Chapter 4
The room has filled with people who shouldn't be there, but Barry's handling that because Erin is focused on Mia, who is opening her eyes.
The doctor watches her expression as she does and realizes immediately that something is wrong, because the singer blinks without quite focusing, then stares up at the ceiling with a bewildered look, and her hands close around the fabric of the gurney until they're fists.
Her breathing speeds up at once, her chest rising while her diaphragm won't drop, and Erin recognizes the pattern without needing Mia to do or say anything, because she's been a doctor too many years and has seen too many patients spiral into panic, which is exactly what the singer is doing right now.
"Everyone out," she orders, her voice cutting through the room as she turns around.
Standing with Barry is the singer's manager and another guy whose stricken expression somehow puts Erin at ease from the first second, because he looks genuinely worried about Mia.
"I need to be in here," Jude says, "because I'm—"
"I don't care who you are, get out. You too, Barry." Erin looks at the other guy, who seems to be silently begging her not to send him away. "You, sit over there and don't get in my way."
Noah lets out a shaky breath and drops into a chair while Barry steers Jude out of the room and pulls the door shut behind them.
Mia is trying to push herself up on her right elbow when Erin turns back to her, but she can't manage it and falls against the padding of the gurney.
Her left hand trembles in the air as if reaching for something that isn't there, or as if she doesn't even know what she's reaching for, but what strikes Erin most is the intensity of those wide-open blue eyes.
"Mia," the doctor murmurs, softening her voice. "Hey, look at me."
The singer looks at her but doesn't quite seem to see her.
"My name is Erin. I'm a doctor, and right now you're at Madison Square Garden." Mia keeps watching her while she tries to breathe. "You passed out on stage. You're okay even if it doesn't feel that way, and it's normal to be scared, but I need you to trust me right now. Nothing is wrong with you."
Mia tries to say something, but what comes out is a strangled gasp, and her eyes fill with tears. Her breathing keeps accelerating, her shoulders nearly reaching her ears with every desperate attempt to pull in air.
"Listen." Erin places her hand on Mia's damp forehead and brushes the wet strands away. "What you're feeling is a panic attack. You're frightened by what happened and a little disoriented, but I promise you're going to be fine."
The doctor glances toward the chair, and Noah stands up, ready to come closer, but she waves him off—before she lets Mia interact with anyone else, she needs her pulse to settle.
She takes one of the singer's clenched fists carefully and opens her fingers one by one while Mia, terrified, stares at her.
When she's managed to uncurl the hand completely, Erin places it flat against her own chest, just over the pocket where her name is embroidered, so Mia can feel the rise and fall of her breathing.
"You need to breathe like I do, okay?"
Mia gasps and blinks through tears, but keeps her eyes locked on the doctor.
"Come on, breathe with me," Erin says. "One in, two out, three in…"
Erin draws in air. Mia holds hers.
"Again," the doctor insists. "One in, two out…"
Mia tries, and what comes out is a trembling sigh that doesn't quite fill her lungs all the way, but Erin never stops looking at her and nodding as if she's doing it perfectly.
"Keep going. Look at me and focus on my breath. Come on, sweetheart, you can do this."
The singer breathes in, and this time she manages to go deeper. Erin feels the hand resting on her chest press its fingertips against her, and then she lets the air out slowly so Mia can follow.
"That's it. Again."
They do it at least ten times, and on the next breath Mia's shoulders start to come down.
Her breathing steadies, and she can finally swallow without choking.
Her gaze, locked on Erin's gray eyes through the whole thing, begins to truly focus, and the moment the singer actually registers where she is, what happened to her, and where it happened, Erin watches vulnerability move through her in a single wave—she can feel Mia's fear, can see how exposed she is right now—and so the doctor presses Mia's hand more firmly against her chest.
"Easy, everything's okay," she whispers, and Mia sucks in a sharp breath and lets it out in pieces.
Erin holds her gaze for several seconds that hang in the air with a strange charge to them, but she sets that aside—she doesn't know what to call it and doesn't try—and stays focused on her patient.
"Hi," the doctor says, offering a small smile when Mia blinks again and seems more present.
"Hi," Mia finally answers, her voice pretty rough.
"Do you know where you are?"
