Her Braun (Center City First Responders #7)

Chapter 1

ONE

Dr. Kay Hata was in her element in the Emergency Room at Cole Medical in Center City.

Being busy kept her focused and the more that was going on around her, the calmer she felt.

In the ER she had found her calling. It didn't matter who the patient was or what had happened to them, if they came into the ER instead of the coroner's office, she knew they had a chance.

And a chance was what she was going to give them. The best chance she could.

While Kay couldn't move heaven and earth, she could do a lot with the backing of an incredible staff and a very well-equipped hospital.

This place.

This job.

This is where she could make a difference, and she was determined to do it.

"Doctor Hata! Doctor-"

Kay turned on a dime and looked at one of their RNs, Baldwin Fiske. "What's going on?"

He held out a folder and came to a stop just short of where she'd stopped. "The lab came back with a report. They're not sure what strain of E. coli it is, but they're sure that it's a kind of E. coli."

Kay took the folder from his hand and opened it. She read through the notes quickly and looked over the current data. "Well, that's unfortunate."

Baldwin raised a particularly eloquent brow that she answered with a grim twist of her lips.

"Admit the patient to the forty-eight hour decision wing." Kay blew out a breath. "I don't like not having answers."

Baldwin nodded. "I could tell the lab was frustrated, too. One of the techs was grumbling about the inability to drink on the job."

Kay shook her head. "I understand the sentiment more than you know, but as much help as it might give me to ease my tension, I've always been a bit of a lightweight.

" She pulled a pen from her pocket and wrote a few notes on the paperwork in the folder.

"Once you've transported her up to the decision wing, make sure that the nurses know to keep a close eye on her. "

A low, shuddering groan turned her head, and she gave him a grim smile.

"Let's go in and get that transfer started and make sure we get her started on some broad-spectrum antibiotics that will address the overall issues.

Once we have a more definitive answer of the strain of E. coli, we'll re-evaluate."

"Yes, Doctor."

She gave Baldwin a nod. "Remember. Positive tone and attitude. We have every reason to be positive."

Baldwin smiled and they entered the ER bay where their patient was waiting.

Once she'd shared the information they had and their treatment plan, the patient, a young woman in her twenties who had come in fearing the worst was trying to smile and sighing with tentative relief as Baldwin hung a bag of fluid and added some pain relief to it.

That's when Baldwin took over. The man was strong and not-so-silent. His presence was reassuring.

He managed to get the patient's belongings and settle them at the foot of the rolling bed and put the sides up in place for transport. "Okay, I'll take it from here, Doctor Hata."

Kay moved the curtain aside and took a step back.

"Doctor?"

Kay stepped up to the side of the bed, taking the hand that the patient reached out to her. "Yes?"

The young woman grimaced in pain, but it subsided a moment later. "Thank you. Coming in, I thought... I thought I was going to die."

Kay heard the truth in her words and leaned in to give her a gentle smile and meet her troubled gaze. "You came to the right place. We're going to get you fixed up and you'll be home soon. Okay?"

Relaxing back against the bed, she let go of Kay's hand.

"Thank you."

"You rest and relax. If you need anything when you get upstairs, be sure to let the staff know. I'll be up to check on you in a little while."

Baldwin nodded and moved the bed into the hallway and toward the elevator. "I'll make sure she's settled. Then I'll be back."

"Thanks, Baldwin."

She turned around and saw Dr. Callen Webb turn the corner ahead of her. "Doctor Webb, how are you-"

"Doctor Hata. Good. Good. May I have a minute, please."

"Of course."

While Callen Webb had smiled and said 'please,' he wasn't someone you said no to unless you had someone's life hanging in the balance or your hands in someone's chest. He was the head of Trauma Services at the hospital.

He smiled at her and gestured down the hall. "We can talk on the way to my office."

Okay?

Kay fell into step beside him, but she picked up her pace as she did. Callen wasn't an extremely tall man, but he had ground eating strides both in an emergency and walking normally. He always got where he needed to go as fast as he could without breathing faster or sweating.

"I'm glad I caught you."

Callen smiled.

Kay caught the gesture as she turned to look at him every few steps.

"I wanted to ask if you were able to go to the next Medical Administrative Conference in Chicago."

"The Admin Conference?" Kay almost stumbled in surprise. "Yes, sure."

