"Butt out."
"Oh, the doc must be back in town."
"I'm warning you, Smith." He laughed and shook his head as she continued to smack the bag. As soon as he was out of sight the alarm went off.
"Damn it to hell!" She tossed her gloves on the floor under the bag and grabbed her uniform pants that were hanging on the ladder of the fire engine. She quickly put them on over her tiny gym shorts and threw her uniform shirt on over the sports bra that she had been working out in.
"Lawson is in the shower, Neil I need you to ride on the ambulance."
"Ugh! Great! Let's go Vincent, get your ass moving!"
They pulled up at to a three car pile-up on the bridge leading to the island. The smallest car appeared to have flipped and was lying on its roof, the other two cars were smashed up, but still on their wheels.
"Neil, you and Vincent go assess the overturn. Brown, you and Harris work on that red car, I'll check on the third car."
Kylie bent down and glanced around the car. She could see the driver was banged up pretty bad.
"Are you in the car alone, sir? No, don't move, we'll get you out." He was hanging upside down by his seatbelt.
"My son, he's…back…seat." He was trying to talk between coughs, the airbag had definitely pounded his chest. She was sure he had a few broken ribs, but his airway was open so she left him there.
Kylie crawled through the shattered windshield trying to get to the boy as Vincent worked to free his father. "I got him, he's pretty squished, but he has a pulse." Kylie had to crawl completely inside the crushed up car to stabilize the boy so the she could get him out. Smith worked the 'jaws of life' gas powered clippers to cut part of the car so that they could get the boy free. Since she was the smallest, Kylie was inside of the car holding him still and out of the way. When the cut up doorjamb broke it slipped smacking her in the head. Everything went black.
"Kylie…damn it…Kylie…Harris get over here and pull her out of there, we can get the boy from this side now that the door is loose." Harris ran over and stuck as much of his body into the car as he could.
"She's out cold, Captain."
"Get her out of there." Kylie's head was bleeding just above her right eye.
"Put a collar on her just to be safe. My God, if she wasn't there holding him out of the way that doorjamb would've taken that kid's head off."
My head….throbbing…pressure…ouch! What the...Kylie opened her eyes as the collar was going around her neck. She sounded pretty groggy as she spoke. Her hand went up to her head. "What the hell! Ouch!"
"Be still!"
"I'm fine, Vincent. Let me up!"
Neil, you got smacked in the head. You need stitches and probably have a concussion."
"Smith, I'm fine, tell this pompous ass to get off of me!"
Captain Smith checked her vitals while Harris and Vincent tended to the boy on the backboard. Her pupils were slightly dilated, but she was okay. "You can sit up."
"My head hurts like hell, what happened? The boy…did you get him…" She looked back at the crumpled car.
"He's over there. Your head saved his life. I always thought you were hardheaded, but you proved it today," Captain Smith joked.
"What?"
"The jam broke and smacked you. If you weren't there holding him away from it, it would've taken his head off."
"Holy shit!"
"Come on, we need to transport him, he's pretty crushed up. Can you walk?"
"Yeah." Kylie felt a little woozy as she stood, but was fine by the time she climbed into the back of the ambulance.
~
"Trotter."
"Hey it's Lyle. I have a pediatric trauma coming in, thought you might want to be down here."
"I'm on the way."
Lyle was already tending to the boy's father when the child came in. Mac ran over to the stretcher to get caught up on his condition and noticed Captain Smith walk in with Kylie. The right side of her face was covered in dirt and blood. Oh my god…Kylie!
"Put him in trauma two, her in trauma three," Lyle said.
Mac quickly checked the boy's vitals and began ordering tests. He appeared stable and breathing on his own. His eyes were open and he was trying to talk. She guessed he was probably six or seven. Mac felt for fractures in his face, satisfied that there weren't any, she sutured the large gash on the side of his head. "He's fairly stable. Let me know when the films are back for his arm and leg." She walked out of the room. Lyle was in the hallway heading towards room three.
"How's the boy?"
