Page 42 of Abigail
“Med4 to ER, over,” Dave calls into his mic as he hangs a bag of IV fluids and wraps the blood pressure cuff around the bag, pumping it up. “ER to Med4 Go Ahead.” A female voice returns over the radio.
“Patient 2 has taken a turn for the worse. BP falling 70/40 Heart Rate 150. I have started a 16G to left AC, a liter of Normal Saline per pressure bag. ETA 2 minutes. Suspect internal injuries. Have a bird on stand-by.”
“Copy Med 4. We will be ready. Over and out.” The female voice returns. Straw is really getting concerned now. She could be bleeding out. They are talking about calling in a chopper. Do they not do surgery at this hospital?
“Why do you need a helicopter?” It’s Tank who asks what Straw wants to know.
“We are a critical access hospital,” Dave replies. “There are no specialists. No surgeons. She is going to need to get to a trauma center where she can have surgical intervention,” Dave states as a matter of fact.
Straw’s mind is reeling with the implications of the medic’s words. Straw is on his phone. Hawk answers on the first ring. “Sit-rep.” Hawk barks into the phone, worry evident in his voice.
“Ellis seems to be ok. Abigail is critical. Blood pressure is low, and her heart rate is fast. They are giving her fluids, and they have called for a helicopter. Fuck it all! Hawk, she can’t die.” Straw’s voice is cracking. He needs to keep it together.
“Straw, stay strong. She will get through this. Stay by her side. Give her your strength. Tank will look after Ellie for you while you look after your woman. I’ll make some calls, see if we can get her to the Naval hospital. They have excellent trauma surgeons,” Hawk states without a hint of deception in his voice. He truly believes every word.
“Thanks, Hawk. I’m not sure they will allow me to go with her. You guys will be here soon?” Straw knows if there is any way possible, he will be on that helicopter with her, but if not, he needs to be on his way to where they are taking her as soon as fucking possible.
“Absolutely. We’re about 10 minutes behind you. We’ll be there before they leave with her.” Straw nods in response not even thinking that Hawk can’t see him through the phone. He clicks off the phone. As soon as they pull into the hospital, they are met with an onslaught of medical personnel. They quickly sweep the stretcher out the back of the ambulance and hurriedly take her inside the ER. Additional personnel come to get Ellie. Tank and Straw follow the medics and nurses into the ER. Straw steps into the chaos of the trauma room where Abigail is fighting for her life. Her eyes are closed, but her chest continues to rise and fall steadily.
Straw stands by quietly watching the scene unfold before him. The ER doctor is at her bedside, barking orders as the staff carries them out. The doctor has what looks like an ultrasound wand swiping it over Abigail’s abdomen. The nurses and medics are zipping around the room in a choregraphed dance, hanging bags of fluids, drawing blood, starting additional IV sites. If the situation wasn’t so dire, he would be impressed at how smoothly things were going.
"Give her 2 units O neg STAT, have 4 more ready for transport once the chopper is here. We need a CBC, Comp, U/A, Foley, Get an NG down, we need at least 1 more IV,” The ER doctor commands. His staff jumping into action carrying out his orders. The man is about 6-foot-tall with short black hair with a receding hairline. He is slightly overweight and has on a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses.
“It looks like a lac to the liver,” the doctor calls out. “Where’s the chopper? We need her in the air, yester-fucking-day!” About that time, the beating sound of a chopper can be heard. The flight crew has arrived.Thank God.
They come rushing into the room along with strong scent of jet fuel. The ER doctor begins giving them a rundown on the situation. As soon has he has reported off, he heads out to the station to call the receiving hospital. Straw is relieved to see it is a Naval Air Rescue Crew. Straw recognizes the pilot; it’s Boar. He has flown a few missions for them in the past, before he’d transferred to a state-side position. The pilot notices Straw and Tank standing off to the side with little Ellie in her seat. Tank is trying to distract Ellie from the frenzy taking place in front of them.
“Hey, Straw, Tank what are you guys doing here?” Boar asks the men.
