A/N So I have fallen in love with 9-1-1 and the story lines are great. Bobby and Athena are just amazing, but watching some episodes got me thinking how quickly things can go wrong. So I started wondering "what if…".
Please remember that I do not own the show, I am just playing in their toybox.
So here are the fruits of my imagination. This will hopefully be a long collection, but that depends on interest. I plan to write an episode per chapter about what if one thing went wrong and Bobby got the short end of the stick. (There are not enough hurt Bobby stories out there). I will post the summary for the next chapter at the end, but because this is the first one here is the summary for this one:
What if Bobby didn't dodge the bullet in "First Responders"?
The team was in the container, helping the girl. Eddie looked up from where he was helping Hen and Chimney. Captain Nash was on the radio with Dispatch. He heard the Captain announcing that they were on the move, got ready to lift and carry the backboard and then heard the shots. Eddie ducked on instinct, he also covered the patient. He looked up to see Bobby ducking back inside the container and slam the door – not before three more bullets hit the container.
"You ok, Cap?" Eddie shouted, just to make sure.
"Yeah," Bobby answered quickly. Eddie shared a look with Chimney, that answer sounded a little strained, but it was so dark that neither one could see much. Instead, they focused on Tracy, trying to get her stabilised. Bobby stayed by the door, listening for anything that might cause a danger to his team. After a while, they heard shouting that was way to close for comfort and another few minutes later, the message they needed to hear.
"118, you are clear to move, suspect is in custody," the radio crackled.
"Copy that, Dispatch, 118 is on the move" Bobby said, again his voice sounded a little strained, but Eddie couldn't see anything wrong in the dark, so he put it down to the tense situation.
The team moved through the container yard at a fast pace, they passed the police handcuffing the suspect and waved their thanks for getting out safe.
Hen was the first to notice something wrong with their Captain. As he got closer to the truck, his steps seemed to slow a little, but what got her attention was the wetness around his shoulder.
Hen tapped Eddie on the shoulder to take over with the patient. Eddie nodded and looked over to Chimney as Hen moved towards Bobby.
"Cap?" She asked as she reached him. He had taken off his helmet and was standing next to the truck. He turned around slowly, and Hen could see his face was pale.
"Bobby? Are you ok?" Hen moved closer and that's when she saw the way he was holding his shoulder, in the flashing blue and red lights, Hen could see the liquid on Cap's shoulder was more than she first thought, and she didn't need 20/20 vision to know what the colour was. But before she could say anything, Bobby lifted his hand to steady himself, took a deep breath to say something and suddenly slumped down to sit on the side of the truck. Hen rushed to steady him, and she could see he was breathing hard.
"You're bleeding!" Hen practically shouted, catching the attention of Eddie and Chimney. Both looked up from where they were getting ready to transport the victim to the hospital, "what happened?"
"I didn't duck fast enough." Bobby deadpanned and if Hen wasn't so busy trying to remove Bobby's turnout gear, she would have smacked him.
"What?"
"He got shot," Eddie said, suddenly next to her. "Which bullet hit you?" Chimney had taken over care for their patient who was still unconscious, but stable. He told Eddie to go help Hen, knowing how stubborn their Captain can be.
"The first one, Dispatch told us to stay put, I was just turning when I felt it," Bobby's voice was tight with pain.
"Why did you not say anything?" Hen asked while putting gauze on the wound on his shoulder. The bleeding wasn't as bad as she thought initially.
"You needed to focus on the girl, and it wasn't so bad. Not until we go back to the truck," Bobby said and grimaced when Eddie pressed a hand to his back.
"Looks like it's a through-and-through, Hen" Eddie said, sounding relieved. "But we need to move and get them both to a hospital. We still don't know what the girl was dosed with and we don't know how much blood Cap's lost."
Hen nodded and reached for her radio, but Bobby grabbed her hand with surprising strength.
"Don't call it in," he said, his voice so much softer than usual and Hen could not believe her ears.
"Bobby, we have to call it in. We need another ambulance and then we need to let the hospital know we are coming in with a gunshot wound." Hen was trying to get her radio back from Bobby.
"May is working tonight," Bobby said and his hand dropped from Hen's. His strength depleted, "So is Athena," he continued after taking a breath. "If you call Dispatch they will hear it, and I can ride in the truck. Don't need an ambulance."
Before Hen could answer him, Chimney shouted that they had to move.
"Fine, but you are riding with us in the ambulance," Hen said and then helped Bobby stand with Eddie's help. Together they helped their Captain climb into the back of the ambulance and Hen went to the front to drive. Bobby told Eddie to make sure the trucks get back to the station just before he slammed the doors.
Chimney made sure that Tracy was doing fine and then moved to take Bobby's blood pressure.
"Chim, I am fine, please focus on your patient," Bobby said.
