Chapter Three: Fog of War
It was going to be a challenging shift at the hospital. Fog was rolling in and if the doctors and nurses at San Antonio Memorial knew anything about the weather, they knew it was going to be a busy night at the hospital.
In the break room, Joey was doing some yoga stretches. "For everyone who beat the fog in to work today, a little tidbit from your resident Yogi Chavez – basic warrior pose," Joey said, doing the yoga pose.
"Really? He has to have his shirt off?" Sam asked Kurt.
"I wish I didn't like that so much," Heather said to another nurse who was sitting next to her.
"How about a tougher pose there, Yogi. This seems rather easy," Kurt said.
"Okay, we'll do warrior three. Bend at the hips, making your back flat as a table," Joey said, doing the pose as he lifted one of his legs in the air. "Let's see how long you could hold that one, Mr. MMA."
Kurt and Sam looked at each other, shrugged and got up to put their cups of coffee on his back. "Let's see how long you can hold these."
"I walked right into this one, didn't I?"
"Namaste," Sam said.
"Welcome to the night shift, downward doc."
Mercedes opened the door to the break room. "Incoming!"
Kurt and Sam picked up their coffees from Joey's back and ran out to the lobby, waiting to see what was coming in. "12-year-old female, head contusions from slamming into a rock, neck lacerations, abdominal contusions," Santana called as she wheeled her in. "BP is 90 over 60 and her name is Abby."
"Abby? Abby, sweetie, can you hear me?" Mercedes asked as her and Joey ran her into a trauma room.
"Her GCS is four-four-two. You're not gonna get much," Santana said.
"Get ready for her to transfer. Buckles off," Joey said as everyone started unbuckling her from the gurney. They transferred her to a hospital bed and Joey started doing an exam. "Guarding. Pelvis is unstable."
"Surgical belly on exam."
"Call x-ray. We need a lateral C-spine. We need to make sure her neck isn't broken."
"What else is going on, Santana?" Kurt asked.
"The only other incoming we have is her older brother, Blake. He's 17. He dove into the water after her. He's hypothermic."
"I saw the blue lips. He needs oxygen," Kurt said, motioning for Sam and the other paramedics to wheel him into the adjoining trauma room.
"80 tympanic. Pop around and here we go," Sam said.
"His organs are going to shut down if we don't warm him up soon. Sam, we're going to need the bear hugger."
"On my count. One, two and three," Sam said as they transferred him to the hospital bed.
"You got this covered?" Kurt asked.
"Got it."
"Brave kids," Kurt said to Santana as they walked out of the trauma room.
"Reckless kid. Apparently, they went dirt biking right when the flood hit," Santana said before she walked off.
Kurt turned around and saw Jesse walking the halls. "Hey, Jesse. We have two minors, both critical. We need to track down their parents and we're getting slammed. Where's Finn and Rachel?"
"They're still at the search and rescue lecture with Artie. They'll be back soon."
Out on the side of the road somewhere, Finn was looking at Rachel's car. "Son of a bitch. Tire's shredded, steering is broken. We're not going anywhere."
"You were driving too fast. I knew I should have driven," Rachel said.
"I wasn't driving too fast. There's rocks in the road. I didn't put the rocks in the road."
"Guys, we weren't the first to hit them," Artie said. He shined his flashlight towards the broken guard rail.
"Those look like fresh skid marks," Finn said, following Artie's suit as he pulled out a flashlight. The three of them walked over to what might have been an accident and looked. "Artie, go grab Rachel's med kit."
Back at the hospital, Mercedes and Joey were working on stitching up the cuts on Abby's face. "That was fast."
"Be quick, don't hurry. John Wooden said that. Google him," Joey said as a cell phone started ringing.
"It's coming from Abby," Mercedes said, walking towards the girl's pockets to pull out her phone. "Oh god, it's her mom from work."
"Talk to her," Joey said, wiping off his hands. "Tell her we need consent for surgery now."
"How do I tell her? I don't even know what to say."
"Break it gently. No parent wants to hear their kid's in the ER.
"It looks like they came off the turn and came over the embankment," Artie once the three of them got to the accident.
"How's the driver?" Rachel asked Finn.
"Decapitated. Not a pretty sight."
"Well, I guess we should call it in," Rachel said, crossing her arms across her chest.
Finn nodded as he listened to something in the wind. "You hear that?" he asked, shining his flashlight around to see if there were any survivors.
"Yeah. Finn, be careful," Rachel said as he started to open the back of a truck.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. He popped open the bottom and stepped back before it could hit his feet. He looked in and Rachel and Artie stepped beside him.
Inside the back of the truck were about ten kids, all looking scared at the sight of them.
"It's okay. We're doctors," Finn said. There was a second of silence before most of the kids took off running. "Wait, no, it's okay," Finn said, the three of them trying to stop them.
