Notes:

Next chapter! I won't keep you in suspense much longer by making you read this, so here's the next part! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still don't own ER or Dave!! I'm so gutted!

Where do we go from here?

Chapter Eight - Rescue me

"Doctor Weaver, there's an incoming MVA" Jerry called from the admit desk as Kerry Weaver hobbled past. Her shift so far had been a tough one and endless round of traumas and difficult patients so this was the last thing she wanted to hear. "ETA"? She asked wearily.

"Any time now" Jerry replied.

"Abby, Carter, prep Trauma two, Frank, get Malucci on the phone and tell him to come in, we're going to need him" Kerry ordered. As the others busied themselves preparing for the trauma, Kerry limped out to the ambulance bay, preparing herself for the tough job she faced. She stood just outside the ER doors, waiting for the rig to show up with whichever poor soul was suffering inside it. A couple of minutes later, Carter joined her. He was ready for the incoming trauma, already wearing his gloves and gown. He approached Dr Weaver somewhat cautiously, seeing the stress on his boss' face. "Do we have any other information"? He asked.

"No, just an MVA" Kerry replied shortly. All she wanted to do right now was sink into a warm bath with a nice glass of wine. However, that dream looked like it would remain a dream for a long while yet. "Here we go" Carter announced as the rig pulled up. Just as the back doors of the ambulance burst open, Dave pulled up on his bike. He threw down the bike and raced straight to the ambulance. "What have we got"? He asked the paramedic who was exiting with her colleague and the gurney. "Approximately thirty year old white male, victim of an MVA, he was unconscious on the scene" She replied.

"Oh my God, this guy is losing a hell of a lot of blood" Carter gasped.

"Was there a name"? Dave asked the paramedic desperately. After seeing Luka drive off like that, he feared the worst. "No, we didn't find any identification on him"

"Malucci! We need you to start chest compressions; we're going to lose him"! Kerry ordered. Dave nodded and leapt up on the gurney. Straddling the patient, he began pumping his chest. He stared at the face of the victim and let out a horrified gasp. For a split second, the world came to a crashing halt, Dave stared at the patient a shocked look on his face. "What's wrong? Why have you stopped"? Carter demanded.

"Keep going Malucci"! Kerry shouted as they wheeled the gurney towards the doors of Trauma two. "It's Luka" Dave whispered.

~*~

"He's losing a hell of a lot of blood here; he's in danger of becoming hypohemic"! Carter called as they raced Luka into Trauma Two.

"Then get hang some type and cross match on the rapid infuser"! Kerry ordered. "Malucci! Intubate"!

Dave leapt off the gurney and grabbed an intubation kit from Haleh. As he stood over Luka, all he could think about what the fact that all of this was his fault. If he hadn't gotten Luka drunk and if he hadn't have kissed him, none of this would be happening now. Once again, the great Dave Malucci had screwed up in a big way. "MALUCCI"! Kerry yelled at the junior resident who was just standing over Luka, staring down at him, intubation kit in hand.

"Dave, do you want me to take that"? Carter offered, seeing the obvious distress on Dave's face. He gently pushed Dave aside and took the kit from his hands. "What the hell is wrong with him"? Kerry asked as she started to insert an IV into Luka's arm.

"There's a bad head lac here" Abby stated as she checked over Luka's head.

"Someone page for a surgical consult"! Kerry ordered. Haleh nodded and ran to the phone. "Dave, I suggest you help us out here"! Kerry continued.

Dave couldn't. He stood by, watching the others save his friend's life but he couldn't seem to get himself to do anything. If was as if his hands and mind were frozen. Dave stared at Carter for a moment, who was in the middle of intubation. Dave suddenly felt tears well up in his eyes. He couldn't stand it any longer; he shoved past Abby and ran out of the trauma room, not looking back once. "I'll go after him" Carter offered.

"Don't even think of it Carter! We need you in here! I don't know what the hell Malucci is playing at. Someone get Mark in here, we're going to need all the help we can get"! Kerry shouted.

"He's in V-Fib" Abby interrupted. She couldn't believe that the man lying there was Luka. She fought back her own tears, intent on saving her friend's life.

"Charge the paddles to 200"! Kerry ordered. Haleh did so and handed Kerry the paddles. "Clear"! She called as she shocked Luka.

"Still V-fib," Abby announced.

"Charge to 300! Clear"! Kerry shocked Luka again.

"Got a rhythm" Carter said.

"Thank god" Abby muttered.

"Ok what have we got here"? Mark asked as he burst through the trauma room doors. "He's got a blunt trauma to the abdomen, a head lac, and multiple contusions" Kerry replied.

"We've got a broken leg here too" Carter added.

"Start a central line, call for a head CT, anyone call for a surgical consult"? Mark asked.

"Benton's on his way" Haleh replied.

"We're going to have to get him up to the OR as soon as possible" Kerry said sadly. "We're not going to lose him Kerry. I refuse to let that happen"! Mark said adamantly.

"Hold on Luka, please, hold on" Abby whispered to her unconscious friend.

~*~

Dave shivered. he'd no idea how long he'd been sat out here. The last time he'd been on the roof was after he'd attacked that patient and Luka had come up here with some hot chocolate. "I could sure do with your hot chocolate now Luka" He said aloud. He felt so terrible for what had happened. It was his fault. He should've never gone to kiss Luka; after all, he knew that Luka wasn't in the least bit gay or bisexual. Dave just hadn't been able to resist. Ever since their talk on the roof that time, Dave had been having feelings for Luka. Dave had always known he was bisexual so the feelings hadn't come as much of a shock. The feelings had gotten stronger and stronger over the time that their friendship developed. Dave cursed himself for giving into those feelings. Luka was down in the trauma room dying because of what he'd done. Dave wiped his eyes, he couldn't believe how quickly everything had gone from so right to so wrong. It was typical of him, he thought, he'd get things the way he liked them, and then he'd screw up and make everything worse. If it wasn't for Michael, he'd jump right about now...

