Chapter 22

Doug woke up slowly. He brought his arm from over his head to look at his watch. it was only just four. Carefully he moved his other arm from around Anna and stood up. he couldn't believe how tired he was. he wanted to get to work early to catch Carol so he wouldn't have to worry about it all day. he had no regrets about last night; it felt good to be happy for awhile. after getting dressed quickly he taped his car keys on Anna's door for her to use to get to work and went downstairs and outside. after a long walk to the hospital Doug bravely walked in to look for Carol. "here we go" he said to himself.

Anna rolled over feeling that the warmth that had been there was no longer there. She sat up and then laid back down. God that wasn't a good. She was suffering for a hangover from the night before. She got up out of the bed and headed to take a shower. She got dressed and found keys taped to the door. She glanced down at her watch and headed for the door. She'd get this over and done with and be at County in time for work. Anna negotiated Doug jeep over to County. She parked it and walked over to her car. She didn't want to show up at Northwestern with someone else's car and have Max going psycho on it. As she headed towards Northwestern she was pulling out when the light turned green when someone ran the red plowing into her car.

Doug walked up to admit and looked for someone...anyone. it was still not very busy. he found carol's pager number and stat paged her down to the ER. after he did he took a seat by the phone and half closed his eyes. all he wanted was to talk to Carol and for work to speed up to keep his mind from racing like it was now.

Kerry was coming into the ER just as the ambulance pulled up. She listened to the paramedics as they rambled off the report to her, she noticed Doug sitting at the admit desk. "Doug, I need a set of hands, trauma just rolled in." Kerry said as they headed into one.

"umm oh yeah" Doug woke from his half sleep and stood by the doorway waiting to grab the gurney as it came in. he listened to the bullet too but didn't look at the patient until they hit trauma room one. his eyes glanced down quickly and then locked as he saw Anna's face. "Oh God!" he yelled..."Kerry...it's Anna."

Kerry looked down, "on my count let's move her. One, two, three." Kerry said as she pulled to slide Anna onto the trauma gurney. "Get me a CBC, chem. 7 and a c-spine."

Doug felt sick. this was his fault...if he had waited for her to get up he would have driven and she wouldn't have gotten into an accident. "oh god..." he said again. he couldn't believe this had happened.

Anna lifted her hand up off the gurney; she had Doug's keys in them. She pulled the oxygen away from her face and tried to smile, "my cars totaled."

Anna talking snapped Doug out of his shock. He bent down closer to her while Kerry examined the rest of her. "Well at least it's not mine right?" he tried to smile. "You're going to be alright. I'm going to take care of you."

"Doug clear her neck and take her up to CT." Kerry said to him, "If you need me I'll be around."

Doug nodded at Kerry. "Ok Anna tell me if any of this hurts." he said as he slipped his hand under her neck stabilizer and pressed on the bones in her neck. "if you're good I'll take this brace off and chauffeur you up to the CT sweet." he could tell she was looking better already, and that made him feel less guilty.

Doug took her hand away from her IV's "Hey come on. Let me check you out ok? I already feel bad enough that you got in an accident with out me there." He could see the pout she gave him. "Ok...if your CT is clear I'll discharge you. Good enough?"

"It wasn't your fault that I got into an accident Doug." She said to him. "I dropped your car off and took mine to go over to Northwestern. Then next thing I know I'm looking up at you from this gurney. So if you'd just give me a couple of aspirin for my headache, I'll be on my way." She reached for the IV's again. She was getting agitated and her head hurt worse than when she woke up.

"I'm almost there" Carter told her, "Sorry that traffic took so long," He said to her

"It's okay Carter." Abby said to him. "I'll just wait for you."

Doug grabbed both her hands this time and pushed them against the gurney. "Hey." as he leaned over her the situation seemed all to similar to the previous night. "look, it would make me feel better to check you out. I need you to be ok. you already almost gave me a heart attack. the least you can do is get a CT. it'll only take fifteen minutes...and it would make me feel better." he winked at her and gently let her hands up.

Anna wasn't going to stick around. She didn't want to be there, her head was pounding she didn't feel right. She couldn't remember how she got there, or where she was anymore. "No, I have to go, I don't belong here." She started to thrash about; the room was starting to spin. "let me go."

"Anna" Doug was trying hard to get her to calm down. the last thing he wanted was to put her in restraints. He leaned over her and cradled her face with his hand. "Shh." he talked calmly and quietly. "Shh. ok, ok. just calm down. you're going to be alright. I won't leave you."

Carol heard her pager going off, "Someone page me," She asked no one in particular as she came down into the ER after taking a patient upstairs

She let go her head had gotten cloudy. "where am I, what happened, why are you keeping me here?" Nothing was making sense anymore to her.

