The Human Side

by Cori Garrison

  “Randy! Randy, talk to me! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I need a medic here! 10-13, 10-13! Officer down! Officer down!” Jeff screamed into his shoulder mic. He rolled her flat on her back, searching quickly for the source of the growing blood pool underneath her. “Fuck! Goddamnit!” He pressed his hands hard over the hole in her pants, high on her inner thigh. “Where’s the fucking medic??” He screamed as more officers ran to help him.

  Stacy struggled to comprehend that the officer lying on the floor in a pool of blood was Randy. Do something, help her! She shook her head and struggled to her feet, pulling her t-shirt off as she stood. Thankfully she was wearing a tank top underneath, but she wouldn’t have cared if she wasn’t. She quickly knelt down next to Jeff.

  “Lift your hands and put this under them quickly.” She commanded Jeff . He obeyed without questioning, his hands shaking from adrenaline and stress. He briefly looked up into Stacy’s eyes and she could see the raw emotion in them.

  The paramedics sprinted down the aisle towards them, sliding on their knees as they reached them. Stacy jumped out of the way as one paramedic took out pressure dressings, taking over for Jeff as he inspected the wound briefly before pressing down on it with them. The other shook his head quick. “Let’s load her and go now! She’s losing too much blood; it might have nicked the femoral artery.” The officers helped lift her onto the gurney and they ran with it out to the waiting ambulance. It took off with a police escort ahead of it.

  Stacy looked down at her clothes, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Her pants were covered with blood, probably from Randy when she fell on top of her. She looked at Jeff, whose hands were covered with blood from holding her shirt to Randy’s wound. “Did they say where they were taking her?” She asked Jeff.

  “Carolina’s.” He answered. “I need to get there.” He wiped his hands on his pants and turned to go.

  “Wait! I’ll drive you. I don’t think you should drive right now.” Stacy called after him.

  “Okay, thanks. I want to get there before we get stuck talking to internal affairs.” He said, jogging towards the door.

  Neither of them said a word as Stacy sped down the streets. Jeff had flipped her dash light on to hopefully help clear traffic out of the way so they could get there faster. God please don’t let her die. Why did she do that? Why did she get in the way of what was meant for me?

  Stacy whipped her car into the closest parking spot to the ER door and they sprinted inside. They ran up to the registration desk, where they were told that Randy had been taken back to one of the trauma rooms.

  “Is there someone we should call for her?” Stacy asked Jeff, knowing that family should be notified so they could come.

  Jeff glanced at her. “Her parents are dead. She doesn’t have any other family.”

  Stacy stared at him. No one? She has no one in this world who would want to know she’s been shot? She sat down numbly and rubbed her forehead. She pulled out her cell and sent a quick text message to Shawn & Sam telling them briefly what happened so they wouldn’t see it on the news before she told them. She looked around the waiting room, which was rapidly filling with cops; all waiting anxiously. Stacy turned to Jeff “What about the guy who..?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

  “I put three in him; he’s dead.” Jeff said evenly.

  She nodded at him. She wasn’t one who believed in taking human life, but in their jobs it was sometimes necessary. She put her head down, resting it in her hands. She jumped when a pair of hands wrapped around her wrists. She opened her eyes and found herself looking directly into her sister Shawn’s. She didn’t say a word, but Shawn enveloped her in a hug.

  “Are you sure you’re ok?” Shawn questioned with a worried look on her face as she took stock of the amount of blood on Stacy’s clothes.

  “Yes. I’m fine. I just wish they would come out and give up some kind of news about Randy.” Stacy said glancing towards the ER doors.

  “Let me go see if I can find out anything for you guys. I don’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try.” Shawn said as she turned to walk to the registration desk. A few minutes later she returned to them. “They are getting ready to move her up to surgery. They were able to get the bleeding under control enough to move her into surgery. You can head up to the second floor surgery waiting room. Sam is on her way and I’ll tell her to meet you up there. I have to head back upstairs, but as soon as we are off Rebecca and I will be there too.” She hugged Stacy tight again. “I love you.”

