Katy had just finish prying the driver's door open with the portable jaws of life when she saw the passenger start to regain consciousness.
After pushing what was left of the door to the side, Katy leaned in to ascertain how coherent she was and get a new set of vitals.
"Hello. I am Lt. Katy Green with Seattle Search and Rescue. Can you tell me your name?" Katy asked giving April a reassuring smile while she slip on a blood pressure cuff.
Her mind was foggy, like she had one to many at Joe's. "April", she responded trying to gather her wits.
Reed, she reminded her of Reed, April thought as she watch her put the cuff on her left arm.
April closed her eyes. The last thing she remembered was Jackson catching up with her before she left the hospital. He had guided her to the third floor on call room for a little of what he seductively called, "a lip to lip preview", of the evenings agenda once he got himself away from the board meeting.
April lean her head back, a small smile reaching her lips as she remembered how it didn't quite stop there. Everything was fuzzy after that. April reopened her eyes and looked around. It was oblivious she had been in an automobile accident.
She must have been here for a while as her lower extremities felt numb from lack of circulation.
There was something digging into her right calf, as she could feel a stinging pinch sensation.
Why couldn't she remember..."Oh no!" she gasped lifting her hand toward her baby bump.
Just then it was like an explosion and earthquake all at once...
"Matthew, what's happening", Jackson pulled himself from his mother's embrace as he reached for his cell phone.
They were all holding their collective breaths waiting for his reply.
Silence.
It was too much. Jackson couldn't wait there any longer. "Page anyone who is available in OB, and get me a fully equipped ambulance," he order the nurse sitting at the station.
Matthew came back to the phone.
"Wait. Everything is stable. The steel beam shifted and crashed down, but the air jacks are fully supporting the slab", he reported.
"The weight of the beam caused some loose debris to fall, but not in April's location".
Everyone exhaled. "You said she was regaining consciousness, do you have an update?"
Matthew looked to where Katy was leaning into the drivers side. He could see her taking April's vitals and her looking to see how she was going to get her on the backboard.
He noticed that she seemed preoccupied with something around April's legs, he was to far away to make out what exactly she was looking at. She reach in like she was feeling for something and when her gloved hand came back out it was covered in blood.
"Oh God", he said without realizing it.
"What's the matter. Talk to me Matt", Jackson was about ready to explode. He couldn't take much more.
_
Katy retrieve a tourniquet from the medic bag and leaned in to talk with April.
"April, now that I know your name can you tell me how you are feeling?" Katy surprised herself with how calmly that question came out.
After feeling the hunk of dashboard that had lodged itself into April's calf, and the amount of blood that she had already lost, Katy was feeling far from calm.
The metal must have hit an artery. She couldn't pull her from the car without causing more blood loss. With the baby, if April should go into shock the baby was not likely to survive. Right now she was pretty stable, and the dashboard was acting like a leaky cork for the time being.
"A little disoriented. Light-headed. How's my pressure?", April responded.
Katy looked at her with a wistful smile. "Let me guess, you are in the medical field".
"Yeah, I'm a trauma surgeon, so don't hold anything back", April looked her squarely in the eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Katy lied. "Your doing great. I am just going to go back for a few things than we are going to get you out of here.
How's that sound?" She played off everything as light hearted as she could while she applied the tourniquet. Thankfully April was at an angle that she could not see what was happening.
"Wonderful" April sighed. "My husband is hopefully still in his meeting so he won't be worried. He's always been protective, and I think this situation would drive him over the edge."
April knew that Jackson would be frantic if he could see her and their baby in this mess.
She hoped that she could be well on her way to the hospital before he knew. "Calm April, stay calm. The baby will be fine," she whispered to herself while she rubbed her baby bump.
She was not having any pain, other than her leg, and prayed that it remained that way.
"I'll be right back", Katy told her before she worked her way back to Matt and the crew.
_
"Lt. Green is on her was back, and I will give you an update in just a few minutes", Matt said as he watched Katy crawl her way back to his area.
"We have a big problem Matt", Katy announced when she stood up. She had no way of knowing what had transpired since she had handed Matt the cell phone, so when she was meet with a strange panicked voice saying "What do you mean big problem", she was taken aback.
Scrunching her eyebrows, she shot Matt a confused look.
She heard him say, "That is Lt. Green, and she has just returned from April. I will let her explain to all of us the status".
"Lt. Green, the patient is April Kepner Avery, and her husband, Jackson is on the phone." Matthew could see by her expression she got what was happening.
She knew the story well, as he had told her everything that had happened six months ago. Katy had held the rope as he climbed back off the cliff that was formally his and April's failed relationship.
Clearing her throat she took the phone from Matt. "Dr. Avery, this is Lt. Katy Green. I am working to extricate your wife from her vehicle. I have just removed the driver's door, and was able to give her a more thorough exam. It appears that a piece of the dashboard has lodged itself into her calf and there has been substantial blood loss. I have applied a tourniquet, but my concern is that should we move her, that further blood loss would put her in shock, and the baby in jeopardy."
All at once it was like Katy was on a conference call...
