Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 07:17:03 -0400
From: zmartin24 <zmartin24@hotmail.com>
Subject: Change For The Better, Chapter 1

A Change For The Better

This story is intended for adult readers. If you cannot read this story
because you are under the age of 18- 21, or not allowed because of
country/state/local laws please visit another website. This story also
contains a fictional plot between a fictional character and Brian
Littrell. This story does not however intend to imply anything about the
true sexuality or personal knowledge about the private life of any
celebrity (or other person) mentioned in this story. Also, if you are
expecting sex right away, find another story. This one is hopefully going
to have a plot and long-term relationship.

Now that the legal stuff is done with, lets get started!

	A little about myself, and the story. This is the first story that
I have written for public reading and criticism (hopefully constructive).
The story is also going to change POV's a couple of times between the main
character and Brian. I am in real life a nurse at a hospital in Up-State
New York, and a firefighter for my local volunteer fire department. Due to
being still in the closet I will not use actual town/city/place names in
this story. All e-mails regarding this story are more than welcome, and can
be sent to zmartin24@hotmail.com. OK enough of the bull, We're really going
to start the story now.


	My Name is Zachary Riker Martin, I am 25 years old and a nurse in
the trauma/emergency room at my town's hospital, and an assistant chief in
my town's fire department. I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock bright
and early on a Monday morning ready to start another week at work (I really
love my job and wonder why there is a shortage of nurses in this
country). After sitting up in bed for a few minutes to get my bearings I
went down stairs to the kitchen to make my breakfast. I live alone in a 2
story 3 bedroom house, go figure. After breakfast I went back upstairs to
get ready for work.

	After taking a shower I looked in the mirror and asked myself why I
live alone. I keep telling myself that I am too involved in my work and
don't have time for a social life, but I knew that I was lying to myself. I
don't think I'm ugly or anything, I mean what woman wouldn't like to hook
up with a guy that is 6'1", muscular build, blond hair, blue eyes, and has
a good paying job. I just was never interested in women and never had the
nerve to come out of the closet (little did I know that would change).

	Arriving at the hospital at 6:45am I parked my truck in the
employee parking lot and started to walk towards the trauma/emergency
entrance to the hospital. Then I realized that I should have brought a
jacket because the cool morning fall breeze cuts through the fabric of my
scrubs like I was wearing a window screen. I figured that I would remember
a jacket the next day. Anyway, I'm in the hospital now and I'm ready to
start my 12 hour shift. I swiped my time card and headed towards the locker
room to get my stethoscope and other stuff that I carried with me while at
work. When I got to the nursing station in the ER I looked around and saw
that all of the other nurses and doctors were all writing on patient charts
and looking at recent laboratory reports, obviously taking advantage of a
slow period where we didn't have many patients.

	It was now shift change and time for report. All of the nurses met
and decided who was going to take care of who. I got a little 8yr old boy
who had come in earlier that morning with a broken arm and a cut to the
forehead when he slipped down the steps coming off of his school bus. So I
went into the treatment room that he was in and made sure that he was OK,
and to tell him that the doctor was about to discharge him and send him
home with his parents. While I was talking to the boy and his parents I
could hear someone on the emergency radio out at the nursing station. I
excused myself from the room and went to answer the radio.

	"This is University Medical Hospital, Repeat your callsign and go
ahead." I said into the mic.  "This is Mercy Flight Helicopter 2. We have a
7 minute ETA to your facility with a 26yr old male victim of a head on
motor vehicle accident, stand by for report." Said the flight nurse on the
chopper. I got a trauma form and a pen and prepared to take report. "We
have a 26yr old male victim of a head on motor vehicle accident who is
unconscious at this time. His vitals are weak and are as follows. Heart
rate 45, Respirations at 8 per minute, Blood Pressure 90/60, Temp at 97.5,
pupils are equal and responsive. He has a possible broken left leg, open
fracture on his left forearm, 7cm laceration to top of scalp, possible
bi-lateral pneumothorax (collapsed lungs), and blunt trauma to upper
abdominal quadrant. possibly due to impact with steering wheel. Patient is
fully immobilized and responds only to painful sternal stimulation. Patient
is on 100% oxygen and we have administered 10 units of morphine." the
flight nurse reported. "10-4, no further orders, we will be waiting for you
at the landing zone in about 5 minutes. University Medical Center Clear."

	I informed the secretary to page the trauma team and other
necessary staff. I recruited a couple of other nurses and got a stretcher
from trauma room 1 and loaded it up with medical equipment and supplies and
we headed to the roof. Just as we arrived on the roof the helicopter was
just coming into view over the south hill. A few seconds later the
helicopter had landed and the flight nurse was taking the patient out of
the helicopter, assisted by another flight tech. They met with us and we
placed the patient on the stretcher and hooked up the heard monitor and
other equipment so that we could monitor the patient on the way down to the
ER. We were met in trauma room 1 by the trauma surgeon and all of the other
trauma staff.  Blood was drawn, X-rays were taken bleeding was controlled
and a complete head to toe exam was performed. and in the middle of all of
the confusion was me. Trauma is basically controlled chaos.

