"Okay Mrs. Cruz, get some rest. I'll be back to check on you later." Cailen smiled at the elderly lady lying in the bed, her eyes already falling shut as he closed the door behind him.
He made his way down the hall to drop off Mrs. Cruz's information, then he was to head to check on Mr. Bremont but something told him he wouldn't be going to do that since he saw Madeline with the Bat Phone pressed to her ear.
Cailen doesn't know how he knows, but he does know that something is wrong as he's headed down the hall, just remembering to smile politely at familiar passing faces before meeting Madeline's eyes.
He could tell it was something worse than a mild asthma attack or even a broken arm.
She was standing behind the desk, the Bat Phone pressed to her ear as she nodded along to whatever she was being told, her eyes never leaving Cailen's.
His initial thought was of course that a particularly bad patient was on their way, maybe a stabbing or a gunshot wound.
Either way, Cailen quickened his pace, hurrying towards her but as he drew near, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that weighed him down, slowing his feet so that another nurse beat him to her.
Cailen didn't know what was wrong but he knew it had to be bad to make Madeline look the way she did.
Cailen could see her hands shaking as she reached for a pen, her eyes darting around, no longer willing to meet Cailen's.
She weakly gave the other nurse a list of orders, seeming to snap out of whatever daze she had found herself in towards the end of her list, then made an urgent shooing motion with her hands, sending the nurse on her way.
The nurse, Samira, Cailen recognized, ran right past him, shaking him from his spot as he watched her run down the hall, stopping another nurse and mumbling something about an oxygen tank, then darting off towards the ICU.
When Cailen looked back to Madeline, she was seated again, avoiding looking up by pretending to organize her desk, fiddling with some pens, pushing the stapler back and aligning some papers.
Cailen couldn't take it anymore because he knew Madeline, he knew there wasn't much that could shake her and now, something had.
With one foot after the other, Cailen walked himself down the hallway and over to the counter, gently setting his clipboard down, but not gently enough so as not to make any noise and go unnoticed, yet Madeline refused to look up.
That sinking feeling returned to Cailen's stomach, twisting his stomach and making him feel a bit nauseous.
What was wrong? Why wouldn't she look at him? Why did she look at him like that down the hall?
"Madeline." Cailen said, his voice quiet and cautious.
Something told him that maybe he really didn't want to know. It was the way she looked up at him, eyes wide and scared.
Cailen has never actually seen her scared before. Not when she would deal with injured drunks yelling at her, not when she had to aid in pulling a pole from a man's ribs when Cailen had just started at the hospital. Not ever.
Seeing her like this scared Cailen and did absolutely nothing to settle his stomach.
And then she smiled, a shaky, totally unbelievable smile and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"Is Mrs. Cruz doing okay?" She asked, reaching up and slipping the clipboard out from under Cailen's arm, going back to avoiding looking at Cailen.
"She's fine," Cailen answered quickly, eyeing the older lady. "Madeline, what's going on? Who's coming in?" Cailen asked because it was kind of obvious she knew the person on their way to the hospital right now.
Maybe it was a friend of hers or a family member, in which case she was totally warranted to take a moment and ditch the front counter to go check on whatever needed to be checked on.
Cailen would handle the desk, he's done it before when she was sick.
"What do you mean?" She asked and that's what did it for Cailen.
If it weren't someone she knew, she would have explained that it was a patient with a heart attack or a severed finger. She wouldn't try to pretend that she didn't know what he was talking about.
Cailen pushed himself from the desk, going around behind to where Madeline sat, the older lady watching his every move.
"Go on, I've got this." Cailen said, certain she at least needed a moment to collect her thoughts.
"What? Cailen, you don't understand-"
"No, I do." Cailen cut her off, gently taking her by the arm and bringing her to her feet.
Madeline started shaking her head, a soft, concerned look on her face.
"Go on, you can take a minute or go wait by the drop off, take as long as you need-"
"Cailen, there's been a fire." She cut him off, her eyes going wide before she dropped her head.
Cailen felt her words hit his chest, making the world around him slow down and eventually seem to stop.
He didn't hear the murmurs of people walking by or the faint sound of heart monitors beeping from the rooms.
He didn't see the group of nurses rush by heading for the ICU to aid in the preparation.
He didn't feel Madeline pull from his grasp only to take him by the arm and lead him to her chair, pushing on his shoulders to get him to sit down.
He didn't notice any of that.
The only thing he noticed was the way his heart pounded in his chest so hard he was starting to feel a bit dizzy and the way it felt like he couldn't take a proper breath. Every time he tried, it would get caught in his throat.
