trauma [m.s]

xxxiv.

- - -
in life we are taught that there are seven deadly sins. we all know the big ones... gluttony, pride, lust. but the sin you don't hear much about is anger.
- - -

"hey," joe smiles, his voice cheerful as he leans down on the nurses station across from chloe who is sat behind the counter. following his greeting, she looks up and smiles at him. "i'm gonna be in the e.r till 7:00. is 8:00 too late for dinner?"

"no, but if you need to reschedule or cancel-" chloe offers, but joe cuts her off.

"come on. are you kidding?" joe chuckles. "i made a reservation at canto. i even gamed out an outfit. we are doing this, chloe."

"okay," chloe nods with a slight smile as joe pushes himself off the counter and walks over to a patient, chloe's eyes fixed on him until mark approaches.

"hi," mark awkwardly greets after staring at her for several moments.

"hi," chloe forces a small smile as her eyes snap away from joe and to him, but she quickly averts her gaze back to her work on the computer sat in front of her.

"i miss you," mark tells her after staring at her for another few moments of silence, the only sound is the echoing of keys tapping under her fingers.

"mark," chloe warns, keeping her eyes focused on what she's doing.

"what, are you saying you don't miss me?" mark asks, continuing to stare at the blonde.

"pretty much what i'm saying," chloe shrugs, tucking a strand of golden hair behind her ear.

"you seeing someone?" mark's brow furrows slightly and chloe exhales deeply as her pager begins to ring where it's sat on the counter in front of her.

"yes," chloe tells him as she pushes herself up from her seat. mark feels his heart sink, and he nods his head, looking down at his shoes. "her name is nicole. she is an e.m.t, and she has the gift of a incoming trauma waiting for me," she waves her pager before shoving it into her pocket and mark smiles, looking back up at her.

"go. save a life or something," mark tells her, still smiling as she begins walking away from the nurses station. "i miss you," mark calls after her and her breath hitches slightly at his words, but she doesn't respond or bother looking back.

- - -
maybe it's because we think anger is not that dangerous, that you can control it. my point is, maybe we don't give anger enough credit. maybe it can be a lot more dangerous than we think.
- - -

once she has secured a yellow trauma gown over herself, chloe enters the e.r to find the majority of the hospital's surgical staff dealing with the mass of bodies that filled it following a nearby train crash. looking around, she sees nicole stood by the door of trauma room one and she waves her over.

on approach, the blonde's eyes widen when she peers inside and sees a man and a woman sat facing one another on a gurney, a giant metal pole impaling the two of them.

"his bp's holding steady at 90 over palp," nicole informs chloe and dr. bailey who had just arrived at her side. "she's had two hypotensive episodes to the low seventies."

"you couldn't get a saw in there?" bailey enquires.

"not without moving them," nicole shakes her head.