Milo arrived at the scene as the ambulance with the doctors arrived. He made a small form of recognition to the people he worked with but hurried through the crowd. No one stopped him because every emergency responder knew him. "Where is she?" Milo asked Edward, who was talking to the firemen about possible ways to move rocks without causing the entire system to collapse.
"Over there," Edward said, pointing where there was a sort of rescue operation being held. Milo's eyes locked immediately on Alan Tracy, who was seated on the ground and talking to a smallish gap in the collapsed rock and rubble. "See if you get some sense into her."
Milo snorted. "Who can ever get sense into her?" he asked rather darkly as he made his way over. He caught Alan's eye who nodded a recognition. Alan tipped his head toward the hole and Milo tried not to groan as he realized he was indicating as to where Lucy-Jane was.
"Hey," Alan said, standing up. He stopped Milo a little away from the hole and lowered his voice. "A kid was stuck in the back of a car that's trapped there. Lucy was the only one that would fit. Only problem is that the car is still running, giving off gasses."
"Carbon monoxide poisoning," Milo sighed. "And she won't leave until they get the kid out first?" He said it as question but he knew that what she was doing. Alan nodded. "How is she?"
"Tired, but conscious. She's been in there for about fifteen minutes now, the kid an hour and he's still unconscious. We got her a small oxygen tank, which you basically have to force her to use on herself and not just the kid, but at least she's getting some clean air. The gasses shouldn't be as hard since the opening should be allowing for a flow."
"Why haven't they gotten them out yet?" Milo asked angrily.
"It's unstable," Alan told him. "They're afraid one wrong move in the rocks and the whole thing will crumble onto them. They're going to try and widen the gap so that they can get the kid through."
Milo frowned slightly, understanding why Edward wanted to him to get some sense into her. Medically, the kid was a tough case. An hour under gas poison, it was a miracle he was still alive. It had to be from the oxygen Lucy-Jane was giving him, but he didn't know if it was going to be enough to reverse the damages. And the longer Lucy-Jane was in there, the more damaging it was to her, especially with her breathing condition. "Okay," he said and walked over the gap. Alan shone in the flashlight and the small room lit up.
"Hey," Lucy-Jane grinned tiredly at him.
"Hey," Milo said back relieved to see that she was alright.
"How much trouble am I in?" Lucy-Jane asked and Milo couldn't help but laugh.
"None if you get out here right now," Milo said, knowing she'd reject the notion.
"Alan and I are playing twenty-questions," Lucy-Jane said instead, rejecting the idea. "We're only on question twelve."
"I'm sure Alan wouldn't mind finishing the game over dinner," Milo said. Alan chuckled slightly.
"Come on Lucy. We have reservations to make. Also my dad is coming in and he wants to have dinner too."
Lucy-Jane groaned. "I don't want to meet your dad," she said simply and Milo laughed. "Meeting people's parents is so tedious. That's why Milo and I get along, no parents to meet."
"Besides, I don't think your brother Virgil likes me very much" Milo added.
"Welp, there you go. Anybody that doesn't like Milo is no friend of mine," Lucy-Jane joked. Milo laughed again causing the flashlight to move and hit the kid. He noticed the pale coloration, the lack of rising chest and his peaceful face. Then he turned towards Lucy-Jane and looked at her more closely. He saw the way she held the kid's hand, the redness in her eyes.
"Luce," Milo said knowingly. He caught her eye and motioned over to the kid.
"I know," Lucy-Jane said softly. Her voice cracked a little. "I can't leave him alone Milo. He doesn't have anyone. He needs someone."
"Lucy, how long?"
"Maybe ten minutes. I was hoping the oxygen..." she trailed off and Milo could see the tears in her eyes. "If I stay here, they have to get him out. He can't stay here, trapped and alone."
Milo sighed and nodded. "Hang in there Luce. I need to go talk to Edward. And put the oxygen mask on, please. For me?" Lucy-Jane nodded and removed it from the kid's face and held it to hers. Milo backed away from the rubble and motioned for Alan to follow him. Edward wasn't too far, waiting.
"So?" Edward asked.
