Burnin' Love (1)

Recovery

♣️Season 1, Episode 11♣️ 

Nicole lays on the bottom of the rig floor. The stretcher on top of her abdomen, moving as Gabby kicks it off her leg. Gabby checks on both her partner's seeing blood coming from wounds in both their heads with bleeding coming from Nicole's abdomen as well. 

"You two are gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

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Kelly runs into ER, meeting Boden, "Is that them? Is that them?"

"Let them work," Boden blocks him from running to either trauma area where Shay and Nicole lay, "Kelly!"

"I want to see them!" Kelly yells.

"Right now there's nothing you can do."

Kelly looks to Nicole's stretcher first, "W-what are they talking about here? Nic, she-she has a head and abdomen injury? Internal bleeding? Shay? A-a head injury? How bad is it?"

Boden shrugs, shaking his head, "I don't know."

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Matt rushes down the hospital hallway, meeting the rest of 51, "W-where is she? Where's Nic? What have we heard?"

"Nicole has a moderate brain injury as well as some internal bleeding from her kidney. Shay also has a moderate brain injury. They've located the brain swelling on both of them so they are gonna do a couple MRI's to try and determined the extent of the damage. Then, they'll bring Nicole up to surgery to stop the bleeding."

"If anybody can rally, it's Shay and Nicole."

He nods, "And Dawson's okay?"

Boden sighs, "She has a laceration on her leg but other than that, she's fine. They'll release her here in a minute."

Matt's mind working a mile a minute as he tries to understand what happened, "The other driver...his tow truck, was he DUI or...?"

Otis shakes his head, "No. Breathalyzer came up negative."

"Stupid, freak thing. Truck blew a tire."

"What about Shay's family? Your parents?" Matt looks to Kelly.

Kelly can't stop pacing, "Shay's moms in Tacoma. Her dad's in Baton Rouge. I left a message for them both. Talked to my mom, she said she'd try and get a flight out here but I don't count on it. Dad won't answer his phone."

Boden looks down, "Every thought. Every prayer, needs to be directed down that hallway. Okay?"

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Back at the firehouse, Gabby walks through the doors as everyone greets her, "Dawson! Hey!"

Kelly and Matt stand next to each other, looking hopeful at Gabby, "Shay? Nicole?"

"They're still in the ICU. Shay's brain swelling has subsided and she won't need surgery. Nicole's swelling has also gone down, and the bleeding from her kidney is slowing so she won't need surgery after all. They're hoping they are both out of the woods."

Boden nods, "Just spoke with Chief Hatcher. In the absence of Shay and Nicole, Candidate Peter Mills will fill the absent post in an EMT capacity and Dawson will be acting PIC."

Gabby asks her, "For how long?"

"Until Shay and Nicole are back."

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Matt sits in his office, staring at the engagement ring he'd gotten for Nicole a while ago but hadn't been able to propose. He closes the box and throws it in his desk drawer.

"Everything good?" Kelly asks from the doorway.

"My girlfriend's laying in the ICU and I'm stuck here. All I want is for her and Shay to be okay," Matt sighs, holding his head in his hands.

"Me too, man," He nods to the ring that's now hidden in a drawer, "You gonna propose when she wakes up?"

Matt shrugs, "I don't know. I want it to be memorable but I want her to also be able to look back on it with happy memories. In a hospital bed is not the best idea. I'll wait for her to be better and then execute my plan."

Kelly snorts, "And what plan is that, exactly? A skywriter?"

"No. Nicole would kill me if I made it that big. It will be small and intimate. Maybe dinner and then somewhere under the stars. Just the two of us."

He nods, smiling, "That sounds like Nicole. She'll love it whenever you decide to ask."

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Blinking awake, Nicole groans when the bright lights of the hospital room blind her and the beeping of the machines finally reach her ears, "Wh-what happened?"

"You tried wrestling with a tow truck. And lost," Gabby tells her, jumping up, "How you feeling?"

"I'm fine. How's Shay?" 

Gabby shakes her head, "Fine. She's actually in the room next door and recovering nicely. We all were just waiting on you to wake up and join the living."

Nicole sees Gabby's paramedic jacket and radio on the chair, "Are you working?"

Shrugging, Gabby nods, "Someone has to with you and Shay laying down on the job."

Matt's voice is heard from the doorway, "I know I've said you needed to take a break every once in a while, but this was not what I meant."

"But here everyone basically waits on me.?

"You know I'd be more than happy to wait on you hand and foot at home," Matt tells her, sitting some flowers on the table next to Nicole before kissing her, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a truck," Nicole jokes, smiling up at her boyfriend, "How's everyone at the firehouse."

He glares gently at her, "Worry about healing before worrying about anyone else. We all love you and want you to get better."

Nicole pouts, "But that's boring. Why worry about myself when I work with a bunch of firefighters who don't care about their own safety?"

Gabby pipes up from next to her, "I'll worry about them. You get better so you can become PIC again cause I don't want this job."

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

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Matt lifts Nicole gently out of the car, "You know I can walk, right?"

"Yeah, but I want to take care of you. Deal with it."

Nicole smiles, kissing his cheek, "That's sweet. Take me straight to the bedroom so we can sleep? Cause I'm exhausted."

He nods, quickly moving upstairs and setting Nicole on the bed, "Now, remember, you have to take these meds every four hours, no strenuous activity until a doctor clears you and drink plenty of fluids."

Relaxing on their bed, Nicole raises an eyebrow at Matt, "Babe, if I thought for a second that you'd leave me to heal by myself, I'd have listened. However, I know you and I know that will basically being hand feeding me, giving me my meds every four hours on the dot and carrying me everywhere until I get the okay from a doctor."

"Shh, time for bed. But first, take this pill and drink this glass of water."

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AN: Nicole is not pregnant but I know when she will be and it won't be too long.

I hope everyone is having a happy holidays!

QoC: what do you think Nicole will think of Renee?

Thanks for all of the votes and reads and comments!!!