Chapter XXXVII

Flat Line

Hank had never worked on anyone he'd really known before. He and Sara had dated a bit, well sort of. She was smart and beautiful and she was in his rig. They had a mask over her face, giving her oxygen and they were trying to stop the bleeding. He expertly started an IV, trying to get saline into her. Her skin, that had always been somewhere between alabaster and sun kissed, was a deathly pale and her lips were blue. They had her pulse, it was barely there, but they had it. "Sara. Sara, it's me, Hank. I want you to listen to me. We are taking you to the hospital and you are going to hold on until you get there. I haven't had a DOA all week and you are not going to be the first one.

Doctor Lucy Gabriel snapped her gloves off. The skateboarder definitely had a broken wrist. She would send a nurse in to splint it and he could follow up with an orthopedist over at the Vegas Center for Sports Medicine. She ran her hand through her unruly mop of red curls and was looking forward to getting off her feet when Krystal, the ER's chief of nursing, saw her. "Luce! We've got a stab wound coming in. She's some kind of cop, in critical condition. ETA two minutes." Lucy snapped to action. "Clear Trauma Room 2!"

Just as predicted, the ambulance arrived two minutes later and she met the EMTs at the bay doors. Hank Peddigrew jumped out and they eased the gurney out. Lucy almost stopped in her tracks. If she didn't know better, if she hadn't been at the funeral, she would swear she was seeing Debbie Marlin again. Hank's words finally broke through her shock. "CSI Sara Sidle, stabbed approximately twelve minutes ago. Single wound to the right side of the lower back. We've put in an IV. Guy on scene told us she was B Neg. She is about thirty-five and one hundred and seven pounds. BP is thready and has been dropping." They burst through into the Trauma Room. She moved around. "Lift on three." she did the count and they lifted the brunette woman and placed her on the hospital gurney. She and her nurses began to work immediately. She barked orders as they eased the woman to her side. "Samuel, get a second IV running, Deidre, get a pack of O Neg and type and cross just to make sure." She scowled as she moved the blood soaked gauze. "Someone get Tidwell, I need help with this!"

Moments later, Vance Tidwell burst through the doors, scrubs on. He snapped on his gloves. "What have we got?" Nurses moved around quickly, the IV bag of blood was hooked to her arm. Lucy started to explain but was cut off when the monitors when haywire. "Damn it! She's going into V-Fib!" Vance moved to get the crash cart, but by the time he had the machine, the patient had flat lined. He cursed and they began to cut off her shirt. They put her on her back. He looked over at one of the nurses, "Charge to one-twenty!" Deidre, one of the nurses, looked up at him. "Charged." He grabbed the padles while Lucy coated them with gel. When she was done, he gave the signal and his colleague jerked her hands away from the body. He moved in, "Clear!" He put the padles to the woman's body and she jerked, but her heart did not restart. "Son of a bitch! Charge to 140!" Lucy moved around to her IV. "Pushing two grams of epi!" The defibrillator charged again and he put it back to the woman's body. "Clear!" Her body jerked again, but still nothing. Samuel scowled, "She's been down for a minute and a quarter." He scowled, "Charge to 180." He leaned over the woman. "Don't do this to me. I will not have an Honest-to-God hero die in my ER today!" The third time, or perhaps his words, did it and the patient's heart began to beat again.

Lucy frowned, "Her oxygen is low. I'm bagging her." Vance nodded. "I saw the report just before I came down here. Channel 5 is going nuts. This chick." Lucy looked up, annoyed, "CSI Sara Sidle." He nodded, "She found the Willows girl, and apparently caught the Doll Collector." Lucy frowned as she carefully guided the air tube into the woman's trachea. "She looks just like Debbie. It could be her sister." He nodded, "Yeah. Actually, I've worked with her. She's gold with rape victims." Once the respirator was breathing for her, Sara's vitals picked up a bit. Lucy came over to the side with the wound, it was in an awkward position, but she and Vance looked at it. It was still bleeding, and Vance had his hand inside. "It's a bad hit. Long and deep. We've got kidney damage and she is bleeding out. I've already clamped down three vessels, but she needs to go to the OR." Lucy nodded, "I'll call Smith."

They rushed Sara Sidle through the halls and into the elevator. There was an Operating room ready with one of Vegas's best surgeons. Sidle was as stable as she was going to be. If they didn't get her into surgery now, they were going to lose her...even then they might lose her.

Author's Note: I've seen far too many old episodes of ER for my own good. The real thing is never as good as the show, I know that for a fact.