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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from ER. They
are
the property of Warner Brothers, etc.
Author's Note: The last episode seen was "Getting to Know You"
Previous Chapters: First Time For Everything, Across the Way,
All in a Day's Work, A Hard Day's Night
Archive Info: Please do not archive this story without my permission.
This series can be found on Alan's ER Online site at
http://erfanfiction.freeservers.com/shirl/
and on Evie's John and Lucy's Fanfic Lounge at
http://www.angelfire.com/mb/greatfic/TheLounge.html
TITLE: The Calm Before the Storm
Part Five of a series
AUTHOR: Shirley
yoshinaka@sprint.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry went in search of Kerry after talking to one of the EMTs over the
radio. Usually, there was an urgency to his steps when he had to announce
an incoming MVA. Tonight, however, there was no rush.
He didn't have to go looking very far. Kerry approached the admit area
with a patient chart in hand. "Jerry, any word on the labs yet for
Mr. Pickford?"
"No, not yet. I just got a call over the radio. There's a DOA coming
in soon."
"What happened?"
He shrugged. "Car accident. That's all I know."
"Just the single victim?"
"Yeah. I'll let you know when they arrive?" He sat down in front of the
computer, returning to the work he'd been doing before being interrupted
by the crackle of radio static.
"That's fine. I'm going to look in on Mrs. Milton in Curtain 2.
And Jerry, could you call the lab and find out what's taking so long?"
"Sure, Dr. Weaver."
Several minutes later, the double doors of the ambulance bay were pushed
open by a gurney.
"Man, you must be kidding me!" Eric exclaimed, giving his partner a
disgusted look. "So what did you say to her?"
The other paramedic named Chris was grinning as they pushed the gurney
along, coming to a stop in front of the admit desk. "I'll tell you later."
Jerry stood up after saving the document he'd been working on. He looked
over at the EMTs. "Is this the DOA guy?"
"Yeah, this would be him," Eric said, a little dryly. "Didn't you notice
we weren't exactly in a hurry?"
"Whatever. So what happened to him?" Jerry peered over the counter to
look at the victim. The guy looked really smashed up.
"There were a couple of witnesses who were standing at a bus stop. They
said the guy took the corner too fast and lost control. He ended up
wrapped around a tree. He must've died on impact. It took an hour with
the jaws to pry him outta the car," Chris answered.
"He just barely missed plowing into the two witnesses," Eric added.
"They were pretty lucky. And pretty shook up."
"No kidding. Did you find any ID on him?" Jerry asked.
"Yeah, in his wallet," Eric replied. "Bradford Prescott."
Chris gave Jerry a quizzical look. "Hey, you ok? You don't look so good."
Jerry gulped, hoping he'd heard wrong. "What was the guy's name?"
"Bradford Prescott," Eric repeated. "Why, you know him?"
"Uh, yeah. Sort of," Jerry muttered, wondering what he should do.
Geez, this was bad. Real bad.
"He was a friend of yours?"
"What? No, not really." Jerry went through the doorway to join them
in the outer hallway. He looked at the body more closely. The face was
covered in blood, swollen, and lacerated, but it was still recognizable.
He'd been hoping it was purely coincidence, and that someone with the
exact same name as the Bradford Prescott he knew had died. But they were
one and the same. Poor Lucy.
"So where do you want him?" Chris asked, a little impatiently. His shift
was almost over and he was looking forward to going home.
"Uh, put him in Trauma 3."
The gurney was wheeled away and Jerry dashed over to Curtain 2.
"Dr. Weaver!"
"Just a minute, Jerry." Kerry didn't even look up as she concentrated on
Mrs. Milton. She smiled at the older woman reassuringly. "Of course,
I'll try calling him again. I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"Thank you, doctor," Mrs. Milton said faintly, closing her eyes with a
sigh.
Kerry patted her hand. "I'll be back soon." She drew the curtain around
the bed and finally faced Jerry, noticing his agitation. "What is it?"
"It's Brad! I can't believe he's dead! What are we gonna do? Should we
call her first? I don't know what.."
"Jerry!" she said sharply, reaching out to grab his arm. He abruptly
closed his mouth and blinked at her. "You're rambling. Slow down, and
tell me what's wrong."
He took a breath and tried again. "Remember the DOA? It's Brad. Lucy's
boyfriend. They just brought him in now."
Kerry didn't show any outward reaction to the news. She remained perfectly
calm. "What happened to him?" Jerry informed her of everything the
paramedics had just told him. "Where's the body?" she asked.
"I told the EMTs to put him in Trauma 3." Jerry was somewhat relieved now
that Kerry was taking charge of the situation.
"Well, we can't leave him there. Call Transpo and have someone move him
to the morgue." She paused. "You're sure it's him?"
"Yeah. I recognized him."
"Do you know his family at all?"
"No. But I'm sure Lucy does."
Kerry looked thoughtful. "Ok, page Lucy and get her down here. But don't
let her know what's happened. Make something up."
"What should I do when she gets here?"
