Chapter Text
The call came in. Two ambulances crashed near the hospital. Casey immediately knew it was him. His patient with two balloons full of cocaine in his stomach. The man was panicking and he should have done something, anything to stop him from fleeing.
He pushed the crushing feeling of guilt aside and ran to the crash site, hoping no one has died. Only to see one dead body on the ground, the medical director bloodied carrying his newborn child and.. Bloom! Why was she in the ambulance? She was hurt badly. Her heart stopped and Candelario started performing CPR.
“I got a heartbeat. Low, but steady” he said while he helped carry her on the stretcher then quickly taking her to the ED.
Candelario stopped him from entering.
“You’re too close. Go back to the crash site” She ordered.
“I’m not!” Casey objected. He had to be inside the operating room. To offer his help at any form.
“Follow orders” she cut him off and gave the order.
Casey followed her instruction as a solider and went back out. Once all of the crash site victims were attended to, he went back to the ED and peeked from the small door windows to check on Bloom.
“How is she?” Reynolds asked as he was holding Evie.
“I don’t know” Casey answered with frustration.
The three kept waiting in silence until Candelario came out.
“She’s in the clear now” she answered without being prompted after seeing their faces. She listed the body part that were broken and built up to her worst concern: Brain damage. Bloom had a cardiac arrest, and oxygen was cut off for a short period of time.
“Only time will tell” Candelario concluded.
Casey walked away, hiding his face when tears started streaming down his face. The guilt hit him hard and he started sobbing in the on-call room.
He did this to her.
Max moved Bloom to the hospital’s presidential suite. She deserved it after saving his family and also for putting her into the ambulance.
Bloom was kept in a medically induced coma after her cardiac arrest and Casey made it a point to visit her at every chance he got. He saw Reynolds and Evie visit her a number of times, sometimes Reynolds came alone. Helen kept herself busy, and avoided visiting Bloom.
The number of visitors lessened with every week that have went by and everyone knew what that meant. With every passing minute, her chance of coming back dwindles.
Money was tight for Casey since he hasn’t being pulling double shifts, and spent his time at Bloom’s side. He didn’t want to leave her alone. The only family member he tried tracking down was her sister, who was in Rehab. Casey tried to convince the administrators there to bring her to New Amsterdam to be with Bloom, and even involved Max to sway their decision. Still they declined their offer, since she’s unsteady and the news might cause another relapse.
“We’ll call you when she wakes up” One of the nurses in the ward offered a help hand when she could see how hard it was on him.
“You’re not a quitter” Casey spoke to Bloom, hoping that she could hear him. “Please fight”
Casey took a double shift that day at the Bronx hospital to pay his rent, so that his family doesn’t get evicted.
He was distracted, constantly checking his phone for a message or a phone call. He quickly rushed back to New Amsterdam hospital once his shift was over, and went directly to Bloom.
Only to see that her bed was empty. She wasn’t there!
“Where’s Bloom?” Casey panicked when asking the nurse.
“Worried about me?” A voice came from behind.
Bloom was getting wheeled in by Max after finishing from her checkup.
Casey felt a sense of relief when hearing her voice and her smile.
“Casey has been visiting you every day” Max chimed in.
Lauren knew that. She heard him talk to her when she had those small fleeting moments of consciousness. It was only his voice that she remembered and was grateful for him.
“Thank you” she said
He wanted to confess about being the cause of the accident, but now wasn’t the time. She had to recover first then he will tell her.
A promise he kept once Bloom came back to work, fully recovered.
“Dr. Bloom,” Casey called her “can we talk?”
She nodded and he followed her into the on-call room.
“What is it?” Bloom asked, seeing that Casey was not his usual self.
Casey took a moment to gather himself, he looked down, ashamed of what he has done and finally spoke the words he has been wanting to say for a long time “I’m the cause of the accident. I’m truly sorry for what happened to you”
“Casey” she spoke his name softly when seeing tears streaming down his face. “Listen to me. Max shared the police report with me, and no one is blaming you for it.”
“I could have stopped him” Casey finally was able to look her into the eye, meaning every word.
“If I wasn’t talking to the paramedics at the time of the crash, they could have seen him coming. There are a lot of what ifs. It happened, and we can’t change that.” Bloom responded.
Then it hit her “Is that why you kept visiting me? Guilt?” she asked the question without hesitation. She felt hurt by it, fooling herself into thinking that he cared for her.
“I did not want to lose you” he answered, not knowing if he answered her question, but that was the truth.
“I uh have to go back to work” Bloom excused herself, and left the room quickly. She didn’t want him to see her blush.