Chapter 2


The nurses and various emergency room people walked by. They were polite enough but, all of them looked at him like he was diseased. They said nothing though. Perhaps they were afraid he would bite. Finally one of them did approach but, even she kept a respectable distance. She tossed Norm a clear plastic bag that had some hospital scrubs neatly folded inside. Norm picked it up off the bench where it landed and then looked at the big white logo on the bag. It was a hazmat bag and he wanted to laugh and cry, "is that what we are when we bleed out Patsy? Hazardous Material?"

Patsy was kind of like a clerk in the Emergency room or, at least, that's what Norm thought. She might have been a nurse, maybe even a doctor but, of all the years Norm had been coming in here he had never seen her do more than just make sure all the forms were done right. That did not seem to have really changed because, along with the plastic bag she also had her little electronic clipboard.

Patsy remained sympathetic but she also spoke with authority, "you need to get changed Norm. You're covered in blood for god's sake. If you want to wash all that later, then take it home and do it but, as long as you're in my ER, you're not going to be getting it all over everything, understand?"

Norm never looked up, "I don't suppose I could use the shower while I'm at it?"

"It's an order," Patsy replied. Then she whipped out the clipboard and in a business like fashion, "before you do though, is this work related?"

Norm solemnly nodded, "Yeah. You could say that."

"I'll take that as a yes," Patsy replied as she pushed at the screen of her clipboard, "and the patients full name is Daniealla.." Patsy slowed down as she sounded out the words on her screen, "um Patrelli Nu, new, how do you say that?"

Still, Norm did not bother to look up. His head was swimming in thoughts, "Nuh-Wen. N-G-U-Y-E-N, make sure you got it spelled right too." He finally got to his feet but Norm could not make eye contact with Patsy. He just did not feel like it. As he passed her, walking to the showers, he commented, "and just use the station as her address and me as the next of kin."

Patsy did not bother with it. She slid the clipboard back to her side and then looked to Norm who was still walking. Patsy called out to him, "I'm sorry Norm. I'm sure she'll be ok. Doctor Koch is the best surgeon on the island, if not the whole planet. That's doubly true for this kind of thing."

Norm did not bother to answer her. He walked to the showers and, once there, he was calling up a phone number even as he pulled off his blood soaked shirt. It took longer to get an answer than it should have. Norm could guess why. He told the person on the other end, "Tony, get off the damn surfboard and get dressed. You got to be at the airport in a couple of hours."

Tony was not pleased, "I am not on the surfboard Norm! And why do I have to go to the airport? I thought you were supposed to be doing that?"

"I can hear the waves Tony," Norm replied as he started working on his pants, "so if you're not on the surfboard then get your dick out of that girl and do as your told."

This time it was a female voice that replied, "that's not funny Norm! We're off and you're the one Barbara told to pick up the new guy."

Norm took a deep breath and then let his tone bite, "and she's up at the Valley so now I'm telling Tony to do it and I'm telling you to cover for Danni. How do you like that Amy?"

"Why do I have to cover for her," Amy groaned.

"Do it and they won't have to pull my foot out of both your asses," Norm growled. They were both complaining as he hung up and threw his phone down on the bench next to the hazmat bag. As he turned and looked at the shower he wondered if he should have told them what happened. It took him less than a second to realize he had done the right thing.




On the beach, Tony looked down at his phone and noticed that his background had popped back up and that his phone app had minimized back down in the taskbar. He snickered sarcastically ass he looked back to Amy, "can you believe that guy some times?"

Amy rolled her eyes and snickered too, "yeah, does he ever sleep? Speaking of which.."

"Oh come on," Tony told her. "I don't have time to sleep anymore but, I can think of one something we do have time for."

Amy pushed him off of her and then started feeling around in the sand for the bottom of her bathing suit. She thought about turning on a flashlight but, they were still within sight of the station and there was the off chance someone might be prowling around the commissary looking for a soda or late night snack. She complained about that and also added, "you know there's nothing wrong with your rack, Tony."

"Why thank you," he replied as he easily found his bathing suit. "I like yours too, while we're at it."

She slapped him on the arm, "you know damn well what I mean. For that matter we can try waiting till we can get back to my place? You know? I did shell out all that money for a crappy little townhouse for a reason." Her hands found her suit and she discovered that it was going to take some serious sand removal before she could even think of putting it back on.

"As I recall," Tony told her as he shook his legs. He was probably doing it for the same reason she was slinging her bathing suit around. He went on, "I didn't have to twist your arm. Besides I promised you not in the sand and we were not in the sand."

Amy bit back, "Tony, we weren't the only thing all over your surfboard. I got plenty of sand up the crack of my ass too, thank you very much." Amy stood up off the board and then stomped her foot on it, "and it's as hard a rock. You're not the one with your back on it, you know!"

He slid his arms around her and then kissed her, "I didn't hear you complaining a minute ago."

Amy let him kiss her for a little while and then she broke the embrace. As she began slipping back into her suit she told him, "I'm serious Tony. Is this all we have to look forward too for the rest of our lives?"

The look on Tony's face, or at least as much of it as she could make out in the dark, kind of suggested what she had been suspecting. Tony did not know the answer to her question because he had probably never even thought of it. After a moment of silence he came back with, "well what do you want me to do about it Amy? It's not like there's all that much I can."

After Amy finished pulling her top up she growled at him, "there's plenty you can do Mister." She stomped off back towards the station house. Tony remained behind, staring into the darkness in disbelief. Finally he yelled out to her in the distance, "oh yeah! Like what?"

He could barely hear her yelling back, "you figure it out! Then we'll talk!"

