In hindsight he should've known the floor wasn't safe, but you know what they say. Hindsight is always 20-20.
And hindsight came quickly as well. About a quarter second after he stepped onto the rotted floorboards, causing him to go straight through them.
He came down hard in a heap on the concrete floor in the basement below. He knew instantly that something was wrong. Pain exploded from his left hip on impact, and he was left screaming from the top of his lungs.
"Luca!" Deacon called out.
Luca tried to answer, but his lungs and mouth wouldn't cooperate to form an answer.
"Luca, are you hurt?"
Luca nodded as he looked up at his teammate through the hole he had made in the floor.
"Where?"
Still not in control of his voice, Luca just motioned to his left hip.
"Can you walk?"
Luca shook his head, still groaning and clutched his waist above his hip.
"Broken?"
Luca shrugged, then nodded.
"Can you talk?"
Luca shook his head.
"Hurts too bad, or other reasons?"
Luca held up one finger.
"Hurts too bad?"
Luca nodded.
"Want me to call in an 'officer down'?"
Luca shook his head, tried to move, yelped, then nodded.
"This is 30-David, I'm calling in an officer down for 22-David."
"How is he?" Lynch asked over the coms.
"Fell through a rotted floor, injured his leg or hip. In much pain, can't walk or even move much, otherwise alert and oriented."
"Is his radio bust?" Hicks asked.
"No, he's in too much pain to talk just yet."
"Can you get to him?"
"I think I can." Deacon nodded to himself, "But I think I'll have to find the stairs first."
"Okay."
A few seconds later Street's voice came over the coms as well, "Guys, we have a major problem."
A second or so passed, before he continued, "I found some barrels, looks like there's some detonation device connected to it."
"Alright, everybody out!" Hicks commanded, "Watch your steps."
Deacon looked around, then placed his gun across the hole in the floor to create a beam he could swing down from. The rifle was long enough to stretch between the floor beams which seemed solid. Then he rolled through the open hole.
He had to aim to miss landing on Luca.
"Do you think you can hobble next to me if I support you?"
Luca let out a slow breath and shrugged, "Maybe… -If you help me up."
Deacon nodded and stepped behind Luca to hoist him up. "Good leg towards you butt."
Luca did as he was instructed, and they worked him into a standing position.
"How does that feel?"
Luca held onto Deacon's forearms crossed over his chest to steady himself, he blinked hard, trying to force the room to stay level, "Like imma pass out…"
Duncan nodded a bit.
"Dude, just leave me." Luca muttered as his working knee started slowly giving out, "You need to be there for Annie and the kids. Hick said everybody out."
"Yeah. He said EVERYBODY!" Deacon barked, before he swooped down and grasped Luca in a fireman's carry.
The sudden movement and quadrupling of pain caused Luca to black out.
"I need someone to find the basement door and clear a way for me." Deacon ordered.
"On it!" Chris informed, and soon enough the door to the door at the top of the stairs opened up. Then she slowly walked down the stairs, finding no tripwires or anything.
A then she stepped over to Deacon and Luca, "What happened, I thought you said he was alert and oriented…?"
"He passed out once he got upright." Deacon panted, "Can you walk behind me and make sure I don't go backwards down the stairs?"
"Sure thing."
"I'll be standing by the top of the stairs…" Tan informed over the radio, "Don't be alarmed."
"Thanks." Chris replied.
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"All accounted for?" Hicks asked after Hondo declared that they were outside.
"We're all outside, presumably safe distance. Deacon is laying Luca down right now."
"Ambulance is en route." Hicks noted, "How is he?"
"I'm going to take a look at him now." Hondo informed, "He's unconscious right now, but that might change quickly."
"Okay."
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"-He's coming through…" Chris' voice broke through the nothingness.
The dark was shifted out with a blurry version of blue sky and skyscrapers. He moaned, his leg hurt epically bad. He knew it had to be broken, not a chance of anything less.
"Hey buddy, how are you doing?" Hondo asked.
He blinked awake.