"Stable, I'll know more when I see his films. He's pretty broken up though, no internal bleeding. Hey, do you mind if I…" She pointed towards Kylie's room.
"Are you sure?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Go ahead."
Mac walked into room three. Kylie was laying on the small bed staring at the ceiling.
"That bad huh?" Mac walked over to Kylie and felt around her face and head searching for any swelling or fractures.
"Ugh!" Kylie rolled her eyes, flinching at the pain in her head and the warmth she felt everywhere Mac touched her. "Why are you in here anyway?"
"I was called down to tend to the child you saved. He's got a broken arm and leg, maybe more, but stable and breathing on his own."
"That's good."
"They said you blacked out when you got hit, do you remember it?"
"No. I'm fine." Kylie wanted to run out of the room, anything to get away from the blond doctor that drove her crazy.
"I didn't ask."
"Can you please stitch my head so I can go home?"
"Calm down," Mac said. She shot Novocain in two different spots on Kylie's forehead and placed five tiny stitches in her hairline. "There you go, all fixed up." She backed away tossing her rubber gloves in the trash.
"Good." Kylie sat up to leave.
"Oh no you don't, you need to take it easy."
"I'm fine."
"I didn't ask."
"Goddamn it, Mackenzie, I am not a child!"
"I never said you were."
"You can't hold me here. I don't have a concussion."
"True, but you can't leave until I sign this chart and then go have Dr. Ferguson sign it as well since you're not a minor. That could take a while."
"Can you hurry it up please? I'd like to get the hell out of here."
"Can we at least talk?"
"No," Kylie huffed crossing her arms and refusing to look at Mac.
"Come on, Kylie, be civil."
"Civil! Me be civil? You're the one who…ugh! I am not even doing this here!"
Captain Smith walked into the room to check on Kylie. He could hear her yelling all the way down the hall. He was surprised to see Dr. Trotter in there with her.
"My goodness, you'd think they were killing you in here, stitches can't be that bad. It's not like you haven't had them before," he said.
"Nah, she's just trying to choke the life out of me so she can leave," Mac said smiling at him.
"Tell her to let me leave, I'm fine," Kylie said pointing towards the stitches.
"She's free to go as soon as I finish the paperwork." Mac walked out of the room without looking at Kylie again.
"Why on god's green earth are you yelling at the top of your lungs at her?" he asked Kyle.
"Because I can!"
"She's a doctor and was trying to help you."
"You have no idea."
"Then tell me." He asked patiently.
"No!"
"Okay then I'll make you stay in here overnight." He walked over and opened the door. "Doctor?"
"No! Smith, damn it!"
Mac came back in. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine!"
"It seems that she may be feeling a little worse than she thought. She might…"
"Damn it, Smith, you cannot make me stay here overnight because I won't tell you why I'm mad at her! It's none of your goddamn business!"
Mac's eyebrows shot up. She gave both o
f them a questioning look. "Maybe I should go finish this chart." She started to walk out the door.
"Good, you do that so I can get the hell out of here." Kylie growled.
"Are you sure that's wise, Doctor? I mean she's in a bit of a rage here. She might need…"
"I'll tell you what I need, Smith! I need to get the fuck out of here!"
"Calm down, Kylie, you are worse than the adolescents that I see every day."
Kylie crossed her arms again and sat there with as much of a pissed off look as she could muster since she had stitches in her head and it was pounding like a bass drum. "I am calm."
"Then why are you so mad?" Smith asked wryly as Mac walked out of the room.
"Stay out of it, please."
"Talk to her, Neil, just talk to the woman for god's sake."
"Fine, I'll talk to her when I'm released," she said. Smith peeked through the door and noticed the doctors and nurses looking in his direction.
Lyle walked up to Mac at the nurse's station.
"What is wrong with her? The entire floor can hear her yelling."
"She's a little pissed off at me."
"A little?" He raised an eyebrow.
Mac smiled. "I'm releasing her now. Here sign this so she can go."
"I'm not use to signing papers for you." He grinned as he signed the forms.
"Well, she's not a minor and she's your patient."