	When the x-ray results came back the doctor confirmed that the only
broken bones were the ones in his left leg and arm. that means that we
could take off the cervical collar and get him off of the backboard. The
whole way through the procedures I had a strange feeling that I knew the
face that belonged to the person on the stretcher, but I just couldn't put
my finger on who he was. But he was just very familiar. Then the secretary
brought in his chart. Apparently his registration information was completed
from a Florida driver license found in his wallet that the flight nurse
from the helicopter handed to the secretary. I looked at the chart and the
name read Brian Thomas Littrell, born Feb. 20, 1975.

	I knew that the next few hours for Brian would be critical. He was
still in Serious condition. With two partially collapsed lungs, a broken
femur, and an open fracture on his left forearm, the laceration to the top
of his head was the least of our worries. Just then the trauma surgeon
called my name, I looked over to him and he said "Zach, we have to insert a
chest tube now so that his lungs will re-inflate!" I hurried over to the
trauma supply cabinet and grabbed the chest tube kit and set up the tools.

	The doctor made an incision on Brian's left side and began to
insert the tube. As I was watching the doctor perform the procedure I
noticed that Brian had a scar on his chest, over the location of the heart.
then I remembered seeing something on TV about him having an open heart
procedure when he was younger. I hooked the tube up to the wall suction and
watched the monitor to see if his blood oxygen level would go up. "Come on,
Come on, go up!" I said to myself. Soon I saw that his blood oxygen level
had gone from the 80's up to 93 which was a major improvement. "Nice Job
Dr. Billings." I said. "Thank you, but we still have a lot more to do
before he goes up to the operating room" he said.

	We spent the next 45 minutes finishing up as much as we could on
Brian before Dr. Billings said "OK people, nice job, he's stabilized, lets
get him up the operating room so that they can get that arm and leg fixed."
We moved him up to the OR and placed him on the operating table. Brian
remained in the OR for over 3 hours while they put pins in his leg and arm
to repair the bones. The doctors also repaired the skin on his arm and
head. Brian was then moved to the recovery room, where he spent the next 8
hours to sleep off the anesthesia.

	The rest of the day was pretty un-eventful, a few more minor
accidents and a couple of heart patients, and even a man claiming to be in
the worst pain in his life. But he just wanted narcotic pain killers. he
even had the balls to ask for them by name and dosage.

	When my shift was over I exited the hospital and again reminded
myself to start bringing a jacket to work. I got in my truck and started to
drive home. About half way there, my fire pager rang "Department 32,
Structure Fire. 756 pride street." I picked up the mic to my fire radio and
reported that I was responding. Then I turned on my red lights and siren
and drove to the station to get a pumper truck. A few other firefighters
were waiting at the station with the truck ready to go. When I was aboard
we responded to the scene. The house was almost fully engulfed in flame. I
asked fire control to dispatch another alarm for mutual aid. We then
immediately began to fight the fire. I found the family and asked if
everyone was out of the house. They stated that everyone was. The next 9
hours were spent fighting the fire, and doing overhaul on the house to make
sure that it wouldn't catch fire again.

	Finally I was able to go home. When I put the key in the door to
enter my house I could hear Midnight, my 2yr old Black Lab heading to the
door barking. I greeted Midnight and let him out into the back yard. After
about 5 minutes he came back to the door and I let him back in the
house. At that time I realized that I hadn't eaten since breakfast, but
didn't care because I was so tired, I looked at my answering machine and
saw that I had no messages (as usual). and went upstairs to go to bed. I
took a quick shower to wash off the suit from the fire and climbed into bed
naked, the only way I could ever sleep. Midnight crawled up on the foot of
the bed and we both were asleep very soon after.

the next day I had to work an evening shift at the hospital, which meant
that I could sleep in until early afternoon. I awoke to Midnight climbing
up on the bed to let me know that he was hungry. "Sorry buddy, I guess I
forgot to feed you last night. Lets go get some breakfast.

	After my morning ritual in the bathroom, Midnight and I went
downstairs. I let him into the back yard so that he could do him morning
ritual, and began to make breakfast, and filled the dogs food dish. I let
Midnight back in the house and he knew right where to go. It didn't take
him long to find his food. By about 2:30pm I was ready to go to work, and
the whole way there I found myself thinking about Brian.  Thinking So hard
in fact that I had almost been in a couple of accidents myself. I again
parked in the employee parking lot and again forgot to bring a jacket.

