Fall Into Me (Into Me Series Book Three)

Chapter Thirty Seven - It's My Fault

In another universe, one much kinder than ours, I chew nervously on my cuticles. It's my first shift on my own as a tech in the ER. I had clinicals and three tests today in school, followed by a two-hour ride via train into DC. I've been up since 4 am.

I am fucking exhausted.

My shift is 1900-0130 tonight. I should get home by 3:30, which gives me just enough time to get about three hours of sleep before I have to go into lecture. But, there is nowhere I would rather be.

My gaze dances across the ER, the controlled chaos. They're running a code in one of the trauma bays. An EMT is in there, they don't need me. They're working on restraining a violent psych patient in one of the curtained-off pods, security dodging punches as Mark roughly commands the patient to relax. I'm broken from my trance when a sudden commotion breaks through the doors.

A pair of EMTs rush a patient in, concern on their faces. One of the doctors, the oldest one with salt and pepper hair and a mustache/beard, meets the pair and talks to them quickly. The patient keeps insisting very loudly that something is wrong. Before my brain can decide if it's a smart decision or not, my feet are taking me over to the patient. A shiver rolls down my spine as the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

Something's wrong.

"Hey! You! New kid!" the older doctor shouts at me. It takes me a second to realize that I'm the new kid in question. "Yeah, you!"
"Yes, sir?" I wonder.
"Grab us some ABDs, 4x4s, a bottle of sterile water, and an instrument tray."
"Yes, sir."

I take off in the direction of the supply room, badging into the locked room. A doctor is already standing in there, staring at a wall of supplies. I smile at him as I start grabbing the dressing supplies, loading my arms up. The doctor looks over to me. He is fucking gorgeous. Bleach blonde hair, ice blue eyes, dark eyebrows, jawline so chiseled it could cut glass.

"Hey," he smiles at me, his eyes yet to leave my face since I walked in here.
"Hi," I nod, reaching across him to grab a bottle of sterile water.
"I don't know how you find anything in here, it's a mad house," he laughs.
"The organizational system makes sense once you understand the madness it's categorized under. I promise. What're you looking for?" I wonder.
"Uh, sterile gloves," he replies.
"What size?" I question.
"Eights," he answers, his smile growing.
I grab a package of sterile gloves from right in front of his face, "Here."
He takes them from my hands as a blush climbs up his neck and onto his cheeks. "Thank you."
"Take two, just in case. I always keep an extra pair on me in case I contaminate them, that way I don't have to run back in here," I explain, handing him another package.

"Thanks, uhh..." he drags, raising his eyebrow at me.
"Oh, I'm Jet, the new nursing assistant," I tell him. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but my hands are a bit full here."
"That's okay. I'm Theo Barnes, the new resident," he offers. "Do you want some help?"
"No, I'm okay. But thank you, though."
"Alright. Well, it was nice meeting you," he says as he steps past me to open the door for me, motioning with his hand for me to walk through.
"You too," I say.

I drop the supplies on the counter of the trauma bay, pulling on gloves and offering an assist. The doctor listens to the chest of the patient, eyes closed. His eyes suddenly fly open, landing on me.

"Pneumothorax, get ready to drop a chest tube with me, kid," he decides.
It, again, takes me a few seconds to realize that I am, again, the kid in question here. "Oh fuck," I mutter.
"Language," he barks.
"Sorry," I mumble, turning and grabbing chest tube supplies from the drawer.

I help him into a sterile gown and gloves before shimmying my own on. I grab the scalpel from the medic, Brian (I think), and hand it to the doctor. The doctor grabs it from me and proceeds to do the fastest chest tube insertion I have ever seen. I'm close enough that I actually feel the gush of air once he punctures the pleural cavity. I help him secure it down with the purse strings and connect the tube to its atrium. The patient's oxygen saturation improves drastically within seconds. The entire room breathes a sigh of relief.