If the other doctors ever thought that they had seen their boss refuse to accept death before, it was nothing compared to what they saw when their patient's heart rhythm went flat. Jhondie took it as a personal offense rather than a medical condition. The others thought she was just determined to bring him back. They had no idea how much she simply refused to accept that she was going to have to tell Alicia that her brother had died. This was all out war and Jhondie didn't care if it was "his time" or not. Cole was not going to die and that was final.

"We need blood now!" Dr. Ricker, the head of the E.R. yelled over the din. He knew that Dr. Carter was a brilliant surgeon, but without some raw material, there was no way this guy was going to make it into surgery.

As if an answer to a prayer the trauma doors flew open with a flat bang. Jhondie looked up and felt a weakness of gratitude for a second. Justin was showing Daniel the way in and a step behind the two of them was Xander. All three men came to a screeching halt at the gory sight in front of them. Xander had seen things that were technically worse before. Had caused some of those scenes as a matter of fact. But nothing had turned his stomach like seeing his strong older brother helpless and bleeding.

"Carolyn," Jhondie snapped at a nurse. "Don't just stand there! Start drawing blood now."

The nurse hurried to a cabinet and grabbed two kits while Daniel and Xander yanked off their suit coats and rolled up a sleeve. Xander grabbed one kit from the nurse and to her amazement, set the needle into his own arm faster than some of the professionals that she had seen before. He started the blood flow as the nurse busily inserted a needle into Daniel. Red fluid began filling the plastic bags.

"I'll check on Heather," Justin said quietly to Daniel. "Just stay here where you can do the most good." He trotted out of the room, glad that he could do something useful. It could be a pain to be around transgenics all of the time and be part of their world and then get a reminder that he was still an outsider of sorts.

"Lon and Shawna are getting Janice and they'll be here in under two hours," Xander called out to Jhondie. She merely nodded in reply; too busy trying to get Cole to stabilize so they could get him into surgery.

Minutes ticked by. The fresh blood was a help, but his heart still wasn't beating on it's own. Xander had never felt this helpless in his life as he watched Jhondie plunging her hand into an incision on Cole's chest. She was calling out instructions and demanding drugs as the whole team fought to bring him back.

"Doctor, call it," Ricker finally said, taking a step back. They had been at it for almost twenty minutes. There was too much bleeding. Plain and simple. There was no way to find where it was coming from and this man was simply not going to live. He was the only one that was looking directly at Jhondie, most of the other staff either gaping at his boldness telling Dr. Carter to let it go, or they were going about their own appointed tasks. Consequently, Ricker was the only one to see her pupils suddenly dilate, the green eyes turning black.

"No," Jhondie growled. "I will not accept that."

It was rare that she used her enhanced vision in the trauma room. There was enough equipment for close ups and the risks involved were not worth the benefits. But now the risks were positively outweighed. They needed to know where the bleeding was coming from and they needed to know now. She scanned the opening in Cole's body, her vision better than any mechanical optical enhancements. And then there it was.

"Nick in the aorta," she muttered. Jhondie's eyes snapped back to normal. "Nick in the aorta," she shouted. "Cauterizing wand, now."

A thin metal rod slapped into her outstretched hand almost instantly. She pressed it into Cole's chest, moving it around to seal the small break that was allowing blood to pour out and keep his heart from beating. In less than a minute, the entire team could see that the bleeding had lessened significantly.

Daniel had to grab Xander and shove him back in his chair when the one doctor said to call it. "She won't give up that easily," he hissed at his uncle. Daniel hoped that if she did give up that she would wait until he and Xander were out of there. Or at least until Xander had enough blood drawn to make him less able to hurt someone. God only knew what Xander was going to do if Jhondie said that was it but Daniel did know that Xander would probably start with that other doctor that wanted to give up first and work his way around the room. It seemed like an eternity passed but some of the shouts became more encouraging.

"Bleeding's slowed."

"Still have brain activity."

"OR's prepped."

And then Jhondie called for another drug. A nurse handed her a syringe and Jhondie slammed it directly into his heart. The entire team paused with baited breath.

