First Date

These good fellows don't belong to me but I promise when I'm done to pick um up, dust um off and with a kiss on the cheek return them safely home.

"Angels descending, bring from above,
echoes of mercy, whispers of love."
Fanny J. Crosby

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I'm really sorry this took so long, my daughter is in the hospital sleeping quietly as I type tonight. Thanks for your patience and please send reviews. This one is almost over :)

Chapter 23

Roy sat in the little chair of the treatment room holding Jenny in his arms as she slept. Her scratched up and dirty legs hanging down on each side of him as he gently kissed the top of her head which rested on his chest. He was waiting. They had been greeted with the faces of Brackett, Early and Dixie who swept them away with precision and professionalism. Johnny in one direction and Kanda in another with the doctors splitting up to each room surrounded by nurses, technicians, and other faces he didn't know.

Dixie said that Brackett wanted to check Jenny before he left. Check her? Even the notion that Adler might have done something to her sent chills down his spine and brought up pictures in his mind that he pushed away immediately. Looking around the aseptic room it suddenly felt cold and uncaring and he had to fight the urge to grab her up and flee. But run where? His mind couldn't focus. Joanne. He needed to call Joanne. He was torn between the three that meant so much to him of course wanting to be with them all. But there was only him and right now the most fragile victim was in his arms and he would never leave her alone.

Standing up he carried Jenny out of the room and down the hall to the lounge without anyone even noticing their actions. All he knew was that he couldn't sit in that room alone any longer. He gently laid her down on the couch and picked up the phone. His first call was to Jo, his second to Hank. Then he sat down beside the sleeping figure and with his head in his hands he waited.

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Joe Early stood beside Johnny and began his exam. The dark headed man was quiet which was in itself a little unnerving to anyone who knew him well. Joe had treated him many times but the ones where Johnny didn't protest were the worst. He examined his eyes, listened to his lungs, palpated his ribs, and abdomen. Labs and x-rays were ordered stat, fluids changed, and oxygen adjusted. Joe had to decide which injury to tackle first.

"Mary, what are his vitals now?" Joe asked the nurse.

"Pulse is 100, BP 105/60, respirations 28."

Joe shook his head pleased with Johnny's response to fluids. He had stabilized nicely which would make tackling his further treatment much easier. "Let's get those wounds cleaned up and I'll check on his x-rays."

"Yes, doctor." Mary took a warm washcloth and with tenderness gently cleaned his face, wiping the dried blood away. She washed his wounds on his head, face, down his chest and then his side.

He moaned with a grimace on his face, "Shh, you're okay now Johnny." His eyelids fluttered revealing those big brown eyes and she smile, "Welcome back."

His face frowned, "Roy?"

"He's here waiting, just rest okay. I'll go get Dr. Early."

Johnny watched the grey headed doctor walk in, "Well Johnny it's nice to see you back with us. Do you know where you are?"

Tiled walls, bright lights, smell of alcohol. "My favorite place."

Joe just smiled and took him by the shoulder, "Yes and I'll be sure to let Dixie know who much you love this place."

That got a small smile from him, "Great, she'll never let me live that one down." Looking back up at Joe, "How's Kanda?"

Joe knew the history of this brother and sister and after being briefly filled on by the detective on what happened tonight Johnny's anxiety was more than understandable. "Brackett's in with her right now. Let's get you fixed up a little and then I'll go check on her."

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"I couldn't get an esophageal tube in her doc, her airway was already starting to swell," Dwyer updated the team.

"Kel, her heart rate is up to 130, respirations are 10 now," Dixie said.

Brackett stood beside her and reexamined her neck which was now clearly showing the trauma it had endured with darkening bruises. Her breathes were becoming less labored because they were just becoming less as she began to tire out in her attempts to breath against the narrowing airway."Kanda, can you hear me?"

She struggled to open her eyes but the heaviness made them feel like a massive burden on her face. Everything was too heavy now feeling like weights were holding her down and she no longer had the strength to fight back against them.

Brackett moved to the head of her bed knowing his time was running out to get a working airway going for her. "Dix," he said as he reached out, his hand instantly filled with the necessary equipment needed for intubation. Looking down her airway he grimaced at what he found seeing the swollen tissue, the damaged cartilage of the trachea. "Damn," he growled.

"Kel?" Dixie's heart was racing. If they couldn't secure an airway they could very well lose her.

