Chapter 11
ELEVEN
DUKE
He arrived back at the E.R. to a crazy rush of activity.
It wasn't just the Rescue Crew taking up the hallway and waiting area, it was also at least four people in handcuffs and a very angry Police Sergeant.
Sergeant Kate Turner.
Or as they knew her at the Fire Station, Rock's wife.
"Sergeant!" Kaleo walked up to Kate and touched her gently on the shoulder. "How is he?"
When her gaze fixed on his face, there was a moment when the 100% badass police sergeant looked all too human.
"Duke, hey."
She didn't answer his question and that alone was enough to make him worry.
Kate was usually spot on in any situation.
No matter how crazy or frantic, she was always focused.
On the job.
"Is Rock okay?"
Blinking, she looked up at him and swallowed.
"Okay, okay." Kaleo put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the waiting area away from the other officers and the people they had in custody. "Tell me what's going on."
Her head snapped to the side, fixed on the police. "I should be working."
The automatic doors opened up and a man who looked a lot like Doctor Ashley crossed over the threshold and into the Emergency Room.
"Kate!"
He called out into the room.
"Kate?"
Kaleo lifted his hand and called back to the man wearing a detective shield around his neck. "Over here."
"Kate, hey..."
The man stepped in and Kaleo backed away.
The detective pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
Looking over her shoulder, the detective looked at him. "I'm Walker Ashley. Kate's my sister."
Kaleo nodded.
There wasn't a resemblance that he could see, but Kate melted into the detective's embrace, holding onto him like a lifeline.
"Duke! Hey... you're here."
Kaleo turned his head and saw Halo pushing through the crowd.
Halo put a gentle hand on Kate's shoulder. "Kate? How are you doing?"
Before she could answer, Doctor Roan Ashley walked up and stood next to Kate.
Kaleo felt a little taken aback by the resemblance between the Trauma Surgeon and the Center City Police Detective.
Halo leaned in to explain. "They're not twins, but they're damn close to it, aren't they?"
Kaleo would have agreed out loud, but Doctor Ashley started to speak.
"We sent Rock over for a CAT scan."
Roan put his hands on Kate's shoulders. "Sis, breathe."
Maybe it was his words.
Or maybe it was the sound of his voice, but Kate locked her eyes on his face and nodded.
"The injury on the back of his thigh is deep. The CAT scan showed some damage that we're going to go in and fix. They're going to bring him back here for a few minutes while we clear out an O.R. So, let's get you some water and a wet towel for your face, okay?"
Roan turned and reached to put his arm around his sister, but she stopped, putting her hand on his chest. "Shouldn't you... shouldn't you be scrubbing in or... whatever it's called?"
There was an aching look in the doctor's eyes before he answered her.
"Kay's primary in the surgery. I'll be secondary in the O.R."
Kate nodded. "'kay. Okay."
She walked along with Roan and the E.R. doctor took her into the staff restroom to wash up.
Duke shook his head and looked at Halo. "What happened?"
The other Rescue Crew member looked over his shoulder at the men who'd been arrested.
"They drove up, trying to find their friends."
Kaleo could only imagine how it looked to the friends of the deceased.
They showed up at a scene, and their bodies were still in the car.
"They didn't ask any questions, they just started yelling and demanding we take their friends out of the car and here to the Emergency Room."
Kaleo nodded. It had to look really bad if you were close to someone and you roll up to a horrifying car wreck and see the bodies still in their car. No medical assistance.
Nothing.
"We tried to explain what was going on, but they just talked... No, they just yelled over us. Screaming turning into shoving and... and-"
Halo grumbled under his breath.
"The officers on scene got there, but Greco fell back and hit his head on the car. He's getting stitches right now."
Kaleo nodded. "And Rock?"
Halo looked off to the side and then down at the floor.
"There was a jagged piece of metal bent out from the frame where the car had been ripped apart by the train. Rock landed on it. It took through the back of his thigh."
Two curtains opened at the same time. On one side opened on Kaleo's lieutenant.
The other was a man in custody, held by two uniformed officers.
Kaleo held his breath.
The look on Faust's face was void.
Nothing.
