Title: Next of Kin (Part 1 of 4)
Author: Emony
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: Season 11 of the show.
Series: It's Only Tennis, Lunch Break, Next of Kin, Dear Neela.
A/N: Much thanks to Ash for the beta. :D
Summary: One incident in the ER changes everything.
Half way through a busy shift, two and a half months on from Ray and Neela's clandestine wedding, one incident caused great changes across the whole of County General's ER. Robert Lakeland had been involved in a MVA/C on the busy road behind the hospital; ensuring that medical staff was on hand quickly, perhaps saving lives that would have been lost otherwise. Robert's condition, whilst serious was stable, and there was some time between his entrance to the ER and his being escorted to surgery.
Doctors Morris and Figler were in charge of his care; not that he'd seen that much of them, especially the ginger one. Now they were wheeling him on a gurney towards the elevators.
"The lift will take a few minutes to get us up there, Mr Lakeland," the female one told him as she pressed the button for the surgery floor.
He nodded. Great. More time with these two idiots.
"Do you have any questions about the surgery, Mr. Lakeland?" asked the Morris bloke as he grinned at Figler.
"No." Not that I'd ask you two anyway.
Jane Figler was enjoying her shift, despite the mayhem. The first half coincided with the end of Ray and Neela's. She didn't know whom those two thought they were fooling, although apart from her and Abby it appeared to be the entire ER. She laughed; a month and a half and still everyone was clueless.
After they left, the MVA/C victims came in and she'd been paired with Morris on a whole bunch of cases. This included the guy they were taking up to surgery. Morris was attempting to flirt with her again and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"…well, if you ever need a hand with that procedure, I'll give you one."
"Right, thanks."
"No problem." He winked at her.
Lakeland sighed and Morris ignored him.
"So, do we have numbers yet on the MVA? You know, deaths, surgery, walking wounded?"
Jane's eyes darted to Lakeland. He didn't seem too happy with Morris and his insensitivity. She tried to tell Morris that with a look; not that he understood.
"You ok, Jane? You look a little green. Do you need to sit? 'Cause I'm sure Mr… Lake… wouldn't mind a chick like you sitting on the end of his bed."
She was glaring at him now. "I'm fine." She knew Morris could be a little insensitive at times, but this was a little over the top; especially with a patient who hadn't exactly been entirely cooperative.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"The lady said she was fine. If you had half a brain in with that ego of yours, you'd have realised she wasn't sick; she was trying to stop you making a fool of yourself or antagonising me!"
Morris looked confused. Jane sighed. Men.
Silence prevailed for a few seconds, right up until Morris's ego got in the way of his brain again.
"So, did you have any idea on those numbers?" he asked Jane, an apparently flirty smile covering his face as he did so.
Lakeland's face turned dark as, ignoring the pain of his injuries, he turned and swung at Morris with his fists. Morris fell under the blows, hitting his head on the gurney on his way to the floor - unconscious before he hit the ground.
The world slowed almost to a stop for Jane as she attempted to pull Lakeland back, all the while cursing the speed of the elevator as it continued its slow journey upwards. Once he realised Morris was unconscious, Lakeland lay back on the gurney - almost daring Jane to do something about it.
She skidded to her knees over Morris, attempting to check him for injuries as the elevator came to a stop and the door slid open.
"Someone help me! Please! Security!"
Susan's day had started many hours earlier. Cosmo was irritable and Chuck was joining in with a mean cold. The combination meant little sleep or peace and quiet for the ER Chief. On entering the ER just minutes before her shift was due to start, she was bombarded with questions on all sides. Dr Lewis, can you sign this? Dr Lewis, do you know...?
It was days like this that she wished even more that Carter had not left County; he could usually take some of the pressure off. Nothing against Kovac; he just wasn't John.
She'd come on shift less than an hour before the arrival of a major trauma, one that was to leave the newest med students and interns dazed and confused. Finally, when the last of the injuries had been seen to and the last person sent to the OR, she almost ran to the nearest coffee pot, glaring at the med student who threatened to get there before her.
