily. JJ and I work together." She walks over and you hear her beginning to talk to her friend. "Hi JJ, we have you sweetie, we have you. We have him, he is in custody. He isn't going to touch you again."
You watch as the agent strips off her blue jacket with the yellow FBI letters displayed on them. She looks to you, "Can she have this? She will hate if our team sees her with only a blanket covering her."
"Of course, we cannot put it on her, but you can drape it over her." You reach over and help Emily spread the jacket over JJ. Smoothing back JJ's hair as you do.
And you look up to Emily, "JJ, I am trying to hold the boys back, but they are fighting at the door. Alex and I have you covered; the boys won't see anything."
You nod at Sonya who opens the door and allows the men in, each quietly walking over to their friend. And you watch as they each strip off their matching jackets and place it over their friend. And a beep sounds and you smile as you look up at the monitors before speaking to her team, "I think she knows you are here."
