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The sound of screams played through her head.
Jane sat in the hospital waiting room with the rest of the 118 family, her leg bouncing up and down. She revisited the scene in her head again, not able to stop the play-by-play that was running on a loop. The night started joyful, with everyone cheering Buck on for passing his exam. Zoe had helped organize the party with Maddie, both of them going into big sister hyperdrive. Of course, they asked their resident baker to make a cake for Buck, so she made a small cake and Christopher helped her frost it. After the big surprise was revealed, they ended up standing on Bobby and Athena's patio talking, drinking, and enjoying each other's company.
Buck had gone uncharactericly silent and before anyone could ask if he was okay, he coughed and a warm splatter hit her in the face. That's when the room erupted in chaos.
Nothing but loud ringing filled her ears as Jane froze in panic. Zoe immediately went into nurse mode, talking quickly with Chim and Hen as they dove into help. Bobby gently moved Jane by the shoulder to give them room. Was he asking her if she was okay? Nothing was computing for her. She was never great in an emergency. The last thing she remembered was hearing someone dial 911.
"Jane?" Hen said quietly. "Do you want to go to the bathroom, I'll help you clean the...clean your face." That's right, she was facing Buck when he coughed up blood. She nodded and let the older woman lead her toward the washroom.
Since she was a little taller than Hen she was leaning against the counter to lower herself slightly. "Zoe is back there with him, she said she had a shift tonight anyways," Hen said trying to fill the air with something other than worry. Jane nodded, and let her wipe gently at her cheek.
"He's going to be devastated if this keeps him from duty any longer." she laughed bitterly. "When I told him I was upset to lose my TV partner this was not the solution I had in mind."
"You two are sweet together, I still don't know if I buy this 'just friends' cover story." Hen threw away the paper towel. "Doesn't feel like Bucks usual M.O."
Jane rolled her eyes and laughed. "You and everyone else. Zoe had the nerve to call him my boyfriend 'without the benefits'." It was Hen's turn to laugh, and she helped the blind woman stand back up to her 5'10 frame.
They made their way back out to the rest of the group, in good timing as Zoe was on her way out to give them the update.
"He's okay," a collective breath was let out amongst the various adults. "Maddie is back there with him, but um, it was a pulmonary embolism caused by blood clots. He'll be on blood thinners for a while to help."
"But he's okay?" Eddie asked, Christopher had been driven home by Carla already.
"He'll be kept for monitoring, but it was probably caused by all the exertion he put on himself these last few weeks." Zoe fiddled with the clipboard, she felt bad having to be the one to break the news to the group. Eddie leaned in and hugged her and gave her a supportive pat on the back.
