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............Part
24.......,
"Hello, Craig." Alica turned slowly to face Brice, her eyes glowing with malicious glee, "I heard about your accident. It really is a pity, you were a fine paramedic before you became this pathetic wreck." She took a step closer, the needle glistening in her hand, "But don't worry, I'm going to make sure you don't suffer anymore."
Brice squinted, trying to clear his blurry vision as Alica made her way toward his bed. He couldn't understand her words but her intentions were clear and they made his blood run cold. "Alica, please, whatever it is you're planning it's not too late to stop and get the help you need."
"Oh, but I don't need any help. I just need Johnny. We belong together, don't you see that?" Alica threw back her head and laughed, "Of course, you don't. You never did understand me. Not the way that Johnny does. Johnny loves me so much that he ran his feet raw just to be near me. And now, now we're going to be together forever."
Brice watched as Alica's eyes glazed over and she continued to babble insanely. He prayed that she was too caught up in her own little fantasy world to notice his actions as he slowly moved his hand toward the call button. Just a few more inches and he could summon help.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
Brice jumped at Alica's scream, startled both by it's intensity and by the knowledge that he'd heard it. The sound had been distant and tinny, as if muffled by layers of cotton, but he HAD heard it. Brice had little time for relief though, as Alica batted the call button away and plunged the syringe into his IV port, emptying the contents.
"Good-bye, Craig," Alica sneered as she turned away, "This really is for the best, after all what kind of life would you have lived as half a man?"
Brice's last conscious thought as the darkness rushed up to claim him was to realize how stupid and pointless his earlier self-pity had been. He really did want to live.
"Take it easy, Dixie," Brackett pushed Dixie gently but firmly back down onto the examination table. "You fainted but you're going to be just fine. As soon as we get some x-rays, I've got Dave Stein on his way down here from Neurology to take a look at you."
"X-rays?" Dixie's hand flew protectively to her abdomen, "I don't need any x-rays. And if you'd let me get up I'd be just fine."
"Just fine?" Kel stared down at her, exasperated, "Dixie you just threw up all over me and then passed out in the hallway. You're obviously not all right. Now, I don't want to have to pull rank on you, but . . ."
"Pull rank on me?" Dixie raised an eyebrow and fixed him with an icy stare, "And just what makes you think that you have any rank to pull on me? I'm the Head Nurse of this emergency room, not one of the interns that you can boss around or a student nurse you can bully into running scared every time she sees you."
Kel looked at Dixie in shock, his mouth dropping open, "Dix?"
"Oh god, Kel," Dixie brought a hand to her mouth, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded. It was just the hormones talking."
"Hormones?" he crossed his arms over his chest, "Dix, I think it's time you told me exactly what's going."
She drew a slow, deep breath looking up into the warm and concerned eyes of her dear friend. Letting the breath out, Dixie nodded, "You're right, Kel, it is time that I told you what's going on. I've been acting like this is some dirty little secret and it's not. In fact, it's the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me."
"Dixie, what ARE you talking about?" Kel shook his head in confusion, trying to understand where Dixie was going with this.
"Kel, I'm pregnant."
Mike Stoker glanced around nervously. He knew that he shouldn't take the chance of seeing her so openly, but he couldn't stay away. If he didn't see her now he'd go insane. All he wanted was just to see her. A brief touch of her lips against his.
"Michael." Her voice came to him on the wind and he felt his heart leap into his chest. The mere sound of it intoxicated him. "Michael, darling, what are you doing here? You know we can't be seen together."
"I don't care." Mike whispered as he pulled her into his arms, "I had to see you. Nothing in my life matters without you."
"But Michael, what about your career?" Joyce caressed his cheek, "If Hank were to find out about this he'd ruin you."
"My career means nothing without you." Mike replied, lowering his lips to hers. The intensity of the kiss shook Mike to his core. He simply couldn't get enough of this woman. He needed to be with her night and day to the exclusion of all else.
Finally breaking the kiss, Joyce looked up into is eyes, "Do you really mean that Michael? Even if it means giving up the engine?"
"G-give . . . giving up the engine?" Mike stared down at her in shock, "I'd have to give up my engine?"
"What is it, Doc?" Roy eyed Joe Early as he stepped into the hallway, trying to quell the fear in his heart, "Is it Chris? Has something happened to him? He was fine when I checked in on him."
"No. No, Roy, Chris is fine." Joe smiled warmly, "As a matter of fact, when I spoke to Dr. Beauchard in Ortho he told me that he thought Chris should be ready to go home tomorrow."
Roy held back the sigh of relief he felt, knowing that there was still another member of his family he hadn't asked about, fearful of what the answer might be. Gathering his resolve, he looked Early in the eye, "Johnny?"
"I've got the results of his latest MRI back." Joe shuffled the papers in his hand, "I'm afraid they aren't what we'd hoped for."
Roy felt his knees go weak as he glanced back toward Joanne's room, needing to feel the comfort of her presence, "What's wrong? Are you going to have to operate again?"
"Now, Roy, don't panic. I don't think it's that serious." Joe tried to reassure him, "The test shows some tissue swelling in the area of his earlier surgery. We think that this is the reason he still hasn't fully regained consciousness. But this soon after the surgery that's not completely unexpected."
"What're you going to do?" Roy asked quietly.
"We've started him on a course of anti-inflammatory drugs." Joe sighed, "Now it's just a matter of wait and see."