"How are you doing?"
"M'hip hurts…" he was not proud of the way his voice sounded like a broken whine.
"I know…" Chris' said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, anchoring him to the present. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
Luca closed his eyes and scanned his body for pain, then he nodded, "My knee. Same leg. Not as bad."
"I'm going to touch your knee…" Deacon informed, waiting for him to give a slight nod.
He was pretty sure the whole block heard his scream as Deacon's hands jerked back from wrapping around the sides of his knee.
"Sorry, sorry-sorry-sorry!" Deacon apologized, "Did I hurt your knee or your hip?"
It took him eight solid seconds to be able to answer, "Hip. But the knee is pretty bad as well."
"Alright, I'm going to slice open your pant leg instead."
He nodded.
"Oh, that doesn't look all good." Deacon frowned.
"What is it?" he managed to bite out.
"Looks like your kneecap is vacationing on the side of your knee instead."
"-Oh…" he winced, "Again?"
"It's happened before?" Hondo asked.
"Couple of times." he answered, "When I was a teen and young adult. Thought it got all better with the years…"
"Alright," Hondo nodded, "We better just let it be like that until you're under the care of medical professionals."
"Yeah, I think that's the best idea. It's been decades since it's happened so…"
"Yeah, and setting it would cause you so much more pain from your hip." Deacon reasoned.
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"Hey, I'm Jennifer, what happened here?" the first paramedic asked as she wheeled the gurney close to where Luca was laying before she collapsed it.
"Yeah, I'm Luca. I fell through the floor." Luca answered, "Busted my hip and banged up my knee."
"-Dislocated his kneecap…" Deacon corrected.
"Owsa…" the paramedic frowned, "And your hip?"
"Think I broke that…" Luca admitted.
"Well, yup…" the paramedic nodded, "Your left leg looks shorter than the other, and I bet you're not tilting it outward on purpose…"
Luca nodded, "Yeah, no… I can't move it without screaming."
The paramedic nodded and sat down next to him, "Mind if I feel your wrist for a little while?"
Luca shook his head and raised his hand to her, "Nah, go ahead."
Jennifer found the pulse quickly, and noted that it was even and fairly strong, and the pace made her believe he would have a pulse at around 75. She would count it properly when they had gotten him inside the ambulance and she was ready to do the secondary exam. She acted like she counted it, but in reality she counted his respirations. Checking off the B on the ABCDE list.
15 respirations per minute, a little labored, but she could chalk that up to the obvious pain the man was in. "So, were you running around a lot right before this happened?"
"Yeah, we were entering that building the bomb squad is outside now." Deacon answered for Luca.
"Oh, yeah…" Jennifer nodded and casted a glance over to the end of the street, "Are we safe distance?"
"Should be…" Hondo nodded.
"Good." Jennifer nodded a little more at ease, then she returned her focus to Luca, "Okay, so you were pretty active."
"Yeah, so I'm probably all sweaty and nice now." Luca frowned, "Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it." Jennifer smirked, knowing that fellow blue-light workers often had the same dark twisted humor, "As long as our patients aren't actively decomposing, we're good."
Luca chuckled, then grimaced.
"Word of advice buddy, don't laugh…" Deacon said, bending down to pat Luca on his shoulder.
"Yeah, easy for you to say…" Luca muttered.
"I'm just going to check your capillary refill, do you know what that is?"
"Yeah, you press down on my forehead or my chest and check how long it takes before it turns normal skin color again." Luca nodded.
"Correct." Jennifer nodded and pulled down Luca's shirt collar a little, "Are you aware of any other injuries you have?"
"No."
"How does your spine and neck feel?"
"All good." Luca offered up a slight shrug.
"And your head? Do you know if you hit that in the fall?"
"No, I didn't hit my head."
"That's good." Jennifer nodded, but pulled a penlight from her pocket, "But I'm going to check your pupils anyway."
Luca nodded.
"How far did you fall?"
"Just one floor." Luca answered as she shone the light into his eyes, "Not really that far. Less than twice my height anyway."