"Dave"? A voice asked. Dave whipped around, for a second, he was sure that the voice belonged to Luka. However, when he saw Carter standing there, his hopeful smile faded. "What do you want Carter"? Dave asked, annoyed. Couldn't people just leave him alone? "Dr Weaver wants to know why you left like that" Carter replied. Dave sounded pretty pissed, but Carter decided to proceed anyway. "Weaver or you"? Dave challenged. Carter couldn't help but smirk at that. Dave was smarter than he'd originally given him credit for. "Ok, you've caught me out, but Weaver will want an explanation too" Carter answered. "And she'll get one Carter. When I'm ready" Dave said adamantly. "How's Luka doing"?

"Not so great, he's been rushed to the OR for emergency surgery" Carter replied, cursing being so straight-forward when he saw Dave's anguished look. "Don't feel guilty Carter, I didn't expect you to sugar coat it. I'm a doctor too you know" Carter nodded, he had to admit, and Dave was a pretty perceptive guy. "What I want to know is, why the hell Luka was driving that fast. It was obvious he'd been speeding from the state of him, plus the paramedics said his car was pretty much a wreck" Carter wondered aloud.

"I don't know" Dave muttered. He had never felt particularly close to Carter, so he wasn't about to explain what had happened earlier on. In fact, the only person Dave really wanted to talk to right now was in surgery, fighting for his life. "Dave, is there anything you want to talk about? You seemed to be acting pretty weird in the trauma room" Carter asked.

"No offence Carter, but we barely speak and I know you only really tolerate me. So whatever I do have to say, it won't be to you" Dave answered quietly. He didn't want to offend Carter, but he knew what he was saying was the truth and judging by the look in Carter's eyes, he knew it too. "I totally understand Dave and I'm not offended, you were after all, telling the truth" Carter replied. "I'd just like you to know that if you ever did want to talk, I'd listen"

"Thanks man" Dave said sincerely.

"No problem" Carter said as he stood up. "Now, I sense that you might quite like to be alone"

"If you don't mind"

"Of course not, I'll tell Dr Weaver you're not feeling too good"

"Well, technically it's not a lie" Dave replied with a weak smile. Carter nodded and left the roof, leaving Dave alone with his thoughts.

~*~

"Where's Malucci"? Dr Weaver asked the assembled staff at the admit desk.

"Is he even on"? Carter asked.

"He is now" Kerry replied. "Has anyone seen him"?

"He was on the roof" Carter answered.

"Damn him, if he thinks that hiding up there..." Kerry began angrily.

"He did seem kind of upset about Luka" Abby said defensively.

"Just tell him when he gets back."

"Tell me what Chief"? Dave asked as he approached the admit desk. He had his usual grin plastered on his face. Carter and Abby frowned to each other, this wasn't right. "You have patients to see Dr Malucci and it's not acceptable for you to be disappearing off like that" Kerry scolded.

"Won't happen again chief, I'm all over that board" Dave replied with a mini salute as Kerry hobbled off, no doubt to find some other poor soul to chew out. "Dave are you ok"? Abby asked, concerned by the way Dave was acting.

"Of course I am Abby" Dave grinned as he dashed off in search of a patient.

"There's something not right there" Abby whispered to Carter.

"I agree, we're just going to have to keep an eye on him" Carter replied.

"Is there any news on Luka yet"? Abby asked.

"Still in surgery last I heard" Abby sighed deeply and tried to get back to her work.

~*~

Dave rubbed his eyes as he tried to concentrate on filling in his latest chart. The sounds of the admit desk were putting him off. For the past three hours, he'd buried himself in work so he didn't have to think about Luka and what happened. For a while it'd worked, he'd been able to be the Dave everyone knew, but in the last half an hour he'd lapsed. He was quiet and had tucked himself away and the end of admit desk attempting to catch up on his paperwork. Nobody bothered him all of the staff seemed to sense that he wanted to be alone. Dave threw his pen down, defeated. There was no way he could keep his mind off Luka anymore. His immense guilt was eating him up inside and he had so many questions running through his mind. What if Luka died? What if he woke up and hated Dave for what he'd done? There was so many possibilities Dave was driving himself crazy thinking about them all. "Dr Pete"! Dave called out as Benton stalked past the admit desk.

"What Malucci"? Peter Benton asked. He'd just been through a tough surgery and didn't want jerks like Dave Malucci bothering him. "Were you working on Luka"? Dave asked.

"Yes" Benton replied shortly.

"How is he"? Dave questioned. He looked up at Benton, his eyes filled with worry and misery at the same time. Peter sighed, he really didn't need this. "He's in recovery right now, the surgery went well. If you want to know anything else I suggest you go up there instead of bugging me" He said angrily.

"Thanks Dr Benton" Dave replied as he dashed off towards the stairs. Peter blinked, Dr Benton?

~*~

"When will he wake up"? Dave asked Elizabeth Corday. The two of them were standing outside Luka's room, staring in at him through the observation window. "In about an hour" Elizabeth replied.

"How bad is he"?

"We had to remove his spleen and do some reparation work to his liver but everything went well, he should be fine"

"No thanks to me" Dave muttered.

"Pardon"? Elizabeth replied.

"Nothing" Dave stared at Luka, he looked so bad. Dave was used to seeing this type of thing everyday, but when it was someone you knew it was a million times worse. Dave didn't even hear as Elizabeth excused herself. All of his guilty thoughts were rumbling round in his head.

"It's your fault Dave, it's all your fault"

END OF CHAPTER EIGHT!