Rachel turned her attention back at the truck. "Finn, look." Inside the truck were four teens, two of which were unconscious and another one looked like he was about to be. "It's okay!" Rachel said, stepping into the back. "Four victims, two are critical," she said, looking around the truck.
"And there's no ambulance and no chance of an airlift because of the fog. It's probably best not to stay here; it's freezing cold and we're on unstable ground. We need shelter now."
"I think I saw a store of some kind about a quarter mile back, just around the curve," Artie said.
"Let's get them there."
Back at the hospital, Blake was awake and asking about his sister. "Is she going to be okay?"
"We don't know yet. She's been badly injured. Can you breathe in for me?" Kurt asked, listening to his heart and lungs.
"I was supposed to watch her. You can't let anything happen to her."
"We're doing the very best we can," Sam said, putting an oxygen mask on him. "But we need to take care of you too, okay?"
Puck opened the doors and walked in. "Is this Abby's brother? How's he doing?"
"Hypothermia. But he's warming up."
Blake started coughing. "His core temperature's about 97," Kurt said. "He looks good." Puck was more worried about Blake's coughing. He took off his stethoscope and listened to his heart and lungs again. "What are you doing? What's going on?"
"This kid is drowning. We need to intubate."
"Wait, his stats are fine," Kurt said, looking at the monitor.
"Kurt! Intubate. Now! We don't have much time and need to do it."
"Cricoid pressure," Kurt said as he bent down to intubate the kid.
"Pulse ox is down to 87," Sam said.
"His cords are slammed shut, I can't pass the tube," Kurt said.
"Puck, he's choking to death," Sam said.
"Stats are still dropping," Sam said as Kurt tried to work on intubating Blake.
"What is that?" Kurt asked, watching Puck inject something into him.
"Just a little something to paralyze the vocal cords. Hopefully, that will open them up," Puck said.
"What happened to him?"
"It's called dry drowning. His vocal cords are seizing up from being underwater. You should be good to intubate him now."
"Artie, what's in the kit?" Rachel asked as she started getting to work on one of the victims.
"She's having trouble breathing!" Finn said when he opened the door with the second critical victim. "I need a bait hook, size five."
"What's it for?" Artie asked.
"We're gonna do a little frontline medicine. Her tongue is blocking her airway, so we're going to put the hook through her tongue and lip. It should hold her tongue in place and keep her airway clear. Now, she may go into shock when you put the hook through the lip."
"I've never been in a situation like this. Not even close," Artie said, kneeling down next to Finn.
"Get the ambu bag ready," Finn said as he worked on getting the hook through her tongue and lip. "No anesthetic. Lo siento."
Back at the hospital, Sam was waiting for Mercedes. "Hey, beautiful. After the shift, I thought maybe we'd uh—"
"Not here," Mercedes said, looking around to make sure no one heard them. "I have to get Joey. Blake's sister is being prepped for surgery."
"Oh, yeah. How do you like working with downward doc?"
"He's actually really humble. Last night, he spent two hours stitching kids up in the ER just because you guys got slammed."
"Wait, us guys?"
"I gotta run but let me know when the mom gets here." Mercedes gave him a pleading look and walked into the break room, trying to find Joey. "Joey? Are you in here?" She turned on the lights and saw him down a headstand against the wall. "Oh sorry to interrupt."
"No worries. What did the CT show?"
"A grade two pelvic fracture. I think," Mercedes said, going to pull up the films on the computer.
"No, that's a grade three. Her pelvis is broken on both sides. That's nasty stuff. How's she doing?"
"Not well. Losing blood. Her blood pressure is barely holding a 90 systolic," Mercedes said, watching as Joey started doing more yoga poses. "I think she has a ruptured bladder."
"Okay, meet me in pre-op in 10 minutes. You seem a little nervous. Everything okay?"
"I just remember when I was 12 and sneaking out with my older brother. This just isn't fair."
"You need to put that out of your mind. This little girl's life depends on us being focused on the present. Show me your game face." When Mercedes gave him a weird look, he started laughing. "You have a game face, right?"
Mercedes scrunched her face together and held up her fists like she was going to fight someone.
"Maybe we should work on your game face," Joey said.
At the nurses' station, Jesse was looking through the photos on Abby's phone of her and her brother when Sam came behind the desk and started typing something. "The boy's stable for now."
"These two are pretty close," Jesse said. "Mercedes talked to the mother. She's trying to get here as fast as she can."
"Yeah, well, good luck with the fog. By the way, we're going to be slammed tonight. Artie called and said that he, Finn and Rachel are out stranded with four crash victims, which means you are now my new scut puppy."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you do whatever I say. You're in the trenches now, boy," Sam said, patting Jesse on the chest. "Lots of patients tonight so what you're going to do is greet them, write down their pain level on a scale of one to ten and—"
"Sam!" he said, cutting him off. "I pretty much ran the ER. I think I can handle this."
