"I'll go find out what's happening. You…" Susan sighed as Dave charged off towards the trauma rooms. "Run blindly round the ER." she continued. She followed after Dave, catching up with him outside Trauma two. Dave stood outside the doors, just staring into the room. When he tried to move inside, Susan placed a hand gently on his shoulder to stop him, but he shook her off and pushed open the door. Susan followed him inside. Luka looked up as they entered.
"She's stable for now." he told them. "She suffered head trauma and some internal bleeding. She has a possible tib and fib fracture to the left leg. We're waiting for x-ray. The only other problem was her blood alcohol level."
Dave crossed over to the side of the gurney. She looks so helpless. I should have stopped this from happening. I should have been able to do something. If I had then she wouldn't be lying here like this. "You didn't intubate her?"
Luka joined him at Abby's side. "No. She was making good respiratory effort. It wasn't necessary."
Dave slowly nodded. "Good."
Luka turned to Susan. "Where's Ryan?"
"Chen stayed at Abby's with him. I'll call her in a minute. Let her know what's going on." She motioned for Luka that she wanted to talk to him in private. "How bad are the head injuries?"
"You don't need to whisper. I'm a doctor you know. I'm not gonna break down if it's bad news. No more than Susan anyway." Dave still stood by Abby, but was staring at the two of them pointedly.
Luka nodded. "We really don't know. We just have to wait and see if she wakes up."
"How long 'til you move her upstairs?" Susan asked.
"Soon as x-ray is done."
Before Susan could ask anymore questions, they were interrupted by Lydia. "Dr Kovac, we need you."
"Ok. I'll be back soon as I can." With a last glance at Abby, he left.
Susan walked back over to Dave. "She'll be ok, you know?"
Dave did not look up. He had taken hold of Abby's hand now.
"I'm gonna go and let Chen know. You want a cup of coffee?"
"No, thanks."
"Ok, I'll see you in a bit."
Dave heard the trauma door swing shut as Susan left. He had not really been listening to her or Luka since they said that they would have to wait to see if Abby woke up. He kissed the back of Abby's hand gently. I'm sorry, Abby. Sorry that I turned you down. If I hadn't then this wouldn't have happened. You'd be safe. Safe with me. I should have been the old Malucci. The one who wouldn't have said no. But I'm not the same guy anymore and that's because of you. I know that you'll come back to us. And that it won't be cause of me. It'll be for Ryan…And Carter. I know that you'd never love me like you do him. And I don't care. I don't expect you to. Just do this one thing for me. Don't leave us.
"What happened?" Susan leant against the desk in admin, talking to Gallant.
He shrugged. "Not too sure, Dr Lewis. Paramedics brought her in. She'd been knocked down. The police have been around. They're waiting to question her."
"Did they get the driver?"
"Yeah. He stopped. Police spoke to him. He said that Abby just walked right in front of the car."
"I'm surprised she could walk the amount of alcohol in her bloodstream." Pratt joined them. "Cops think she was trying to top herself."
"Wouldn't surprise me! Always thought she was unstable." Frank commented, joining in the conversation from where he was sat.
"Shut up, Frank!" Susan glared at the desk clerk. "Abby's seriously hurt. You could show a little more compassion."
"It's the kid I feel sorry for. Having a drug addict for a father and a suicidal drunk for a mother. Kid's got no chance."
"Shut up, Frank!"
"He has a point, you know?" Luka had heard the discussion as he was walking past.
"What about?" Susan asked.
"Is she was trying to harm herself then we need to call psych."
"She wasn't! It was an accident!"
"Can you be sure?"
Susan faltered. "Abby wouldn't do something like that. You know she wouldn't."
"I think we should call them. It's for Abby's safety. We need to stop something like this from happening again."
"But psych can't admit her 'til they talk to her, right?" Pratt asked, picking up a chart from the rack.
"Normally no. But if there's been a suicide attempt and two treating physicians agree, they can make exceptions."
"So you're gonna have her committed? When you don't even know what happened?" Gallant spoke up now.
"Awwww, Boy Scout Mikey's not happy with this." Pratt teased.
"No, it's just…"
"Look, the chick's clearly lost it. She's been nuts since Carter left."
"Hey, that's enough, Pratt." Luka yelled. "Go and see some patients."
"Try and not kill any." Susan added.
Glaring at them, Pratt headed off towards the exam rooms. Susan stared at Frank, daring him to say anything. For once, he remained quiet.
"Susan, we have to make sure Abby's ok. She needs help."
Susan nodded. "Ok. Do it."
Going back inside the trauma room, Susan found Dave still by Abby's side. He had brought a chair in though and was now sat at Abby's side.
Without taking his eyes off Abby, he asked, "When are we moving her?"
"Not sure. Soon, I think." She took a deep breath, wondering how Dave would react to this news. "Luka's called for a psych consult."
"What? Why?" That made him look up.
"The driver of the car that hit her said she stepped out in front of him. She may have been trying to kill herself."
"She was drunk. That's all. I saw her. She wasn't suicidal."
"It's to protect Abby, Dave. We'll get her some help."
"Why call them? They can't admit her 'til they've talked to her so…"
"We're sorting it out."
Dave stood up now. "You trying to have her committed now?" He took off out of the room, with Susan running after him. He found Luka in the lounge.
"Why? Why not wait 'til she wakes up?"
"We only want what's best for Abby."
"She wasn't trying to kill herself, trust me on this. Listen man, just wait until she wakes up. We'll talk to her. See how she is. Then take it from there."
Dave could see that Luka was hesitating. "Think about Ryan, yeah? If it was just an accident, it may be difficult to get Abby released if you convince them she's mad."
Luka seemed to take a moment to think about this, but finally he made a decision. "Ok. Ok. We'll wait."