Mia nods, feeling information flooding back all at once.
"The Garden."
"What day is it?" Erin asks.
"Friday. I don't know the date."
"She never does," Noah offers. He has one hand on his own chest, as if he'd been doing the breathing exercises right along with them.
Erin glances at him and nods.
"I don't need the date, the day works." She turns back to Mia. "Does anything hurt?"
"Yes and no. Everything hurts a little, but not bad."
"Okay. Are you dizzy?"
The singer nods.
"A little."
"You might be for a while still. We're going to take you to the hospital, all right? It's just protocol," she adds, so Mia won't panic. "I don't think anything serious is going on, but you passed out and we need to know why."
"It's not the first time," she hears, and turns toward the guy who has just come to stand beside her, his tangled hair falling across his forehead as he stares at Mia.
"I'm fine, Noah," the singer whispers, trying to smile.
Noah makes a face and huffs, moving around to the other side of the gurney so he can take his friend's hand.
It's only then that Erin realizes she still has Mia Wilder's other hand trapped between her own and her chest, so she eases it away and lays it gently over Mia's stomach before checking her pulse again, listening with the stethoscope, and getting everything ready to start an IV line.
"You said it's happened before," Erin says to Noah as she preps for the needle. "How many times?"
"Four or five in the last few months, maybe six."
"You don't have to look away," Erin murmurs, about to insert the needle.
"It doesn't scare me," Mia says.
"What were the circumstances?" the doctor asks, turning back to Noah.
"All kinds of places. The first time was on the tour bus, once at a hotel, twice before going on stage…"
"Has a doctor ever seen her?" Now she looks at Mia, but Mia only nods because she still doesn't have the energy to talk that much, so Erin shifts back to Noah.
"Jude had someone come out one of the times, but they said it was just dehydration."
The doctor raises an eyebrow.
"I'm guessing they didn't run any tests…"
"No. Jude said it was nothing, just exhaustion—told me to make sure she drank plenty of water and everything would be fine."
"Sorry, but—" Erin says. "Are you her boyfriend, or…?"
"Oh, no." Noah smiles, a little red in the face, and Erin smiles back because the guy gives off a kind of trust and calm she's rarely found in people. "We've been friends for years, and now I'm also her personal assistant."
The doctor nods without looking up, because she can't even explain why she asked—it wasn't information she needed to treat the patient.
"Alright, we're all set. I'm going to ask my partner to bring in the ambulance stretcher and then we're heading out."
When she steps out, she finds Barry already beside the gurney, waiting, and Erin smiles because she loves that he anticipates her every thought.
"Is this really necessary?" asks Jude, one eyelid twitching from the stress. "Do you have any idea how many people came out tonight? We can't just—"
"I don't care who came out, and I don't care what you have to say.
The moment she became my patient, she became my responsibility, so we're going to do what I decide.
If you want to do something useful for her, clear the hallway and make sure the exit is free so nobody gets a photo of her.
She's better, by the way," she adds flatly, and turns back toward the room.
Five minutes later, Mia is in the back of the ambulance with Erin, and Noah is up front talking with Barry, who keeps the guy distracted with his sharp, funny commentary about the job.
The doctor clips the pulse oximeter onto Mia's finger and adjusts the drip on the IV line while the ambulance pulls away with the sirens off.
Mia stares at the ceiling as she slowly reclaims control of her body—and along with it, her only way of armoring herself: seduction.
"What's your name?" she asks, because she can't recall the doctor saying it before.
"Erin," she answers, tapping the embroidered name on her pocket while she checks Mia's vitals.
"Erin Dooley…"
Mia pushes her hair off her forehead—dry now—and gives her a slow smile.
Erin sees it immediately, sees the exact moment the vulnerable girl from a few minutes ago transforms into someone determined not to show weakness.
It's not that she has some special gift for reading people, but Mia's expression is shifting entirely.
Her eyes seem to brighten, every trace of the tears that had filled them gone, replaced by a crooked smile aimed straight at Erin.
Erin wants to tell her she doesn't need to bother, that she's not going to play along, that Mia doesn't have to perform anything for her benefit—but she lets it go, because what matters most right now is that her patient recovers, and if this helps, she's not going to stand in the way.