Sudden Response (EMS #1)(21)

Eric ignored her as Bill tried to calm her down. He didn't give a rat's ass what they did to him. The only thing he cared about at the moment was behind those double gray doors, being examined.

He rubbed a shaky hand over his face. She'd really scared the hell out of him tonight. Over the years they'd been in more f**ked up situations than he could count, but none of them like tonights.

When that little bastard went after Tyler's gun he swore his heart stopped. The only thing he could think of was getting Joe out of there before he pulled the trigger. Any other woman would have made a run for it, but had Joe?

Oh hell no, not miss, "I'm one of the guys." She not only stayed, but she just had to risk her life. That damn gun could have easily gone off when she decided to use her body to knock Adam's hands away.

He dropped his face into his hands. He did not want to think about how close he came to losing her. What in the hell had she been thinking? It had been sheer luck that the gun hadn't gone off when she slammed into Adam's hands.

It was f**king selfish, that's what it was. She could have gotten herself killed and left him all alone. Did she even think about what her dying would do to him?

No.

It was so f**king important to her to be one of the guys that she never once stopped to think how it would affect him if something happened to her. If something happened to her he would-

"The three of them attacked him! He was forced to defend himself," the social worker declared loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the crowded waiting room.

"Ma'am, you don't know the full story," Bill said, keeping his tone polite, but Eric knew the man was pissed. Not even an hour ago he'd been in the nurses' break room when Bill stormed into the room after seeing Joe and slammed the door shut. Then for good measure he kicked a few chairs across the room.

After a rather loud shouting match between them and two nurses running away from the room in a panic they calmed down enough for him to tell Bill what went down. Hearing what happened only seemed to enrage the man more and set off another bout of chair kicking.

Eric would have joined him if a doctor hadn't shown up at that moment to ask about Joe's closest relative, nearly taking twenty years off his life. After explaining that they needed permission to treat her because she was still unconscious he reluctantly explained that she didn't have any relatives.

He certainly didn't count her mother since no one had seen or heard from her in almost fifteen years. When the doctor refused to explain what was wrong or what they needed to do, he of course lied and told him that he was Joe's medical proxy. Although technically it wasn't lying since they had filled out the paperwork, but they forgot to have it notarized.

It took a few minutes of arguing and Bill flat out lying to back him up to convince the doctor, but finally he relented. They'd already ruled out a spinal injury as well as a skull fracture, but he was positive she had a concussion and they required permission to treat the deep gash along her temple. He quickly gave it and obediently followed a nurse to the waiting area to fill out her paperwork.

The paperwork hadn't provided the distraction he needed. In less than five minutes he had it filled out and returned to the triage station. He'd hoped it would take longer so he didn't have to think about Joe being helpless and alone.

"I know that three so called professionals took it upon themselves to gang up on a helpless man," she said with an indignant sniff. "Thanks to their brutal tactics that poor man is in there getting his broken arm fixed."

Yeah, he broke the little bastard's arm. Did he care? Not one f**king bit. He knew without a doubt that if the little bastard had gotten his hand on the gun he would have shot them and everyone in that house. Throw in the fact that he'd attacked Joe when she was bleeding and down and would have probably killed her with his bare hands if Eric hadn't grabbed him then he would say the guy had got off pretty lucky.

"If they'd done their jobs properly my client would not be-"

"And if you had done your job," Eric snapped, sick of her bullshit, as he got to his feet, "then you would have known that facility was not providing him with proper care and that he needed a medical intervention. If you had done your f**king job we wouldn't be here right now and my partner and an officer would not be stuck in this hospital getting patched up."

Tyler had suffered dozens of bites, scratches, and punches requiring god only knows how many stitches and shots. By the time backup had arrived he'd looked like he went ten rounds with a tiger.

"Eric," Bill said tightly, "I'll handle this."

"How dare you?" the social worker hissed. "It's not my fault that my client was attacked. He has several neurological problems and you were well aware of that fact. You knew he has bipolar and schizophrenia! Knowing that you should have-"

"I'll be sure to tell his family that you took the time to announce his private medical information to a roomful of strangers. I'm sure they'll appreciate that," Eric drawled, cutting her off. He ignored her outraged sputtering and headed for the double doors of the emergency room. He was tired of waiting.

The double doors abruptly opened just as a nurse called out. "You can't leave!"

Eric sighed long and loud as he watched Joe storm, half stumble, into the ER waiting room with her light blue uniformed shirt untucked and bloodstained, her boots untied and a large white gauze pad taped to her forehead, barely covering the large bruise peeking out to complete the ensemble. He'd like to say he was surprised that she was trying to haul ass A.M.A. (against medical advice) this early in the game, but sadly he wasn't.