Sam nodded. "Well, here's your first customer," Sam said, pointing to a man who walked into the ER.
Jesse walked confidently towards the man. "Good evening, sir. My name is Jesse. Can you rate your pain a scale of—" Jesse didn't get to finish his speech before being thrown up on by the guy.
"Nice to meet you," the guy said, wiping his mouth.
"You handled that great," Sam said with a thumbs up as Jesse just glared at him.
Back at the bait shop, Rachel went over to one of the less critical patient. "Hola. Me llamo Rachel."
"Ana," the girl replied. The two of them heard Finn saying something and Ana started freaking out. "Carla? How is she?"
"She's unconscious from shock and we're helping her breathe. But we're going to do everything we can." Rachel noticed Ana staring at the guy Finn was working on. "What's wrong?" Ana started shaking her head. "Ana, I need you to trust me. I'm your doctor. What are you afraid of?"
"His name is Hector. He's a coyote. He took us away from our families in El Salvador. He's an evil man," Ana said as she started to get worked up. "If Hector lives, he'll kill us all."
In the OR, Abby was prepped and ready for surgery. "We're going to perform an exploratory laparotomy on Abby Maynar, age 12, to repair a ruptured bladder. Can I get a 15-blade, please?" Joey said in the OR. "Not to me. To Mercedes."
"You want me to open?"
"You're here to learn. Pfannestiel incision, horizontal, across the pelvis."
"I don't know why I'm so nervous," Mercedes said, hovering over where she needed to cut.
"Because you're thinking about the girl, not the cut. Breathe, Mercedes. Now do what you're trained to do."
Mercedes made the cut and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Finn?" Rachel said, kneeling down next to Finn.
"Everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?"
"These people aren't immigrants. They're victims of human trafficking, except this man," Rachel said, looking down at him. "According to Ana, he's the coyote. And he's going to sell these people for sex, for work. I think he might be dangerous."
"Finn!" Artie called. "It's getting harder to bag. I don't know what happened, she was breathing normally a second ago."
Finn listened to her heart. "She has a tension pneumothorax. If we don't relieve the pressure now, she'll die."
"I'll check for a needle," Artie said, grabbing the medical bag.
"Don't bother, Artie," Rachel said, unbuttoning the girl's shirt.
"What are you doing?" Artie asked, seeing Finn grab one of the fishing poles.
"Shopping. We're going to need a bigger needle."
"So you're using a fishing rod? What are you doing?"
"Artie, shut up and learn," Finn said, causing Rachel to glare at him. Finn rammed the broken fishing pole into her chest and she started breathing again.
"Artie, bag her.
Back in the trauma room, Puck was checking in on the progress being made with Blake. "Core temp?"
"92. He's warming up and looking good," Sam said. "Mercedes got a hold of their mom. She was pretty upset."
"Any word on the sister?" Kurt asked.
"Not yet. Here, I can do that," Sam said, taking over the bagging of Blake so Kurt could do the ultrasound.
"I took my little sister out skateboarding once when she was 12. She fell and cracked three teeth. I felt like the worst brother in the entire world. I can only imagine the guilt this poor kid is feeling."
Puck nodded and flashed back to a day when he was in Afghanistan.
"What's wrong with him?" an officer asked Puck.
"It's called dry drowning. I need you to let me work."
"Well, he's still not out of the woods. Let's focus on this, shall we, and how you missed this, Kurt? This can't happen again. You need to know the signs," Puck said, feeling himself getting angry.
"I was gonna ask you about it when we were done. I looked it up; it's only two percent of all drownings. How did you know? What was your first case like?" Kurt asked.
"Nothing to write home about," Puck sighed. "Wasn't much different from this, unfortunately."
"You doing okay, Puck?"
"I'm fine. I got my two top attendings stranded in the fog, my pager keeps buzzing…can someone please see what they want?" One of the nurses left and Blake's monitors started beeping like crazy. "This kid still isn't getting enough oxygen." Puck started untaping the tube from his mouth and took it off. "There's fluids in his lungs. We need more suction and nitropaste."
"Systolic at 180. He's coming down," Kurt said, reading off the monitor.
"That's still not good. Why don't you guys go find out what's going on with Finn, Rachel and Artie?"
"I'll go check again," Sam said, eager to get away from Puck at the moment.
At the bait shop, Artie was looking into one of the victim's eyes to make sure everything was okay. "Pupils are equal and reactive. No focal deficits. Neuro looks okay," Artie said, patting him on the shoulder.
He started speaking in Spanish to Artie, who got a panicked look on his face. "Uh-uh no hablo…"
"Artie, come here," Finn said. "Take over bagging for me. Poor kid is scared out of his mind," Finn said, standing up to go see what Rachel was doing. "Whatcha making?"
