A/N: I DO NOT OWN THE NIGHT SHIFT. SOME DIALOGUE IS FROM THE SHOW TO HELP WITH ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION THAT MAY NOT BE SHOWN CLEARLY. THANK YOU. (2 PART CHAPTER)

7:45PM

Lori was wandering around aimlessly, she had been helping Scott with his transition as Trauma Surgeon, telling him the ins and outs of the ER, even some tips on how not to royally piss TC off.

"So, our reduction? When's that?" Scott asked, trying to come to grabs with how to use the tablet system San Antonio had adopted when Jordan Alexander had become Chief of the night shift.

Looking over the man's shoulder, she indicated the time slots. "8PM." She smiled. "I'm just gonna get these files faxed, I'll catch up with you in a bit?" Lori offered. "Just page me if you need to."

Stepping back a figure crashed into her. People seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Woah." Drew said as he balanced his sister with one arm whilst his other had been preoccupied with his cell. "Sorry." Drew apologised, quickly telling the person he was talking to on the phone that he had had to go.

"All good." She smiled at her brother. "Who was that on the phone?" Sensing her brother's refusal to tell her, she simply guessed. "Rick."

Drew nodded.

"Gosh. Just be excited will you?" Lori grumbled.

"Where were you this morning?" Drew asked, changing the subject. He had woken up at around 2PM to grab some breakfast before he hit the gym but when he woke up Lori was no where to be seen. He couldn't blame her, especially when she had new found freedom since she had picked up her car the other day, a 68' Ford Mustang. Drew could never understand his sister's fascination with original cars but he could recall the time she had rebuilt one of their dad's pick up trucks when she was just 16.

"Met up with T for coffee." She hummed.

"You and T? Drinking coffee? Sure there was no brandy in that?" He joked.

Lori rolled her eyes, she had been about to speak when Krista called the two siblings over to where she and Kenny had been huddled at one of the stations.

"What are you guys doing?" Drew spoke up, noting the group of their presence.

"One of the nurses found this. It's Ragosa. He has a dating profile. 'Santana2001.'" Kenny chuckled humorlessly as he continued to scroll through the page he had been shown. "Likes long walks on the beach "

"Well, who doesn't?" Lori shrugged.

"Everything life has to offer." Kenny continued, reading the profile.

"No." The two Alisters responded in unison, earning an impressed look from their friends. "That's crossing a line." Lori added. "He's lonely."

Drew agreed.

8:01PM

STAFF MEETING AT THE NURSES STATION. STAFF MEETING AT THE NURSES STATION.

"All right, gather 'round, everyone." Ragosa called. "I wanna thank you guys for coming in a little bit early tonight."

"I have four cranky women in my house. I will come in whenever you want." Topher joked causing the doctors to chuckle. Topher had become a father to two twin girls the other day and instead of taking paternity leave he had decided to continue working as he recited his complaints continuously.

"I have five sisters. I get it." Drew chuckled, earning an elbow in the side of his ribs and a glare from Lori. Groaning, he turned to his sister and muttered. "What was that for?"

"Anyway, uh, I wanna talk to you guys about some ways- that I think between-" Ragosa had been interrupted by one of the nurses running towards him, handing him a note. Reading it quickly, he looked up towards the doctors and nurses that had gathered. "That was dispatch. Bus accident on highway 190. The passengers are soldiers."

Drew's eyes darted towards his sister, who tried her best to give him a reassuring smile but deep down, she knew it wasn't good.

"Multiple victims. Ours will be here in 20 minutes." The man in the suit continued, quickly ushering the staff to work. "And someone call TC and Jordan, they're late."

And with that the doctors and nurses of San Antonio Memorial all spurred into action. Another busy night for the night shift.

8:24PM

TC and Jordan had finally arrived and all the doctors were on standby outside the ER doors as they waited for the ambulances arrivals. But it hadn't just been one to arrive, it had been 5. All looking at each other before they split up, they silently prayed that they could manage these casualties. They were brothers in arms for some which made the situation their priority.

"Okay. What do we got?" TC asked as the ambo doors flew open with the first soldier to be brought in.

"B.P. 98 over 53. Pulse 131. Blunt force trauma to the chest. Multiple fractured ribs. Possible collapsed lung." The paramedic relayed as they lowered the gurney from the back of the ambo.