  Shawn turned to the officer sitting next to Stacy. “Are you Randy’s partner?” She asked him.

  “Yes.” He said, looking like he was about to cry.

  “I only met her once, but she seemed like a great person. She’s strong, she’ll pull through this.” Shawn said to him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll check back with Stacy before we come down again. If we can do anything for you, please let her know.”

  Stacy and Jeff walked to the elevator to head up to the second floor waiting room. As they walked, she turned to Jeff. “Why did she do that? I was going to throw myself out of the way. Now she’s fighting for her life and it’s my fault.” She felt the tears threaten to spill.

  “If you haven’t figured that out yet, you’re not very bright.” He said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. He looked around at the other cops who stepped in with them and decided now was not the time to continue the conversation. “She’ll be alright, I know she will and it’s not your fault. The blame lays squarely on that no good loser.”

  ****

  Sam sat in the waiting room with Stacy and Jeff for over an hour before Jenna came in. Stacy introduced Jenna to Randy’s partner Jeff.

  “Will you be alright for a little bit if we head upstairs to check on the baby?” Sam asked Stacy quietly. “We won’t be gone too long, but we’ve been trying to make sure one of us is here several times a day.”

  Stacy smiled an exhausted smile. “Go ahead, I know it’s getting late and they won’t let you up there if it’s too late. You make sure he knows that he’s got a lot of people pulling for him.”

  Jenna relayed what she had accomplished that day to Sam as they walked to the elevator that would take them up to the NICU. “We are scheduled for the next two weekends, which will knock out the last of the classes we are required to take. The lady who has to sign off on the home study is coming over tomorrow night to talk with us. Other than that, we are all set to go.”

  Sam smiled and reached for Jenna’s hand. “Now we just have to get this little guy strong enough to come home.”

  “Oh! I forgot! The case worker said that if we would like to choose a name for him, they would be grateful because they need to get his birth certificate filed.” Jenna looked like she was about to burst with excitement.

  Sam’s eyebrows went up. “They are going to let us pick his name? Wow. I guess we need to figure that out quickly then so we can stop calling him ‘baby’ huh?”

  They came to a stop at the NICU doors and Jenna lifted the phone to dial in. The door buzzed and they continued on to the nursery. A few minutes later, they were standing on either side of his incubator each with a hand inside touching his tiny body.

  One of the nurses walked over to them. “Would you like to hold him for a few minutes?” She asked them.

  Jenna looked up at Sam with huge eyes. “You mean as in get him out of the incubator hold him? Really? Of course we would!” She said enthusiastically.

  The nurse laughed. “Probably not for more than ten minutes or so but he’s been doing great and we’ll just bundle him up so he doesn’t get chilly.”

  Sam watched the joy spread over Jenna’s face. I hope this little guy keeps chugging along strongly because he has no idea how much he’s loved already.

  Jenna sat down carefully in the rocker holding the tiny baby. She looked up at Sam and reached a hand out to her. “I love you Sam. Thank you for indulging me.”

  “Indulgi
ng you? Are you kidding me? I’m just as thrilled as you are to have this little guy be a part of our lives. We need to think of a name for him though before we leave so that you can let the case worker know tomorrow.” Sam squatted down by the rocker and very gently kissed the tiny baby’s head.

  Jenna pondered for a moment. “What about Jace or Jakob? I don’t have anything for his middle name though, so you need to help!”

  Sam looked at the little boy. “I think I like Jace better than Jakob. Are we sure we want two little boys named Jackson and Jace? It will make yelling at them more difficult!” She laughed.

  Jenna giggled “At least will have a legitimate reason to get the names confused. I think I have the perfect middle name. Samuel. Jace Samuel.”

  “Jace Samuel. I like it. I’m guessing you chose Samuel for me?” Sam smiled.

  Jenna looked down at the little boy. “Yes.” She took her pinky and hooked it through his tiny fist. “The nurses said he’s gained almost three ounces in a week! They also said his lungs have been responding well. Look how tiny his hand is compared to my finger. It’s amazing.”

