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Reid knows something is wrong with Christina. Actually, the entire crew knows something is wrong with Christina. The only person who seems to have any doubts is Christina herself.
The tension she's creating by denying it is palpable…and it's negatively affecting their teamwork. Reid tried to give her space, he's still trying, really. But something has to give.
He came up with a plan this morning:
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Give her until 4:30pm to say something
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Talk to her as a friend one more time
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Talk to her as her commander
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Ask medical to do some "routine checks" on all of them before the day ends
He's pretty confident in this plan; it seems reasonable given the past few days. The worst part is having to get through another day of this. The past few days have been occupied by Christina acting strange, someone asking her if she's alright, Christina dismissing it bitterly…rinse and repeat.
Victor's not being nice about it anymore…he hadn't been nice about it in the beginning either. During a quick break, Victor pulls him aside.
"Reid. This is ridiculous." He says the minute they're alone in the hallway. Reid doesn't have to ask for clarification to know exactly what he's talking about. "I know…I have a plan."
"Is it working?" Victor snaps back. Reid sighs, "Just give me the rest of the day." Victor takes a deep breath and averts his gaze for a moment.
"I'm worried about her." He says after a few seconds. "I am too."
—
Christina doesn't make it to 4:30. They're halfway through a short practice run when Jeremy's voice brings Reid out of his focus. "Christina." His voice is stern. "I'm fine." Her voice sounds shaky.
He looks over. She's leaning on one of the panels in front of her and her face is white as a sheet. "You need to—" Victor tries to say. Reid assumes he was going to say 'you need to sit down,' because that's what Reid feels needs to happen.
"I said I'm fine." She repeats, sharper this time. No one says anything. Victor looks at Reid. Reid doesn't meet his eyes. He's too focused on Christina.
Her breath hitches halfway through a deep inhale and her hand flies to her left side. She doesn't look at any of them, just keeps her eyes on the panel in front of them as she whispers, "Okay."
"Christina—" Jeremy's voice is more urgent this time, the worry is barely concealed. "I just—" her voice breaks off and before any of them can react, she's collapsing to the floor.
"Christina!" Reid cries, rushing past Jeremy to get to her first. She takes a wheezing breath that sounds painful. He grabs her right shoulder gently, carefully turning her onto her back.
Her eyes are unfocused and distant. "Hey hey, stay with me," he pleads. Her head turns to the side, there's recognition in her eyes for a brief second. "I'm fine." He's so tired of those two words.
"No. You're not." His tone betrays more emotion than he was aiming for. Christina seems to notice because her eyes widen. "Call it in…now." Jeremy says, hovering behind Reid.
"On it," Victor moves fast, not fast enough, Reid thinks vaguely. Christina keeps her eyes on Reid, he tries to read the expression on her face. There's definitely pain…but there's something else too…fear.
"You're okay," he's not sure who he's trying to convince, but he's doing a terrible job either way. Her hand goes back against her left side as she wheezes, "Hurts…"
His eyes flit from her terrified eyes to her hand as it pushes against her ribs. "Where?" He can assume, but he'd really like to hear it from her.
Her mouth opens, then shuts again as her eyes slip shut. "Stay with me, Christina-hey!" Her eyes open, she finds him again. "Reid-" she says breathlessly.
"I've got you," he tells her quickly. She doesn't look like she believes it. "Medical's on the way." Victor informs them. "Her vitals are off." Jeremy reports, having just taken her pulse.
"Don't let her pass out." Victor urges as if Reid can do much to control that. Christina's eyes dart around, trying to place the other voices. It seems to overwhelm her. Her eyes close again, more deliberate this time.
"Hey-no, no. Stay with me. Tina." He doesn't know what else to do. Her eyelids fly open for only a second, like she's trying to listen, but it's too hard to keep fighting for consciousness.
"Don't do that. Don't you-don't—Christina!" She doesn't open her eyes again. The hand against her side, slides back down to the floor.
