Sighing with bone-deep weariness, Dawn called Emily's number from memory. "Emily..." she started, stalled, all the things she'd planned to say failing her just then. "I know you said you wouldn't be home tonight, but... I just... I really need you right now," she continued quietly.

She momentarily considered hanging up then, feeling almost embarrassed to admit such weakness, even if it was to her fiancee. Something made her pause, though, and before she could fully reason through it, she was baring her soul over the phone.

"Charlie became a father today," she said, "And I know we've been talking about it for awhile, but I think we should get married. Soon. Tonight, even. It struck me just how little it bothered me, to see him moving on like this – what I felt was jealousy, not because he had someone else, but because he had the family I want. The family I want with you, Emily. So, I don't care how or when, I just want to be married to you."

A beat.

"Maybe it was because we lost one of our doctors today, but I'm just realizing how easily things could all end and it scared me. So, I guess the reason I'm calling is to tell you that I love you. I hope you know that. Please tell me you know that."

Another pause.

"Call me when you get this. I really need to hear your voice right now. I love you."


Dawn was exiting through the ER that evening, emotions and the exhaustion of the day hitting her like a freight train until all she wanted to do was fall into bed and stay there for the next several days, when the call came in: severe abdominal trauma inbound, two minutes out.

Around her the ER staff began frenzied preparations for the awaited ambulance.

And, though it was the last thing she wanted to do after the hellacious day it had been, she set her coat and bag aside and began suiting up in a sterile gown to help prepare – afterall, she wasn't the only one who'd had a terrible day...

Before she could glove up, though, Zach was shouting something at her. At first, she couldn't hear it over the din of the approaching sirens. Then, he spoke a second time, "Dawn, you can't be here."

She frowned, brows knitting together in confusion. "I'll just help until the patient is stable, then I'll..."

"No, Dawn," he said firmly. "You need to leave."

"But I'm..." she started to protest.

"Dawn, this is my ER and I'm telling you to get out," Zach said more emphatically.

Zach had never talked to her like that before, on the rare occasions when they interacted in anything other than a cursory manner, so to say she was suspicious and confused was an understatement. Then, though, things became abundantly clear as the paramedics wheeled in the stretcher.

"Emily!" Dawn found herself screaming, in spite of herself. There was no missing the massive wooden stake protruding from her abdomen and the bloody gauze packed around it. It was quite clear now why Zach had tried to rush her out of the ER, but there was certainly no forcing her out now that she'd seen the dire straits Emily was in.

She moved to approach the stretcher, but someone was holding her back.

"Dawn, you need to leave," Zach repeated, hands on her shoulders.

Dawn wasn't listening, though. "Emily!" she screamed a second time. Then, rounding on Zach, she demanded, "I need to see her!"

"You can't be here," he said, attempting to be gentle, but firm. "You know that."

She wasn't listening, though, as she was too busy watching Maggie and Jackson prepping her to go straight to the OR.

"Someone get her out of here," Zach was saying, the words hollow and distant. And before she could fully comprehend the situation, hospital security was on her, escorting her out of the ER.