  Sam watched the interaction with love. “You really are a good mom Jenna.” She leaned over and whispered in her ear “I can’t believe you got pregnant the first time we tried. I know we have to keep that to ourselves for a little while, but I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

  The nurse walked back over just as Sam leaned away. “It’s time to put the little guy back in his bed. I know we’ll see one of you in the morning so how about we make this a routine? We’ll see how he responds with short periods and then if the doctor is okay with it, maybe we can start working our way up to longer ones? Did you ladies come up with a name for him? We’ll start using it so he can hear his name.”

  Jenna looked up at Sam and smiled. “Yes, we did. It’s Jace Samuel. I believe you have his birth mother’s information to complete his birth certificate with already right?” Jenna asked.

  “Yes, we have all that from her medical records. We’ll get it filled out and sent in to the state. You’ll be able to get a copy of it from your case worker if it’s needed.” The nurse answered as she carefully put the baby back in his incubator, straightening out tubes. Good night Jace. Your moms will be back tomorrow to visit you.” She said as she touched his little leg.

  Sam and Jenna headed back downstairs to check on Stacy before they headed home. Sam reached out and took Jenna’s hand as they walked down the hallway to the surgery waiting room. “I find it completely insane that we are going to have three babies in our house. I’m a little worried about when I’m going to find the time to indulge my desires.” She laughed.

  Jenna bumped her hip against Sam’s. “And what desires would those be?” She said in a sultry, low voice.

  “The kind where I ravish a certain beautiful auburn-haired woman, who happens to be pregnant with my baby.” Sam smirked.

  “You can ravish me any time baby. I hope you’ll still want to when I’m fat and have swollen ankles!” Jenna pulled Sam’s hand up to kiss it.

  They came to an abrupt stop when the saw a doctor standing in front of Stacy and Jeff, talking to them.

  “Come on; let’s see what’s going on. I hope its good news.” Sam said, pulling Jenna with her.

  ****

  Stacy found that her mouth had gone dry and her heart was pounding at an absurdly fast pace when the doctor entered the waiting room. She felt Jeff’s hand on her arm and realized he had done that probably more for his own comfort than for hers.

  “Are you Miranda’s family?” The doctor asked, stopping in front of Jeff.

  “I am her partner, sir. This is her friend. She doesn’t have any family.” Jeff swallowed hard.

  “Okay. Well, she’s in recovery. The surgery went very well. We were able to get the bleeding stopped and the damage to the artery repaired. She should be starting to wake up shortly. I’ll allow you both to see her, but once she’s coherent she will have to make the decision on who she wants in her room.” He started to move away from them.

  “Wait doctor. Is she going to be able to go back to work once she’s healed?” Stacy asked the question she knew Randy would want to know.

  He turned and smiled. “It will take her a few months to get back in to working shape after the artery is sufficiently healed, but yes. She should be able to return to work full-duty.”

  Stacy slumped to her chair. Thank God. She already hates me, but if I was the reason she couldn’t be a cop anymore, she’d probably wish that she had let the guy kill me. Her name is Miranda? I wonder why she goes by Randy?

  Sam and Jenna got the scoop from Stacy on the doctor’s prognosis. They hugged her and said their goodbyes, making her promise that if she needed anything she would call them.

  Shortly after they left, a nurse approached her and Jeff, asking them to follow her back to Randy’s room. Stacy found herself inexplicably nervous. She wasn’t sure what to expect from Randy. Would she be angry that Stacy got her shot? Would she be in a lot of pain? Would she even remember any of it?

  Jeff headed directly to the head of the bed where he awkwardly took Randy’s hand. Her eyes were closed, but she opened them when she felt his hand. “Hey partner.” He said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

  Randy struggled to focus, licking her lips slowly before she spoke. “I feel like I’ve been run over. They’ve got me on drugs. I don’t like drugs.” She faded out for a moment before she opened her eyes again. Her eyes landed on Stacy and she reached for Jeff’s hand. “Hey buddy, could you do me a favor and give me a minute alone with Evans?”