"Can I see him now?" Roy glanced down the hall, his eyes lingering momentarily on a nurse pushing a gurney onto the elevator.
"In just a minute. There's something else I want to talk to you about." Joe
took a deep breath before going on, "I know how Johnny feels about the subject,
he's made it perfectly clear when he's been injured in the past that he didn't
want his family contacted. But in this case . . . well, I think that
Johnny may need a lot of support before this is over and I think that
someone should contact his parents."
Contact his parents? Roy thought in shock, His father? My father? He opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance Mike Morton came rushing out of the stairwell.
"Joe. Roy. Thank god I found you." Mike hurried over to them, trying to catch his breath, "I just spoke to Vince Howard. Alica's escaped."
Chet checked his watch nervously. Carol was ten minutes late and he was beginning to worry that she'd changed her mind. After all, what would a woman as fabulous and enchanting as Carol want with him? He was sure that there were plenty of rich handsome doctors who'd give anything to be with her.
"Chet?" Carol's smile lit up the room as she stepped into the restaurant, "I'm so sorry I'm late. We had an MVA come in and I got off late. Then there was some problem with the elevators."
"That's all right." Chet grinned as he rose and held out her chair for her, "You're here now and that's all that matters. Would you like a drink before dinner?"
"Actually," Carol cast her eyes down shyly as she placed her hand over Chet's, "what I'd really like is just to talk to you."
"Me?" Chet's voice squeezed, "You just want to talk to me?"
"Yes, Chet Kelly," Carol seemed to glow as she looked across the table at him, "I intend to learn everything about you."
Bellingham pushed the door to Brice's room open cautiously. He was sure that despite Craig's protests to the contrary he really would like some company. After all, he was cooped up in a hospital room with nothing to do and no one to talk to.
"Craig?" Bellingham rolled his eyes at his own stupidity as he approached the still figure in the bed. [['He's deaf.']] The Animal thought, [['Calling him ain't gonna do no good.']] With that thought in mind, Bellingham reached out and shook his partner's shoulder.
When it garnered him no response Bellingham took a step closer to the bed. Brice's mouth hung slack and his lips had taken on a decidedly bluish tinge. Wasting no time, Bellingham tore open the door and screamed into the hall, "I NEED A DOCTOR IN HERE STAT! I'VE GOT A CODE BLUE!"
Immediately he returned to the bed and beginning CPR he fought to breath life back into his partner. "Come on, Brice," he muttered between breaths, "you're not quitting on me this easily. I'm not done making a human outta ya yet."
"Marco, sweetheart, what're you doing?"
Marco looked up from his packing to see his beloved mother standing in the doorway, "I'm packing mother. My transfer to the Denver fire department came through."
"Denver?" his mother gasped, "But Marco, baby, that's so far away. Why would you go there? What about your friends at Station 51?"
"They're the reason I'm leaving." Marco shook his head sadly, "They're all a bunch of lunatics, Mama. Even solid, dependable Mike Stoker's started acting funny. You should see the way he looks at Cap these day. And Gage, madre de dios, the trouble he gets into. No, I'm going to get as far away from them as possible before they get me killed."
"She what?" Roy's jaw fell open in disbelief, "How the hell did that happen? When did it happen?"
"I don't know, Roy." Mike removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I've told you everything I know. But Vince is sending a police officer over to stand guard outside Johnny's room."
Roy turned and started toward Johnny's room, "I'm going to wait with Johnny until the guard gets here. Would you get one of the nurses to let Joanne know where . . ."
"I NEED A DOCTOR IN HERE STAT! I'VE GOT A CODE BLUE!" Bellingham's
voice bellowed into the hallway
"Johnny!" Roy ran down the hall, bursting into the room with Early and Morton
on his heals. Roy's relief at realizing Bellingham's cry concerned
Brice and not his brother was short lived. As both doctors began working
feverishly to
save Brice, Roy's eyes flew to his brother's bed. His brother's EMPTY
bed.
"Johnny? Where's Johnny?"
Alica laughed softly as she dropped the wire cutters into the floor of the stolen van. Securing the gurney in place, she brushed a lock of hair away from Johnny's forehead and brushed a kiss across it. "The little surprises I left them should keep them busy for quite sometime. Plenty of time for us to get away, my love."
With a final stroke of Johnny's cheek, she climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
Tune in to the next episode of As the Siren Turns to (possibly) learn the answers to these thrilling questions:
What will Kel's reaction be to Dixie's happy news?
What will Dr. Cutie-pie Donaldson's reaction be when he finds out? When will he find out? Where is he? Drowning his sorrows over the loss of the nurse of his dreams in the arms of another woman? Or is he just off making more snap judgements about drop-dead gorgeous paramedics who could steal women from him with just a flash of their crooked grin?
What is Mike's plan for Captain Stanley? Will Mike's plans change when faced with the possibility of being separated from his precious engine? Or is Joyce's lure enough to make Mike even give up his engine?
Is Marco really going to leave Station 51 and all his friends to go to frozen wilds of Denver? Could you blame him if he did?
Will the doctors be able to save Brice? Why didn't this author just kill him dead without the possibility of revival?
Will Roy call Johnny's parents? If he does what will he tell them about their son? What if Dad answers the phone?
What little surprises has Alica left around the hospital? What's wrong with the hospital elevators? Is Alica behind it?
Will fireman Chet find true love in the arms of nurse Carol?
Where's Cap? Did this author forget about him? Or was she just out of ideas?
