Chapter 17

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After Danny left the airfield he somehow found himself in the St. Andrew's Hospital parking garage. He sat there for over twenty minutes before he finally opened the car door rationalizing that it was just so he could go inside and get a soda. He had no idea how he ended up a few feet from Martin's hospital room. His brain tried telling him that he should go in but his feet seemed to be in disagreement.

"It's always heartening to see my patients following my instructions." Danny turned to find Dr. Close standing behind him. "Where's your sling?"

"I seemed to have misplaced it." Danny smirked. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were stalking me."

She huffed and replied, "Hardly. Ignoring the fact that you are on my turf, I'm a resident. I barely have time to eat and sleep much less stalk former patients, no matter how cute." Dr. Close returned his smirk. "You need to wear your sling. Your shoulder won't heal correctly if you don't take care of it."

He had no intention of letting her off the hook that easily. "Cute?"

"Don't get too full of your self," she replied with a smile. "I could add other adjectives: bull-headed comes to mind."

"Stop it. You had me at 'cute'"

Dr. Close decided to leave it there and get to the real reason for coming by to see Danny. "Nurse Vance beeped me and said that she saw you in the halls. I thought maybe you had come to your senses."

"No way am I checking back in, I've grown accustomed to life on the outside."

Dr. Close laughed. "I figured as much." She nodded her head in the direction of Martin's room. "So, have you gone in yet?"

He glanced at the door to the room and replied, "No."

"Now's a good time, there's no one else in there. His parents are down the hall meeting with some neurologists." She looked at him with soft eyes and said, "You should go in."

"I don't know if I can." Danny swallowed hard and said, "I just don't think I can see him, not like that."

"Avoiding him won't change anything but I think seeing him might help you."

He looked at her and knew that she was right. A large part of him thought if he just didn't see him then he could pretend that Martin was in another room or out in the field working a case. Seeing him in that room would make it all too real. Make what happened real and not just some fractured memory.

"I can go in with you if you'd like," she offered; her eyes filled with empathy.

Danny considered it. He really wanted to see Martin and maybe having someone else there would make it easier. "Okay."

Dr. Close placed her hand on Danny's good shoulder and started to lead him to Martin's room when he halted abruptly. He looked her right in the eye and said, "Wait a minute, you are about to share something very important with me and I don't even know your first name."

Dr. Close smiled, extended her hand and said, "Emma."

He returned the gesture and replied, "Danny."

"Nice to meet you, Danny; now quit stalling." With that they entered Martin's room.

He was so nervous that he could feel all the blood pulsing through his veins. Emma must have noticed this because she immediately had him sit down on the chair next to Martin's bed.

Danny could not believe how much Martin did not look, well, like Martin. The top of his head was bandaged, his skin looked pale and grey. His eyes were closed and his breathing was being assisted by an oxygen tube. Scanning further down, his shoulder was also bandaged along with his chest. There was a tube running from his chest to a machine alongside the bed. Actually there were a lot of tubes connected to Martin doing things that Danny would prefer not to think about.

"I can explain what everything does if you want. Maybe help demystify it for you." Emma's voice was soothing and sympathetic.

He shook his head, his gaze never leaving Martin. He felt so guilty that he was walking around while his friend was lying here in a hospital tied to machines.

XXX

As soon as the car stopped moving, Danny maneuvered himself out from under Martin and got out of the car. Ignoring the pulsating pain in his shoulder, he pulled out his gun and aimed it towards the direction of the speeding van. He gave a feeble attempt at giving chase but knew it was hopeless.

"Hey man, you okay…whoa!" Danny swung around with his gun pointed to a man who threw his hands up in the air. His mind was spinning and his heart racing so fast, that it took him a moment to register that the man was the driver of the SUV. He lowered his gun and ran back to the car shouting orders to the driver.

"I'm a federal agent...Call 911…tell them that there is an agent down and to send an ambulance…" The man continued to stand there in shock so Danny yelled, "Do it now!"

