Unlike the rest of the trauma centre staff, Lance had the night off. He decided to spend it caroling with other hospital staff. The rest of his team was stuck at the hospital waiting until they were needed. Unfortunately they were and the person dying in their surgery room was all too familiar to them.
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For the first time in a very long time; Lance had the night off. It wasn't as great as it seemed though since the rest of his team were still stuck at the hospital. Since the rest of his family were in Cuba and his team were at work, he decided to volunteer with the hospital's church group and go around town carolling. He didn't expect for them to go for a very long time since it was Christmas Eve and they all still had their families to get back to.
As they went from house to house, snow started falling from the sky. Although it was a bit of a shock going from the warm temperatures of Cuba to suddenly being bombarded with snow and ice. He had to admit that there was beauty in it though.
They waited at the corner of the street waiting to cross to the other side, it would be their last street for the night and then they would head back to the hospital before heading home. When they deemed it safe, they started heading over, Lance tailing the group as he tried to pull his jacket back on after taking it off in the warm temperature of the family home they were just at.
The only things he saw were blinding lights and heard the sound of screeching tires.
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"Have you guys tried these cookies yet?" Pidge asked offering the tin out to the rest of the group.
"Are those the ones that Lance made?" Keith asked as Shiro stuck his hand in to grab one. Pidge nodded her head and held the tin out for him to grab one.
"Does anyone know when they are supposed to get back here?" Hunk asked looking around the room. Everyone shook their heads as they continued eating.
"I don't think that it should be too long, they left quite a while ago," Allura said, talking between bites of sandwich. Coran's hand went to his waist as his pager suddenly went off. He shot up from the table abandoning his food. Immediately everyone did the same and followed him out the door of the room, knowing that they would be needed as well. They were Altea General's trauma unit after all. Coran was the head surgeon, with Allura as his assistant surgeon, Shiro was the anesthesiologist, and Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance were the trauma nurses.
"We have a trauma patient incoming three minutes, car accident, he's being rushed straight to trauma 1, prepare for surgery," he announced. They nodded and rushed to scrub up, preparing the room like they had dozens of times before. They heard the rushing gurney before they saw it and cleared the way for it to be parked. As they saw the body on the gurney, they gasped in shock.
"Work before emotions," Coran said seriously a second later. They nodded their heads and immediately started their work around him. "What do we have?" He turned to the paramedics.
"Lance McClain, struck by an out of control car, open fracture on his lower leg, possible fractured ribs, blunt force trauma to the entire body including the head," they listed off. Coran nodded and turned to the team, as they left the room.
"Hunk, you're on airway and breathing, Keith fluids, Pidge set up the x-ray, you're the runner," he ordered, they nodded and immediately branched off.
Hunk started checking his airways and breathing, thankfully he was breathing on his own for now. He teared up at seeing Lance's bruised and bloody face. He knew that head wounds tended to bleed a lot and it was possible that it looked worse than it actually was. He shook his head, trying to clear any emotions for the time being. Work before emotions. Work before emotions. He gulped when Lance's eyes started fluttering open.
"Lance? Are you with me buddy?" He asked. Lance's eyes drifted over to him before he turned his head completely to face him.
"Hunk?" He asked confused. His drifted around the room, taking in the environment around him, completely ignoring Keith as he hooked him to an IV.
"Do you remember what happened?" Hunk asked pulling his attention back to him. Lance squinted his eyes slightly.
"I got... I got hit by a car?" He phrased it like a question but Hunk nodded his head.
"It hurts Hunk," he whimpered, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Can you tell me where it hurts Lance?" He asked seriously. Lance clenched his eyes closed, tears still escaping from them.
"My stomach," he gasped out, grinding his teeth together.
"Cut off his shirt!" Hunk demanded. They didn't question him and Pidge did just that. It was easy to see the large swelling in his stomach when the shirt was taken off and the discoloration around the mound.
"He's bleeding internally, Shiro sedate him, we have to perform surgery now!" Coran commanded. Lance looked wide-eyed up at Shiro as he started pushing drugs into his line.
"Shiro?" Lance warbled. His face was flushed red and there was visible fear in his eyes. "I'm not gonna die right?"
"Of course not, Lance," he said with a gentle smile. Inside though, his heart was breaking. Just seeing how much pain his friend was going through, and the fear that was in his eyes, cut right through him.
"I'm in trauma though," he quietly argued as the drugs started running through his system.
"We'll take care of you Lance," Shiro promised.
"I know," he trailed off as he fell into unconsciousness. After he made sure that he was asleep, he intubated him and nodded for Coran and Allura to start. Everyone was at their stations and they were determined to not let Lance slip away from them.
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Lance remembered laying on the cold pavement after sliding off the hood of the car. He remembered the screams of the other volunteers as they rushed to his side and the sobbing owner of the car as they called 911. He remembered them kneeling by his side apology after apology streaming out of their mouth, so much that they could barely breathe. He remembered telling them that it was okay. That it was an accident.
He also remembered how terrified he was. He knew the damage that blunt force trauma could do to a person and the fatality rate of pedestrian-car accidents. Even as he tried to reassure everyone around him, he could still feel tears running down his face.
He had never felt so scared in his life when the ambulance rolled up beside them and the paramedics rushed to him with their bags and gurney. That's when it became real to him. He never expected to be on this side of medicine. He was always the one helping people and making sure that they were safe. He never thought of the fear that they went through while they laid in the ambulance, waiting to see whether they would live or die.
Waking up to see Hunk's face was quite possibly the best thing that turned into the worst. He thought for a second that maybe he fell asleep during their break and Hunk found him in time to go back to work, but as his eyes roved around the room he knew he was wrong. He knew that he was in trauma then and that he was really at risk of dying.
Even as Shiro tried to reassure him, he couldn't help the little bubble of doubt in his mind. He didn't want his last memories of his team to be of them prepping to operate on him. As he drifted into blackness, he was afraid that he would never wake up again.
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It was tough to leave Lance alone after they finished his surgery. Their Christmas miracle came true and the surgery was a success, leaving Lance stable as he slept in his hospital room.
To their relief; his possible fractured ribs turned out to only be bruised and he only sustained a minor concussion from hitting his head. He spent the entirety of his Christmas laying in that bed surrounded by his team after he woke up. When they went into the room, everyone burst into tears lightly hugging him around the shoulders so they wouldn't press on any of his bruises. Not once did they leave his bedside when they weren't needed, not even to go home for the holidays. If Lance wasn't going to be home, they weren't either.
