Night shift - Completed

Chapter 23

Poppy's PoV

"Don't leave me." Calum said before he passed out, my stomach and chest dropping simultaneously.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, moving the arm of the bed down so I could lean over him. "Calum? Can you hear me?" I felt for his pulse, which was there but slowing, his body must have been struggling to deal with this.

"What's wrong with him? Please help him Poppy!" Dave called from across the room with Jack, making sure no paps got in to see this mess. The pressure I was feeling was unreal. Not only did I have a life in my hands, it was the life of a celebrity. One in a band. A very famous one.

"Katy, bleep Mr Shine, I need him to aspirate air from his chest. It's urgent." I ordered, sending one of the younger students running for a phone. I turned back to Calum, doing a blood pressure check. His blood pressure was lower, which wasn't a good sign. How did he even manage to do that? All he did was shout. Shit. With every second that passed, I got more nervous. Of all people I wanted to deal with on this shift, Mr Shine wasn't one of them but this was an emergency. I needed him.

"Poppy?" Mr Shine was at the door, dressed in scrubs and ready to hear what I had to say - for once.

"Calum's got a right sided pneumothorax. He lost consciousness about half a minute ago. About twenty minutes ago I gave him more painkillers for his ankle after he hit it." I said quickly, knowing there was no time to mess around.

"Thank you Poppy. I need him conscious. I'm going to need some local anaesthetic, a syringe with a needle and a three way tap." I ran out of the room to fetch what Mr Shine had needed, running straight into the path of the paps that were somehow still in this ward.

"Is everything okay with-"

"Out of the way please!" I pushed past them to get to the clean utility room, stocked with everything I needed. I grabbed the three things he'd asked for and ran back into the room where I laid them out nicely on a trolley for Mr Shine. Following that I ran and got a bunch of hand towels, wetting them in cold water so I could place them on Calum's head. That seemed to do the trick and he began to stir, his eyes opening and locking with mine straight away. I let out a relieved sigh as I smiled.

"Hey." He said croakily.

"Cal, listen to me. Mr Shine is here, he's got to perform a small procedure to relieve the pressure on your chest. I'll be right here to help, okay?" He nodded at me.

"Right Poppy." Mr Shine got ready to boss me around. "I need you to clean the area to allow for the anaesthetic." I nodded and got straight to work, opening his shirt to reveal his chest and a few tattoos. At any other time, I'd have taken a good look and seen how great he looked but I couldn't waste any time this time. I cleaned his chest and watched as Mr Shine injected the numbing liquid into his chest. Following this I set up the needle and watched him get to work. He injected the needle into Calum's chest and extracted some air, twisting the cap on the tapped tube that let the air out into the room. He continued doing this but we both knew it was a pretty long job.

"Cal!" I heard from the door as I saw Ashton rush in, panicked and scared. "Oh God Poppy, is he okay?" Mr Shine nodded at me to go and talk to him so I headed over to Ashton, who pulled me into a hug instantly.

"He's okay, Ashton. I think the rib he broke just caught his lung. It made it collapse but I think its only a small one. Mr Shine is just taking the air out to make him comfortable and he'll be fine." I offered a soothing smile.

"Thank goodness!" He breathed out in relief. "When the hospital called me I got so scared."

"What are you doing here though? Cal warned you not to come here. Did the paps see you?" I asked him, trying not to sound like I was telling him off.

"Well some person called me to update me but she sounded scared so I thought it was really bad, I just came straight away. I don't care about them, as long as he is okay." He said quickly. I patted him on the shoulder.

"Well thank you for coming. We shouldn't be too much longer and you guys can catch up." I smiled as I headed back to Mr Shine, who looked like he was extracting the last bit.

"Was that Ash?" Calum perked up, a smile lighting up his face. I nodded in response.

"Poppy, I think I'm done. Keep a close eye on him. It shouldn't need to be done again but watch for any signs." Mr Shine handed me the syringe as he quickly patched up Calum's chest and stuck tape on it.

"Thank you. So much." I said gratefully, the pressure I was feeling slowly melting away. Calum was okay. I'd got it sorted. Mr Shine put an arm around my shoulders which caused me to jump.

"Well done on a good diagnosis." He said before he left the room again and Dave shut the door and locked it. The room fell silent for a moment as we all tried to compose ourselves. I found myself heading over to one of the spare chairs and practically collapsing on it. It was Ashton's turn to put his arm around my shoulders this time.

"Hey, you did really well." Ashton said, proudly. I slouched forwards and put my hands over my face.

"I know. It was just scary." I spoke quietly. "Honestly, I'll be okay in a minute." Ashton took my hint and nodded, making his way over to Calum and leaving me to calm myself down for a second.

"Is she okay?" I heard Calum ask Ashton.

"Yeah, of course. She's one of a kind." He responded. "She's worked magic on you, Cal. Don't you dare give her up."