"Okay, that's good." Jennifer smirked, "And your pupils are equal and reacting to light… So as sure as I don't find a massive bump in your head when I pat you down, you can go without a collar."
Luca nodded and Jennifer donned a pair of gloves and started to pat him down, starting with his head and working her way down his body, checking her gloves pretty often.
His head was fine, his neck was fine, his right arm was fine.
"Oh, you have a cut here…" she frowned, as her right glove came back red, "Is your arm painful?"
"Not painful, but felt like I could have a bruise there…" Luca admitted and twisted his arm in an attempt to look at the cut.
"Can I take a look at it?" Jennifer asked as she gently guided his arm in a different direction than Luca had planned.
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay, it's a small nick, doesn't look too deep, but you might end up with a stitch or three."
"Alright, that's not bad…" Luca nodded.
Jennifer nodded and discarded the bloody glove and put on a new one, before she continued to pat Luca down. She went on to his chest, checking that his right and left side moved equally and wasn't painful to touch.
"Hey, could you skip doing that to my hips?" Luca asked as she went closer to his abdomen.
"Promise I won't jostle you around, but I have to check it out."
Luca nodded a little as she proceeded to press down on his belly, and poke her hands under his sides, checking for injuries.
Then she paused and stepped around to his right side again, "I'm going to check your pelvis, then I can check your right leg first. Okay?"
Luca nodded, swallowing thickly.
She carefully checked his pelvis, apologizing when she saw Luca's grimace. "How did that feel?"
"Mostly like you pressed down on a massive bruise on my left side."
"Okay, but did your pelvis feel alright apart from that?"
"I guess." Luca shrugged a little.
"Good, because it felt stabile."
"-And broken pelvises are bad news…" Luca shrugged.
Jennifer nodded a little, "It certainly complicates everything a little."
She then went on to pat down his right leg, before crossing over to do the same with his left.
She tried to do it with featherlight hands, but Luca still practically howled as she began with his left hip.
"Sorry!" she offered up sincerely, as she continued down his leg, avoiding to put pressure on his offset kneecap.
"It's fine…" Luca managed to bite out when she reached his left ankle, "Just hurts."
She pulled one corner of her lip up in a motherly, 'I know, hun,' smile and nodded, "Alright, I just need to go get something in the truck. You try to relax in the meanwhile."
The guys nodded, and the paramedic headed back to the ambulance.
"Ey, Joey! Bring two blankets and cravats!" she pretty much barked at her partner, "I'll grab the scoop!"
Her partner nodded and found what she had ordered.
A few moments later they were both back with Luca.
After he had introduced himself to Luca, Joey looked over at Jennifer, "Okay, so… What do we know?"
"Presenting with signs of hip fracture, possible FCF. -And dislocated kneecap of the same leg."
"Can you support his pelvis, while I remove his shoes and start splinting?"
"Of course." Jennifer nodded and rearranged herself so that she would get a better work-angle. Then she slipped her hands down by Luca's waist before carefully moving her hands down to support his pelvis. "Let me know if this hurts, Luca…"
"Nah, so far, so good." Luca replied.
"Luca, you've got a pretty girl touching your hips, I'd think you be happier about it than this…" Chris teased, hoping it would be enough to relax her friend a little from his tense state.
It worked a little, and caused Luca to chuckle a little. "Well, under different, -less painful-, circumstances I'm sure I would be ecstatic… Okay?"
Joey unlaced both of Luca's boots, the left one more carefully than the right, and slipped them off. He heard Luca's breath hitch and morph over to a groan as he slipped the left one off, and apologized for causing pain. He then quickly checked for pulse as well, and found it easily.
"Don't worry 'bout it." Luca gritted out a few seconds later, "I really don't think you could've done it more carefully."
"Well, I'm sorry anyway…" Joey explained as he started slipping the cravats under Luca's knees. Tugging three of the rags upwards, one all the way up to right above Luca's hips, one rag just below his hips and one a bit above his knees. The two other rags he tugged down, one by Luca's ankles the other one below his knees.
