The Weak Link
Part Five
By Alyssa Santos
yellowbrick_1@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. This is my first Fan
Fiction and I have little to no medical knowledge so give me a break. You
can E-mail me at  yellowbrick_1@hotmail.com



“We need another gurney out here!” Lydia called as she burst through the entrance. She paused to get a look around then found Elizabeth Corday. “We need a gurney!” She repeated. Elizabeth glanced around and when she noticed Malik coming with one she quickly followed Lydia outside.

“Mark what have you got?” Elizabeth asked as she approached him. Mark was busy taking vital signs but found time to answer.

“Altered LOC. Looks like a victim of assault.” He said, stopping to help Malik lift the body up to the gurney. The victim was moving slightly, but he was very weak and he definitely wasn’t all there. Elizabeth involuntarily shuddered when she got a glimpse of the body for the first time. The face was severely beaten and deformed, the left arm looked badly twisted, and the clothes were torn in several places. Elizabeth found her self speechless as she followed the gurney into the hospital, but the next thing Mark said surprised her more.

“It’s Malucci.” Mark said as they came through the doors. Immediately he switched into his doctor mode. “Clear a trauma!” He said already heading for Trauma 2.

“OK Mrs. Klein, I’m going to take your blood pressure now.” Carter was saying when he heard the commotion. It sounded like somebody wanted a gurney.

“What’s all that racket?” Mrs. Klein asked.

“I don’t know, but if you’ll hold on a minute I’ll go check it out.” without waiting to see if she agreed with the plan Carter left the room and walked briskly towards the desk.

“Randi, what’s going on?”

“Lydia came in requesting a gurney, I think Corday is with her now.”

Carter turned just as Mark, Elizabeth and Lydia came through the ambulance doors. Mark called for a trauma room and Carter followed behind.

“What is it?” Carter asked.

“30 year old male, victim of assault.” Elizabeth said, cutting off whatever Mark had planned on saying. To Carter it looked like more like attempted murder than assault.

“Do you need me?” Carter asked.

“No.” Elizabeth responded quickly.

“He’s unconscious. Let’s get some type specific this time.” Mark said as they entered the room. “OK on my count. 1. 2. 3.”

“Let’s cut off these clothes and get a look at him.” Elizabeth said.

“He’s got a weak pulse.” Lydia read from the newly hooked up machines. Malik came and cut off Dave’s shirt. Everyone looked involuntarily at Dave’s chest.

“Let’s get a line in. There’s quite a lot of bruising, he might have some broken ribs.” Mark said.

“Yes he does. Decreased breath sounds on the right. He punctured his lung.” Elizabeth said, as she took her stethoscope away she noticed something. It was a long thin scar slightly criss-crossing over a portion of his stomach. She pushed it out of her mind.

“Let’s tube him.” Mark said, reaching to grab the instruments from Malik.

“I’ll put in the chest tube.” Elizabeth volunteered. She moved to get a better angle then performed the procedure with the ease of expertise. “We need to splint his arm and bring him up to the surgery now.” She said as she finished, looking at Malik, silently telling him to call up the OR. Mark nodded.

“His heart beat is low. 3 of Atropine. As soon as he’s stable Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth waited impatiently until Mark nodded. “OK, let’s move him!” She said immediately, helping push the gurney to the OR elevators. It seemed to take forever and her eyes darted back and forth from Dave and the number of the floor they were passing. When the familiar sound of the chime came and the doors opened she pushed him as fast as she could to the room.

After explaining the case more thoroughly to Ramano (who accepted to help only after hearing that it was a staff member), she pulled herself away long enough to scrub in. She headed back towards the operating table. Even though Dave had been unconscious and was now under anesthesia she still whispered, “You’re going to be all right.”

“How come nobody saw it?” Ramano demanded.

“We didn’t have any traumas for a long time. Everyone else working was still on for at least another hour, so no one was coming and going.” Kerry tried to explain.

“And nobody heard anything?” Ramano asked skeptically.

“We have reason to believe Dr. Malucci was unconscious after the first blow.” Kerry answered. She really had nothing to back this up but that was the only logical explanation.

“Dave is stable and should be waking up soon. He should be able to answer these questions.” Mark spoke up for the first time.

“When did he start breathing on his own?” Mark asked Elizabeth as he entered the room.

