A/N: lucky you, another chapter. Enjoy it while it lasts. Trying to hit my goal of 100000 words before the 3 month anniversary of the fic. Once I do it will probably drastically slow down! Remember to review please!
Chapter 73
The elevator doors opened and Alex and Emy rushed forward. They were forced to stay outside by the police and were frantic by now! Erin was out of the elevator first and immediately threw her arms around Alex. She stood on her tiptoes as he held her tight. "You're okay... Don't do that to me again" he said in her ear. Emy's eyes searched the elevator for Sara. She was trapped in the corner and had to wait for everybody else to get out first. "Sara" said Emy softly and held her breath. Sara walked out and looked pale and shaken up, her shirt was full of blood and Emy gasped. "Oh my God Sara... are you okay?" asked Emy alarmed. "Just a nosebleed... I'm fine" said Sara and fell into Emy's arms. Emy rocked her from side to side as she held her tight. Sara could feel her legs starting to give way but she was safe in Emy's arms. They stood like that for a minute as the medics were loading Tegan into the ambulance. Emy slowly loosened her grip on Sara but felt Sara's legs buckle. One of the brawny firemen saw this and took Sara into his arms. "I'm fine... really I'm fine" said Sara. "Let us take care of you Sara" he said and smiled. He put Sara down on the other gurney in the ambulance. "This thing is way too full now... Emy, Sara's fine please ride with Alex" said Kate as the doors closed. "No... please let me go with Sara" said Emy distraught, she felt like crying. "She's okay Em... she's in good hands" smiled Erin and put her arm around Emy.
Let's give you a quick once over Sar" said Kate as the ambulance pulled away. "I'm fine, help Tegan" said Sara annoyed. Kate ignored her and put a BP cuff around her arm. "Tegan's fine, she's stable and Tyler is right there with her... Yep, as expected... it's low..." said Kate and started to insert an IV line in her hand to up her fluids. "What is it?" asked Sara. "85 over 65" reported Kate. "Well it's still way higher than Tegan's!" said Sara. "You can't compare the two" said Kate. "Yes you can you..." Tegan got cut off by Tegan who moved the mask off her face "Shut up and let her treat you Sara. It's not a competition" she said as loudly as she could manage. "Just lay down... it's just because of the nosebleed I'm sure... It will come up in a few minutes, I've started some fluid replacement" said Kate. She swung her penlight in and out of Sara's pupils. She seemed satisfied and took her face in her hands and inspected her nose between her thumbs. "mmm it doesn't look broken, guess it was just a hard knock... that and this heat is enough to start a nosebleed on it's own"
The ambulance doors opened and Lindsey almost jumped in "Tegan... TEGAN!" she shouted. She was at their old house sorting out her photographic equipment when she got a call from Alex saying that Tegan was en route to the hospital and that she should meet them there. He tried his best to keep her calm, explaining everything that happened but Lindsey was beside herself with worry. "Lindsey calm down, she's okay" said Kate. "Oh sweetie... Tegan thank God you're okay" said Lindsey stroking Tegan's cheek as she was wheeled into the ER. Tegan was lifted to another bed. "Hey babe" said Tegan casually with a naughty smile after pushing away her oxygen mask. She seemed to be feeling quite a bit better after the meds, the ice packs and oxygen. Lindsey started slamming her fists onto the bed and suddenly looked angry "Don't give me that smile! Dammit Tegan... what were you thinking! I can't believe you put your lives in danger by doing that" she said loudly sounding upset. "Our lives were never in danger baby" said Tegan softly trying to hide the fact that she was still a bit out of breath. "Then what are you doing in the ER!" screamed Lindsey now seeming furious. Tegan flinched. "You scared the crap out of me. Don't do that to me Tegan" she continued. "Lindsey just calm down please... I'm okay... I'm fine" said Tegan.
Lindsey burst into tears and put both her hands over her face. "Hey... shhh sweetie... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I scared you but we had to help her... we couldn't let her hurt herself" said Tegan. "Calm down Linds... calm down for the babies" said Tegan. Lindsey threw her head back and tried to calm herself down by taking a few deep breaths while shaking her arms next to her sides and wiggling her knees. She looked back at Tegan still angry. Tegan looked like a mischievous kid and made a puppy dog face. Lindsey smiled and the laughed. "You fucking asshole" she said and punched Tegan softly in the arm. "Come here" said Tegan and pulled Lindsey into a passionate kiss. "Excuse me... this is not the honeymoon suite of the Four Seasons" said Kate as she walked in and moved Lindsey out of the way. "Noooooooo... don't goooooo" said Tegan playfully in pretend slow motion, she threw her head back dramatically and held her arms out to Lindsey. "Full of jokes suddenly are we Quin? Cool your jets" said Kate pretending to be strict. Nurses started hooking Tegan up to a heart monitor.
Tegan spent the rest of the afternoon in the ER having blood tests, CT scans, X rays and more done. It was evening by the time Sara and Erin came into the room. Alex and Emy followed seconds later. Tegan was sitting up in bed watching TV and eating like a horse again, seemingly feeling just fine. She was wearing earphones and so involved in the old Friends episode on TV she didn't even see them enter. She snorted at a joke and scratched out her jello cup with her spoon. She had a nasal oxygen cannula, a drip and was connected to a heart monitor. She looked tired but in great spirits. "Oh, heeey guys" she said opening her third jello cup. "Jello?" she said holding it up and taking off her earphones.
