Cameron lay in her hospital bed staring at the ceiling listening to the monotonous beeping of her heart monitor. She hated every second of being confined to a bed. She caught herself daydreaming about jumping into the ocean from a helicopter or abseiling down a building regularly.
She pressed the call button impatiently a few times.
"Yes Ms Hart" said a tired looking nurse.
"Just needed to let you know that I'm going to the bathroom. Can you take the monitors off please? I may be a while" said Cameron rubbing her belly.
"Alright. Here's the mobile call button if you need help" said the nurse.
"Please..." said Cam rolling her eyes. "I'm going for a crap not running a marathon"
"Yes alright, it's protocol. Use it, don't use it" said the nurse disconnecting Cam's monitor. She tried helping her get out of bed but Cam just about lost it.
"I'm not a fucking invalid okay. I can get out of bed just fine" she snapped.
The nurse held her hands up defensively. She didn't take Cam's outburst personal. She knew Cam was going through a tough time emotionally.
"I'm sorry" Cam mumbled.
"It's okay. Off you go then. Call me when you're done so I can re-connect you"
"Uh huh" Cam grunted.
Cam spent about a minute in the toilet and wandered out of her room. She just felt like stretching her legs. Something was going on in the room opposite hers. People were running in with carts and machines. Somebody yelled something about a patient coding. Cam stared at the door. She suddenly felt as if she couldn't breathe. She kept pushing her IV stand, just wanting to get out of the ICU.
-0-
Lindsey walked next to Tegan's bed as she was pushed back to her room from the CT scanner. Tegan was talking to a nurse and seemed to be in great spirits.
"We'll I'm glad to see you're feeling better. When I left last night you seemed to be taking a lot of strain" said the nurse.
"I'm okay. Felt like crap last night though"
"So I hear they want to get you walking today?"
"Bring it on. I'm sick of this place… no offense" said Tegan, the nurse just laughed.
They passed a few doors. The Pediatric ICU, the Surgical ICU, the Medical ICU and then the Cardiac Care Unit. Lindsey looked up and saw Cameron standing in a hallway a few feet away. At first she thought she was imagining things. Cameron was wearing a hospital issue gown and slippers. She was pushing an IV stand and looked a bit lost.
"Baby, I'll be right with you alright. Just have a quick stop to make" said Lindsey and kissed Tegan's forehead.
"Okay, don't be long" said Tegan.
-0-
"Cameron, hi" said Lindsey touching Cam's shoulder. It was clear Cameron didn't spot Lindsey coming up to her.
"Uh… hi" said Cam looking uncomfortable.
"Are you okay? Are you a patient here? What happened?" asked Lindsey.
"Um… nothing… it's nothing" said Cam suddenly looking pale.
"Cam? Let's sit down for a minute" said Lindsey and gently guided Cameron to a row of chairs in a waiting area.
"I'm fine, really Lindsey"
"You sure?"
"It's nothing, had a kidney stone" said Cameron lying through her teeth.
"Ohhhh, ouch. Poor thing" said Lindsey.
"I'm okay" said Cam again.
"What are you doing over here though? This is the intensive care floor?"
"Oh I just… came to say hi to a friend of mine in there" said Cam pointing at the first door she saw.
"I thought you were back in LA? Why didn't you answer my messages"
"I was… I um… I came back for some stuff I left here. Finish up some work stuff. Then, yeah…. The kidney stone and all"
"Where's your room, I'd like to come visit, properly"
"Oh no… they're discharging me today" Cam kept lying.
"Well, while you're here, can I introduce you to Tegan? She'd love to meet you. I've told her all about you" said Lindsey.
"Um… I better get back to…"
"Come on Cam, 5 minutes. Come see who you worked so hard to save" Lindsey smiled.
"How are they all?" asked Cam.
"They're all doing well. Ups and downs you know. Good days and bad days but they're all well on the road to recovery. Kate's still on the vent but they said they'll probably remove it soon" said Lindsey.
"I'm so happy" said Cam smiling.
"Come meet them" said Lindsey taking Cam's hand and pulling her up.
"Alright then" said Cam, not knowing how to get out of it. Truth be told, she would probably rather meet a pop star than go back to that terrible room and she did feel fine.
The intercom went off again. "Code Blue CCU, Code Blue CCU"
"Whoa… those guys are having a busy morning. Second one I hear today for that unit already" said Lindsey.
Cam seemed to be shaken up suddenly.
"Hey, its okay" said Lindsey smiling.
"Yeah… goes with the territory I guess. Cardiac care…"
"Uh huh… anyway let's go" said Lindsey and led Cam to the TICU.
"Just wait here for a sec alright"
Lindsey briefly spoke to Sax and then to Tegan before heading back to Cam.
"Kate and Sara are asleep but Tegan would love to meet you" said Lindsey. She led a reluctant Cam to Tegan's bed.
"Hi" said Cam looking a bit shy.