"Do I tell you how to be a Captain? No, so don't tell me what to do in my ambulance," Chimney retorted. His worry for Bobby coming through in his voice as he continued to work.
"Well, technically..." Bobby started, but Hen interrupted.
"I would not finish that sentence, just let him take care of you Bobby," she said exasperated.
"Fine, thank you," the Captain said and leaned his head back against the shelves behind him, closing his eyes.
"Cap? You still with me?" Chim asked as he took his stethoscope to listen to Bobby's lungs.
"Yeah, just tired and a little dizzy," Bobby answered, the honesty shocking both Chim and Hen.
"That's because of the blood loss. You're blood pressure is a little low. Can we give you something for the pain?" Chimney asked.
"No, I will be fine. I just need to keep still," Bobby said, he opened his eyes and Chim could see the pain in those blue eyes that had become a beacon of hope and family for the entire 118, "how is Tracy?"
"She is stable as can be, but I will feel better if we can get to the hospital and know what she was given. How long, Hen?" Chimney said, moving to check on his other patient.
"Two more minutes," Hen replied keeping her eyes on the road.
The ambulance continued on in silence, Hen worrying about how to tell Athena that Bobby got hurt without getting killed, Chimney was worrying about both his patients and Bobby, the wound had started to bleed more over the last few minutes, he was also worried about how May and Athena would take to getting the news. Hen's call that they had reached the hospital was a welcome sound to Chimney as he noticed Bobby's dressing getting wetter by the minute and without the hospital knowing that there was a second victim, he might have to wait a few minutes before getting helped.
Hen stopped the ambulance and opened the doors, explaining the situation to the waiting team. The doctor was upset that they were not informed about the second patient, but calmed down when Hen explained the situation.
"Well, as much as I might admire that, we still need to get him seen to. Let me call another gurney, can you wait a few minutes?" the doctor asked as the rest of the team moved in with Tracy to the ER.
"Yes," Hen looked up to see Chim talking to Bobby, who was still sitting in the rig. "Don't think we are going anywhere anytime soon."
Very familiar with the situation the doctor quickly left to see to his patient and organise a team to get the Captain. Not long after he left, a team of nurses reached the ambulance and Hen and Chimney helped Bobby out of the ambulance and onto the gurney. That's when Bobby lost consciousness.
"Crap, we need to move," one of the nurses shouted, and she started to move with the gurney, but Hen pulled her arm gently and quietly said something. The nurse's eyes widened and she nodded running to catch up with the gurney. Chimney and Hen stood there watching as the bed carrying their Captain disappeared into the hospital.
"What did you tell her?" Chim asked, as he started to remove his gloves.
"I told them he used to be an addict, they needed to know," Hen said still staring into the Hospital. Chimney nodded and threw his blood-soaked gloves away.
For a few minutes hey were silent, each busy with their own thoughts. The universe, however, has a real crappy sense of humour though. Chimney could never remember how the shit hit the fan, or in which order it hit. All he knew there were multiple hits and more than one fan.
"OK, so million-dollar question," Chimney said, putting his hand on Hen's shoulder, "Who is going to tell Athena?"
"Who is going to tell Athena what?" a voice asked and both paramedics went cold. Before anyone could answer, their radios went off. None of that was a problem, the problem was Bobby's radio going off in Hen's hand and no Bobby to answer it.
"Dispatch for Captain Nash," it was Josh, Chimney knew that for sure. The atmosphere dropped a few degrees as Eddie came running from the other direction shouting,
"How's Bobby?" and of course Josh called again, "Dispatch for Captain Nash, come in." it did not take long for all the cards to drop, Athena turned to look into the ambulance and was met with blood-soaked gauze and no person in sight.
For a split second, Chimney thought about running, he could make it, he was fast, but Athena was a lot faster, and she had a gun. He turned and looked at Hen and almost laughed. Almost.
Hen was frozen, a look on her face that could only be described as incredulous. It wasn't that often that Hen was speechless. Apparently having to tell Athena, her husband was shot, was the only time Hen was at a loss for words.
Eddie desperately wished for a time machine and a place to hide. It wasn't that he was scared of Athena, no, he was just careful. Very careful.
Even Detective Ransone was looking around, though it was unclear what he was looking for.
"Somebody had better tell me what's going on?" Athena said, her voice tight and a look on her face that broke no argument. Chimney grabbed the radio and answered Josh.
"Dispatch, this is Firefighter Han, Captain Nash is not available right now,"
"Firefighter Han, please be advised that blood was found in the storage container, victim might be injured," Josh said. At this, Eddie slapped his hand over his face.
"Thank you, Dispatch, acknowledged," Chimney said and clicked the radio off.
"Thena, Bobby got shot," Hen said quickly, before Athena ripped all of them to shreds.