"Christina," he pleads one last time, touching her cheek. He doesn't get a response. A team of doctors rush in a minute too late. They push Reid away, asking all three of them a million questions.
"How long ago was the injury?" The days have all burred together, so Reid has to think for a few seconds. "Five days ago," he answers as soon as he figures it out. That number doesn't feel right, but Reid can't tell if it feels too big or too small.
"Where is the injury?" He's not 100% sure, but he can take a solid guess: "it's her ribs."
"Okay," she turns back towards Christina for a moment. Her coworkers are lifting her onto a stretcher. She turns back to Reid, "we've got her." He nods, he really hopes that's true.
—
"They're moving her to Houston Methodist." Victor reports ten minutes later. "It's that bad?" Jeremy asks anxiously. "That's all they would tell me, but I have to assume so…"
Reid exhales deeply, covering his face with his hands. "Can we go with her?" Jeremy asks, already moving to leave. "They can't stop us."
Reid hesitates before following them as they hurry to grab their things. "How'd your plan go?" Victor says as Reid opens his locker. Reid ignores him. "Yeah…" Victor scoffs.
"Can we do this later? When we know Christina's going to be okay?" Jeremy says, intervening before it can escalate. "Good plan, Jeremy." Reid makes eye contact with Victor as he closes his locker more harshly than normal.
—
"I still can't get a hold of Bobby," Reid sighs in frustration. Jeremy and Victor both pace around the lobby. "Family of Christina Koch?" Reid stands up, immediately giving the doctor his full attention.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Stacey." She introduces herself with a smile, which Reid takes as a good sign. "I'm Reid, this is Jeremy and Victor, we're her friends—her crew." She nods as he speaks.
"I'm happy to tell you that she's going to be just fine. We were able to find and stop the bleeding and she should be waking up sometime this evening." Reid feels relief and then anxiety all at once. "Bleeding?"
"Yes, she sustained a few broken ribs and later on developed internal bleeding because they weren't treated." Reid nods, biting his lip. "But she's okay…" Jeremy says, it's both a question and a statement. "Yes. She should make a full recovery."
"Can we see her?" Victor asks as soon as the doctor finishes her sentence. "…yes. You should be able to see her very shortly. I'll have a nurse come and get you." She nods and walks away.
They stand in silence for a minute before Jeremy says. "I think you guys should figure out whatever is going on between you before we go see Christina." Reid sighs even though he knows Jeremy's right.
Victor turns to him, looking prepared to have a yelling match in the hospital lobby. "What was your plan?" He says quickly, before he can change his mind. "I was waiting for her to say something-"
"That's a terrible plan, she proved she wasn't going to do that." Victor interjects. "I wasn't finished…I was going to give her one last chance and then I was going to talk to her." Reid says, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Uh huh, we've all tried talking to her. You really thought that was magically going to work this time?" He snaps again. "I…was going to talk to her as her commander…not as her friend."
Victor's quiet for a few seconds. "And if that didn't work?"
"It would have." Reid insists. "If it didn't?"
"I was going to ask medical to do some random checks on everyone." He knows he should have done all of this a lot sooner, but he really didn't want to push her. He thought that when she was ready, she would tell them. Clearly, he was wrong.
"You should've done that the first day." Victor says, his voice perfectly even. "I know, I know…it's all my fault."
"I didn't say that." Victor frowns. "Well, you made it seem like-"
"It's Christina's fault. She hid an injury for almost a week, for what?" It's Reid's turn to frown. "I don't think it's fair to say that just yet…we haven't heard her side of the story." He tries to defend her.
"And what could she possibly say to make this not her fault?" He does have a point there. "…that she didn't know she was hurt?" Reid says with zero confidence. "That's bullshit and you know it."
"Why are you so angry with me?" Reid asks suddenly, stepping closer to him. "I heard you talking to Christina yesterday." Oh. Reid's face falls.
