Eames pulled into an open parking space and got out of the car, glancing toward the roof of the hospital. The helicopter sat on the helipad, rotors still slowly turning. She pulled the still sleeping baby from his seat, locked the car and hurried into the building.
As soon as she gave her name, they hurried her back into the depths of the emergency room. She didn't like the urgency in the nurse who accompanied her or the looks she was being given. Quietly, the nurse said, "I hope you can do something, Mrs. Goren, or they are going to sedate him."
She swore softly and walked faster. She caught sight of him in the hallway; he looked frantic. Her heart leaped and lodged firmly in her throat. The nurse held her arms out. "Here. Let me take your son so you can deal with him."
Eames did not hesitate to let her take Tom. "Bobby..." she called softly.
He turned at the sound of her voice and approached her. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms and held her. He was trembling. "What happened?" she asked softly as she wrapped her arms around him.
As he started speaking, she sensed the effort it took for him to keep his voice even. "Sh-she stopped breathing," he whispered and Eames caught her breath, a tremor of pure fear coursing through her body. "They...they're working on her." He took a deep breath. "M-more bloodwork. X-rays." Then he couldn't keep the tremor from his voice. "Sh-she looks so...little, Alex."
She tightened her arms around his waist, unable to fully comprehend the nightmare they now found themselves in. She was somewhat relieved when something broke through his panic and he pulled back a little. "Where's the baby?"
She nodded at the nurse behind her and for the first time he registered someone else's presence. He looked at her for a moment. "Thank you," he said quietly.
She nodded. Reluctantly, he let his wife step back. She said, "I called Dad and Mike. They're both on the way. Carolyn will probably come with Mike. He promised he would call Deakins. They'll take care of Tommy, and they'll help us as mucha s they can. You really need to try to settle, Bobby. I know it's hard, but you have to try."
He nodded, resuming his agitated pacing, one hand clamped against the back of his neck, the other shoved into his pocket for lack of anything else to do with it. More than ever before, his wife was his lifeline; he would truly be lost right now without her. He had no clue what to do with himself, but just having her there, he felt calmer, more in control. He could almost convince himself everything would be all right.
Eames took Tommy back from the nurse and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She nodded toward Goren. "I'm glad you're here. He's better."
She nodded with a tense smile and gently bounced the baby in her arms, holding him close. She was as lost as Bobby was. Neither of them knew what to do.
Dr. Robert Chase hated being on call. It never failed. Something always seemed to come up on his watch. Now, standing in the triage room, he studied the little girl on the stretcher in front of him. These were always the worst ones, the children. Cameron was going to have a hard time dealing with this one. And this child's father was going to be a handful as well, if the nurses were right. They had already had to threaten him with sedation twice.
He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as the respirator helped her to breathe but she was stable now. It had taken over an hour to find the right combination of medication to settle her system down. Now he had to go out and talk to her father. He sighed and headed for the door.
Goren turned when the door behind him opened. A young doctor stepped into the hallway. "Mr. Goren?"
"How is she?" The doctor glanced at Eames and it took a moment for the gesture to register with him. "Uh, my wife, Alex. Maggie's mother."
"I'm Dr. Chase. Maggie is stable for now, but I need to explain a few things before I let you in to see her. First, as you are aware, Maggie stopped breathing on the way in. We have her on a respirator to help her breathe. We aren't sure exactly what happened, why she is so sick, but we are trying to find that out. We've ordered some bloodwork and taken some x-rays. We placed a catheter in her bladder to measure her urine output, and right now it is very low, so we are going to keep an eye on that as well. When she went into shock, her kidneys began to shut down. The story we got was that she was washed under by a big breaker in the ocean. Is that correct?"
Goren nodded tightly. "She wasn't under for long. I got right to her."
Chase nodded. "Right now the plan is to transfer her to the pediatric intensive care unit and continue treatment for shock and support of her vital systems. We will monitor her closely. She's going to be admitted under the care of Dr. Gregory House. I am one of the residents who works with him. You will meet Drs. Cameron and Foreman in the morning. Dr. House will be by to see you as well." They did not see the fingers he had crossed behind his back. "You may come in to see Maggie now."
They followed Chase into the triage room. Eames stepped up to the bed, softly gasping. She was not used to seeing Maggie so still. Like her father, she was always a flurry of movement. She watched his hand settle on her forehead, feeling steadied by his other hand, which came to rest against her back.
After a few moments, he withdrew his hands from both of them and reached around to take Tom from his mother's arms. Gently, he laid the sleeping baby on the bed beside his sister, careful to avoid the wires, tubes and catheters that snaked around the bed. Tom sighed in his sleep and turned toward his sister. Goren then slipped his arms around Eames, resting his cheek against her head as he watched Maggie. She could still feel the tremor that coursed through his body. Softly, she said, "I want you to stay here with her. I'll get a room nearby and when Dad gets here, I'll be back. Will you be all right while I'm gone?"
"I-I don't know," he answered honestly. "I don't...know what to do."
"Just sit with her and don't give the doctors a hard time. They are trying to figure out what's wrong and make her well again. Let them help her."
She leaned back into his arms, maximizing the contact between them, and she once again felt him settle. His shaking became less violent, and his breathing was more regular, calmer. She lightly caressed his arms and he sighed softly. "I...I'll try."
She wouldn't ask for more than he could give. Within the next half hour, they were ready to move Maggie to the ICU. Goren moved to pick Tommy up, but a nurse gently touched his arm. "He's okay. You can leave him there until we get upstairs."
He nodded his gratitude, not trusting his voice any more. They disconnected her from the respirator and attached an ambu-bag to the tubing, to hand-ventilate her on the trip to the unit. They also disconnected her from the heart monitor and moved the IV pump to the foot of the stretcher. Then they wheeled her from the room.
The lighting in the small room was subdued. The only sounds were the rasp of the respirator, the beep of the monitor above the bed and the quiet, intermittent whir of the IV pump. In silence, Goren studied his little daughter. If he thought she looked small on the transport gurney, she looked tiny in the hospital bed they had transferred her to. He smoothed back her hair; her forehead was still hot and sweaty. Why had she gone into shock? His mind reviewed the reasons the body went into shock, and none of them fit. He wondered if the doctors were telling him everything. Since Alex had taken the baby and gone to wait for her father to arrive, he felt himself floundering. He felt even more lost, and he didn't know how to stay on an even keel. Everything was spinning beyond his control and he was tempted to call her and ask her to come back. But the baby didn't need to be here. If he got sick, too, he really would lose it. John would be there in another hour or so. Then Alex would be back. He could make it until then. He just could not handle this alone; he needed her.
Exhausted, he eased himself into the chair beside the bed. He took her little hand in his big one and laid his other one against her head. He rested his own head on his arm and just looked at her little face. "Come on, mouse," he whispered. "I need you to come back to me."
She didn't answer him.