Rescuing Dr. MacAllister

What exactly was she watching for?

Sean took a deep breath and there was no mistaking the concern in his face. 'I can't tell you that. I just need you to promise that if you're worried about anything—anything at all—you'll come and find me.'

Ellie almost screamed with frustration. She felt totally in the dark. 'Well, of course, but—'

Sean touched her on the shoulder. 'Don't ask me any more. It's time you got to work. You need to get the room ready.'

Still wondering what on earth was going on that she obviously wasn't aware of, Ellie hurried to Resus and pushed open the door.

Ben was standing in the middle of the room, his fingers gripping the side of the trolley, beads of sweat visible on his brow.

It always happened when he walked into Resus.

Instinctively Ellie stepped towards him. 'Ben…'

He released the trolley and moved away from her, his voice sharp as he issued a string of commands. 'Run through some saline and check the bulb is working in the paediatric laryngoscope. I need a flat blade,' he snapped, and she looked at him in surprise.

In the short time she'd worked with him, she'd hadn't heard him be short with anyone. Yes, he was cool and detached, always the one firmly in control when he gave orders, but he did so calmly and with courtesy.

This was a Ben she didn't know.

Still trying to work out what was happening, she jumped slightly as the doors to Resus crashed open and the paramedics came rushing in, followed by Will.

'She's got no pulse.' The paramedics laid the baby on the trolley and Ben's face paled visibly as he stared down at the tiny form.

The paramedic carried on briefing him. 'The mother was driving too fast and hadn't fastened the seat belt properly. The little one hit the seat in front.'

A muscle worked in Ben's jaw and he didn't move. It was as if he was frozen to the spot.

Ellie licked her lips, her eyes on his face. 'Will, bleep the paediatricians, please. Ben, do you want to intubate her?'

He didn't respond, his eyes still on the baby, and then suddenly, just when she was thinking that maybe she'd better call Sean, he seemed to pull himself together.

'Will, get a line in while I intubate her. Ellie, she needs to be attached to a monitor. Get some leads on her now and someone fast-bleep the paediatricians.' Ben barked out a string of instructions, all his attention focused on the baby. 'Give me a straight-blade laryngoscope and an uncuffed ET tube.'

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ellie slapped a tiny laryngoscope into his hand and adjusted the light so that he could visualise the baby's vocal cords.

'OK...' Without lifting his gaze from the tiny airway, he snapped his fingers impatiently and she gave him the tiniest ET tube, which he carefully eased down the baby's trachea. 'That's good.'

He carefully removed the metal laryngoscope and Ellie took it from him while he ventilated the baby with oxygen.

Satisfied that the baby was now intubated, Ellie quickly set about sticking leads on the baby's chest so that they could monitor the heart rate.

They all looked at die monitor and Ben's mouth tightened.

'She's in EMD,' he muttered. 'Something is obstructing her output.'

EMD—electromechanical dissociation—meant that although a patient's ECG showed electrical activity in the heart, there was no pulse.

Ellie bit her lip and felt the tension building inside her as she looked at the tiny body on the trolley.

Surely Ben could save her?

She almost laughed at her own thoughts. Being in love was making her blind to the facts. Ben might be one hell of a good doctor, but the baby was extremely badly injured.

Will was desperately trying to find a vein. 'This is hopeless.'

Ben was examining the baby again, his face set and determined as he se