Chapter Fourteen: Darkest Before Dawn
Author's Note: This is it. The final chapter in Pumping Blood Season Two. I've had so much fun writing this and I hope you all have enjoyed it. This episode of the show caused me multiple tears and tissues, especially during the flashbacks (which will be in italics in the chapter). As for what's next, NBC has renewed the show for a third season, so as soon as that premieres, expect me to start writing Pumping Blood Season Three! If you'd like updates on Pumping Blood or any of my other stories and writing, feel free to follow me on Twitter ( mslaurenmfanfic). I post about my writing and sometimes tweet my reactions to TV shows because I love TV. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of its characters.
Now, let's move on to the story so you can find out what's going to happen with Rachel and the baby!
"God, Finn needs to pick up his phone," Santana said a few hours later, pacing outside of Rachel's hospital room as she waited on news about her best friend. Every so often, she look into the room, just to look at the machines she was hooked up to.
Santana need her best friend and the baby to live.
"San, you do realize he's in Afghanistan, right? There's probably no way you're going to be able to get in contact with him," Sam said. "Why don't you hand me your phone and we can go get some breakfast."
Santana stopped pacing and glared at him. "My best friend is in the hospital and her boyfriend can't be here for her. I'm not leaving," she said, dialing Finn's number again.
On her fifteenth call, she finally got through to him. "Santana? What's going on?"
"It's Rachel," Santana said. "Something happened. We're not sure yet. Brody's been running tests—"
"Was she hit by the sniper?" Finn asked with an edge of panic in voice, causing Puck to look in his direction.
"No, she was talking to Brody and he said she just collapsed. I'm here with her now but you need to hurry up and get back here."
"We're trying to get out but there's a storm here. I don't know how long it'll be. But San, tell Rach—" The phone disconnected and Finn resisted the urge to throw it against the wall. "Damn it!"
"Is everything okay?" Puck asked.
"No, nothing is okay. It's Rachel. Something happened to her and—" Finn said, stopping himself before he could say it out loud. Rachel isn't going to die, he thought to himself. "God, I want to be home."
"Promise me you'll make it back in one piece," Rachel said quietly as they drove to the airport for one of his tours in Afghanistan.
Finn turned to face her and noticed the tear that was sliding down her face. "You know I can't promise you that. But I will do my damnedest."
She sniffed and nodded. "At least this time I have your shirt to wear. Last time you left, you didn't leave anything for me."
"And I didn't hear the end of it for a week," Finn said with a smile on his face.
Rachel sighed and reached across to turn on the radio. She smiled to herself as she heard the opening notes of Faithfully start playing on the station. "This is our song," she said, a small smile on her face. "I think of you every time I hear it."
"Our song, huh?" Finn said, laying a hand on the center console. Rachel held on to the steering wheel with one hand as she laid her hand on top of his. "I like the sound of that."
"You know she's going to be okay, right?" Puck said.
"You don't know that, Puck. Something could happen to her. Or something could happen to the baby. Or even worse…"
"No, you can't think like that," he said, cutting him off. "Nothing is going to happen. Rachel is one of the strongest people I know. She's going to fight for her life and the baby's life. They're both going to be okay."
The next night, chaos was still raging in San Antonio. At the hospital, the staff had their eyes glued to the TV as a standoff was in progress. "San Antonio has been under siege for the past 48 hours," the reporter said. "The death toll now stands at eight and police believe they have the sniper surrounded in the north side parking structure. SWAT and medical personnel are on the scene."
At the scene, Kurt leaned over to Santana. "It took some balls for you to come back out here," he said.
"You know what they say, gotta get right back on the horse, right?" she said as they started running.
"Whoever said that has probably never been shot at." The two of them ran to a safe place and he turned towards her. "There's nothing wrong with being scared. It just proves you're normal."
"Oh, I'm scared. But I was more scared if I didn't come out tonight, that I never would again, you know?"
"I felt that every day in Iraq."
Back at the hospital, more ambulances brought traumas and victims to be treated. "Sam," Jesse said, walking up to where he was standing. "I just checked on Rachel. She's still the same. Any word on Santana and Kurt on the site?"
"No, everyone's on radio silence. Just trying to get a glimpse from the news report," Sam responded, glancing towards the television set.
"Sam!" Finn called, rushing into the hospital with Puck bringing in Ali behind him. "Where is she? Where's Rachel?"
"Up in ICU."
"Go, I got this," Puck said.
"Brody's with her," Sam called. Turning to Puck, he added, "Let's take him to trauma two."
"Sam, call Quinn and let her know I'm here," Puck said. "And let her know I'll be home in an hour."
Finn ran towards the elevator and pushed the button multiple times. He'd never been so nervous to get in an elevator before. The doors opened and he stepped in, ripping off the surgical gloves as he pushed the floor he needed and waited for elevator to take him there.
He got off the elevator and ran down the hallways, trying to find which room she was. He finally saw Brody watching her monitors and ran in the room, completely out of breath.
"Her MRI showed a stroke," Brody said, turning around to see Finn come into the room.
"Clotting from the pregnancy?"
"Looks that way."
"You gave her TPA?"
"Yeah and we broke up the clot. But she had significant swelling in her brain and she's been in a coma since the stroke." He gave Finn a once over. "I've been here with her the whole time."