  “Sure. I’ll be right outside ok?” Jeff said. He quickly exited the room, leaving Stacy alone with Randy.

  Randy focused her eyes back on Stacy. She licked her dry lips again, trying to get her voice to work.

  “Would you like a drink of water?” Stacy asked quickly, reaching for the cup on the bedside stand.

  Randy simply nodded and took a few tentative sips of water from the straw as Stacy held it for her. She grabbed Stacy’s hand as she turned to put the cup down again. “Are you sure.. that you’re ok?” She said, trying to keep her heavy eyes open.

  “Are you kidding me? Don’t worry about me; you’re the one laying her with a bullet hole in her leg!” Stacy carefully sat on the edge of the bed. “You need to get some rest.” She didn’t miss the fact that Randy was still holding her hand.

  Randy closed her eyes for so long that Stacy thought she had fallen asleep. When she opened them again, she lifted her heavy hand up to Stacy’s cheek. “As long as you’re ok, I’ll be fine. I was scared to death that he was going to pull the trigger before you got to the end of the aisle and I couldn’t do a damn thing.”

  “Really, I’m okay. Thank you for saving me even though you were crazy to do it.” Stacy said as she gently squeezed Randy’s hand. “You get some rest.” She carefully got up from the bed and slipped out the door.

  Her heart was racing and she felt like her cheek was on fire. It’s just the emotion from the incident. She said goodbye to Jeff, heading out to her car. Tomorrow would be hellish as she would certainly have mandatory meetings with Internal Affairs and the department psychologist.

  As she lay in bed after she got home, her mind continued to replay the shooting over and over. She tried to figure out what she could have done differently. If I had tried to pull my weapon he would have fired before I could get it out of the holster. She closed her eyes tighter, trying to forget about Randy’s blood all over the floor and all over her.

  She drifted off finally thinking about the conflicting feelings that had cursed through her when Randy had touched her cheek so gently.

  ****

  “I think if I get any bigger, you might as well just get the wheel barrow out to move me around with.” Rebecca complained as Shawn helped her into their car following a routine doctor’s appointment.

  Shawn grinned as she tucked the seatbelt under Rebecca’s very large belly. “I’d happily mov
e you around in a wheel barrow but maybe we should stick to something a little more hip, like a scooter?”

  Rebecca gave her a piercing glance. “Ha ha. You just keep poking at me lady and we’ll see how long you can last without my touch.”

  “Uncle, I cry uncle. I freely admit that I cannot last long without your touch. In fact, I kind of need it right now.” She reached over and pulled Rebecca’s hand towards her crotch.

  “Shawn! Someone could see us!” Rebecca said in an exasperated tone. “You can wait until we get home and if you’re a good girl, I will make sure you are rewarded.”

  Shawn grinned and pulled out of the parking space. “I can’t believe tomorrow is already the baby shower. Time has seemed to have flown by. You only have nine more weeks to go to make it full-term.”

  “There is no way in hell this body is going to be able to hold these babies for another nine weeks. You heard the doctor. She is going to be happy with four more weeks, which is why we are going with the steroid shots to help get their lungs developed more quickly.” Rebecca shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

  Shawn nodded, knowing that the strain on Rebecca’s petite body was taking its toll. She would be lucky if she made it another four weeks, which is why the doctor had also talked about her working only another two weeks and then starting her maternity leave early.

  “Have you talked to Stacy?” Rebecca asked.

  Shawn nodded. “Briefly. She seems off and I’m worried about her. She hardly said ten words during the conversation. When I asked if she had been up to see Randy, she changed the subject and then said she would have to call me back.”

  “Maybe you should stop by her apartment. You might get her to talk to you face to face easier than on the phone. At least it’s harder to get rid of you! Have you heard how Randy’s doing?”

  “Nope. Maybe we should check on that today. Maybe her condition is not good and that’s why Stacy is avoiding the subject?” Shawn said with dread. “I hope that’s not it.”