========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 10:35:14 -0500 Reply-To: JJSWBT@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Wendy Tillis Subject: Hidden Potential 1/22 This is my first post here - and my first foray into fanfic. The whole thing is finished so you won't have to wait long for the ending ( assuming anyone feels like reading more after they see Part 1.) Let me know what you think. All standard disclaimers apply. Hidden Potential by: Wendy Tillis March, 1996 Chapter 1 The ambulance raced through the night, heading for the emergency room at Seattle General. The driver, Mark, had the siren blaring and was running all the lights. Thankfully, the heavy rain had stopped. April had been cold, rainy and miserable. May had, so far, made up for it by being unusually warm. Tonight's thunderstorm had brought some relief from the heat of the day but it made the roads tricky. A few of the side streets still had water on them. He took a quick glance in the rear view mirror to check on their patient. The two men in the back were working feverishly on the young woman. It didn't look good. Mark took his eyes off the scene in the back and went back to concentrating on the road. They were still four minutes out. In the back of the ambulance Andy, the younger of the two Emergency Medical Technicians, kept an eye on the portable EKG machine and shook his head. "We're losing her!" " Not a chance" said Ricky, the other EMT. Ricky's rule was that if they loaded them alive, he delivered them alive. But he had to admit this one was going to be close. The woman had taken both barrels of an over&under shotgun in the chest and stomach. The only reason she was still alive was that she had been far enough away from the shooter than the pellets had begun to disperse before they struck her. A couple of feet closer and she would have been dead on the scene. As it was she was bleeding profusely, her stomach, liver, kidneys, lungs - everything shredded. She was still breathing - but raggedly. Ricky looked up toward Mark: "How much longer?" " 90 seconds- tops" "Good" Andy reached up and brushed a strand of her long auburn hair off her face. He leaned down to talk to her: "Hang in there. We're almost there." She blinked, big green eyes the color of jade, but there was no other response. He kept talking to her as they approached the hospital - maybe she heard him - in any event it made him feel better. "We made it" Ricky was happy - no breaking the rule tonight. But even as he said it - the EKG gave the alarm that her heart had stopped. "Damn, almost made it." Andy shifted position to start CPR. The ambulance lurched to a halt and the rear door opened almost before the engine quit. Ricky jumped out pulling the gurney with him. An orderly climbed up and helped lower the gurney out of the ambulance - the legs snapped down and locked as it cleared the back of the ambulance. Andy stopped CPR as an ER doctor stepped up to take over. They all rushed through the doors of the ER and down the hall. People scattered as the gurney, EMTs, nurses and the doctor raced in. They took a quick turn into a trauma room. Andy and Ricky helped transfer the woman from the gurney onto the table and then swung the gurney out of the way. They backed up out of the room. Their job was done. Andy and Ricky stood in the hall outside the trauma room. It was always tough to lose one in transit. Maybe the doctors could save her - they had both seen "hopeless" cases walk out of the hospital alive. A nurse approached them. "Bad one?" "Yeah, a girl, gut shot. Heart stopped just before we got here." Ricky, single and always looking, smiled at the nurse. "What happened?" It was a slow night in the ER and the nurse had a few minutes to chat. "We heard that she stepped into the middle of a domestic dispute. Girlfriend fighting with some guy. Guy pulled a shotgun and this one stepped between them just as he fired." Ricky said. " Hero type, huh?" Andy shook his head. "Didn't sound like it. More like she just tried to separate them and the gun went off. No one would intentionally walk into a double barreled shotgun blast. No way." Ricky, still trying to make time with the nurse suggested they all head down for some coffee. Just they turned away, the doors of the trauma room opened and the doctors and nurses began filing out. Andy shook his head: "Damn, and she was so young. What a waste." " Come on partner, let's get that coffee. Nothing we can do now." Fifteen minutes later they had had their coffee and were ready to get back on the road. As they passed the now-silent trauma room, Andy paused. "You go on ahead, Ricky. I'll be right there." Andy didn't know quite how to explain it but he always liked to say good bye to the people he brought in. He made a point of visiting their rooms if they survived, and to spend a moment with the body if they didn't. As he stepped into the room, he was surprised to see that the body was gone. It was unusual for the morgue to collect a body so fast - must be a very slow night. He looked around - the floor was still littered with bloody surgical sponges, wrappers from pre-packaged instruments, a stray rubber glove. There was blood on the floor. He turned to go. Then he turned back and walked over to the side of the table. There, in the blood on the floor, was a footprint. In itself that wasn't so odd- there were several bloody footprints in the room. What was odd was that this footprint faced outward from the table - heel near the table, toes pointing into the room. Even that might not have caught his eye if it hadn't been for one additional feature. This was the print of a *bare* foot. Andy stared at it thoughtfully. Just then he heard Ricky calling from outside. "Come on, kid. We got a call." "Coming!" Andy ran out of the room to the waiting ambulance. He sat down in the back and Ricky slammed the door. Mark had them rolling before Ricky was back in his seat. Andy sat looking at the floor, unconsciously rubbing the tattoo on his wrist.