Disclaimer: All characters are not owned by me, but the wonderful people at NBC, etc. Now go read the fanfic!
Rating: G
*Author's Note: For familiarity and the sake of sounding better, Jing-Mei will now be called Deb.
"Call it." The all too familiar words echoed through the trauma room. Mark Greene turned to Kerry
Weaver.
"Time of death 10:36." Kerry unhooked the now flatlined machine laying at the bedside of the
22-year-old man. His motorcycle had crashed into a telephone pole when he tried to swerve out of
the path of a drunk driver. She leant over to Deb Chen, who was on the other side of the ashen
body.
"Your patient?" Kerry inquired.
"Yes," she replied, unbagging the body. "No family, at least not yet. Carter was supposed to
phone a brother who lives on the other side of town." Kerry patted her on the arm. The drunk
driving cases and any that involved the loss of a young life were hard in the ER, even if she had
seen several hundred times.
"I'll find Carter, see if he called them yet."
"Alright." Deb responded. She set the bloody bag in the garbage can and walked out into the
filled waiting room, then heading over to the filled scheduling board, where Drs. Kovac and
Malucci were standing.
"I’ll have the sprained ankle," Malucci said. He swiveled in an office chair that was meant to be
at the desk. A rotation revealed Deb, her face sympathetic. "Unless you want it, Deb."
"Oh, no, that's okay. I have to talk to a patient's family, and I have a break in ten minutes.
Have either of you seen Carter?" she said, with a quizzical expression. Malucci turned to her.
"Last I saw of him was about a half hour ago, he was on break."
Luka nodded. "That’s when I saw him, too. All three of us are on the same schedules."
She sighed. "Alright, thanks anyway. See ya later." She walked over to the lounge, hoping to find
Carter and get a cup of strong coffee. She still had 'till 9 P.M., and it was only ten in the
morning now.
"Hey, Deb," Carter exclaimed. He was sitting in a chair, looking over one of his cases, a snake
bite. "I called the motorcycle guy’s brother. He should be here by now."
"Good," she reiterated, grabbing a styrofoam cup, "because he just died ten minutes ago. He
started hemhoragging internally. Kerry came in, but nothing could save him. Damn drunk driver."
Carter nodded in sympathy.
"I'm sorry. Well, he should be here. You may wanna check the waiting area. Is anyone at the desk?"
"Not that I know of. Lord knows where Jerry went, I didn't see him." She poured dairy cream into
her cup of watery black coffee. "I have break after I talk to this guy. Good luck with your case."
she uttered. And she was gone. She sweeped the waiting area.
"Are there any family members of John Hildebrant here?" she yelled, trying to get her soft voice
over the noisy crowd. An overweight man who looked to be a construction worker raised his hand
and walked over to Deb. "I'm Mike Hildebrant, John’s brother. What's up?" She shook his hand.
"I'm Dr. Chen, and I was your brother's physician. Your brother was riding his motorcycle and a
drunk driver came down the road in the opposite direction. In an attempt to get away from the
driver, your brother swerved over to the other side of the road. But he fell down a steep
embankment, and his motorcycle rolled on top of him. We tried to save him, but he started
bleeding badly internally and.. he died." She stopped, waiting to see his reaction.
"I see. Well, my parents live in Florida. You can call them for funeral arrangements. I didn't
know him that well, anyway. He moved out when he was ten to live with my grandparents." He
shrugged. Deb just stared at him. How could someone be so cold about something like that. His
*brother was dead*. And all he could say was to call his parents. Swell.
"Well, I'm sorry for your loss, and I will call your parents.. if you want to see him one last
time--" She was cut off by his quick response.
"That's okay. Thanks for the information, and doing the best you could. Bye now." He headed out
of the room with no visible signs of greif. What a cold-hearted idiot, she thought. Deb walked
silently over to the lounge, hoping to tell Carter about her escipades. But Carter wasn't there,
Malucci was.
"Hey. I thought you were on break." Dave spoke.
"Yeah, I am now. I’m in a really foul mood now.. you wanna have some coffee with me?" She raised
her cup of now freezing coffee. "I think I need some company, and since you’re the only one on
break.."
"Yeah, I’ll stay. Superman Luka has most of the cases covered, anyway." She sat. "Hard night?.."
he asked. Maybe Dave Malucci was something better than she thought.