Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! I'm really enjoying my new "format" of typing chapters up in my Notes app on my iPhone. That means I can write ANYWHERE, ANYTIME without lugging around a notebook/pen etc. It also leads to longer chapters! Anyways...I hope you enjoy this chapter. It has less of a major cliffhanger. Enjoy and leave me some love! Chapter Four is already in progress!
This is the way it ends
Don't tell me it's meaningless
There'll be no compromise
We fall in we too shall rise
You held me and taught me how
I think I am ready now
If this is the way it ends
This is the way it's meant to be
Under my skin they fade away
Here's to life with no regrets
See you again all one day
Give me love or give me death
Can anyone ever really say...
~Landon Pigg~ The Way It Ends
Sam Abrams was the first to exit the room.
" Jay. Natalie."
" How is he?" they both asked in unison?
" The good news is Will's neurological reflexes are strong. There is no evidence of a brain bleed or a skull fracture. He does have a concussion, but as far as him being unconscious I fully believe that to be a combination of his body trying to heal itself and him being stubborn. I'll keep an eye on things, but from a neurological standpoint, things look stable."
" Thanks Sam," replied Natalie as the surgeon walked away.
" What's taking Marcel so long? Jay asked out loud.
" I don't know," Natalie said worriedly.
" Looks like he has a grade II splenic laceration that's causing the internal bleeding into his abdomen," Crockett said, staring at the screen in front of him.
" What's the plan?" asked Ethan.
" If the splenic injury was worse I'd most definitely take him into the OR to repair it or remove the spleen all together. As it stands, his vitals are low, but stable. I want to wait and see if things might improve on their own or not."
" Are we taking him back down to the ED?" asked April.
" Yes. If the bleeding becomes worse or his spleen ruptures I want to be as close to an OR as possible," Crockett explained before exiting out into the lobby.
" How is he?" Jay and Natalie asked in unison once more.
" Will does have some broken ribs. However, the scans showed that he also has a grade II splenic laceration that's causing the internal bleeding we're seeing."
" English please," demanded Jay.
" Basically his spleen has a cut in it that's causing him to bleed into his stomach," Natalie explained.
" I'm hoping that the injury will remain stable and begin to heal itself instead of worsening."
" What happens if it does get worse?" Jay asked curiously as April and Ethan brought the gurney back into the hall.
" We're going to take him back down to the ED where he can be closely monitored. The hybrid OR team will be on standby in case things go south, giving me the chance to open him up as soon as possible," explained Crockett, stepping into the elevator after Ethan and April, followed by Jay and Natalie.
" Go ahead and take him back to Bagdhad. I'm going to go change," Crockett said, eyeing his bloodied shirt as they stepped off the elevator in the ED.
Make sure we have enough type specific blood on hand- enough for the OR should we need it and a few units hung on the rapid infuser to try and boost his BP and vitals." Crockett entered the empty lounge, immediately chucking his soiled shirt in a nearby trashcan. As he grabbed a fresh set of black scrubs and headed to the bathroom, he couldn't help but think how horribly wrong the night had gone.
Once he was done changing, he shoved his jeans in the bottom of his locker and pulled on his sneakers before grabbing his stethoscope. When he stepped back into the ED he found JAy waiting outside with whom Crockett assumed to be a fellow police officer.
" This is Adam Ruzek. We work together in Intelligence," explained Jay.
" Dr. Marcel is it?"
" Crockett Marcel."
" Do you have some time to answer a few questions? We're trying to piece together a timeline."
" Let me go check in on Will and then I'm all yours," he replied, walking past the two men into the trauma room.
" How's he doing?"
" His vitals perked up some with the added blood, but not by much. I also had to increase his oxygen due to his O2 sats dropping," explained Ethan.
" Keep a close eye on his oxygenation rate. I'm going to be just outside speaking with the police. Crockett placed his hand on Natalie's shoulder.
" We've got this," he declared before walking back outside, pulling the door shut behind him.
" Gentlemen."
" If you don't mind, I'd like to go in and be with Will," Jay said to Adam.
" We'll be fine," Adam and Crockett reassured him.
" So Dr. Marcel. Take me through the past twenty-four hours if you don't mind. I understand that Natalie broke things off with Phillip Davis last night and Will revealed to her in front of Phillip that Phillip had been lying about the engagement."
" That's correct. I was the one treating Natalie Manning the night of the accident and quickly realized that Philip had snuck the ring onto her hand while I had stepped out of the room. Will was upset that Phillip was making a huge deal about his and Natalie's anniversary last night. That's when the subject of the engagement ring came up. Will instantly confronted them which I can only assume enraged Phillip even more. Will came back inside and proceeded to polish off a bottle of bourbon I had in my locker."
" You keep bourbon in your locker?"
" Tell me that you don't keep a flash in your desk," Crockett challenged.
" Fair enough. So Will consumed a fair amount of alcohol last night?"
" Yes. I drove him back to Jay's apartment and left after I had administered medication to help with the inevitable hangover."
" So bring me back to this morning."
" Long story short? Will came into work sober. I had made plans with a beautiful woman from Tinder for earlier this evening."
" What was her name?"
" Crystal."
" Stripper?"
" You and Will both. She's a lawyer damn it. Anyways, I asked Will if he would be my DD to which he agreed to. He drove me in my Mercedes to Orion's Pub."
" About what time did you arrive?"
" Maybe 7:15p? I pointed out Crystal to him before I went inside."
" And Will?"
" He said he had a phone call to make, but that he'd be inside soon and showed me where he'd be sitting. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary."
" When did you realize that Will had not come into the bar as you two had initially planned?"
