Chapter Eight: The Sky is Falling
Don was operating on autopilot when he climbed into the Medevac Chopper and took the seat at the top of Charlie's gurney. He looked intently at his younger brother. His face and hair had gotten wet from the rain during the brief trip across the roof and into the chopper and several dark curls were plastered to his cheek. The thought occurred to Don that if they'd just stayed in the rain a little longer, it could have washed some of the blood off.
There had just been so much blood.
David had tried to cover the puddle on the floor in the courtroom, just as he had covered Robin's body. But Don still knew it was there. It had taken every ounce of strength he had not to fall by her side….and hold her….one more time. But if he had, he would still be kneeling there. And Charlie needed him. Charlie was still alive.
The EMT leaned over Don's head to hang a bag of saline. The paramedics had been unable to find a vein for the IV, so they had used the external jugular for the line.
"Reach up there and squeeze that bag."
It took Don a minute to realize the uniformed EMT was talking to him.
"What?"
"Just gently squeeze the bag."
Don silently obeyed, keeping his eyes on Charlie's face.
He could hear the man in the front of the chopper as he called ahead to their destination.
"UCLA This is Medevac Unit Two. In route to your facility…..30 year old male, single gunshot wound to the upper abdomen. Severe hemorrhagic shock. ETA six minutes"
"Charles? Can you look at me?"
They must have gotten his name out of his wallet. Don couldn't remember if anyone had asked him. Charlie appeared to still be conscious, but he had made no apparent effort to acknowledge anyone and did not respond to his proper name. Don interjected his voice cracking as he spoke.
"He likes to be called Charlie."
"Charlie. Charlie? Can you hear me, partner? Can you talk to me?"
The other EMT who was riding with them in the back of the chopper adjusted the controls on the oxygen tank that led to the mask he had just placed over Charlie's face.
Charlie's breathing was already rapid and the mass influx of oxygen provoked a reaction. Charlie reached up and pulled the mask off.
Don watched his younger brother's eyes fill up with tears. He blinked and several tears ran down his cheek and pooled in his ear.
The EMT moved to put the mask back on and again Charlie pushed it off.
"Ok, partner. You need to keep this on."
Don moved up closer, taking the oxygen mask away from the EMT and leaned over Charlie's face.
"Hey, Buddy. Hey. I'm right here. Just take it easy okay? Put this back on."
Charlie shook his head weakly. Through a now steady stream of tears, his eyes focused on Don's.
"m sorry...couldn't help….her."
Don shook his head and clenched his teeth. The emotions he had thought would never return were suddenly crashing down around him and filling up the empty void.
"No. You're not going to do this, Charlie. This is not your fault."
"m really sorry. Tell Dad….love him."
Don felt as if he had been slapped in the face when he realized what Charlie was doing.
"No. NO. Don't you dare."
"love you….Donnie..."
"No, Charlie."
The heart monitor at his side changed it's pitch and Don felt an acidic panic rising in his chest. His voice quavered and he shook his head in shocked disbelief.
"Don't you dare say goodbye."
The volume of the tone increased followed by an extended beep that sent Don's heart plummeting into his feet.
"Charlie?"
"He's in Fib!"
The paramedic grabbed a set of paddles from their place next to the gurney and an electric buzz filled the interior of the chopper as the defibrillator charged.
"CLEAR"
The first jolt from the defibrillator lifted Charlie off the gurney and Don felt his own body jerk in reaction to the sound.
Don reached out and grabbed the sides of his younger brother's head.
"DAMN IT, CHARLIE! Open your eyes. Look at me. Don't do this to me."
The man with the paddles put out his arm and pushed Don away.
"Sir, get back."
"CLEAR"
The second jolt ripped through Charlie's body and Don put his hands up over his face.
He couldn't watch this. He just couldn't. He started talking. To God, or to himself, he wasn't sure which, but it didn't matter.
"I can't do this. I can't lose them both. Not like this. Don't let this happen. Please. Don't let this happen."
After the next jolt from the defibrillator, Don's pleas were answered by the return of a steady beep.
"We've got a rhythm."
"Hang on, partner. Keep fighting. We're almost there."
Don lifted his head and fixed his eyes on his brother's pale face.
"Is he? Is he going to be alright?"
Don knew it was a stupid question, but he had to ask it anyway.
"Well, his heart's beating. We're doing everything we can."
The two paramedics continued to hover over Charlie as the helicopter landed on the roof. The doors opened and hands reached in and pulled Charlie's gurney out the door and back out into the rain. Don jumped down and followed close behind trying to comprehend the stream of information that they began to spout concerning Charlie's condition.
"Gunshot wound, visibly entry and exit, BP 50 over 30. Pulse 160."
"How long as he been hypotensive?"
"He was like this when we got there….tachycardia is the same too."
"This the guy from the courthouse shooting?"
"Yeah, he's the one. We almost lost him on the way over here. We're looking at at least a forty percent depletion."
"He's hypoxic."
"Don't wait. Let's get him intubated."
Don stopped in his tracks when one of the doctors climbed onto the gurney as the rest of the crew continued to push it down the hall. He had thought they only did that on television. He un-rooted his feet and ran to catch up, as the group of nurses, doctors and paramedics filled the elevator around Charlie. All of them were frantically doing something in an attempt to keep him alive. There was no room for Don in there….and he stepped back and looked into the elevator. He had wanted to see Charlie one more time. One last time. But the doctor who was trying to get a tube down Charlie's throat was obstructing his face.
As the doors slid shut he heard one of the hospital staff talking to the Medevac EMT.