"A peritoneal tap. He's losing blood internally, so I figured if we found the blood—"
"We can recycle it back into him. Look at you," Finn said, smiling at her. He rolled back Hector's shirt, revealing tattoos on his chest.
"Wow, stabbed and shot. Great guy," Rachel muttered under her breath. She stuck the needle in his abdomen and waited for it to fill with blood. "Damn it, no blood. A for effort," she said, slamming the needle down on the floor.
Finn frowned and opened one of Hector's eyes. "Conjunctiva are pale. If we don't get his blood volume up, he's got about 30 minutes to live."
"Okay," Rachel said as she started looking for something. She opened one of the glass display cases and pulled out a knife, which Artie saw.
"Should we be worried?" he asked.
"Everything's fine. I need you to go to my car and in the glove box, there's a bottle of contact-lens solution. I'll explain later, just go," Rachel said, taking over bagging Carla.
Back at the hospital, Jesse had just finished checking in a patient when he saw the guy who threw up on him earlier sitting on the nurses' station desk, playing with a pencil. "Excuse me. Sir. Hello!" he said, trying to get his attention. "What are you doing? You can do that. You can't be up there."
"I'm sorry, can I do this?" he asked, standing up and pulling his hospital gown up to flash himself.
"Oh god," Jesse said, covering his eyes and looking away. He looked over at Sam. "I can't unsee that. Um, any word on Finn and the victims?"
"Still stranded. Puck knows and he isn't happy about it. They're trying to get state rescue and the police out there but the fog is making it slow."
"Is there a Jesse St. James? I'm looking for Jesse St. James," a woman said coming into the hospital.
"That's the kids' mother, I should go." Jesse turned towards her. "That's me, I'll be right there." He walked over to where she was standing. "Mrs. Maynor?"
"Yes. I tried to get here as fast as I could but the traffic was backed up."
"And you want to see your kids?" Jesse asked. "Believe me, I completely understand. I'm a father myself. Blake is with Doctor Puckerman in trauma one."
"Can I see him?"
"It's better for Blake if you let the doctors work on him. I did speak to Doctor Chavez and you can see Abby in the OR."
"The OR?"
"Yes. Believe me, she's in good hands. Follow me, I'll take you to her," Jesse said as they started walking off.
Santana came into the hospital and started walking around. "Santana! Where are we on the chopper getting to Finn and Rachel?"
"I've been trying every channel, starting with the state police."
"Why the police?"
"Artie said they're out there with a coyote and his victims. Sounded pretty scared."
"Well, it sounds scary," Kurt said as they walked together.
"The worst part is, nothing is flying right now. Not until the conditions improve."
"Well, with Finn's military experience, he's the perfect guy for the job."
In the OR room, Joey stepped out so he could talk with Abby's mom. "Glad we can try to help ease your mind," Joey said.
"How is she? Please just tell me the truth."
"She's doing great. If you look through the windows, you can see her right there. She's peaceful and sedated. Now, I could let you go in and hold her hand for a moment. But I don't think you want to see her get operated on. It's too hard. So I think you should go downstairs, have a cup of coffee and try to relax. In about 45 minutes to an hour, you'll be sitting in recovery with Abby."
"I will?"
"I'm positive. I've repaired hundreds of bladders and all without a hitch."
"We promise, Abby's going to come out just fine," Mercedes said, sliding open the door to the OR. They waited until Jesse escorted Mrs. Maynor out before talking again. "You do not act like most surgeons."
"What? Most surgeons are dicks. I just think most surgeons forget what parents go through."
Out at the bait shop, things weren't looking well for Hector. "Finn, I don't think he's going to make it much longer," Rachel said.
"I know. We have no blood and nothing to recycle into Hector's body."
"It's a shame."
"Hey, we don't get to pick our patients."
"I know. I know. I'm sorry. You're right. But he's a scumbag," Rachel said, biting her lip as Finn started rubbing in between her shoulder blades to calm her down.
"No one's out on the road. The fog's still bad but I got the contact solution," Artie said, coming back into the shop.
"Great, that's our saline," Finn said, reaching out to take it. "It's not much, but it's all we've got to help increase Hector's blood volume. I'm gonna mainline it."
"Oscar? Oscar!" Ana called, trying to wake one of the victims.
"He's not breathing," Artie said when he got over there. "He doesn't have a pulse. I don't get it. He was stable when I left."
"Artie, call Sam back. I need you to move, I got this," Rachel said.
"Tell him we need that airlift now. And go ambu bag Carla," Finn said.
"He's not moving air and pupils are dilated," Rachel said as she started pumping his chest.