Jennifer chuckled a bit, "How are you holding up?"
"Been better." Luca admitted.
Joey re-folded the first woolen blanket into a more ideal shape. "Alright Luca, you're not going to be the biggest fan of this next part."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I need to put this folded blanket between your legs, as far up as possible." Joey explained, "It'll probably hurt when I do so, but it's going to help stabilize your hip."
Luca nodded, and prepared for the pain.
Joey placed the first blanket all the way up to Luca's crotch, jostling his leg just enough to cause the man to growl.
"Sorry…"
Luca waved it all away.
Joey then placed the second blanket below Luca's knees.
"Alright, I'm going to bring your right leg towards your left leg now. Then I'm going to start tying your legs together."
Luca nodded, and Joey started moving his leg towards the other one. He managed to get the legs next to each other without pulling more than a grimace from Luca. Then he trapped Luca's feet between his knees and tied the cravat around his ankles, before he also tied Luca's feet up.
"How are you feeling?"
"It hurts." Luca admitted, folding his hands and propped his hands behind his head.
"Any dizziness? Nausea?"
"No…" Luca shook his head, "Not yet."
"Alright." Joey nodded and started tightening up the second cravat, the one below Luca's knees.
That one made Luca cringe hard.
"Did that one hurt your knee or your hip?"
"Knee." Luca inhaled sharply, "Hip."
"Both?"
Luca nodded.
Joey stared at Luca's knee for a second, "I'm going to loosen this one up a bit and find something to use as a pad under the cravat."
Luca nodded, and gasped sharply as Joey tied open the second cravat.
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Joey came back a short moment later with a pillow. "Let's hope this helps a little…"
He placed the pillow against the outside of Luca's thigh and wrapped the cravat over it and tightened it again.
"How's that?"
"Better."
"Good." Joey nodded and started to tighten the rag above Luca's hip, keeping the rag over the pillow as well, "How's that?"
Luca nodded, "Alright."
Joey tightened second to last cravat and apologized as Luca let out a guttural growl. "Just one more left."
Luca nodded.
"You're starting to look a bit pale," Street commented, "How are you feeling, buddy?"
"Hurts."
Jennifer twisted around to look at Luca directly, "Are you feeling faint? Nauseous?"
Luca nodded.
Joey cast a look up at Luca, "Sorry, just the last rag now."
Luca nodded.
Joey made sure the last cravat wasn't too rolled and would distribute the pressure as evenly as possible. He tightened it, and Luca gasped, automatically reaching for his hip.
Jennifer released Luca's pelvis and went to check his pulse. She gave it ten seconds before she relaxed her shoulders, but kept her fingers on his pulse for another twenty.
Luca started to relax mode and more, and a bit of color started to reappear on his face.
Joey placed one part of the scoop stretcher along Luca's right side, pressing it under him. Then he placed the other part on his other side and clicked stretcher back together, first at Luca's head, then he had Jennifer and Hondo roll Luca gently onto his side so that he wouldn't pinch him when he locked the foot part together.
"Alright, who wants to volunteer to help us get him onto the real gurney?" Jennifer asked, and everyone from the S.W.A.T team stepped forward.
"Alright, grab onto the stretcher, lift on my command." Jennifer ordered, and the guys and Chris crowded the stretcher.
"Alright, you in the middle of the left side…" Jennifer nodded towards Deacon, "Can you go and make sure the breaks are on the gurney instead? It's going to be too crowded on that side if you stay where you are."
Deacon nodded and removed himself from his position at the stretcher.
"Alright, ready to lift?"
The others nodded.
"One. Two. Three, lift!"
The lift and transfer to the gurney went without incident, and they unclipped and removed the scoop stretcher again.
"How are you feeling now?" Jennifer asked as she started strapping him in on the stretcher.
"Still a bit out of it…" Luca admitted, "But I don't feel like passing out anymore."
"That's good." Jennifer nodded, "You look a bit better as well, not as pale."
Luca nodded.