Paper Handcuffs

Chapter 3 - Fire Blankets and Who?!

"Alice Shaw, 26, trapped with burning oil and debris at the foot of the door, 28 weeks pregnant with suspected broken ankle" Sullivan reeled off to Maya, Miller, Warren and Hughes whilst the rest were transporting the most injured to Grey-Sloan. "Get me out please!" Alice wailed, breaking the firefighters focus on their captain. Maya shifted her feet and began to think of anything that would put the fire out. The team had used all the Class B dry chemical extinguishers to take out the main fire in the kitchen and hallway. With dispatch saying backup wouldn't be there for another 8 minutes, someone would need to think of something fast. The fire was eating at the door and the smoke was starting to seep through into the bathroom. "Salt or baking powder?" Warren spoke up. "What?!" Miller and Hughes said in sync. "Salt or baking powder can smother fires, I had to tip salt onto a small grease fire Miranda started last Easter morning." "Keyword in that sentence Warren is a small grease fire, there's not enough salt in the building to put something like this out." Sullivan said then calling out to Alice, "Miss? Can you move as far away from the door as possible and get low to the ground?" "I-um I'll tr-please just get us out of here! The smoke is coming in!" "We need you to get as low to the ground as possible, the smoke will rise". And give us more time. Maya was watching this unfold in front of her. With Hughes and Miller struggling to console the distraught woman, Maya started going over the situation in her mind and wracked her brain for a solution. She unconsciously started talking out loud, going over Warrens idea "There's not enough salt or baking powder to smothe-" WAIT. "Smother the fire" Sullivan turned and looked directly into the eyes of the blue-eyed firefighter. "Speak up Bishop!" "Sir we need to smother the fire. We're focusing on what we don't have and not what we do. This is a commercial kitchen, by law, there has to be at least two fire blankets and there always large in case someone ever needed to be wrapped in one" Sullivan's eyes shifted as he thought for a moment and then ordered Miller with Maya into the kitchen to locate the blankets.   

They raced back through the dining hall and hallway, seeing the soot chalk the floor black, the cutlery, half-eaten plates of food and the personal belongings that hadn't been claimed by the fire. Miller was the first one to see one of the red boxes on the wall, he ran over and pulled the two blue cords releasing the fire blankets and rolled the contents before putting it under his arm. "Bishop, over there!" He pointed to the other side of the room where the other red box was peaking out from the corner by the sinks. Maya grabbed it and the same as Miller put it under her arm before they ran back towards the bathrooms. They heard Alice shouting before they had eyes back on the team. "PLEASE, JUST PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE". In a group effort they opened the blankets and placed them as best as possible over the tables and chairs that fuelled the fire. Maya's grip slipped from one of the corners and allowed the bright orange flame to connect with her wrist. "Fuc-ahhhmmm"Maya spoke out through gritted teeth. She re grabbed the corner of the blanket and disciplined herself to not think about the burn forming on her wrist. As the fire started to stave, station 23 arrived and ran in with the essential final step, the extinguishers. The fire was out. 

With the debris pushed and kicked away from the door the team were finally by Alice's side. The very pregnant woman was lay on her side, propped up by one of her elbows. Her ankle obviously broken and very swollen was in front of her. Sullivan was quick to get her an oxygen mask, whilst Warren saw to her ankle with Alice wincing in pain as it was wrapped and splinted on scene. Hughes walked over to Maya who, with her burned arm held to her chest, was doing a Hypoxia test on Alice. Hughes put her arm on Maya shoulder and told her to stand up as she took her place. Sullivan ordered Miller to bring the spine board and everyone prepare to move Alice into the aid car.

"Grey-Sloan, this is Captain Robert Sullivan. We have an ETA of 5 minutes with a 26 year old woman, 28 weeks pregnant, with suspected smoking inhalation and a broken left ankle." "Only 5 minutes Alice" Warren reassured her. Alice had become more and more agitated with added pressure building in her lower stomach that caused her and the team concern. It was minutes before Alice would be in the best place she could but the universe must have had so many other ideas that day. As the aid car turned the corner to the last street before the hospital, Alice's eyes went wide and Maya noticed her try cross her legs which cause the woman to curse in pain. "Alice I'm going to need you to try stay still, we're round the corner. You're doing so well." "I think my water just broke" Shit. Miller, Hughes, Maya and Warren shared a look of disbelief then panic. They all jumped into action, knowing Alice wouldn't go into active labour before they made it to the hospital, they worked on getting her comfortable and prepping her so she could be moved straight to labour and delivery.

Met with the trauma team, the members of station 19 jumped out of the aid car and helped move Alice into the hospital. Maya was the last one to leave the aid car, her burn had been wrapped on the way to Grey-Sloan but Sullivan order her to be seen by one of the doctors for it to be checked out. She walked through the entrance and trauma bay before being approached by a young looking doctor. He had dark brown hair, pale skin and was roughly the same height as Maya. "I'm Dr Levi Schmitt, I've been told you have a burn that needs to be seen?". Levi assessed, cleaned, applied cream to and then redressed Maya's burn. He started giving her the aftercare instructions although Maya was more focused on the hospital life in front of her. Patients being moved, alarms going off and medical staff running in all directions. Then Maya saw her. No wait a minute. "Dr DeLuca?" Levi spoke. "What?" Maya pulling her gaze to the young doctor. "Dr DeLuca over there. Do you know her?" Gesturing to her, who was now seeing to Alice. "Oh um no- well – I, no I don't".  "She's amazing". Before Maya could stop it, the sentence was out "Are you two together?" Way to get personal Bishop. "Oh no. I'm gay and so is she, well actually I don't think she labels things. They don't call her Dr Orgasm for nothing" He laughed and continued, "She's amazing because she really helped me when I came out." Maya didn't hear a single thing after 'Dr Orgasm'. DR ORGASM. Dr Carina DeLuc-orgas- WHAT. "She's a doctor here?" Speaking aloud as she took the spare bandages needed for the next few days. "She's an OB/GYN and she does her research here" Levi confirmed filling in the last part of Maya's chart. With that Maya stood, thanked Levi and began to move towards the exit. Dr Deluca stayed in Maya's peripheral vision until she met the door. The whole time the doctor looked like she was doing a dance she had performed 1000 times. All composure and confidence.

Back at the station Maya rejoined the team who were sat brewing coffee and snacking from the cupboards in the beanery. She sat down and joined the chat, trying to push the mysterious doctor from my mind. With Sullivan back in his office after a quick briefing team, were left to joke among themselves. "It was opening night! How do you burn the place down opening night!?" Andy amused slightly before taking another sip of a coffee.

"No idea but I was a bad day for a steak!"

•••

They will meet again next chapter. Will Maya be able to rid some mystery surrounding the doctor? Will they have anymore to say after the night at the bar? Will Maya find out why they call her Dr Orgasm?

Criticisms and ideas always welcome. Until next time...