Turn Around Bright Eyes

“Just breathe,” Nicholas kept saying over and over again.  He’d moved on from saying that everything would be all right.

The other officers looked on as Nicholas tried desperately to stop the bleeding from his partner’s torso. 

Where was that ambulance?

Danny kept his pain filled eyes on Nicholas, he couldn’t make out what he was saying.  Everything sounded garbled to him and it was getting harder to keep his eyes open.

Nicholas could feel Danny slipping out of consciousness and yelled louder.

“No, Danny!  Stay awake, you have to hold on for me.”

Danny looked back at his frantic friend.  “Tired,” he muttered almost inaudibly.

Nicholas had to fight back tears, if Danny saw him lose it than he might give up.  He swallowed the lump in his throat.

“I know, it’ll all be fine soon, you’ll see and then you can sleep but not now.”

Danny weakly lifted his hand and let it rest on Nicholas’ leg.  Nicholas gave him a reassuring smile, “that’s it Danny, just breathe, concentrate on breathing.”

Finally, they heard sirens.  Nicholas watched numbly as Danny was loaded into an ambulance.

“Hey, is anyone coming with him,” one of the paramedics asked.

“I am!”  Nicholas rushed into the ambulance as it took off.

By the time they reached the hospital Nicholas was completely physically and mentally drained.  He helplessly watched as Danny was rushed into surgery.  His best friend was wheeled behind doors that Nicholas was afraid he would never come out of.

He collapsed into a chair.  He let his head fall.  He was so tired but he couldn’t allow himself to sleep until he knew Danny would be all right.

“Angel!”  Nicholas’ head snapped up to see the other officers coming towards him, the Andys in the lead.

“How is he,” Doris asked.

“Uh, I don’t, I don’t know yet.  I’m uh, still waiting,” he hated how soft and vulnerable he sounded.

He cleared his throat, “listen you should all go and get checked out, I’m just going to stay here.”

They all hesitated, “don’t you think you ought to get checked out to Sergeant Angel,” Tony asked.

Nicholas rubbed his face furiously with his hand, “yeah, yeah, I will but now I’m going to stay here.”

The other officers nodded and started to leave, Nicholas noticed the Andys exchanging a look before they too left.

Nicholas leaned back in the chair and tried in vain to relax.  How could he relax?  He had just been in an explosion, he was physically hurting and it would probably be worse in the morning.  And Danny, well the morning may not even come for Danny.

He tried to clear his mind, not that he was ever very good at that sort of thing.  Janine had told him that, Danny had told him that, but he didn’t need to be told, he knew it was true.  Now the mind that usually ran a mile a minute was focused on one man and his fear of losing him.

Finally a doctor came back through the doors.  Nicholas leapt to his feet.  He immediately regretted moving so fast as sharp pain shot through his body.  He fought the urge to cry out.

“Is he all right,” he asked through gritted teeth.

“The surgery went well, he’s stable and resting.  He’ll probably be out for quite a while though.”

Nicholas nodded, sighing with relief.  “Can I see him?”

The doctor looked him over, “after you get checked perhaps.”

Nicholas shook his head, “that can wait.  I need to see him.  I’m all right; I’m not going to collapse if I spend five minutes with my partner.”  He stared the doctor down until he showed Nicholas to Danny’s room.

The sight of Danny hooked up to all those machines was frightening.  He pulled a chair up next to his friend’s bed.  It wasn’t a very comfortable chair, but it was an improvement over the one in the waiting room.

He took one of Danny’s limp hands and squeezed it tightly.  He closed his eyes and listened to the monitors.  He relaxed with the reassurance that Danny kept breathing.