She stopped when she noticed the gurney in the hall with the sheet covered figure laying still on it. She approached shaking her head at the morgue workers actually storing a body in the hall. Not that very many people actually came down here but still..... It just didn't look right. She reached out to disengage the brake on the gurney. They would just have to find some room for the body behind closed doors until they were ready to do whatever they needed with it.
As she fumbled with the brake, somehow the sheet became tangled and slipped clear of the body, allowing Nurse Owens to look up and see the naked form of Sam Gerard. She found herself suddenly smiling slightly as she surveyed the lean, muscular body. Not a spare ounce of flesh was to be found on the masculine form, and Nurse Owens smiled again at the pleasing -- and very male -- lines of Gerard's nude body. She noted some pale scars along the flat belly, and idly reached out to finger them gently. She wondered if they came from wounds received in the line of duty. She remembered the marshal from a previous visit he had made to the hospital with a prisoner. She had thought he was a hunk the first time he laid eyes on him and now she knew he was. She quickly reminded herself not to drool. What in the world could have happened to him? She sighed. What a pity that such a handsome, intelligent man could be taken out like this. A surge of anger went through her and for an instant, she wished her hands were on the throat of the criminal who'd done this. She reached down to the floor again, picking up the sheet that had been over Sam. She would be so embarrassed if anyone saw her looking at a corpse like this.
'Sleep well, dear. I know your friends will avenge you.' she thought as she laid the sheet reverently, gently, over him, then turned away, hiding the sadness.
As she tried to regain control of her emotions, she noticed the file hanging from the bottom of the gurney and picked it up. She shook her head again when she saw that the proper signatures for the body to be either released or autopsied were missing. She honestly didn't know how in the world those people in the morgue ever got to work in a hospital with them making mistakes like this. She held the file in one hand as she pushed Sam back into the morgue.
"Hey," she called out to the attendant, the same one who had faced Catherine and Cosmo earlier. "What are you people doing in here? I just found poor US Marshal Gerard out in the hall and you didn't even get the paperwork signed for him!"
"You mean he wasn't being autopsied already?" the attendant moaned. "Man, I told those other marshals that...."
"They can't autopsy someone without consent," Nurse Owens grumbled, rolling her eyes at the attendant. Someone really needed to do something with that boy. "Here, you go and put this poor man somewhere safe where he won't get lost again and I'll see about getting someone down here to sign this paperwork."
> *******
Catherine watched the growing army of cops fanning out from the pier, knowing that even more were spread out in the streets also searching for Sam's killer. She supposed she ought to go back to the office. Goodness knows with Sam gone, there would be plenty to do there. She didn't want to leave yet, though, didn't want to face handling the necessary tasks she would have to do for the funeral. She didn't even want to think about that, about Sam in a coffin so still and..... It seemed like it had been only yesterday they had been at Newman's funeral! How could they loose Sam too? Just then her cell phone rang, distracting her from her sorrowful thoughts.
"Marshal Catherine Walsh," she said as she clicked the line open, hoping it wasn't some beaurocrat wanting her to handle something. She just couldn't handle going back to the office right now.
"Marshal Walsh, this is Nurse Owens down at St. Joseph's hospital." She really hated to disturb the marshals right know, knowing how upset they had to be over Marshal Gerard's death, but Nurse Owens knew it had to be done. Besides, they would feel even worse if those yahoos in the morgue messed up again. She swore she would stay right at the man's side until someone competent got down there so nothing else would happen.
"What do you want?" Catherine growled, having to fight to keep from throwing the phone down. What were these people doing calling? Hadn't they already done enough to poor Sam?
"I know this is a very bad time right now. I was so sorry to find out about poor Marshal Gerard. Some of the paperwork hasn't been signed releasing the body for autopsy or the funeral home though and I was wanting to see when someone could...."
"What? They haven't done the autopsy? They told us they did the autopsy!" Catherine cried, shock over how badly this hospital had messed up warring with the notion that maybe, just maybe, there was still a chance.
"The attendant made a mistake," Nurse Owens said gently, shaking her head as she thought of the boy. Goodness knows what he had told the other marshals. "I really hate to bother you but someone needs to come down here and sign."
"Check him!" Catherine demanded, pulling herself together. She quickly headed towards Cosmo as she talked. She had to get back to the hospital.
"What?"
"Get a doctor down there now and check him! Double check and triple check his vitals if you have to but I want it done and I want it done NOW! Move it!!"
"Cath?" Cosmo said as he hurried over to her, worried by the expression on her face. Who had she been talking to?
"I'm going back to the hospital," Catherine said, heading for her car as she talked with Cosmo following her.
"What?"
"They made yet another mistake. Seems they haven't done the autopsy yet after all." She shook her head. This had to be a nightmare.
"Is Sammy...." But how could he be alive after all of this time, with no medical attention? Cosmo didn't dare let himself hope.
"I don't know. I'll call you when I know what's going on. Don't say anything to the others yet. No need to get their hopes up when...." She didn't even want to think of how unlikely it was that Sam was still alive and savable. As she headed back towards the hospital, she struggled to control her tears and prayed for a miracle.
*******
Nurse Owens hurried back into the morgue and once more pulled the sheet covering Sam's face down, her fingers lightly brushing his firm jaw as she gently felt in his neck. She really didn't know why the marshal she had spoken to wanted him rechecked. After touching that cold stiff flesh it was obvious that....
Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something, a slight movement, under the fingers she had pressed over the artery. Her eyes widened as pressed down a bit more firmly while her other hand automatically moved to his forehead, tilting his head back. This couldn't be but..... There it was again though, a very slow but perceptible pulse beneath her fingers. This man was somehow still alive! Thank God!
"Get a crash cart and a doctor in here STAT!" she yelled at the attendant as she continued checking Sam, letting out a slight sigh when she felt a faint breath of air against her ear. When she saw the attendant was still standing there, she yelled again. "This man's still alive but he won't be if you don't get going! Now HAUL ASS!"
Within moments of the frightened attendant's flight, more staff came rushing into the room, one of the nurses dragging a red cart.
"Oh, my...." the lead doctor murmured as he stared in shock at Sam for a moment before snapping back to attention and barking orders at a nurse. "Get me an ET tube and oxygen now! Someone call upstairs and tell them to get set up for a profound hypothermia case and get a neurosurgeon on standby!" As he yelled orders, he was already positioning the breathing tube in Sam's throat, moving as fast as he safely could. This didn't look good at all. If the man had been oxygen deprived for any length of time....
"Let's move it people! We need him upstairs now!"