Chapter 14
chapter
fourteen
The high from seeing Izzy was still coursing through me as I updated patient charts at the nurses' station.
Her crew's approval, that moment when she'd said "it was more than that," the way she'd looked at me like I was the best part of her night — it all felt like a promise of something good coming.
My phone buzzed with another text from her:
Izzy
Looking forward to tomorrow. Any restaurant preferences?
I was typing back when the ambulance bay doors hissed open. Two paramedics wheeled in a woman who looked like she'd been through hell, her left eye swollen shut, her arm cradled against her chest. Walking beside the gurney was a man in his forties, doing all the talking.
"She fell down the stairs," he was saying to anyone who'd listen. "Clumsy as hell, my Lisa. Always tripping over something."
I looked up from my phone, and my stomach dropped. The woman — Lisa — wasn't making eye contact with anyone. She was staring at the ceiling, her visible eye glazed with the particular kind of numbness I'd seen before.
"Chloe," I called quietly. "Room 6."
She appeared at my elbow, took one look at the incoming patient, and I saw her face change. Only three months on the job — still a “toddler” in ER terms — and she was already starting to develop the instincts.
"Fell down the stairs?" she whispered.
"So they say."
We got Lisa settled in Room 6, the man hovering at her bedside like a guard dog. He answered every question I directed at her, his hand never leaving her shoulder in what might have looked like comfort but felt like control.
"Lisa, I need to ask you directly about your pain level," I said, ignoring him. "On a scale of one to ten — "
"She's about a six," the man interrupted. "Aren't you, baby? Not too bad."
Lisa nodded mutely, but I caught the way she flinched when he squeezed her shoulder.
"We need to get some X-rays," I said, my voice professionally neutral. "Sir, I'll need you to step out to the waiting room while we position her."
"I'm not leaving her alone," he said, his voice taking on an edge. "She gets confused when she's hurt. Needs me here."
"Hospital policy," I said firmly. "Radiation safety. I'll come get you as soon as we're done."
He started to argue, but I was already moving, opening the door and gesturing toward the hallway. "Just for a few minutes. There's coffee in the waiting room."
The moment he was gone, I turned to Chloe. "Get Carly. Now."
"Jimmy, what — "
"Trust me. Get Carly, and make sure that guy stays in the waiting area."
Carly appeared within minutes, took one look at Lisa, and I saw the same recognition in her eyes. We'd both been here before.
"Lisa," Carly said gently, pulling up a chair beside the bed. "How are you really doing?"
Lisa's composure cracked just slightly. "I'm fine. Just clumsy."
"The stairs must have been really steep," I said carefully. "Those injuries on your ribs look like they came from multiple impacts."
Lisa's good eye flicked to the door, then back to me. Fear. Pure, undiluted fear.
"He's not here," Carly said softly. "It's just us. You're safe."
For a moment, I thought she might open up. Her lips parted, and I could see her fighting with herself. Then she shook her head.
"I fell down the stairs," she repeated, but her voice was hollow.
Carly and I exchanged glances. We both knew what we were looking at, but without Lisa's cooperation, our hands were tied.
"Lisa," I said, leaning forward, "if you're not safe at home, we can help you. There are places you can go, people who can keep you safe. You don't have to — "
"I can't... there's nowhere..." Her voice broke. "The money, he... I don't even..." She gestured helplessly at her purse. "No cards. Nothing."
There it was. The trap that kept so many women locked in hell.
"We can help with that too," Carly said. "There are resources, programs — "
"You don't..." Lisa shook her head frantically. "He said he'd find me. Always finds me. And anyone who..." Her eyes darted to the door. "He means it. You don't know him."
Lisa's phone, sitting on the bedside table, lit up with a text. She glanced at it and went even paler.
"Can I see that?" I asked gently.
With trembling hands, she turned the phone toward me. The message was brutal:
Get your ass out here now or I'm coming in there and dragging you out.
Another text came through as I watched:
And if any of those heroes try to stop me I'll put bullets in every one of them.
"Lisa," I said urgently, "this is him threatening you. And threatening us. We can — "
"Please," she whispered. "Please just let him back in. If you don't... he'll take it out on me later. You know he will."
Carly was already on the phone with security, but I could see the impossible calculation in Lisa's eyes. Stay here and face his escalated rage later, or leave now and face it immediately.
"We can protect you," I said desperately. "We can — "
"No, you can't." Her voice was flat, certain. "You can't be there when your shift ends. You can't be there tomorrow, or next week. But he will be."
The man's voice echoed from the hallway — loud, demanding, getting closer despite security's presence. "Where is she? Where's my wife?"
"Lisa, please," I said, standing up. "Let us help you."
She was already reaching for her IV line. "Take this out."
"Lisa — "
"Take it out, or I'll pull it out myself."
I met her eyes, saw the resignation there, the terrible clarity of someone who'd calculated her odds and found them wanting. With shaking hands, I removed the IV.
The man appeared in the doorway, brushing past security like they weren't there. "There you are, baby. Come on, we're leaving. These people don't know what they're talking about."
He reached for Lisa's arm, and something in me snapped.
I stepped between them, close enough that I could smell his cologne, close enough to see the veins in his bloodshot eyes.
"Back off," I said quietly.
He looked at me like I was an insect. "Move, nurse boy."
"Make me."
The words came out flat, emotionless. I could feel Chloe's shock from across the room, could see Carly reaching for her phone, but I didn't care. I stared into this man's eyes and willed him to give me a reason.
"Do it," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Put your hands on me. I dare you. Do it."
For a moment, I thought he would. I could see the calculation in his eyes, the same predator's instinct that had trapped Lisa. But he was too smart, too controlled.
He stepped back, hands raised in mock surrender. "Whatever, man. This place is a joke anyway." He turned to Lisa. "Come on. Your stuff's going in the trash if you're not in the car in two minutes."
Lisa slid off the bed like a ghost, not looking at any of us. At the door, she paused for just a moment.
"Thank you for trying," she whispered.
And then they were gone.
I stood there for a long moment, my hands shaking with unused adrenaline. Chloe was staring at me with wide eyes.
"What just happened?" she asked.
I forced my voice back to professional calm. "Domestic violence case. Sometimes they leave anyway."
"But you... you were ready to fight him."
"Sometimes that's what it takes." I looked at her, saw the questions in her eyes.
"Chloe, you're going to see this again. Patients who are being hurt by people who claim to love them.
And sometimes, no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, they go back to their abusers. It doesn't mean we stop trying."
She nodded slowly. "What do we do now?"
"We document everything. We call the police and file a report. We hope that next time, she'll be ready to accept help." I started toward the computer to begin the incident report. "And we don't let it stop us from fighting for the next one."
But as I sat down to type, my hands were still shaking. Because I knew, with terrible certainty, that Lisa was driving home to face the consequences of our intervention. And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
After they left, I called the police from the nurses' station. The officer who answered was sympathetic but firm.
"Look, we get it," he said. "We see these cases all the time. But without the victim asking for help, without her pressing charges or asking for protection, there's not much we can do. We can do a welfare check, but if she answers the door and says she's fine..."
"Even with the threats to hospital staff?"
"You can file a report about that, and we'll document it. But the domestic situation? Our hands are tied until she's ready to ask for help."
I hung up feeling hollower than before. Somewhere across the city, Lisa was facing the consequences of our intervention, and the system that was supposed to protect her was as helpless as I was.
The text from Izzy about dinner felt like it came from another lifetime. I stared at it for a long moment, then put my phone away without responding.
Some battles, you just couldn't win.