"The kid coded," Milo said. "Lucy says about ten minutes ago. They oxygen got here too late." Edward cursed. "She won't leave the kid. She's afraid you'll leave him there alone. You know Lucy."
Edward ran a hand through his hair, tired. "Yeah. We know Lucy." He motioned for one of the firemen to come over and he filled him in. The priority of this retrieval was reduced to non-priority. There were still others they needed to get to.
"So what do we do now?" Alan asked.
"Get her out and on a bus to Boston General," Milo said.
"Lie," Edward corrected. "Though is it a lie if she knows it's one?" He led the small group back to where Lucy-Jane was. "Hey Lucy, we got a bus here waiting to get you to BG."
"I'm not leaving until you get him out," Lucy-Jane told him, knowing Edward knew the kid was dead.
"You don't want to leave him alone, I know. He won't be Luce. Laura and I will stay here with him," he assured her, referring to his partner Laura. "We'll make sure the teams don't stop working to get him out." Lie.
"Luce please," Milo half-begged. "Let's go home." There was a silence on her part, followed by a resigned sigh. The heard movement and stepped back as Lucy-Jane's leg appeared. She wiggled out feet first, and as soon as she had both feet planted on the ground and out of the gap, Milo was at her side. He swept her off her feet, which she didn't protest to and turned towards the gurney that was being brought towards her. "Hey Alan, I don't think we're going to make dinner. Send our apologizes to your family, will you?" he asked.
Alan nodded, understanding. He watched as Milo set Lucy on the gurney and swept his hand across her head as the EMTs there got to work. He watched Milo kiss her forehead and say something, no doubt knowing how to respond to the gasses affects with medicine they would have with them. He also realized that Scott was right, and remembered what he always said when Virgil needed to be assisted medically: doctors make the worst patients. Alan saw Lucy-Jane shake her head at the IV, downplaying her needs.
"Lacerations on the back of the right arm and hands," Lucy-Jane was telling the EMT attempting respond to her. "Possible glass embedded. Blood loss, but not too severe."
"Lacerations?" Milo asked, taking her arm. He lifted her right arm and noticed how her sleeve was heavily darker than other parts. "Damn it Lucille-Jane, what were you doing today?"
"I had to smash the glass to get into the car," Lucy-Jane responded. "I got cut crawling through it. I'm fine." She tried to sit up and get off to prove her point, but couldn't against Milo's gentle push back. "Okay I'm a little tired. But you said I wouldn't get in trouble if I got out."
"Are you two done? We need to get to Boston Gen, they're waiting for you."
The couple grinned slightly and Milo grabbed her hand as they walked along to the ambulance that waited for them. He got on in the back and the door closed behind them.
"I'm not going to ask her," Alan said to his father and brothers over dinner.
"Alan," Jeff Tracy started. He felt relieved that Lucille-Jane and her boyfriend hadn't been able to make it for dinner. But it made him uneasy to how emotional Alan was about her. He'd regaled the story of their evening, how "Lucy" had jumped in after they'd gotten to the accident. How she'd commanded on the field like Scott during a mission and how she'd gone through the gap to save the kid. How she'd stayed at his side even after the kid had passed.
"No dad," Alan interrupted his father, leaning back. He was tired, and slightly annoyed because of it. Virgil had gotten on his case about being out in a dangerous situation. How he was supposed to "take it easy" because of his anemia. "You weren't there. You don't understand. If I do this, this will hurt her. I'll be alright with Virgil's marrow, the doctors have said so."
"You mean Dr. Abandonato has said so?" Virgil asked. "Isn't that a conflict of interests?"
"He's the boyfriend?" Scott asked, trying to remember where he'd heard the name before.
"Yes. And it wasn't just him. It was Dr. Speeges too, you know that Virg," Alan reminded him. "And he's more than just a boyfriend. He co-founded the Marsen House program here in Boston, runs the medical side of it." Before he could keep going, his phone vibrated. He looked down and saw it was Tin-Tin and took all he could to keep a straight face despite the feeling in his stomach. "I have to take this, I'll be right back."
