"Ronnie, can you hear me? Ronnie!" Danni called out her name. The muffled sound of mumbling was evident as the woman began to stir. "Don’t move. You’ve fallen. We’ll take care of you." The nurse brushed back the loose hair that had fallen across the patient’s face. "You’re gonna be alright, just let us take care of you."
"Did you get us some help, Danni?"
"Yeah, I called the E.R. and told them we needed a backboard, collar and a stretcher."
Garrett was assessing the patient’s extremities now. Carefully checking each of the arms and legs for any signs of deformity or swelling. ‘Obvious deformity in the left leg. I bet she landed on that one.’ The leg was twisted underneath her and the lower half of her pant leg was beginning to soak through with blood. The surgeon looked around at the people gathered around the outskirts of the lit area. "I need a knife or a pair of scissors."
"Here, will this help?" An older man stepped out of the shadows, holding out a pocketknife.
"Yeah, thanks." She took the offered knife and opened it. Using the large blade, she carefully slit the jeans up the side of the pant leg and exposed the injured site. The skin was hanging from the avulsion and the jagged ends of the bones were showing. It was going to be a nasty fracture, nothing that couldn’t be repaired. "How’s she doing, Danni?"
"Mumbling some, but nothing really coherent." Danni continued to talk softly as she maintained stabilization of the patient’s head.
The clamoring of the arriving group of caregivers announced their arrival. The speed and efficiency that the combined group worked with was evident to all that watched. Within minutes of when the teamwork had begun, the patient was placed in a cervical collar and on a backboard. The flurry of activity was all being directed by the tall, dark-haired woman in the flight suit.
The photographer stood there not moving a muscle, his eyes riveted to her. When the activity had subsided and the entourage of caregivers gone, he walked slowly around the site of the earlier commotion as though he was in shock.
Sensing his inability to cope with the situation, McMurray approached him. "You okay?"
"She…she…" he stammered. "She was telling them all what to do. Why would they listen to a secretary?"
McMurray just chuckled at the thought. He patted the photographer’s shoulder gently and said. "Times have changed, my boy. They’re not just secretaries any more."
The E.R. was buzzing with excitement when the group made its way into the trauma room. The full team had been alerted and was assembled there, waiting for the patient. Garrett noted that it felt funny to be arriving with the patient. After giving a brief report about the patient in hand-off to Rene, the flight-suited surgeon left to go stand in the hallway with Danni.
"Hey, nice outfits. Do you know where I can get one?"
Danni felt the tug on her sleeve. "Huh?" She turned to see John standing next to her, a smile plastered across his face.
"Nice try, but it still won’t get you two on my ‘twins’ page."
"Knock it off, John." Danni wasn’t in a mood to be toyed with, especially not by John. "We were doing the photo shoot for PR when one of the crew became injured. These," she pulled at her jumpsuit, "are the flight suits that we’ll be wearing."
"Oh…you mean you’re still going to do that helicopter thing, even after what just happened in North Carolina? I thought you didn’t like to fly."
"North Carolina…why…what happened in North Carolina?" Danni was curious now.
"You didn’t hear?" John looked at the surgeon and then back to the nurse. "One of the medivac helicopters went down. It burst into flames, killing the pilot."
Garrett’s eyes narrowed as she studied John’s face. "What happened to the rest of the crew?"
"They’re fine. The pilot got some kind of warning signal or message and put down so that they could ground transport the patient. They thought that the problem was fixed and on the test flight it just happened."
The petite nurse gasped as her hand grabbed at Garrett’s sleeve. She was trying hard not to react to the news. Her face turned pale and she could feel the butterflies multiplying in her stomach. ‘How am I ever going to get through this. I can’t pull out now.’
The surgeon sensed Danni’s fear. ‘I’ve got to do something to keep her from thinking about this.’ Come on, Dan. We had better go get our clothes back at the studio." She nudged her shoulder and once she had Danni’s attention, motioned for her to follow.
"Yeah, right…our clothes." The nurse was pre-occupied, her mind seeing flaming balls dropping from the sky, but her body followed after the surgeon.
McMurray stood waiting patiently at the door for his team when they were ready to leave. "You two worked well together today," he called out.
Garrett felt Danni nudging her in his direction. "Considering…" the tall surgeon questioned him with her raised eyebrow.
"You both knew your responsibilities and you did your best." The man shrugged. "I want to thank you both for the help you gave us in the E.R. today."
"Well, we were right there and everything just kind of clicked together." Danni was honest in her facts.
"I know. That’s why the Board wanted you two for this project." He reached out and touched Garrett’s shoulder. "Six months isn’t too long. You’ll see."
"Yes, sir." Garrett nodded her head. "Did he make it?"
McMurray thought for a moment. "Oh, Dr. Chabot’s patient, yes, he’s doing fine. Said that he was out shopping for Christmas when someone came up and robbed him. I guess they thought that they needed an advantage, so they stabbed him."
The surgeon smiled weakly, "That’s good that he came through alright then."
"Come on, Garrett. We need to get to class." She stepped around her friend and acknowledged the Chief of Trauma Services nodding, "Dr. McMurray."
He stepped aside and watched as the pair walked down the long corridor. Listening, he could hear the almost non-stop banter of the smaller woman as she tried to cheer her friend out of her self-imposed doldrums.
"So are you hungry? I’m starved, want to go to the gift shop on the way to class?"
The tall woman just raised her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Where does she put it all?’ "Yeah, I guess I could use some coffee."
"Okay, but it’s my turn to buy." Danni stopped dead in her tracks. "Jeez, I almost forgot. Mom said to give this to you." She dug into her coat pocket and pulled out the thin wallet. She smiled as she handed it to the surgeon.
Garrett took it and pressed it into the interior pocket of her leather jacket. "Thanks, Danni."
"No need for thanks." ‘Well, at least not yet.’ She wrinkled up her nose and smiled as she thought about the holiday that was fast approaching. "Now, come on…I’m starved." With that, she hastened her pace to keep up with her soaring spirits.
Chapter 3
Garrett stood staring off into the distance. Up on the roof of the hospital, it was as though you could see for miles. Her head turned to survey the glowing city skyline. Each tall building stood out as a testament to the men who built it. ‘I wonder if they ever doubted their effort?’ Her thoughts mirrored her own doubts about the effort that she was giving in the final half of her Fellowship. It seemed like no effort at all, except for her to stay out of the operating theatre.