A Prescription for Love

Chapter Seventeen

"Not far. Two months," she replied. "Will this affect the baby?"

"The distress could cause her to miscarry," Dr. Denali said. "We've got two lives to save now. Get OB down here to come down and do a consult." Alice nodded and made the call. I was standing, pumping air into her lungs through her mask. "Bella, we may have to trach. Get the tray ready."

"Yes, sir," I said as I passed of the breathing to one of the nurse techs. I quickly prepped the neck and waited for Dr. Denali's instructions. He looked at her monitors and she was clearly not getting enough oxygen.

"We need to trach her," he sighed. "Are the meds on board?"

"Here," I said as I handed him the syringes with the necessary medications to sedate the patient. Injecting the medications into her IV, she was rendered unconscious and paralyzed.

"Scalpel." I handed him the scalpel and we worked quickly to open up her airway, placing the trach. Once it was in, we attached to a breathing machine. As soon as she was hooked up, her oxygen levels picked up immediately. "Good. Very good."

Edward strode into the trauma room where I was working with Dr. Denali. He was wearing a pair of scrubs and his lab coat. "What do we have?"

"Fifteen year old girl. She was brought in, unresponsive and wheezing. Patient is approximately two months pregnant with smoke inhalation and burns on twenty percent of her body," I began. "Upon further examination, her airway was blocked from swelling. Dr. Denali performed a tracheotomy and her oxygen level is rising."

"Do you need me here?" Edward asked.

"Check with Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Black," Dr. Denali said. "Bella and I have this, right?"

"Yes, Dr. Denali," I smiled.

"You've got one of the best nurses with you, Felix," Edward winked. "Do you know if any more victims are coming in?"

"We may have some of the firefighters, but the victims were brought in here and Lakeshore," Dr. Denali explained. Edward nodded and left, walking to the second trauma room. I saw Jacob's stance tense when Edward entered the room. To say that Jacob hated Edward was a vast understatement. His abhorrence of my boyfriend was made abundantly clear with his scowls, glares and underhanded comments. It didn't faze Edward. He just documented each instance, adding it to an ever-growing file on Jacob's performance in the ER.

Dr. Denali and I monitored the patient. We wanted to see if she or her baby inside of her were in distress. Thankfully, the trach helped tremendously with her oxygen levels. Now, we were focusing on her burns. One of the doctors from the burn unit came down and checked her injuries while we waited for an OB consult. However, since the girl's injuries were no longer life-threatening, we moved her to one of the curtain areas to be monitored. As we worked on her, we got another call that one of the firemen had fallen through a ceiling, nearly thirty feet to the basement. Dr. Denali and I were going to work on that incoming case. We passed the teenage girl to a third-year resident. Alice was going to stay with her until she was admitted.

The gurney rolled in with the fireman and he had already been divested of his heavy clothing. He lay on the stretcher in his shirt and pants, that were cut open. His legs were broken horribly, bones protruding from his skin. In addition to the broken bones, a majority of his body was covered in second and third degree burns, specifically on his arms, legs and feet. "Bella, call ortho," Dr. Denali said. "And get Dr. Cullen in here."

"Yes, sir," I said as I darted into the next trauma room. Edward was pounding on an older woman's chest, trying in vain to get her heart beat back. "Dr. Cullen?"

"Time?!" Edward hissed. "How long without a pulse?"

"Twenty-seven minutes," Ben replied, pumping the oxygen bag for the patient. His voice was weary and incredibly sad.