Sam looked at his watch and frowned. Jules had been gone for quite awhile. He would wait 10 more minutes and call her cell. He hated to be a worry wart, but she should've been back by now.
"I'm sure they're sitting in the jeep girl talking." Spike saw Sam check his watch for the third time in the last five minutes. "Can't help it, I worry about her."
"I know." Spike nodded. He was a little worried himself. It shouldn't take Jules more than half an hour to bring Callie home and come back. It'd already been 45 minutes.
##### in front of Callie's building #####
Jules woke with a start. Oh shit, she thought. What just happened? She was hanging from her seat belt. She looked up when she saw flashing lights come toward her. Wait. What am I doing in this neighborhood? She looked in the passenger seat and expected to see Sam but instead saw a teenager.
What's her name? Callie. That's it. "Callie." Her voice was rough. She remembered screaming when the girl had stepped in front of the jeep. The girl. Did I hit her? Oh god I hope she's ok.
A medic climbed on top of the jeep and touched her shoulder. "Miss? Are you ok?" When she turned to look at him, they were both shocked. "Jules?"
"Steve?" She blinked her eyes and realized blood was running into them.
"Yeah. Are you ok?" He became concerned when he saw the blood and the confused look on her face. "I need a couple c-collars." He called to his partner who was pulling a gurney out of the back of the ambulance. The guy nodded and grabbed them from the inside of the ambulance. He ran over pushing the gurney and looked in the windshield.
"We got another victim. Looks like a young girl." He got on his radio and asked dispatch for another ambulance.
"Callie?" Jules tried to turn her head but Steve held it still.
"We'll get her. Just relax and don't move your head." He had put the collar on but he held her head with his hands. "What hurts?"
"Hurts to breathe." Jules could feel where her seat belt had jarred her ribs. "Ankle too. Is the other girl ok?"
"What other girl?"
"I, I think I hit her. She stepped off the curb. I think." Jules blinked trying to clear the cobwebs.
The other medic had gone through the open back of the jeep and was assessing an unconscious Callie. He put a c-collar on her and waved the firemen over to help him get Callie on a backboard.
Steve looked up and could see the street behind them. Some of the residents had come out to see what was happening but none of them looked hurt. "I don't see anyone else hurt. Should I call your team?"
"My house. Sam and Spike are there." She reached into her pocket, hissing with the pain it caused. She handed Steve her phone.
"I will call, but you have to promise not to move your head when I take my hand away.
"Ok." She tried to look sideways at Callie. "Callie. Wake up honey."
Callie groaned. The firemen and medic had her on a backboard and we're taking her from out through the back of the jeep.
Jules put her hand down and touched Callie's leg as they pulled her out. "Her mom lives in the yellow apartment building right there on the third floor. M-Maggie Marksen. If she's not there she works at a convenience store at night." Jules' breath was ragged the more she tried to talk.
"Easy Jules." Steve said as he was talking to Sam. "We're taking her to Toronto Gen. listens She seems ok. Breathing is a little troubled. listens Ok. Drive slow." He hung up and put the phone in a property bag. "Ok Jules. We're going to get you on a backboard and out of here ok? Just let us do it. You stay still."
"Ok." She let tears slip from her eyes.
"I'm going I start an IV and get some pain meds on board ok? How's the breathing?"
"O-k." She took a breath between each letter.
Not so good, Steve thought. We may have to intubate her. He nodded to the firemen and they slid Jules onto the backboard. She screamed when it jostled her obviously broken ankle. "Sorry Jules." He stood over her once they had her out of the jeep. "Looks like you have an open fracture of your ankle." She nodded and passed out.
"Let's get her in the ambulance." Steve said to his partner. The other ambulance with Callie in it were just leaving.
The police officer had found Callie's mom in their apartment sleeping. She had broken down when she saw her daughter being loaded into the ambulance. She jumped in the back and held Callie's hand.
They loaded Jules into the ambulance and Steve put an oxygen mask on her. He put a pulse/oxygen monitor on her finger tip and saw that her oxygen level was too low. "Hold on Joe." He called up front. "I need to intubate before we get going." It took him only a few minutes to get Jules intubated and they headed to the hospital.
##### Toronto General Hospital, ER waiting room #####
Sam was pacing back and forth when the doors to the ambulance bay opened and the medics wheeled Callie in. "Callie!" He walked beside her gurney. "Is she ok?"