Stepping forward, TC began to check over the first injured soldier. "Heart sounds muffled." He shook his head, it wasn't a collapsed lung. Turning to the intern, Dr Paul Cummings, he pointed out something. "Look, his veins. Cardiac tamponade." Reaching for a syringe, TC quickly and cautiously drained the blood from around the soldiers heart before handing over to Paul as he told him to take their patient through.

Lori moved over to what looked like a desperate surgical case. They would for sure have to call all surgeons in for this shift. Grimacing slightly, she noticed a man with his intestines bulging from open wounds. "A little help over here?" She called, placing the gauze over them.

"What do we got?" Scott breathed out as he approached the young Alister. Looking underneath Lori's hands, he agreed to take it. "Quick fix in the O.R. let's get him inside." He said, lifting the barriers, he sent the nurses with the gurney straight up to the OR before continuing to triage any surgical patients left.

Lori had moved over to TC to help him, doing so, she tried to call her brother over. "Drew, I need you to help TC over here." But he had ignored her and instead rushed between the patients, clearly frantic. "Drew! Drew, where the hell are you going? I need you!"

"Please over here." Drew pleaded, calling his sister over.

Looking up towards TC, who nodded, she ran over towards Drew.

"It's Rick." Drew informed quickly.

Lori took a moment or two before she realised what Drew was saying. "Oh Rick. Course. Course. I got him D." She reassured her brother as she began checking on her brother's partner. "'Kay, he's lost a lot of blood here. Let's get him inside. Now." The small woman ordered, demanding for space to be given as she tried to push the gurney between the pile up of gurneys that had arrived. "Move. Move people."

"Topher, you take over Lori's crushed leg. Stabilize him." Scott ordered, rushing into the ER.

"He's mine, and Drew's with me." Lori shook her head.

"Dr Alister. Do we have a problem?" Scott didn't like it but neither did Lori.

"Dr Clemmens are you questioning my position of authority?" She asked, eyebrows raised. He may have been the boss back in Dallas but things were different here in San Antonio.

"Fine. Bring him up to pre-op in an hour. I need to amputate."

Drew looked to his baby sister, fear evident in his eyes. "Amputate?"

"I'm gonna do the best I can D, trust?"

"Always." Drew smiled despite the situation because he did trust his sister with everything he had. Lori had always been the one by his side, no matter what, even if he didn't think he needed one she would always be there because deep down she knew he didn't want to be alone. It was just the way of the Alister siblings.

9:11PM

"I'm Doctor Landry De La Cruz from San Antonio Memorial. I'm calling about your sister Jessica Palmer." Lori heard Landry speak down the line as she approached the desk, clearly struggling to get through to other person. "Hello? Hello?" Landry groaned, the woman had hung up on her.

"Tough shift?" Lori guessed as she leant on the desk.

"Ms. Palmer is back and driving me crazy." The physciatrist complained. Lori nodded in understanding, she had met Jessica Palmer, the woman had been convinced that she and Matt Damon weere in a relationship. "How's the guy with the leg injury?" She sighed, assuming that's why Lori was here.

Since Lori was a surgical attending, she rarely had to consult with Landry but that hadn't meant the two didn't consider themselves friends. Landry was also in some kind of relationship with TC, which had confused Lori to new ends, especially when it was clear that TC Callahan wasn't just looking at Jordan like a friend.

"Not good.." Lori shook her head. "I'm trying to save it, but you're probably gonna need to talk to him, to help him through the process." She asked, wringing her hands. She hadn't wanted to do this but she knew, as a soldier that this was bound to be tough. Rick would take it hard as would any other soldier in the military, this was their job and for this to be taken from him, he would surely feel like his purpose had been tampered, that he wouldn't be the 'man he was'.

Dr De La Cruz quickly agreed, bidding the woman farewell she headed back towards Jessica Palmer.

9:30PM

"What's wrong with my leg?" Rick screamed as he noticed his leg being held with metal splints. The last thing he had remembered was being hauled from the crushed bus, he had been on his way back home after being deployed for three months.

Drew, who had been stood by the door, advanced towards his lover. "Rick, listen." He tried. Drew had had to use force to stop the man from dislodging the tubes that had been placed in his leg in the hope that they would help. "Look at me. Look at me. You gotta rest. Okay? Okay, you just gotta sit back and you gotta trust me." He spoke, his voice soft and calm, similar to the one he often used with his younger sisters as children if they had come to him crying.

