Kate and Tegan walked outside to call the kids in for lunch.
"Come on monkeys, time for lunch. Who wants some mac and cheese?" Tegan called. The kids came running up to them. Amelia wasn't quite as fast or agile as the twins yet and went down after catching a speed wobble. All hell broke loose as Amelia sobbed on the pavement holding a scraped knee.
"Oh noo sweetie! Ah it's okay, mom's here baby" said Kate and bent down to pick up her little girl. As she straightened she felt a stabbing sensation in her chest and gasped.
Kate stood still with a screaming Amelia in her arms for a few seconds. She breathed fast and shallow to try and get rid of the pain.
"Baby! What happened Ami? Ah angel come to mommy" said Sara taking Amelia from Kate.
"Kate, can you come clean her up please, you know I hate blood" said Sara.
"Yeah, take her… to the bathroom" said Kate still trying to regulate her breathing.
"Babe? You okay?" asked Sara frowning.
"Sure no problem, I'll be there in a minute" said Kate suddenly white as a sheet. Sara headed inside with Amelia.
Kate felt the stabbing pain lance through her chest again. Cold sweat broke out over her forehead and upper lip. She bent over and put her hand on her knee trying to steady herself. She was suddenly nauseous and her head spun. It hurt so much to breathe.
"Kate? Are you okay, what's going on?" said Tegan coming out of the house.
"I need to just… sit down for a minute" said Kate and stumbled towards the door.
"Kate? Do I need to call an ambulance?" asked Tegan, suddenly alarmed. She immediately felt a panic attack come on.
"Yeah... just give me a minute" Kate mumbled. She was now struggling to draw in a full breath. If she could just take a full breath she'd be okay. She coughed and flinched and sat down on an outside recliner.
"Just lie down, lie back I'm calling Sax" said Tegan looking mortified.
"No, I'm okay" said Kate with her eyes closed taking raspy breaths.
"Babe are you coming? I've got the first aid kit out" said Sara coming out of the house. The second she saw Kate lying on recliner Sara's vision started to go fuzzy.
"Kate! Oh god what's going on?" said Sara rushing forward still holding Amelia.
"Nothing babe, I think I just strained a rib muscle when I picked up Amelia" Kate gasped.
"Sax, it's Tegan" Tegan was relieved that Sax actually picked up her phone. She usually didn't when she was on duty, she probably had the day off.
"Baby just take deep breaths okay, it's okay" said Sara sitting next to Kate trying to comfort her. Sara felt as if her world was crumbling slowly. Kate's was clearly struggling for breath and it sounded like somebody had a grater in her chest.
"I don't know, she seems to be having a lot of difficulty breathing. Just get here please, hurry!" said Tegan a few feet away.
Amelia was still sobbing in Sara's arms.
"Sax is around the corner, she'll be here in a few minutes. She'll call an ambulance" said Tegan looking as if she was about to go down herself.
"Can't… breathe" Kate whispered and closed her eyes to try and focus.
"Kate stay with me! You stay awake now! Kate stay awake" Sara yelled desperately.
"Okay, I'm okay" Kate whispered.
"Kate, help's coming okay just hang on. It's okay buddy just hang on a minute alright" said Tegan desperately as she knelt next to Kate. Tegan's heart felt as if it was going to explode, it was racing so fast in her chest. She wiped het suddenly sweaty face with both her hands.
"Casey and Ryan come here. Sit down right over there where I can see you please. Stay right where you are" said Tegan.
"Uhhhh, ouch" Kate moaned.
"It's the kay baby, just try and take even breaths. I'm right here sweetie" said Sara through her tears.
A minute or two later Saxon came rushing out towards Kate carrying her medical bag. A security officer followed her in.
"Kate, talk to me" said Sax rushing towards her. She could hear Kate's laboured breathing from 6 feet away. Sax felt the blood drain from her head and shook her head fast to get rid of the momentary dizzy feeling.
Kate's skin had a feint bluish tint and sweat was pouring from her hairline. Her shirt was halfway unbuttoned and her chest heaved spasmodically with each struggling attempt to get air.
"Hurts… to breathe" Kate whispered.
"Oh god, help her Sax. Help her" Sara yelled, now in tears.
What was this? Sax ran through possibilities in her mind and breakneck speed. Haemorrhage? Pulmonary embolus? Heart attack? Fuck it!
"I've got you Kate, just stay calm okay. Try and take even breaths" said Sax as she put a blood pressure cuff around Kate's arm. She frowned as she looked at the results. It was low but not critical yet. Probably not a haemorrhage but she couldn't be sure.
"Hurts" Kate mumbled again. Tegan was in tears now too, pacing up and down next to them. She took two puffs from her inhaler.