"How's the baby?"
"The baby looks fine. For now. We're monitoring things."
Finn took a deep breath and held one of Rachel's hands. "Hey," he said as he gently started stroking her face.
"I'll give you some privacy," Brody said as he walked out of the room. Finn nodded and pulled over a chair to sit down on.
Down in the trauma rooms, Puck was examining Ali. "So what happens now?" his wife asked.
"We'll try to make Ali as comfortable as possible until the donor heart arrives. Then Doctor Weston will perform the transplant," Puck said as Brody came in. "Hey. How's Rachel?"
"Not good. Still in a coma. We need the swelling to go down."
"Finn's never going to forgive himself for not being here with her," Puck said, shaking his head. "He was a wreck on the plane."
"Yeah, well, maybe he never should have left," Brody said, earning a glare from Puck. "Hi, I'm Doctor Weston. Welcome."
"This is my wife, Farah," Ali said, gesturing to where she was standing as Puck took his temperature.
"Brody, can I talk to you?" Puck said, looking at what the thermometer said.
The two of them stepped out of the room and Puck sighed. "He's got a temp of 101."
"And we can't do an organ transplant on someone running a fever. If Ali has an infection, we put in a new heart, put him on immunosuppressants he could die."
"I know," Puck said. "That's why I'm telling you. I didn't want to say anything in front of them. So, we figure out what's causing the fever."
"Is something wrong?" Farah asked, opening the door.
"No, everything's fine. We just need to run a few tests," Puck said.
In the lobby, everyone's eyes were glued to the screen. "Sources tell us that law enforcement are in fact communicating with the sniper."
"Okay, people, come on," Sam said, clapping his hands to get their attention. "We can't stare at the damn TV all night long. Let's start treating our homeless guests in the waiting room. They probably haven't seen any medical care in a long time."
"Hey, Artie," Jesse said, stopping Artie as he walked by. "Can you help me diagnose?"
"Yeah, no problem," Artie said.
"What's the situation with your hand?" Jesse asked as they started walking.
"Still a little weak. The infection's gone but I have some nerve damage. My dad's looking up surgical options for me."
"If anyone could help, it would be your dad."
"I just hope I didn't screw up my peds surgical fellowship."
"I thought you were still on the fence about that," Jesse said, looking up from the clipboard in his hands.
"Losing that choice really puts things into focus, you know?"
Mercedes walked up to where Sam was standing. "I just finished the head lac in exam two. Have you heard anything yet?"
Sam scoffed and gestured towards the TV.
"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," Molly said, looking up from where she was at the nurses' station. "Welcome home, Doctor Chavez," she said, going over to give him a hug. "Hell of a night for you to be out driving."
"Yeah, I had to come in. I'm on the bone marrow donation list and we got a match to a kid in St. Louis so I gotta get to him ASAP," he said, walking towards the nurses' station. "Hey Sam."
"There he is," Mercedes said with a slight sparkle in her eye.
"Is Sam still mad at me?" he asked, watching him walk away.
"Hardly. Santana's out on the scene that's going down right now."
"Finn out there with her?" Chavez asked.
Mercedes felt her shoulders droop. "I'll give you an update. By the way, you may be asked to work tonight."
"Well, I'll be ready."
"We're going live to a reporter in the field," the news anchor said on the TV as the scene switched back to the news station.
"Carol, police have asked us to stand even further back as negotiations with the snipers have broken down. The situation here is very—" she said, stopping and ducking when the sound of a gun firing rang out as the staff at the hospital gasped.
"We can't show you exactly what is going on and we do have to keep our distance for safety," the news anchor said when the shot went back to her.
"She's okay," Sam whispered. "She's going to be fine. Kurt's with her. Nothing's going to happen."
Back at the scene, Kurt looked around and turned back to Santana. "It's almost over."
"What? How can you tell?"
"I don't hear sniper fire anymore."
Diagonal to where they were, one of the snipers saw Kurt's head and aimed his gun towards Kurt, ready to shoot. Instead, the sniper was the one who got shot.
"We got him!" Kurt and Santana heard someone call out.
"Code four, suspect in custody. Rooftop is clear," another SWAT team member said.
Soon, more members of the SWAT team were on the rooftop and Kurt and Santana were right behind them. "You need to keep him alive. We need to question him," someone said to Kurt.
"I ain't telling you nothing. You're all going down," the sniper said from where he was pinned.
"We need to get pressure dressings on these wounds," Santana said. "We'll package him in the rig."
Gunshots rang out again and the first sniper started laughing. "I told you this ain't over. Not by a long shot."
A little later, they were arriving at the hospital. "Two GSWs, one to the hip and one to the neck. Pressure dressings applied. BP is 80 systolic," Santana called out when she got there.
"This is the son of a bitch that took a shot at you?" Sam asked, meeting up with the paramedics at the entrance.
"I don't know, there's another one out there."
"That's right, no one is safe. Anyone who touches me—" he said, grabbing Santana's hand.
"Keep your hands off of me," she said threateningly.
"I'm filling in for Brody, what's the situation?" Joey asked, meeting up with them.
"Multiple GSWs, pressure is low. Welcome back," Kurt said.
