Chapter 11: "The Picture"
He walked over and picked up his wallet, looking down on the only picture he had left of them.
2 Weeks Later
It had been over two weeks since Luka had been discharged from the hospital, and one since he got the stitches removed, when he had convinced Kerry that he was able to work a full shift and she had complied. He woke up this morning and was glad to be going back to work; when he was alone he had time to think, to think of them especially, and he knew that it was doing him no good. Since he had got out of the hospital he realised that he was sleeping and eating much less, made more apparent when he put on his shirt.
Luka was walking up the steps to the El when it started to rain, and luckily the next train had just stopped and he managed to run over and get on before the doors closed. The carriage was fairly empty as it was 5.00 am in the morning and many people were still in bed or just getting up. Today the train ride seemed to take forever and Luka let out a breath, he had not realised he had been holding when it came to his stop.
By now it had stopped raining and Luka made it to the ambulance bay and inside without being drenched in rain.
He walked straight to the lounge, glad that Jerry was on today and not Frank. He walked over to his locker and opened it, quickly putting his coat inside and exchanging it for his labcoat. He poured himself a cup of coffee and went left the lounge to start his shift.
Luka walked over to admit while casting a quick glance at triage, noticing that today it seemed to be spilling over.
"Hey Dr Kovac, it's great to have you back!" Jerry said while giving Luka a hug, unaware to the pain Luka was experiencing as he wound was still a little tender.
"Yeah, it's great to be back, though I can say that I probably came back on one of the busiest days" Luka said while laughing as he picked up a chart and headed for Exam 3.
30 minutes later Luka was finished with the old lady, Mrs Gumble, after prescribing some ointment for her ears as they were blocked up, the fact that Luka had to repeat everything he said to her a minimum of 3 times before she heard him. Luka signed off on the chart and was about to go and see his other patients when a trauma came in, which he gladly went to help with.
Carter, Greene, and Luka, along with the nurses brought the screaming woman into trauma 1. Susan, Kerry and Benton went with the little boy into trauma 2.
"Okay, on my count, 1…2…3," Greene said as they transferred the woman from the gurney.
"Okay, what happened?" Greene said as he shone his penlight into the woman's eyes, finding that they were slightly sluggish.
Doris the EMT quickly told them how the woman and her son were in a MVA, the other driver was drunk and DOA.
"Okay, I want a CAT-Scan, abdominal series, chest x-ray, x-ray of both legs and a Chem. 7" Greene said as he inserted a bag of O-Neg. Luka was checking over the woman's abdomen when the heart monitor started to beep loudly.
"Starting compressions" he said as he went to the woman's chest, and Carter started to bag her.
"I want 10 ccs of empi, Stat!" Greene said as he charged the paddles.
They shocked the woman for 45 minutes, pumped her full of everything they could think of, and the monitor was still bleeping loudly. Luka was still performing compressions when Mark put his hand on his arm,
"Stop compressions, Time of Death, 13:38 pm" Mark ripped off his latex gloves and left the room.
Luka pulled off his own gloves and trauma gown and looked into the other trauma room. Susan stood with the paddles also and shocked the boy twice more before she turned to the clock.
"At least they'll be together" Carter said from behind him, shaking his head sadly.
"Are there any relatives?" Luka asked as they exited the trauma room,
"Yeah, a husband. Do you want me to go and tell him" Carter said as he put his hands in to his labcoat pockets.
"No, I'll do it, thanks" Luka said as he fiddled with the stethoscope around his neck.
Luka walked over to admit and saw the man that Lydia indicated to being the woman's husband. He took a deep breath before going over to Mr Patterson.
"Hello Mr Patterson, could I talk to you over here please" Luka said indicating to the family room.
"Where is my family?" the man asked, not moving from where he stood.
"I will explain if you…" Luka was interrupted when the man raised his voice and asked again where his family was. Luka walked back over to Mr Patterson, deciding that it would be better to tell him know rather than get him angry.
"Mr Patterson, your son and wife came in with very severe injuries; they had been in a crash. We did everything we could, I'm sorry but your son and wife both died" as Luka said this he averted his eyes to the ground.
"I know that you feel terrible, but you can go see them, say goodbye" Luka said blinking back tears.
"How do you know what it feels like to lose everyone you love?" Mr Patterson shouted as he pushed past Luka and stormed out of the ER.
Luka was in the drug lock-up getting some medication for his 65-year old with back pain when he noticed, as if for the first time, the number of medication. He lifted the medication and was about to leave when he suddenly turned around, made sure no one was looking and put some pills in his pocket. He went to the patient, gave them the pills and instruction on when to take them before he walked over to the lounge. He opened the door and was glad to find that it was empty, he walked over to the sink, filled a glass with water and took some of the pills out of his pocket and quickly swallowed them.
If I can do this without anyone noticing then I should be fine. He thought optimistically.
Luka exited the lounge and continued his shift, several hours later he went back to the drug lock-up and took some more pills; careful that no one seen him, and went back to work.
It was the end of Luka's shift when he ran into Carter in the lounge; Carter was taking his coat off, and Luka was putting his coat on.
"Hey, I didn't know you were back at work today. So how did the first shift go?" Carter asked on the way out the door.
"Great, it went a lot easier than I expected it to be" Luka thought, especially about how easy it was to get those pills.
"I'll see you tomorrow then" Carter said as he went over to admit.
"Yeah, see you then" Luka said as he exited the hospital, pulling his coat around himself more tightly as the wind grew colder as it was approaching autumn. He walked briskly up the steps of the El and waited for the next train to come.
Luka walked into his hotel room and threw his coat down on the end of the bed, before he sat down and took off his shoes. He pulled off his tie and walked into the bathroom where he turned on the shower and unchanged as the steam filled the bathroom, fogging up the mirror. He stepped into the hot water and let it relax the tense muscles in his back and neck.
15 minutes later Luka was coming out of the bathroom, dressed only in his black boxers and a towel around his neck, the water from his hair dripping onto the floor. He finished drying his hair and was about to get into bed when there was a knock at his door. Without thinking he went to the door and opened and could not have been more surprised to see Mark Greene standing at his door.
"Hey, can I come in?" Mark said in a cheery voice.
"Sure" Luka opened the door wider to let Mark in and wrapped his arms around himself, only noticing now how little he was wearing.
"You left this at the hospital" Mark said as he held out a black leather wallet, and it did not escape his notice that Luka's face paled slightly when he saw it, "You okay?" Mark asked as he put his hand on Luka's arm.
"Yeah, thanks" his accent thicker than usual as he held out a shaky hand and took the wallet, "How did you know it was mine?" he asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed, not trusting his legs to keep him steady.
"I had to open it and I found your driver license inside" as if something Greene said made Luka remember something, he quickly opened the wallet and let out a breath when he realised that the photo was still there.
"I should go now, see you tomorrow" Mark said and Luka got up and opened the door for him, "Thank you very much" Luka said, "Don't mention it, goodnight" Mark said as he exited the hotel room.
Mark only noticed now that he didn't even look through the money, just the photo, the one with the woman and the little girl, which was slightly burned around the edges. Mark wondered who theses people where, probably family, the little girl looked a lot like Luka, maybe it was his sister or a niece, anyway he would ask him the next time he saw him.
Please R&R