" I texted him, begging him to rescue me from the nightmare of a date I was on. I kept calling his phone, but it went to voicemail. Crystal left around 7:45p. That's when I noticed that my car was still parked outside where it had been when we arrived. I went outside and it wasn't long after that when I discovered a semi-conscious Will in the alley. When I asked him who had hurt him he was adament that it had been Phillip Davis." A frantic knock sounded on the glass causing Crockett to turn towards the trauma room.
" We need you in here!" Choi shouted.
" We'll have to continue this later," stated Crockett, rushing into the room. Immediately he saw the monitors flashing, signaling a drastic change in Will's vitals.
" He was opening his eyes and responding to our commands and then everything started going crazy," declared a worried Jay, watching as Choi handed Crockett the ultrasound transducer again.
" The tear in his spleen has gotten worse, increasing the amount of internal bleeding. April, go page the hybrid team." Turning to Jay and Natalie, Crockett pointed to the hallway.
" I need you two out. Now!"
" We're staying," Natalie insisted.
" No you're not. Now get out or I'll have security drag you out." Jay was taken aback with Marcel's reaction. Normally he would have argued with the surgeon, but he could sense things were much worse than what was being let on. He grabbed for Natalie's arm, the two reluctantly exiting into the hallway.
" Close that curtain Choi then set me up for intubation. His vitals and O2 levels are dropping rapidly, circling the drain. I need to get him into that OR ASAP."
" I can bag him and then intubate while you're scrubbing," argued Choi.
" Come on then! Let's get moving!" he yelled.
Jay and Natalie sat motionless in the hallway outside the hybrid OR, having just watched Ethan and Marcel rush Will inside.
" What's going on? Is it serious?" Natalie took a shaky breath, trying to compose herself.
" The tear in Will's spleen has gotten worse instead of better, thus increasing the amount of internal bleeding."
" So what do they do to fix that?" asked a clueless Jay.
" The internal bleeding will need to be stopped so things don't get even worse. If the damage to the spleen is too severe, Dr. Marcel will remove it. Will also has several broken ribs that will be repaired if they're severely damaged," answered Natalie, feeling her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out quickly, assuming it was a call from Helen. However, she nearly dropped the phone when she saw Phillip's number flash across the screen.
" Hello," Natalie said sternly, resisting the urge to unleash a tirade of profanities at Phillip.
" Nat. I was worried you wouldn't answer. Look. I can explain everything. I am so sorry."
" How in the hell are you going to justify and explain what you did to Will?" Jay's head perked up.
" Are you at the hospital?"
" Of course I am. I'm sitting outside the OR right now. Will's in surgery...fighting for his life," she added.
" Can we talk?"
" Isn't that what we're doing right now?"
" I mean face to face."
" Why in god's name would I want to do that? I want to wrap my hands around your damn throat."
" I still love you Nat."
" Phillip, we're done. I want nothing to do with you ever again."
" You will if you know what's best for you," he threatened.
" Excuse me?"
" Just meet me in the stairwell. Our usual spot. Please. Hear me out."
" Fine. I'll give you five minutes. Then I'm done."
" By the way, I know Jay is with you. If you ever want to see your son alive, you best come alone." Natalie hung up, visibly shaken.
" Was that Phillip? Is he in the hospital?"
" He wants me to go meet him."
" I'm coming with you."
" No! He said he'd killed Owen if he sees you."
" The man has a gun Natalie. What's stopping him from killing you and then going after Owen?" Natalie paused in fear, knowing Jay was right.
" I'm supposed to be meeting him in the stairwell around the corner," she reluctantly confessed.
" Got it," stated Jay, heading for the elevator.
Natalie could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she approached the stairwell in the ED. How would she be able to face the man that had almost killed Will? With a deep breath, she pushed the door open to reveal a frantic, disheveled looking Phillip.
" You came baby. I didn't think you would show."
" Never call me that again," she spat.
" Natalie. Don't you see it? They're trying to turn you against me. They're filling your head with lies!"
" You're so full of shit Phillip. You were the one that has been lying to me. I never agreed to marry you. In fact, I was going to leave you that night! You used my head injury to your advantage and tried manipulating me after the accident."
" No I didn't," he said angrily.
" Dr. Marcel saw you put the ring on my damn finger when I was unconscious."
" Obviously he was mistaken. He just told Will what he wanted to hear."
" So all of that justifies you trying to kill Will?"
" I wasn't going to let him ruin our relationship with more lies!"
" So you had to hold him at gunpoint and beat him? Kind of like you're trying to hold me against my will right now? The police are looking for you Phillip. You're being sought on multiple charges including aggravated assault...assuming that Will lives."
" I didn't beat him badly enough to kill him," argue Phillip.
" How the hell do you know? If he dies, they're going to charge you with murder."
" We'll all leave and start over. You, me, Owen, and Sophie. We can put all of this behind us."
" You really are fucking crazy aren't you? Why would I go anywhere with you? If Will dies tonight you better pray the police find you first or I'll kill you with my bare hands before they can throw you in jail." Phillip looked stunned, trying to process what Natalie had just said. Before he could reply, Jay launched himself over the first floor landing, tackling Phillip to the ground.
" Give me a reason not to beat your skull into the cement for what you did to my brother," he growled.
" It's not worth it Jay. Let his sorry ass rot in prison," Natalie said as Ruzek came down the flight of stairs.
" Arrest this sack of shit before I kill him Adam." Ruzek smirked, shoving Phillip's head into the concrete as he put him in handcuffs.
" Phillip Davis. You're under arrest for aggravated assault, kidnapping, fleeing the scene of a crime, and obtaining a weapon under illegal means." Jay stood with a wince, his body hurting from the impact it had just taken. Looking at Natalie he said,
" Let's get back to Will."