Back at the hospital, Joey and Mercedes were still working on Abby. "Go ahead and snip. I'm going to pull the stent and you start pulling the laps," Joey said. When they started to do that, her machine started beeping like crazy. "I need four units of A-neg now. Clamps and suction," Joey said, holding out his hand.
"I don't understand. What's going on?" Mercedes asked.
"She's bleeding out."
"It must be a burst artery. It's filling up so fast."
"BP is down to 80 systolic," one of the nurses said.
"Get the A-neg stat. Suction," Joey said. "It's definitely an artery."
"Which one?"
"I don't know but we need to find it. She doesn't have much time."
At the bait shop, it wasn't looking good for Oscar. "Pupils are fixed and dilated. It's been over 20 minutes. Rach, I'm calling it," Finn said. "Nothing we could have done."
"Oscar!" Ana said as she started crying.
Rachel stood up and walked over to where Ana was standing. "I'm sorry, honey." She gave Ana a small smile and followed Finn over to Hector.
"Let's mainline the contact solution. We need to raise his blood volume," Finn said.
"Did I do something wrong?" Artie asked. "Did I miss something on the neuro?"
"Probably a brain bleed. Even with surgery, he wouldn't have made it," Finn said.
"Finn, there's no capillary refill," Rachel said, holding up Hector's arm. "Class four shock."
"Pushing saline now," Finn said, injecting it into his arm.
"How can I help?" Artie asked.
"We got this, Artie. Just keep bagging Carla. I'm gonna get an ETA on the chopper," Rachel said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.
Back in the OR, Mercedes was starting to freak out. "This isn't good. There's just too much blood."
"This angio is inconclusive," Joey said, looking at the computer screen. "Focus, Mercedes. No mistakes."
"All I can think about is that poor Mom losing her little girl."
"In any other room in the world, that's called compassion. Not in the OR. It's just bad juju and it's distracting. I need more suction. There it is. There's our bleeder."
"The artery," Mercedes said.
"That's the corona mortis, or the crown of death. It's an artery only 15 percent of patients have. It must have been severed by the broken pelvis. Should have known," Joey said.
Rachel hung up her phone and came back into the shop. "Okay, here's the deal. Chopper's not coming for another 20 minutes. Maybe longer."
"Well, Hector needs blood. It's gonna have to come from one of us," Finn said, looking around at the three of them. "We're gonna do a little battlefield medicine called the white tile test. It came in handy in Kandahar once." Rachel looked down and saw four drops of Hector's blood on one of the white tiles. "Putting one of our drops of blood on top of these four drops of Hector's blood and find out if any of us are a match." He turned towards Ana, held out a hook and smiled at her.
"You're helping him?" she said, completely disgusted. "You're crazy."
"I'm gonna take that as a no," Finn said, turning back to Rachel and Artie.
"We're not really going to do this?" Rachel asked as Finn pricked his finger.
"Do you see any other way to save him?" He dropped some of his blood over Hector's blood spot.
"I wanna be the match," Artie said. "I wanna do at least one thing right today."
"I'm not sure this is the right thing, Artie," Rachel said, taking a new hook to stab her finger.
"What do you mean?" Artie asked. He noticed the look Rachel was giving Finn. "Finn, what does she mean?"
"Artie, let me tell you about my first ride-along," Finn said. "The call was this raging five-alarm fire. I'm thinking 'oh my god.' You know, I was a new intern on a freaking ride-along and then all of a sudden they tell me I'm the senior medical officer on scene. So…"
"So he breaks the glass and he walks in," Rachel said, cutting Finn off. "Finn doesn't always think ahead."
"Sorry, which one of us is telling the story?" Finn asked, winking at her.
"He actually walked right into a fire. I mean, really, Artie, how stupid is that?"
Artie looked between the two of them. "It sounds like Finn to me. I mean – not the stupid part. I meant the—"
"Time's up on the test," Finn said. The three of them reached down and tapped their respective blood drops on the floor. "Look at that. Looks like mine is the only one still wet. Wet means a match. I'm a winner," Finn said, taking his jacket off. "Artie, let's do this."
"So, the fog can't be helped, but police say they can get a chopper out to Finn and them in 20 minutes," Kurt said to Puck.
"They're still stuck out there? This is getting ridiculous," Puck said.
"We do have good news on the home front with Blake here. Pulse ox is up and pressure is down so it looks like we're winning the war.
The guy on the table started breathing heavily when Puck cleared the water out of his lungs. "Just tell them what you know. Tell them. Just tell them," Puck whispered.
"You got him breathing. Good job," the officer said, coming up behind Puck. "Just be outside in case we need you again."
Puck sighed and started walking towards the slit in the tent and turned around to see the officers put a rag over the prisoner's face. He started screaming for someone to save him and all Puck could do was stand there and watch.
"Puck, I said he's getting better," Kurt repeated, noticing something was going on with his boss.
