"It's a shame that one of them died on the way here," the paramedic said, pushing the empty gurney from the room where he just dropped off his passenger. "And it doesn't look like that one will make it through surgery with all the internal injuries he sustained."
"I know," said the driver of the ambulance. "If we had only gotten there sooner, he may have had a better chance." Hearing a lot of commotion both of them stopped and looked over at the room where two doctors and three nurses were working furiously on one patient.
The woman lying on the bed had tubes and IVs sticking out of her arms and mouth. They stood there as one doctor began chest compressions as a nurse rolled the crash cart closer to the bed. Needles were quickly prepared and more medicine was thrust into the IVs as the nurse called out that the paddles were ready.
The EMTs watched the doctor stop compressions, grab the paddles and yell out "CLEAR" before placing the paddles on the woman's chest. The body rose off the table a tiny amount before falling back on the bed. A loud long tone rang out in the silent room for a split second before the doctor called for a higher charge.
The room grew more and more silent as the doctor tried three more times to save the woman's life; and each shock was still followed by the long, solid tone showing no pulse on the patient. The doctor looked up at the clock and let out a long sigh before saying, "I'm calling it."
The two medics turned and walked away from the room, their heads hung low. When they reached their rig, the two of them worked in silence as they put the gurney inside and cleaned up the inside from all the waste that was used on the ride to the hospital. When it was cleaned up, the driver checked with base and was told the night was currently clear of any calls.
"I hate it when so many come back from an accident and don't make it," the other one said. "I don't feel so sorry for the drunk driver, though. As much as I hated seeing her die in there, I am glad to see that she got what she deserved for all the pain she's caused."
The other one looked at him and frowned. "I hate seeing anyone die, even after that nasty mess we were picking them up from. Hey, here comes the other ambulance. I guess they finally got the two out of the crushed car." Both men looked up and watched as the ambulance drove in silence to the ER doors.
"Shit!" exclaimed one of them. "No lights or siren. Damn it! No one survied!"
As they stood there, looking on, the diver jumped out and walked over to the back doors before seeing the other two paramedics.
"Good, you're still here," he called to them. "Get over here, and bring your gurney. We're going to need your help. You won't believe this."
The two rushed over to the open ambulance door with their gurney. When they reached the opening, they were shocked to see the couple lying side by side, one on the gurney, and the other lying strapped to the bench, holding each others hands. The driver climbed in and stepped carefully over the clasped hands and spoke to the other two EMTs.
"When we separated them, their vitals went haywire, and they began to crash," he told them. "When we lay them side by side, their hands touched and the vitals were instantly clear of any danger. Every time we tried to separate them, the vitals went south; so we decided to transport them together like this.
"We're going to take her out first. Get your stretcher in here fast, put him on it and roll it back out even faster so we can get them back together again. I don't know what it is about these two; but they're holding onto each other like they're keeping each other alive."
In a flash, the hands were separated as the woman was rushed out, her portable heart monitor going from a slow steady beat to a rapid pace, as did the man's. The two rushed in and quickly put him on their gurney and rushed it out the door without worrying about strapping him and his body board down to it. As soon as they were out the door, the couple was put side by side and the other EMT put their hands together again. Both monitors were instantly back to a normal healthy and safe rhythm.
Both of them looked at each other before reaching forward and grabbing the end of the gurneys and began to roll them out at the same time. When both of them were on the ground, the four men and two gurneys quickly made their way into the ER, the two separate heart monitors beeping loud and in synch with each other, showing that the couple's hearts were beating exactly at the same time as the other.
---
John opened his eyes and stared at the dark tiled ceiling above him. His body hurt and he felt sore, as if he had been run over by a steamroller. He lay there, trying to get his bearing, trying to figure out where he was, since that was definitely not his bedrooms ceiling above him. His mind finally began to pay more attention to its other senses, hearing a steady beeping noise close to his head.
As he turned his head, John saw an IV stand and heart monitor close by. Watching the monitor, he slowly came to the conclusion that he was in a hospital; but he couldn't figure out why he was there. He tried to raise his hand up to his head, but a pain in the back of his hand let him know that the IV was still in and moving that arm too much was not a good idea.
Moving his other arm, he felt his hand holding something before it registered in his mind that he was holding someone's hand. He turned his head and looked to the other side and saw Lisa lying beside him, her face turned toward his.
John's heart leaped with joy at seeing Lisa by his side, and knew it was her hand holding his; but then he noticed another heart monitor and IV on her opposite side and it occurred to him that, she too, was a patient in the hospital. Ignoring the pain, John brought Lisa's hand up to his lips and kissed it on the knuckle.
Lisa stirred from her strange dream, and her eyes gently fluttered open. She found herself looking directly into John's eyes, and saw that they were growing misty while he looked at her over the hand he was holding up to his lips. She smiled at him and reached one finger up out of their gripped hands and stroked his face gently. He looked at her and Lisa felt her heart jump a couple of beats. She even heard it thanks to the beeping on her other side.
John saw the puzzled look on her face before she turned and looked at the monitor stand beside her. She rolled her head and looked at him puzzled still before her eyes widened in shock to see an IV stand on John's opposite side.
"We're in a hospital," he whispered to her, before thinking about how obvious this had to be for her by now. "Sorry for stating the obvious," he said with a blush. She returned his smile before speaking.
"Do you know what happened?" she asked.
"I can answer that," came a voice from near their feet.
Both of them looked in the direction and noticed a woman, wearing a white lab coat and clipboard in her hand, standing at the foot of the large bed they were sharing together.
"I'm Doctor Janice Terrell," the woman said, "and you two have been in a very serious accident."
John and Lisa looked at each other for a moment before their eyes widened again, suddenly remembering the dinner they had shared and the accident just afterward. Looking back at the doctor, she smiled, calming both her patients.
