story part 3

He scanned the room, eyes jumping from screaming infant to screaming mother, harried nurse to pooling blood, to unanswered handset on the counter whose persistent ring rose shrill above the chaos like the rising panic in his chest.  He maneuvered through the maze of sick and injured to push through a door at the far end of the room while the nurse's back was turned.  It opened to white surfaces with an equal but more controlled chaos of shouted instructions, careening gurneys, and the feverish movement of capable hands.  The warm, sickly-sweet odor of blood hit his nostrils, followed by a sharp wave of disinfectant.  He stood still, eyes searching for the short hair and high cheekbones of the woman in a crisp doctor's coat who appeared in the mouth of the hallway opposite.  She summoned him with a quick agitation of her fingers.  He dodged the running traffic as he crossed the hall, breath frozen in his chest.  She shot him a brief, warm smile as she gathered his large hand in her fine mocha ones.  "She's alright."  With barely a sound, hot tears escaped his blinking eyes and he wept, softly, numbly, as the panic gradually dissipated.  She pulled his head to her shoulder and rubbed his back softly for a calm minute, strangely separated from the madness that continued to unfold around them, a careful sphere of quiet relief.  "It's okay,  (name) , it's okay."  As he straightened, she was already beginning to turn and head off down the main hall in pursuit of a fleet of gurneys.  "37E on the left.  I'll be back in a few," she called back over her shoulder.