"And I say he's not. Anything can still happen – pneumo, arrhythmia, infection. I'd think you'd be more cautious since you missed this originally."
"How many more times am I going to have to hear that? I know I missed it. But I bet you missed your first case too. And that's probably why you won't tell me about it," Kurt spat before he started walking off.
"It seems to be working," Artie said once they started pumping the blood from Finn into Hector. "Pulse rate is holding at 120."
Ana started muttering something in Spanish under her breath. "Will you just tell her I'm doing my job?" Finn said to Rachel.
Rachel's eyes narrowed and she turned to Ana and told her. "Finn, listen to me. This isn't Kandahar. You don't have to take the same risks here. If we just wait, then we can—"
"Then Hector will bleed out and die. The oath says do no harm. I didn't write it, but I took it."
"Yeah, but the oath also says I must not play god. Look, some cases you fight for. And some cases you just have to let go."
"Rach, the helicopter will be here in 10 minutes. They'll have some fresh blood for Hector and then I'll let go."
Rachel heard her phone start ringing and she answered it. "Sam? Tell me something good."
"I wish I had better news. The fog is still heavy. They've grounded every flight for three counties."
"What about a medevac from the base?"
"I'm working on it but they said it's gonna take time. They're saying about an hour. Sorry Rachel."
Rachel hung up her phone and turned back to Finn. "It's not going to be 10 minutes. It's gonna be an hour. I'm cutting the line."
"No you're not."
"No one is coming anytime soon."
"Finn, if you lose over two liters of blood, you'll die," Artie said. "That's in less than an hour."
"Then we have to think of something else," Finn said. "I'm not cutting this line."
"Where are they?" Rachel asked a little while later, trying to see out the doors of the shop.
"Relax. The chopper will get here in time," Finn said from where he was sitting against a display case. "I'll be fine." Finn coughed a little. "Artie, help me lift my legs up by my head. It should – uh – keep the blood closer to my heart. Buy us some more time."
"Look at me," Rachel said, balling Finn's jacket up so he'd have a comfortable place to rest his head. "Hi. I love you. I love you so much. But you are killing yourself."
"I'm just trying to save his life."
"I know," Rachel said, pushing some of the hair off his face.
"If you were out here alone with this man, would you just let him die?"
"I'd do everything I could."
"And there's the Rachel I know," Finn said, reaching up to cup her cheek.
Back at the hospital, Puck was checking on Blake's tubes to make sure everything was going to be okay. "The chopper's out to Finn and Rachel," Jesse said, coming into the trauma room. "Don't kill the messenger but the mom's out in the hallway. Joey let her see Abby and now she wants to see Blake."
Puck slowly turned around to face Jesse. "He did that?"
"He wanted to calm her down. She just got pretty scared about her daughter up in the OR, so if you've got any good news…"
"I'm not here to make people feel good. I'm here to save them."
"Puck, I'm just trying to help the mom," Jesse said, not sure why he was getting so defensive. "You can't bite my head off."
"You are the PA, I'm the chief attending. I can do whatever I want."
"Hey," Jesse said, stepping towards Puck. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you or why you're acting so odd tonight, but you can imagine what she's going through. Let her see her son for one damn minute."
Puck nodded. "Sorry. I just…of course. Send her in."
Jesse walked to the trauma room door and opened it. "Rebecca, this is Doctor Puckerman. I'll leave you two alone."
Jesse stepped out while Rebecca stepped in. "Jesse says you've been working on Blake for hours."
"He's not talking yet," Puck said, adjusting the blankets on the bed to make sure Blake was comfortable.
"Talking?"
"Stable. Sorry, I meant stable."
Rebecca was silent for a few minutes. "When I left for work, Blake said they were going to stay home and watch cartoons. If I'd stayed for two more minutes, I would have seen them leave."
"You can't control everything. Sometimes bad things just happen. Excuse me, stay as long as you'd like," Puck said. He walked towards the door and pulled out his phone. He started flipping through some of the pictures he had on there, especially ones of friendly civilians in Afghanistan. He stopped at one and started having another flashback.
He closed the eyes of the patient he'd saved earlier. "Was he-was he Taliban? Did you get what you needed?"
"Maybe. We're not sure."
At the bait shop, Finn was doing everything he could to stay awake and conscious. "Why save him? He's a monster," Ana said, still bagging Carla to keep her alive.
"He's a doctor," Rachel snapped. "It's his job." She kept running her fingers through his hair, trying to do anything to keep him calm. She ran the back of her hand up and down his cheek. "You're fading. The second you go out, I'm pulling the line," she said softly.
"No, I'm good," Finn said. "Artie, the story. Where was I?"
"You were at the fire. You broke the window and went in. What happened when you got in there?"
