"Mercy's around the corner." said Doc anxiously. He peeled the bus around the corner and flew into the ambulance bay to a crowd of waiting ER doctors and nurses. Carlos spouted off Kim's vitals as he continued to do CPR on her, keeping her frail body alive until the doctors could help her. Kim's gurney was rushed into a trauma room and a doctor took over for Carlos, who remained standing beside the body of his friend.
"Neito, give us some room to work!" shouted one of the doctors
"Common Carlos, we can wait outside, we don't want to be in the way" the always calm Doc encouraged his more volatile partner. Carlos, trance-like followed Doc out of the room and sat down in the chairs outside. He didn't look up from his feet until he heard Alex's unmistakable voice calling his name.
"Carlos? How's Kim? Where is she?" she asked as Ty walked up behind her.
"She crashed in the bus. I hope we got her here in time." Carlos replied, dejected. 'I should have taken better care of her' he thought to himself, even though he knew that sometimes no matter how good the care, the patient may still crash.
"Oh God, please let her be ok" Alex quietly prayed.
"What about Bosco?" Doc asked "Is he gonna be ok?"
"He's got some broken ribs and inhaled a lot of smoke. He was in a lot of pain, but he'll be ok. God only knows how he managed to walk out on his own though." Alex informed him.
"Yeah, well maybe his attitude finally came in handy" Ty chipped in.
********************************************
"I'm so glad Jimmy could get to you in time" Faith told Bosco, who lay recovering in his hospital bed.
"Right, he's a real freakin' hero" Bosco snapped back, them groaned in pain.
"Would you stop getting so worked up? You're gonna hurt yourself more. What's your problem anyway Bos? Jimmy ran into that building without waiting for backup. It was stupid sure, but kind of romantic in its own way, saving Kim like that. Very, 'knight in shining armour'"
Bosco simply snorted in reply. "Must have been tough taking Kim from me and running out of the building with her" he mumbled. Unfortunately for him, Faith was close enough to hear him.
"What do you mean took her from you? You're not a fireman Bos, despite how you might try to act like one" she laughed.
"He didn't lift that table off her with broken ribs Faith, so be careful who you call a hero in all this." Bosco jealously informed her. "Not that it makes a difference, all Kim will remember is Jimmy. He's all she ever sees anyway" Bosco sighed and closed his eyes, signaling the end of the conversation.
'What the hell is he on about?' Faith thought as she quietly left to let Bosco sleep. 'He's never cared what anyone thought about him before, why does he care that Kim is still in love with Jimmy, or who she thinks it was that really saved her?'
"Sweet merciful crap!" she yelled, blushing as the nurses on the floor turned to stare in her direction. "Sorry, I'm very sorry" she told them and then scooted to the elevator. She hit the button and stood against the back wall in disbelief. 'I can't believe I didn't see it before' she thought to herself. 'Bos loves Kim, that's why he's so caught up with her and Jimmy and who she thinks did what in this whole situation. That explains why he's always had such a bad, competitive relationship with Jimmy. Wow, I'm pretty thick not to have picked up on that, wake up Faith!'
*******************************************************
Downstairs, a doctor finally emerged from Kim's room and approached the waiting foursome.
"We have managed to stabilize Ms. Zambrano" he informed them. "She has some internal bleeding that we need to repair, so she is on her way to surgery now."
"She's going to be ok though, right?" Carlos asked anxiously.
"Its pretty touch-and-go right now, we'll have to wait and see. You can go up to the surgical floor if you want to wait for her if you want, although you may not be able to see her tonight. I suggest you all go home, get some rest and come back in the morning." The doctor replied.
"Thank-you doctor." Doc said as Alex collapsed into a chair, head in her hands.
"Alex…" Ty said as he sat down beside her. "Kim will be ok, she just needs some time to heal, the doctors here fixed me up great, remember?"
"This always seems to happen to the people I love." Alex said as a tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly brushed it away. "First my dad, then you, now Kim" she continued, as more tears escaped. Ty reached his hand up and gently wiped them from her face.
He thought to himself, 'I think she just said she loves me!'
Immediately guilty for feeling that momentary elation while Kim was fighting for her life, he promised Alex,
"I'm ok, and I'm here for you, and Kim will be ok too."
"I'm going to wait for Kim up in surgery. I won't be able to sleep until I see for myself that she is ok anyway. Anyone coming?" Alex asked. Ty got up to follow,
'No way am I letting Alex go through this alone,' he thought.
"We had better get going Carlos, we clean the busses and get them back" Doc offered.
"Thanks guys, see you tomorrow" Alex said as Doc left, Carlos trailing behind like a sad puppy.
'If Kim dies, I won't be able to forgive myself' he thought, unable to shake the feeling of guilt. 'I'll always think there was something more I could have done for her. She was one of the only people who were the least bit nice to me when I first got here, she just has to survive. I owe her.'