"Good to be back. Let's get him to trauma five."
"Please stay out here. As soon as we're done, he's all yours. I promise," Kurt said, drawing the curtains. "We need a trauma panel and two units of O-neg, crossbatch another six pack."
"Two six packs? Hell, make it case," the sniper said, trying to be funny.
"Let's get him sedated," Joey said.
"No, keep him awake," one of the police officers said. "We need him to answer questions about the second sniper."
"I ain't telling you crap. You'll never find him. You all are gonna die," he said as he started laughing.
"You should calm down," Kurt said, trying to get him hooked up to the machines and check out his injuries.
"Why don't you kiss my ass?"
"Superficial zone two. Through and through confirmed. Jugular vein, carotid artery spared."
"Flag on the play," Joey said. "Third wound in the lateral flank. I need a long wooden Q-tip."
"You should have seen that cop I shot. It was a great shot." He screamed out in pain when Joey stuck him with the Q-tip.
"Gauze."
"Right between the eyes. Over 50 yards away. I wonder what the last thing to go through his head was. Besides my bullet," he said as he started laughing again.
In the waiting room, Jesse and Artie walked up to a patient. "Hi, I'm Doctor Abrams and this is Doctor St. James. Do you mind if we take a look at your forehead?"
"Uh, okay," she said.
"What's your name?"
"Maya." She went to move the ice pack and winced.
"That hurts too?" Jesse asked. "How did this happen?"
"I was in line trying to get into a shelter. They closed the doors when it got too crowded. Everyone started pushing and shoving. I got knocked down and kicked," she said as tears started forming. "Sorry, it's been a tough few days."
"It's okay," Artie said, trying to comfort her. "Come on, let's get you fixed up."
In Rachel's room, Finn was keeping an eye on her and the baby's monitors. "Hey, Rach. I'm back. I'm back and I'm right here. I don't know if you can hear me, but I promise I will never leave your side again."
"Still the same?" Santana asked, coming into the room.
"Yeah," Finn said, briefly taking his eyes off the monitor to give Santana a small smile. "I never should have left her."
"No, there's nothing you could've done. This isn't on you, Finn."
"Maybe it is. Maybe it's the pressure of her worrying."
"Finn, stop it. This is a complication from the pregnancy. You leaving didn't cause a stroke."
"I was gonna make it up to her," Finn said, fishing around for something in his pocket. He pulled out the engagement ring box and opened it, showing it to Santana. "I just hope it's not too late."
He reached down and pulled the pink hospital blanket over Rachel's body to keep her warm, thinking about their first actual conversation.
"Hey!" Finn said, walking a few feet behind one of his fellow first year residents and one of the nurses, a pink sweater draped over him arm. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. Or thank you for reviving me. Um, I'm Finn."
Rachel barely looked in his direction and signed the clipboard. "Rachel. Thank you," she said, handing the clipboard over to the nurse. "I gotta say, I thought Army guys were smarter than running into a burning building."
"Oh, no. You don't know many Army guys. So…thanks. And thanks for loaning me this – this really cute sweater."
"I think it's your color."
"I wanted to give it back to you, but I figured since I got it dirty, I should get it dry cleaned first."
Rachel stepped in front of him and stopped walking, staring at him and raised an eyebrow. "Okay," she said before she started walking away again.
"But maybe I should get your number. So I can get it back to you when it's ready."
Rachel rolled her eyes and turned around again. "Or, since we work at the same hospital, you could always drop it off at the nurses' station." She gave him a knowing look and started walking away again.
"Yeah, but then you'll be missing out on a really amazing dinner. I'd hate for that to happen to you."
Rachel stopped walking and squeezed her eyes shut, smiling to herself. She regained her composure and turned around again. "Okay. After the shift. One drink."
"I'll take it," Finn said.
She gave him a small smile and walked over towards the nurses' station where Santana was filling out paperwork. "Is that the Army dude?"
"Yes," Rachel said, the smile on her face growing.
"Girl, he looks like trouble."
"I know. And he's so cute."
"No. Two first year residents? Don't get your penis where you get your paycheck."
"Wow. Is that Shakespeare?" Rachel asked, rolling her eyes at her best friend.
"A little something I wrote just for you."
"It's charming," Rachel said before walking away.
"You're welcome!" Santana called after her.
In Ali's room, Brody was coming in with news. "Any word for UNOS?" Puck asked.
"Yeah, I spoke to them. But if Ali isn't ready for transplant by morning, someone else will get that heart."
"No! Can they do that?"
"Farah," Ali said.
"We'll figure this out before then. It'll be okay," Puck said.
"Has this been here?" Brody asked, pointing at spots on Ali's chest.
"No. Ali, do you feel pain in your chest?"
"No, but I'm feeling dizzy," he said, fixing the cannula in his nose. He pulled his hand away and saw it was covered in blood.
"He's bleeding. What is wrong with him?" Farah asked.
"Farah, you should step out."
"No, I am not leaving his side."
"We need to start a platelet transfusion. Call the blood bank for two units of platelets," Brody said.
In Maya's exam room, Jesse was cleaning the wound on her head as Artie came back in. "We believe you may have broken your collarbone."
"I can't pay. At least not of all it. I can give you some money."