Kerry was standing at the Admit desk, "Doug did Carol, I think he wants you to help him take Anna up to CT."

Doug stood up and took a deep breath in. "Anna, it's Doug. You were in a car accident and you're at county. You're going to be ok." Doug took a few steps out of the room to look for some help. he saw Carol standing at admit. "Hey Carol! Come here please!"

Carter took some time to get there, he finally arrived, "Hey," He said to her as he hopped out of the jeep, "Sorry I'm late," He told her

Carol took a big sigh. "Ok," She said to Kerry and then walked over to Doug. "Oh my god, what happened to Anna?" She asked him as she went to help

"They took Anna inside earlier." Abby said to Carter. "It looks like she was in an accident."

Anna watched Doug at the door. With him away from her she pulled at the tubes that we in her. And then struggled to get up off the bed. She was getting out of here.

Doug turned around to see Anna getting up. "Carol I need you Now!" he walked quickly over to Anna. "Look, you need to sit down. you could be seriously hurt." his tone was no longer quiet or soft. "If you don't we'll have to put you in restraints."

She glared at him her eyes glazed over, "you can't make me stay if I don't want to. I'm out of here."

Doug stood firmly in front of her "no you're not"

She saw someone standing on the other side of the door. "He'll let me out."

"What oh my god, how bad is it?" he asked her asked worried about Anna, Anna had been a good friend for a long time. "he said to Abby

"They took her into a trauma room, but I don't know anything more than that." She said, "why don't we go and check on her."

Carol went and help, Doug. "How bad is it" she said getting restraints just in case

Doug heard Carol and looked over his shoulder at her, he was glad he had help. Looking back at Anna he tried to reason with her again. "See Anna, Carol and I are here to help you. Why don't you just sit back down?" He turned his head around and mouthed the word 'Haldol' to her.

"Ok" he said to her. "Is it ok with you we do that before we leave" he said to Abby

Carol went to get the Haldol for them. She couldn't believe this was Anna

Anna started to panic. "No, NO!" She backed up against the gurney to steady herself as her eyes darted around the room. The room was starting to go black as she tried to swing at Doug.

Doug went to grab for Anna so she wouldn't fall. instead Anna's fist connected underneath his jaw. The impact caused him to slip on the slick tile floor. his head hit the gurney knocking him out before he hit the floor.

Carol walked over to Anna. "Anna its me and Doug, were not going to hurt you" she said to her

Kerry heard the commotion coming from trauma one and headed inside. "What the hell." she said as she saw Doug laying on the floor. She saw Abby and Carter, "Carter we need another set of hands in here!"

Anna shrugged Carol off and headed for the door, her head was pounding and it was getting harder and harder to see, she needed out.

Abby ran inside next to Doug. He had a nice bruise forming under his chin. She could also see where he had cracked his head on the gurney. There was a nice goose egg forming. "Carter get Anna." She touched Doug's shoulder, "Doug, Doug can you hear me?"

Doug could barely hear Abby's voice as he came to. slowly he opened his eyes. "Ahh my head." he said trying to sit up. he looked around and didn't seen Anna. "where is everyone? is Anna ok?"

"She wandered out, I sent Carter after her. I think Kerry and Carol are helping him." She said, "that's a nasty bump you got there."

Doug moved to get up. "Yeah I think I'm ok though. I don't know what happened. I was talking to her...she was fine and then she just lost it." Doug finally stood up but lost his balance and sat down on the gurney. "I think I'll be ok. You should go check on her." Seeing Anna like that really bothered Doug, especially after how close they had gotten last night.

"She must have hit her head pretty hard in the accident. From what you are telling me she has gotten pretty combative, isn't that one of those classic signs of head trauma?" Abby said to Doug, "I think that I should stay with you and make sure that she didn't crack you head."

"Great, now I'm being taught by a nurse." Doug said shortly. after he said it he felt bad. "Sorry" Doug gave her a weak grin. "Thanks Abby." He touched the side of his head. It wasn't really bleeding but it hurt pretty bad. After a second he tried to stand up again. This time he had more luck. "I don't think I'm that bad off. Just had a crappy start to what promises to be an awful day."

"It will get better," Abby said, "why don't you go into the lounge and get some coffee and I will go and chase down Anna." Abby handed him and ice pack, "keep that on it, it's not ever day that you get the opportunity to get clobbered by a crazed coworker."

Doug took the ice pack but shot Abby a look. He didn't think her joke was funny. "Hey, if you see Carol tell her I need to talk to her. and page me please when you get Anna back."

"Okay, okay I will." She said as she headed out of the room.

Doug headed for the lounge; he was in an awful mood. once he found it he almost collapsed on the couch. All he wanted to do was talk to Carol. He wanted to feel the same thing with Carol that he felt the last night with Anna.