X-ray Chapter 7, part 3

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Lieutenant Squadron glared at Frank, but only said, "well, then?"

"Where was I?"

"Jeopardy?"

"Yeah, Jeopardy. So he's only halfway through Jeopardy, and then he was in. I smoked him again but it didn't do anything."

"Smoked him?"

"Shocked him, Lieutenant," Ian explained.

Three five Charlie ("That's us," cried Jill. "He knows that." said Jim. Lieutenant Squadron merely glared again.) was on scene in two minutes. They recognized the smoke immediately. "No, it can't be," Jim said as he leaned in through the doorway.

"Oh, yeah it is. You two want to take over CPR? We've done our hard work for today. You have any trouble finding us back here?" Frank asked as Jim and Jill squeezed themselves into the closet.

"This very nice hysterical woman showed us the way in," Jill told him.

"Yeah, we met her, too. Don't step on the drug bag," Frank said as he wiped his brow on his uniform sleeve. "Man, it's warm in here."

"I hate CPR in cramped spaces."

"It could be worse."

"How?"

"I don't know. Ow - watch your elbow."

"He could be decapitated." Jill offered with a giggle.

"That just makes it easier." Ian offered. Jill had taken over the bag valve mask - now hooked up to the ET tube - and Ian opened the IV kit. "The person doing the chest compressions doesn't get in the way of the person doing the airway."

Jill giggled again, then suddenly stopped. "I don't get it."

"I'm over hear doing the compressions," said Jim, "while you're in the other corner doing the airway," Jim explained while Ian contorted himself into a corner to try for an IV.

"You get it, yet, " Frank asked after several moments

"No," Ian said. "Both of his ACs are trashed. Use the tube for now."

Frank frowned, but Jill disconnected the bag valve from the endotracheal tube. Frank injected the epinephrine into the tube and Jill reconnected the bag, giving several quick breaths to send the medication home. Jill suppressed a giggle.

"Charging 360." said Frank. "360 Joules, clear - clear!"

"How?" asked Jill. "Should I climb on top of Jim?"

"Yes. Please." said Jim. "I think we'll have to pull him into the other room."

Together, they dragged the patient out into the greenhouse, accidentally knocking over one of the plant-laden tables and sending its contents to the floor. One plant, unnoticed, fell into Three-five C's airway bag.

"Shocking," said Frank again. He pressed the button, then charged the defibrillator again. "Charging 360," he announced. "Wow," he said. "Even out here the smoke is strong."

Jill sniffed, strangled a laugh into more of a snort, and sniffed again, wiping her nose on the shoulder of her jacket. In the background the hysterical woman continued to run in circles.

"Oh, no, I did six," Jim suddenly said from his position at the patient's chest.

"What?"

"I did six compressions instead of five."

It's okay," Jill told him.

Frank sent a round of lidocaine down the ET tube, then followed it with Narcan, "just for kicks."

"I got it," Ian suddenly exclaimed. "I got it I- oh, damn. The line blew."

"Charging 360," Frank warned.

"Jill, toss me an 18 gauge?"

Jill handed the catheter over to Ian. "Shocking 360. Clear. Is anyone else's mouth dry?"

"Yeah."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah."

"Just wondering."

Out in Three-five Charlie's ambulance Ian sent Jill around to drive. "I can't," she giggled, "I have no peripheral vision!"

Ian vainly tried to suppress his own laughter as he shoved Jill into the back of the ambulance with his foot and yelled at Jim to go up front and drive.

Outside, the woman had followed them to the ambulance and was still crying and carrying on. "How is she still there?" asked Frank. "Aren't we moving yet?"

"I'm stuck," Jim's shuddering voice responded. For reasons known only to him he had not gone around the outside of the ambulance to get from the box to the driver's compartment. He had instead tried to climb through the interior window. His buttocks and legs still protruded through into the box.

"Will you - fix your partner?" Ian asked Jill, then turning to Frank, "You wanna try this IV?"

Frank did and got it on the first try. "Are we on drug or shock?" he asked.

"I don't know. Which do you like?"

"I want to use my IV."

How they made it to the hospital Ian never could remember. His next recollection was finding Jim clinging to the steering wheel post call. "Jim, what are you doing?" he asked.

"If I let go, I'll fall."

"You're sitting in a seat."

"You don't understand. I'll fall into the sky."

"Oh," Ian shut the door. "I'll just, yeah." Then he went off to find Frank and decide where they'd left their bus.

"So really," Frank concluded, "you should be thanking us."

"Thanking you? I could be busting you."

"For what. We found your bus. It wouldn't look very good for you to have to report the absence of a bus to Captain Pullings. I think we've got you over a barrel, Lieutenant. There's four of us and one of you. Watch your step with who you threaten." Frank would have gone on, but Jill burst out laughing. And Lieutenant Squadron still didn't understand what Jeopardy had to do with any of it.

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Edited for location, 10 Feb 2009