"Hey Tee. Good to see you're feeling okay?" said Sara. "What did the docs say?" she asked. "I don't know she hasn't been here but I feel fine." said Tegan smiling. "You look just fine to me... anybody that can eat that much jello can't be very sick! Can we go home now?" said Sara looking exhausted. "Hope so! Hey look at you two... no more casts! Coolio" smiled Tegan. "Yep, finally" smiled Sara. Tegan pulled Erin closer and inspected the scars on her arm closely. "Mmmm, looks good" she said with a white lie. "No it doesn't... but it's fine, they're going to fix that up with some laser treatments and what not... and there's always make up I guess" she said shrugging. Tegan always loved that about her best friend. She was so down to earth. Any other movie star would be having a meltdown right about now but Erin is one of those "This is me, take it or leave it" people and physical appearance certainly didn't matter that much to her. She was gorgeous but hardly ever dressed up and usually wore very light or no make-up.
"So... What's the verdict? Are you two crazy kids okay?" asked Tegan. "Yeah, nothing left from our original injuries but Sara spent the afternoon on an IV after that monster of a nosebleed" said Erin. "Nose isn't broken but it's already blue... People are going to start thinking Emy abuses me with these constant bruises on my face. So there's that and I strained some muscles between my ribs in that fall. Let me tell you, that hurts like hell but generally I'm good" said Sara with a thumbs up. Emy had her arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. "Great! Great news! You?" said Tegan poking Erin. "I had about a million tests and brain scans and shit but I'm all good. Turns out my brain is fine, it's just my personality that's weird. Can't blame the head injury any longer" said Erin laughing. Everybody giggled. "Guys... I'm glad we got to do that today" said Tegan seriously. Everybody nodded in agreement.
Kate entered with some files. "Hey team... soooo Tegan, you're going to be just fine. I'm keeping you overnight again just to be safe but I don't see any further complications" said Kate. "What was wrong with her, why did she pass out like that?" asked Sara. "Well... She had a monster of a day... didn't listen to her doctor telling her to take it easy. Overexerted her lungs and her heart... a LOT! Stress... loads of it. Heat! You were hyper thermic when we got to you" said Kate. "Huh? I wasn't cold! It was boiling!" said Tegan confused. "Oohhh my gosh you're cute" smiled Lindsey and kissed Tegan. "HYPER thermic not HYPO thermic sweetie. You had heat stroke" said Lindsey. "Yup that's pretty much it. You're regulatory systems aren't quite all on track yet I guess. You've probably been getting really cold or really hot in the last few weeks?" said Kate. "Yeah cold usually" said Tegan. "Thermostat's on the blink" winked Kate. "Hyper thermia on it's own will lead to dizziness, very low BP, breathing problems (as if you didn't have those problems already). Anyway, we put you on ice so to speak and here you are, cool as a cucumber. CT shows nothing to be too worried about with your lungs, you just need to take it easy and we're going to continue supplemental oxygen for a while. ECG and echo seems fine too but I'm going to keep monitoring you for the night". "I'm fine let me go home Katy" said Tegan with a sweet begging smile. "Not a chance. First the paps, the airport, then the digging through hundreds of letters, then you had to go play hero! Get some rest now! 5 more minutes guys" said Kate. She took the TV remote out of Tegan's hand. She pressed the power button and put it out of reach. "I was watching that" said Tegan annoyed. "Get some rest" said Kate pretending not to hear her and walked towards the door.
"Kate!" said Sara loudly. Kate turned around "How's Carmen?" Kate sighed and turned around. She took a seat on one of the stools next to the bed. "Dr Robins have her admitted in the psych ward on 48 hour observation. She's sedated for now. A few of her team has already been back to talk to her gran. She's okay too, they're trying to convince her to let them keep her for longer than 48 hours." said Kate. "I'll go speak to her" said Erin. "She likes me... Carmen needs to get professional help and she's not admitting that to herself yet" Kate nodded. "Good idea. This girl is very, very lucky you three got there in time... that you three randomly read a post on a message board. She had a few angels working overtime today. And you three... Shall we just start calling you Carmen's angels? She's going to be fine. Arizona's the best in the biz, she's going to take good care of her. I don't want you guys to worry about it anymore okay" said Kate. "If I stay tonight... could I maybe see her tomorrow morning?" asked Tegan. Kate raised her eyebrows. "I'll have a chat to Arizona and see what we can do but I don't think you should get your hopes up" said Kate. Tegan sighed and put her head back. "Okay, try your best... By the way Sar... how are we breaking the news to mom... I really don't want to freak her out over nothing." she said. "Mmm – o jeez... let's phone her now and have a chat... then we casually mention you're in the hospital. Just for a few checks... we'll phone her tomorrow with the whole drama as soon as you're back home?" said Sara. "I'm such a sucky lier though Sar but I'll try" said Tegan.