"No idea. I blacked out," Finn said with a smile. Rachel smiled a little too, knowing exactly what was coming next. "I was messed up pretty bad. And I came to in a tent, next to the guy who I tried to save. I was worse off than he was. The guy I tried to save ended up dragging me out. Sad but true. But that's not the best part," Finn said, looking up at Rachel. She tried to keep a neutral expression on her face but couldn't help the tear that started to slide down her face.
"What was the best part?"
"In the tent, standing above us, bringing me back to life, was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen," Finn said, trilling his lips as Rachel kept rubbing his shoulder, trying to keep her composure. "She had this little pink sweater, and she gave it to me. This…this really nice, small pink sweater." Rachel moved her hand down and took one of Finn's hands in hers. "I was like…you still have that pink sweater, Rach?" Finn started mumbling incoherent things and Rachel's façade started to crack.
"Pulse is up. We're losing him," Artie said.
"Come on, Finn, stay with me," Rachel said. "Finn? Finn, can you hear me?" Rachel asked, trying to get him to keep talking. "You're pulse is weak, but you're going to be okay." Finn tried to lift his head and Rachel gently pushed him back down. "Don't move. Don't move."
"Hector's crashing," Artie said.
"I'll start CPR," Rachel said, giving Finn's hand one last squeeze before she stepped over him to get to Hector. Artie started looking in the display cases for something they could use to get him stable again. "Artie, I need help!"
Artie smashed the glass and pulled something out. "Yeah, just a sec." He ran back and handed Rachel the bottle. "It's cough medicine. Pseudoephedrine. It should work like adrenaline and get his heart started again."
"Let's give it a try," Rachel said as she continued to pump his heart.
Back at the hospital, Kurt opened the doors to the break room and saw Puck sitting at one of the laptops. "I just need some attendings signatures and I'll be on my way," Kurt said, setting a clipboard down on the table as Puck lowered the top of the laptop.
"Yeah, sure," Puck said, signing his name. "I'm sorry I was a dick."
"Sorry you were too," Kurt said. "Look, if you need to talk, get something off your chest, I'm here." Kurt nodded once and started walking off.
Puck felt tears come to his eyes. "I'm a good person," he said, his voice breaking.
Kurt stopped walking and turned back around. "Yeah. I know that."
"You…you ever do something back there that you weren't so proud of?"
Kurt sighed. "More than once. We stayed in our lane, we did what we were told."
"Maybe we shouldn't have."
"Too easy to say from here. It's not so easy over there. Different rules."
"I just don't know if I did the right thing. I…"
"Did they get what they needed? Puck? Did they get what they needed?"
"I guess I'll never know."
Outside of the recovery room, Rebecca saw Joey and Mercedes outside watching them. She came out and gave Joey a hug. "It'll be a few months before she's fully mobile but she's fine."
"We are so lucky," Rebecca said. "I can't thank you enough," she said, giving Mercedes a hug.
"It was our pleasure," Joey said as she went back into the recovery room.
"Wow that was intense," Mercedes said after her surgery with Joey. "You really don't sweat it, do you?"
"It's all in the breathing. Look, once upon a time, I was wound up tighter than you or anybody else I knew."
"I am not that uptight!" Mercedes said as Joey started laughing. "Well, okay then. What worked for you? Zen…yoga…?"
"Yeah, they helped. They weren't the catalyst," Joey said.
"Come on, you can tell me. Stop playing coy," Mercedes said. When Joey looked like he wasn't going to respond, she stepped in front of him. "Come on, you've been digging into me this entire shift. You can't tell me?"
"I lost my son to cancer," Joey said seriously. The smile on Mercedes' face quickly dropped. "It was before I went to Iraq. He was only nine. We did everything, you know, surgeries, chemo. I saw the limitations of Western medicine and of myself and I started exploring new ways of thought and new ways of living. I realized there's so much we can do before we get sick. Anyway, I'm rambling…"
"No, I'm so sorry," Mercedes said.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dumped that on you. Look, I don't tell very many people so, if you could just…"
"Of course."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Joey said as he walked off and started doing small stretches.
Artie injected something into Hector's line to keep him conscious until the paramedics and the helicopter could arrive. "Come on, come on," Artie said, waiting to see if it was going to work.
"I feel a pulse," Rachel said. "Artie, your Hail Mary might have just saved him. Now we need to get him on that chopper," Rachel said, not letting go of Finn's hand.
"Hey," Finn said, groggily. "Carla's awake."
Rachel looked over her shoulder to see one of the girls starting to wake up.
"It's okay," Artie said, getting up to go over to her.
The doors to the shop opened and Santana and two other paramedics walked in. "What the holy hell happened?"
"Long story," Rachel said, not letting go of Finn's hand.
"It always is. Okay, three to transport, all critical," Santana said. She started calling out directions as Artie's patient took the hook out of her mouth.
"Ana is the coyote," Carla said.
