The Nature of the Emergency (Evan 'Buck' Buckley X OC)

What's next?

It has been a couple of weeks since then and today has been weird. First, we had to deal with a crazy lady who stole a cherry picker and then proceeded to crash into a major power supply line. In turn, cutting off power to most of the down town area. In the aftermath of the event, a man got stuck in a meat freezer due to the backup release mechanism being jammed. Luckily for us that was the only major call that we had after the power went down. Right now we are all trying to relax a little. Well, I say relax but we all have a weird feeling that something is going to go catastrophically wrong. It is typical first responder paranoia. At least no one has used the Q word. For some reason, Howie is being the most vocal about the situation.

"I'm just saying. Anything and I mean anything can and will happen," Howie is backing up his stance.

"Look I doubt we are going to get any idiot calls," My response seems to get a death glare from Hoiwe.

"You never know," He retorts. As soon as those words fall from his mouth the signal bell goes. A smirk comes across Howie's face as we head to the ambulance. After nine minutes of driving, we made it to what is left of a caravan park. The caravan park was the victim of a high-speed train derailment. In fact, it is the worst one that I have seen. Normally train derailments happen in the middle of nowhere with cargo, not passengers.

"Howie, Ella I want you two to triage the victims. Everyone else I want you on search and rescue," Like clockwork Bobby delivers his orders. After a couple of minutes of work, a middle-aged woman approaches us. I look over at Buck who has just delivered me another patient to look over. He looks like he has seen a ghost.

"Buck, I need your help. My husband is on the train. I can't find him anywhere," The woman is panicking.

"I'll see what I can do. I'm not going to make any promises. Just stay with Ella," Buck responds. That must mean that the woman is the one who taught Buck how to love someone properly. The woman reluctantly joins me. I checked her over however the worst of her injuries is a superficial laceration to her face. I am about to make small talk when I hear my radio crackle to life.

"Ella you are needed at the last carriage," Bobby summons me via the radio.

"Copy that. I'm on my way," I am quick to excuse myself. After a quick sprint, I make it to where Eddie, Buck and Bobby are.

"You need to harness up. You are going in with Buck and Eddie. There are two survivors towards the end of the carriage," Bobby explains. He doesn't seem happy that he has to send people in, however, he knows that if people need help we are going to do everything in our power to help. With a few swift movements, I have the harness on. Since everyone was quick with getting their harnesses on we were quick to get to work on climbing. Buck and Eddie are the first ones in. They need to make sure that the carriage is secure. After a couple of minutes of waiting I am given the go-ahead to climb up and join them. After a tense climb, I made it to the area of the carriage where Eddie and Buck are.

"We've got two crush injuries. A young girl with a compound fracture to the lower leg and a middle-aged man who is pinned," Eddie gives me his report.

"Let me guess you can't free one without killing the other?" I ask.

"Yes. The support beam is pinning them both," Eddie confirms. With that, I turn my attention to the girl.

"Hey, my name is Ella and I'm going to help you," I introduce myself.

"No help him," She retorts.

"You need more help than I do. You need to live your life," The man counters. It is at that moment that I notice something that Buck and Eddie might have missed.

"But you have a family and I don't," The girl sounds like she is giving up.

"Buck we can cut the support beam in the middle. It should make it easier to free them," I announce.

"That is going to take time," Buck counters.

"He is right. Both victims are injured in places that might kill them if we take our time," Eddie confirms.

"Well if we don't do anything they will die," I counter. If they aren't going to do it I will. With a few swift movements, I made it to the segment of the beam that I needed to cut. Buck reluctantly passes me the saw. After what feels like an eternity I have cut through the beam. Now back to the girl. Before removing the beam I put a Tourniquet on the girl's leg. After doing so I give Eddie and Buck the thumbs up to start moving the parts of the support beam. With a few tugs, I have the girl on a rescue board.

"Bobby I'm on my way down with a victim. She has a compound fracture that I need to look at," I radio in.

"What about the other victim?" Bobby replies.

"Buck and Eddie are helping him now," I confirm as I gently lower the girl down. With some help from Bobby, I got the girl to the triage area.

"What about my husband?" The woman asks. Her panic is only growing worse.

"Buck and Eddie are coming. I will have to take him to the hospital to check how bad the internal injuries are. You are welcome to ride along if it makes you feel better," I offer. I know the feeling of what it is like not being able to help someone. After checking on the girl I turned my attention to the woman and her husband.

"I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Abby," She says as I make the final preparations to load Abby's husband onto the ambulance. As soon as we load Abby's husband onto the ambulance Howie joins me however he has taken the driver's seat. It doesn't take long for Howie to pull the ambulance away from the scene.

"Is something wrong? You've been looking at me suspiciously," Abby remarks.

"Forgive me but you and Buck seem close," I get the thing that is bothering me out in the open.

"Yes we dated for a while but I can see that he has found the person he's been looking for," Abby must have noticed the necklace chain that is keeping my ring safe while I am on shift.

"Well he found me to be honest," I reply, bringing a smile to my face. I can see why Buck liked Abby. Still, I can see why she left him. The age gap is too big. As mean as it is, her loss was my gain. What she says next catches me off guard.

"I am glad that Buck has someone that truly loves him," Abby genuinely is grateful. After a few minutes, we finally made it to the hospital. Abby and I say our goodbyes as I complete the handover. At least I finally got to meet the woman who taught Buck how to appreciate the true meaning of love. It is the day after and despite a crazy twenty-four-hour shift Buck and I decided to go out for brunch. Neither of us woke up early enough for it to be called breakfast. Right now we are walking through the local park. We soon spot a familiar face. It is Abby. She is sitting on a park bench just watching people go by. Buck freezes.

"Buck, you should talk to her. You don't need to worry about me getting jealous. She saw the ring last night. I was the one that took her to the hospital," I explain. With that Buck excuses himself. He joins Abby on the bench. The conversation is a little awkward at first but they soon go back to being friends. After a couple of minutes, Buck comes back. He seems relieved.

"Did you get the answers that you wanted?" I ask as we continue our walk through the park.

"Yes. When Abby left I thought I was going to go back to my old ways however Abby taught me something-," Buck says before I cut him off.

"How to appreciate how special true love is," I beat him to it. My addition seems to get a smile from Buck. He adds a nod for good measure. That means I have Abby to thank for my relationship with Buck. In a weird way, I am glad to have had the encounter with Abby. It reinforced the idea that Buck is the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. The thought puts a smile on my face.