Chapter Two:

'Ethan!' Connie dropped her clamp, too. 'Get some help here, please. Dylan! Take over from me, I want Dr Munroe helping you. Jacob!'

He was half- lying on the floor, having landed on his back, his head limp. His legs had collapsed underneath him and buckled into strange angles, soaked in sticky saline. Alicia gently lowered his upper body to the ground, dropping to her knees and preparing to roll him into the recovery position while keeping his mouth out of the pool of liquid. 'Wait!' Connie called. 'Don't roll him. I don't know what he's got going on with his spine but I don't want any risks with it now. Take over from me, once you've checked the airway.' Alicia nodded to her, quickly listening to Ethan's airway. Jacob knelt next to her.

'He's breathing. Keep him still, Jacob.'

The nurse nodded, bending down. Ethan regained consciousness, lying on his back and the pressure and movement on his spine was torture. 'Whoa! Whoa, Ethan, mate, I've got you!' Jacob said, trying to keep him still. He looked anxiously at his colleague, who was was white, his eyes hardly focusing. Connie was by his side in a minute, sensing something was worse than simply a vasovagal episode.

'I'll be fine,' Ethan gasped, writhing. 'Just got a bit dizzy.'

'You've just collapsed in the middle of my RESUS, Dr Hardy,' Connie said, by way of a response, pulling her stethoscope out. 'What's going on?'

'Back pain. I'm fine.' He could feel his body shaking, and wanted to cry. 'I just need a moment to let everything stop spinning.'

'You're in agony. You're not moving until you've had a scan,' Connie said. She could feel that something wasn't right. 'Jacob, collar and board, please. Louise? Get a line in, please. Ethan, I'm drawing up some tramadol. Just try and keep calm. David! Here, please. I want a full set of bloods.'

All the fight went out of him, and he didn't try to get away. He allowed Jacob to move him onto the board, and endured the uncomfortable plastic collar, tensing his whole body as he was transferred onto the bed. Louise struggled with the cannula, as his hands were shaking so much. 'Can you get Dr Knight here, please?' Jacob said. Ethan was starting to feel the fog of the painkillers. He was a bit confused, as to why they'd put an oxygen mask on him, but he obediently breathed it in and out. 'How's that feeling, Ethan?' Jacob asked him. Ethan blinked, unable to nod. 'I'll take that as a good sign.'

Another patient had come in, and he was left to wait for his scan. He was shivering, but partly from fear. He'd just thought back pain was an irritating, unpleasant part of being an adult. What if Connie was right? Various things ran through his head, and he began to get more and more frightened, his chest tightening and heart rate quickening.

'What's going on?' Cal said, appearing suddenly next to him. 'Ethan?'

'He collapsed earlier,' Jacob said, looking serious. He came into the edge of Ethan's vision. 'Connie's worried about his back. He's been in agony. We've given him tramadol, but he needs a CT.'

'I'll say,' Cal looked scared, and put his stethoscope into his ears. He ran the cold dial over his brother's chest, the cold bulb startling him. Ethan shuddered, and as a spasm of pain bit him. He coughed, sounding congested. The saline fluid he was drenched in was cold, adding to how uncomfortable he was. What was wrong with his body?

He kept his eyes shut, as Jacob returned. 'Let's get you cleaned up, mate.' The nurse said, as Cal gripped his brother's hand.

'You're fine, Ethan. Probably just a vasovagal. He used to faint a lot, when he was a teenager.' Cal insisted. Really, he was convinced something was wrong, now, and he felt sick. 'Connie! Is that scan ready?'

'Ten minutes. You can take him down, now. What's happened?'

'Just need to get him changed,' Connie read Jacob's expression, and bit her lip.

'Will you let me know as soon as he's done. Cal, you're clearly not going to get any work done today. Go down with him, I'd rather have an extra nurse working properly than a doctor we can't use.'

'Thanks,' Cal said, gratefully. Ethan swallowed, roughly. The journey down to radiology made him feel sick, with every turn of the trolley feeling jarring. He was disoriented by the fug of the tramadol, as well as the fact he couldn't move his head. He stared up at the ceiling tiles and the lights embedded into them. What on earth had happened to change the course of his day so enormously?

The scan was long, covering his head, neck and spine. He lay still, feeling tiredness creeping through him. He was chewing over every possibility in his head, wondering what the hell was wrong. Cal sat outside on an uncomfortable, hard chair, getting up to pace every few steps. He couldn't sit still. What was going on? He tried to think, but came up blank. Ethan had a pretty high pain tolerance, he'd broken his arm as a child and kept quiet for a week before he'd told his parents. If he'd dropped down because of his back pain, it clearly wasn't just a slipped disc or a trapped nerve. He remembered the upcoming trip to Australia. No question, Ethan was more important.

He was driving himself mad. He kicked himself hard in the shin, and stood up, cracking his knuckles hard. The image consultant opened the door, and nodded at him. 'He's ready to go back up. I'll get the images straight up to Ms Beauchamp.'

'Thanks,' Cal said. Ethan was lying on the trolley, still on the spinal board. 'How was it?'

Ethan was stressed and irritable. 'Fine. Fun.'

Cal didn't know how to respond. He patted his brother's hand. 'You'll be fine, mate.' He didn't entirely believe it, but he didn't know what else to say.