Athena went cold as those words registered. She was looking at Hen, almost daring her to tell her it's a joke. It was Lou that broke the silence,
"We didn't hear reports of anyone shot, last we heard you were taking fire, but that the situation was resolved," his confusion was clear and Eddie could not blame him. If he had not been part of the call, he would not believe it either.
"He didn't want us to call it in, he knew May was working and he didn't want you to find out about it on the radio." Hen answered.
"The fool," Athena said, her voice cracking, "always thinking of others. How bad is it?" she asked Chimney.
"Actually, not bad, it was a through-and-through, he just lost a lot of blood." Was the honest answer.
"Ok, Athena you go and find out about your husband and call your family. I will take Tracy's mother to see her daughter," Lou said as he noticed the mother walking up to the group. That got everyone moving.
"Hen, go with Athena, I will move the ambulance and meet you inside, Eddie, you phone the rest of 118 and Buck," Chimney said, making sure everyone had something to do.
"Why did I have to call Buck?" Eddie asked after the other four had gone into the hospital.
"Because, Diaz, you stood there and did nothing to protect us when we had to tell Athena and I said so. Now hurry up, I want to see how Bobby's doing." With that he got into the driver's seat and took off.
"Crap, ok," Eddie said, taking out his phone and punching in Buck's number. He listened for a while before Buck answered,
"Hey Eddie, what's up?"
"Uh, Buck, I got some news. Are you sitting down?"
Athena wasn't sure who was going to die first, but she was going to shoot them all. She just needed to find out how Bobby was doing, and then, then the paramedics of the 118 will be no more.
Lou Ransone went off with Tracy's mom to find out about her daughter while Athena headed to the nearest nurse with a clipboard.
"My name is Athena Grant-Nash, my husband was brought in not too long ago, Can you please tell me who his doctor is?"
The nurse looked down on her clipboard "What's his name?"
"Captain Bobby Nash," Athena answered and tried to wait as patiently as possible for her to find the doctor.
"It's Doctor Calloway," the nurse answered and then moved to check her computer, "he is still in the ER, I will let Dr Calloway know that you are here." She said with a smile, before moving away.
"Why did you not call me?" Athena asked, turning to face Hen.
"I was driving. Besides, we didn't even know until just before we left," Hen sighed, sitting down, suddenly exhausted.
"How did you not know?" Athena was pacing, she was angry and worried and pissed off and still trying to figure out who is gonna get hurt first.
"When the guy returned, the bullets and Josh's warning came almost at the same time, we were inside the container with Tracy while Bobby was just outside getting us ready to move. He ducked inside, but in his own words, he wasn't fast enough. Eddie thought something was wrong, but it was so dark, and we were busy with Tracy." Hen looked down at her hands, recalling the chilling feeling when Bobby slumped against the truck. "When we got the all clear, he walked out in front. Cap always walks in front, it wasn't until we got to the truck that I realised he was breathing too hard and walking too slow. I noticed the blood and then Eddie put the pieces together, when I tried to call Dispatch, he told me not to." Athena was sitting next to Hen now, her legs not wanting to keep her standing much longer.
"Why would he do that? Another ambulance wouldn't have taken long and then the hospital would know what to expect." Athena was on her feet again, pacing and trying to get rid of the nervous energy. It didn't help that the doctor had not made an appearance yet either.
"He said that May was working, and so were you. He didn't want you to hear this way, which I already told you. Would you please sit down? You are making me nervous. Shouldn't you call May, Harry, and Michael?" Hen said. Athena opened her mouth to answer, but she spotted Dr Calloway coming down the passage.
"Sergeant Grant, we meet again. Why don't we sit down and I can tell you how your husband is?"
Athena sat next to Hen and grabbed her hand to steady herself.
"Let me start off by saying that Bobby is going to be just fine. He is going to be sore for a while, but he will make a full recovery." Dr Calloway paused while Athena composed herself. "We are going to keep him here for a day or two, only because he is refusing pain medication to make sure it is not too taxing on his body. The bullet didn't do much damage, went right through, and didn't hit anything major. The biggest concern is the blood loss, but we are monitoring that. He was very lucky."
"Oh, thank goodness," Athena breathed, she heard the applause and looked over to see all the members of the 118 there with massive smiles on their faces.
"Thank you, Doctor. When can I see him?" Athena asked.
"He is still being settled in his room, I will send a nurse to you when we're done."
"Thank you, Doctor." Athena said and Dr Calloway turned and left in the same direction he had come from earlier. Athena turned to the rest of the family and said,
"There you have it, he will be fine. Please go back home or the station and I will let you know if anything changes." The group left reluctantly, but the Captain's wife was not asking. They wished her luck and one by one left until it was just her, Hen, Chimney and Eddie.