"This won't pass, give me a smaller tube."

Dixie passed it to him but could see by the look on his face that it wasn't working either. "Her heart rate is dropping Kel, down to 80 now. She's becoming cyanotic."

He looked up, "Get Joe now Dix. Mike set up for an emergency tracheotomy."

Dixie ran out of the room, no, please no. She didn't want Kanda to have to go through that. Even Kel would admit to Joe's skill at intubation. He would get it. She stepped into the room and took a silent gasp at how rough Johnny looked but couldn't resist that crooked smile he shot her.

"Joe, Kel needs you right away. I'll be back in a little bit Johnny," she smiled at him but read the look of concern on his face. He knew something was wrong.

"Kanda?" He whispered. But Dixie and Joe were both already gone.

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Roy didn't hear her come in but felt her sitting down beside him as she picked up Jenny. "Roy?"

He opened his eyes to see Joanne cradling Jenny in her arms, "She's okay Jo."

"Johnny and Kanda?" She asked with trepidation.

Shaking his head, "Haven't heard anything yet."

She squeezed his arm, "Go check on them Roy, both of them."

He saw the warm smile she gave him as she seemed to be finally at peace with having Jenny safe in her arms and perhaps much more. "Dr. Brackett wants to check her out before we take her home." He stood up, "I'm gonna see what I can find out about them."

She took his hand, "We'll wait right here. Please let me know Roy."

He gently squeezed it back, "I will. Thanks Jo."

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He stepped out into the hallway just in time to see Early running across the hall with Dixie, leaving Johnny's room and into Kanda's. Torn between where to go first he paused for just a second with his heart wanting to be in both places at once. The level of noise from Kanda's room was making him think only the worse.

She began having increasing difficulty with her breathing on the trip in and he knew why. He stepped to her room and reached for the handle, fear coursing through him but still wanting to know what was happening. With hesitation he opened the door and went in.

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"What's wrong Kel?" Joe Early asked as he entered the room.

"She has upper airway trauma and I'm having getting her intubated. I want you to try before we have to perform a trach on her," Brackett said with utmost urgency in his voice.

Roy felt like he was going to throw up again. Trach her? His back found the wall as he pressed against it with the fervor in the room not realizing that he had even come in and was now an observer.

"Kel, heart rate is down to 50," Dixie said then suddenly found Roy's eyes. Big blue eyes full of fear and welling up with tears. But she didn't have time to console him.

Early moved to the head of her bed and positioned her head in a deep backward position. Roy watched his eyes focus intently on the task at hand, knowing that time was running out for this young woman. Taking the tube from Dixie's hand he skillfully manipulated it, a little at the time.

"Heart rate is down to 40," Dixie softly called out but with urgency in her voice.

Please, Roy begged to anyone that would listen.

"Joe, we're out of time, can you get it?" Brackett barked.

But Joe remained quiet and steadfast in his attempt, just a little more.

"Got it," he said quietly.

A giant sigh of relief went through the room as Dixie went over to Roy, "Are you okay?"

Okay? Roy thought. Define okay. "Now what?"

Brackett looked up a little surprised to see that somewhere along the line Roy had come into the room. He walked over to him. "Roy, we just to give her some healing time okay? This will now give us that time. Her vitals are stabilizing and other than some cuts on her hands and knees she looks good." Roy was staying focused on her, "Roy?"

He did a little head shake and focused back on the doctor, "Okay. Can I see her?"

"Just for a moment, then I want you to take me to see Jenny," he said squeezing the man's arm.

Walking over to her he nodded, "She's with Joanne. She's still asleep."

"Good. Dixie, will you bring him to Jenny's treatment room in just a minute?"

"Sure Kel," she replied.

Roy looked back, "She's in the doctor's lounge. I just couldn't sit in that room any longer."

He looked down to her. Resting quietly, sedated he assumed, but at least in no pain right now. Dixie took some gauze and gently washed her hands.

"These might need some sutures but nothing major," she told him.

He ran his fingers through her hair, "Will she be alright Dix?"

"She'll be ready for that next dance before you know it," she winked at him. "Let's go check on Jenny."

Pulling himself away from her he followed Dixie back to the lounge where Brackett was with Jenny, his eyes lingering on the door holding his best friend.

AN: I don't know when my next chapter will be out but I will work on it as much as I can.