A/N: Hey, there! So glad to be back! here it is, the sequel to State of Mind. This picks up right where that left off so you should definately read that first. I started to write this as just a 2 part series and it's develpoed into a 3 part! So, look out for that too. When it's more develpoed, I'll let you know. Ass you know, I don't own anyone. I wish I did, but I don't. Also, all of the opening quotes are Peace of Mind by Nonpoint. Thanx for all the reviews...or lack there of...yeah...
Chapter 15: Shooting the Rocket
"Trapped inside
Places i'm starting to hate
Stuck inside
Wasted I fall into place
Watching the world
And waiting for something to change"
"Automobile vs. 10-year-old girl." Morales informed them as he and Luka jumped out of the back, he'd been at the scene with him. Lucy and Susan put a little girl, Laura, onto a gurney with Luka and Morales' help. "Blunt Trauma to the right lower chest and fractured left Femur."
"We need to set up for a Chest Tube right away." Susan stated as they looked over the unconscious child.
"Pulse is thready." Chuni stated. "Get her on 10 liters Blood Mass."
"Need any help?" Morales asked as they began to push her inside.
"No, we got it." Luka replied quickly. "Thank you." They enter the hospital and immediately rushed past Admit to get to an empty Trauma room.
"According to her chart, she was stable but then they lost her pulse with decreased breath sounds on the right." Lucy stated as she read her chart.
"Some improvement with Needle Thoracostomy but I may have nicked her Intercostal." Luka said for fore warning. Carter came in and joined them as Lucy passed him the chart quickly.
"What happened?" He asked while flipping through the chart.
"The van hit a bump when the needle was inside." Luka told him.
"Says she was with her mother, where's she at? Why didn't you wait for the Paramedics?" Carter asked rudely, as if to accuse him of something.
"Died at the scene and I waited 7 minutes but I thought I might lose her if I didn't get here right away." They finally entered a Trauma room and set the girl up with everything they could.
"The Paramedics called in, they arrived two minutes after you left." Carter informed him as nicely as possible but still sounded rude as Lydia joined them, closing the doors.
"Get a Trauma Panel, UA, type and cross for four." Susan ordered as they went to work.
"Two large bore IVs, squeeze in a Saline." Carter ordered right behind her. "Prep the chest."
"One percent Lidocaine." Lydia announced to the four frantic doctors.
"Ten Blade." Lucy demanded and it was passed to her immediately.
"I need Ultrasound." Susan ordered to Chuni who ran out to get it for her.
"28 French, let's move!" Lucy shouted setting down the Ten Blade, looking more and more like Benton every second.
"Luka, you've been off for an hour." Susan stated looking at him work next to Lucy. "We've got it from here."
"I'll stay." He responded angrily. Luka, more than anyone, hated seeing children die for both personal and professional reasons. "Get an X-Ray up here for a portable chest."
"Pulse Ox 92 on 10 liters." Lydia announced as she left for a moment to look up the halls for Chuni. Where the hell is she?
"We need to Intubate." Lucy sighed heavily. "Six and a half..."
"All right, I'm in." Carter announced before Lucy could finish, giving her a cocky grin. "Hook me up." She looked like she was about to slap him upside his head.
"Chest's full of blood!" Lucy shouted as her thoughts drifted from Carter quickly.
"Pressure is down to 70." Malik said from another monitor before turning to Luka. "Looks like you did hit the artery."
"Lydia, call the OR, have them hold a room and tell Romano to get his ass down here." Susan ordered before going after Chuni herself.
"It looks like it was more than a nick." Lucy said observing the cut artery.
"We got more than a liter out." Luka informed her quietly as he stared from her to Laura for a moment.
"Pressure's down to 50." Malike announced as he switched spots with Lydia, her passing him the chart.
"Laura...Laura..." Lucy said trying to get the girl to open her eyes. A slim chance, granted, but she had to try.
"She's unresponsive." Malik stated as he flipped the chart around to write down her information.
"Chest Tube output is 1200CCs." Lucy stated quickly. "All right, let's prep for right-sided Thoracotomy."
"I'm here now all of you butcher's can stop and I'll take it from here."Romano said as annoying as ever, butgot a sight at the patient and the bloody mess. "Whoa! What they hell did you people do?"
"Not now, Romano!" Carter shouted angrily looking over at him.
"Didn't you call me?" He asked sarcastically. Carter was about to tell him off when Mailk's voice brought him back to reality.
"Pressure's 85 after 2 liters." He said a bit sadly but quick.
"Up the Dopamine to 12 mics." Carter ordered and Mailk nodded doing so.
"Hemacue 14.1." Lydia informed them from another monitor.
"Right Advexa normal." Lucy stated not noticing that Romano was still in the room observing them. "Left sideā¦there's a mass of free fluid, dammit."
"I see you've got a Tube Ovarian Abcess." He said simply alerting them that he was still there. "When they rupture they get Septic and Hypotensive."
"Want me to page GYN?" Malik offered as he picked up the phone.
"No, we're gonna have to pass her off to you now, Robert." Luka said and Malik hung up the phone with a roll of his eyes. "Think you can handle it?" He asked rudely; he didn't really like Romano like many of the doctors.
"Your patient had a Syncopal episode which dropped her Pressure." He stated as they started to stablize Laura. "I think I've got it."
"Pressure's up to 100." Lydia told them positively signaling her stablization.
"Good, let's get ready to move her." Carter said as Susan entered with the unnecessary Ultrasound. She rolled her eyes, sighed and left seeing that she wasn't needed anymore. Once they got her set up and ready to go, they passed her off to Romano outside the others left to see other patients.
