CHAPTER NINE

          HER HANDS WERE SHAKING AS SHE GRABBED EDDIE'S HAND AND MADE HIM KEEP PRESSURE ON HIS OWN WOUND. Her legs carried her towards them in a rush and she dropped to her knees besides them, eyes wide in panic. This wasn't a controlled environment where she could rely on her co workers and doctors, she was utterly alone. And if she were honest, she was terrified.

"What happened?" she demanded, trying to find a pulse.

"I don't know." snapped Rio, glaring at her. "He just stopped breathing."

There was no pulse she could feel and she did not hesitate the press her hands down on his chest as she began CPR. The knife must have nicked an organ. Lucy had no idea as she began to count in her head. There was nothing on her mind but getting this man breathing again. The brunette did not notice when Mick came back with three large bags of medical equipment underneath his arms.

"Tell me what you need." It was Rio. His voice was firm and loud and she glanced up at him momentarily, sweat dripping down her forehead before her eyes fell on the bags. 

"Get me an IV system and if you have Epinephrine that would be really helpful." she said, already out of breath as she continued with the chest compressions. 

Eddie and the other stranger with the dislocated shoulder were murmuring worriedly behind them but she shut them out as Mick and Rio searched through the bags. The moment she spotted the things she needed she told them. "Rio," she got his attention. "take over for me."

The man did not hesitate and took her spot as he worked on Juan. Lucy's hands were still shaking as she took hold of Juan's arm and prepared her IV. She took steadying breaths as she searched for a vein. His were small but that was something she was good at and it went in smoothly, drawing blood immediately. Her adrenaline was high and she had never felt this type of a high before.

"Mick," she said as she pointed towards the materials on his left. "prepare an IV bag for me. That line over there, take off the cap and stick it into that bag. Make sure the fluids go through the line completely. Smack it if there's air bubbles."

Lucy pressed on Juan's vein to keep the blood from dipping out of the IV opening as she opened the syringe with her teeth. With one hand she twisted the needle on it before she took out one milligram of Epinephrine. This was either going to work or it wasn't but she had no time to think it through. He'd die either way. Lucy twisted the syringe on the IV and pushed in the medicine.

"Will it work?" demanded Rio, his own face now glistening in sweat.

"I hope so." she answered, now twisting on the line with the fluids. "Make sure the bag is high up so the fluids can enter his system. Hang it on that lamp or something."

Mick shared a quick glance with his boss and then did as he was told. Lucy reached towards Juan's neck and felt for a pulse, her own heart basically thundering from her chest. There was a pulse, a bit fainter than before but definitely there. Juan took in a sharp breath then, but he still seemed unconscious.

"Stop," she said, grabbing his arm so he would stop compressions. "It worked. He's breathing again."

The woman ignored the way he looked at her as she fished through the bags to look for antibiotics. There were more than enough and she filtered through all of them to see which was the best option. Lucy went with amoxicillin and as she had always been good at math she had no trouble calculating the amount she might need with his approximate weight. She prepared a smaller saline bag and added the antibiotics before clipping it to the line and letting the drip to its work.

"Juan?" she muttered, sitting by his side. "Can you hear me?"

"Is he okay now?" wondered Eddie, as he peered over her shoulder.

Lucy just hummed, feeling his pulse again and it was a little steadier now but she still wasn't pleased with it. His stitches still looked clean and she covered it again with the bandage. "I don't know what his internal damage is. The only thing i'm able to do is fight the infection but if he codes again, I don't know if his heart can take it."

Rio offered her a single nod with his jaw clenched.

"Now let me stitch you up before you bleed to death." Lucy got back to her feet and glanced up at Eddie.

He was lucky that the knife hadn't hit any arteries or organs. Lucy had no idea where Mick had gotten all that stuff but he even had local anaesthesia so she was able to give Eddie a shot before she began to stitch his shoulder back together.

"Is he going to be okay, doc?" Eddie wondered, shoulders slumped.

"I hope so." she nodded as she worked. 

"It's my fault." he confessed, glancing to where Juan laid with their boss still beside him. "We got into a fight. Hell, we always do and then knifes just appeared and he was on the ground. I could have killed him."

Lucy was quiet for a moment and furrowed her brows. "You haven't."

"Yet." he added.

"All done." she changed the subject as she finished stitching him up. "Keep it bandaged for the rest of the night. Keep it clean. Wash with antibacterial soap and keep an eye out for fever, rednesses and pus. Make sure to have it checked if that happens."

"Thank you, Lucy." he said, offering her a genuine smile.

"No problem."

It took the brunette less than ten minutes to pop the other mans dislocated shoulder back in place and make him a sling to rest his arm in. He grunted in thanks and was out of the room before she could finish the knot. With a roll of her eyes she walked back towards Juan and checked his pulse. It was nice and steady now, and it seemed that his face had gotten back some of its colour. 

"You did good, ma."

The woman slid down the wall beside them and met his eyes tiredly. He sat beside her with his arms resting over his knees. "He almost died and there wouldn't be a thing I could do about it."

It was as if she had completely forgotten where she was for a second. Now that the adrenaline was leaving her system, she remembered that this was a hostile environment. These men could have killed each other. They were criminals and the man sitting beside her wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet between her eyes if she hadn't been able to save Juan.

"He didn't." he shrugged. "You kept him alive. We didn't know it was that bad, would have called earlier."

"And now we're even." she said, keeping his gaze as she twisted herself toward him. "I don't owe you anything anymore."

Rio didn't say anything he just stared at her lazily.

"Promise me that i'm out now?"

He pursed his lips and rested his head against the wall before letting his dark eyes roam around the room. "You don't need the extra cash then?"

Her face faltered at that and he noticed. 

"Come on, ma." he said with a raised brow. "There must have been a reason you robbed me? Girl like you don't seem like the type to get to such extremes. Life not as perfect as you wished?"

Lucy clenched her jaw and kept her mouth shut before averting her gaze away from him. Yes, she wanted the money and maybe she could do this one more time. But what would happen when she wasn't able to save one of them? He'd probably kill her and she didn't know if she wanted to take that risk or not.

"I want to go home."

"A'ight." he said and pushed himself to his feet. "I'll walk you out."

Lucy did the same and frowned down at Juan. "You need to change his bandages tomorrow. I'll write you down how much of the antibiotics you need to give him and if he wakes up you need to tell him to take it very slowly. Keep an eye on his stitches. If he gets worse ... you know where to find me."

She might not want to do this again but she couldn't let anything happen to him. He was her patient now and she would see it through till the end. He nodded his head slowly and turned around. Rio let her down a flight of stairs wordlessly and she followed a few feet behind. He walked her to her car and opened the door for her.

Lucy furrowed her brows at that and slid into her seat, seeing the keys were still in the ignition. 

"You get home safe," he leaned against her door with his arms crossed and pulled his lips between his teeth for a moment. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"Want me to call you when I get home, dad?"

The woman almost winched at her own words and they had been out before she could stop herself but Rio let out an amused huff and shook his head as he pressed his tongue to his cheek.

"I'm serious, Lucy. Go home."

He clicked his tongue and nodded to himself before turning around and stalking back the way he came. He put his hands in his pockets and kept his head down as he walked, and all Lucy did was watch his back as he retreated before he was out of her sight. It was as if she could finally breath again and she closed her eyes for a moment.

Turning on her car and revving the engine, she was out of there a second later.

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I feel like my english is getting worse, so sorry, this is not my language and i don't feel like it's much trouble most of the time but for some reason my mind just keeps blanking.