She'd be stupid to say no.

She'd been interested in going to the conference since she started to work full time at Cole Medical. Going to those kinds of conferences were the only way to advance in trauma centers. Doctors in charge needed skills in Admin on top of their medical training and experience.

But usually, Doctor Roan Ashley was the one slated to go.

"When we get to my office, I'll have to fill out the paperwork. Wendy will send it in and once it's approved, she'll schedule your travel."

He opened the door to his office and Kay stepped through at his gesture.

She took the seat waiting for her at the desk and looked down at the paperwork that had been set out for her.

"The informational brochures and schedule are in the folder to the left. Go ahead and take that with you. I expect," he stepped forward and tapped his fingers on his desktop, "that you'll take that home with you and read it."

"Of course." She lowered herself into the chair. "I'll be lucky to get this filled out before-"

"Paging Doctor Hata."

The speaker just outside the door to Callen's office blared to life.

Kay got right back up and headed out the door.

Callen called after her.

"The form will be on my desk when you have a moment."

She cast a look back over her shoulder as she moved toward the nurse's hub. "Thanks!"

Lieutenant Gibson Braun of the Center City Fire Department was working shoulder to shoulder with the firefighters on Truck Forty-Two to get it restocked and ready to go.

They were all exhausted, having battled a two-alarm fire in the wee hours of the morning.

He looked around at the others and smiled to himself seeing how everyone was pitching in with equal gusto.

The two youngest in the crew, Russell Webb and Jon Matsumoto, 'Webb' and 'Mats' respectively, were a unique pair.

They ribbed each other mercilessly, but they were both driven to do their jobs whenever they were on a call.

He never had to worry about either of them.

That didn't stop another member of their crew from grumbling about the two 'youngsters.

' Hank 'Pits' Berg was likely the oldest crew member on the ladder truck, but you wouldn't know it by his shape or his fitness.

He was a tank of a man, broad shouldered and powerful.

Gibson had seen the man lift the front bumper of a car, lifting the front wheels up enough so that they could pull a man free and put him in an ambulance with one of the two teams that worked out of their same firehouse.

The man was a powerhouse, but he could be grumpy as hell. If he hadn't been given the name of Pits years before when he joined the CCFD, the others at House Twenty-Nine would have called him Grouch instead.

The last of his crew, Theo Noble, didn't have a nickname like most of the firefighters working at House Twenty-Nine.

He didn't really need one, either. Theo was just himself.

Solid as a rock. He'd recently fallen in love with one of the 911 Operators and together they were insanely happy.

He found himself more than a little jealous of their lives together.

When Theo left the station after every shift, he was out the door like a shot.

Gibson knew that he was crazy excited to get home.

Knowing that his wife Irish was still at work, he'd work out in their garden or get to work on their next project around the house.

The man was handy with construction and before he'd married Irish, Theo had helped him on some of his work as a contractor.

Eventually, when they'd reinforced their home and fixed it up the way they wanted to, Gibson knew he might get Theo to work with him again, but he also knew that Theo and Irish were hoping to start a family, sooner, rather than later.

No, Theo hadn't shared the information with him specifically, but Gloria Campanelli, the wife of their Fire Chief at the house had asked him about it in a roundabout way and Theo had smiled from ear to ear and announced that they were working on getting pregnant and he'd mentioned in his own unabashed way that he was dedicated to succeeding.

No one doubted his word. Theo was head over bootheels in love with Irish before he even talked to her. To say that it was love at first sight was an understatement.

"Hey, Gibson?"

Smiling, he turned to look at Theo who was walking up to him. "Yeah?"

Theo lifted his chin and gestured to his bunker gear. "Should we bother changing into a clean set?"

Narrowing his gaze at Theo, Gibson turned his head slightly to the side. "What's going on?"

The other man shrugged. "Just a feeling."

Gibson's chin dropped. "Meaning?"

Theo lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. "That we're going to get called out-"

The speaker above their heads on the apparatus floor blared out a message.

"Truck Forty-Two. Ambulance Sixty-Five. Single Structure Business Fire. Corner of-"

Gibson gave Theo a look. "Jinxed it."

Theo shrugged. "Just a feeling."

Pits gave Theo a nudge with his shoulder as he walked by to get to the driver's seat. "Let's move, slowpokes!"