Anna nodded absently as she started to pick at her breakfast. At least she didn’t have an appointment with Victoria until next week. That would give her time to think, maybe even to get her attraction firmly corralled and stamped down into a fun little internal box. She’d have to dig up one of her old journals onpatient ethics, that would surely be dry enough reading to kill even the most electric of attractions.
Driving into the hospital was unexpectedly difficult today, she noticed, about a half-mile away. Not that Los Angeles traffic was ever a picnic, but this kind of standstill post-rush hour wasn’t entirely normal. Anna craned her neck, trying to see if she could see lights, sirens, smoke, anything that might give her an idea of what was happening. There did seem to be some smoke in the distance, but other than that, nothing.
Slowly, she inched her car forward, creeping ever closer to the hospital. Then she saw it; a blockade of police cars and fire engines on the road leading to Oakridge. Police officers were going from car to car, chatting with drivers. Anna rolled down her window and waved one down. “I work in the hospital! What’s happening?”
The officer she hailed was a young man with sober dark eyes. “Ma’am. There’s been a major fire at a nearby restaurant. It spread to an apartment complex next door.”
“Oh, no.” Then she realized what that meant.Mass casualty event.“Oh, God.”
The policeman nodded. “Yes ma’am. The hospital is overwhelmed.”
“I need to get there,” she informed him urgently. Mass casualty events meant all hands on deck. She would be able to help orderlies assemble extra supplies for the physicians and assist in keeping non-patients calm and informed. And she’d be needed afterwards, for any medical staff who had seen too much?—
Victoria. Victoria in her fragile, just-held-together state of freshness would be in the thick of emergency surgeries, moving from patient to patient as quickly as possible. Tensions and adrenaline would run high. The crash afterwards… Annagripped her steering wheel and stared wildly up at the officer. “I need to get to the hospital!”
“Can I see your ID?”
She handed over her badge and tried not to vibrate out of her skin as he inspected it. To her relief, he didn’t ask her any more questions, simply handed her badge back and guided her into an empty lane of traffic so she could get to the hospital parking garage. It was an agonizing bit-by-bit drive, her speed held back by the officers directing the traffic. She had to show her badge and explain herself two more times before she could finally access the garage and fling her little car into the first available spot she could find.
Anna bolted out of her car and made a beeline for the emergency department, where she would be most needed and where she would surely find Victoria. She spotted exactly who she needed right away, her big messy bun of brown curls a beacon in the busy department; Dr. Deborah Morales, Chief of Emergency Medicine, standing in the middle of the chaos at the central podium and directing people like a train conductor. Anna raised her hand in a wave.
“Dr. Monroe, I’ve got a nurse named Angelina Ross who needs a good right hand.” Deb indicated a tall, lanky brunette in blue scrubs who was busy taking vitals in a trauma bay. “You’re CPR certified, right?” At Anna’s nod she waved her off in Angelina’s direction. “Get gowned and gloved up for safety, and thank you.”
Anna suited up and followed Angelina around from patient to patient, helping with supplies and assessments. All the while, she kept a weather eye out for Victoria, but of course she was probably back in an OR somewhere helping the trauma team. Still, Anna fretted inwardly while chatting with patients and moving through the chaos as more and more ambulances streamed in with injured people.
“Listen up, folks!” By now, Deb Morales was standing atop the central podium, waving for attention. “We’ve got to redirect any incoming ambulances to other hospitals. We are officially over capacity. Keep helping where you can, but be aware I am calling it and we’re gonna stem this tide.”
She got down, assisted by Hayley Milton from the ICU, and disappeared into the crowd. Angelina nodded at Anna. “We’ve got a couple more beds to visit, you still good to help out?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Anna replied, a bit distractedly. She kept looking around the emergency department just in case.
“You looking for someone?” Angelina asked.
“Dr. Victoria Ellis.” Anna craned her neck to see if she could spot Victoria’s distinctive blonde head. But of course, Victoria would be in a surgical cap and gown. Anna shook her head at her forgetfulness.
“She’s in with Dr. Laura Foster.” Angelina tilted her head, regarding Anna with curiosity. “There was a patient at the center of the restaurant fire, really badly burned. They needed all the help they could get on that one.”
“I see.” That concerned Anna greatly. There was a lot of trauma in burn victims, who were not the type of patient Victoria would normally see. It would be a very high-pressure, high-stakes situation. She bit her lip, worried.
“Do you know Dr. Ellis very well?” Angelina’s tone was polite, but curious. And she looked concerned, for which Anna couldn’t blame her. She wouldn’t make much of a good right hand for the nurse if she was distracted by worry for Victoria.
“We’re acquainted. But never mind.” She shook off her nagging worries and squared her shoulders. “Let’s get some more folks helped.”
It was another two hours—she’d ended up calling Kathleen and having most of her afternoon patients rescheduled—of checking pulses, fetching water, and talking to family memberswhose hectic nerves needed soothing while their loved ones were being worked on. True to Dr. Morales’ word, there had been no further incoming patients, so the nurses and the ER physicians were able to slowly whittle away at the less critical cases, sending them to other departments, or to their homes with referrals for non-urgent care within the next few days.
Angelina tucked her last pair of bright blue nitrile gloves into a bag and tied it off before shooting it into a nearby trash can. “Okay. We got a minute.”
Tugging off her own gloves and disposing of them, Anna ran a hand over her hair. She’d done a fat Dutch braid that morning, but wisps and waves of auburn hair were springing out of the plait left and right. “Great, I’m going to sort this mess out.”
“Oh, wait.” Angelina craned her neck to look over Anna’s head. “Weren’t you looking for Dr. Ellis?”
Anna’s head snapped around so fast, she felt something pinch in her neck. But she spotted Victoria right away, emerging from the emergency room operating wing, her face ashen, hair in as much disarray as Anna’s. There was no light or focus in her blue eyes, and she looked like she wanted to run as fast as she could, as far away as she could get.
If she called her name, Anna knew that Victoria would either freeze like a deer in headlights, or she would sprint from the room. “I’ll be back in a moment,” she told Angelina, who nodded, her expression still very curious.
Slowly, Anna made her way across the room, doing nothing to attract Victoria’s attention. Instead she simply followed her as she made her way out of the room, Victoria’s head turning this way and that as she sought somewhere safe to go. Her height and the golden-blonde sunshine of her hair made it easy for Anna to trail along at a reasonable distance and go undetected.
Through the hospital they went, Victoria becoming visibly more agitated with each step. Finally, they were in the mainfoyer of Oakridge, and Anna saw Victoria head towards the large bank of elevators in the center of the big atrium. And then she passed them all, turning left to a dark little stairwell door and disappearing into it. Anna sped up and followed her.
