DISCLAIMER: I do not own Chicago Med or any of the characters. Next chapter! Please review!
"One non fat cappuccino," Halstead set down the piping hit coffee on the table, "and black."
Will sat on the bench next to Natalie, enjoying their well needed break. Both sat outside on the tables directly adjacent to the ED, the two wanted to get away from work but they couldn't go that far.
"Thanks, Will," Natalie smiled back, picking up the steaming paper cup.
Will took a sip and let out a satisfactory, "Ahh."
Natalie started off the conversation, "Hey, look at this picture of Owen I took last night. Gosh he's getting so big! This is him holding himself up all by himself," she showed the phone to Halstead.
Will smiled, "Maybe got a future Bears quarterback in the making."
Natalie laughed, "After all the football injuries I've seen throughout the years, he's never even going to pick up a football."
"Boys are stupid, Natalie," Will teased back, " Especially teenage, high school boys."
"Uh, please no," she complained, not even thinking about the stress of prom and college coming down the line.
"Just wait-" Will started, but was instantly cut off by loud, blaring alarms.
Halstead immediately stood up, looking to the direction of the hospital, where the source of the noise was and loud, metal doors closing the entrance. He sprinted, Manning right behind him. Two coffee cups were left stranded at the table and it began to rain.
….
"BP 80/50!" Sarah screamed, still clinging onto Rhodes' rushing gurney.
They almost hit an orderly on their way in, but now was no time for apologies. The ED doors were in the process of closing, but the gurney, with its 5 passengers, flew in. The gurney pivoted into the nearest trauma bay available, everyone in the emergency room's eyes holding millions of questions.
The doctors, nurses, and patients in the ED were curious as to why the sudden alarms and metal doors and now the speeding gurney with blood dripping in its wake. Who was it on the gurney?
Maggie among them, she jogged up to who she recognized as Reese on the gurney and asked, "Reese! What the heck is going on here? And who are you on?"
Reese was breathing hard, exhausted, though the adrenaline in her hadn't fully worn off yet. She barked at the nurses' to page every department she could think of, intubate, put in a chest tube, stop all this goddamn bleeding.
"Reese!" Maggie shouted again over all the commotion.
Reese's eyes were like flames when she looked up, blood staining her skin and clothes. She said one name and Maggie's world came crashing down.
"It's Rhodes!"
….
"What the hell is going on here?" Will said aloud, Natalie close enough to hear his comment.
"A lockdown drill? What for?" she inquired.
They fast-walked towards the now sealed ER doors, a strange sight for the two emergency physicians. As Halstead looked around, he saw police cars, hospital security, and officers surrounding the building and trying to control the growing crowd. Halstead saw an officer talking with one of the hospital security guards and decided to find out for himself what exactly was going on.
He walked up the pair, conversing in low voices but ceased when they saw Will approaching, "Excuse me officers, but what's going on here? A drill?"
The security guard answered, "Someone was attacked in the hospital."
Natalie heard this, "Attacked?" she repeated, horrified.
"Yes, ma'm," the police officer now took over, "But our men are inside and we have a suspect contained upstairs. Shouldn't be long now before you all can go back inside."
"Who was attacked?" Halstead asked, hoping the poor sucker who bit it was okay.
"We don't have any details yet, but he seemed to be in pretty bad shape," the officer said.
Will nodded, thanking the two before walking away with Natalie.
"I wonder who it could be?" Natalie asked.
….
"Dr. Choi to the ED!" came the worried and distressed voice over the intercom.
Ethan heard the fear in the voice and sprinted from the locker room, making a bee line to the ED. Unusual images flashed in front of him as he ran, unsure why so many police officers were present and flashing lights going off.
He turned the corner to the ER entrance and stopped in his tracks. The usual big, open doors that led to his workplace were blocked by a huge metal wall. He was confused and about to say something when a security guard approached him and said, "Dr. Choi, right this way."
He was jogging towards a bolted side door, unlocking it with a special key card. Choi was starting to get worried, why police escort, lockdown, and rush?
He bolted after the guard and was greeted by silence in the full ER. Nurses watched in stunned silence, some in tears. Maggie was pacing back and forth, her expression grave, and rushed to Choi when she saw him enter.
"Ethan! She needs you! He needs you!" she blurted out, barely comprehending the situation.
"What?" Choi was getting frustrated from all the cryptic stuff going on, "Maggie, what happened?"
Before she could answer someone from behind him yelled, "BP dropping!"
He whirled around, still confused, but saw blood all over the floor, and raced in. Ethan was surprised to see Reese, sweating, panting and performing compressions on a prone, pale body.
It was a mess. This small pack of nurses, one psych resident, and a security guard, had gone every which way to save this guy. Choi saw an intubation tube, a chest tube sticking out somewhere, a crash cart hurriedly swung to the side, and…was that a pair of scrubs?
Choi's world started spinning, he recognized that scrub color. Surgical scrubs. This patient, bleeding out was one of their own?
He was horrified, but Choi saw the sweat dripping off of Sarah and put his game face on.
"Reese, I've got it from here," he stepped up the gurney, crowded by people who were desperately relieved a professional had finally arrived.
She let go, almost tripping due to how tired and out of breath she was, "Its….its…" words failed her, she needed to catch her breathe.
Choi got into position perfectly, poise flawless after years of practice. He pumped the patient's heart, not even having the chance to see who was lying on the table due to the crowd blocking the face and intensity of saving a fellow employee. He pounded on the chest, the nurses working on stopping the gushing blood before he shouted, "Paddles! Charge to 300!"
Come on, buddy. Live! he inwardly yelled in frustration.
It was only when he stepped back from the gurney to grab the paddles did he get a glimpse at the dark hair and pale face of the patient. He stopped, shocked into place, and did a double take.
"Rhodes?!" he practically yelled when asking those around him. Nobody would look him in the eye.
This half dead patient was Connor?! Ethan new Rhodes better than well, they worked together, bonded, and if there was one thing Connor was sure to implant in your mind was that he could take care of himself. But here he was, still on the table, and his body draining of all the blood it had.
The dreaded beep of the heart monitor resonated in the room, everyone's fears manifesting into real life.
"Clear!"
….