Page 93 of Fighting For You

They got him on the gurney. Gracelyn was calling out vitals while Kip ran the IV setup beside her, his hands fast and sure. They wheeled Ian through the bay doors. The fluorescent light hit his face, and he looked so young. Seventeen. A kid who should have been in third period right now, sitting at a desk with a notebook open, bored out of his mind and safe.

Lori held my arm as we followed them inside. I couldn't feel my legs.

Cliff Sullivan came through the trauma bay doors. He looked at the gurney, looked at the patient, and stopped.

He looked at me.

"Dr. Sullivan," Gracelyn said. "Seventeen-year-old male, stab wound to the abdomen. Dumped on the ramp. He's tachycardic, pressure's dropping. We need to move."

Sullivan's eyes met mine. Then he turned to the gurney and his hands were already reaching for gloves.

"Get me two units O-neg and prep for a FAST exam. Page surgery and tell them I need them down here now."

The trauma bay doors closed. Ian was on the other side of them. Gracelyn was on the other side of them. Sullivan was on the other side of them.

I was standing in the hallway with blood on my hands and Lori's arm around my waist, and I couldn't go in.

Lori sat with me. She held my hand while I stared at the trauma bay doors and waited for them to open.

Knox came through the ER entrance twenty minutes later. I saw him before he saw me. He was moving fast, his left wrist still in the brace, scanning the department until his eyes found mine.

I stood up. He crossed the floor and pulled me into him. I pressed my face against his chest and felt his arms close around me, tight, like he was trying to hold me together by force.

"How bad?"

"They took him to surgery." My voice broke on the last word. "Stab wound. He lost a lot of blood."

Knox didn't let go. His hand came to the back of my head and held me there. His heart pounded through his shirt, fast, faster than it should have been.

"He's going to be okay," he said.

I didn't answer. I couldn't make my mouth say something I didn't know was true.

The surgery took two hours. I watched the clock above the nurses' station count every minute. Knox sat beside me with his hand on my knee. Lori brought me water I didn't drink. Gracelyn came out once to tell us they were still working. She looked at me with steady eyes and said, "He's holding on, Nora."

Josie cleared me from the floor for the rest of the shift.

Sullivan came through the trauma bay doors and looked at me.

"Dr. McCall repaired the laceration and controlled the bleeding. He's been transfused and he's stable for now." He paused. "The next several hours are critical. He lost a significant amount of blood before he arrived. His body has been through a lot."

"Is he going to be okay?"

Sullivan looked at me for a long moment. I saw something in his face I'd never seen in all the months I'd worked under him.

"We're going to monitor him closely," he said. "I'll keep you updated."

He turned and went back through the doors.

Knox put his arm around me. I leaned into him and closed my eyes.

Ian woke up at nine fourteen.

A nurse from the surgical floor came to get me. Knox stood up when I did and took my hand.

We followed the nurse down the hallway, up the elevator, and through the doors to the surgical unit. She led us to a room at the end of the hall. Through the window I could see the monitors, the IV lines, the oxygen cannula. And Ian, propped slightly on the bed, his face pale, his eyes open.

I walked in. He turned his head toward me.