"Sir, can we speak with you in private?" Wick asked.
"Sure," Captain Durfee replied.
Following the captain into his office, Bell and Wick
looked at one another concerned... concerned for how
Durfee would react.
Once the door closed and they all sat down, Bell
started, "Remember that victim that we took to the
hospital?"
"Yeah," Durfee replied, confused a little.
"Well," Wick began, "the victim was Ryan." There, he
had said it, but now he wanted to cry again.
"What?!" Durfee was sure shocked. "How can it be?" He
didn't want to believe it.
"It was her. That is why she didn't show up this
morning," Bell informed.
"How is she doing?" the captain asked with concerned
in his voice.
"Well..well.. sir, she's.." Bell began
"She's in a coma, sir," Wick continued, but felt
horrible.
Durfee leaned back in his chair, stunned...
speechless. Could this reallly happen to one of his
best paramedics? Why her? Why not some stranger? Why
not someone else who wasn't so close to him? NO! He
shook those thoughts away. Ryan is strong. She shall
survive. He took a deep breath and let it out.
A moment later, after looking in the sad and tired
eyes of Bell and Wick, he suggested that they should
go home and rest.
"Are you sure, sir?" Bell asked.
"Yeah," the captain replied. "Let me call the other
shift in early, way early."
"Okay." With the last word, Bell and Wick got up and
left the office, just in time to meet up with Carla,
the young firefighter that just arrived 8 months ago.
"Hey, guys" Carla greeted, quite cheerfully. "What's
up?"
"Hey, Carla. Not much," Wick replied.
"Hey," was all Bell would say.
"I don't mean to e nosy, but since you returned, you
two have been silent. Yes, I know it has only been
about 10 minutes, but still... you two.. silent!
That's not normal. But anyways. I did a favor for you
two, but it didn't work out. You see, I called Ryan's
house and no one picked and I got her answering
machine. Do you know where she is at? I really need to
talk to her abot some things."
"Come with us," Wick said and grabbed Carla's arm and
pulled her to the paramedic's bedroom. "Can you keep a
secret?"
"Yeah," Carla replied, sitting on Ryan's nicely made
bed. "But first, who is she?" Carla pointed to Ryan's
mom, who was still asleep on Bell's bed.
"That's Ryan's mom, Erica," Bell answered.
"What's she doing here?"
"That's the secret."
"She's the secret?" You have got to be kidding with
me. How are you going to keep her a secret?" Carla
didn't know that they were trying to be serious.
"No, let me rephrase that. It deals with her. You see,
when we were taking one of the victims to the
hospital, we were cleaning her face off from the blood
and well, the victim turned out to be Ryan."
"What?!" Carla was shocked. Now she regretted what she
said about everything before the Bell told her. Carla
didn't get to know Ryan well, but what she new of her,
she thought Ryan was a sweetheart, but tough when she
had to be.
A moment of silence past, then Carla asked, "who all
knows?"
"You, us, Erica, Durfee, and a couple of doctors,"
Wick replied.
"How is she?" Carla looked at the expressions of
Ryan's partners and right away she regretted asking
that.
"She's in a... coma," Wick said, silently, making sure
Erica couldn't hear.
****
"Yikes," Carla areplied. "Do you know if she'll
survive?"
'Dumb Carla,' she thought to herself for asking such a
dumb question.
"We don't know. Dr. Carter says 'There's a chance she
may, but there was too much damage.' But he said "he
had some patients have the same chances as her and
they came out okay.'"
A moment a silent past again, then Carla spoke up,
"Listen, guys, I'm so sorry."
"Thanks," Bell replied giving Carla a hug.
"Yeah, thanks," Wick also gave her a hug.
"Will you two be alright?"
"Yeah," Bell and Wick answered in unison.
Carla returned downstairs, not telling a soul.
Upstairs, Bell woke up Erica.
"Hey," he said gently. "Wake up and I'll take you
home."
"Okay," Erica sat up and they all walk outside, where
Wick got in his vehicle and Bell and Erica got in
Bell's vehicle. The trhree other paramedics arrived
and waved "hi" and "bye" to them.
Once in Bell's convertable, Bell called out to Wick,
"I'll see you at home."
"Okay," Wick replied and went in the opposite
direction of Bell.
As Bell drove on, Erica was silent. Finally, she
spoke, "Can you please drop me off at the hospital
instead? I want to stay with Kat."
"Sure, if that is what you want," Bell replied and
turned around to drive to the hospital.
"It is. Thanks." Erica said and fell silent for the
rest of the ride.
Once at the hospital, Erica got out and Bell asked,
"Do you need any help to find Ryan's room?"
"No, thanks, I can manage," Erica replied. "Thanks
again." Se disappeared in through the hospital doors.
Bell drove home and went directly to his room. Passing
Wick's room, he could see Wick arrived and had fallen
asleep. Bell went to his room and laid down and
started to think.
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