Pete turned back toward Troy. "Elizabeth operated. There were abscesses on his liver. She gave him a chance."
Julian walked to her side and crouched. "Chère? Beth?"
Her eyes flew open. "Marty?"
"Shh, he's in the ER. Patrick is with him."
"What's wrong?" She almost fell getting out of the recliner.
"Whoa." Julian caught her. "He needs you in one piece." Once on her feet, Elizabeth shot out the door like a cannonball. Tighe stayed behind with Troy while Trask and Julian chased after her.
The control room door crashed open, and Elizabeth stormed in. Patrick held back his laugh at her expression. He wore his lab coat over his tactical gear.
"Well, Viper. What do we have?" Her pulse was visibly pounding at the base of her throat.
He stood with the radiologist and the hospital interventional radiologist, Darwin Simms, staring at Martin's CT scans. Martin lay unconscious on the CT scanner bed, a nurse at his side. "His right orbit is cracked. No brain bleed." The radiologist deciphered the scan. "The ribs he broke earlier are broken again."
"Freeze the shot. Damn, that's a bleed." Patrick's finger settled on the picture of Martin's liver.
"We can just observe him?" Simms was cautious.
"Beth, he has a leak in a tiny vessel in the liver," Darwin's voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
"That's a bleed. Call a team and get me the fluoroscopy room." Elizabeth outlined a black dot with her finger.
"We can wait. His numbers are good," Darwin pleaded his case.
"How many livers have you successfully embolized not related to cancer?" She scowled at the taller surgeon. She could see Patrick scanning her, looking for any sign of weakness or fatigue.
"You win, but if he were my patient, I'd wait."
Elizabeth tapped her foot. "He's not your patient."
"He's not either of your patients; he's mine. Elizabeth, only because of your level of expertise will I let you assist. Darwin, you scrub in too. Eric Seton is en route to scrub in as well. He is embolization-trained." Elizabeth raised a brow at Patrick's expression, which turned lethal as he gave his orders.
Elizabeth ran to Martin's side as the technicians and nurses wheeled him toward the pre-op waiting area. She grasped his bruised hand and kissed his fingers. "Marty, everything is going to be okay." She lowered his gown to inspect his chest, abdomen, and pelvis.
Patrick whispered into her ear, "He wasn't raped."
She muffled a sob. "Patrick, if it becomes too complicated, I'm taking over. I can't..."
Patrick moved to the scrub sinks. "I know. Let's do this."
Eric and Darwin positioned Martin on the table. "Eric, prep both sides, please."
"You like me manscaped?"
"Marty? Oh, God. Marty." She ran around the drape where Warren Chen was attaching the monitors.
"Hey, Sunshine. You're sexy in that hat." His eyes were foggy.
"Farmer, magic questions please."
"Viper, you're a party pooper.” He rolled his head from side to side and creased his brows with a wince. “I'm Martin Aaron Bailey. I'm in… Someone hit me... Damn, my cheek hurts. I’m in a hospital, and I don't know what day it is in August." Martin coughed, "Argh, what hit me?"
Patrick’s brows furrowed. "Versed, please, Warren."
"Ooh, that's better. I'm flying."
