We walked a million hills - Chapter 5
Title: Trinity Verse II. - We walked a million hills (5/?)
Author: scyllaya
Rating: R
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel/Gabriel
Warning(s): cursing, graphic injuries
Spoiler(s): AU (characters up to S5)
Word Count: ~ 3 000 (this chapter) WIP
Summary: Dean, Castiel and Gabriel live the life they wanted to have. Their biggest problem should be synchronizing their crazy schedules, unfortunately life is never that simple.
Disclaimer: Nearly all names and characters in this story belong to CW/WB and Kripke. I’m making no profit whatsoever. It’s just for fun!Most places and establishments in the story are real, but I’ve never visited any of them, so I have no true knowledge about them. People (OCs) in the story are not real! Any resemblance to real life is just a coincidence.
AN: Second story of Trinity verse. Title from: Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World
Unbeta-ed. Trinity Verse I: Broke our Mirrors
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Chapter V
'Y'know sometimes you're more entertaining than National Geographic' Pete started as a way of greeting as he flopped down right across Gabriel in the doctor's lounge.
'Only sometimes?' Gabriel asked without looking up from the paperwork he tried to catch up with in his lunch break. He hated it with passion and no matter how much he tried to pay attention he always got behind. He had no idea how Pete managed to be always on time with everything, there had to be a secret.
'Other times you're capable of acting like a decent human being' Pete said with the same nonchalant voice. Gabriel took a calming breath, oh he just fucking knew this was coming.
'I don't have time for this today' he said.
'Well, you're shit out of luck then' his colleague - his friend he assumed - told him. In some ways Pete was so very much like him that it was almost scary, other ways he was completely different, this was of course one of the moments when they disagreed on something and Gabriel didn't have to guess what exactly it was.
'It's not my problem, Pete' he said still not looking up from his paperwork.
'Your patient, your problem.'
'My problem ended when she was treated' Gabriel told him.
'She was fucking terrified, still is and you can't take five minutes out of your oh so busy schedule? Or tell her that things will be fine?'
'Well, first of all there is absolutely no guarantee that things will be fine' Gabriel started as he finally put his pen down to look up at the other doctor. 'And if she wants a hand to hold she should call her fucking husband. Being the shoulder to cry on is not in my job description.'
'Yes, because God forbid you show a little sympathy, you really don't have the decency to reassure her?'
'Hey, I told her everything that was relevant.'
'Relevant?' Pete huffed out a laugh. 'I swear Gabriel, you are such a heartless son of a bitch sometimes.' Gabriel kept looking at him for another second before he went back to his paperwork.
'I told you, if she needs a hand to hold she should look for it elsewhere and forget all about that “not wanting her husband to see her like this” crap.'
'What would you do in her shoes?'
'I don't think I have the legs for high heels.'
'Gabriel...'
'I would fucking call my family. No, it wouldn't even get this far, the second I could open my mouth I would demand someone to get them to me. She's a fucking idiot and I'm not going to be her pretend BFF so she can dump all her shit on me. I did my fucking job, she is as well as she can be. And that is it. And you know what? Maybe she should be fucking terrified, maybe that will get some sense into her finally.'
He was getting pissed about this. Maybe Pete was the type to sit at a patient's bedside and discuss emotions for hours until he could coax them into doing something they should've been able to think of all on their own but Gabriel sure as hell won't waste so much time on someone who wouldn't call a probably worried husband because of vanity's sake, and probably out of shame but whatever. She was not even his responsibility anymore.
Pete was silent for long moments but Gabriel knew better than to think that he could spend the rest of his lunchtime in peace.
'By family... you mean Dean and Cas, right?' Pete asked.
'Who else would I mean?' Gabriel answered after a short pause, a lot more quietly than before. He still didn't know what possessed him when he told Pete about Dean and Cas, or anything else about himself for that matter. He should've just kept his mouth shut, it would've made a lot of things easier. Pete had a tendency to not mind his own business.
'And I know for a fact that they're absolutely the most important people in your life' Pete continued. Gabriel stopped for a second, even if he didn't like where the conversation was going this was not something he would ever deny.
'And? You going somewhere with this?' he prompted.
'Only that you grew up together and been together like the way you are for like what around seven years now... and I bet my diploma, hell even a fucking limb that they don't know half of some of the shit I know about you.'
Gabriel looked up sharply the warning already on the tip of his tongue and most definitely written all over his face. If Pete really thought they were going to have that conversation then he was fucking mistaken. His friend already put his hands up in a placating and surrendering gesture.
'I'm just saying, if you put her situation in that light, maybe you'll be able to sympathize with her a bit, don'cha think?' Gabriel kept glaring at him until Pete actually started fidgeting a little, only after that did he turn back to his paperwork.
'No, I can't' he replied briefly. Pete sighed and leaned closer putting his elbows on his knees.
