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Will grinned and held up the puppy.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he barked.
“I couldn’t just leave him there,” Will said.
“Fucking great.”
When they got to the hospital, he parked and ran into the emergency room; leaving Brendan and Will behind. He ran up to the desk, startling the woman sitting behind it.
“Can I... can I help you, officer?” she stuttered, her hand to her chest.
“They just brought my partner in by ambulance. I need to be back there with him.”
“What’s his name?”
“Listen, I don’t have time for all of the formalities. Just hit the button for the doors.”
“Sir, I can’t--“
“Do it!” he snapped, and banged his fist on the desk. “He could be dying back there!”
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t let you back without signing you in.”
“Fuck!” Jayme raked a hand down his face and willed himself to calm the fuck down. He was never going to get anywhere acting like that. “His name is Tripp Littrell.”
She typed in Tripp’s name, and went through the process of signing Jayme in. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Do you need a blanket or something?”
“No, I just want to get back there to see my partner.”
“Okay. You’re all signed in. He’s in bay 3,” she said, and nodded towards the double doors that led to triage.
Jayme rushed over and squeezed through when there was just enough room to fit. He scanned the room numbers until he got to Tripp’s. There was a flurry of activity in his room, and Jayme heard someone shout for a crash cart. He ran to the doorway, to see doctors and nurses working to resuscitate Tripp.
“Sir, you can’t be in here,” a stern female voice said from in front of him.
He looked down at the petite little woman glaring up at him.
“But--“
“But nothing. You are not allowed to be here. Who let you in?”
“I have every right to be here.”
“Are you his family? Just because you’re a cop, doesn’t give you the right to be here.”
“No, but--“
“No one but family is allowed to be here.”
“Will you shut up and listen to me for a minute?” he gritted out through clenched teeth.
“If you’re going to be difficult, I’ll call security.”
“That’s my fiancé dying in there!” he shouted at her.
Her mouth snapped shut, and her face flushed. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” he said mockingly.
“You can stand here, but you have to stay out of the way.”
He nodded, and lifted his gaze to see that Tripp had been stabilized. Nurses and doctors filtered out of the room. One doctor stopped next to him.
“Hi. I’m Dr. Lansing. Are you a relative of Tripp’s?”
“Jayme. I’m Tripp’s fiancé.”
Dr. Lansing sighed. “He’s fighting for his life. We’ve had to revive him twice already. As of right now, it’s not looking good.” He patted Jayme on the shoulder, then walked away.
“You can go in and sit with him,” the mean little nurse said sadly.
He swallowed hard. It took him a minute, but he eventually got his feet to move into the room. Tripp was hooked up to a ventilator, and all kinds of machines. He grabbed the chair that was against the wall, pulled it to Tripp’s bedside and sat down.
He took Tripp’s limp hand and kissed the backs of his fingers. “All this for a fucking puppy.”
The choked sob that escaped him caught him by surprise, but it was too late; he couldn’t stop the tears that poured down his face. It was quite possible that he’d never get to see his fiancé smile at him ever again. He’d never hear his voice or feel his touch. This could be it. All because Tripp had to save a puppy.
He dropped his forehead to the back of Tripp’s hand, and just cried. The next thing he knew, someone was touching his shoulder. He lifted his head and saw the tiny spitfire nurse from earlier. Her expression on him was soft and warm, different from the stern, take no shit, expression from earlier.
“You fell asleep, Honey,” she said.
“Shit. How long was I out?”
“A few hours.”
He looked up at Tripp.
“He’s stable. We’re going to move him to ICU in a few minutes. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks,” he replied, and shivered violently. The air conditioning was killing him. He was freezing in his wet uniform.
“Do you want me to get you some scrubs, so you change out of those wet clothes?”
“If it’s not too much trouble. I’d appreciate that.”
“No problem, Sweetie. I’ll be right back.”
She came back a few minutes later with scrub pants and a shirt. She also brought him those socks that the patients wear with the grippy bottoms.
“I figured your boots are probably soaked too.”
“Yeah. Thanks. Do you have a bag I can put my stuff in?”
“Sure. Let me get one.”
While she went to get a bag, he pulled the curtain and got changed. She came back just as he pushed the curtain aside. She handed him a purple tote bag with the hospital’s name and logo on it.
