“Put 2 units of O-neg on the rapid infuser.” Kerry yelled.

Chen nodded and muttered something to a nurse who hurried off to do her job.

“God, look at him. And we have no idea of his name or age?”

Kerry shook her head. “A woman just found him lying by the side of the road. How could anyone just drive off and leave him?”

Cleo stood in the doorway staring wide-eyed at her colleagues rushing around the room. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the figure lying still on the table. She didn’t want to believe who it was.

Chen looked up and saw her standing there. “Cleo, we’re ok in here. Mark could use some help next door with a GSW.”

Cleo didn’t move. “No, no! Move out the way, let me help!” She practically ran over to the middle of the room. “What’s his status?”

Kerry and Chen looked at each other, confused.

“Come on, dammit! How’s he doing?”

“Cleo, we can do it. I really think you should go and help Mark.”

Cleo ignored them and carried on assessing him.

“Cleo, what…?” Carter opened the door to Trauma 2 and was shocked to see what was going on. “Cleo, come on…”

“No, I have to help, please…” Cleo began crying more now and stepped closer to the table.

“Cleo, step outside, come on” Carter said in a relaxing mood and walked over to her.

“Do you know this boy?” Kerry looked concerned for the resident when she saw the way she was acting.

Carter sighed and looked at his feet, then up at Cleo and the boy lying motionless on the bed. He then focused his attention back to Kerry and looked her straight in the eye. “Yeah, he’s her son.”

Kerry and Chen both looked up at him in disbelief. “What?”

Carter nodded regretfully and walked closer to Cleo, putting his arm around her, trying to pull her away from the table. She shrugged off his touch and knelt down by Kyle’s head.

“Cleo, please. Let us help your son, please step outside.” Chen looked at Carter and tried herself to get Cleo to leave.

The heart monitor beeped, signalling a drop in pressure. Cleo gasp and stood up, backing away from the table towards the door.

“No, no, no, no… Please, you have to save him.” Cleo covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head, moving closer and closer to the door.

This was too much. She couldn’t cope with seeing her baby like this. She had to get out of there. But she couldn’t bear to leave him. She hadn’t been there most of his life, she wasn’t going to run away now when he needed his mother the most.

“Pulse is weakening. Give 10 of Atropine.” Chen looked over at Kerry. “Cleo, what’s his name?” she asked, glancing over at the screen worryingly.

Cleo still stood there, unable to speak.

“Cleo!”

Cleo managed to gather in the situation enough to realise that someone was talking to her. “What?”

“What’s his name?”

Tears still trickled down her face. “Kyle. Please, you can’t let him die, he’s only eight years old, please!”

Carter had just been standing there, also unable to take in the scene. Cleo began to sob more and he rushed over to her and put his arm tightly around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and started to really cry, her emotions flooding out of her as the full severity of the situation hit her.

A car had hit Kyle. He was lying, seriously injured on a trauma room bed. How could she have let this happen? How had this happened? As she let her salty tears soak into Carter’s shirt, she still didn’t want to believe what was happening.

Kerry looked from the patient, who they now at least knew the name of, to Cleo struggling to cope by the door and found it hard to believe herself. They needed more information about him. Any allergies, past illnesses, but Cleo was hardly in a state to help them.

“Carter, can you take her to the lounge please? We’ll come and talk to you when we have more information.”

Carter nodded at his superior and began gently ushering his distraught colleague out into the hall. Cleo reluctantly relented and allowed him to open the door and lead her outside.

Suddenly the heart monitor changed again. “V-Fib!” someone shouted and Cleo looked up, hardly able to comprehend that this was all real. Less than 3 days ago, everything had been fine, now this. So much was happening; she couldn’t believe that this all wasn’t a dream.

“No! Kyle!!” She swung around, running forward towards her child. Carter grabbed her and pulled her back.

“Cleo” Kerry said in a sympathetic, caring voice, “please let us do our job, none of this is helping Kyle.”

Cleo wasn’t listening. She just focused on her little boy’s beautiful face, lying helplessly in front of her as the trill of the cardiac monitor filled the room and buried deep into her head.

Her brain wasn’t creating coherent thought. She was only thinking of one thing. Her son, and the fact that he might die. She hardly noticed Cater shaking her, trying to get through to her.

“Cleo! Come on!”

He finally managed to pull her outside the doors. The whole ER, staff and patients alike, were staring at them, not knowing what was going on or what to do.

“Carter, is everything ok?” Abby walked over to them but stopped when Carter shot her a solemn glance. He shook his head and she backed off, even more confused than she was before.

They walked past admit and Carter opened the lounge door, gesturing for her to go inside. Cleo nodded blankly. She looked back at the admit desk as she went inside. She stopped when she saw a figure standing by the desk. It was the woman.

She struggled away from Carter and rushed towards her. She was vaguely aware that everyone was looking at her but she really didn’t care. The only thing she cared about was critically ill and it was all this woman’s fault.

“What the hell have you done?!” She screamed. “What the hell have you done to my son?!!”

The woman in the floral dress backed away and Cleo collapsed to the floor, in floods of tears. Carter was now standing behind her. He knelt down on the floor to her level and wrapped his arms around her, comfortingly.

Carter helped her up and took her into the lounge, leaving everyone outside with shocked looks on their faces.