“About an hour ago. How was the meeting?”

“As to be expected, a lot of questions and no answers.” They stood silently and stared down at Dave. Mark was a little relieved to hear he was breathing on his own despite what he had said earlier in the meeting.

Elizabeth made a short little sigh and muttered something under her breath. She turned to Mark then back to Dave. “Not even Dave deserves this. He’s just not getting a break.” Though Elizabeth sounded harsh Mark knew that inside she really felt sorry for Dave.

Dave lie still in his bed. He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t move, and he couldn’t feel a single thing. It took him a while to notice he couldn’t see out of one eye. Normally, this would have freaked him out, but he was so doped up he didn’t care. He wanted to get the tube out of his throat, he had a million questions, but he couldn’t get anyone’s attention.

A nurse came in to check his IV, he tried to move, to make a noise, even just to bat an eye. He drained all of his energy in the effort, but the nurse didn’t so much as glance at him. He didn’t care anymore, he was already drifting back to sleep.

Elizabeth entered the room a few hours later. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the chart and then only moved to quickly check Dave’s vitals and then back to the chart to jot them down. It pained her to look at him, she avoided it whenever possible, which is why she almost missed it. She was just about to leave when something caught her eye. It was the smallest of movements, but she had seen it. Dave had moved his hand slightly, and now he had her full attention.

“Dave. Dave can you hear me?” Elizabeth asked hurriedly stepping up next to the bed. Dave gave her the slightest of nods. “Good, good. Dave listen to me. You suffered some head trauma, but besides a concussion nothing serious. You had a punctured lung, but I fixed it right up for you. Also your arm is broken, but we have splinted it.” She waited and looked at him straight in the eye. He gave her another minuscule nod. He motioned lightly at his throat, bringing his arm as close as he could.

“Your tube? Dave, do you want to take your tube out?” She asked. Dave nodded. “OK Dave you know the drill, blow real hard now.” She had to struggle a second to get it out, Dave’s breathing was still rather shallow. Dave didn’t try to talk when the tube was out like most patients, unlike most patients Dave was a doctor.

After she gave Dave a sip of water she continued. “Dave, I’m going to put a mask on you all right?” Dave lifted his head slightly so she could attach the oxygen mask. She looked down at him again. “Dave do you know where you are?” She asked. Dave nodded. “Do you remember what happened?” Dave tried to think. He had tried to commit suicide, but he had gotten better and gone back to work. That was all he could think of. He shook his head ‘no’. Elizabeth sighed. “It’s OK Dave. That’s normal. You’re going to be all right.”

Mark hung up the phone and sighed a sigh of relief. “Where’s Kerry?” He asked.

“Here.” Kerry answered coming up behind him. “What is it?”

“Dave woke up.” Mark answered. Kerry didn’t sigh but Mark could see the relieved look on her face.

“Are you going to go up and see him?” Kerry asked. Mark looked quickly at the board; there were some new patients but not many.

“I don’t see why not.” he uttered.

“Good. Tell me how he is when you get back.” Mark nodded and headed towards the elevator.

Mark got off at the ICU and quickly found Dave’s room. He paused and watched Elizabeth through the window. Elizabeth had insisted on being Dave’s doctor. Mark wasn’t quite sure why. Finally he reached for the handle and entered. Elizabeth turned immediately and smiled. “Mark is here.” She said to Dave, who couldn’t see him at his angle. Dave lifted his arm slightly in a ‘Hello’ kind of way.

Mark walked up next to the bed and leaned over him, quickly assessing his state. “So, how are you doing?” Dave merely put his hand in a weak  thumbs up. “Good good, glad to here it. You gave everyone quite a scare, again.” He smiled down at him. Dave smiled a little. He seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open, and Mark noticed this. “Dave you just get some sleep now, OK?” Dave nodded and turned his head slightly. Mark slowly moved away and Elizabeth followed him.

They walked to the other side of the room and started to talk in whispers. ”How is he?” Mark asked.

“The surgery went well. He has a nasty break and a headache but he should be fine.” Elizabeth responded. Mark nodded, a great pressure lifted off his shoulder.

“Do you know who did it?”

“He doesn’t remember as of now, but it should come back. As soon as it does we’re going to nail that bastard.” Elizabeth said spitefully.

End of part 5