"It's fine," Jesse said. "Don't worry about it."
"I do work. At a coffee shop. The boss there is really nice. He lets me snag sandwiches and free pastries," she said as Jesse started cleaning the wound. "It's not a lot of money and I can't afford a place yet."
"So where do you stay?"
"I usually sleep in my car and shower at the Y. The cops want everyone off the street so no sleeping in my car tonight. So I went to the shelter and then – ow," she said, wincing when Jesse applied light pressure. "Now I'm here."
"Sounds like a pretty hard day," Artie said. "We'll need an x-ray."
"It is what it is. No one gives you anything for free. Except for maybe x-rays."
"Let's get the shoulder looked at too. Jocelyn, could you help Maya put a gown on?" Jesse asked. "We'll step out."
"Here you go," Jocelyn said, handing Maya a gown. She drew the curtains shut.
Back in Rachel's room, Finn was brushing her hair off her face as Santana watched. "I'll be sure to tell her how well you took care of her."
"Well, I'll need the bonus points when she wakes up," Finn said as Santana let out a slight chuckle.
Rachel's body convulsed and her monitors started beeping. "Finn…." Santana said.
"She's seizing. Start a gram of dilantin and hang some mag sulfate. It could be eclampsia," he said, putting an oxygen mask on her.
"Her stats are down. She's not moving any air," Santana said.
"Start an intubation tray."
"Heart rate's down. Finn, hurry." Santana looked down at Rachel. "Come on, honey."
In the sniper's room, it was getting less dicey. "Esophagus is clear, neck is stable," Kurt said.
"Kurt, the detective is pushing to come in and question the patient."
"No way. He comes in here, gets in our way, his only lead dies. He can wait."
"His hip wound is tracking towards his airway. I need to probe the entrance wound," Joey said.
"What are you doing?" the sniper asked, panting for air. "Come on, I need some meds for the pain."
"No, what you really need is a good lawyer," Kurt said.
"Okay fine. If I tell you where he is, will you give me something for the pain?"
"Yeah, we'll give you something," Joey said.
"I'll tell you where he is. He's…" the sniper said, starting to trail off.
Kurt bent down and got closer to him. "Come on, where is he?" The sniper threw his head forward and hit Kurt in the face as he started to laugh. "You son of a bitch," Kurt muttered, holding a spot on his temple.
"You okay?" Joey asked.
"I told you I'd get you. I told you so," the sniper said as he kept laughing.
"Blood pressure's dropping. The bullet bounced off his ilium into his abdomen," Joey said as the monitors started beeping. "He's bleeding out. We need to get him to the OR now."
They started pushing him out and Kurt saw Mercedes. "Hey, step in."
"Ready to go," she said, following the hospital bed to the elevator.
The sniper made shooting motions at the staff members of the hospital when he locked eyes with Maya in her exam room. She gave him a small smile and he winked back at her.
Down at Rachel's room, Brody and Finn were having a conversation. "I've been over and over her labs. It looks like it is eclampsia. Good call on starting the magnesium when you did."
"She doesn't have hypereflextivity or edema so maybe we're jumping to conclusions," Finn said, looking into her room.
"Finn—"
"Hey, I just got a call so I'll be back as soon as I can," Santana said, coming out into the hallway where they were talking.
"Finn, I can't even imagine how difficult this is, but you know what this means. The pregnancy is toxic to her."
"Brody. If Rachel was awake, she'd want us to do everything we can to save the baby." Finn heard her start coughing and she started shaking again. "That's not a seizure. She's bucking the ventilator." He ran into her room and pushed her hair off her face. "I'm right here, Rach," he whispered.
"Push a milligram of ativan," Brody said. "It's uncomfortable. At least that means she can feel it. It looks like that's working for now but—"
"Let's run some tests. I want to be 1000 percent sure we're not doing anything drastic unless I'm absolutely certain."
Brody looked up at him and saw the engagement ring sitting on the table next to the bed. "I get it," he sighed. "Run your tests. I should go check on Ali. Call me if you need me."
Finn watched him leave then turned his attention back to Rachel. "Hey, sweetheart. I'm right here, Rach. I'm here. It's gonna be okay," he said, shining light into her eyes. "Let me see your beautiful eyes."
Rachel crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out as the camera clicked and she started laughing in the photo booth. "No. No funny faces. We only have two more to go," Finn said.
"Why not? That's why you're in a photo booth, right?" Rachel said as she kept laughing.
"Just be serious."
"Okay, fine. Serious, serious, serious," she said. At the last second, she made the same face as the last time and started laughing again.
"Really?"
"Yes." She saw the look on Finn's face. "Sorry."
"I love you," he said for the first time.
Rachel breathed in and looked over at him as the camera clicked.
Finn picked up one of Rachel's hands and kissed it.
In the scrub room, Mercedes and Joey were having a conversation before they started surgery. "So, I wasn't expecting this tonight," Joey said.
"Tell me about it. I'm really worried about Rachel."
"Rachel's a fighter. She'll pull through," he said, scrubbing his hands.
"So, after you do this bone marrow donation, you're leaving again in a few days?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah. Liberia."
"How long are you gone for again?"
"I don't know. As long as they need me."
