Note: who's ready to find out how Danny is doing? Loving the reviews. Please keep them coming.

Chapter Five

The ride to the hospital had been fast, and Steve found himself thrown around, leaving him nauseous. Then again that could be due to the fact that his best friend was fighting for his life right in front of him, and it looked like he was starting to lose that battle.

Danny's blood pressure, and oxygen levels, had begun to drop, and Ani was working fast to secure more IV access in a hope of replacing the blood volume Danny was losing. Doors were thrown open, and medical staff descended on them, and soon they were on the run down the corridor.

Steve was relieved to see Dr. Pearce on duty, and she immediately took charge. Dr. Pearce had taken care of the team on many occasions, and the team all felt confident in her ability. The petite blonde doctor was very skilled, but also managed to keep the team under control, and took no nonsense from them. She allowed them access when most other doctors wouldn't, and they returned the favour by not pushing the boundaries. "Fill me in Ani." She demanded as they headed towards the trauma room.

"Danny has a stab wound to his back, right hand side. Steve found him in respiratory arrest and managed a make shift needle decompression."

Dr. Pearce observed the pink curly straw protruding from Danny's chest, the end covered by a food bag. "Quick thinking."

"On arrival I intubated, and we scooped and ran. Two IV's established with volplex running. BP tanked two minutes out, now 60/40 heart rate 120. Oxygen saturations have fallen to 75%, and he's getting hard to bag."

"Thanks Ani. Steve I need you to wait here." Dr. Pearce ordered as they entered the trauma room.

"Doc, I need to be with him." Steve stammered.

"No you don't Steve. This has potential to get messy. You do not need to see this. I promise I will give you news as soon as I have it."

One of the nurses took the bag of fluids from Steve, and he was left feeling useless in the hallway. Looking down at his hands he saw Danny's blood staining them. He moved over across from the doors where Danny had disappeared, and slid himself down against the wall. His legs felt wobbly, and his heart was racing. He drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, effectively hugging himself, and rested his head on his blood stained knees. Danny had to be ok. He had to be. Grace needed him. The team needed him. He needed him.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

"Ok guys we need to do this fast." Dr. Pearce ordered as the team grabbed hold of the sheet and moved Danny across to their gurney. Monitoring equipment was swapped over, and Danny was connected to a ventilator. Ani and Jonah moved to the back of the room, normally they would leave the medical team to it, but this time, knowing the patient so well, they both needed to see the outcome.

"Jason, he needs a central and arterial line. Jenny call blood bank and get them to cross match six units, hang two units of O neg. I want a chest x-ray and Foley now. ABG's, U & E's, FBC."

The team raced to carry out her orders. Soon a chest x-ray was pulled up on the screen. "I need a chest tube kit, he has a massive hemothorax." Dr. Pearce called out moving over to Danny's side.

"BP's dropped to 50/32. Heart rates only 30. We're losing him." Jenny, the nurse called out.

"He's losing too much blood." Dr. Pearce said in frustration, "we need to stop the bleeding." Taking a second to consider her options she nodded to herself, mind made up. "Ok, roll him onto his side. Get me some rib spreaders. I'm gonna perform a Posterolateral thoracotomy, and try and find out where all this blood is coming from."

The team quickly rolled Danny on to his left side. Jenny pulled his right arm up over his head and supported him. No time to worry about asepsis, Dr. Pearce quickly grabbed a scalpel and made an incision from Danny's armpit, curving round to his back. She skilfully dissected through the subcutaneous tissue and exposed the muscle.

"Heart rates down to twelve." Jenny called out.

"Just give me a second longer." Dr. Pearce called out as she sliced through the muscle, finally reaching the ribs. "Ok rib spreader." She yelled holding her hand out and was immediately passed the metal contraption. Inserting the device she cranked the ratchet, forcing Danny's ribs apart and exposing the pleural cavity. A pop could be heard as one of Danny's ribs gave way, forced beyond its flexible capacity. One small cut and blood gushed from Danny's chest cavity, flowing down his back, and splashing on to the floor, covering Dr. Pearce's shoes. She didn't even flinch or step back, just demanded suction, and immediately Jenny sprang into action. Placing her hand into Danny's chest cavity Dr. Pearce felt around then exclaimed, "Got it. Ok, push more blood. I have my finger plugging a small hole in the pulmonary vein."

The team all waited, holding their breaths as more blood was pushed into his system. "BP's picking up, heart rates up to 60." Jenny announced to the teams joy.

"Jason, help me up." Dr. Pearce ordered as she climbed on to the gurney and stabilised her self. "Ok guys, get us to that OR before my finger goes numb." A sterile sheet was thrown over the wound, and the gurney was quickly on the move, crashing through the door and past Steve to the elevator.

Steve's head snapped up at the crash of the doors, his eyes widened at the sight of Dr. Pearce practically straddling Danny. The doors to the trauma room remained open and Steve paled at the sight of all the blood on the floor, Danny's blood, and so much of it.

Ani saw the devastated look on Steve's face and moved over to him. Knowing none of the medical team had time to update Steve she slid down the wall and sat next to him. Steve turned his head to look at her, his eyes wet, and he was clearly terrified he was going to lose his best friend.

"They're taking him to surgery, Steve." Ani explained. "It got pretty hairy in there, and Dr. Pearce was forced to take some drastic measures. She had to cut open his chest, but was able to find a nick in the pulmonary vein and plug it with her finger." Steve just nodded, trying to take it all in. "He's lost a lot of blood, Steve, and is critical but he is fighting, harder than I've ever seen anyone before. Not many people make it to the hospital with that amount of damage. The fact that he was laid on his back must have slowed some of the blood loss down. You certainly helped buy him some time with your quick thinking." She continued placing her hand on Steve's knee to comfort him. "He'll be in surgery for a while, why don't we get you to the waiting room and get you a coffee, plenty of sugar to help with that adrenaline dump, huh?"

Steve let out a long sigh and nodded. "Thanks Ani, I don't know how to thank you."

"Just keep me updated on his condition. Jonah and I have a soft spot for you guys." She smiled as she stood and offered Steve a hand up. He shakily got to his feet, and they headed to the waiting room. Steve thanked Ani for her support then he sat drinking his coffee, alone, in the waiting room. He knew he needed to update the team, and check on Grace, but he needed to get his emotions back in check first. Grace needed him to be strong for her. He couldn't do anymore to help Danny, but he could take care of Grace.

TBC