He got to the car and glanced in the back. He immediately knew that Adisa was dead. There was a trail of blood pouring from a wound on his forehead and his eyes were wide open and lifeless. He quickly turned his focus on Martin.

"Martin…c'mon man." He pushed him back into his seat and saw blood covering his chest and the side of his head. Martin's eyes were watery and trying to focus but finding no luck. He was breathing but it was labored, with short gasps. "No, Martin, c'mon." Danny struggled to get the seatbelt unbuckled but with Martin's body being completely limp it was difficult to do. When he was finally able to release the lock, Martin's body fell to the side. He tried to pull him out but thanks to the car accident his leg was wedged under the steering wheel.

"Help me!" Danny cried out to no one in particular.

The other driver, who was on his cell phone with 911, leaned into the car to evaluate the situation. "Now the other guy is trying to get him out of the car. Ah, man, he doesn't look good…What? Yeah, hang on...Hey, Buddy, the dispatcher said not to move him. We need to wait for the paramedics."

Danny continued in his attempts to get Martin out of the car. If he was out of the car he'd be safe. He'd be okay. Bad things always happen in cars! He tried pulling Martin's leg loose so he could move him until he felt someone grab him by the shoulders.

"You're hurting him!" This startled Danny and he finally released his grip on Martin. The man looked into his eyes and calmly said, "We need to wait. The lady said that you should focus on stopping the bleeding. Here, take this." The man removed his jacket and handed it to him. "Put this on his chest wound and apply pressure."

Having been jerked back to his senses Danny took the jacket. He mentally chastised himself for losing his cool in a crisis. He was a federal agent damn it.

He pressed hard on the chest wound, praying for the bleeding to stop. He looked at Martin's face and saw that his eyes were filled with fear and pleas for help.

"You're gonna be fine. Hang on okay." He tried not to break eye contact with Martin. His hands were shaking violently but he kept his hand pressed to his chest. "You'll be back eating those damn greasy cheeseburgers for breakfast before you know it."

For a split second Martin's eyes almost seemed to dance at Danny's words before his eyelids slid shut.

"No! Open your eyes Martin! Open your eyes!" He shook him hard but his eyes remained closed. "Martin! Don't do this to me! Open you eyes!"

Suddenly Danny was transported to another car twenty years ago. The smell of radiator fluid, burnt rubber, and blood lingering in the air; his father slumped over in the drivers seat, silent; him shaking his mother as he begged, "Open your eyes, Mami! Mami, wake up! WAKE UP!"

XXX

"I have to go," Danny said as he jumped out of his seat and rushed out of the room before Emma had a chance to try and stop him.

"Danny!" she shouted as she managed to catch up with his frenzied pace right before the elevator.

He stopped and turned to her. "Look, I appreciate you trying to help me but you don't understand the situation."

Emma's jaw tensed. "I understand that you and your partner were injured in the line of duty. I understand that you are here walking, or rather sprinting around while he is a coma. I understand that means you have a lot of guilt. I understand that you probably think if you had reacted differently, or sooner, or whatever, that things might have turned out completely different but you have to face what did happen and not what could have happened or what should have happened. I understand that running away doesn't solve anything."

So maybe she did understand. Not all the details but enough. However, no matter how rational her argument was, it didn't hold a candle to the guilt he felt.

Suddenly, he could see remorse on her face. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"No, don't be. I…" he began to reply when he was interrupted by the familiar ringing of his cell phone. He gave her an apologetic smile as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller-ID. It read: JACK. "I'm sorry but I really have to get this."

"Yeah, I better get back to rounds. Take care of yourself." Emma nodded at him looking deflated.

She started walking away when Danny touched her arm to stop her. "Thank you, for everything."

They exchanged small smiles before his phone rang again.

She motioned for him to answer it but as she walked away she added, "Start wearing your sling, Cutie."

Danny's smile grew as he watched her head down the hall. He hit the talk button and put the phone to his ear. "Taylor."