'Fine, dammit. Consider this then. All this shit this woman got going... should be a warning.' Gabriel looked back up at him. 'The bigger a pile of dirt is the less likely it is that it stays buried forever.'
'What part of “we are not fucking talking about this” did you not understand the first two hundred times?' Gabriel snapped at him, that edge of a warning creeping back into his voice.
'Ever considered that maybe the reason you can't stand her is because the whole thing hits just too close to home?' Pete continued ignoring his warning.
'Pete, I swear to God--'
'I am not trying to fight you here, Gabriel' Pete interrupted. 'I'm your friend, the hell knows why, but I am. I'm saying this, keep saying it again and again because it will come back to bite you I the ass and you damn know it too.'
Gabriel took a breath and stayed quiet for a few moments. Then he closed his folders and started gathering them up.
'My lunch break's over, I gotta go back to the ER' he said and considered the discussion to be over and stood up.
'Yeah sure, pretend I never opened my mouth' Pete snorted.
'I will, and you wanna know why? Because it's none of your fucking business what I'm telling them and what not.' Pete stood up to and took a step closer.
'I had it up here with you Gabriel' he said, frustration clear in his voice. 'I'm trying to help you here, but if you wanna keep pretending that you're...'
“Code orange. All staff report to the ER. Code Orange. All staff report to the ER, immediately.” it boomed from all speakers interrupting them.
'Shit!' Gabriel exclaimed and threw his paperwork down onto the table and hurried out.
'What's code orange again?' Pete asked following him closely.
'Mass casualty' Gabriel answered.
'Shit!'
They took the stairs instead of the elevator so they arrived to the ER on the ground floor in record time. The Dean of Medicine Dr. Benton was already giving out his instructions, he was an old geezer but knew how to get things done fast and efficiently, Gabriel liked that about him. Plus he was the one who operated him back when Michael landed him here, it was hard not to have a certain amount of respect and gratefulness towards him.
'…the entire building collapsed on 1800 Broadway and the Trinity United Methodist Church got hit by the rumble, we don't know what caused it or how many people were in either of the buildings, but most likely hundreds and that is an optimistic guess, the first ambulances will arrive within minutes. The triage of casualties is necessary so all non-emergency cases will have to wait. The EMT staff already on the scene needs assistance' he glanced around the crowd of nurses and doctors. 'Dr. Petrel, Dr. Luise, Dr. Colainn, Dr. Morgenstern and Dr. Reed get in gear for field work and join the EMTs, we'll see if more staff is needed there or not when we know more. Triage is in order until further notice and nobody gets home for a while. Everyone go, the first casualties are on their way. Go!'
The staff started moving like a busy beehive and Gabriel joined Pete and the other 3 doctors - also around his age not surprisingly - to get in the medical coverall and grab extra EMT medical bags. He never had to get on the field before and he did not look forward to having to tend to casualties in what he expected to be all dirt and chaos instead of the clean hospital wards he was used to, but to hell with it he was of course a logical choice from Dr. Benton instead of other doctors who were for example in their fifties or over 200 pounds.
Pete looked at him briefly when they were ready to go but for once in his life he managed to keep his mouth shut, Gabriel had no doubt that their conversation was not over and he will hear more about it after this emergency was over and he did not look forward to it.
When Gabriel arrived to the scene it was exactly what he expected. Dirt, casualties and chaos all around. The twenty-storey building was completely down, not a single floor remained, just an enormous pile of rumble, the air was heavy with dust and giant pieces of concrete and metal covered everything along with shattered glass all around. It didn't hit the church completely, the tower was still standing but most of it was crushed just like all cars next to it in the parking lot, he didn't let himself think of how many people were still stuck under the rumble, that was not his job, he was there to tend to those who were out, stabilize and send them off with the ambulance. He was sure that they all will be here for a very long time.
After two hours he was already covered in an irritating sheet of dust and with more blood than he was comfortable with, but again they were not in the hospital so there was no way for him to get cleaned up. But the hardest was the horrible amount of people. Most were shocked, scared or downright panicking on top of being injured making everything a lot harder to deal with, and even some who got lucky and only had the smallest wounds happened to think that they were dying and needed a doctor right away. One big guy was screaming uncontrollably - and loudly - about his broken ankle for seemingly forever, Gabriel could even hear him inside the ambulance as he was taken away.
There was a lot of medical staff there, but even so there were just too many people for them to be able to help everyone immediately. Gabriel was in the middle of securing a woman's neck and broken shoulder and collarbone, barely managing to stop the bleeding temporarily, bandaging the wound where the dislocated bone pierced the skin for it to hold until the EMTs rushed her into one of the hospitals when a guy showed up. He was walking on his own legs, was not bleeding, was only a little beat up and dirty. He held the hand of a little girl, who was also walking on her own feet and was equally dirty.