	About 6 hours into my shift it was time for my lunch break, and we
only had a few patients, so I left the ER and headed to the cafeteria. I
discovered that there was nothing appetizing in there so I just wandered
around the hospital for a while, and all I could think about was Brian.
After a few more minutes of wandering I found myself at the doors to the
ICU. I went into the ICU and went to the nursing station. I was greeted by
Julie, an ICU nurse who was a pretty good friend of mine. We hung out
sometimes and I think she had the hots for me. She is beautiful, but as I
said before, I never really had an interest in women.

	 I asked her if Brian was in the ICU and she looked at the charts
for all of the patients and found that Brian was in room 12. I asked her
how he was doing, and she said that he had made a change for the better. I
then asked her if she would mind if I went in to check on him. She told me
to feel free. After all I usually came up to check on my patients. But this
one was different. Brian lit a fire inside me that I had never felt for
anyone, and I don't even know him. He's never spoken to me, and I have
never spoken to him. But I still felt some sort of connection.

	I entered room 12 and found a man that was in far better condition
than when he came in yesterday. All things considered he did look good. He
had a cast on his leg and a connecting rod on his arm with screws that went
through his skin to keep the bones aligned. As I closed the door I heard
him mumble something, but I couldn't understand what it was. his head
turned in my direction and he asked me who I was. "He's awake!" I said to
myself.

	 "I'm Zach Martin, I was the charge nurse that helped take care of
you in the ER yesterday." I told him. "You saved my life." he said. I told
him that I had a lot of help from the doctors, techs, and other nurses. He
told me not to be so modest, and that he was eternally grateful for what we
did. For the next half hour we talked to each other like we were best
friends. In that conversation I asked hem what he was doing in Up-State New
York, especially in a small city like ours. "The group is on a 3 month R&R
before we have to start touring again and I was on my own little vacation
away from the group. I was driving my car back from New England back to
Lexington to see my folks, and I guess I had a little set back going
through your neck of the woods." he said. then I said to him "It's a good
thing you had your 'little set back' around our neck of the woods, because
this is the only level 1 trauma center for 150 miles in any direction."

	Before I went I asked him if there was anything I could do for
him. He gave me a couple of phone numbers and asked me to call them and
explain what had happened. One was the number for the Firm, and the other
was to his parents house in Lexington. I told him that I would call them as
soon as I got back down to the ER, and that I had to go back to
work. "Please come visit me again, I want to talk more." he said. I
promised him that I would and returned to the ER.

*BRIAN'S POV*
	My god he is a hottie. I really want him to come back to visit me,
I want to get to know him a little, er-lot better.

*BACK TO ZACH*
	When I returned to the ER I immediately picked up the phone and
started to dial the numbers. His parents were first. I found it hard to
concentrate on dialing the numbers because my mind was fixated on
Brian. When I finally got the number dialed it rang about 3 times before I
heard a woman say hello. I told her who I was and what was going on and she
stated that the family and her would be on the next flight out. I then
called the FIRM and explained to some executive the situation. He stated
that an agent representing the BSB would be out within a day.

	When my shift was over I returned to Brian's room and told him that
I had notified everyone that he had requested and that they would all be up
soon. He asked me why I was so helpful to him, and I almost said that it
was my job, but instead I said "I love to help people in any way that I
can, especially the cute ones." I almost shit when I realized what I
said. "So you are gay huh?" Brian said in a monotone voice. I said "Yes,
but I've never told anyone, If I've offended you I'll leave." "Then I
wouldn't get to spend any more time with the cutest guy I've ever seen"
Brian said. At that point I almost felt like I was going to melt. Brian
Littrell of the BSB said that I was the cutest guy that he'd ever seen. I
took a seat in one of the chairs before I fell down and scooted up next to
his bed on the right side, considering that the left was pretty much
inaccessible due to the casts and monitors. Brian reached for my hand and
drew me closer to himself. I leaned in to him and he whispered into my
ear. "I want to get to know you better when I get the hell out of here." I
agreed and he drew me in again to give me a kiss on the lips. It was the
most emotional and heartfelt experience of my life up to that point. and
was glad that I remembered to close the door.

	Just then I heard a page on the PA stating that there was a Code
Blue in another room in the ICU.  I told Brian that I would definitely be
back. As I came out of the room I bumped into Julie who was pushing the
code cart towards the other room. As we ran to the Code Blue she looked at
me and said "I thought you got off at 7." "I had to visit someone special"
I told her.

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I hope everyone enjoyed part one, and if I get a positive response there
will be a part two. All comments are welcome at zmaritn24@hotmail.com and I
look forward to reading them.

This story is written by a person who believes that all those people
(Firefighters, Paramedics, Rescue Workers, Civilians, and everyone) who
lost their lived on the 11th of September 2001 in the cities of New York
and Washington D.C. should be remembered and memorialized.