There was fire, smoke everywhere. Plunged into darkness.
Screams.
She couldn't find where they were coming from and couldn't get to all of them.
There were so many of them.
The entire west wing of the hospital was gone, a gaping hole of nothing.
The screaming she realizes is her, calling out for Killian. It was the wing where he was working. Hands on her shoulders, pulling her back the other way.
"No, I have to get to Killian. I have to..."
"Sybie. Sybie. " It was Lucy, the only other nurse that remained since the beginning of their training, besides Emmeline Granger and Shepard. The rest had left when it had gotten to be too much for them. Most didn't last the program more than a year. "We've got him. He was trapped under rubble. He's in surgery. The doctor..."
"How is he?"
"I don't know yet. The doctor is trying to stabilize him."
The doctor was working fervently with scarcely any light. "He needs a transfusion." He yelled in frustration. It was then Sybil realized that he was no older than themselves. Ethen Kaczmarek. Kaz.
"Come on, doctor. You can do this." Lucy was saying, giving him the confidence to continue. He faintly nodded. His expression than fell in utter horror.
"But our blood supply...it was destroyed with the West wing. Whoever thought it wise to store it all on one side of the hospital!" He cursed.
Sybil pulled back her sleeve, offering. "I'll do it."
"What if your blood isn't a match?" Lucy asked.
"We better hope and pray. It's the only chance we got."
So they continued to work under torchlight.
It wasn't until several hours or what felt like days, that the color started to return to his face, till he started to come around.
"Sybil..." It was shaky and weak, when it had always been strong, confident. She'd rather him be throwing her insults.
"Don't try to speak. You need to rest."
"If I survive..."
"Don't..."
"If I survive...I want you to marry me. I'll get it back. I'll get the ring back from Dorothy."
"Shh. You're talking nonsense. Rest now." But he was already out. "What happened?"
"He went back to evacuate the other patients." Lucy said. The wing had mostly consisted of patients who couldn't walk.
Sybil suddenly hated herself. For doing this to him. She had warmed his heart. If it hadn't been for her he wouldn't be lying there on a gurney, clinging to life and at any moment he could die.
No. He had saved lives. That was his job. He had taken an oath. To do no harm.
She suddenly thought of Shep. She would normally be at the front of everything.
"Where's Shep?"
"She was helping him. She went back to check if there were more but Killian said it was getting to dangerous. He went back for her."
"Where is Shep?" She repeated.
"The wing collapsed on them both. It took a longer time to dig her out."
"No. No, it can't."
"They whisked her away to another hospital but the time I got there no one would tell me anything. They brought her through the casualty entrance."
"They couldn't take Killian?"
"They wouldn't take him. They were full up...Civilian casualties too."
Poor Kaz. He was here, trying to save another man's life while his fiancé was in another hospital, who was also fighting for her life. He didn't have to but he chose to. And she'd be forever grateful.
"Take me there."
"Don't you want to stay here with Killian?"
"No. I want to go with you."
"Why don't you go, Kaz?" Lucy asked.
"No. I am honor bound by my patient."
"I know it's a difficult choice."
"He's my friend."
"And she's your fiancé. Go, be with her. I'll take over from here."
"I'll take you." Kaz finally offered.
Sybil would hug her but then Lucy would have to scrub in again, time they didn't have to waste. She was facing the same hard choice that Kaz was. She could lose one or both of them but if she stayed here she would lose her mind and Kaz would never forgive himself if Shep died when he should have been by her side. Kaz would need somebody there with him. Killian couldn't be.
They waited and waited in the hospital's lobby, people and patients nearly stacked on top of one another. He told her how he and Shep had met. He was working on the back of the ambulance and she was driving.
"I was afraid for my life. She drove like a mad woman but it payed off, dodging all those shells. She was actually a pretty good driver."
"Are you sure it wasn't the shells you were afraid of?"
"I never told her how I feel. I was afraid she'd laugh." He was Jewish and Shep was catholic, he thought she'd laugh at him because it was impossible, for him thinking that it would ever work.
Finally the doctor came out. "Not good I'm afraid. She has severe internal injuries and trauma to the brain. If she were to wake up there would be damage to her faculties. I'm so sorry. It could be very soon."
She still looked elegant and beautiful lying in the bed. "You can't tell that there's anything wrong with her." Kaz said. But he knew for a well seasoned doctor, that was the trick. He took her equally elegant and slender hand.
"You should tell her how you feel." Sybil said. "She still might be able to hear you."
He did. After that time seemed to slow, until finally,
"She's barley breathing." He whispered.
Sybil got up and went over to her friends bedside, felling her pulse. It was scarcely there. A flutter of butterflies wings. Her breaths grew longer and longer and then one more raspy, rattled breath.
"Kaz...she's gone."
Tears rolled down his cheeks. He bowed his head, covering his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with sobs. Sybil sat beside him, putting her arms around them, pulling him close.
She wished to never witness this again, to watch someone slip quietly from your grasp. Being doctors, a nurse, who healed, who were supposed save lives, to sit by unable to do anything, was the worst, absolute torture.
A few months later she met him at the park bench, having recovered enough, most of his wounds finally healed. Without speaking or looking at each other she sat down beside him.
"I asked you to marry me. I wasn't dreaming that was I?"
"No."
Killian reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet bag. Something circular sliding onto his palm. "My grandmother's ring."
She gasped. "But how did you..."
"Dorothy was quite sympathetic to my plight." She raised his eyebrows at him. It made him laugh. "No. We agreed to remain cordial. She can be quite amicable."
"Is that what I saw you two arguing about in town that one day?"
He nodded. "I eventually wore her down or maybe it's this damn war." He shrugged and winced a little. The healing skin graphs must still feel tight. "It was always a bit big on her. We'd said we'd get it fitted but never got around to it. Let's not talk about her anymore. This is about us."
He took her hand delicately and slipped it onto her finger. "See. Perfect fit."
Their eyes slowly met.
She took his face in his hands, pulling him to her by his lapels, kissing him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him but the burns could still be tender.
"I take that as a yes?"
"Yes!"
She kissed him again.
"Mrs. Killian Evans." She examined the ring on her finger.
"Dr. Killian Evans."
"If you think I'm giving up my studies becoming a doctor myself you're sorely..."
He kissed her this time. "Dr. and Dr. Killian Evans." He corrected.
The sounds of sirens were starting up again. Bombs dropping in the distance.
Sybil woke with a start, realizing that she had been dreaming. The sounds of the bombs had only been the storm outside, seeping into her subconscious.
She looked over at her husband. She moved closer to him, her fingers lightly danced over the ropey scars that ran from his left shoulder to his neck, resting her head there. Awake or in his own subconscious, he put his arms around her.