"The blood loss is too substantial. He's never going to make it."
"This one is a fighter, Doc. Give him a chance."
Then the doors closed and Charlie was gone.
Don felt a hand on his arm. A young woman in blue scrubs hadn't boarded the elevator with the others and was looking at him with concern.
"Sir, are you injured?"
Don looked at her blankly for a moment trying to imagine what could have given her an idea like that. Then he realized his hands were covered with his brother's blood and large patches of scarlet were visible on his white dress shirt. He had leaned over Charlie and helped roll him onto the backboard when the paramedics had arrived in the courtroom. He had held his brother's hand while they had tried to start an intravenous line.
And there had just been so much blood.
"Sir?"
Don shook his head.
"No."
He looked at the crimson coating on his hands.
"I'm not hurt. It's all his."
She nodded and gently put her hand on his back.
"They'll do everything they can, officer."
The badge, gun and cuffs on his belt were hard to miss. He had almost forgotten he was wearing them.
"Do you know how to notify his family?"
She was assuming Charlie was one of his agents…or a cop.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do."
He paused and then continued, almost as an afterthought.
"I'm his brother."
Her eyes softened and she put her arm around Don's waist and began to lead him toward the other elevator.
"They'll be taking him straight to the OR. You should wait downstairs in trauma. There are going to be some forms you'll need you fill out. I'll take you down."
Don pulled away from her and headed for the stairs without looking back.
"Thanks, I already know the way."
1
12
1
Alan stood in the open doorway and stared at the two agents who had just arrived. Megan Reeves and Colby Granger had been on Don's team for well over a year now and they had both spent time at the house on multiple occasions. But they had never just 'dropped by'. Not like this. And from the expressions they both wore, Alan knew that life as he knew it was about to change.
He had waited over ten years for this day. For the first twenty four months after Don had become a field agent, every time the doorbell rang unexpectedly, he had felt the cold tendrils of panic encircle his heart. But he had learned to suppress it. He had learned how to live around the constant dread that his eldest son's profession evoked in him. And after the incident that took place early in the summer, he had again been forced to relinquish the fear that had threatened to incapacitate him.
But despite his efforts, it had lingered and was floating just under the surface.
Waiting for this.
This day.
This moment.
And in a strange way, he felt ready.
But when Megan took his arm, the words he heard were not what he had braced himself for.
"Alan. Something has happened."
He looked calmly from Megan to Colby.
"Don."
Megan shook her head. Her eyebrows were knitted tightly together and her green eyes were filled with sorrow.
"No. No. Don is…..…..alright."
She paused and took a deep breath trying not to be affected by the look of confusion on Alan's face. She had rehearsed what she had planned to say to Don and Charlie's father all the way to the house, but the words were not cooperating. She turned her eyes to Colby and he continued speaking for her.
"Alan. Robin Brooks was shot and killed this morning. At the courthouse."
"Oh. Oh, God."
"Alan. Ch…Charlie…."
He didn't let Colby finish.
"No."
This was not what he had expected.
This was not what he had prepared himself for.
Megan still had a hand on his arm, and when she found her voice, it was trembling.
"They've taken Charlie to UCLA. He was shot, Alan. Don's with him."
After lowering himself to the edge of the easy chair in the main room, Alan tried to assimilate the information he had just been given.
He shook his head in denial. It wasn't possible. Don had promised. Just yesterday afternoon. Don had promised that Charlie was perfectly safe. That he was watching him and that he was perfectly safe. How could this have happened?
Megan knelt down next to his knee, so she could look up at him.
"Don is……well he's pretty tore up right now……with Robin and……..well, Charlie is……it's bad, Alan. We just need to get to the hospital. Is there somebody I can call? Your sister maybe?"
Alan shook his head, his face a mask of anguish.
"She's in Florida. What could she do?"
"Ok. Ok."
She took Alan's arm as he stood up and Colby held open the door for them.
1
12
1
A evanescent moment of absolute happiness. That was what he had felt.
He had told Don he was sorry. Robin was dead and there was nothing he could have done. Not really, but he should have tried. Maybe for that, he deserved to die.
He had told Don that he loved him. He had been a child the last time he had done that. Charlie just hated that this time would also be the last.
He wanted to say more. There really was so much more that had been left unsaid between them. Things that they just didn't talk about. But still, Don wanted him to stay. He had asked him not to go. And Charlie had tried to answer….wanted to promise that he would try. Wanted to say that he would be there for him….for once.
But then something inside him just stopped.
And then it didn't hurt anymore. There was no more pain. There was no more fear. There was no more sorrow. Just him.
And something else. Something familiar.
Warm. Happy.
It wasn't like a light. Or an angel. Or even a voice. Just a presence.
But one he would have known under any circumstances.
He felt the way he had as a small child, when some unknown demon had pulled him from sleep and she had been there. He had never even had to call for her. She just always seemed to know when he needed her to be close by. Like now. And he knew she was there. And that was enough.
And so he was happy.
For a perfect, beautiful moment that was all he felt.
Then the world exploded into a sea of pain he could never have imagined even in the worst of nightmares. And just as suddenly, it was gone and so was everything else, except for a dull, steady beeping that slowly faded as Charlie slipped quietly into total oblivion.
1
2
3
4
5
Authors Notes: As always - thank you for your comments. Monday begins our first full week of school here, and my daughter just started kindergarten…..this change has prompted shift changes and schedules are being adjusted to wrap around this new ritual. So bear with me if I'm a little slow.
Chapter Nine: Tell God to Stop Laughing