My Favorite Explosion

Working alongside Jake today brought back so many good memories from before I left. We still worked together without speaking, knowing what the other was going to do before it was done. It was nice to know that even after all this time we had never lost our connection of working together.
The day dragged along but it had finally hit at least four pm and I hadn’t spoken to Vic yet considering the jobs we were running all day. Jake joked that I still had my black cloud hanging over his head, saying he hadn’t done this many jobs at this station in a long time.
I stepped outside to call Vic, eager to talk to him about tonight. It was unlike him to want to have a last minute dinner date, he usually planned everything out. The phone rang a few times before he answered,
“Hello?” He answered sleepily.
“Did I wake you?” I asked feeling bad knowing he hadn’t been sleeping much lately.
“No I woke up a few minutes ago” He yawned.
“Oh, I totally did” I laughed
“How’s work?” He asked to avoid it.
“Pretty busy today. Jake’s breaking my chops about it being so busy”
“Jake? As in your old partner Jake?” He questioned.
“The one and same” I answered.
“You never said he was your partner” He stated with an accusing tone.
“That’s because he’s not. My regular partner called out. But if this keeps up Jake might get the shift. Is that a problem?” I asked unsure where he was going with this.
“Well considering what happened when he was your partner before..” He trailed off.
“I’m not going to have that conversation with you right now” I answered exhaling the smoke from my lungs.
“Why is he outside with you?”
“No. He’s not. But I’m at work and I’d rather not talk about it right now Vic.”
“Fine, fine.” He sighed, “Are we still on for dinner tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you when I get out of work tonight. Hopefully I’ll be out on time”
“That’s at seven right?” He asked
“yeah. Seven o clock”
“You okay Letty?” He asked with concern in his voice.
“Yea, I’ll be fine” I answered
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not right now Vic. I’m at work. It’s been a shitty enough day and I just want to nap already”
“Okay, well go take a nap. I’ll see you when you get out tonight”
“Okay” I sighed trying to collect my self, “I love you” I said
“Love you too” He answered.
I hung up, having the urge to throw my phone across the parking lot for him bringing something up that happened nearly twelve years ago before I had even met him.
I sighed lighting another cigarette with the one I had just finished, being startled by Jake walking outside.
“He never did like the idea of us being partners” Jake said lighting a cigarette as he turned up his radio.
“Well, it’s something he’s going to have to get used to. You’re one of the few people I can tolerate working with”
“Do you think he’s ever going to be okay with it?”
“I don’t understand why he makes such a big deal of it though Jake. It was one time and him and I weren't anything. I had just turned 18 for god’s sake!”
Jake smiled, obviously remembering what I was talking about, sending a smirk towards me. “That was a really fun night” he laughed.
I laughed with him recalling the entire night’s events from going out to the bar with everyone from work to celebrate my birthday, the what still feels like endless amount of tequila shots to ending the night stumbling our way back to Jake’s apartment, a mere five minute walk from the bar.
“That was a good night, does anybody else still work here?” I asked thinking back to the people I had befriended during my time before I left.
“Only a few, most of us grew up and got real jobs. As you can see, the rest of us did not” He laughed “What are you doing tonight? Drinks to catch up?”
“I’m going to have to ran check tonight, I’m having dinner with Vic”
“Well aren’t you two adorable” He laughed sticking his tongue out.
“Oh shut it. Just wait until the day you have a lady who makes you change your whorish ways” I laughed.
His face changed to a sadness, and I wasn’t sure who to make of it. “Did I hit a soft spot Jake?” I questioned.
“We’ll talk when we go out for drinks. I don’t want to talk about it here” He half smiled.
I nodded at him as he turned to face me again, “So why are you back Scarlett? Besides missing your family. You up and left us here, I know you did the same out there”
“We’ll talk when we go for drinks Jake. It’s not work appropriate”
He nodded as we walked back inside to sit on the couch and try to catch a nap. I curled up in my corner I had claimed as mine and managed to fall asleep.
I woke up what felt like hours later to the tones going off as I turned to look at the clock, of course it’s six thirty. I unraveled myself from my blanket and grabbed my phone dialing Vic’s number to let him know what was going on. He didn’t answer which was unlike him but I left him a voicemail letting him know what as going on as I put my boots back on. I got up grabbing my water bottle and went out to meet Jake in the truck who was already in the driver seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked pulling out a PCR. He gave me the address and I wrote it down absent mindedly, keeping track of times and letting Jake know if he was clear on the right side to go through lights. I recognized the area we were heading into, it being my neighborhood and Jake pulled down my street.
“Jake, where are we going?” I asked thinking he had made a wrong turn.
“Scarlett, read that address you wrote down” he said making a turn into a driveway as it finally clicked. We were at my house, now was a moment of separating myself from my job and figuring out what was going on. I looked in the driveway to see the only one home was Austin, making my biggest fears a reality.