"Hi, I'm Tegan"
"Cameron, so nice to meet you. You look a lot better than the last time I saw you" said Cam and smiled.
"Thanks, doesn't take much" Tegan laughed.
"Sit down Cam" said Lindsey and pushed Cam's shoulders until she plonked down on a chair.
"You okay?" asked Tegan frowning.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Had a kidney stone. All good now. Being discharged later" said Cam. She hoped her cheeks didn't give away her lie.
"Damn, they say that's painful" said Tegan. She briefly saw an EKG electrode sticking out under Cam's hospital gown and thought it strange that somebody with a kidney stone who was being released today would need a heart monitor.
"Uh huh… phew, glad that's out" said Cam.
Tegan studied the brunette sitting next to her bed. She was beautiful alright, striking in a rugged kind of way. Her cheekbones and jawline were strong, her lips and her eyes were soft, gentle.
"Lindsey told me what you did for me… and for her. I don't know how I can ever thank you enough. Thank you so much"
"I was just doing my job Tegan but you're welcome"
"Sorry for making you search in that cold" Tegan smiled.
"No problem Tegan. I'm really glad we could help" Cam smiled.
"Lindsey says you've been a great friend to her. You really supported her and mom through this"
Cam just shrugged shyly.
"I'm in awe of what you guys do. It must be amazing" said Tegan.
"It is… best job in the world"
"You must be keen to get back to it then"
"Yeah… can't wait" said Cam but her face visibly fell.
"What is it that you guys do?" asked Tegan.
"We… um… We're the Rescue: Special Operations crew. We get called to high intensity rescue situations. Everything from people lost at sea, cars down cliffs, missing people, freeing people from wherever they got themselves stuck like stormwater drains, car wrecks etc"
"Wow, regular action girl huh"
Cam snorted.
"That must take a lot out of you physically?" said Tegan
"It does. Sometimes"
"So interesting. I'd love to hear more about it sometime" said Tegan sincerely.
"Not as interesting as your job though" said Cam.
"Pfff, my job isn't that interesting. Most of the time you just sing the same songs over and over again"
"And then you get to create… that's amazing. To do that for a living. I paint sometimes, in my spare time. Helps me focus… helps me forget"
Tegan gave her a sad smile.
"Maybe I should try that" said Tegan softly.
There was a short, awkward silence. Cam looked down at the IV in her hand.
"Tell me what happened out there" said Tegan and swallowed hard.
"You really want to know?"
"Yeah… sure"
"Well… we were in a couple of helicopters searching for you. People were searching by foot but it turned out they were way off. Eventually they radioed to say they got a call from you. They gave us the exact co-ordinates of the plane. We got there and found Kate and Sara. We treated them and got them out of there, took us a while. Sara kept telling us to go find you. That you went up the hill. Started searching for you on foot. We searched for what seemed like forever. It was dark and it was freezing. Eventually I heard something. Very feint… music. We followed it and when we got close we saw a flashing light that looked as if it was coming out of the ground. I abseiled down and found you… You were… God… you were so cold, I actually struggled for about a minute to find a pulse. You were barely breathing. I struggled to find a vein, your BP was down in the drain. I started you on some warmed fluids, cut away your soaking clothes, wrapped you up, gave you some oxygen and drugs to open your airway. Your arm was obviously badly broken, your shoulder dislocated. I suspected a head and spinal injury and maybe some internal bleeding. Biggest challenge was the severe hypothermia though. The rest of the guys got down there with some more supplies. We struggled to get you stable enough to move. Eventually we needed to intubate you when you stopped breathing. They lifted you up to the chopper. Lifted us actually, I had to straddle you and ventilate you on the way up. It was quite the ride. When you were in the chopper your temperature just kept dropping no matter what we did so yeah… I um… I stripped down and gave you skin to skin contact to get some heat into you"
"Jeez" said Tegan looking horrified.
"Anyway… your temp stabilised a bit and we got you here… handed you over to the ER team… your heart stopped as we touched down, I was giving you CPR when they took over" said Cam.
"My heart stopped? I mean… it's not the first time that happened… not even the second but yeah… that's… wow… hectic" said Tegan and swallowed hard.
"We couldn't shock you for a while there… you were just too cold. But once we did, you bounced back like a champ"
"Yay me" said Tegan looking disturbed.
"And then you stayed and you talked to us… and you comforted us… Thank you" said Lindsey.
Cam blushed.
"Thank you Cameron… thank you so much… I'll never be able to thank you enough. If it wasn't for you I would have died out there…. I know it" said Tegan now pale.
"As I said, just doing my job" Cam smiled shyly.
"I should get going. It was great meeting you Tegan. I'm so happy you're all okay" said Cameron.
"No the pleasure was all mine. Swing by to meet the two sleeping beauties if you get a chance" said Tegan.