"Okay," Mercedes said, going back to getting everything out from underneath her nails.
"I'll have breaks. You can come visit. We could meet up in Italy. You ever been?"
"To Italy? No."
"You'll love it. It's great. The Greek Isles – it's beautiful. We'll have a great time."
One of the nurses poked her head in. "Doctor Chavez? It's time."
"They're ready for us," Joey said to her. "Let's scrub up."
"Hello," Jesse said, pulling back the curtain to Maya's room. "So, sorry about the wait. The cops have to lock down the hallway because of the sniper so it's a little backed up in imaging right now."
"That's so scary," Maya said. "Have there been a lot of victims?"
"From the shooters?" Artie asked. "Um, we've had several of them."
"Really? Did you see anyone die?"
"Actually, the, um, first victim was my patient," Jesse said.
"No way. What happened?"
"He was in a car accident. Doctor Abrams found him first."
"And he died?"
"Never had a chance," Artie said. "His head was wrapped. We thought it was trauma from the accident but he had been shot."
"It was my first case. I had to tell his wife. When she came in, she was in so much pain. It was…it was hard. I'll never get used to that."
"That sounds terrible."
"I'm gonna go see if radiology is open yet," Jesse said.
"Do you want any chips or anything?" Artie asked.
"No, I'm fine."
Artie nodded at her and left. Maya grabbed her phone and replayed the conversation that she'd recorded.
Outside of Ali's room, Puck was updating Brody on everything. "I've got him on broad spectrum antibiotics, but the fever's only going up. I'm getting really nervous about this transplant," Puck said.
"I've been nervous about that since you walked through the door. And UNOS keeps calling for updates."
"I know, I know. Maybe it's not bacterial. Maybe it's parasitical. I didn't see any bug bites on him, though. At this point, I'm willing to try anything."
"We'll figure this out," Brody said.
"Doctor Puckerman, your wife is here," Jocelyn said, coming up to Puck.
"Quinn's here? What the hell?"
"Yeah. Tell her I'll meet her in the break room in a minute."
"You got it," she said as she walked away.
Puck walked into Ali's room and Farah turned to look at him. "Is my husband going to die?"
"Farah, we're going to do everything we can."
"You have to do more. You owe him."
"I know I do. He saved my life."
"When you left, when the Americans left, do you know what the village elders did to collaborators like Ali?"
"I'm sure it was horrible."
"They burned down our home. Because they're afraid the Taliban would kill everyone in the village. We have been through too much. You have to save him," Farah said, starting to get upset.
Jocelyn opened the door. "Sorry, Puck. Quinn's not going to wait. I really think you need to see her. Like now."
"Okay, okay. I'll be right back, I promise."
"No more promises. Just do it," Farah said.
Puck walked into the break room and saw Quinn pacing. "It's the middle of the night and there's a sniper out there. What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here? You said you were gonna be home as soon as you landed. You haven't even called me."
"I told Sam to call you."
"Sam is not my husband!"
"Quinn, I'm sorry. Things with Ali got worse than I anticipated but I'm fine and I'll be home as soon as—"
"No, no, no. I am so tired of your breaking your promises. Do you have any idea what the last few days have been like for me? For Beth? We had no idea whether you were ever coming back."
"I'm back now."
"Are you? Look, I know how much Ali means to you, but I need us to mean more. You left your family to go to a war zone when you didn't have to. You could have let someone else take that risk."
"I'm sorry," Puck said, trying to comfort Quinn.
"No," she said, ducking out of the way. "No. I am just so tired of keeping all this anger in."
"I never asked you to keep it in."
"Yes, you do. You don't realize it, but you do. You need your rest from work, you need to talk to your patients all day, and I try to leave you alone, but I never get the time to just be angry too. And this was the last straw. I am done."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I came here to say to you in person…not to come home. I just need time," Quinn said as she walked away. "I am so happy that you're home and that you're okay. But I can't do this anymore."
Kurt opened the door to the break room as Quinn left. "Hi Quinn. Bye Quinn."
"What is it, Kurt?" Puck snapped.
"I just got off the phone with UNOS. They have another recipient for the heart and they wanted to know the status of Ali."
"What did you tell them?"
"I said he was fine. But you know if he's not ready for that transplant in the next few hours, they're moving on."
"Got it. Good, thanks," Puck said sarcastically.
Down in Rachel's room, the monitors started beeping again. "Come on, Rach," Finn muttered.
"What's going on?" Brody asked, running in.
"Pressure and pulse rate just keep going up."
"The toxicity is getting worse. We have to—"
"Shhh, I know. Just let me – let me – let me think."
"Finn, she won't make it. We have to do something now!"
"Damn it, Brody, I know! Just let me think."
"We have to act now or Rachel's going to die."
A little later, they were wheeling her hospital bed to the OR. "Come on, Rachel, hang in there," Finn said.
"OB-GYN is ready," Sam said. "Finn, you shouldn't go in," he said, needing Santana to help him hold Finn back.
"Finn, you don't want to see this," Santana said.
"I'll observe and update you on anything that's happening."
"And we'll be right here with you, buddy, alright?" Sam said.
"She's going to be okay," Santana said.
In the other OR room, things weren't looking well for the sniper. "This guy is a mess. The abdominal cavity is pooling all the blood in his body," Joey said.