When the officers took the handcuffed man back toward the waiting room, Kaleo saw something shift in Faust.
The man who had walked through fire hundreds of times without a single injury was standing there in the middle of the Emergency Room and again, he hadn't been injured, but two members of his team had.
One of the men who'd been arrested looked up from his seat in the waiting room and laughed.
He fucking laughed!
Kaleo clapped a hand on Halo's shoulder and the two of them pushed through the crowd.
They got there a heartbeat before Faust's fist would have hit the back of the man's head.
Kaleo and Halo basically lifted him off of his feet and walked him back into the examination area.
It took both Kaleo and Halo to get him in a seat and keep him there.
"Let. Me. Go."
Kaleo let Halo take point on this.
"Sorry, Lieutenant. Not going to do it."
"You want me to kick your ass, Halo?"
"I'm not Halo, but you can kick mine if you want, Faust."
Kaleo turned to see Greco sitting up on the gurney.
Even with the bandage around his head, Greco's personality shone through. "Lieutenant, if you need to hit something, I'll take you to the gym so you can hit the bag."
Kaleo read the room and it was a mess.
"Those fuckers act like this is funny."
Faust's tone was angry but there was a cold edge to it, too.
"It's not damn funny."
Kaleo put his hand on Faust's shoulder. "I can smell the alcohol, lieutenant. I'm going to go out and make sure they're going to run DUI tests on the driver, okay?"
Faust lifted his chin a fraction of an inch. "Roan said they've already drawn blood for the driver. I just feel like it's not enough."
They all agreed with his assessment, but-
"You know what whatever you do is connect to the CCFD."
Kaleo was in agreement with the words, but he hadn't been the one to say it.
He was still trying to fit in and work out how far he could push the line, but he knew that the other crew members around him were also there to help their lieutenant.
"Lieutenant?"
Every head turned toward the voice.
Lexie. She gave him a little nod and met Faust's eyes.
"Lieutenant. Rock and Kate would like to see you before he goes in for surgery."
Her words were softly spoken and gently delivered, but it looked like someone had landed a sucker punch.
Faust nodded but didn't make a sound.
Kaleo and Halo helped him to his feet, knowing full well that the man could get up and down without their help, but sometimes having someone's back meant literally standing beside him, helping him up.
"Let's go." Faust swallowed and when he lifted his chin, Kaleo saw the haunted look in his eyes.
"Okay, Lieu."
Kaleo saw Halo's worried expression and the rough scratch in his voice as he added his own answer.
"Alright, Lieutenant. Let's go."
LEXIE
Lexie had heard the old idiom about the air being so thick you could cut it like a knife.
That's what she walked into right off of the elevator.
She checked in with Thuy at the nurse's station.
"What's going on?"
Thuy blew out a breath and shook her head. "One of the Rescue Crew is going into surgery to fix some deep tissue damage in the back of his thigh. There is-"
Thuy pulled her closer to the wall, the furthest they could get away from the counter and anyone who could overhear them.
"There's a chance that there might be permanent damage to the muscles."
Lexie turned her head and saw Kaleo standing against the wall with two of the other men on the Rescue Crew. Greco had a bandage around his head, but Halo, who was between them, looked unharmed.
They were all standing close, but not so close that they were trying to overhear, but it was impossible with the hard walls of the hall and the soft fabric of the curtains that they couldn't hear some of what was being said.
"Kate- Babe, don't worry."
"Martin Ferris, how can I not worry? Who told you to go out and get injured by some assholes?"
Rock laughed, but it was a rough and brittle sound. "Didn't plan on it, honey, but shit happens. Okay?"
"You should have had more police back up at the scene. I should have sent more." Kate's voice was thin, pulled tight. "I should have-"
"You weren't even on duty today, honey. Don't do this to yourself."
"Rock, man... I don't know how to apologize-"
"Faust, what the hell are you talking about? You have nothing to apologize for, man. Shit happens."
Lexie had heard about Faust through Kaleo, and she understood the reference well.
It was kind of sad. She knew that they hadn't given him the name to be cruel, but in a way that's what it had become.
Cruel.
As Faust talked to Rock and Kate on the other side of the curtain, she felt like she could see how this was affecting him.
