Title: Driven to destruction Part One Alex put her coffee cup down as her bleep sounded. She was already running towards the helicopter as she listened to the nurse outline what was about to arrive. 'Male, his car went under an out-of control truck. Multiple injuries, unconscious.' Alex had to ask: 'And the truck driver himself?' 'In the river.' She shivered as the doors crashed open; the winter wind whipped up by the rotors, and the trolley was pushed out towards her. The paramedic filled in what he knew: 'His name's Leo. He was conscious when we got there, but he was out by the time they cut him free. GCS around 12 earlier. Not any more.' Alex looked at the man on the trolley and stepped back, her hand shaking, crashing into the pilot as she backed away. He caught her. 'Hey, take it easy. Don't want you going off the roof.' Alex pushed him away, grabbed the rail at the side of the trolley, and pushed Leo into the lift. In the warmth of the Trauma room, Alex shivered as she walked around the trolley. Donnelly looked at her, decided she wasn't going to be much help and called across: 'Type and cross-match. Get another line in. BP?' Alex forced herself to concentrate; listening to the results of the preliminary examination the staff around her was carrying out. Ignoring the numerous small cuts on his face, she leaned across, tore his shirt open and listened to his chest. 'No breath sounds on the left.' She continued to examine him, working down his body. 'Ribs have caved.' She counted, her fingers skimming his chest. 'Three, four. Four.' Moving her hands to his stomach, she saw the beginnings of the bruise where the seatbelt would imprint on his skin. She lifted the remains of his trousers from his legs. 'Oh, God.' The fragments of bone poking through the torn and bloody flesh made her feel faint. As she continued to examine him, someone called: 'Stats are dropping.' Donnelly, at her side, pushed her gently away. 'OK people, we have multiple fractures here. And he's bleeding from somewhere. Let's prep him for the OR. Alex, set up a chest drain.' Someone handed her a tray, and, mechanically, only half-listening to the combined human and mechanical sounds, Alex pressed her fingers into Leo's chest, felt for the gap between his ribs. She paused for a moment. 'This is going to hurt, Leo.' After making a small incision in his skin, Alex pushed the plastic tube through the chest wall and into the chest cavity. Almost immediately someone said: 'Stats are climbing.' A man in scrubs pushed the door open. 'Someone call for a trauma surgeon?' Michael Donnelly called: 'Ben! Over here. Take good care of him. He's Chief of Staff at the White House. Anything happens to him, you'll have Alex to answer to.' Benjamin Keller frowned. 'Don't you mean The President?' Donnelly shook his head. 'His reaction would be a picnic compared to hers.' The surgeon continued assessing Leo as he asked: 'She know him?' Donnelly nodded. 'Yeah, they're friends.' Alex was already walking to the door and Donnelly called across: 'Alex, where you going?' As if it was the most natural response possible, Alex said quietly: 'I have to tell the President.' Donnelly smiled. 'Yeah, you do. Cos I'm sure as Hell not gonna.' 'Come on up when you're done, Alex. You can work on his face while I take care of the rest of him.' *************** The President watched the television. 'We should send flowers, Sir. To the family.' Donna nodded. ‘Yes Sir, it's already done.' Alex was relieved that the President had already been told of Leo's accident. Apparently, it had made the morning news, and pictures of Leo being airlifted to the hospital had already occupied large slots on a morning otherwise quiet, with little important news. 'I'll call if there's any change in Leo's condition, Sir.' 'How are you doing?' Alex was grateful for the President's concern. 'Surprisingly well, Sir. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet.' 'Okay. You need anything?' 'No, Sir. I'm here until two o'clock, and it's already getting busy. I think I'll have enough to occupy my mind until the end of my shift.' 'Okay. 'Bye.' **************** Alex walked across to the nursing station in the ITU. 'I'd like to see Mr McGarry please.' 'Sure doctor. Last bed on the left.' His face dotted with small cuts where the windscreen had shattered as the car crumpled, Leo lay unmoving, the respirator next to him hissing as it breathed for him. Alex picked up the chart from the end of his bed. As she had expected, Keller and his colleagues had done their best to repair Leo's injuries, but he was still unconscious, and showed no signs of coming round from the anaesthetic as she had hoped. 'Half an hour, Leo. I leave you for half an hour and this happens.' She replaced his chart and stood at the end of the bed for a couple of minutes until a nurse came up to her. 'There are some people asking for Mr McGarry.' 'Thank you.' 'Mrs McGarry? Hello Mallory. Leo's in here.' Alex walked across to Leo's ex-wife and daughter. Although she had left Michael Donnelly with instructions to page her if she was needed, Alex hoped her bleep would be silent for the next few minutes. Jen McGarry said: 'You know my daughter?' Alex said carefully: 'Yes. I treated Mallory when she was mugged.' 'And you're dating Leo.' Alex waited until she was far enough from the nurses station that she couldn't be overheard before replying. 'Yes, I am.' Uncomfortable with the woman's scrutiny, Alex slipped into 'doctor mode'. 'Leo has multiple fractures to his left leg, several fractured ribs, and other less serious injuries. There was some internal bleeding but that's been stopped. There's no reason why he won't make a full recovery, given time and the best care. He's still unconscious, but that may be from the anaesthetic, and hopefully that will wear off and leave us with a better idea of his condition.' Mallory appeared more upset at her father's accident than her mother, and Alex left them to it, spending a few minutes chatting to the ICU staff before she heard Jen's voice outside the door to Leo's room. '...he gets the best care, Mallory. I mean, is that woman qualified..?' She heard Mallory's angry response: 'Mom, not here, please.' Alex decided attack was the best form of defence, and walked quickly to Jen's side. 