"More O-neg now," Mercedes said.
"We have to find the bleeder or this guy's not gonna wake up and the cops aren't going to find the second sniper."
Mercedes reached in and felt around. "It's the vena cava. I got pressure on it."
"Good catch. Clamp," Joey said to one of the nurses. "Hold on. Got it," he said, putting the bullet in a bucket.
"Pressure's dropping!" Mercedes said as the machines started beeping.
"He's bleeding out, let's go," Joey said. He started doing chest compressions to start his heart again.
In one of the hospital hallways, Maya was walking towards one of the police officers with a switchblade in her hands. "Maya?" Jesse asked. "What are you doing up here?"
She stopped walking, tucked the switchblade away and turned to face Jesse. "I was just looking for the bathroom," she said with a smile on her face.
"Patient's bathrooms are downstairs," he said, gesturing to the elevators. "Come on, I'll walk you." They walked into the elevator and Maya stared at the police officer with a blank look on her face.
At the nurses' station, Puck was tapping his fingers against the desk and Molly looked up at him in annoyance. She looked at Kurt, who sighed. "You can't rush it, Puck. Ali's tests are gonna take what they take."
"I know, sorry. The last few days have been hard. Little on edge."
"It's always something, isn't it?" Kurt asked as Molly moved computers. "I still don't know whether Blaine's gonna stay here or take his dream job training recruits for combat in South Carolina."
"But you guys just got back together."
"Life's a bitch, ain't it?"
"Puck, there are no reports yet, but the slides are up," Molly said, going back to the computer she was originally sitting at.
"I wanna see it myself," he said, going around the desk to look at the computer screen. "This isn't malaria. Come here, look at this," Puck said, gesturing for Kurt to look at the slides. He clicked the screen a few times to zoom in. "See that? Those are broken blood cells – schistocytes."
"Okay, so fever, anemia, schistocytes. It's not an infection."
"Exactly. It's TTP. It's a blood disorder. At least we know what's wrong with him. We need to replace the plasma in his blood. Molly, can you get a blood cell separator for trauma two?" he asked as Molly picked up the phone to make the call.
"Do you think one round of plasma exchange is gonna be enough?"
"It's gonna have to be. We only have until morning before we lose the heart," Puck said before he walked away.
Outside of the OR, Santana, Finn and Sam were waiting on news from Rachel's surgery.
"Look, Finn," Rachel said, sitting down on the arm of the chair in their apartment. "I know you think there's nothing I can do but I can help you with this. I want to help."
"How can you help me if I can't help myself?" Finn asked, not taking his eyes off of what he was fixing. "I can't keep putting you through this."
"I told you I'd wait. Look, babe, it's not—" Rachel said, reaching out to rub his back. He jerked away and got up from the chair.
"Rachel, I've been back from the war for a year. I still have those thoughts. I'm not getting any better. And I don't know how long that's gonna be. And I don't know if it's ever gonna be."
"I don't need a timeline. I love you."
"I love you too. And that's – that's why I have to leave and that's why I can't stay," Finn said. Rachel looked away from him and looked at the pictures of them on the front table in the apartment. "Because, if I do, I'm gonna ruin your life and that's why we're done, Rachel."
Finn heard a loud bang and crouched down while silently cursing himself. "Hey, it's just the neighbors upstairs," Rachel said, trying not to cry. "Finn…" she said, watching him walk away.
"Finn," Brody said, coming out from the OR. He crouched down so he was on the same level as the three of them. "Finn. Rachel's stable. I'm so sorry, man. The baby's gone," Brody said as Finn felt his heart plummet. "We both knew there was nothing that could be done."
"Yeah," Finn said as he started shaking and felt tears come to his eyes.
"Rachel, she's still – she's still fighting. Her kidneys don't look good so they're taking her down to ICU now. Come on," Brody said, extending a hand to help him up.
Santana watched them walk off as silent tears streamed down her face. Once Finn and Brody were gone, Sam moved closer to Santana and wrapped his arms around her as she broke down crying.
After she calmed down, she got up to get coffee. When she came back to the ICU, she handed one of the cups to Brody. "Milk, no sugar."
"Yeah. Santana, you're too good to me."
"Shut up." She looked at him. "How are you holding up?"
"I've been better," he sighed.
"You had to know it was always going to be Finn," she said, looking in the room at Finn taking care of Rachel.
Up in Maya's room, they were putting a brace on her arm. "That feels a lot better."
"You'll have to wear this for a few weeks, but then you should expect a full recovery," Artie said.
"As long as I can make a latte, I'm cool."
"Artie, check the attitude on this one. Maybe you can learn something. It's never as bad as you think," Jesse said.
"That's what I always try to say," Maya said.
"I will keep that in mind," Artie said. "Let's get you your meds and then you'll be as good as new, okay?"
"Except…it's fine if the answer's no, but is it okay if I take a nap here? It's been awhile since I've slept in a real bed."
Jesse and Artie shared a look. "Yeah, I guess. We'll just have to move you if there are any emergency cases, okay?" Artie said.
"Thanks so much. You guys are the best."
Molly walked into the room in a hurry. "Did you guys hear the news? The sniper died on the table," Molly said, causing Maya to blink in surprise.
