Page 8 of Rival Hearts

RILEY

Dr. Riley Parker was once again in surgery, working on a patient who had suffered multiple injuries during a car crash. When she finished, she walked out of the operating room and took a deep breath before she had to notify the patient’s family that the surgery was a success.

There were some complications and the patient was going to have some notable scarring, but they would live—and considering how bad of a state they were in, that’s all that mattered.

Riley finished notifying the family, receiving an awkward hug from the patient’s wife, and walked back into the Emergency Room to see what else she could do. She was barely there for long when suddenly, the sound of multiple pagers going on attracted the entire department’s attention.

Before Riley even had the chance to look at her pager, the head of the hospital, Dr. Josephine Mars, came rushing into the Emergency Room in her heels and smart skirt and white doctor’s coat. She looked disheveled, which was rare for her.

“Everyone!” Dr. Mars called out. “A building under construction has collapsed a few miles away. We’re the closest hospital, and paramedics and firefighters are bringing all survivors here.”

Everyone had their attention on Dr. Mars, and Riley felt her stomach drop. Building collapse could mean mass casualties and lots of unsurvivable injuries. She took a deep breath and steadied herself; she was going to do whatever it took to have as many survivors as possible. She looked at Dr. Mars and resolved to be the best doctor she could be.

* * *

The next few minutes were chaos. While they waited for the first ambulance to arrive, everyone prepared the Emergency Room. Nurses moved patients to allow for the flood of people that would arrive. Doctors and everyone laid out gauze and emergency supplies they thought they might need.

Everyone worked like a storm of elephants, seemingly without order, but still managing not to trample anyone else. When the first ambulance arrived without its lights on, Riley knew something was wrong. One of the nurses came back into the Emergency Room looking shaken and informed everyone that the patients in the first two ambulances died before they made it to the hospital.

Riley felt that pit in her stomach and knew that today would be difficult, both in keeping patients alive and keeping one another’s spirits up.

When the next ambulances arrived, the patients were fortunately alive, but they also brought someone who caused Riley to scowl to herself before she schooled her face into a neutral expression.

A certain tall athletic very attractive angry paramedic. Now was not the time for dislike or rivalries. But Riley couldn’t deny how she both wanted to and didn’t want to see her at all.

Riley took a stretcher and loaded it into the ER getting briefed by another member of the ambulance staff, hoping to avoid the angry paramedic, but she knew that the other woman noticed her when she saw the obvious frown on the her face as she looked in Riley’s direction and their eyes met for just a second.

Just as Riley expected her to leave with the ambulance, Dr. Mars raised her voice.

“Jett,” she called out and the paramedic turned around to face the head of the hospital.

“Josephine?” the paramedic replied and Riley tried to tune out their conversation as she focused on her patients, but it was hard. Nobody called Dr. Mars Josephine. Apparently this Jett the paramedic knew her boss on a personal level, which slightly annoyed her.

“Can you stay here and help in the ER?” Dr. Mars asked, and Riley inwardly groaned as she noted the awkward angle of her patient’s arm. They would need an X-ray to be sure what they were looking at, but Riley could already tell that her patient likely needed surgery.

“Absolutely,” Jett said. There isn’t too much left to do on scene. I’m sure they will cope without me.

Jett spoke into her radio most likely ascertaining permission with her commander.

Riley couldn’t stop her gaze from being drawn to the curve of Jett’s lips as she spoke.

“Awesome,” Dr. Mars said. “Thank you so much.”

Jett got to work. She focused mainly on stabilizing patients and helping the nurses hook them to monitors and IV lines. At one point a patient needed to be intubated and Riley couldn’t help but notice in admiration how efficiently Jett performed the procedure. She had a look of determination on her face that Riley couldn’t get out of her head.

When Jett accidentally walked into Riley, Riley couldn’t help but snap at her, memories of Jett calling her a glory chaser surfacing to her mind.

“Hey, watch it,” Riley said as their bodies clashed and they both pulled sharply back. Jett looked back at her, dark eyes hard to read suddenly, and Riley definitely noticed when she started to roll her eyes but stopped.

“Sorry,” Jett said, a little reluctantly.

Riley wanted to say more, but the situation definitely didn’t allow it, so she got back to work.

“My arm! My arm!” Riley heard someone screeching, causing many nurses and doctors to fumble in their work before they refocused. Riley finished with her current patient and headed to where the commotion was to see what was happening. When she got there, she saw a man with what was obviously a compound fracture to his arm.

When the man saw Riley, he started sobbing.

“Please,” he said. “Can you fix my arm? I need it.”

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