Beep.

A single hill on the heart monitor rose from the flat line. Two more beeps followed and then they started coming in rapid succession.

"Defib!" Ricker yelled, the wands practically leaping into his waiting hands. He shoved them into Cole's chest. "Clear!" Everyone pulled back as he fired off the machine. There was a second of a pause and then Cole's heart started picking up a more regular rhythm.

"We have a pulse!"

"B.P's coming up."

"Trina, Marcus, grab the end of the table," Jhondie ordered as they maneuvered Cole onto his back. "We're going upstairs now." In an elegant move, she stepped to the side and then jumped onto the table so that she was on her knees, straddling Cole. She continued to work, her hands moving at an impossible pace as the rest of the team began racing them out of the room and towards the operating room.

Carolyn remained behind, looking at Daniel and Xander a bit fearfully, more than a bit curious and plenty awestruck. Transgenics. In the E.R with her right now. She was barely out of nursing school and all of her friends had talked about how cool it would be to meet them and see what they could do. They had giggled over possible sexual prowess considering some of the things that had been said in the article about endurance. And now they were here looking like any regular businessmen in New York. The blonde guy wasn't too much older than her. If it weren't for the wedding band on his finger, she'd think about making a play for him. Heck, the other guy was old but he was still hot too.

"Ummm," she began shyly. "How much blood can you donate?"

Daniel looked over at Xander. He personally had no idea how much blood he could lose and still function. The need to know this had simply never come up before.

"Three to four pints," Xander replied. The young nurse blinked. People did not lose that much blood and not have a reaction. It simply wasn't possible. But this whole day didn't seem possible now. They knew Dr. Carter. They were calling her by her first name and she knew them. That was just too weird. Her husband's magazine did that article. She must have met them through him. How weird was that?

"Okay," she said carefully. "We'll take three pints from each of you for now and more if it's needed later."

"Supply is coming," Daniel muttered, starting to feel a little lightheaded as his blood drained. Xander seemed completely unfazed. His bronze skin wasn't even getting pale. Daniel thought of something else. "My blood is better for Heather," he said. "It doesn't really matter, but she should get mine first."

"Heather?" Carolyn questioned and then immediately brightened. "Oh! The young woman that Dr. Ramirez took up. I doubt she'll need much at all in any case. She was pretty lively down here."

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief at her words. He was still worried about his uncle, but he couldn't help but be glad to hear that his little sister wasn't in nearly as much danger. Xander didn't have that luxury and as he sat there, staring at the place where his brother had nearly lost his life, he realized that he had something else to worry about as well. He reached into his jacket's inner pocket and grabbed his cell phone and CIA credentials. He flashed the badge to the nurse who paled ever so slightly.

"I want security placed at the doors of this room," he said firmly. "Absolutely nobody comes in here until I give permission. And tell anyone who has blood on them from this incident that they are not to leave the hospital for a while." Despite being tethered to a needle, his blood pouring out, there was no loss of menace in his cold dark eyes.

Carolyn now looked absolutely terrified. "I...ah...Dr. Carter would have to..."

"Dr. Carter should not be disturbed right now, don't you think?" Xander interrupted sharply. "And I can guarantee that she will agree with me once she can be disturbed again." Under his sharp gaze, the girl practically wilted. He had years of practice at intimidation. She had a shiny new nursing school degree.

"I'll let them know," she finally said and scampered quickly out of the room. Xander immediately dialed a number on his cell, contacting CIA headquarters. He ordered a cleaner team to get here ASAP. There was a lot of blood in the room and all traces of it needed to be destroyed before someone got the bright idea that they happened to have a billion dollar genetic code splashed all over them and it could be worth something. Xander knew the exact cleaners that he wanted. They would do as told and ask no questions later.

Xander hung up and looked over at Daniel. "Which one of us calls your mother?"

Daniel grabbed his cell. "I'll call my parents and the twins. You're handling Janice." Xander winced, not sure who got the worst end of the deal.