“Scarlett do you want me to take this?” Jake asked after calling us on scene.

“I got this” I said taking a deep breath to clear my head and open the door. I walked to the back of the truck grabbing the monitor while Jake grabbed the medical bag.
I opened the front door walking into the threshold unsure of where to look for him first.

“Austin?” I called out and got no reply. “Fuck” I mumbled while my breath caught in my throat.
I managed to calm myself once again and headed towards the back door, seeing Austin sitting with Vic and Mike outside on the deck, Austin doubled over, clutching onto his chest. My sister instincts told me to run and comfort him but I knew I couldn’t do that right now. I couldn’t let him see me panic.

“Medic 31 to BLS, when you get here come around the back, we’re on the deck and going to need a stair chair” Jake said reading my mind as I slid the door, seeing fear on Vic and Mike’s faces not realizing that it was me who would be responding. “Austin what’s going on?” I asked placing the monitor on the ground and beginning to set everything up.

“Scar why are you here?” he asked fear on his face.

“That’s what happens when people call 911. I show up. Now tell me what’s going on” I said grabbing his arm putting a blood pressure cuff on it while Jake turned the machine on and handing me the EKG limb leads.

“It feels like there’s an elephant sitting on my chest” He sadi through choppy breaths.

“Is the trouble breathing from the pain or something else?” I asked.

“I don’t know” He answered, tears in his eyes.

“Take a few deep breaths for me okay?” I asked lifting up his shirt to put another set of cables on his chest. He nodded, taking in a deep breath. “I need you to stay still for a few seconds, no moving, no talking. Got it?” He nodded sitting back in the chair and the 12-lead was finished. I looked it over, unsure of what I was seeing and handed it to Jake as I did another to compare it to.

“Scarlett.” Jake said confirming what I thought I saw.

“Yep” I nodded answering his question without him asking.

“Scar what’s going on?” Austin asked as the BLS arrived.

“Nothing big brother, you’re gonna be fine” I smiled standing up. “I’m going to go get your old EKG’s to give to the ER okay?” He nodded as I walked in to the kitchen, opening up the top drawer pulling out a folder with all of Austin’s past medical history and EKG readings. I flipped through them, nothing matching what was coming up on the monitor now.

“Is it bad?” I heard Vic ask walking in behind me.

“I have no idea what it is. I’ve never seen a rhythm like that before” I shrugged, “And it looks nothing like any of his past rhythms” I said and then had a brain storm moment. “Hold this” I said shoving the folder at Vic and running upstairs to my father’s room looking for mom’s old folder. I found it in the bottom drawer of his dresser and flipped through a few different EKG’s, finding one that looked similar. I took the folder with me as I walked down the stair’s to see Vic still standing in the kitchen with Austin’s folder.

“Raincheck?” I asked as he handed me the folder. He nodded kissing me lightly.

“Make sure you keep him alive” Vic laughed.

“If anything is going to kill him it’s gonna be me” I laughed walking out the front door to the ambulance where Jake had already secured an IV in Austin’s left forearm, one of the few places he was good for an IV stick. “I knew you were my favorite for a reason” I laughed sitting down on the bench to Austin’s left.

“I gave him four baby aspirin, says it hasn’t gotten any better. Want me to call for you?” Jake asked.

“Please, I’m gonna give him two of nitro pending his pressure’s good enough” I said “Kayli could you get me a pressure please?” I said to the EMT in the back with me. She did as I asked and Jake nodded.

“Feel better Austin. I’ll see you later Scar”

“Thanks Jake” I smiled as he hopped out of the truck closing the door.

“It’s 144 over 86 Scarlett” Kayli told me taking the stethoscope out of her ears.
I nodded at her answer and searched through my drug bag for the nitro spray, finding it had been moved.

“This is going to taste like shit but you need it. Open your mouth, tongue up” I said to Austin holding the bottle in front of him. He did as I said and made a face after I sprayed it. I laughed sitting back against the wall as the truck slowed down and came to a stop. I looked around realizing the EMT wasn’t using the lights, which irritated me. I got up climbing to the front and kneeled against the side wall.

“Jack, what cha doing?” I asked.

“Driving to the hospital, like you said. I thought you didn’t like lights and sirens Scarlett?” he asked scared.

“Jack, the person on the stretcher is my twin brother who has a cardiac history and I’ve never seen an EKG like this in my career. Let’s move it” I said as I watched his eyes go wide hitting the switch for the lights and using the sirens. “Thank you” I smiled and returned to my seat on the bench.