A frantic woman walked on the other side of the gurney. "Get away from her! Who are you?"
"I'm Sam Braddock. I'm Jules Callaghan's boyfriend. Your daughter's Big Sister?" Sam said at her confused look.
"The one that did this?" Maggie screeched.
One of the medics broke off and held the two of them back. "You can't go any further. A doctor will be out to talk to you once they've assessed her injuries."
"That's my daughter you're talking about! She needs me!" Maggie started to walk past him but he grabbed her arms. "They need time to figure out what they need to do to help her."
Maggie glared at him then turned and walked away.
"Listen. I'm sure it was an accident." Sam said to Maggie. "Jules would never hurt Callie. The three of us," he motioned to Spike, "just spent the afternoon with her. She's a great kid."
"Doing what?" Maggie demanded. She was wary of the two handsome men in front of her.
"Playing Uno and helping her with her homework." Spike shrugged.
"Oh." Maggie sat down. A second later she looked up at Sam. "Let me guess, she won."
Spike sat up, causing Maggie to look at him. "She is, relentless." He said the last word with so much emphasis that it made Maggie laugh.
"I don't know how, but that girl is an Uno master." She looked at Sam then Spike. "Let me guess you sat on one side of her." When Spike nodded she smiled. "How many points did she give you?"
"325 in one hand. But she gave 450 to Jules in another hand." Spike smiled.
"That's my girl." Maggie smiled knowingly.
When Jules was wheeled into the ER, a tube down her throat, Sam said, "that's mine." He ran to catch up to Steve and gave him a concerned look.
"Her breathing deteriorated so I had to tube her. I'll make sure someone comes out to talk to you as soon as they can." Steve said before he disappeared behind the double doors of the ER.
Sam walked back to Maggie and Spike who had introduced themselves. "Did they say what happened?"
Maggie looked up at him, seeing the same pain and worry in his eyes. "The cop said they hadn't found anyone that saw what happened yet. They think she swerved to miss a person or animal and lost control." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Or she was driving too fast, or texting you."
"No. Jules wouldn't do that. I've ridden with her. She's one of the safest drivers I know." Spike shook his head.
"Besides, we're SRU, we know better." Sam looked back at the closed doors.
Maggie frowned. "She's SRU?"
"Yeah." Sam looked at her. It always surprised people when they found out that Jules was a SRU Constable. She may not look it, but that girl could handle herself.
Maggie made a face. "Wow." She thought for a second. "I guess Callie having a cop as a mentor would be good for her."
"Trust us. Jules is an awesome person and the perfect person to mentor your daughter." Spike said sincerely.
"Perfect how?" Maggie asked. That was an interesting choice of words.
"She's had some of the same experiences. She knows how hard it is to lose someone you love." Sam looked at her. He sat down next to Maggie.
"Oh." Maggie looked down. Keith. My baby. Her eyes filled and she covered her face with her hands. "Dear god, please don't let her die. I couldn't take it." She sobbed.
Sam turned and pulled her into a hug. He was thinking the same.
Greg, Ed, and Leah ran into the ER. Ed spotted Sam holding a sobbing woman. "Are they ok? What happened?"
"We don't know yet." Sam said and Maggie pulled away from him. "This is Callie's mom, Maggie Marksen." Sam waved a hand at the group and then to Maggie. "Maggie, this is the rest of our team, Team One." He pointed to each person crowded around them. "Ed, Greg but we call him Sarge or Boss, and Leah." Each of them nodded and said, "hi."
"We've heard nothing but great things about Callie." Ed said.
"Sounds like she's a great kid." Greg added.
"Maybe we can introduce her to Wordy's girls sometime." Spike offered then looked at Maggie. "If that's ok with you. He left the team a little while ago, but he's a great guy and his girls would love another friend. They're 12, 10 and 8."
"I'm sure Callie would love that." Maggie nodded.
Just then a doctor entered the waiting room and looked at the group. "Family of Callie Marksen?"
Maggie stood and walked to him. Sam walked with her, a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, I'm her mom. These are her, friends. Friends of the family."
The five people behind her smiled and nodded.
The doctor added his nod. "Callie was lucky. She needed some stitches in her head and arm from the glass. She still has some stomach pain, but we've done a CT scan and it looks good. She definitely has a concussion. She didn't wake up until she got into the ER. So we're going to keep an eye on her stomach in case there's some kind of bleed we didn't see and for the concussion. If all goes well, she should only need to stay a day or two.