He didn't notice anything at all until it suddenly all came crashing down around him with the call of his name and a gentle hand on his cheek.
"Cailen, I don't know who it is." Madeline said as Cailen snapped back to reality, his eyes wide and meeting Madeline's.
She didn't know who it was, of course. Just because there was a fire doesn't mean that a firefighter was injured. It could have been the owner of the house-
"All they said was a firefighter was struck in the head and knocked unconscious." She explained, slipping her hand in Cailen's and he kind of wished she had kept that to herself. "Third degree burns on the left leg and second degree on the hip and left arm. R- Respiratory arrest occurred though they don't know for how long, but-" Madeline was explaining but Cailen didn't want to hear this.
He couldn't handle this. Cailen started shaking his head, his grip tightening where Madeline held his hand.
She stopped talking, her eyes going soft as she closed her other hand around the top of Cailen's, understanding that he didn't want to hear anymore.
"We don't know who it is. Asher could be fine." Madeline said but she seemed to rethink this. "Asher is fine." Madeline assured.
Cailen nodded, trying to believe her words so he'd calm down and freak out later when he knew for sure. Then a thought popped into his head.
"Asher quit." Cailen mumbled, watching the confused expression cross her face. "Asher quit this morning. He- we decided- with Zeke- that he couldn't- so he quit." Cailen said, not knowing if he was making any sense but knowing that Asher quit this morning.
It wasn't Asher coming from that fire.
Asher was probably at home or even at the firehouse emptying out his locker. He wasn't in an ambulance with third degree burns on his way to the hospital.
He could call Asher right now and he would answer. He might be a little upset if he heard the news but at least he would be breathing.
"There you go. He's fine then." Madeline said, smiling in relief. "It's someone else." She added.
"That shouldn't make me feel better." Cailen mumbled, but it did.
His heart calmed, his grip loosened in Madeline's hand, and it felt like he could breathe again.
"Yes it should, it's okay." Madeline said. "It's okay to be happy that your family is safe."
Cailen nodded, giving her hand one last squeeze before pulling away and turning on the chair to reach for the phone.
"I need to call Asher." Cailen mumbled, his hand barely making it to the phone before it was being swatted away.
"Ah, ah. You know the rules." Madeline said.
Cailen sort of gaped at her for a moment, he knew they weren't supposed to make phone calls while on shift but surely she could overlook the rules just this once considering Cailen just gave himself the scare of his life and desperately needed to hear the sound of his husband's voice.
"You'll have to use the visitor's phone." She said, her tone soft but serious, her eyes amused because she knew Cailen thought she was actually going to make him wait until his break to call Asher.
Cailen let out a breathy chuckle and nodded, standing and making his way around the desk and over to the visitor's phone that hung on the wall in the hallway.
Cailen dialed the familiar number of Asher's cell phone, a little anxious to hear his husband's voice. He couldn't wait for the day where his first thought when faced with a burn victim wouldn't be of Asher, it was honestly a health hazard.
It was on it's second ring when there was a sudden commotion down the hall, probably the ambulance dropping off the firefighter.
Cailen's stomach sank again because although it may not be Asher, it was likely someone his husband knew and that was almost as bad.
Cailen watched the group of paramedics rush down the hall, surrounding a gurney with an unconscious body lying on it as he listened to the phone ring in his ear.
Ring.
The group drew closer, patients and other relatives jumping out of the way as they passed.
Ring.
Cailen's stomach churned as the phone went unanswered, the gurney drawing closer until it was nearly at the front counter.
Ring.
The gurney made it to the front counter, Madeline peeking over to take a look, her eyes going wide and her hands going to cover her mouth in shock.
Ring.
Cailen tried to remind himself that Asher quit. He quit this morning. He was fine. He was at home-
Ring.
‘Hi, this is Asher. Leave me a message and if I can muster the energy, I'll call you back.’
Beep.
The gurney passed by Cailen in a flurry of voices shouting to move out of the way, limbs flailing all over the place as doctors and nurses switched spots with the paramedics.
Cailen almost didn't get a glance at the person lying on the gurney with all the commotion but he did see it.
He saw the familiar tuff of brown hair, the familiar thick eyebrows and pink lips.
He saw the familiar broad shouldered body lying on the gurney and dropped the phone.
The phone swung down by the wire, hitting the wall with a clatter as Asher was ushered by on a gurney, his eyes closed, skin smudged in soot, and arm red and blistered.