Chapter 2

"Hey, Carter, hey Wendell" Susan greeted her colleague as they walked towards the admit desk.

"Hey Dr. Lewis, okay John I need to get back upstairs," Wendell was interrupted by a man running into the ER frantically shouting for help.

"Hey, I need help! A lady was just hit by a car" he told the two doctors.

"Where is she?" Carter asked as he and Susan ran out from the admit desk, Carter grabbing a back board.

"Right outside, she's unconscious." Susan nodded, taking in all the information.

"Pratt, we need you!" she shouted seeing the resident walk by. The three doctors dawned the familiar trauma attire and followed the man out the door.

By the time they got to her, a large group had gathered. "Excuse us, move, get out the way!" Pratt yelled as he Susan and Carter maneuvered around the bystanders. Finally, they were able to get to the street and get a first glance at the patient.

"Oh my God," Susan's hand immediately went to her mouth seeing Abby lying on the ground.

"Abby!" Carter fell down next to her and pressed his fingers to her neck desperately searching for a pulse. "She's got a pulse, Abby, can you hear me?" he wasn't surprised when he didn't receive a response. "All right, Pratt help me move her, Susan can you clear a trauma room?" Even though Susan was technically in charge of the ER, Carter felt that he had to take over right then. Susan nodded and ran back to the ER as Pratt gently stabilized Abby's head and neck, so that Carter could put her on the back board. As Carter rolled her, he could already see some of her injures, she obviously had a broken leg, and she was bleeding from multiple gashes all over her body, some of which would require stitches. But right then, the scratches were the least of their worries. The fact that Abby was unconscious was not exactly reassuring of her condition.

Then as they were strapping her to the board, Abby's eyes slowly began to open.

"Carter, she's waking up," Pratt pointed at Abby, and Carter immediately went to her head.

"Abby, can you hear me?" he took her hand in his, "squeeze my hand Abby," he was delighted when he felt a tiny pressure in his hand, and even happier when she fully opened her eyes, even though she didn't seem to be able to focus. Immediately, she tried to move, but the straps prevented it, "Abby don't try and move okay?" Carter could tell she was extremely scared. "It's okay Abby, its okay. Do you remember what happened?" out of the corner of his eye, Carter saw Sam, and Luka running at them with a gurney in tow.

"No," she barely got out, the small amount of wind it took to say that little word, had left her breathless, and Abby knew something was very, very wrong, but for some reason she really wasn't scared. The only thing she could think of was, that she was going into shock, but why? She couldn't remember what happened, she didn't know why she was lying outside on the street, or why Carter and Pratt kept exchanging glances, shouting numbers at each other, and yelling at her to stay awake. She saw Pratt reach over her and place his stethoscope to her chest. He pressed it against her ribs causing her to cry out in pain. Then Luka and Sam rush over.

"Probable rib fracture," Abby heard somebody say, then heard Luka and Sam's voices.

"Abby, you were hit by a car, does anything hurt?" Carter asked pressing his hands to her stomach, trying to get any kind of clue as to what her internal injures may be. Her mind was racing, hurt? She couldn't feel any pain, except in her chest. The doctor in her was saying that she was seriously injured but she couldn't seem to understand what.

"My chest," she whispered, suddenly she felt like she was going to vomit. But before she could tell her colleagues anything, she felt whatever it was rise into her mouth. The only thing she could do was attempt to spit it out.

"Shit, we need to roll her!" once again she felt her body being moved to the side, and whatever was in her mouth flowed out. She could hear pieces of what the doctors behind her were saying. "Blood…punctured lung…internal bleeding, chest tube" Then she realized what exactly had caused her to almost choke, blood, her own blood.

"On my count, 1,2, 3" she felt herself being lifted into the air, gently placed back down, and then she was moving again.

Sarah was sitting on the gurney waiting to be taken to x-ray when a knock came at her door.

"Come in" she replied, and Chuny appeared with a wheelchair.

"Hi Sarah, I'm going to take you to get some x-rays okay?" Chuny helped Sarah get into the chair, and turned it around, heading out the door. "That looks like it hurt!" she said pointing to the splint.

"Yeah, Dr. Lockhart thinks that it might be broken, I hope not." Chuny smiled and was about to round the corner, when she heard the commotion coming from the entrance of the ambulance bay. Apparently Sarah heard it too "What's going on?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. It sounds like a trauma just came in." She pulled the wheelchair against the wall "They'll come this way, better stay over here or else we'll be run over." Just then the gurney appeared around the corner, and Chuny instantly realized that something was wrong. It wasn't every day that three doctors and a nurse were giving a patient their undivided attention. Then she discovered why this patient was so important.

"Abby, keep your eyes open," Carter ordered, once again putting his hand to her neck checking her pulse. "Let's get her into trauma one." As they raced past Chuny and Sarah, both stared on in shock.

"Abby," Chuny whispered, thinking she had not said it out loud.

"Was that Dr. Lockhart?" Chuny looked down at Sarah who was near tears. Then she remembered that Sarah was Abby's patient. All Chuny could do was nod. "What happened, is she okay?" Chuny quickly regained her composure.

"I don't know Sarah, I'm not sure what happened," then she turned the wheelchair back towards x-ray, both patient and nurse fearing the worst.

Jake was checking on Mr. Jones, when he saw the gurney being wheeled into the next room.

"Whoa, looks like a bad one," Alice pointed out, seeing all the staff jammed into the opposite room.

"Yeah, it does," he looked up to see Sam come rushing through the double doors connecting the two trauma rooms.

"Sam, are you okay?"

"Jake, we need you in here," she looked at him, the concern evident in her eyes.

"You have about four doctors in there, Why." but he was cut short.

"Jake, it's Abby," then she raced back into the other room. Jake just stood there frozen. He couldn't will himself to move, he didn't believe what Sam had just told him until he saw nearly the entire ER staff race into the room.

"Abby? Isn't that Dr. Lockhart's first name?" for the first time, Jake, looked over at the Jones'.

"Yes, it is, excuse me," with that he dropped the chart on the floor and ran after Sam, leaving the couple extremely concerned