Feisty Firefighters Bundle

‘Can’t have been long if she was still in VF,’ Tim said. ‘We might be lucky.’

‘We’ll soon find out.’ Laura nodded. ‘Respiratory rate is up to about sixteen now. Get the pulse oximeter on, Tim, and let’s see what her saturation levels are. We should get the mother over here, too, and fill her in with what’s happening.’

Activity around the paramedic crew had continued. Jason checked his watch, astonished to find that only minutes had passed. It seemed longer. The house fire was now well under control. There were no visible flames and the thick smell of smoke in the air was dissipating already. He could see fire officers inside, damping down hot spots, but others were beginning to clean up. Hoses were being rolled away and water connections closed off. Jason knew he should move off and start helping with the clean-up but he stayed where he was. Hell, a life had been saved here, and he was part of the team. He had to know what the outcome was. Just like the kid’s mother did.

‘Vicky! Oh, my God…is she going to be all right?’

‘She’s breathing on her own,’ Laura told the mother. ‘And her heart’s beating normally again.’ She put a comforting hand on the arm of the woman, who looked no older than herself. ‘What we don’t know at this stage is how long she was low on oxygen for. She’s still a very sick little girl.’

‘Oh, no…’ Vicky’s mother sagged against the other ambulance officer as she sobbed. ‘She’s still going to die, isn’t she?’

‘No-she’s not.’ Jason could see a look of alarm on Laura’s face as he made the confident statement but he had just seen something that filled him with elation. ‘Look!’

They all looked down. A small arm was moving, then the head. And the child was making a sound. A cough? A cry? Tim pulled the airway protection device from the child’s mouth just as the eyes opened. And then the miracle happened. The tiny girl looked at all the faces looming over her and saw her mother. Two small arms, one trailing an IV line, were held up with mute appeal.

‘She recognises Mum.’ Tim had a broad grin on his face.

‘Can I pick her up? Please?’

‘Of course.’ Laura crouched again to adjust wires and help lift the child. ‘You can hold her in the ambulance and we’ll take you into hospital together.’

‘She’s going to be all right, though, isn’t she?’ Tears were streaming down the young mother’s face as she gathered the child into her arms. ‘Not…brain damaged or anything?’

Laura seemed to be hesitating as she grabbed the IV line to prevent it tangling as Vicky wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck.

‘Mum-meee…’

They all heard the child’s faint but unmistakable cry. Laura’s smile wobbled around the edges.

‘I think she’s going to be fine,’ she said. ‘But we still need to get her into hospital straight away.’

‘Wait!’ The mother turned as she was being ushered up the steps into the back of the ambulance. ‘Who was it who found her? Where was she?’

Jason stepped forward.

‘She was in the laundry basket,’ he told her. ‘Underneath the washing.’

Vicky’s mother was laughing and crying at the same time. ‘That’s one of her favourite places for hide and seek,’ she said brokenly, ‘but I would never have thought of looking there.’

‘It might have saved her,’ Jason said. ‘All the clothes would have protected her from the smoke.’

‘You saved her. I…I don’t know how to thank you.’

‘These guys did a lot more than I did,’ Jason waved his arm towards the ambulance crew, appalled to feel that painful lump back in this throat. This time it was made worse by an ominous prickling sensation in the corners of his eyes. ‘You go with them now,’ he added gruffly. ‘I’ve got work I should be doing.’

Any assistance with the clean-up operations had to wait another minute or two, however. Jason watched both ambulances leaving the scene as he pulled himself back together. This was ridiculous. OK, they had saved the kid’s life and that was a thrill, but he’d seen young victims of house fires before. Some of those had been lucky as well, but he’d never experienced such an emotional response to any job as he had this morning.

It wasn’t until he was back on station and everything was tidy enough to let the crew take time out for a well- deserved break that Jason started to feel settled again. And that was crazy. Who would have thought it would help, having a baby shoved into his arms, along with a bottle of milk and instructions to feed his daughter before he fed himself any of Mrs M.’s delicious double-chocolate muffins, still warm from the oven.

But help it did. She was warm and heavy and felt…alive. Stick’s eyebrows shot up as Jason tucked the baby into the crook of his arm and started feeding her without any drama. Jason tried to sound nonchalant.

‘It’s not as tough as it looks. You just hold the bottle and she does the rest.’

Stick watched the baby’s vigorous sucking, the big eyes that were fastened intently on her father’s face and the miniature hand that looked as though it was trying to help hold the bottle.

‘She’s actually kinda cute, isn’t she?’

‘You won’t say that when her nappy needs changing, believe me. You should have seen what I had to deal with last night.’

Stick’s grimace was sympathetic. ‘Gross, huh?’

‘Worse than gross, mate. It looked like-’

‘Do you mind?’ Bruce was reaching for a second muffin. ‘We’re trying to eat here.’

‘Save some for me, ‘ Jason warned. He looked down at Megan. ‘Hurry up,’ he urged. ‘It’s my turn.’

‘Bet you say that to all the girls.’ Stick grinned.

Jason had to join in the burst of laughter. Yes, he felt much better. He could still have a good time with his mates even if he was holding a baby and a bottle.

And couldn’t even reach the chocolate muffins.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE surprise was enough to stop her in her tracks.

Fortunately, Laura recovered swiftly enough to prevent Tim bowling her over as he followed her into the commonroom. It wasn’t the first time she had seen Jason feeding his daughter after all. They had sorted that one out the night after the visit to the doctor. It was just the first time she’d seen him looking as though he was enjoying the duty. He was actually laughing.

‘What’s the joke?’ Laura reached for the cup of coffee Mrs McKendry miraculously had ready for her and smiled her thanks.

‘Don’t ask,’ Bruce advised.

‘How’s Vicky doing?’ Jason’s query was casual but Laura could see how important her answer was when she caught his gaze.

‘She’s going to be fine.’ It was Tim who answered, sitting down at the table and reaching for a muffin. ‘She’s one lucky kid.’

Laura eyed the muffins but decided against having one. ‘She sure is. I didn’t think we had a chance to start with.’ She turned to Tim. ‘As soon as you said there was no pulse, I thought that was it.’

‘I couldn’t believe it when you found she was in VF.’ Tim was grinning around the edges of his muffin. ‘Great job, huh?’

Laura found Jason was still staring as he listened intently. ‘When a child has a cardiac arrest, it usually follows a respiratory arrest,’ she explained. ‘And by then the damage from no oxygen is irreversible.’

Tim was nodding. ‘Last case like that I had, we managed to resuscitate this toddler after he’d choked on a button or something. We got him back but they had to turn the life support off two days later.’

‘Normally, they go straight into asystole instead of VF as well,’ Laura said. ‘So you can’t just shock them back into a normal rhythm. That’s why we got excited when we saw what we were dealing with.’

‘What’s VF?’ Stick queried.

‘Ventricular fibrillation,’ Laura explained. ‘The ventricles are the more important chambers of the heart. In a