“Scarlett, what’s going on?” Austin asked as I looked at mom’s old EKG again comparing it to Austin’s.

“Honestly Austin, I have no idea” I said shaking my head continuing to stare at his 12-lead. “Is the pain any better?” I asked noticing five minutes had passed.

“I think it’s worse.” He said fearful.

I turned to look at the monitor and did not like what I saw. His heart rate was 220 and the EKG was basically a bunch of parallel lines. “Fuck” I mumbled under my breath. “Does it feel like your heart is about to pound out of your chest?” I asked as I transmitted his EKG to the hospital.

“Actually yea” He nodded. I grabbed his wrist to feel for a pulse to make sure it wasn’t my machine and unfortunately the machine was right. I called the hospital asking for a doctor as I grabbed a draw needle and morphine from my narcotics pouch. I spoke to the doctor, asking for orders to cardiovert and given permission. Kayli’s eyes went wide at my request to the doctor as I drew up the morphine, grabbing a saline flush once I secured the sharp.

“Jack!” I yelled to the front as I pushed the medication into Austin’s IV. He looked in the mirror at me, knowing we still had at least ten more minutes of transport. “I need you to pull over” I said getting the monitor ready. He did as I said and Austin looked at me with fear in his eyes.

“Scarlett, what’s going on?” He asked me with tear pricked eyes.

“You’re about to feel like you’re going to get punched in the chest. But it should fix what’s going on”

“What’s going on?” He questioned. “Am I going to die?”

“Not on my watch” I smiled “Just relax. Please. It’ll hurt less. Just trust me Aussie” I said squeezing his hand and stood up so as not to touch anything and hit the shock button on the monitor. I said a quick prayer as it charged, hoping this would break the SVT he was currently in.

“Jesus Christ Scarlett!” Austin yelled. I laughed at his reaction and told Jack to continue driving.

“Felt like you got punched in the chest?” I laughed sitting back down.

“To put it mildly” He scoffed. “Fuck that hurt”

“That’s why I gave you morphine. Imagine if I didn’t” I said looking at the monitor to see he had returned to his normal rhythm. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“What did you do?” He asked.

“You know how I always tell you about my cardiac arrests and we have to shock them?” I asked him. He nodded, “Well, I just did that to you.”

“You what?! I didn’t tell you that you could do that!”

“Would you have let me if I told you?”

“Probably” He laughed

“How’s that pain in your chest?” I asked

“A lot better” He nodded

“Look at that, I’m a miracle worker” I laughed

“Does that mean I can go home?”

“Ha!” I laughed “Not a chance in hell”

“Figured I’d ask” He laughed.

I felt the familiar bumps of the hospital parking lot as we pulled in, breathing a sigh of relief that I could be his sister now and not a paramedic. We walked into the ER, the doctor meeting us at the door, amazed he was back to a normal rhythm. I told the doctor what had happened as we transferred him to a hospital stretcher, the nurse’s running towards him to get everything done quickly. I stood answering the doctor’s question’s as I finished my paperwork, ripping off the hospital copy and getting him to sign off on my waste of the rest of my morphine. The doctor ordered a few more tests while I stood there, and then asked Austin if he had any family they should contact. I chuckled to myself while Austin cracked a smile.

“Well, that woman standing there with the black hair is my emergency contact” He said pointing to me.

The doctor was shocked, his eyes wide with confusion. “Are you really his emergency contact?” he questioned.

“That’s actually my twin brother” I smiled and laughed
The doctor pulled me out of the room, his hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay Scarlett?” he asked. He had always been one of my favorite doctors.

“Once these narcotics are off my hip I’ll be the overbearing sister.” I laughed, “I have a reputation to uphold here Doc. I think I did a pretty damn good job of it too”

“You absolutely did. Now get back to your station so you can come back and annoy me as the over bearing sister” He laughed patting my shoulder.
He walked towards the doctor’s area and I went back in the room.

“I have to go back and give my narcs to the next guy. I’ll be back in about an hour. Make no decisions without calling me first” I said to Austin who was laying on the stretcher, looking exhausted.

“Will do sis. Now get out of here so you can come back” He smiled.

“I love you Austin” I said hugging him “Hour, tops” I smiled getting up and walking out of the room. The BLS was ready to go and so was I.

I got in the back of the truck where they had kindly cleaned up the small mess I had made, sitting in the captains chair and let out a huge breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I felt a few tears fall down my face, still unsure of how I managed to separate myself. My mentor always told me that day would come, I just never thought it would have been so soon.

Notes

DISCLAIMER!!!
I have no idea if this is any part of what has ever happened to Austin while in the hospital or been the reason he has needed to go to the hospital. This is based off of my knowledge of cardiology and experience from being a paramedic.

Hope you guys enjoy it!