"Did they get anything out of him?" Jesse asked.
"I'm not sure. I heard the cops found the car and they're dusting for prints. I hope they kill that other bastard too," Molly said as Maya stopped breathing. "Sorry for the rough language, honey. It's just got me all worked up," she said, noticing Maya's face.
"You okay?" Jesse asked.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." She pulled the blankets back and rolled to her side.
Down in Rachel's room, Brody was checking on her to make sure everything was okay. Outside the room. Santana and Puck were talking as Finn was sitting down in the corner. Puck walked over to him and sat next to him. "Anything I can do, Finn. Whatever you need."
"I know. How's Ali?"
"We're doing the plasma exchange. We'll know in a few hours if it's working. If it doesn't, the heart goes to the next person on the list."
"After all that," Finn said, looking over at him.
"Yeah, after all that," Puck said, patting Finn's back as he left.
Brody listened to Rachel's heart and took his stethoscope off and leaned on the bed rails. "Come on, Rachel."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Brody said, coming out of a café as someone hit his car.
"Oh my god," Rachel said, getting out of her car. "Um, I'm sorry. Is this…is this you?"
"Yeah."
"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I was…I was in a hurry and I wasn't paying any attention and I…"
"You know what, these things happen. And…it doesn't even look that bad," Brody said, gesturing to the front of his Porsche. "What's your big hurry?"
"Uh, blind date," Rachel said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.
"Coming or leaving?"
"Leaving. Definitely leaving. Escaping is more like it."
"That bad, huh?"
"It probably wasn't even the guy's fault. It's just the first date after the break up and it's been six months, but my best friend, she told me to get back on the horse. It turns out, not that horse," she said, gesturing into the restaurant she was leaving from. They stared at each other and smiled. "Sorry, you are waiting for my insurance card and I'm standing here, blabbering like an idiot about my love life," Rachel said as she started digging through her purse for her wallet.
"You know what, hang on. I got a better idea. How about you buy me dessert, I pay for dinner, and we call it even."
"Dessert probably doesn't cover that scratch."
"Um, no. It probably doesn't. But ending my bad streak of first dates might. What do you say?"
Rachel thought about it for a minute. "Okay."
"Brody," he said, holding out his hand.
"Rachel," she said, shaking it.
On the main floor, Jesse was looking for something when Artie walked by. "Hey, Artie? I'm sorry about earlier." Artie stared at Jesse with a confused look on his face. "Saying you could learn from Maya. You know, I didn't mean to make light of your problem."
"No, you were right. In other news, I just heard from my dad. He found a surgery for my hand. 50 percent chance I regain full function and, um 50 percent chance they cause further damage."
"Those are not good odds. What if you don't have the surgery?"
"Well, a slow recovery. I would never be a surgeon but I could be a functioning ER doc in a couple of weeks."
"It's your choice, right? Bird in the hand?"
"Yeah, I hadn't really thought about it. What about you? What do you think?"
"I don't know, man. It's your life, but take it from a guy who blew it about 20 years ago. You could lose all this. I don't know if it's worth the risk, you know? Why don't we sit down after the shift, make a list, talk to Brody—"
"Everybody pipe down," Molly said. "They have a picture of the second sniper," she said, turning up the volume on the TV.
"Police officials say that fingerprints have revealed the identity of the second sniper. Her name is Brianna Ward," the news anchor said as Maya's driver license appeared on the screen. "Investigators are asking anyone with information to—"
"Officer, she's here!" Artie said as him and Jesse took off to Maya – Brianna's – exam room.
"Maya! We know who you are!" Jesse said, opening the door, stopping before he could go all the way in. He saw her brace was off and there was a pool of blood under the bed from where she slit her wrist. "Jocelyn, get me Doctor Chavez. Now!"
A little while later, they were working on reviving her. "I'm inflating the cuff and using it as a tourniquet," Joey said as Jesse did chest compressions. "Hang another saline."
"We found her coded. She bled out," Jesse said.
"Use the O-neg," Joey said.
"She's the second shooter?" Kurt asked, coming into the room.
"Yeah. Come on," he said to her. "You don't get to decide how you die. Anyone know how long she's been bleeding? Hold CPR," he said to Jesse.
"BP is coming back," Kurt said.
"BP is 90 systolic. She's stabilizing," Jocelyn said.
"Hang another two units of blood. I want her healthy for her day in court," Joey said. "Let's get her to trauma one right now."
"Nice save," Artie said to Jesse once everyone left.
"I should have known. She seemed, um, I feel so stupid," he said, throwing away his gloves and kicked the trashcan. "I really believed her."
"Yeah, we both did. That's why I'm getting the surgery on my hand."
"I thought you'd want to wait to think about it some more."
"This sealed it. I can't keep a professional boundary when I see pain every day. You know, this isn't even the first case. I need the distance of surgery. I need to be somewhere where every case isn't like a gut punch. Where it doesn't stick with me for a week. Where I don't end up going fishing with my dead patient's fathers."
"And if the surgery doesn't work?"
"I'll deal with that then," Artie said as he left.