"Okay, first of all, you shouldn't have been eavesdropping." Reid says, glancing towards Jeremy who's watching them argue with a look that tells Reid he doesn't know what side to be on.
"Second?" Victor prompts, raising an eyebrow. "Secondly…you're right. I should have gotten medical involved then." The guilt Reid felt before just tripled.
"Yeah, you should have." Victor huffs, seeming more frustrated than satisfied. "Are you guys done?" Jeremy asks when no one says anything else. "Yes," Victor says. "No," Reid says, his voice more stern.
"You could have done more too." Reid continues, he glances at Jeremy again before deciding not to drag him into this. "She trusts you more. You're her commander. You had the most power and influence in this situation. All you had to do was stop being her friend for a minute." Victor counters with ease.
They're all true statements, Reid doesn't have anything to dispute them with. "I'm sorry."
Victor takes a few moments, trying to decide if Reid's sincere or not. "Okay," he says in response. "I think you're supposed to apologize too." Jeremy says. Reid feels bad for him the second Victor whips his head in his direction."What do I have to be sorry for?"
"Yelling at Reid in a hospital lobby when we could be making sure Christina's okay, to start..." Jeremy says, not backing down. "Oh, I'm sorry, I seem to remember you being the one to suggest we do this now and not later."
"Clearly, that was a mistake." Jeremy groans. "We're going to have to talk through this a lot more…with Christina." Reid says with a sigh.
"Agreed," Jeremy says, not breaking eye contact with Victor. "Why don't we push the anger and harsh words down for now until we can actually work through it with her?" Reid suggests. Jeremy nods his assent.
Victor gives in after a few more seconds of intense eye contact with Jeremy. "Fine…let's go see her."
"I'm going to try and call Bobby again." Reid says, taking out his phone.
—
Christina stirs for the first time a few minutes after they enter her room. "Christina?" Jeremy questions gently. "Stars…" she says dazedly.
Reid and Jeremy exchange confused glances. "You with us, Tina?" Reid asks, taking her hand into his own. She looks at him for a moment without recognition and then she falls back asleep.
Reid doesn't let go of her hand.
—
"I just think that we shouldn't ignore it entirely…she's going to remember it when she wakes up-" a soft groan interrupts Jeremy.
"Christina," Victor says when he notices it. "Mmmph," she frowns, opening her eyes. "Hey-"
"No." She says, looking past Reid as she cuts him off. "No?" He asks, a small smile gracing his face. "No," she repeats and then she's out again.
—
"Anyways, after that, I can come back." Reid says and Jeremy nods. "That should work-" A monitor starts to beep frantically. Christina's heart rate is rising rapidly.
"I'll get a doctor." Victor says, quickly leaving the room. "Christina?" Reid says, moving closer to her. She gasps, her eyes flying open. "Hey, it's alright-" Reid tries to soothe her.
She bursts into tears as soon as she realizes she's in a hospital. "Oh Tina," he says sadly. She sits up, crying harder. He stands from his chair next to her bed and wraps his arms around her.
She sobs into his chest as he rubs her back. He can't imagine that crying this hard feels good with her injured rib cage. "Shhhh, shhhh, it's okay, you're okay."
"I want to go home." She hiccups, gripping the back of his shirt like her life depends on it. "I know," he doesn't know what else to say. Jeremy stands on the other side of the bed looking equally as helpless.
Victor returns with a doctor. They do a few quick checks before saying unless they want to try psychiatric meds, she's just going to have to get through it. Then she exits the room, leaving a still sobbing Christina in Reid's arms.
"Please…" she whimpers. "What can I do?" Reid asks her desperately. She doesn't respond, but the crying slows and then stops. Her grip on his shirt goes slack and her arm drops.
He lays her back down carefully. Both her face and his shirt are now tear stained, but he's just relieved to see a peaceful look on her face again.
After a few minutes of silence, Victor says, "…kind of hard to be mad at her now."