As Amy stepped off the sandy path and onto the concrete porch of the main building she noticed the lights really were on down in the commissary and, more importantly, she could see the shadow of somebody moving around inside. It seemed that her concerns had not been too far misplaced so she rapped a towel around her hips and tied it off. She walked a little further, than the screen door that she had intended to use, and went inside the commissary instead. She was a little surprised by who she found there. It was not who she had expected.

"Cal," Amy said as she walked into the room, "what are you doing up? I thought Danni had the watch?" Calvin Brandt almost ignored her as he got a can of beer out of the refrigerator and hurried back over to his small computer that he had set up on a messy table. Despite the fact that he was still in his briefs and had on a sloppy looking muscle shirt, in other words having just gotten out of bed, he was also wearing a headset and had a very business like look on his face.

Amy put two and two together, "don't tell me. Norm called and woke you up too?"

Cal held up a finger to signal for silence as he sat down in front of the computer. He was concentrating as he obviously listened to the person on other end. He then touched the computer screen and called up some files that he quickly sent somewhere else. Amy, being something of a minority on the entire planet, and most definitely the only person that worked here, was actually from Earth. She could never get herself past how archaic the electronics on this planet were. What Calvin was doing right now, and whoever he was doing it with, would have been completely handled by the computer back in the core. Out here they were stuck with crap that was probably two or more centuries behind the times.

When Calvin finished she asked him, "are you done yet?"

He finally looked to her and said, "no they got me on hold."
Yet again Amy wanted to sneer at how backwards everything here was. Her family had first moved here when she was in her early teens. Until that time she had never even heard the term, "being put on hold." She still thought it archaic and rude.

Amy quickly forgot about that when Calvin finally answered her question, "no he didn't and I'm going to kill him for it too." Suddenly Calvin realized, "he called you?"

Suddenly Amy was feeling a sense that not everything was right. She assumed a more defensive posture as she replied, "not exactly. He called…" Amy then realized what she was saying and changed her story, "yeah he called me. He told me to cover Danni on the com-watch. Where is she? Is she is upstairs in ops?"

Calvin's face was a bit dumbfounded as he just stared at her. Then he finally told her, "she's in surgery over at Kaiser, Amy. She got shot."

Amy almost fell over. After she recovered from the shock she started thinking and, "was she cleaning her gun or something?"

Cal only grunted at that and, besides, the hospital came back on line and he had to finish his conversation with Patsy first. In the mean time, Tony came strolling in and went right to the fridge for a beer. As he passed by Amy she told him the news and he stopped in his tracks. Tony had to think about it for a minute and then he laughed, "you mean she was drinking on duty, right?"

How was Amy supposed to reply to that? Fortunately she did not have too. Calvin ended his call by thumping the computer screen and then he said, "she asked me to cover for her. She said she had to go take care of something and, well, you know the only alternative was the Noodle and Poodle show. So, I said what the hell. She wasn't supposed to be gone that long."

Tony was obviously still trying to shift through the information he was getting. He pointed towards the ceiling and said, "Danni's not up stairs?"

Amy just totally ignored Tony which, she did not want to admit but, had kind of been the way she was leaning towards as she had left the beach. She announced to her two co-workers, "I'm going back to my old room and change. Then I'm headed to Kaiser."

Calvin did not have any kind of official authority. He was, however, a generation older than almost everybody that worked here and that usually meant that what he said went despite the lack of any rank. This time was no exception when he said, "no you're not Amy. You're going to do exactly what Scoggins told you to do and man the com-watch. Tony you can help her just in case Barbara calls and I got a feeling she just might."

Tony was still a bit confused but, the one thing he was certainly clear on was, "but Norm told me to head down too Riggins and pick up the new guy."

The reaction was a bit unexpected. Calvin only displayed rightful indignation, "Norm called you too?" Cal went on further to explain, "I only found out when Patsy just called me for Danni's medical records."

"Too?" Tony was now even more confused and his frustration most definitely showed when he broke out with, "will somebody explain to me what the hell is going on here?"

Amy just shoved him towards the door that led to the back hallway, "just do what you're told Tony. You'll be ok."

At that same moment a fourteen year old, in an extra long night shirt, rubbing her eyes, came stomping in to the commissary and headed towards the snack cabinets. She complained the whole way, "you guys are too loud. Do you know that." A scruffy looking, grayish, dog that was part Sheppard, and part everything else, came in right behind her and was sniffing at her heels.

Now Amy almost bit into her, "Shannon, what have we told you about bringing that mutt in…" Amy suddenly caught herself and wanted to bite her own tongue. Then she redirected her anger and frustration at Calvin only she did it in a loud whisper, "I'll take care of this. You just find out what happened!"

Calvin quickly got to his feet and discarded the headset. He talked in a hurried but even tone as he told Amy, "I'm headed over there now."

Tony was still clueless but he did make an earnest offer to Calvin, "want me to fly you over there? I thought about taking the bird down to Riggins."

"Hell no," Calvin said as he grabbed his jacket and only then realized he might need some pants as well. As he headed for the inner door he continued by saying, "there's supposed to be a storm coming so Chuck secured the rotors. He's asleep right now and I barely trust him taking care of that thing when he's wide awake. Do like me and drive down there."

As Calvin vanished into the back hallway, Tony looked to Amy, and with no small amount of resolve he said, "so are you going tell me what's going on now?"

Amy glanced toward the young teen and the dog that was still sniffing at her heels. The girl was mostly ignoring them and shifting through the junk food in the cabinet she could barely reach. Then Amy growled at Tony, "GO!" He tried to protest but, this time, Amy even stomped her bare left foot on the tile floor when she repeated herself. Tony just gave up and in an agitated way headed for his room to get dressed. His parting thought was for everybody, "women!"