"Find me. I'll talk to her." He turned to walk away and she called
out, "Jerry!" He glanced back at her, and she said quietly, "Does anyone
else know about this?"
"No."
"Good. Let's keep this to ourselves for now, please."
He nodded. For once, he wasn't anxious to start gossiping. Not about this.
***************
What was that incessant beeping?
Lucy moaned and turned on her side. In her dream, she'd been driving Brad
home and honking the car horn...
She slowly came to realize that her pager was beeping. Moaning out loud
again, she turned on the small lamp next to her bed. Rubbing at her eyes,
she picked up the pager and waited for several seconds until the numbers
came into focus. Of course it was the ER. Who else would be paging her
now?
She punched the speed dial button and flopped back against the pillows,
the phone to her ear. She recognized Jerry's voice when he answered.
"It's Lucy. This had better be good." Her voice was gravelly and she
sounded cranky to her own ears.
"Yeah, there's a real crisis here and we're short-handed. You have to
come down right away."
"I don't suppose I have a choice."
"Um, not really. Dr. Weaver specifically asked for you."
"Great." Lucy looked at the time on her clock radio. At least the El
was still running. "I'll be there in about half an hour."
"Ok, Lucy. Sorry 'bout this."
"Yeah, yeah." She hung up and and rolled over on her back, staring up
at the ceiling. She could feel her eyelids growing heavier again, and
realized she'd better get up before she drifted back to sleep.
Going into the bathroom, she deliberately avoided looking in the mirror.
She didn't need to know how bad she looked. After splashing cold water
on her face, running a brush through her hair, and pulling on some warm
clothes, she was ready. Well, as ready as she would ever be. It wasn't
often that she was called into work like this, but it did happen
occasionally. It was just part of the job.
After locking her door, she looked at the closed door of Carter's apartment.
It was strange to think he was living there now. The idea still took some
getting used to. She had to admit, she'd appreciated his support when Brad
had been acting like a total...
She forced herself to stop the thought there. She didn't want to think
about Brad. It only made her confused and unhappy. She knew she had to
make a decision soon about what to do, but it didn't have to be tonight.
As Lucy walked down the silent corridor, she wondered if Carter had also
been called in to the ER. Maybe he was already down there. Or maybe he
was snugly asleep in his own bed, having pleasant dreams. Since he had
been so kind to her earlier, she magnanimously hoped the latter was true.
***************
The nurses gathered at the admit desk burst out laughing at Chuny's joke.
This night shift was proving to be a slow one. A couple of traumas
had come in earlier, but nothing for the past hour or so. A few people
were in chairs. Most of them were waiting for relatives to be treated
and released.
Chuny looked over at Jerry. He had a magazine open on the desk, but was
staring into space. "Hey, you didn't laugh at my joke!" She smiled
at him, but he obviously hadn't heard her. "Jerry?"
"Huh?" He finally glanced over at her.
"What's wrong with you tonight? You look like your best friend died."
"It's nothing," he mumbled, turning his attention back to the magazine.
Chuny gave Lydia and Lily a look, and shrugged.
"Ok, here I am," Lucy announced, pulling off her gloves as she approached
the desk. "Where's the big emergency?"
"Lucy!" Jerry exclaimed. He stood up so quickly, the stool beneath him
almost overturned before he steadied it. Four pairs of female eyes
looked at him strangely. He reddened and stammered, "Uh... just wait
right here, Lucy. I'm gonna go get Dr. Weaver."
He practically sprinted down the hallway while the others stared after
him.
"That man gets more and more strange every day," Lydia commented, with a
shake of her head.
Lucy unzipped her coat and glanced around. This certainly didn't seem
like a crisis. She was going to kill Jerry if this was some sort of
false alarm. Then again, he had said that Dr. Weaver specifically
asked for her, so maybe something was going on.
"What are you doing here, Lucy?" Chuny asked curiously. "Your shift
isn't starting now, is it?"
"I was paged," Lucy replied. "I'm gonna hang up my coat in the lounge.
Can you tell Dr. Weaver where I am if she comes looking for me?"
"Sure," Chuny answered. She had a puzzled frown on her face. There
was definitely something weird going on here, but she didn't know what
it was.
***************
Kerry stood outside the lounge door and took several long breaths.
This was going to be very difficult. She didn't know how deep the
relationship between Brad and Lucy had been, but regardless, it was
going to be disturbing news for her. She had thought about various
ways of telling her, but had decided it would be best to be blunt.
Gentle, but blunt. She had no way of guessing how Lucy was going to
react, so she was prepared for the worst.
Pushing open the door, she found Lucy sitting by the table. First, she
noticed that Lucy had changed into her lab coat. Second, she thought
that Lucy looked extremely tired. She had dark smudges under her eyes
and her pallor didn't look good. And this night was only going to get
worse for her, poor girl.
"Hi, Lucy."
"Dr. Weaver." Lucy didn't return the older woman's smile. "What's
going on? Why was I paged here when there obviously isn't any sort
of crisis?"
Kerry came to sit down beside her, pulling the chair closer to Lucy.
"You're right. And don't blame Jerry. It was my idea to tell you that.
