Frozen Courage: Chapter 3

"Can we please check you out, Ethan? Cal's awake now." Ash insisted. Ethan reluctantly nodded and went with Ash to cubicles, ignoring everyone's gazes as he went.

Ethan sat down on the bed, allowing Ash to look at his cut on his head. It wasn't too bad.

"So, what happened?" Ash inquired, seeing Ethan's shoulders tense slightly as he recalled the accident.

"There was a speeding van, being chased by police officers. I didn't see it in time. I couldn't stop…" Ethan trailed off, not wanting to relive it further.

"Okay…right, this doesn't look too bad." Ash concluded, bringing his hand away from Ethan's head.

"Will Cal be okay?" Ethan muttered. Ash didn't know how to answer this. He wasn't the one examining Cal.

"I'm sure he will be, Ethan." He reassured the panicking doctor. Ethan let Ash finish with his before rushing over to Cal, who was now sitting up, smiling when he saw Ethan.

"So?" Ethan questioned Connie and Zoe both, wondering who will answer.

"Mild concussion, no head or neck injury, couple of cuts and bruises." Zoe stated, grinning.

"He's been very lucky." Connie added in the same comforting tone Ethan had grown to like.

"Thank god for seatbelts!" Ethan chimed, before walking over to his brother. He felt a sudden sharp pain in his abdomen, making him gasp slightly from the shock of it.

"You okay?" A concerned Cal asked. Seeing his little brother gasp in pain worried him. Cal thought Ethan was fine. Was he?

"Yeah, fine. You're the one in the hospital bed." Ethan commented. Now he thought about it, he really didn't feel good. Something wasn't right.

"Ethan you really don't look too good." Lofty noted. Ethan was growing increasingly paler. He had no time to answer, as the pain that made home in his abdomen got 100 times worse. He doubled over with the shock of the sudden pain, groaning with every breath he took.

"Zoe!" Cal shouted, alerting the doctor, and a couple of other people to Ethan. She took one look at Ethan and knew things were far from good. He looked deathly pale, and was clutching his stomach as if his life depended on it, and his breathing was getting increasingly quicker. What was wrong though? He was fine.

"Right, let's get him over here!" She ordered, pointing to the nearest bed in RECUS. Ethan could barely walk and the pain his felt was unimaginable. Rita and Zoe managed to get him on his back on the bed. Rita slipped an oxygen mask on him, and his vitals were measured. Ash rushed in, along with Tess.

"Right, what's happening?" Ash questioned, pulling on some gloves.

"Resp rate increasing, BP rapidly falling." Rita relayed off of the monitor.

"Can I have the fast scan here please?" Ash called. "Come on, Ethan. Stay awake." He insisted while trying to prize Ethan's hands away from his stomach. It wasn't an easy task. "Right, give him 5 of morphine, please." He told another nurse, who promptly did just that.

Zoe used the fast-scan. "Intra-abdominal bleed." She stated. Cal watched on, helpless. "Can we get 2 units of O-Neg, cross match 6, and can you fast bleep the general surgeons, please?" She ordered to no one in particular.

"Stay awake, Ethan, come on." Tess pleaded. An internal bleed, and they didn't spot it. They needed to get him up to surgery, and quick.

"Hu…rt…s…" He managed to get out before his eyes closed, he lost consciousness, and his readings spiked.

"He needs to go to surgery now, if he doesn't, he won't make it…" Ash muttered to Rita, Zoe and Tess, being careful not to let Cal hear.

"Right, I'll chase them up." Tess said, going off to the phone. Cal strained his neck to look at Ethan. He knew heard what was happening, and hoped that he wouldn't lose his little brother.

"So?" Cal asked Zoe that night, sitting up from the bed and looking expectantly at her. Everyone refused to tell him anything about his little brother. Maybe none of them knew. It had been ages, surely something would have happened by now.

"The surgeons managed to stop the bleed," Cal sighed out of pure relief, and Zoe continued. "He's in recovery, and he's awake!" She beamed. Cal had a smile from ear to ear. His brother was going to be okay, and that's all that mattered.

"Can I go and see him?" Cal practically begged. Zoe nodded, helping him up and into a wheelchair, before taking him to Ethan.

Zoe stepped out of Ethan's current room, leaving Cal to be with his brother. Cal looked at him. He still looked pale, and seemed incredibly weak. He was hooked up to nasal oxygen, with monitors beeping steadily by him. IT was a good sign.

"Hey, bud!" Cal greeted Ethan. His face brightened up when he saw Cal, though his eyes were half closed, and he didn't look like he would last very long.

"The car blew up…" Ethan's voice was only a strained whisper. Cal laughed slightly, being unconscious meant that he didn't get to see said car blowing up, but he could imagine it.

"Thanks for pulling me out. Zoe told me!" Ethan saved Cal's life, and Cal owed him a thank you.

"No…problem. Can you pass…me the water?" Ethan muttered, already feeling like he was going to fall asleep any second. His throat felt dry, and he felt too weak to stretch over. Cal nodded and handed it to Ethan while he gratefully took sips out of, before laying his head back on the pillow and giving the cup back to Cal, which he placed back down.

"Get some rest, I'll come later." Cal told Ethan, who was already half-asleep. He looked over at his brother and noticed the steady rise and fall in his brother's chest as he drifted off to sleep. Both of them were injured after the crash, but he was happy that both of them were okay.

Okay, so, this was posted on March 14. I read back through it recently, and absolutely hated it. So, I added in quite a bit more, making it split into two chapters, and updated it. Just so you know. Haha! The original message at the bottom was, "Okay, so not that great…I know! But, I had this idea stuck in my head for ages, and now it's out! Thank you for reading! Please review so I know what your thoughts on it were!" I would like to reiterate that last part. Please review!