Mac walked back into the small trauma room. Kylie was sitting up with her feet dangling over the edge of the bed. Her blue eyes were sparkling in the bright fluorescent lights.
"Here you go. I gave you a prescription for the pain. It'll help you sleep tonight. Also, you'll need to make an appointment to come back in seven days to have your stitches removed or I can remove them for you if you'd like, just call me."
"Fine." Kylie jumped off of the table and grabbed the papers from the blond doctor. Smith was standing in the corner minding his own business until Kylie tried to leave. He cleared his throat loudly and both women turned towards him. "Ugh!" Kylie was furious that she had to barter a deal to leave the hospital. Mac looked at both of them and cocked her head to the side trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "Can you walk outside?" Kylie spoke so low that Mac barely heard her.
"Huh?"
"Outside, can you go outside?" She growled.
"Oh sure, sorry." Mac quickly left the room. Kylie rolled her eyes and went after her. Mac turned back towards her in the hallway.
"I meant with me."
"Oh yeah…sure. Lyle, I'll be right back, call me if his films come back," She said before walking through the sliding doors behind Kylie.
Mac pushed the sides of her white lab coat back and shoved her hands into the pockets of her scrub pants as she leaned against the pillar. The sky was starting to get dark. Mac watched Kylie mentally arguing with herself and tapping her foot. She's so adorable.
"Look, Smith made me promise to talk to you unless I wanted to stay overnight."
Mac laughed.
"Mackenzie, this isn't funny."
"No, you're right, I'm sorry," Mac said running a hand through her hair.
"So, talk…you're the one that's been trying to talk to me," Kylie said.
"I …well…" Mac scratched her head and looked away. Not like this, I didn't want to talk here like this.
"Spit it out," Kylie growled.
"Are you always this feisty?"
"My head is pounding and sewn shut, plus I'm irate at this moment. I think I have a right to be a little on edge right now." Kylie began tapping her boot on the curb again.
"I can leave here in about an hour, would you mind if I came by to talk to you?"
"Yes I would mind, and I'm not going home anyway."
"Oh." Mac raised an eyebrow.
"I'm on duty until Thursday at the station." Kylie's cell phone rang against her belt.
"Even after tonight?" Mac said. Kylie ignored her and answered the phone.
"Captain, come on. I'm fine…you…ugh! Okay, fine...bye. I guess you win. I'm off tomorrow and picking up a shift on Friday to cover."
"Okay."
"I'll be home, you said an hour?"
"Yeah."
"Mackenzie, don't…" Kylie ran her hands through her curly black hair that was now down around her shoulders. "Don't think you're going to get anywhere…"
"Kylie I'm not trying to get anything. I just want to talk to you."
~
Mac sat in her Mini Cooper in front of Kylie's apartment. She was still dressed in her dark blue scrubs. What the hell have I gotten myself into? What are you going to say to her, Trotter? Have you even thought about it? "Hell no!" she said loudly. Part of her wanted to put the car in reverse; instead she put it in first gear and set the parking brake. "It's all or nothing."
She stepped out and knocked on the door. Kylie answered in tiny cotton shorts and a small t-shirt with what appeared to be nothing under it. She was groggy from taking the pain pill.
"Mackenzie?" Kylie looked puzzled then remembered she wanted to talk. Shit. It was too late to go change her clothes and put on a bra. "Uh…come in." Kylie stepped aside.
"How's your head feel?"
"Hurts."
"I won't take up too much of your time. I know you should be resting right now."
Mac sat on one end of the couch and Kylie sat on the other end. Kylie was hesitant, then asked her if she wanted anything to drink, to her dismay Mac asked if she had any whiskey, which of course she didn't. Mac settled for ice water.
She's so damn cute in her scrubs. "What the hell!" Kylie chided herself out loud.
"Are you okay?" Mac asked.
Shit…shit…shit! "Uh fine…everything's fine."
Kylie returned with two glasses and sat back in the same spot.
