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TK was not doing great. He had been living on three hours of sleep and hadn’t been able to keep anything down in the past 24 hours. Was that because of the rats on the last call? Maybe.
Of course, things could only get worse from there.
The elevator lurched to a halt with a screech of death, the metal grinding against itself making the whole group flinch as the light flickered above them. This woman was about to give birth, and they were stuck between god knows what floor with no way out.
“What’s happening?” The father looked as if he might pass out.
TK put an arm on his shoulder, steadying him. “I used to deal with these all the time back in New York; most of the time it just needs a reset.”
Their patient let out another scream of pain; the contractions were getting closer together by the second. She was having this baby. Now.
In a rush of screams and blood, a tiny head attached to even tinier limbs emerged, and for a moment, it was pure joy in that private elevator suspended above the world. Until Opal wasn’t responding.
“Take the baby.” Tommy handed the newborn to his father, who accepted him gently as if made of glass.
“She needs an infusion. She needs blood.”
TK and Nancy looked at each other, unsure of what to do. They were trapped, and this new mother was dying. Here, he thought the rat-infested house was going to be his worst call of the day.
Tommy had made contact with Wyatt; he was sending a team over from the blood bank with a delivery, but the ETA was still too long away.
“I can do it, Cap. I’m O-Neg. and we really can’t afford to wait.”
TK knew that he shouldn’t be volunteering for a blood transfusion, not on an empty stomach, and not while he was already feeling faint from lack of sleep. But looking at this mother covered in blood from her child, he couldn’t help but think of his own mother. He couldn’t let this baby lose his mom, not when he had the power to do something about it.
He met eyes with Tommy. “Cap, it’s our only option.”
The Paramedic Captain looked around as if to search for another option. There wasn’t one. “Alright. Nancy, prep the transfer. TK, I want you to roll up your sleeve and take a seat. I don’t need you passing out on me.”
Tommy moved quickly and with precision as she unwrapped a needle from its plastic packaging. If they were going to pull off a field transfusion and save this woman’s life..they had to start immediately.
TK sat with his knees out in front of him, his arm resting just below his chest as Nancy started to draw his blood. He leaned his head against the metal doors behind him, feeling a rush of nausea that he would rather just tuck away.
“How are you doing, TK?” Tommy couldn’t hide her worried mom voice.
He nodded, blinking the dizziness away from his eyes. “I’m alright, Cap. How’s Opal?”
“Vitals are already looking better!” Nancy shouted from the other side of the elevator.
Thank God. The adrenaline that had been keeping him upright faded into relief as he slumped further against the ground, his back slipping down the wall. She was going to be okay. This little boy wasn’t going to lose his mother. It was going to be okay.
A faint smile slipped across his face as the blackness overtook his vision. It was going to be okay.
***
“That was a really reckless choice you made back there, kid.”
TK opened his eyes to see his father hovering above his cot at the 126. He groaned and turned on his side, the sun streaming in from the windows exacerbating his now throbbing headache.
“What happened?”
Owen sighed and took a seat next to him on the cot. “Well, you saved that mom’s life. That was very brave of you. But…this is the second time today I’ve had to have the talk with my team about not pushing themselves beyond the breaking point. First Paul and now you…We’re a team. No one person is alone, and no one person has to do it all.” He squeezed his knee reassuringly.
TK nodded, knowing that the lecture would come, but not feeling too bad. So what if he always put others in front of him- wasn’t that his job?
“Opal’s okay? And the baby?”
His dad smiled. “Yes, they’re both okay.”
TK let his head fall back onto the pillow. That was really all he needed to know.