"We're going to get you sorted out real soon okay, just breathe" said Sax before slipping her stethoscope inside Kate's shirt. She moved the instrument back and forth over Kate's chest as she glanced at the distended veins in Kate's neck.
"Dropped… a lung?" Kate whispered.
"Sounds as if your left lung has collapsed, yes. We need to get you to hospital. Now!" said Sax starting an IV while they waited for the ambulance.
"Oh god, no… no" Sara gasped looking as if she was about to feint.
"We've got this Sara, just stay calm" said Sax.
"Baby" Kate whispered and held out her hand.
"It's okay… I'll be fine" said Kate smiling faintly, her hand was shaking.
By the time the ambulance had arrived Kate was barely conscious and her stridor had worsened.
"Katy don't struggle okay, just breathe slowly. As slowly as you can" said Sax as the medics moved Kate onto a stretcher.
"I've got them… I'll stay with them. Somebody needs to stay with them" said Tegan looking confused and unnerved standing next to the kids.
"She's coming with me, we need to clean her knee up" said Sara.
"I can…"
"I want her to come with me Tegan" Sara snapped.
"Ma'am, I'll drive you" said the security officer.
"I want to go with Kate, I'm not leaving her" Sara cried.
"I'll bring Amelia, just go!" Said Tegan.
Kate wanted to tell Sara it's okay but she couldn't get enough air to speak so she just squeezed her hand as a medic put an oxygen mask on her.
"We're coming too" said Tegan and followed the medics out.
-0-
Sara was sobbing inside the ambulance as medics placed EKG leads on Kate's chest. Sax was listening to Kate's chest again.
"Stop the ambulance please. She's desatting super fast. She's on 80% and she's lost consciousness. I want to decompress now" said Sax.
"Oh god please baby, please please be okay. Please Katy" Sara sobbed while caressing Kate's face. The ambulance pulled over and stopped. Sara watched Sax prepare a massive needle as the medic swiped an area above Kate's breast and below the collar bone with an alcohol swab.
Sax calmly glanced at the readout on the heart monitor before plunging the needle into Kate's chest. Air hissed from the needle and Kate took a shuddering breath. Sara had flashbacks to the plane, for a second she saw Tegan plunge a needle in Kate's chest. She almost vomited.
"Assist breathing please" said Sax as she listened to Kate's chest. The medic squeezed the ambubag rhythmically, just gently helping Kate breathe.
"Okay, sounds as if the lung's more or less back up. Sats are improving. Let's roll" said Sax.
-0-
Sara stood holding Amelia's hand as an intern was cleaning up her scraped knee. She was forced out of Kate's treatment room and she tried to get her mind off the fact that when they pushed Kate in there she was unconscious and hardly breathing.
"I'm sorry about this. It's hardly a medical emergency. It's just, I mean… we didn't have time to… Kate usually does this… Oh shit" said Sara feeling light headed.
"It's perfectly fine ma'am. Please sit down, you look very pale" said the kind young blonde intern.
"I'm so scared" said Sara putting her forehead against the stretcher.
"Dr Sinclair is amazing. She'll take very good care of Dr Morgan" said the intern.
"I know… I'm still… She could have died… I… She could be dying right now!" said Sara, fear evident in her voice.
"I don't think it's that serious Ma'am"
"How would you know! I need to go see how she is, are you almost done?"
"Just about, here's a lollipop for being so brave Missy" the intern winked. Amelia was over the moon.
"Thank you, can I take her now?" asked Sara.
"Yup, take care Amelia" the intern smiled and snapped her gloves off.
Sara still wasn't allowed into the treatment room and Sax found her pacing around in the small private waiting area. Tegan looked as if she'd seen a ghost and sat straight as a rod hopping her knee up and down nervously.
"Hi" Sax smiled still wearing her jeans and t-shirt from earlier.
"How is she?" Sara said as she rushed forward.
"She's stable. She had a pneumothorax, basically it means her lung collapsed. Probably an area of scar tissue that adhered to the inner surface of a rib and tore lose. These things sometimes happen after the kind of trauma she experienced. It's not an uncommon surgical complication"
"Oh god" Sara mumbled and sat down because her legs felt like giving way any second.
"Will you need to operate?"
"It's a little too soon to tell. She just had a CT scan to make sure we know what we're dealing with. In the ambulance I put a needle in and aspirated the air and the lung came back up. I inserted a more permanent cannula in the ER to get the rest of the air out. It will remain in for a while until we're sure the lung is stable"
"Thank god" Tegan whispered, her head in her hands.
"The CT looks good right now but we'll have to wait and see if the lung stays up or not. Everything else looks good. BP's up and her sats are getting there. We're running some bloods now. Look... She was lucky. This could have been very serious. Good thing you were there and you called me immediately. It could happen again, hopefully it won't but it often does. I don't want you to worry though, we've got everything under control"
"Thank you… thank you" Sara muttered and hugged Sax.