"I should start by saying I'm sorry." Kylie went to speak and Mac put her hand up. "Please, I need to say this to you. I'm sorry. I know I hurt you. Hell, I hurt myself and I didn't even know it. I had a very long history with Loren and history is what it always will be. I made some mistakes and I let history cloud my judgment. I know you hate me right now and you have every right to hate me. I just want you to know that Loren is and always will be my past. I have learned a lot over the past six months, good, bad, pretty, and ugly. I know I have lost every chance of having anything with you, but I really don't want to lose your friendship."
"Mackenzie, what do you want me to say? You tore me apart. I made you promise that you were over her. I didn't want to be your rebound and you used me anyway."
"No, I never used you. Until I received that phone call, you Kylie, you were my life, my world, my everything."
"Well it sure changed overnight."
"My past came back to haunt me. I thought I had to go back to her, to help her, I thought the accident was my fault, that it happened for a reason because I wasn't there to protect her." Mac looked down at her hands folded in her lap. Her knuckles were white from clinching them.
"It wasn't your fault, Mackenzie."
"I know that now. It took a lot for me to see it. I really am sorry."
"I …don't…can't…what do I say to you? I don't know anymore."
"I'm not asking for anything, Kylie. I just want to try to be friends with you again. I know I ruined my chances with you. Please believe how sorry I am." Mac looked deep into Kylie's eyes. "I hurt myself too, leaving you was the worst thing I have ever done." A small tear fell from the corner of Mac's green eyes. Kylie's hand moved to Mac's face to wipe the tear. "I should go, you need to rest anyway." Mac stood and Kylie walked her to the door. Mac turned back towards her and saw the moonlight shining in Kylie's blue eyes. "Take care of your head."
"Yes, Doctor," she paused. "Goodnight, Mackenzie."
~
Mac poured herself a glass of bourbon over ice. She took the bottle with her as she went to sit in the salon of the boat. Stimpy curled up in her lap and they sat in the moonlight together. Stimpy snored in her sleep while Mac drank a
nd cried. "I'm sorry Kylie, I'm sorry I was too stupid to realize what I had with you until it was gone."
When the alarm went off at five a.m. Mac wanted to toss it in the bay. My head is splitting. Note to self…no more bourbon nights! "Come on Stimpy rise and shine!" Mac threw the covers off and the little dog ran back under them. "Big baby! All you do is sleep, it's not like you have a hangover from hell!" She stepped into the hot shower willing her headache to go away.
On her way to the hospital Mac decided to stop and check on Kylie, she wasn't sure of the state she left her in last night, and she wanted to make sure her head was okay. She noticed the Jeep was gone when she turned into the complex. Hmm. She turned around and went to the fire station, hoping she wasn't right. Sure enough the black Jeep was parked on the side of the building. "It's barely six a.m. and she's already here?" She's so stubborn! Mac parked next to the Jeep and walked through the open ambulance bay. Harris was standing next to the ambulance repacking one of the emergency bags.
"Can I help you, Ma'am?" He knew exactly who she was and answered himself before she could speak. "Neil, you have a visitor!" He shouted loud enough for the entire station to hear him. All six of the fire station attendees came out, including Neil. Mac was nervous and a little embarrassed. She didn't mean for the guy to wake the neighborhood.
"I'm sorry." Mac titled her head towards the loud mouth. "I didn't mean…I was only checking to see if you…if your head was okay."
"Don't worry about Harris, he's just trying to get washing duty." She said loud enough for him to hear her.
"C'mon, Lieutenant, I had washing duty two days ago."
"Good, then you'll go find something else to do." Her voice rose. "Inside!"
Kylie walked outside of the bay and Mac followed her. "My head's fine. It still hurts like hell."
"I can't believe you're here already. You should be asleep."
"Shift change is at six a.m., besides, I couldn't sleep anyway."
"Me either, I killed a bottle of bourbon and passed out."
"Ouch, I bet you're hung over."
"Yeah, my head hurts, I'm sure I'll feel it about noon. Stimpy tried to get me to go back to sleep, but…" The mentioning of the little dog brought a smile to Kylie's face.
"Aww I miss her, how's she doing?"
Igniting Temptation Page 9