It was all weighing down on him.
Some of the weight was from the expectations of others, but somehow, Lexie knew that much of it was put there by the man himself.
She shook her head and put her hand over her heart trying to ease the ache in her chest.
"Rock!" "Kate!"
Lexie turned to look at the outer doors at the newest arrivals.
Thuy touched her arm. "He's the fire chief at Twenty-Nine," she explained. "Aldo Campanelli."
Lexie nodded. She'd heard the name in the news before, but she'd also heard about him from Kaleo.
Aldo was a man who led with his heart. That was easy enough to see.
The look on the fire chief's face was full of concern.
"And that," Thuy gestured to the woman at his side, "is his daughter Vitalia."
Vitalia.
Lexie had never heard that name before, but it fit the other woman somehow. She was tall and athletic like her father, and they bore almost identical looks of concern.
"She's a firefighter, too. Just not at her dad's firehouse."
Lexie nodded in response as Halo pointed his fire chief in the right direction.
As Chief Campanelli stepped into the exam area, Vitalia held the curtain open.
Kate stood up and stepped into the chief's embrace and Rock held out his hand to grip Aldo's hand.
Lexie found herself looking away from the scene, but when she did, she unexpectedly saw another telling scene.
Vitalia Campanelli leaned against the wall beside Faust.
Even though the lieutenant didn't seem to see the other woman or notice her presence, Vitalia's attention was almost exclusively set on him.
Thuy nudged her with an elbow. "Do you see that?"
Lexie turned her head toward the other nurse, but she didn't turn her gaze away until the last second. "Are they..."
"Faust has been a member of the Campanelli family since she was in middle school."
Lexie nodded.
The look of anguish on Vitalia's face wasn't just a sisterly affection.
She didn't know if the fire chief knew his daughter was in love with Faust, but Lexie couldn't NOT see it.
It was plain to see.
Or maybe it was because of how she was feeling.
Lexie turned her head and saw Kaleo standing with other members of his Crew.
She hadn't meant to make a big deal about it or even a small one, but as she looked at him, he turned his head to look at her.
Lexie turned her head away and looked down toward the floor.
There was suddenly so much inside of her that she didn't understand how to feel...
How to process...
What she was feeling.
It was all overwhelming.
The phone on the desk lit up and Thuy stepped forward and picked up the handset.
"Mmm." She nodded and nodded again. "Okay. We're on our way."
Lexie was moving before Thuy had hung up the phone.
Her fellow nurse didn't have to say it.
The Operating Room was open.
It was time to move Rock into surgery.
Blowing out a breath, Lexie felt Thuy give her arm a squeeze.
Lexie was going to hold it together.
She didn't have an option not to.
Neither did Thuy.
And like the firefighters who were in the hallway waiting for their friend, the nurses in the E.R. had the same kind of connection.
Together they were stronger.
Together...
"Doctor Ashley. Rock." Thuy's expression was strong and gentle at the same time. And Lexie hoped that she had a similar expression on her own face.
They were there, not just as nurses to help heal.
Not just there to ensure a safe and speedy transfer from the Emergency Room to the Operating Room.
They were there to provide the steady and stalwart support that people might need but not know that they were searching for.
"The Operating Room is open. They're ready for you."
Doctor Ashley looked up and nodded. "Kay?"
Thuy nodded. "She's scrubbed up and ready."
"Good."
Roan leaned in and whispered to his sister.
Kate nodded and leaned into her husband. "You come back to me."
Rock's expression wasn't just stoic.
It was exactly what his house name suggested.
Stoic.
Steady.
Determined.
"I love you, honey."
Kate lifted her gaze to the ceiling and if it hadn't been for Chief Campanelli pulling her into his side, Lexie was sure that the other woman might dissolve into tears.
Hold it back, Lex. Hold it back.
Together, Lexie and Thuy moved in and released the locks on the wheels and moved Rock down the hall and through the automatic doors toward the Operating Rooms.
He was going to be okay.
He had to be.
But...
But if something happened and they couldn't fix it and bring him back to where he was before he was hurt, this firehouse... this family was going to be there for him.
That was a guarantee.