"No problem. She should be back from CT by now if you want to see her"
"Please. Tegan, can you keep an eye on Amelia for a while?" asked Sara.
"Of course, go Sar"
-0-
Sara felt relief so great it almost floored her when she opened the door to the treatment room and saw Kate sitting up on a stretcher looking tired but breathing easily with only a nasal oxygen cannula for support. Sara burst out in tears again.
"Baby come here" said Kate softly.
"Thank god you're okay! How do you feel?" asked Sara sniffing. She gently touched Kate's cheek before pushing a dark strain of hair off her forehead.
"I'm okay" Kate reached out her hand that wasn't tethered to an IV line and drew Sara closer.
"I love you. I was so scared" Sara breathed, her forehead against Kate's.
"I love you too. It was just some scar tissue acting up babe. No big deal" said Kate.
"No big deal? You could have died Kate. Sax said you were lucky. And that it could happen again, it often does"
"I don't know what you want me to say…" said Kate frowning.
"You've been pushing too hard, too fast… too hard" said Sara, her bottom lip quivering.
"I'm sorry" said Kate softly.
"I love you" said Sara again. "Please don't scare me like that again"
"I won't. Amelia okay?" asked Kate.
Sara straightened and took a deep, shuddering breath. "She's fine, intern cleaned up her knee. She was so happy to get some candy she forgot all about it" said Sara and laughed still looking extremely shaken up.
Kate noticed Sara's hand trembling and she squeezed it softly.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm going to be just fine" said Kate.
"I thought for a few minutes there that I was losing you. I swear my heart almost stopped" said Sara as tears came again.
"I'm right here, shhh" said Kate.
"I love you, please be okay" Sara whispered with her forehead against Kate's.
"I love you too. I'm okay, I promise"
"Hey, got some VIP treatment for you. We're moving you up to a room now. This place is noisy and you need some rest" said Sax coming into the room.
"Thanks Sax… I know it's your day off. Go home" said Kate still a bit out of breath.
Sax glanced up at the heart monitor. "Not likely" she said and left the room.
"Blockhead" said Kate shaking her head.
"I'm glad she was here to help" said Sara.
"Yeah… me too" said Kate as an orderly started wheeling her out towards an elevator.
-0-
A few hours later Tegan was still at the hospital. She was joined by Alex and Erin and they all sat in silence as the kids took naps on the couches in the waiting area.
"Hi, oh sorry" said Sax after she saw the kids asleep.
"Everything okay?" said Alex jumping up.
"Everything's fine so far. She's resting comfortably. We'll probably have to keep her a day or two for observation even if the lung doesn't drop again"
"And if it does?" asked Tegan.
Sax gave her a comforting smile. "How about we cross that bridge if we get to it"
What are the chances that it will?" asked Tegan.
"Small but it's there. If she behaves, stays still and rests while she's in here she should be fine. I left a catheter in there in case it does happen again but right now I'm happy with her progress" said Sax.
"This is all my fault" Tegan whispered and turned around with her hands over her mouth.
"What on earth are you talking about Tegan?" said Erin.
"She's been pushing like crazy, mostly to take care of me"
"These things happen Tegan. It's not your fault" said Sax.
Tegan just shook her head trying to contain her emotions.
"Sure she probably should have gotten more rest but you know Kate" said Sax rolling her eyes.
"Fuck" said Tegan and broke down.
-0-
An hour later Sara came into the waiting room. Tegan had sent the kids home with Erin and the security guards. Alex was getting them something to eat in the cafeteria.
"Hey Sar, she okay?" asked Tegan looking pale.
"She's okay, Sax said she's out of immediate danger. She's sleeping" said Sara and sat down.
"Oh that's so good to hear" Tegan sighed.
"You should go home" said Sara.
"No way" said Tegan shaking her head.
"You see now why I don't want you to go away. That could have just as easily been you in there Tegan" said Sara.
"Oh come on. I had different injuries Sara. We all know Kate was injured the worst by far and…"
"That's not the point Tegan"
"Okay… alright… This shook me up. I'll postpone the trip by a few weeks" said Tegan pacing around.
"I can't talk about this right now. I need to get back to Kate. Just hang on with all this please" said Sara.
"Alright. Amelia went home with Erin. She'll take care of her for the night if you wanted to stay"
"Thanks. Sax said I should go home but I'm not going anywhere" said Sara shaking her head.
Tegan and Sara were both visibly shaken up.
"I'm sorry Sara… this must have scared the shit out of you" said Tegan touching Sara's arm.
"And I'm sorry you had to even put foot in this shitty place again"
"She's going to be alright, okay. She's going to be just fine" said Tegan hugging her sister. When Sara left the room Tegan dry swallowed another anxiety tablet.