In Kate We Trust// The Night Shift

Chapter 22

Sunrise, Sunset

9:48 pm

The shift was pretty basic so far. Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. Thank goodness because being short 2 of your best doctors is not fun.

''All right, everybody, listen up.You guys all know that T.C. and Topher are still in Afghanistan, so that means that we are short two attendings. But lucky for us, we have a new doctor to help us out.'' Jordan announced. I lifted the scrubs and tag of the counter.

''I would like to introduce you to Dr. Michael Ragosa. We just got the e-mail. You passed your boards. Congratulations, Doctor.'' I told Michael and everyone else as I handed him his blue scrubs.

''Wow. Thank you.'' He replied looking overwhelmed.

''All right, guys, here we go. Listen up. Sorry to break up the party. Dispatch just called. We have a big pileup on 90 west. Drivers pinned inside vehicles. We need docs on site, stat.'' Kenny explained joining us at the nurse's station.

''All right, Drew, you're up, and take, um-'' I was cut off by Paul.

'' Me, me. I got this one.'' Paul insisted

''Really? All right. It's yours. Go for it.'' I told him and he headed off with Drew looking very pleased with himself. My phone buzzed in my pocket as everyone returned to their tasks. I took it out and a message from TC looked back at me.

'Wow, 120 degrees in Kandahar. Makes Texas seem chilly!'

'I miss you x' I replied back and allowed a smile to creep onto my face.

Very soon the ER was flooded with patients from the crash.

''Rachel and Devin Lawson. The sister has head trauma, scalp laceration. No L.O.C. Brother has facial trauma with seatbelt sign. Vitals are stable on both.'' Drew explained to Jordan as I joined them.

''I've got the brother in Trauma 2.'' I told them.

''Okay, I'll take the sister in Trauma 1. Drew, I want you to manage the floor, and any new incoming, you might as well step into those Chief Resident crocs now.'' Jordan spoke.

''I like the sound of that.'' Drew answered as he threw his gloves in the bin.

''Hey Devin. I'm Dr. Allister. I'm gonna take care off you.'' I spoke as I walked into Trauma 2 where Devin was. One of the nurse's set up the ultrasound machine as I looked at his stomach.

''Kate, Drew wants you. I got Devin here.'' Scott told me as he entered the room. I had just placed the gel on Devin's stomach so I handed the scanner to Scott before leaving.

''Kate, OR now.'' Kenny called as he ran by.

''On it.'' I answered as I headed towards the OR. Here comes a very dramatic night.

Turns out the patient I had in the OR was Devin's older sister Rachel.

''The craniotomy we performed on Rachel was routine. There were no issues. Post-op imaging show no new bleeding. But check this out. Diffuse atrophy in her cerebral cortex. '' I told Jordan as I handed her the iPad with the scans on it.

''She's 20 with the brain of an 80-year-old. '' Jordan commented as she examined the scan

''This has to be genetic, which means she's had it her whole life.''

''Her cortisol levels are barely detectable. You know, maybe that's why she didn't want a C.T. She didn't want us to know that she was dying.''

''Why would she want to hide that? '' I asked.

''Yeah, that's a good question.'' Jordan replied. We arrived at the nurse's station ''I'm gonna go talk to Paul.''

''Okay. I'll see you later.''

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''Any word on the sniper.'' I asked Kenny as I arrived at the nurse's station where he and Jordan were worried sick about Gwen who had be called out to the site of the last shooting. Turns out it was a sniper that caused the car crash earlier in the shift. Suddenly Gwen came in wheeling Sara who was on a gurney holding her arm.

''Gwen! '' Kenny exclaimed.

''Fine. I'm fine.'' She replied.

''What the hell happened?'' Jordan asked.

'' Got called into a setup. Son of a bitch coward shot Sara, blew our windshield out.'' Gwen explained.

''Okay, let's get Sara to C.T. and call it to the O.R.'' Jordan ordered.

''I'll page Scott.'' I told her.

''I'm fine. It's just my arm.'' Sara spoke as the wheeled her to CT. I sat behind the nurse's station and made the call to the OR and paged Scott too.

What seemed like a long shift was finally over. The ER seemed quiet without TC and it was weird. I glanced at my phone and had no new messages. I picked up my bag and left the changing room and was ready to head home. Now I had to find Drew. I turned the corner and found not only my brother but his boyfriend too. Neither looked happy.

''Hey-'' I didn't get to finish my sentence before I found myself get very dizzy and then collapsed and hit the ground.

''Kate.'' Drew voiced screaming was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

Did you ever have one of those out of body moments where you're sleeping and it's like you're not actually in your body but you are floating above  it and can see exactly what was happening to you. Well I'm having one of those right now. I could see my body laying down and looking life less on a gurney being wheeled quickly through the halls of San Antonio Memorial Hospital by Drew, Scott and Kenny.

Was I dead? That's what it looks like.

Was I dying? Who knows.

Was I terrified off what was gonna happen to me now? Yes.

Was I still scared of what was going on with TC in Afghanistan because I haven't heard from him in hours? Absolutely.

Do I know what's gonna happen now? Nope.

But one thing I do know is. I don't regret keeping any of this a secret from anyone. Especially not TC or Drew.

I know. I know. I haven't updated in ages. But things are getting good so I do hope it was worth the wait. You guys are gonna kill me for leaving you on a cliffhanger but oh well.

I'll make you a deal. If anyone can guess what's wrong with Kate I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of hours and that's a promise. And I will reply to everyone's comments so you know if the answers are right or wrong.

Please vote and let me know what you think in the comments and your guesses for the early update.

This chapter wasn't my best writing til kinda the end the rest was pretty much shit if I'm being honest but I wanted to get you guys something and I tried but couldn't make it better.

Love you all

-ky x