In Rachel's room, Brody, Santana and Finn were gathered around her, waiting for something – anything – to happen. Santana ran her thumb over Rachel's knuckles and took her best friend's hands. She looked down when she felt something flutter against her hand. "She squeezed my hand," Santana whispered.
"Purposeful movements. Must mean the swelling in her brain is going down," Brody said.
"Rachel? Don't you go scaring us like that again, okay?" Santana said.
"Rach," Finn said, taking her other hand. "We're here with you. Come on."
"Wait, is she—"
"It looks like it," Brody said as Rachel's eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room with a confused look on her face. She saw Santana and Finn's faces and smiled at them.
"You want some time alone with her?" Santana asked Finn.
"Yeah." Finn watched them walk out of the room and turned his attention back to Rachel. "Hey. You're okay," he whispered.
"The baby?" she muttered.
Finn's face fell and he saw Rachel start crying. "Shhh, shhh, shhh," he said, caressing her cheek to try and calm her down.
In Ali's room, he woke up and started breathing normally again. "Farah?"
"I'm here, Ali," she said, taking his hand. "You made it. You are going to get your heart."
"The treatment worked," Puck said. "Doctor Weston is going to take you to the OR."
"I don't know how to thank you, Puck. The lengths you have gone through to make this happen. You are a man of your word. Thank you."
"I'm sorry I was so angry with you before."
"I seem to bring that out in wives," Puck said, earning odd glances from Ali and Farah. "It's an inside joke."
"I hear we're ready for transplant," Brody said, coming into the room.
"Yes," Ali said.
"There are no words for what you have given us," Farah said as they wheeled Ali away.
Joey came out from one of the rooms and saw Mercedes. "Looks like the second sniper pulled through," Mercedes said.
"Yeah. Healthy enough to rot in jail the rest of her life," he responded. "What are you doing? Wanna go for breakfast? Maybe we can have our first real date."
"Um," Mercedes said, pulling him off to the side. "I really like you Joey."
"Ah."
"Yeah. But I can't date you. and it wouldn't really be a date, would it? Because you're here for a couple of days. And then what? I mean, you go back to Liberia and I stay here?"
"No, we just keep having fun and we see where it goes."
"Your contract is for three years, Joey. I don't want to be in a holding pattern for that long."
Joey sighed. "We're just…victims of bad timing."
"Yeah. It's the story of my life."
"Mine too," Joey said as he leaned in and kissed her.
At the end of the shift, Kurt was leaving the hospital when he saw Blaine sitting on one of the benches. "What a nice surprise," he said, walking over to Blaine. Blaine stood up and wrapped his arms around Kurt as they kissed.
"I didn't want to tell you this on the phone, um, about me taking the job," Blaine said.
"So you're going?"
"No, I'm not taking the job in South Carolina. I found a job here training SWAT teams and state police."
"That's great! But I don't want you to give up that other job because of me."
"I'm giving it up because of us. When I came back to you, I made a commitment. A job isn't important. This is what matters," Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand in his. "You matter. I love you and I want to be with you here."
"I want that too." Kurt thought for a moment. "What are we waiting for? Let's just do it."
"Do what?"
"Get married."
Blaine started laughing. "I was actually gonna ask you. I packed the bags and made a hotel reservation. We can be in Santa Fe tonight."
They both started laughing and shared another kiss. "You were pretty sure I was gonna say yeah, huh?" Kurt said, walking towards Blaine's truck.
"Yeah, I was pretty sure."
"Huh," Kurt said. "Some things are gonna change. Clearly I'm becoming way too predictable."
"Well, that's what married life is all about, right?" Blaine said as they drove off.
Puck walked out of the hospital and saw Quinn pull up in front of him. "Hey. Listen, I'm really happy to see you because I've been—"
"I don't want to hear it. We'll talk about this later. Right now, we are going to Beth's violin recital. She is number 23 of 25 and we are going to stay for the whole damn thing."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"And while we are there, I need you to actually be there with me. Not thinking about your patients and your cases and not checking your cell phone. I need you to really be there with me. Watching your daughter."
Puck held up his phone. "It's off. There's no place I'd rather be, baby," he said, getting in the car.
In Rachel's room, Finn held her as she cried over the baby. "I just don't want anyone to tell me that I can have another baby – that I can just get pregnant again," she said, tears streaming down her face. "What they don't get is that I can't have this baby and I loved this baby. I didn't even know how amazing it was to pregnant until I wasn't. I just feel empty."
Finn squeezed her closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, I can imagine. When I heard its little heart beat…"
Rachel looked up at him. "I heard you talking to Santana when I was out. I heard what you said about getting married."
Finn let out a light chuckle. "You always had good ears. Even in a coma. I wanted to make it more romantic. Guess I'm not very good at this kind of thing," he said, kissing her. He got out of the bed and grabbed the ring box and got down on one knee. "How about it?"
Rachel blinked a few times and sniffed. "You don't have to do this. Don't do this because…you wanna make it up to me or you think it's the right thing or you have to prove something."
"I'm not trying to prove anything to you. I love you and we've been through too much together. I can't imagine my life without you. I've seen what it's like and I don't want to go through it again," Finn said, opening the ring box and holding it out so Rachel could see the ring. "So, I'm asking my best friend, I'm asking you, Rachel Barbra Berry, will you marry me?"