Ch. 3 A Friend's Pain

Jesse wasn't in the Emergency Room when Steve was brought in, so he wasn't aware of his friend's trouble. He was taking a break in the doctor's lounge, and wasn't paged as his colleague Dr. Brian Camdyn was in the ER on duty. Dr. Camdyn was a perfectly competent doctor, but didn't know Steve Sloan. However, Theresa, the nurse on duty, did. So when the crash cart came bursting in the ER doors, she recognized him instantly from how often he hung around the hospital. She immediately ran along side it, taking orders from Dr. Camdyn and doing everything possible to help. As soon as she had a moment she paged Dr. Travis, knowing he would want to be here.
In the doctor's lounge, Jesse was just pouring himself a second cup of coffee, and chatting with Mark, when the page came over the intercom.
"Paging Dr. Travis to the ER, STAT!" Jesse jumped, spilling the hot coffee onto his wrist.
"Ow!" The page had sounded frantic, as if it was life or death. Then again, most injuries admitted to the ER were life or death, especially in a city like LA. Heaving a sigh, Jesse began to clean up the coffee spill. At Mark's chuckle beside him, he looked up, giving the older man a mock glare. Mark put his hand on Jesse's arm.
"I'll clean it up, Jess. Sounds like they need you." Mark's clear blue eyes were shining with amusement, his voice echoing the same emotion. Jesse smiled back.
"Thanks, Mark." He set down the cup and rinsed and dried his hand. "I'll catch up with you later." With that, Jesse was gone, leaving Mark wondering where the young doctor got so much energy. He seemed to have a thousand things going at once, but always had a ready smile and plenty of energy, both of which he made up for with his voracious appetite. Mark smiled at the thought, and then set to work cleaning up the mess.
As soon as Jesse walked into the ER a nurse came hurrying up.
"Dr. Travis!" He raised his eyebrows and nodded. He recognized her.
"Theresa, you paged me?" She nodded.
"I thought you would want to be here." Jesse raised his eyebrows. "I thought you would want to know that the man who just came in was a friend of yours." Jesse instantly tensed, feeling fear trying to paralyze his limbs and adrenaline beginning to seep through him. His mind flew instantly to Steve. His friend Steve was a police officer, and Mark worried about him, Jesse knew. Steve had been hurt before and admitted to the hospital. Jesse hoped fervently that it was someone else.
"Where is he?" The nurse pointed to Trauma 1 and Jesse took off running, the nurse matching his stride. Inside Trauma 1, Dr. Camdyn was busy trying to stabilize a man lying on a table. Theresa moved to the other side of the table and checked the IV and vitals, doing whatever else she could to help. Dr. Camdyn looked up, not surprised to see his colleague come in.
"Jesse. It's your friend, the detective." Jesse felt his heart sink to somewhere down in the basement and his stomach start to fold in on itself. Dread filled his mind and threatened to paralyze him, much as the fear was doing. But he fought back. There was no time - he had to help Steve. Jesse ran over to the table to stand beside Dr. Camdyn, and asked for his condition. The young doctor took it all in with a surprisingly clear mind, and immediately took over, getting ready to take his friend into surgery. Theresa reached over Steve's still form and grabbed Jesse's arm, much like Mark had.
"Jesse, you can't! He's your friend, you'll..." She didn't finish, but Jesse wasn't listening anyway.
"Theresa, I have to. That's my best friend lying there. If I don't do this, and something goes wrong-" His throat closed off at the thought and he had to swallow before going on. "I'll never forgive myself."
//Or the other doctor,// Theresa thought as Jesse glanced at Dr. Camdyn. She sighed heavily and removed her hand from his arm. Taking this as a sign she'd given in, Jesse quickly began moving Steve towards the Operating Room. Theresa followed until Jesse turned to her suddenly, his eyes so dark a blue they were almost black. She had to repress a shiver.
"Please, page Dr. Sloan. Tell him to meet me outside the OR after the surgery. Don't let him in, though." Theresa nodded quickly and hurried off to the nurse's station.

A few hours later by the clock, and a few years later in Mark's opinion, Jesse finally emerged from the OR, pulling the mask down from his face. Mark immediately hurried over to his young friend.
"Jesse." Mark's voice was deep, as it gets when things are serious. "How is he?" Jesse sighed heavily and ran a hand absently through his now sweaty hair. Behind him, the doors opened and a nurse emerged. Steve was going to be removed to recovery, and Jesse didn't want Mark to see that. He turned and started walking in the general direction of the lounge, forcing Mark to follow and turn his back on the OR doors. "Jess?"
"It's not good, Mark. Someone must have attacked him from behind. There's severe damage to his ribs, and his right arm is broken." Jesse filled Mark in as quickly as possible about the damage to Steve's internal organs and the blows to the back of the head. "He's been stabilized and they're taking him to recovery, but he's not out of the woods yet." Mark's head had dropped until he seemed to be fascinated with watching his feet, and his eyes were now the same dark shade that had so chilled Theresa. "I'm sorry, Mark." Mark lifted his head as if waking up and sighed, clapping Jesse on the shoulder rather weakly. He nodded, and Jesse realized he seemed to have aged years in the few minutes it had taken for Jesse to explain Steve's injuries and condition.
"I'm going back to the doctor's lounge," Mark said hollowly. "Come get me when I can see him, Jess."
"Of course, Mark." With that, Mark continued towards the lounge, and Jesse turned back to take his friend to recovery.