"Okay." Rick breathed out a shaky breath as he began to relax, letting the meds work.

"Uh, I got our best on this, and she's gonna take care of you." Drew promised, not willing to move his eyes from Rick who was clearly scared about the seriousness of the injury he had sustained during the crash. "Please, just rest. I'll be here to check on you later."

Rick swallowed, nodding before his lips curved. "Who's your best?"

"That'll be me." A small voice made Drew jump back from his partner's bed, afraid that he had been caught out by someone. "Chill, D. Just me." She said, waiting for her brother to calm down.

"Lauren?" Rick asked, slightly groggy. His current situation didn't stop the horrified glare Lori Alister returned him with although it did make him chuckle. "Lori, right, sorry."

Lori had known Rick for years now, he had been a good friend to the two Alister siblings and had often spent time with them and their family whenever he was around. He had met Drew in Fort Hood and his sister not long after as when she signed up. "Hey there, Captain." She smiled.

"Didn't know you were in Texas." He uttered. The last he heard, Captain Lauren Alister had four months left of her current tour.

She nodded. "I came home a couple of weeks back." Not really wanting to speak much more, she lowered her head and began to work on Rick's injury. She had promised to try every avenue she could before resorting to amputation.

"Yeah, those scrubs don't do you justice." Rick Lincoln hummed pleasurably as he eyed Drew up and down.

"What?" Lori let out a horrified gasp as her head snapped up. "Ew. Baby sister present. God, you two." Shaking her head, she turned to Drew. "Hey, come with me for a sec." She smiled before she left Rick's cubicle.

"Sure thing." He nodded, following his sister outside.

"Has he said anything to you?" She whispered.

"Not a thing. That's the frustrating part." Drew grumbled, running a hand across his short hair. "I want to help him but I can't Lo. I can't do anything."

Lori made her way over to Drew, wrapping him in a hug. "We'll work this out, okay? We'll work it out for Rick and we'll work it out for you, we'll do it for you both. Okay?"

Drew nodded.

9:54PM

"So you got Drew's friend, right? Rick?" Topher asked the young woman. She had been sat at the desk researching different way to save Captain Lincoln's leg, he was a fellow brother in arms, she was going to do everything she could.

"Yeah. Yeah. A fort hood buddy." Lori said, absently as she tried to concentrate on the screens in front of her. Turning away from the computer she looked back up at the man. "But, um you know, he's stable now."

Topher nodded. "I thought Scott wanted to-"

"Amputate?" Lori continued for him. "He did. But no, I wanna see if there's anything we can do." She smiled, softly. Indicating the notes she had been jotting down for the past 30 minutes.

The Zia doctor nodded in understanding.

"Hey." Lori called as TC and Jordan approached the desk too. Lori was still convinced that Jordan was catching up to her but she hadn't said anything. Not yet anyway.

The three had began conversing about their patients and offering up help to each other as they decided the best courses of action to continue. They had all agreed to meet up the following evening although Jordan had told them that her and Scott had already made plans.

"Jordan, they need you in trauma 1." Molly called from beside Lori, handing Jordan a chart of some description.

Topher also made his excuses and left TC and Lori. "You're gonna have to tell him sooner or later." TC commented, his head not lifting from the charts he had been altering.

After telling TC last shift he had been trying to encourage the Alister to speak to her brother, he had since learned that she had been dealing with her sickness on her own, he had also learned that her commanding officer had discovered the news and told her to seek medical help but until then she was medically discharged.

Lori sighed, she had been watching her brother and Rick interact. She knew Drew was still nervous about the ER knowing his sexuality, he didn't want to be just the "gay doctor".

"I can't T- not yet." She shook her head. "Look at them- I need to be there for Drew right now. I can't tell him this too." She complained, her hands reaching her eyes as she tried to rub them.

TC looked up towards the pair that Lori had been talking about. He himself sighed too. Lori was someone that put everyone in front of her own needs, she had been the same for as long as he'd known her, it was a trait that he was sure would never leave her. "He's your brother, Lo. He's gonna want to know."

"But not now, T, please don't say anything." She pleaded.

Looking towards the cubicle before back at the younger Alister, he nodded. "But as soon as Rick is out of here, you tell him."