But I do need to speak with you, Lucy." She regarded the girl seriously.
Lucy almost wanted to look away from Kerry, but couldn't. She could read
sadness in the woman's eyes and she didn't know what that meant. "You're
scaring me. What's wrong?" she asked nervously.
Kerry took her hand. "It's about Brad. Brad Prescott. He was brought in
earlier tonight, DOA. Apparently, he lost control of his car and crashed
into a tree. He died on impact. There was nothing that could be done for
him. I'm truly sorry, Lucy."
Lucy found that she couldn't speak. She wanted to shout, 'What? What are
you talking about? How can he be dead?', but she didn't say a word. She
looked down at their joined hands, and pulled away from Kerry's grasp.
She clasped her hands in her lap and still remained silent.
A minute passed and Kerry finally spoke. "Lucy, are you all right?"
Lucy's head jerked involuntarily at the sound of her voice, and she gazed
down at her hands. She noted somewhat detachedly that her knuckles were
white. "You're sure it's Brad?" she whispered, her voice shaking slightly.
Kerry nodded, wishing there was some doubt in her mind. But she'd taken
a look at the body herself and had made sure there was no sign of life.
Although she hadn't known Brad well, she'd seen him with Lucy on several
occasions. There was no mistake. "Jerry and I both recognized him.
We also have his ID from his wallet."
"Can I see him?"
Kerry hesitated. "He's already been moved to the morgue." She quickly
added, "The reason I asked you to come down here, is to ask if you know
how to contact his next of kin."
Lucy was trying to focus on what Kerry was saying, but her mind was
swirling with disconnected thoughts. What had she said? Oh, contacting
family. "Uh, his mother died a few years ago. His father lives in
Chicago, but I don't know his phone number. Oh, but my mother would
know. I could call her."
"Would you do that? It would be a great help." Kerry realized that Lucy
was acting with unnatural calm. People dealt with grief in different ways.
The full impact of Brad's death probably hadn't hit her yet, and there was
no way of knowing when it would happen.
"I'll call her right now."
Lucy mechanically moved towards the phone, and Kerry said, "Take your
time, Lucy. I'll be right back."
Kerry stepped outside and almost bumped into Jerry. He looked down at her
anxiously. "How did she take it?" he asked.
"Pretty well. A little too well. I'm worried about her," she said honestly.
"Well, the police are here. They want to talk to someone."
"I'll talk to them. Can you try to deter anyone from using the lounge
right now? Lucy's just calling her mother."
"Yeah, no problem," Jerry replied. He wondered if Lucy and Brad had been
in love.
***************
"Are you sure, honey? I could be there on a flight first thing this morning."
"No, Mom. There's nothing you could do right now."
Lucy was trying to convince her mother not to fly in to Chicago. There
really was no need, at this point, though she'd most certainly come to the
funeral. Her mom had looked up Mr. Prescott's address and phone number,
and Lucy had written it down on a scratch pad kept by the phone. She
doodled on the paper, making endless circles as she listened to her mother.
She finally interrupted her in mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I have
to go. I've got to get this phone number to someone."
"Of course. Are you absolutely sure I shouldn't come right away?"
"I'm sure. I'll call you later, ok?"
"Ok, Lucy. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
Lucy ripped the top sheet from the pad of paper, and went into the hallway.
Jerry was standing right by the lounge door.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hey yourself. What are you doing just standing there?"
"Dr. Weaver asked that I stand guard so you weren't disturbed. So you
talked to your mom?"
"Uh huh." Lucy's attention was diverted by a couple of police officers
that were talking to Dr. Weaver further down the hall. "The police
are here?"
Jerry followed Lucy's gaze. "Yeah. I guess they want more details about
what happened."
Lucy was fairly certain the police would want to question her. After all,
she was the last person who'd seen Brad alive; assuming the accident had
happened directly after leaving her apartment.
That's when the thought hit her, or rather, it slammed into her like a
truck. This was her fault. She had been so upset by Brad's behaviour
towards her in her apartment, that she'd kicked him out and let him drive
drunk. She had been so concerned about him not driving when they'd left
the restaurant, and yet the thought had never occurred to her when he'd
left her apartment. How could she have let that happen?
*Because I was angry and upset. He almost assaulted me!* one part of her
mind argued.
*But he didn't deserve to die over it. I'm responsible for this!*
the other part accused.
Lucy felt sick. She could feel Jerry's eyes on her and she looked up
at him. "Did you say something?" she asked weakly.
"I just asked if you're ok."
"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. "Listen, can you give this to Dr. Weaver?"
She handed him the slip of paper. "It has Mr. Prescott's, Brad's father's,
address and phone number."
He looked at the note, then glanced down at her. "Why don't you give it
to her yourself?"
"There's something I have to do." She started backing down the hall.
"I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going, Lucy?" Jerry called after her, concerned about how
she was behaving.
She ignored him and ran down the hall. She only had one destination in mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Feedback is welcomed and appreciated!
Shirley
yoshinaka@sprint.ca
Thanks :)
