Navy Doc On Her Christmas List. Amy Ruttan

get him a CT scan, stat, as well as an arteriogram,” Ella said to her resident. “Draw the standard labs and get the images done. Page me when you have the images and the lab findings.”

      “Yes, Dr. Lockwood,” Dr. Lynne said, nodding quickly.

      Ella headed over to the exam room where the passenger who had been ejected was not doing so well.

      Zac had inserted a breathing tube and there was already another tube in her chest to drain away the fluids from a pneumothorax.

      Ella stood back to watch. Zac wasn’t aware of her presence, but she really had nothing to fear about his momentary blip outside. He was completely in control of his exam room as he worked on the patient.

      She moved from the exam room and went to check on some other patients while she waited for the images of the driver.

      Those who were still in the emergency room were not many and weren’t as urgent as blunt force trauma, but they still needed to be seen. And she seriously doubted that they would be leaving any time soon with this storm.

      First she dealt with a patient who was having a severe gall bladder attack. She had the labs drawn to check the liver panels and see if the gall bladder attack warranted emergency surgery or if they could wait.

      Then there was a bad sprain and a bump on the head to check out.

      Dr. Lynne returned and handed over the tablet with the images. “Here you are, Dr. Lockwood.”

      The images showed internal bleeding from a ruptured spleen and the lab work revealed that the patient was indeed a crystal meth user. “We need to get him into the OR. I believe that OR One was prepped and ready to go.”

      Dr. Lynne shook her head. “Dr. Davenport is in there with the passenger. The pneumothorax was extensive and there are no cardiothoracic surgeons at the hospital because of the storm.”

      Dammit.

      “Okay, well, prep OR Two, then. We need to get Mr. Jones in there before he bleeds out. Hang some blood to compensate for the loss while we prep.”

      “Yes, Dr. Lockwood.” Dr. Lynne took back the tablet and left.

      Ella felt exhaustion setting in as she glanced around the chaotic ER floor.

      Dr. Lynne was her most capable resident and though she’d like to have her in the OR with her, Ella needed her on the ER floor while both the trauma surgeons who were still at Manhattan Mercy worked on patients.

      Dr. Lynne would be able to run her ER while she went into surgery.

      It was going to be a long day. And the longer this storm went on, the worse the casualties were going to get. There would be more accidents, more emergencies.

      And she was going to be stuck here with Zac, working with him, but all she could think about was the kiss in the on-call room and that was a dangerous path to tread. One she’d promised herself she’d never walk again.

      She had to get it together.

      She needed more coffee.

      A lot more coffee.