Page 101 of Stay With Me

Fear fills me for my best friend, but I force it away, knowing the best thing I can do for Trina right now is make sure Emily comes out of this okay.

“I’ll take C-spine,” I tell Jack. I climb into the back seat of the vehicle then Jack crawls across the front. My gut clenches when I see Emily. She’s positioned at an odd angle, her head wedged between the door and the headrest of her seat. I wince when I see the starburst pattern on the passenger side window that shows just how hard she hit her head. While Jack assesses her injuries, I maneuver the cervical collar into the space and secure it around her neck.

Emily’s eyes flutter open, and she flits them about frantically. “Trina?” she whispers. “Where’s Trina?”

With my hands braced on either side of her neck to help stabilize it in case she has a fracture, I try to soothe her. “It’s okay, Emily. You were in a car accident and Trina’s at the hospital getting treatment.”

Emily fights against my hands to try to turn to face me.

“Don’t move your head, sunshine. We have to make sure your neck is okay, so I need you to not move it. Jack’s checking you over and then we’re gonna get you out of here.”

“N-no Charlie. Go help T-Trina,” she sobs, her eyes straining to see me in her peripheral vision.

“Trina already has help. Finn and Reynolds are taking care of her. Plus, you know she’d kick my ass if I left you.”

She gives me a small smile through her tears.

It absolutely kills me that I can’t wipe them away for her, but I can’t risk letting go of her neck.

“Em, does anything hurt you right now?” Jack asks.

“M-my arm, and my head,” she answers.

I watch as her eyes drift shut. “Hey. No, none of that. Stay with me, Em. You can’t go to sleep right now.”

“I’m so tired, though.”

“I know. But you can’t go to sleep just yet.”

Jack looks up, “Fitz, we can start moving her now. Jones, you ready with the cot?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Okay. On your count, Fitz. Let’s try to move her to the driver’s seat so you can climb behind her to help support her neck and back for the transfer to the stretcher.”

I nod. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

Jack and I move Emily in one fluid lift over to the driver’s seat. She cries out in pain, and it literally makes my chest ache. Jack takes over holding her neck so I can climb into the front seat and resume my role.

Minutes later, we have Emily out of the vehicle and secured in the back of the ambulance. Jack drives and I stay in the back with her. I place two IVs, then examine her more thoroughly. I suspect she has a broken wrist and a concussion, and I pray it’s nothing worse.

She’s shivering now and her heart rate on the monitor is clipping away faster than it had been, goose bumps visible on her forearms. Jack’s going as fast as he can, but I’m worried she’s going into shock, and we can’t get to the ER fast enough for me. I reach into our blanket warmer, grab two blankets and wrap her in their heat.

Her head is taped securely to the backboard so I don’t have to hold her neck and I reach for her hand. Her eyelids are drooping again.

“Come on, baby, stay with me. Please. I have some things to tell you, but I need you to stay awake.”

“I c-can’t. I’m so t-tired.”

“You have to. Because I lied to you, Emily. For the first time since I’ve known you, I lied to you, and I have to tell you the truth.”

Her eyes widen slightly.

“Y-you did? About w-what?” Good the adrenaline might be kicking back up in her again, making her fight to stay awake.

I kneel next to her so she can see my face and hold one of her hands, using the other to caress her cheek.

I gaze into her eyes. “All of it. I lied to you the night we broke up. I was ashamed that you saw what happened at my parents’ and my rage. And I heard you on the phone that afternoon, telling”—my voice hitches and I have to pause and take a deep breath—“telling someone you were afraid of me and I realized I had to let you go because?—”

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