Author's note: Some medical jargon, which will be explained at the end
Chapter 31
Charlie watched in slow motion as the gurney rolled towards him. He saw the IVs, the blood soaked shirt, and last Amita's pale (but still beautiful) face slightly blocked off by the resuscitator. Her face, being so pale looked like a porcelain version of the one Charlie knew. Involuntarily a hand flew to his mouth as he looked again at her shirt, Charlie felt like he was going to be sick. As the gurney passed him, Charlie willed himself to keep it together. HE needed to be there for HER this time. He needed to be the strong one this time. Climbing into the ambulance to ride with the woman he loved (because now there was no doubt left in Charlie's mind it was love) was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do. Torn between wanting to hold Amita's hand and wanting to stay out of the paramedic's way, Charlie spent most of the ride going between sitting on the bench staring at Amita willing her to open her eyes and holding her hand praying to everything and everyone he could think of. They were almost to the hospital when an alarm on her heart monitor went off
"We lost her pulse! V-fib!" One paramedic called to the other. Charlie stopped breathing. Her pulse (as indicated on the monitor) was gone.
"Ok let's shock her" The other paramedic called to the other "Hang on sweetheart" He cooed under his breath at Amita. Charlie felt a split second of jealousy before realizing this just wasn't the time
"What-What's going on?" Charlie stammered out quietly. One paramedic looked at him and just now seemed to remember that he was in the back of the rig with them
"We need to shock her now" The paramedic answered. Noticing that Charlie was still clinging to Amita's hand added "…and you need to let go of her hand"
"Oh" Charlie whispered, letting go of her hands but moving down to her feet where he was out of the way. He heard the paramedic call "clear!" and he removed his hand. No change. Tears started to leak from Charlie's eyes. He started praying again. Another "clear!", another shock, again no change. She's dying don't waste your time praying, tell her how you feel Charlie told himself. He moved back up to her side and started whispering in her ear "Amita, I love you. I love you more then words can say, I'm so sorry it took me so long to get these words out. I'm sorry that I couldn't help you more. I'm sorry our timing was off. I love you Amita don't leave me now"
"Sir, let go" The paramedic told him, Charlie hadn't realized that he had taken her hand. He shocked her with the highest charge and to the immeasurable joy of Charlie a little blip registered on the monitor. Amita was back.
"Good going sweetheart, hold on a little longer" The other paramedic cooed again. Charlie however didn't feel jealous this time, he was too happy that Amita was back…for now. Another moment and the ambulance stopped moving. The paramedics walked to the back of the ambulance and threw the doors open and started rattling off stats
"GSW to the left shoulder. BP seventy over forty-five, pulse forty, respirations weak and shallow, lost her pulse and went into v-fib, shocked her three times, on the third we regained her pulse…three units of o-neg in the field, two IVs of saline. " By the time the paramedic had finished Amita was surrounded by doctors and nurses calling out orders. Charlie had followed the gurney silently to the trauma room and was now standing in the corner. It was around five minutes after they had arrived that anyone noticed Charlie standing in the corner (and that was because they had almost ran into him to get one of the drawers with medical supplies they needed)
"Uh can I help you with something honey, cause your not supposed to be in here" The nurse that had practically run him over asked
"Oh sorry. I came in with Amita" Charlie said quietly. He had been caught and now he was going to have to leave
"Are you her next of kin?" The nurse asked kindly
"Uh…" Charlie stammered. Before the nurse got to question him further she was called to help them. After another moment, she returned
"You were saying?" She prompted
"Uh I'm not her next of kin but all of her family that I know of lives in India" Charlie said softly. He scrambled to think of someone in the U.S. All her immediate family was in India. He tried to think of aunts, uncles, anyone. Maybe Mary?
"Do you know who her next of kin is?" The nurse asked
"No, though I'm guessing that it would be her roommate, Mary Hughes. Phone number at the apartment is five six seven three six four seven" Charlie rattled off. He was hoping that maybe if he helped, he could stay close
"Thank you Mr.-" The nurse started and then realized she never caught his name
"Eppes. Dr. Charlie Eppes" He finished and then added noticing her wide eyes "Of mathematics" He hoped again that maybe if he stayed quiet they would let him stay. No such luck.
"Well Dr. Eppes, if you have a seat in chairs…"
"Of course. Please-please let me know if, though more likely when, they move her to surgery. I want to be there-when she wakes up" The nurse nodded and Charlie wandered to chairs wanting to kick himself for almost saying 'if' she wakes up
"Hello?" Mary answered the phone anxiously. She knew Amita had left for FBI headquarters to help and that made her nervous. She knew it was an irrational fear, she knew wouldn't be out in the field but no matter how many times she made Amita promise to call, she still hadn't gotten in contact, which is why when the phone rang she practically fell off the couch to answer it
"Is this Mary Hughes?" The nurse from the trauma room (Marlene) asked
"Yes, may I ask who's speaking?"
"This is Marlene Landis from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, do you know a miss-"
"Dr. Amita Ramanujan" Mary finished for her. All of her family lived on the east coast and she knew that Cedars-Sinai was a public hospital not too far from here
"She's a doctor?" Marlene questioned
"Of mathematics, but I feel there is a more pressing issue at hand. Why are you calling for, or is it about, her?"
"We have her here in the ER and we need to locate her next of kin"
Mary paled, she had seen enough medical dramas to know what that means "Is it really that bad? I know it can't be a trip and fall, break her ankle if you need to find the next of kin"
"She came in here with a gunshot wound to her shoulder, she lost a lot of blood. They're going to be taking her up to surgery soon and they need next of kin to be here"
"Hold on a moment, let me go get her papers" Mary ran to get Amita's important papers. When Amita and Mary first moved in together, they had made an agreement to keep their papers in the same place so that if something ever happened, something like this, they wouldn't have to waste valuable time looking all over the apartment for them. Mary searched through the papers. Mine, mine, mine, hers…not the right one, mine, mine…where are all of her important papers! Oh thank god here it is "Ok I found them" Mary said into the phone, slightly breathless from the running and frantic search
"Who is listed as her next of kin?" Marlene asked
"Oh my god, Charlie" Mary stammered
"Charlie who?" Marlene asked
"I'm sorry. Dr. Charles Eppes. He's listed as her next of kin"
I wanted to only write ONE chapter where Amita is in the hospital but this seemed to be a good place to end it
So medical jargon: V-fib- ventricular fibrillation and that's basically when the heart muscles (the ventricles) rapidly twitch in place of normal contractions, resulting in a loss of pulse. GSW- Gun shot wound. BP- blood pressure respirations- those just describe her breathing. Three units of o-neg- three bags of O negative blood in the field