"Dr. Knight, how about you join me in saving this little girl's life." Romano ordered more than suggested as Lucy started to remove her scrubs.
"What? I'm an ER Resident, Robert, not a Surgical Resident." Lucy stated stunned that he would even suggest her helping him in the OR. He stopped to face her after sending the patient ahead with Malik into the elevator.
"True, but according ot Lizzie and Benton, before he left and you nearly died, you passed your Surgical Rotation with flying colors." He stated as he gave her a knowing look as she glard at him for bringing up her near death experience. "Throw caution to the wind, Dr. Knight." He joked and Lucy looked up the hall to Admit and saw Kerry yelling on the phone and sighed happily.
"All right." She said with a smile as Robert put his hand to her back.
"That's my girl!" He said pleased with her choice as she moved with him to the elevator to go into the OR. I'm so gonna get fired for this, was all Lucy thought through her smiles.
Kerry slammed the phone down for the second time and told Frank that if the man called called, call 911, get it traced and have the man arrested. Frank was happy to ablige to that but he wanted to know why Kerry made such a request. She proceeded to tell him that the man threatened to sue the hospital after he had his arm amputated, putting him out of a job.
"Not our fault he can't find work." He said as Kerry walked off. "Maybe I'll sue Hustler Magazine for giving my wrists Carpal Tunnel." He muttered as Susan walked by with a chart, almost dancing to get around him.
"Hey, Carter, have you seen our little girl, Laura?" Luka asked coming up behind him in Admit while they both overlooked their own charts.
"Romano took her up to the OR over an hour ago. I'll give them a call, see when she'll be out." He said moving to the phone and dialing extension 7614. "Hey, you haven't seen Lucy around have you?"
"Not since we sent Laura up to the OR." He said but at that moment they heard Lucy's voice up the hall, quickly followed by Kerry.
"You are not a Surgical Resident, Lucy!" Kerry shouted as they walked past a few Exam rooms. "And you shouldn't even be handling patients in the OR!" Lucy rolled her eyes as she came into Admit desk and wiped her name from the board.
"Kerry, calm down. What's the problem?" Luka asked as he and Carter followed her while Lucy walked over to Malik and began to order tests for another patient she was working with. After that, she winded her way back to Admit to pick up another chart. But, unfortunately, she couldn't lose Kerry that easily.
"Lucy! Dr. Knight, don't walk away from me!" Lucy sighed and continued to walk, Carter catching up to her. "That's it! You're fired!" Lucy stopped in her tracked and spun around to face her. "You can finish up the day, but after that you're gone!"
"I don't think so, Kerry." Romano said coming up behind Lucy quickly, chart and her arm in hand. "You see, I specifically ordered Dr. Knight here to assist me in the Surgery of little Laura Figler." He informed the fuming Kerry with a small smirk as Lucy crossed her arms, eyes determind to burn a hole in the floor all the while a triumphant grin on her face.
"Robert, Lucy is not a Surgical Resident!" She repeated for about the millionth time since Lucy came down from the OR. More than anyone else, Kerry loathed Romano. Now more that ever since he constantly joked about her sexual status.
"And you are not the Head of Surgery, I, however, am. With Lizzie off doing God knows what today, I needed an extra hand. With the kid being Lucy's patient, I thought it best she assist me." He explained even though he knew didn't have to. "Now, do we have anymore problems here?" Before Kerry could even open her mouth to protest, he went on. "Good! Now, I'm off to perform a Vertebroplasty, don't page me again. Dr. Knight, I'llpage you if the kid's condition changes while in recovery." She nodded, thanked him and was off. Kerry sighed, not releaving much tension, and looked at Lucy, Luka and Carter.
"Get back to work." She sighed heavily and both Luka and Carter took off. "You, too." She added to Lucy who took off right away, catching up with Carter.
"That was fun." She said keeping in step with him as they walked through the halls to work on a patient together.
"Yeah, glad it wasn't me she was mad at." He laughed as they stopped in front of Curtain 3.
"Not like it hasn't happened though." She quipped as he flipped through the chart with a smile.
"Hey, about going out-" He started looking up at her but she interjected her voice quickly.
"On our date?" She asked with a small smile playing on her lips.
"For drinks, what do you say we add dinner to it?" He asked casually, offically making it a date.
"Like the way you think." She said playing along with him, even though it was a date before. "When do you get off?"
"Eleven, I think. You?"
"Night shift, remember?" She refreshed his memory with a groan and he did the same with a crest fallen look. "I won't be off until about six tomorrow morning."
"Lunch then?" He asked hopeful; no way was he going to give up that easily. Not after all this time. "I'll take a break around two, meet you at Doc's?"
"Sounds good. See 'ya at two." She said with a smile to match his as she left. He watched her walk toward the elevators for a moment before moving past the curtain to his patient.
"Hey, Robert." Lucy said as she stepped into his office, riddled with books and furniture. "I was coming up to check on Laura and I thought I'd stop by." He wasn't even acknowleding her exsistence, he just continued write whatever he was writing in that folder.
"You might to get on your way to Recovery because I'm booked for a Decortication and a Blepharoplasty in about..." He looked at his watch, dropping his pen. "...Oh, right now! Sorry, Doctor, but I have to go." He closed the folder, grabbed his charts and rushed past her. Lucy sighed and put her hands on her hips defeatedly.
"Just wanted to say "Thanks."" With one last look at the room, she left, turning of the light and closing the door. Robert would never know, no one would for a long time, that when Lucy said "Thanks" she meant for everything. For saving her life prior 2 years, having confidence in her and even saving her job.
Chapter 16: Tomorrow
Preview: Another recap and a little surprise for you all, in case you hadn't figured it out by now.