"Oh thank god." Maggie let out the breath she was holding. "Can I see her?"
"Of course. We're just moving to her a room. I'll have a nurse come take you up there once she's settled." He looked past them to the empty waiting room and frowned. "Which of you is Sam Braddock?"
Sam said. "I am. Is Jules ok?"
The doctor looked at Sam and then at the rest of the people behind him.
"We're all on Team One of the SRU so yes, we are her family." Sam answered his unasked question. "Please. Is she ok?" Ed put a hand on Sam's back.
"She's a little more critical. We have to keep her intubated for now. She broke four ribs and one of them punctured her lung. We put a chest tube in to drain the fluid and we'll need to leave that until the bruising subsides. We did a CT of her brain and didn't see any bleeds which is a good sign. There is a little bruising so she definitely has at least a concussion." The doctor explained.
Sam listened intently but had one arm across his stomach and the other sitting on it with his hand on his mouth. Greg and Leah moved forward and put their hands on his back. Maggie followed suit.
"She broke her ankle in three places and has an open fracture so the orthopedic surgeon is going to take her to surgery soon to fix it. The next 24 hours will be the most critical for her. We'll be moving her to the ICU after the surgery. I'll have the nurse take you to the surgical waiting room." He finished and waited.
"So she could-" Sam couldn't bring himself to say it. Tears slipped down his cheeks.
"It's a possibility." The doctor nodded. He put a hand on Sam's arm. "I'm sorry."
Ed moved forward and pulled Sam into a hug. "She's strong. She'll be fine." He was trying to sound confident, but his eyes teared up too.
Sam hung on for dear life and nodded. What would I do without her, he thought. No. Don't think that way. She'll be fine.
About ten minutes later the nurse came and showed Maggie to Callie's room and the team to the surgery waiting room. Ten minutes after that Wordy raced into the waiting room looking frantic.
"Where is she? Is she ok?"
Sam stood and walked to Wordy. "She's in surgery for her ankle. It was badly broken." After Sam relayed the rest of the info, Wordy pulled him into a hug. When they broke apart Sam asked, "how'd you hear?"
"I called him." Leah answered. "I knew he'd want to know."
Sam was stunned, but said, "thanks Leah."
"Family is family." Leah shrugged. They knew she was right and if they hadn't called Wordy he would've been pretty mad.
Wordy smiled at her. Fits right in, he thought.
They mulled around the waiting room, making light conversation about this and that until Maggie walked into the waiting room.
"She's awake and asking for Sam and Spike." Maggie nodded to them.
"She ok?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, a little groggy, but she said she feels ok." Maggie answered. She had dark circles under her eyes. "I already talked to her, but could you keep an eye on her for me? If I don't get to work I'm gonna get fired.
I can't afford to lose this job." She looked at them with concern. She knew it was horrible to have to leave her child in the hospital by herself, but her boss had threatened to fire her when she called him.
"No problem." Spike patted her shoulder. "We'll keep her company."
"Thank you so much." Maggie turned from the room before they could see her tears. It was tearing at her heart to leave her girl.
"Come on." Spike patted Sam's back and walked ahead of him.
"She went to work?" Sam asked incredulously. How could she do that, he thought. I couldn't leave if it was my kid.
"Did you see her face? She didn't want to. That asshole boss of hers is making her go in." Spike looked at Sam.
"Someone's going to have to straighten him out." He returned Spike's look with an angry one.
"Copy that." Spike answered then opened the door to Callie's room. He let out a small gasp. The girl in front of them did not look like the one from earlier today. She looked so small.
Her face was black and blue on one side and there was gauze over the cuts that had required stitches. She had her eyes closed so they walked quietly into the room and sat in the two chairs.
"If you're trying to be quiet you failed you elephants." Callie said, her eyes still closed.
Spike let out a laugh. "Hey Callie. How you doing?"
She opened her eyes. "Ok. Sore. My stomach still hurts, but they said it was ok."
"Can you remember what happened?" Sam asked.
Callie looked at them. She already knew Jules was hurt pretty badly. God, how far was Candace going to take this, she thought. She could've killed us. If she told them was that going to make it worse? Would they put Candace in jail? Would that make Mitzy retaliate? What about when Candace got out? Or what if they didn't send her to jail? She didn't know what to do and it reflected on her face.
"Callie. What's going on?" Sam had seen the conflicting thoughts on her face. What is she hiding? Was she part of this?