"Lieutenant Jake Seresin," he said introducing himself to the four men, two of which were Masters-of-Arms from the Navy.

"Dispatch told us this is a case of domestic violence?" asked one of the regular cops.

"That is correct," answered Jake.

"Are you responsible for this act of violence?" asked one of the MAs.

"No."

"Then considering she's a civilian and you are not the perpetrator, I don't see why you called the MAs."

"Because the one who did this is Navy."

"I need his rank and full name."

"Vice Admiral Beau Simpson."

"And you are here because?" asked one of the cops.

"Because she managed to call me for help after he almost beat her to death."

He frowned. "Shouldn't you be focusing on Admiral Simpson instead of me?"

"We will Lieutenant, remain calm."

"Calm?! How do you want me to remain calm after seeing her like that?"

The four men in uniform looked at each other and nodded.

One cop and one MA headed upstairs.

"Where are they going?" asked Javy.

"Preliminary evaluation of the gravity of the assault."

"Ok, so what now?"

"We'll put out a search and arrest warrant for Vice Admiral Simpson. He'll be taken into custody by the Navy and interrogated by both in a joint investigation. We'll gather up all the evidence here and at the hospital. We'll also need your deposition as well as hers. As for what happens after that, it's all going to depend on the findings of the investigation."

He wanted Beau behind bars and wanted to make sure that he was discharged from the Navy for dishonorable for extreme offense.

Alarms were heard coming from upstairs and he rushed up the stairs, followed by the others.

He burst into the room as Arthur and Miles were placing her on the gurney.

"What's happening?"

"We need to transport her to the hospital now. Her oxygen level is dropping and so is her blood pressure, due most probably to internal bleeding. She's going into shock."

They lifted the gurney and carefully carried it down the stairs, out the front door and to the ambulance.

The ambulance stopped inside the ambulance bay of the Naval Hospital as it was the closest.

They were met by the team in charge.

"36-yearl-old female. Victim of domestic violence. Lost consciousness twenty minutes ago. BP is 80 over 60, heartrate tachycardic at 145, saturation at 87% on 5L of oxygen. 5mg of morphine administered on site. Suspicion of internal abdominal bleeding. Possible fracture in the right arm, multiple abrasions, and contusions."

Seth pointed to the trauma room.

As Miles and the interns brought the gurney into the trauma room, Arthur stopped Seth.

"It's Livi."

Seth looked in the direction of the trauma room and felt his chest tighten. He then nodded and headed inside the room.

He focused on her face, then as the interns and Martha removed the blanket, he took in the state she was in.

The intern took the patient chart. "The patient's name is".

"Doctor Olivia McKinley," completed Seth. "One of ours."

Martha looked at the patient's face. "Livi? No."

"Everyone has two seconds to deal with this, then you put your emotions aside."

Martha leaned her face toward Livi's ear. "Hang in there, Sunshine."

Seth walked up to the gurney and squeezed Livi's left hand before giving out his orders.

"Increase the oxygen to 7 liters. I want the portable ultrasound and x-ray and inject 5 mcg of Levophed and start an IV of Pitressin, 0.03 units per minute. Page ortho and whoever is on call for a surgical consult."

He looked at the monitors. "We need to stabilize her blood pressure."

He looked at the two remaining interns. "I need you to assess and take pictures of every contusion, abrasion and injury."

They nodded. One of them took the camera from the cupboard and placed a new memory card in it.

As they worked their way up from her feet to her thighs, one of the interns removed her shorts.

"Doctor Maliloo?"

Seth removed his stethoscope from his ears. "What is it?"

"I think you should take a look at this."

He took a step to where they were and saw the nasty contusions in the groin area and inner thighs.

"Give me a minute with that son of a bitch," slithered Seth out of clenched teeth.

"Seth," said Martha gently trying to remind him that he needed to remain professional, even if she too felt the same.

He looked at the female intern. "Get a rape kit and set everything up."

The interns arrived with the portable X-ray and ultrasound machine.

They took an x-ray of her right arm.

Zander Kean, the ortho surgeon walked inside the room.

"What do you have for me, Seth?"

"Films just came up."

Zander looked at them. "Displaced distal 2/3 isolated ulnar fracture. I'm going to have to do an open reduction and internal fixation, in the OR."

Stuart Masterson, chief of surgery, entered the room, just as Seth removed the ultrasound from Livi's abdomen.

"FAST is positive. There is blood in the peritoneum."

"Let's get her up to surgery," said Stuart.

The intern that had gone to get the rape kit walked back inside the room, holding it.

"That's going to have to wait," said Stuart. "Right now, the priority is the internal bleeding, otherwise we're going to lose the patient."

"How long will you be in surgery?" asked Stuart and Zander.

"Anywhere from 2 to 5 hours," replied Stuart. "It's going to depend on what I find when I open her up."

"I can operate on her arm while Stuart operates on his end, it'll reduce the amount of time in surgery."

"OK," said Seth before turning to Martha. "Open the kit and pack up her personal belongings. When she's out of surgery and in the ICU, we'll do the rest."

Martha nodded and took the kit out of the intern's hand and started to open it.

Stuart turned to one of the interns. "Call and tell them to book and prep an OR stat!"

"Yes, doctor."

They prepared Livi for transfer to the surgical ward and Stuart took her file as he preceded the gurney.

He then stopped and shot Seth a look that said it all. Seth gave him a shy nod and Stuart's look shifted to the patient in the bed.

"I'll keep you posted," said Stuart to Seth as he resumed walking hastily out of the ER and handed Zander the file.

Seth never saw the look on Zander's face, but he imagined it wasn't any different the one they had all had, at least those who knew Livi.

He walked over to the nurse's station when the woman from the ER triage desk came up to him.

"Two men, the police and MAs are waiting to hear on the patient."

"I just need a minute and then I'll go talk to them. Thanks, Abigail."

"Is it true?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Abigail placed a hand on her chest. "She'll be in my prayers."