Kai came into the cubicle and smiled at me. "Did you just want more time off work?" I glared at him, and he laughed. He turned to Ben. "I'm Dr. Kai Alika. I'm an emergency physician that works for Rangeman. And Steph never wants time off work. The problem isn't ramping her up. The problem is slowing her down."

Ranger smiled. "Kai just started with us a few months ago. He used to be a Special Ops soldier on one of our PMC teams, but he was starting to get interested in settling down and there aren't too many women in our town in Colombia. I offered him a position on my Rangeman team, and Kai decided to make the leap. He and my oldest daughter also started seeing each other, and Kai has become both a valued member of our family as well as a valued member of the Rangeman team.

"We thought that Kai would be a good person to have along on this trip – partly because we knew how much my daughter was looking forward to spending time with Kai this summer, and we didn't think it was then fair of us to bring Julie to Scotland and separate her from Kai. The other reason is that when we came, Steph was still quite sick and we thought having a doctor along for the ride was a good idea."

I snorted. "Miguel says that I'm like the Queen and I travel with my own personal physician."

Kai laughed. He pulled out his stethoscope and listened to my chest and back, and he looked at me and sighed. "You did a good job", he said. "The congestion is pretty intense. How are you breathing on the mask? Are you getting enough oxygen?"

I sighed. Tears came to my eyes. "My throat feels like it's swelling again."

Kai picked up my hand and massaged my palm as he looked at the pulse ox numbers. "Okay. Breathe deeply and slowly, and I'll be back in a moment." He left the cubicle, and a few minutes later came back with the doctor. "As I was saying to the doctor", said Kai, "your pulse ox numbers are low and your nails are still blue. Do you have a headache?"

I nodded emphatically. It was a killer headache.

"Okay then, Stephanie", said the doctor. "Let's look at your throat." He pulled down the light, retrieved a tongue depressor, and pulled off my mask. He looked down my throat, then handed the light and another tongue depressor to Kai. Kai looked as well. "Your throat is swelling, probably from the damage from breathing in the smoke. It also looks like it was burned. We are going to intubate you. It will help you get the oxygen that you need, and it will make it easier for us to help you get all the gunk out."

He turned to the nurse, and she came back minutes later. "The pulmonologist can't get here for another half hour", she said.

The doctor sighed. "I don't think Stephanie can wait half an hour."

"Do you want me to intubate her?" said Kai as he looked at the doctor's nerves on his face. "I have a lot of experience with intubating patients."

The doctor turned to Ranger. "Would that be okay with you? I would prefer someone with more experience."

Ranger smiled worriedly. "I have faith that Kai will do a good job."

"I'll get paperwork signed absolving us of responsibility." He turned to the nurse to order the supplies.

Kai squeezed my hand. "Steph, I have done this many, many times. Because I was so young in school, I did two specialties – emergency medicine and anesthesiology. It will be fine, okay?"

I nodded.

"The nurse is going to give you some medication to sedate you, and I am going to spray some freezing down your throat. It tastes bad, but it works. And then I will intubate you. You will be asleep for it, but it is much scarier than it really is." I sighed and reached out, and Ranger held my hand. "I am also going to prescribe anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling, and some pain relievers. Your throat must be quite sore, and the morphine the paramedics gave you will have worn off by now. Finally, I am going to start you on an antibiotic to hopefully kick this infection out."

The nurse came in with the medications and supplies, and Kai quickly added a sedative to my IV. Seconds later, as he sprayed freezing down my throat, I fell asleep.

A while later, I don't know how long, I woke up again. Ranger smiled at me and kissed my hand as I had trouble stopping my eyes from crossing. "Heather went back to Lindsay's", he said.

Kai also smiled at me. "You are now on an antibiotic and painkillers and anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling. You're going to be okay, Steph."

I gave up the fight to keep my eyes open, and I closed my eyes and drifted, and let the voices wash over me.

Kai gently lifted the cool cloths and inspected my feet. "You've got some good second-degree burns here, Steph." He looked at Ben. "I'm going to undress Steph and check her whole body for burns. If you could turn around?" I could hear Ben shuffle his feet as he turned. "Ranger, can you help me undress Steph?" Ranger jumped forward, and I could feel his panic. I thought that he must have, like me, heard the worry in Kai's voice. Kai must have sensed how upset Ranger was, as he said, "Steph is in line to get some imaging done, and she is also going to have some blood tests done. Then, we should be able to differentiate whether she has developed chemical pneumonia or simply smoke inhalation and how to treat it. Additionally, because she had to go into the hottest part of the fire to get Ben, she burned parts of her body – her feet, as we have just seen, the inside of her throat, her skin. Her eyes look sore as well."

"From now on, it's just recovery time." I could hear Ranger sniffle. "Take a deep breath, Ranger. She's going to be okay. How about you help me put on a gown on her?" He went to the cupboard and removed a gown, checked the size, and helped Ranger dress me. "I learned when I was doing my residency that it is always a good idea to check the size of the gown before you hand it to the patient", he said. "I somehow got a toddler's gown and handed it to a rather obese woman. She was not amused. I thought it was the end to my medical career, right then and there."

He rubbed my shoulder. "We'll take care of you, Steph. You're going to be fine. I'm just going to step out and get some more cool towels and some salve and some rehydrating eye drops. Let yourself relax and drift away."

I did just that.