"Don't move," Artie said as Santana tried to put an oxygen mask on her.
"Hold on a second," Rachel said, squeezing Finn's hand before letting go to go to where Artie and Santana were. "What did you just say?"
"Ana is the coyote. She lied. She is the bad one. Not Hector. She took us, threatened our families…she was going to sell us. Ana is very bad. Ana is cartel."
Back at the hospital, Santana was filling in Artie and Rachel about what she heard. "Police found a guy with a gunshot to the head by the bait shop. And according to the FBI, your Ana fit the description of a woman who is a trafficker. Cops found a track mark on Oscar and a syringe outside the bait shop. It tested positive for heroin," Santana said.
"Ana must have injected her when I went outside," Artie said.
"Artie, I'm so sorry for doubting you," Rachel said.
"No problem. I doubted myself," Artie said. "Anyway, we're lucky. Cops say Ana is wanted in four states."
"Yeah, for human trafficking and murder," Santana said.
"I think I'm gonna go check on Carla and Hector again," Artie said. "They're stable and UNICEF is helping to track down their family. Is Finn doing alright?"
"Yeah, he's doing fine," Rachel said. "I'll catch you later," Rachel said as Artie walked off and Santana linked arms with Rachel.
"That was quite a chance Finn took out there. So glad he's changed," Santana said.
"Santana, he has changed. Maybe not 100 percent, but he's trying."
"Trying for what? My job is to protect you, not him, okay?" Santana said before she started walking off.
Puck was sitting at one of the computers checking his email. He clicked on a picture of a young boy from Afghanistan and went to his bank's website. He started typing in an amount to send to someone, but hesitated when he wrote in $500. He highlighted the whole amount and deleted it, changing it to $1000. He hit send and felt more tears coming.
In the break room, Finn was hooked up to an IV and was playing bumper pool to pass the time. Rachel opened the door and stood in the doorway. "Hey."
"Hey," Finn said, lining up his next shot.
Rachel walked in and stopped when she got to the pool table. "Finn, you really scared me tonight."
"Well, I'm alive."
"If we're going to do this, there's a hell of a lot that we need to figure out."
"Like…" Finn asked, not sure of where the conversation was headed.
"Like how we're going to work together in dangerous situations. I can't focus on my job if I'm worried about you. Finn and Rachel are not the same as Doctor Hudson and Doctor Berry. We need to find the line."
"We'll find it. We found it before," Finn said, dragging his IV so he could walk closer to Rachel.
"Yeah, when we were residents. We were kids. We're adults now. It's different," Rachel said, leaning against the edge of the table.
"Come on, Santana," Finn said, trying to get the nagging voice out of Rachel's mind. "Can I have Rachel back? Please."
"I'm just saying that you can be—"
"And I'm just saying that I would still do anything for you. And that you are still so gullible."
"No I'm not!"
"You're just annoyed because you bought Ana's story. Hook, line and sinker."
"How about you just shut up," Rachel said, pulling Finn's neck down for a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the kiss deepened and Finn dropped the pool stick to rest his hands on her hips.
The door to the break room opened and Puck and Kurt stepped in. "That is so not how you play bumper pool," Puck said as other members of the shift walked in behind them. "Get a room."
"So I heard some idiot gave away half his blood," Kurt said.
"Hey Finn, you ever read The Giving Tree?" Jesse asked. "Doesn't end well."
"Rach, you hearing anything?" Finn asked, ignoring his friends and coworkers.
"Not a thing. I think we should go get a room," Rachel said, pushing herself off the table edge. Her feet hit the floor and she hit Finn on the butt.
"Get a room. Yeah," Finn said as he started to follow her out.
"Hey, Finn, you got a little lipstick right here," Puck said, pointing to a spot on his face. "You know, there's a locker room that's not always occupied." Finn and Rachel gave Puck one last look before leaving the break room. "Alright, let's play a round and pretend this table was not touched."
"So, about that room," Finn said as him and Rachel were walking the halls of the hospital. "I happen to have my own recovery room, complete with curtains for complete privacy."
Rachel squeezed his hand. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Lead the way."
The two of them walked in silence towards Finn's room and Rachel couldn't help the smile that was starting to form on her face. She hadn't done anything like this in a hospital in a very long time.
"Here we are," Finn said, opening the door to his recovery room. He let Rachel walk ahead of him and made sure that the curtains were completely shut before turning back to Rachel. "I love you, Rach."
Rachel sat down on the edge of the bed and started swinging her feet. "I love you too, Finn." She quirked her eyebrow smiled at Finn.
He smirked at her and walked over to the bed, standing in front of her. He ran his hands up and down her thighs before looking her in the eyes. "You know, I meant everything I said in the bait shop. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."
"Thank you," Rachel said. "Now shut up and kiss me."
Finn certainly didn't mind obliging.