"Oh I'm… I'm heading back to LA soon"
"So are we, hopefully. Once we're all out of this zoo you should come for dinner. I owe you a massive steak and a good red wine at least" smiled Tegan.
"You don't owe me anything, really. It was my pleasure" said Cam.
"Still… come to dinner, please" said Lindsey.
"I'd like that, thank you" Cam smiled.
"Nice… I hope you feel better soon Cameron" said Tegan.
"Thanks, you too" said Cam looking more and more pale.
"Let me walk you back to the ward" said Lindsey.
"No no… I'm fine thanks. Stay with Tegan" said Cam.
"It's no trouble, really" said Lindsey.
"No thanks" said Cam with authority.
"Alright… you look a bit pale though"
"I'm fine"
"Okay Cameron. Take care of yourself. We'll talk soon"
"Yeah, talk soon" said Cam seemingly calming down a bit and slowly walked out of the room.
"She's really nice. And wow… she saved my life" said Tegan.
"Yeah… she's a bit of an enigma though" said Lindsey deep in thought.
Cam walked down the hall back to her room. She was feeling a bit tired and weak.
As she entered the unit nurses came running up to her.
"Cameron where have you been? We've been looking for you all over. Are you okay?" said the nurse putting her arm around Cam.
"Huh… yeah. I'm good. Just… went to visit a friend" said Cam.
A doctor stormed into the unit.
"Why the hell is she off monitor? She's not stable! She needs to be on a monitor" he yelled.
"Get her back to her bed and on a monitor and oxygen" the doctor yelled.
"Calm down! I'm fine! Really" Cam said annoyed.
"I'm sorry Doctor, she just wandered out when we had the two codes going on. She was off monitor to go to the bathroom so we didn't get an alarm and…"
"I don't want excuses. I want her on monitor. Get me a fresh set of labs please"
"I'm okay! I feel fine" Cam complained, not k owing what all the fuss was about.
"No you're not. You have surgery this afternoon, you should be resting and monitored" said the Doctor.
"I'm fine" said Cam loudly, pulling her arm away from a nurse and started walking.
Suddenly Cam stopped in her tracks and put her hand on her chest. She looked almost surprised. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.
"Shit, she's going down" somebody yelled.
The IV stand crashed to the floor. A nurse caught her just in time and guided her down.
"Cam, Cameron can you hear me? Wake up Cam?" said the doctor and put his fingers in Cam's neck. Cam didn't stir.
"No pulse! Code Blue! Code Blue! Get the crash cart over here! Get her on a monitor!" the doctor yelled and clamped his hands together. He brought them down forcefully onto Cam's sternum hoping that the cardiac thump would jolt her heart back to a normal rhythm.
A feint "huh" escaped Cam's mouth but she didn't move. The doctor's hand flew back to her neck.
"No... Still no pulse. I need that defib. One mg Epi please" yelled the doctor as he started chest compressions.
"Come on Cameron, we've got this, stay with me" the doctor mumbled through compressions.
The crash cart came to abrupt halt next to them. Somebody was attaching monitor leads at lightning speed, another ventilated Cam with an ambubag where she lay sprawled out on the floor. The doctor looked at the screen.
"That's v-fib. Let's shock. Charge the paddles to 300" said the doctor. The defibrillator made it's winding sound followed by 3 beeps.
"Charged" said a nurse and handed the doctor the paddles. A nurse ripped away top of Cam's gown, another lifted the bottom part. They slapped on the orange conductor pads. The doctor put the paddles on Cam's chest.
"Okay clear!"
"We're clear"
"Shocking"
Cam's torso lifted into the air as the electricity passed through her body. She fell back to the floor.
"No change, 360" yelled the doctor.
"Clear... Shocking"
Cam's body lifted again but this time she coughed just after hitting the floor again. She grunted.
"We have a pulse. Sinus tach on monitor" yelled a nurse.
"Welcome back Ms Hart! Still feel like going walkabout?" said the doctor handing the paddles back to the nurse.
"Ouch" Cam grunted.
"And that... is why you need a pacemaker and implantable defibrillator" said the doctor looking relieved yet annoyed.
"Fuck off" Cam said under the oxygen mask.
"Get her on the gurney and back to bed. Full labs please. We may need to push her surgery forward. I want a twelve lead EKG and an echo, she probably needs pacing" said the doctor.
The floor was cold. Cam stared at the ceiling not really knowing what the hell just happened. She could put two and two together though. Reality suddenly hit her after avoiding it since she was admitted. Denying what she knew. Her heart was failing... She needed a transplant, the pacemaker and IDC was just a temporary stop gap. The dam walls broke. She started sobbing. She put her hands in front of her face to hide her anguish. The medical team lifted her onto a gurney as she cried.
"It was just the flu, just the flu. I'm super fit... Just the flu" she muttered through tears.
"It's okay, we're going to take good care of you. You're going to be okay" said a nurse squeezing her shoulder.
A/N: I really need some reviews please guys! They make me write faster.