Chapter 257

Saxon Sinclair walked towards the door of the OR. She pulled off her gown and gloves and dumped them in the biohazard bin. She walked into the scrub room and started washing her hands staring out in front of her.

"I think they're clean" said Dr Carver, the trauma fellow two minutes later pulling Sax back into the moment.

"That was a tough surgery, you did well. Thanks for the help" said Sax pulling down her mask.

"It was an honour assisting one of the best trauma surgeons in the world" said Carver.

"You can drop the sucking up… not in the mood" said Sax leaning over the sink.

"Are you okay Dr Sinclair?" asked Carver.

"No… Yes" Sax smiled sadly.

"If there's anything I can do…" said Carver.

"Thanks, I need to go speak to the family" said Sax and turned to leave.

-0-

Sax slowly opened the door to the family room and saw the occupants looking sick with worry.

"God help me" she whispered to herself.

"Alex, Sonia, Lindsey…" she said.

"Sax, is she okay?" said Alex jumping up.

"Let's sit down" said Sax. She was exhausted and her knees felt wobbly.

"Just say it" sobbed Alex.

"She's still with us Alex. Kate made it through surgery" said Sax but she didn't smile.

"Thank you… thank you" Alex mumbled through tears and everybody else gave relieved sighs.

"She's still in a very critical condition though. Kate had multiple injuries, the worst of which was a piece of metal that penetrated her upper abdominal cavity. The metal ruptured her diaphragm and caused a tear in the abdominal aorta... among other things. Apparently Tegan and Sara stabilised her as well as they could on the scene. The metal was basically plugging that artery for the moment and keeping some things in place but there was a lot of damage to the surrounding areas as well. A lot of internal bleeding. Some broken ribs, a pierced lung, a cardiac contusion. We removed her spleen, it was just too damaged. Now… we managed to fix the damage to the aorta and the surrounding blood vessels before she developed another major tear in a cardiac artery. Kate went into cardiac arrest in the Resus room and twice on the operating table. She lost a significant amount of blood during surgery. We pretty much replaced her entire blood volume. She's hanging in there though. She's by no means out of the woods but she's hanging in there" said Sax and sighed.

"Oh God… this isn't happening… this isn't happening" said Alex looking pale, sweat beads formed on his forehead.

"What are her chances?" asked Alex not looking up.

"It's hard to say Alex. I'm going to be honest with you. Right now, it's touch and go. About 25%. If she makes it through the next 24 hours it should go up to 50% and from there, barring further complications, she should pull through. We'll know in about three to four days"

"I think I'm gonna be sick" said Lindsey and walked to the basin in the room.

"One thing's for certain. If it wasn't for Tegan and Sara, Kate wouldn't have made it to the hospital. They saved her life, no question. You should be very proud" said Sax looking up at Sonia and Lindsey.

Sonia let out another loud sob.

"Hang in there alright, I'm going to take very good care of her. She's a fighter if I've ever seen one. I believe she can do this" said Sax.

-0-

Alex sat in a curled up ball talking to his wife on the phone.

"I don't know babe… they say Kate… Oh god… she… she may not…. Oh please god no" Alex started sobbing.

"Alex… sweetheart just try and calm down and talk to me" said Erin. She watched her own child happily playing with the twins and Amelia, all of them blissfully unaware that their parents were critically ill.

"They say she may not make it… her chances are less than 25%... Oh god Erin I can't… I can't lose her" Alex was sobbing now.

"It's okay Alex, you need to be strong now. Honey its okay… she'll be okay. She's strong Al" said Erin.

"You don't know that… and Tegan… I don't know it sounds as if she's just as bad… Sara is… I don't know… I think she's okay but she had bleeding on the brain Erin and her leg's a mess… I just wish you were here" said Alex through sobs.

"Oh my god… Do you want me to come baby? I can leave the kids with the nanny" said Erin.

"No, no… stay with the kids. That's what they would want. We need you to stay with the kids Erin" said Alex.

"This is killing me… I understand that I need to stay here but I really, really want to be there" said Erin.

"And I want you to so bad… but it's for the best that you stay. I'll keep updating you as soon as we know more" said Alex.

"I love you… so much. If you see them tell them I love them… tell them to hang on… I love them" Erin sniffled.

-0-

"Temps going up. We're at 87 now" said a nurse next to Tegan's bed.

"Good. Pressure isn't going up much but it's holding. Rhythm is stable" said one of the doctors treating Tegan.

"Sats are struggling though. I want to drain some of the fluid on the lungs" said the pulmonologist.

Tegan was still a sickly shade of grey. She was dwarfed under the bear hugger with so many machines and medical personnel around her bed.

"Come on Tegan… you can do this. You made it this far… you can do this" said Craig and softly touched Tegan's hair.

-o-

Cameron was starting to feel more human after one of the nurses forced her to lie down on a bed in the ED and got a cup of hot coffee into her. She was covered with thick blankets. She lay curled up in a ball on her side. Her shivering had finally stopped a few minutes ago.

"Hey Alice, I feel okay now. I'm going to get up alright" said Cam.

"I'm not happy about that Cam" said the nurse. She had a soft spot for Cameron after a brief fling about a year ago. The relationship ended amicably, Alice went back to her ex and Cam was happy to move on before things got too serious.

"I swear I'm fine. I've been colder after swim on a warm summers evening. I'll be around for at least a few more hours, I'll come back if I feel feint or anything okay"

"Alright, your temperature, BP and pulse have stabilised"

"There was nothing wrong with me to start off with okay… I was a little cold that's it" said Cameron annoyed as she threw the covers off. She still felt a bit unsteady when she got up.

-0-

Sax stood next to Kate's bed in post-op. She wasn't stable enough to be moved to the trauma intensive care unit. Sax's eyes darted between monitors before settling on Kate's bruised face.

"Hey Morgan. Good job in there" said Sax and took Kate's limp hand.

Emotion threatened to spill over, something Sax wasn't used to. Sax could turn off her emotions in a heartbeat to focus on what the patient needed and not letting her emotions get in the way. That's what made her a great surgeon. But Kate… Kate was like little sister to her. The closest thing she had ever had to a best friend.

"Please Kate… fight… I'm not losing you… not on my watch okay. I've got you alright" said Sax and squeezed Kate's hand.

A/N: Well, at least they're all still alive... Barely. Keep the comments coming please!