When Alan left the table, there was a momentary silence before Virgil started up. "You see what I'm talking about?" He asked his father.
"I knew I knew him!" Scott replied instead. He grinned, happy to remember before frowning. "Crap we have a problem," he said to his family. "Dr. Abandonato, Milo Abandonato, he's a finalist for the fellowship."
Virgil groaned. "This is going to be a PR nightmare," he said. "Especially if the media gets a wind of Alan's problem. If she doesn't donate and we don't give him the award, then it's going to seem like we're punishing them. If she does donate and we give him the award, it's going to seem like we bought it or favored her when we're not supposed to know the applicants. If she donates and we don't give it to him then it's going to seem like we're punishing them."
"We're not even in the clear-clear if she doesn't donate and we do give it to him because then they could claim he gained it because we're trying to show no hard feelings."
"What's the proposal?" Jeff asked, seeing the problem his children were talking about. "Is it even good enough to be picked? Could the panel pick him instead of one of you and we can claim unbiased through that."
"Maggie suggested we give it to him," Scott said. "She read his profile when she was copying them. It's an extension of his Marsen House organization. He wants to expand it to New York City and Manhattan because of the high runaway rates. He claims that changing the world doesn't have to be on a massive scale. That changing the world of one person is enough, because if you change one person's world then you start a reaction and change the world."
"We've had an eye on this program for a while now," Virgil muttered reluctantly. "Last year's data shows that it's effective. There's a reduction in STIs, teen-pregnancy and a higher report of abuse because they aren't afraid to report it anymore."
"The New York model is similar. He wants to expand the involvement of social workers because a lot of kids run to New York from different states. He wants to make sure they aren't getting lost from the system. He wants to be able to co-program and bring in guest lecturers for a variety of people from around the world, people who won't just tell them to get off the streets but who will inspire them to do so. He went as far as suggesting to get an International Rescue operative to lecture, that's how inspiring and out of the norm he wants it to be." Scott said.
Virgil sighed. "That's good. That's exactly what we wanted out of this."
"We have to get him to retract his application," Scott suggested. "Find a different way to fund it maybe. That way it won't be under the spotlight. I'm sure we can have enough private donors to get it running."
"It's the Tracy name many of these people want attached. A lot of these would be able to get private funding on their own." Virgil sighed.
Jeff leaned back, watching his sons discuss the business. He glanced over in the direction of his youngest, who was talking earnestly on the phone yet attempting to look casual. Jeff knew that he would have to make a visit before things got out of hand.
The night had been a hard one at the Abandonato-Williams household. They finally got home after the hospital and Lucy-Jane was too tired to do anything besides go to bed. Since Milo still had work to do, she assured him she was fine that the bandages on her arms weren't too tight, that she wasn't feeling lighted headed. Only an hour into it, he heard her crying out in her sleep. He pulled his glasses off and went to their bedroom. At the doorway he looked their bed where Lucy-Jane was tangled in the sheets. She was tossing and turning, her breathing ragged and that was either sweat or tears on her face. She let out a small whimper, which is what broke him.
Milo walked to their bed, pulling off his shirt, dumping the things from his pocket onto the nightstand. He leaned over and pulled the sheet gently from her, untangling her from its web. Once she was free, he laid down beside and pushed her hair out of her face. "Hey," he whispered softly when her eyes flew open.
Lucy-Jane's bottom lip trembled. Her eyes watered and she closed them, scooting close to him. His arms went around her instantly, running up and down her body comforting, not sexually. She let out one a watery gasp, before breaking down into a cry. All he could do was hold her close, and whisper softly to her. Eventually she cried it out, and fell back into a more sound sleep. He kissed the top of her head and pulled away slowly, needing to finish the last of what he was doing before being able to sleep.
He changed into pajama pants and made his way back to the kitchen counter where his laptop had fallen asleep. He moved the mouse to awaken and the screen revealed a copy of a birth certificate, a death certificate and a DNA match that read 99.9% unrelated.
A/N: Dun dun dun. We're about half way through the story now and all the pieces are falling into place. Dundun. Let me know what you think guys and thanks for reading!