"Thank you for helping him tonight, I am still pissed off at you for not telling me, but I do understand why you did it. I need to call May and Michael. Wait, did someone ca.." Athena was cut off when Buck came running into the ER with Taylor short on his heels. "Never mind, go on you guys. You can come back after your shift." And with that the last of the crew left, leaving only Buck and Taylor. Athena moved closer to Buck and took his shaking hands in hers.
"Calm down, Buckaroo. He is fine, just a little banged up." Athena said.
"He got shot, how did that happen?" Taylor asked.
"Are you asking as a friend or a reporter?" Athena asked, raising her eyebrow.
"A friend," the red head said.
Athena told them what Hen had said and just as she finished a nurse came to tell her the room number. She told Buck that she would go see Bobby and then give him call when he can visit. She walked towards the elevators and took her phone out. She gave May a call and explained what happened, May promised to come around after her shift, then she phoned Michael. He said that he would tell Harry and then he would bring him around in the morning. As the elevator door closed, her shoulders sagged, her strong exterior crumbled just a little.
She is always worried about Bobby, just like he is worried about her. They both have very dangerous jobs and nothing in life is guaranteed. The thought of losing her husband is enough to drive her completely insane with worry, this time – he is fine. What about the next time? Athena forcefully shakes her head, to clear these thoughts. It wasn't fair to think like that. Bobby wasn't reckless, he would never do something that might get him killed on purpose. By the time the elevator had reached the floor, his room was on, Athena had calmed herself down. She walked towards room 306 with a purpose, everyone giving her a weird look. Athena couldn't care less, she was going to see her husband and people can look if they want. What was so strange about a woman in police uniform in anyways?
Athena took a dep breath and knocked lightly before pushing the door open and going in. Bobby was lying propped on his side, his left arm was in a sling and she could see the edge of the bandage on the collar of the gown. His eyes were closed and his good hand was curled into a fist in order to control the pain.
"Bobby?" Athena said quietly, not to startle him.
"Thena? You're here?" Bobby's normally strong voice was weak and strained.
"Oh, Baby, I am here. I got you," Athena sat on the chair and took his hand in hers. She could see the pain lines on his face and the grip he had on her hand was stronger than usual.
"I'm sorry," Bobby said, through clenched teeth.
"No, hey now. What you got to be sorry for?" Athena held tight as another wave of pain washed over his face.
"I didn't call you," he answered after a while, his eyes still closed. A quiet knock on the door stopped her answer, she looked up as a nurse enters with a syringe. She quickly explains as she sees the apprehensive look Bobby gives her,
"Dr Calloway sent me; this is Acetaminophen or Tylenol. It's not the strongest, but it can help you get some rest. It is also not an opioid, so its perfectly safe for you to use." She quickly takes the drip and injects the medication after getting the nod from the patient. She waits a few seconds and then makes notes on the chart before leaving the room.
"Is it better?" Athena asked. Bobby's face relaxed slightly, but the frown is still there. He opened his eyes and looked at her for the first time since she walked into the room. His blue eyes are dull and sunken in his beautiful face. A quiet "yes," her only answer.
"Bobby, I am going to call Buck up here. He is going nuts in the waiting room. I need to go clock out and change, but I will be back as soon as I can, ok?" Bobby just nods this time. Athena took his hand and kissed it as he fell asleep, exhaustion winning. She quietly got up and dialled Buck's number, she gave him the room number and turned to look at her husband sleeping while she waits for Buck to arrive.
He must have taken the stairs, because when Buck arrived at the room less than five minutes later, he was gasping for breath.
"Taylor went back to the loft," He said as she looked around to see if his friend had joined his sprint up the stairs.
"OK, well I am just going to change and get a change of clothes for Bobby. I won't be long."
"Take as long as you need." Buck said and surprised her with a hug before making his way into Bobby's room. Athena could see the worry melt of the young man's face when he saw Bobby breathing.
A few hours later, Athena arrived back at the hospital. She had spoked to May and Harry, Michael was going to look after them for a week until Bobby had settled back home. She had a week off from work, Captain Maynard was not taking no for an answer. She had called and put the 118 at ease, but knowing them, someone will be on babysitting duty the minute their shift ended. She had gotten the run down from Lou about the investigation and knew her job was done there. Athena's one and only job now, would be to make sure her husband did not over-do it or try to anyway and she thanked God that she still had a husband to worry about. She had faith that everything would be fine.
She waved at a few nurses as she made her way back to Bobby's room. The same nurse from earlier came out and put her finger to her mouth as she beckoned her inside. Confused Athena followed her.
A smile broke out on her face when she saw Buck had fallen asleep with his hand on top of Bobby's. He looked so cute. She snapped a few pictures and sent them to Chimney. The family will come together and support each other, yes, they would be just fine.
Next chapter Season 4 episode 9 – Blindsided
What if Bobby was closer to the car when the airbag exploded?
Let me know what you think,
MSG