Saving Lives

Lost

Rai turned on the faucet and washed her hands. Then scooped some of the water up in her hands to rinse her mouth out and wet a paper towel to wipe her face. This whole a the third time today she threw up and she was done. Looking in the small bathroom mirror, she smoothed out her hair and fixed her uniform. Even though she felt sick, it was important for her to keep her professional appearance. She walked out the employee bathroom of the emergency room and greeted the staff politely as she made her way to the ambulance bay. She was getting nauseous again and seeded some fresh air. All the smells were getting to her. As soon as she got in the open air she pulled out her phone and called the dispatch supervisor to inform them her and her partner were out of service because she was going home sick. Then she called 942 (field supervisor) and told him the same thing. With an exaggerated huff she made one more business call to the call off line to report the time she was leaving, the reason why and her symptoms.
When she hopped in the truck Pat was looking at her intensely. She opened up the toughbook and started writing her narrative to complete the PCR before they made it back to base. When she was done she extended the tablet for him to sign off so she could post the PCR. Patrick quickly scribbled his name across the screen and put the vehicle in drive shaking his head. "What's up Pat?" Rai asked tiredly buckling her seatbelt. "I get that it's not mandatory that you report to me, but as your partner you could atleast give me a heads up so I'm not blindsided when dispatch radios to tell me I'm being sent to the south towns to work another partner cause mine is going home sick." Rai took a deep breath and exhaled dramatically. "I apologize, I'm just not really up for a conversation this morning I feel like shit." He put his left turn signal on before turning and shook his head again. "You pregnant huh?" He asked nonchalantly. Raichelle eyebrows creased and deep frown formed on her full lips. "It's that obvious. I knew these uniforms were getting tight, but jeez..." She asked smoothing out her shirt and made sure it was tucked in neatly. "You been eating like I've never seen you do, your grouchy most of the time and you constantly throwing up and going home sick. Anyone that paid attention would be able to figure it out." He said glancing at her. "I was just wondering why didn't you say anything to me about it. I could help some of the load off. Like you definitely shouldn't be lifting any of these patients." Rai sat the toughbook on the dashboard and plugged it up to charger. "Well honestly I didn't think it would make that much of a difference if you knew or not." Pat huffed as he pulled the truck into the lot and parked it. "You know, the whole time we've been partners we go to each other's family events and hang out outside of work, I assumed you'd look at me as a friend by now, but I guess I was wrong." He said quietly with his eyebrows creasing. "Pat, please don't take it like that. I do consider you as a friend, it's just this situation with this pregnancy is....iffy." She tried to find the best way to describe it, but that's the best word she could come up with. "So...let me guess, Mr can't be faithful isn't happy about having another baby." Raichelle let out an exaggerated breath and let her head fall back on the headrest. "I'm just exhausted and honestly I'm over it." She confessed. "I see..well you know we're here if you need anything. Donna just adores you and always asked about you and the girls." Thinking about his wife made him smile. She always seemed so cheerful and ready to help others. Rai would probably be that happy too if the man she was with was anything like Pat. Gabriel had a good character and was cool to be around, he just sucked as a boyfriend/fiance. "Listen, I get that your situation is stressful and no matter how bad we try it's not always easy to leave your home life at the door like we're trained to do. All I ask is that you communicate with me. As a partner and most importantly as a friend." He said softly studying her body language. She nodded her "I'll definitely work on that." Pat nodded his head and pulled his phone out responding to the message his wife had sent him. "Alright, now go home so I can call dispatch and see who I'm sattled with for the next 8 hours." He said urging Raichelle to get out of the truck. "Ok, ok. I'm going. See you in four days." Pat turned his head to the side as if he was thinking hard about something. "Oh shit, it is day four. We'll lucky, lucky, lucky you.." He sang. Laughing. Raichelle grabbed back pack and headed to clock out.