“Your patient is my woman,” Straw answers as a young woman appears at the door to the room. She is small about 5‘2” with short blonde hair. She has on a name tag with ‘Stacy, customer service representative’. She glances around the room and stops when she spies Straw and Tank standing in the corner with Boar.
“Um…are you gentlemen with Ms. Miller? There are some other people here to see you,” Stacy says quietly. Tank moves toward the woman still carrying little Ellie. He signals to Straw to let him know he will be back once he has given an update to their friends.
“Straw, man I’m sorry to hear your woman is injured,” Boar says with him. Straw nods in thanks. He is watching Abi intently. He is looking at the monitor. Her heart rate has come down some, and her blood pressure looks better. The staff seems to be calming down as well. Straw takes the opportunity to slip up to Abi’s bedside.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Abi opens her eyes. She stares at Straw for a moment. He slips his hand into hers. She immediately intertwines her fingers with his. She tries to smile at him. Straw leans down and places a kiss on her forehead. “Ellie is fine. Don’t worry about her. I promise Tank will take real good care of her until we can get you better.” Abi nods and closes her eyes.
Hawk enters the room and talks with Boar while Straw continues to hover over Abigail. The flight crew begins to package Abigail, up getting fluids, blood, and meds. Straw steps back so they can get her loaded up. Hawk and Boar come over to Straw. Boar places his hand on Straw’s shoulder.
“Come on, I’ll get you settled in the bird while they are getting her ready for transport,” Boar says. Straw turns to look at him. “Serious?” Boar smiles and nods his head. He turns and heads toward the door. Hawk steps up to Straw.
“Hey, I talked to Boar. They are in a Helo so they have enough room and fuel for an additional passenger. I have arranged for them to take her to the Naval hospital. Take care of her, Straw. We will be there as soon as we can.” Hawk slaps Straw on the back. Straw nods and follows the flight crew out the door to the chopper.
The flight to the Naval hospital doesn’t take very long. Straw stays right by Abi’s side. As soon as they arrive, Abi is whisked away to surgery. Straw is directed to a waiting room. He is pacing the room when several large men enter the waiting room, followed by their women. It’s the SEAL team that had assisted them on the mission when Hawk met Charlotte. Wolf, Abe, Benny, Mozart, Dude, and Cookie stride over to Straw.
“What are you guys doing here?” Straw asks but thankful to see familiar faces.
“We’re on vacation. We came to the east coast to visit Tex. His daughter graduated high school. We decided to swing by and touch base with Hawk and see how you guys were doing. We were meeting with him when he got the word about the accident. Once he found out the details, he texted saying she was being flown here and that you would be alone until the rest of your team can get here, so we headed over to see if there’s anything we can do for you. We got here as quickly as we could.” Wolf places a hand on Straw’s shoulder and squeezes it gently.
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Tank and the others have Ellie, our daughter,” Straw replies. Ellie might not be officially his daughter yet, but she will be. He’s been the closest thing she’s had to a father. He feels like she’s his daughter, so he isn’t going to get caught up in the semantics. “They are at the other hospital with her, getting her checked out.” Straw blows out a breath. “She didn’t seem to be injured from the crash, thankfully. Ellie’s so much like her mother. Tough as nails.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT
Time seems to pass so slowly while they’re waiting to hear from the surgeon. Straw can’t seem to sit still for five minutes. He keeps pacing the confines of the waiting room. After a while, Caroline and Summer come up to him and coax him to sit down.
“So, tell us about Abigail. How did you meet her?” Summer asks. The room quiets as the SEALs and their women listen to Straw talk about meeting his woman.
“She was working at a hotel we stayed at last year when we went to San Diego for that training session,” Straw glances up at Wolf. He nods as he remembers the event. “I knew the moment I saw her she was mine. I just had to convince her of it.” The women giggle at his declaration and smile at him knowingly. Straw spends the next twenty minutes telling them about Abigail, Ellie, and her connection to Admiral Jenkins. He opts to keep most of the information about Todd to himself. He doesn’t want to disrespect the admiral by airing his family’s dirty laundry. He just explained that Abi had been estranged from them for a few years. “Once she found out the admiral wanted to be in Ellie’s life, she decided to move back here. She’s been here almost a year. We just got engaged over the weekend.”