'Doctor... my daughter, she hit her head...' he started when the woman was taken away by the EMTs. Gabriel glanced at the girl who had a small, bleeding wound on her forehead. Her dirty face was all grimy from dust and tears and she seemed scared, but otherwise fine. Gabriel knelt down in front of her.
'How many fingers I'm showing?' he asked as he held up one hand.
'Three' the girl answered correctly. Gabriel took out his little flashlight.
'Ok, keep your eyes on my finger' she did and Gabriel checked her pupils then moved his finger and saw that the girl could follow it perfectly. No sign of any head trauma, the gash on her forehead was also pretty shallow. He took out a piece of clean gauze and put it on the bleeding wound.
'Hold this here' he told her and the girl did. Gabriel stood up. 'She is very lightly injured, she will have to wait.'
He turned to go, but the guy stopped him with a big hand on his shoulder.
'No, wait a second, this is it?! She hit her head she needs to get into a hospital... see if she's okay, make an MRI or something!'
'Your daughter is fine and there are a lot of people here who are much more severely injured, so she will have to wait' he said again, a bit slower and turned again, but the guy was not letting him go. Fucking perfect.
'She needs medical attention, now!' he argued.
'There are people here without limbs and some whose insides are spread all over the pavement and you really wanna start bitching with me here about a bleeding scratch?' he asked sternly, annoyance already bubbling up in him. The guy looked at him in shock that almost immediately morphed into rage.
'Listen here you--'
'Sir, I have to ask you to step back!' a stern voice interrupted and there was Dean quickly coming towards them, an intimidating amount of muscle in a 6' 1" package with a big black police vest on him. The way too worried father let go of Gabriel immediately. 'The doctor is needed to see other, more heavily injured people.' he added with the same deep stern cop voice. Then he glanced over to Gabriel and nodded with his head to another direction. And they left behind the fuming guy.
'Thanks' Gabriel said. 'People are starting to get really edgy.'
'And you look like shit' Dean observed.
'Why thanks. I will look worse, where are we going?'
'I was trying to get any sort of doctor or EMT for a man the firemen found just now, but everyone was elbow deep in someone's intestines.'
'I was too, you caught me in a good moment.'
'Yeah, you were only about to get your face bashed in.'
'I should not be dealing with such shit' Gabriel said as they cut thought a crowd of lightly injured people, most got blankets and some water and were waiting around, standing or sitting on the pavement.
'Oh one guy got so panicky about his girlfriend still not being found that the EMTs had to sedate him to get him to the hospital. It's crazy, man... everything is.'
'What was this anyway?'
'Hell if I know, everyone's just trying to get the people out and keep the calm, but it's just gonna get worse. But everyone's way too ready to start screaming “terrorist-attack” and that's not going to do any good for the calm.'
'You don't have to tell me' Gabriel mumbled. There were too many people here, too many injured and not enough staff to help. 'Seeing you here does calm me down a little though' Gabriel admitted.
'I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Cas too' Dean replied after he smiled a little.
'How so?' Gabriel asked and he finally spotted a guy lying on the ground a police officer leaning over him.
'There are not enough ambulances or medical helicopters. Even some of the police choppers are used to transport the injured so I they're calling them in from to base, they will most likely bring medics too.'
'That's good to hear because there are just not enough of us here' Gabriel said, he saw now that the cop was trying to hold a bandage on a heavy bleeding wound so he started running to take his place.
'Oh fucking finally' the cop exclaimed in relief as Gabriel took his place.
'Need help, Gabe?' Dean asked.
'Open my bag and give me what I tell you' Gabriel answered his focus already on the man very rapidly bleeding out under his hands. He asked the cops to find an EMT and tell them that he has someone who needs to be transported but after that he was completely focused on the task and Dean turned out to be very good assistance, but then again Gabriel made sure that both Dean and Cas were up-to-date in their first aid knowledge. Dean may have been bitching about it and Cas seemed nothing but bored about it, but now it turned out to be not so useless.
The guy was still alive by the time some EMTs could show up and take him away. Gabriel gathered his stuff then, onto the next one.
'Listen Dean, until we get more hands here you really should help out the EMTs, okay?'
'Fine, should I go with you?' he asked.
'No, I'll be okay' Gabriel told him, he saw on Dean's face that the younger man wanted nothing more than kiss him or hug him right now, he had that look on his face, but of course this was not the time or place for such things.
'Don't get punched' he said instead.
'Can't promise anything' Gabriel said as he hurried away. It was going to be a very long day and probably night. He had even more blood and dirt on his overall than before but it was not something he could afford to be bothered by. It was a miracle that no one died in his arms today... yet. Two firemen were gesturing him to hurry to another man so he forced all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind and got to work again.
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