I've been enjoying this show a lot lately and felt like there were definite missed whump opportunities in episode 1x2, so decided to roll with it. This is an alternate ending - it picks up right after the rollover accident. By the way, I am no kind of medical expert so please keep that in mind. It's just all in good fun, I have zero ownership rights to the 2018 reboot of Magnum P.I. (or sadly, Jay Hernandez), yadda yadda, please don't sue me. I just write what I like to read, so I hope you enjoy! -abby

Magnum tied the restraint around Samal's wrists with some difficulty. His right hand didn't seem to be cooperative and the strap had become damp and slick under his fingers. Digging the flash drive out of Samal's pocket was even more of a challenge and the private investigator frowned in frustration.

Task finally accomplished he stood, heading back over to Higgins. He stumbled a little on the way - suddenly walking seemed a lot harder than it should be too.

"Magnum, are you quite all right?" Juliet looked up from examining a scrape on her elbow and eyed him suspiciously, having just noticed his pale skin and...was that something dripping from his fingertips? She looked down at the red-stained flash drive he had just placed in her hand. "Oh my god. Magnum, you're bleeding." Hurriedly she tucked the drive away before carefully lifting his right hand and extracting it from the sleeve of his jacket. The shirt beneath was torn and soaked with blood. She impatiently rucked the fabric up his arm and out of the way, and from there the problem was obvious.

A massive gash started at the outside of Magnum's wrist, curving in and across one of the tendons before continuing straight down the middle of his forearm. It finally came to a shallower end about three inches from his elbow. From what she could see beyond the blood, the cut was clean but very deep and it gushed with every beat of his heart. "Sit down, Thomas," Juliet advised, trying not to alarm him. "Right now." She wrapped her own right hand around the injury, squeezing as hard as she could. She felt bones shift, and flinched in sympathy. Her fingers were already slick with red.

Thomas grunted at the pressure, but didn't protest. "Sit here?" He seemed confused, and his words were beginning to slur. "Isss inna middle of th' street."

Blood loss. Or the beginning stages of shock. Both, she thought frantically, worry jumping another notch. "It's fine, Magnum," her voice deliberately calm and commanding. "Just do it." She guided him to the ground, gracefully following him down without releasing her hold. Careful to keep his injured arm raised vertically from the elbow, she wrestled her phone out with her other hand. She had dialed 911 before he was even settled on the ground, barking out their location and details of the accident to the dispatcher. Aware of his confusion, she lowered her voice before continuing. "He's got a nicked blood vessel and is bleeding profusely. Please hurry." Without waiting for an answer Juliet hung up and set the phone aside, attention completely focused on Thomas.

"Do you trust me?" She looked directly into the dark brown eyes.

"Yes," he replied simply and without hesitation, though from the look on his face she could tell he didn't understand why she was asking.

Higgins took a deep breath. "You're hemorrhaging, Magnum. I've got to stop it."

Puzzled, he followed her gaze down to his arm and she heard the sharp gasp as he finally noticed the blood. So much blood. "Don't h've a lighter," he rasped softly, though to Juliet's ears he sounded distracted. Detached, almost as if he was watching it happen to someone else. "D'you have a lighter?" It was a question, but seemed rhetorical. A memory, she realized, but there was no time to try and parse out what he meant. Later. "Gonna bleed out," he whispered.

She couldn't delay any further. "You're not going to bleed out," she replied firmly. "Look at me, Magnum. I need you to focus on me." I'm so sorry, she thought as bleary eyes came up to meet hers. She took the opportunity to stick her thumb into the wound and apply direct pressure to the vessel itself, pinching off the source of the bleeding.

Magnum screamed in agony, bucking once against the pain before his eyes rolled back in his head. Higgins cringed but didn't release her hold and from her position facing him, managed to control the fall so that he tipped forward rather than backwards onto the pavement. He slumped bonelessly against her, forehead nestling at the base of her neck.

She could hear sirens in the distance and held fast to his wrist, keeping unrelenting pressure against the damaged vessel. Like his, blood now covered her right arm to the elbow. She pressed two fingers of her other hand against his carotid artery. His pulse was weak and erratic, and she anxiously tracked each labored respiration by the shallow puffs of air against her collarbone. Juliet's worry was rapidly descending into panic and she had never been so glad to see flashing lights as she was when an HPD cruiser and ambulance tore around the corner simultaneously.

The vehicles screeched to a halt nearby and paramedics wasted no time bringing kits and gurney to Juliet's side. She gave them a quick rundown of the situation. "Okay. We're going to apply a clotting agent, then a pressure bandage," advised one of the medics, rummaging through his supplies. "On my signal, let go of his arm." Juliet nodded her understanding, and released her hold when instructed. Within a matter of seconds they had the bandage in place and Higgins got out of the way as they continued to ready Magnum for transport.

As they worked she stood and gave a succinct report to the uniformed officers, who had busied themselves with Samal and the accident scene. More HPD units had arrived, and she was assured that they would take care of the Ferrari and getting the flash drive to the FBI. Juliet gratefully handed it over and was in the middle of thanking them when she heard a scuffle.

Though barely conscious, Magnum had begun to fight the paramedics. They slipped an oxygen mask over his face and he suddenly rallied his remaining strength, protesting the claustrophobic feeling. The private investigator grunted and shoved, trying as best he could to push them away.

"Thomas," Juliet kept her tone soft, kneeling alongside so she could speak directly into his ear. "Take it easy, Thomas. You're safe. They're only trying to help. I'm going to call TC and Rick," she continued, hoping the mention of his friends would calm the agitated veteran.

It didn't quite have the effect that she'd hoped - his eyes opened then and darted back and forth. He was clearly searching for his brothers, and Juliet realized her mistake. She continued talking softly. "Shhh," she said. "They'll meet us at the hospital, Magnum. I'll stay with you, all right? You're going to be fine."

She kept up the quiet chatter while the paramedics struggled to start a saline IV in his left arm. It took them three tries to find a vein but she somehow managed to keep him calm, continuing the soothing effort as as he was gently lifted onto a gurney. He started fighting again as straps were secured across his legs and Juliet shushed him once more. "Shh, shh. They'll leave your hands free, okay?" She raised an eyebrow at the medics, who nodded and carefully placed his injured arm across his belly. Blood was beginning to soak through the tight pressure bandage.

"We need to go," said one of the medics urgently as they raised the gurney and headed toward the ambulance.

"I'm right here, Thomas." Juliet stayed at his side as they loaded him into the back, climbing in behind the gurney as the doors were closed.

They drove into the night, lights and sirens blazing.