'No, you're right, I'm not a qualified ICU nurse. I'm a qualified ER doctor. I'm only here because I thought Mallory might prefer to see me rather than a stranger. But I'm going back to the ER now, and your ex-husband is in the best hands, rest assured.' Jen McGarry seemed about to reply, then pursed her lips. 'Mallory, wait for me by the elevator. Go on!' When they were alone Jen McGarry said angrily: 'You're sleeping with my husband. Do you think I should be nicer to you?' Alex frowned. 'Your ex-husband. And no, I'm not. Not that it's any of your business.' 'Nonsense! You're living together.' 'I have an apartment. Leo has an apartment. Occasionally, when Leo manages to get home before midnight, we have dinner, or watch TV together, or go to a movie. And then one of us goes home. And until we're married, that's all we're doing. Remind me again why I'm telling you this?' Jen was angry, and her voice was low. 'He left me because his job was more important to him than I was.' 'It's all right, er...I'm sorry, I'm not sure what name you're using now..? For the record, my job is more important to me than he is.' Alex walked away, leaving Jen McGarry, for the first time in a long time, speechless. ****************** The Chief of Emergency Medicine looked down at the neatly-typed sheet on the desk in front of him. It was a carefully-worded statement on the condition of the White House Chief of Staff barely two hours after he was brought in. He looked up as Alex knocked then came in. 'You wanted to see me.' 'Yes, I thought you might like to look at this, Dr Jamieson.' Alex scanned the sheet of paper and nodded. 'Sounds about right. Who is going to read it?' Ben Keller said: 'You are.' Alex shook her head. 'No.' 'Alex, you were the senior doctor there. And the press knows it. Added to that, your relationship with Mr McGarry is hardly a secret.' Alex felt her face colouring. 'That's precisely the reason it should be Michael. Or someone else.' 'Do you not think the press will read something into it if someone else stands in front of them? They will. You have to do it.' ******************** Alex walked into the room which had been hastily converted from a conference room to a press room. She tried not to flinch as the dozens of flashbulbs fired, making her squint. She moved to the front of the room, standing at the end of the table around which the reporters were gathered. She looked around for a moment, then saw Danny. He smiled, and she took a deep breath. 'For those of you who don't know, and there can be only a few, my name is Dr Alex Jamieson. I'm an attending physician in the ER here at GW. I have a statement on the condition of Leo McGarry, White House Chief of Staff. Mr McGarry was brought to the ER at 6.45 this morning following an accident in which his car was in collision with a lorry. On arrival, he was found to have a number of serious injuries, including internal bleeding. His left leg was broken in three places and a number of his ribs were broken. He had also suffered concussion and whiplash injuries. During surgery, the bleeding has been stopped and his leg has been pinned. Following the surgery, Mr McGarry was transferred to the ICU, where he remains unconscious. His condition is serious but stable. It is too early to speculate on whether or not he will sustain any long-term problems as a result of the accident. Early signs are that there is no serious neurological damage, and his injuries are ones from which he is likely to make a good recovery. If and when Mr McGarry's condition alters, we will update you. That's all for now. Thank you.' The wall of sound which hit Alex the moment she stopped speaking was almost unbearable. But most of the reporters seemed to be asking the same question. 'Doctor, will you be caring for Mr McGarry?' Alex decided there was little point in the papers indulging in speculation as to how she would be spending the remainder of her shift and the following days. She stopped and turned back. When the room was quiet again, she looked up, waiting for the flashbulbs to stop before speaking. 'This morning, an horrific accident occurred on Dupont Circle. A man died at the wheel of his truck, and Mr McGarry was extremely lucky to escape with his life. I'm sure if he were able, Mr McGarry would say that your column inches would be better used in reminding your readers that there is a family without a husband and father this morning, rather than indulging in gossip about his private life. I still have an hour of my shift to go, so I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me as I have to get back to work in the ER. Thank you.' ****************** Sam flicked the button on the remote control, silencing the TV set he and Toby has been standing in front of. Josh and CJ had stood behind, and Toby broke the silence, startling all of them. 'She'll be after CJ's job next.' Sam frowned: 'What?' Toby stopped and re-wound the videotape copy of the live broadcast. He talked over the sound as it replayed. 'She says she's going to read a statement, then doesn't look at it. She was probably making it up as she went along. That takes guts.' He pressed the fast forward button and the picture flicked on until it stopped as the reporter's voice stopped Alex in her tracks. All four of them listened to the end of Alex's response, then looked at Toby. Like a schoolteacher who didn't understand why his pupils didn't hear what he heard, he sighed. 'She said 'his'. His private life. Not ours. Most people would have said 'our private life'. She's in a room with a hundred people who just wanna know is she gonna spend the night at his bedside, and she says 'his'. She tells them what to write about and you just know they're gonna do it. Class dismissed.' There were general murmurs as the three people around him finally understood what he was saying, then, his patience exhausted, Toby walked from the room. Click here to go to Part Two Home Send me feedback on this fic Return to the X-Files Fic Index Return to the West Wing Fic Index