Angel in Scrubs

GERARD

"... And yeah, the bitch wouldn't let me go near her fucking tits man, and I had to perform CPR, which kind of fucks shit up, right?"

Ray laughed as Bob ranted, getting worse as the minutes passed, as he turned a sharp corner on the street, sirens blaring as he talked through a cigarette dangling from his lips. "And shit, dude, her face is so fucking purple, she's about to pass out, but she would not let me near her fucking tits and I was starting to get pissy, since, Hippocratic oath and all, but she didn't want me to, so I backed the fuck off and asked for Ballato to get in there, even though she's the rookie and all."

Bob turned another sharp corner. I was going to puke.

Frank looked at me nervously. "You alright man?" he asked, offering me a cigarette, but I shook my head. The cigarette would only make my stomach churn. This was my first night working as an EMT - I had the qualifications for it, but I preferred the hospitals, the mundane monotonous routines, working with the patients - even with the death.

"You don't look that awesome, dude." Ray commented from the front as Bob started to slow down. "You gonna be alright, man?"

"I'm good." I replied, as Bob finally stopped the ambulance just as a firefighter ran out of the crumbling building with a body over his shoulder. "Just in time." Frank crowed, as we got up and opened the back doors, pushing the gurney down as the ramp slowly lowered, racing towards the edge of the circle of firefighters who looked like they were struggling to put out the fire. The lone man came, passing us the girl's body - there was the smell of burning flesh and singed hair, and her face and leg was a mess. There was an air of beauty to the face, but I couldn't stop to stare, when this girl was possibly about to die.

"We're early, huh?" Ray asked, as I rushed over along with Frank, who took her wrist to find a pulse, gasping. "Extreme tachycardia." he said, before I leaned my ear into her lips, brushing my hair behind my ear to see if she was breathing. She wasn't.

"She's not breathing, we'll have to perform CPR." I said rapidly, as Frank eyed me. "Do you think she's stable enough?" Frank pressed along her ribs, and she didn't flinch, and I took this as a good sign as I opened up her jaw slightly, pressing my lips to hers and pressing two, long breaths into her mouth, before I drew my fingers into the arch of her ribs. thumbing into the center before I pressed my palm flat against her chest, pushing into her ribs, silently counting into twenty before leaning in to hear her breath. It wasn't there, and Frank was getting worried. "Her heart rate is getting faster," Frank urged, as I pushed again, this time with both hands, fist balled up over the hand as I pushed with both arms, harder each time.

Frank leaned in urgently this time. "Still no signs." He said, a frantic expression. I pressed my lips onto hers again, pushing the breaths in as hard as I possibly could. No breath. I pushed my palm into her chest again, urgently this time, not realizing how hard I was pressing until I felt snapping motions in her chest and a loud gasp for air from her lips. Her eyes fluttered open, as Frank urgently pressed an oxygen mask to her face.

She passed out.

Frank eyed me. "Did you break her ribs?"

I winced. "I didn't mean to. It was getting urgent." I turned around, before Bob came back from where the ambulance was parked on the edge of the lawn. "I talked to the chief," he said, "This fire ain't going out for a while. Cart her to the back, and one of you stay behind with the girl."

Frank and I eyed each other, before starting to push the gurney into the ambulance. There was room for possibly two gurneys in here, but it got to be a squeeze, even with Frank being tiny. The radio fuzzed and crackled to life, and Frank spoke into it. "There was extreme tachycardia but it's alright now... No breath, Gerard performed CPR, she's on oxygen support right now. Broken ribs though I can't tell which so far, I think there's a humerus fracture, second degree burns throughout the right side of her body, third-degree burns on her face and her right leg."

Once we pushed her into the back, he sighed. "I really don't wanna stay back, Gee. As much as I love this job, she smells like burning hair and skin."

I sighed. "I'll stay back. You go help."

Frank grinned. "Thanks, Gee." he said, before skipping down the ramp. I eyed the girl, before starting to grab the machines. I hooked her up to a heart monitor, lifting up the singed remains of her shirt and pressing the pads to her bare chest, and thought of what else she might need - fluids? The oxygen support was so far, so good, so I would monitor her and see what she'd need any other time.

Over the next few hours, I studied her face - the right side of her face was singed, but the parts of her face left had that air of beauty. Her eyelashes were singed, and yet the curves of her cheek, the nose with the bump in the bridge, they all had an air of graciousness to them that made her even more beautiful.

I jumped when Frank, Bob and Ray returned hours later.

"No more survivors." Ray said flatly, as Frank moped his way next to me and Bob silently started up the engine. I didn't ask any more questions.

-

When we arrived back at the hospital, we rushed the girl into the ER. Her internal organs seemed to be fine, but the burns and the broken bones needed to be treated. "Definitely a humerus fracture - her arm's swelling." Frank noted casually as we pushed her to the doctors.

"I hope she's alright." I mumbled, before starting to make my way to the nurses' wing. I needed to change - I smelled like smoke and singed skin, and the floor manager was crazy about sanitation, even if you were only delivering pills or food.

"Dude, she'll be fine. The CPR was good, even if it broke a few bones, and the burns always heal. Though..." Frank winced at this point, as we walked through the doors that were the change rooms. "Her face looked like it'd be scarred."

I frowned, as I dug through the piles of freshly laundered scrubs. "That's not alright, Frank."

He sighed. "I still don't get how you're so empathetic to every single freaking patient. I swear, if it weren't for your charitableness, Mrs. Elgert on the second floor would have died of loneliness or filth. Probably both."

"Mrs. Elgert's daughter made good cookies, what can I say?" I grinned, as I found the Batman scrubs that I liked to wear, before stripping off the dirty, long-sleeved scrubs, changing into the short-sleeved shirt and the pants, opting to keep my shoes on. "Should I wash my hair or tie it back?"

"Leave it, dude, it's not like there's any rubble in it."

I rolled my eyes. "God forbid you be a janitor, Iero."

Frank grinned. "Nah, that's Matt's job."

-

"Is she still not awake?" I asked Emily exasperatedly, and the female nurse sighed. "Sorry, Gerard." she said, before walking towards an elderly patient who seemingly was having trouble getting back up from his chair as I sighed, heading towards the receptionist's desk.

"What's the fuss, bro?" my brother, Mikey asked over the stack of papers and his Starbucks mug, seemingly flying through the papers with his pen as his Blackberry vibrated, putting down the mug to check the texts with his one hand and sign the papers with the other.

"That girl that came in last night still isn't up. I'm just worried, is all." I replied honestly, leaning on his elbows, hand cupping my chin as I sighed.

"She's breathing, right?" Mikey raised an eyebrow, putting down his Blackberry and taking a sip from his mug. I still didn't know how Mikey was so good at multitasking. Maybe it was those glasses.

"Yeah."

"Then she'll be fine." Mikey declared, finally putting down his pen and picking up the stack of papers, shuffling them slightly and putting them back down in a neat and organized pile. "Do they know her history, or even her name?"

"There was no information on her in the files. A few of the ones that died matched dental records from an orthodontist and a dentist from across town." I explained, frowning. "The docs decided to wait for her to wake up naturally - it's not a coma as far as I know since she reacts to needles and stuff. Probably just exhaustion, and her body cycling through all the shit it's gone through."

"So don't worry, bro." Mikey said, as a lady walked up towards the desk and Mikey put on his receptionist smile, as I sauntered away.

I hoped she was alright.