She brought the cup up to her nose, breathing in the smell of coffee, and was about to take a sip when her pager beeped. She ignored it, lifting up the cup again as Sam burst in the room.
"Dr Lewis!"
"Sam?"
"It's Morris."
She sighed. "What's he done this time?"
"Got beat up by a patient in the elevator up to the OR. They're bringing him back down now; there's not enough beds up there 'cause of the trauma. He's still unconscious."
It took a second for Sam's words to filter through, but once they had, Susan put down her coffee and ran for the elevators to find the doors opening with Jane and an OR nurse wheeling Morris out on a gurney.
Shit.
There was a small crowd of ER staff building up around the elevators, making it hard for them to get through.
"Right! Sam, Pratt, you're with me. The rest of you, back to work!"
They rushed him into trauma one, and though the panic of having to treat one of your own - even if it was Morris - set in, they all managed to keep their cool.
"Jane, tell me exactly what happened."
Jane stared blankly for a second, and shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she filled Susan in on the earlier events; the blows to his head followed by hitting the gurney and the floor as he fell had caused a lot of damage and he remained unconscious.
The fact that he was still unconscious - and had not regained consciousness at any point - caused worry for potential brain damage. The likelihood of sub-dural haematomas and those leading to further swelling of the brain was great.
The results of the CAT scan and MRI led them to believe an operation would be necessary, but it would have to be done quickly to give him a chance of full recovery.
"Anybody know who his next of kin is? Jane?"
Jane looked shocked at the thought she would know the answer and shook her head. No.
Morris would be stable, but not for long. Susan sent Sam off to access his records to find out who the next of kin was and how to contact them. Sam reappeared in minutes.
"Well?"
"The computer won't give me access. You have to do it."
"Fine."
Finding the nearest terminal she logged in and tried to access the records. A box came up announcing that access was restricted for personal information and that she didn't have clearance. She reached for the nearest phone to ring Weaver and dialled the first few numbers before realising that Weaver was in meetings across town all day. Putting the phone down, she tried the computer again; it still would not allow access.
"Dammit! It's my ER, who else should have access?"
Haleh walked past as she deliberated her next move.
"Haleh."
"Dr Lewis?"
"Can you go up to personnel for me and get Morris's file?"
"Sure."
Whilst Haleh was away, the ER filled up again, and the staff - now down a doctor - once again found themselves swamped, this time with the evening rush. Half an hour later, Haleh reappeared whilst Susan had her hands in someone else's chest.
"Dr Lewis, they say they need to see you in person before they give anyone the file."
"Did you tell them it's an emergency and we're swamped down here?"
At her look Susan apologised. "Sorry, Haleh, it's not your fault." Susan looked around. "Pratt!"
Pratt poked his head around the door between the trauma rooms.
"You busy?"
"Just finished tying this guy up."
"Good. Take over this one for me. Central line's in already."
She removed the trauma gear and headed for personnel, stopping five times whilst crossing the ER to answer questions. Thirty minutes later, she re-entered the ER - file in hand - heading for the admit desk. Searching the file, she found the listing for a Rebecca Morris and dialled the number.
"Hello."
"Hello. May I speak to Rebecca Morris please? This is Susan Lewis at County General Hospital."
"This is she, but it's Rebecca Harding now."
"Oh, well, this is-"
"Is this about Archie?"
"Yes, he's been-"
"Then you can ring someone else; I'm not married to him anymore. How did you get this number?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but you're down as his next of kin."
"Looks like the idiot forgot to update his details then, doesn't it?"
"Uh, yes. Would you have a number for whoever could serve as his next of kin?"
Rebecca sighed. "Give me a minute, I'll find the number for the witch."
"I'm sorry?"
"His mother."
Then there was silence on one end of the line, as Rebecca went in search of the number. Does she not realise this is serious? She can't fool around!
"Right, here it is: 555 – 7894. That's his mother, Winifred. Bye."
Susan stared at the phone in disbelief, as all she heard was the dial tone. Recovering, she rang the new number and got through to his mother, who resolved to arrive in the ER within the hour. Susan looked at her watch and sighed as she realized that she'd just spent two hours trying to contact Morris' next of kin.
End Part.