Wispy, concerned Officer Crane took the man under his arms. The dentist, on the other hand, grabbed a shoe and hefted his leg up into the air – only for the shoe to come off in his hand. Accidentally dropping the priest’s leg, he let out a disappointed grunt. Then, he hefted him up by the calves like a bag of potatoes, ankles well over Gabriel’s head when he glanced to the officer for further instruction.

Tristan had just been passing when someone recognized him and urged him to the church. He approached the little group fast. "Don't move him!" He shouted when he saw that they were lifting the injured priest.

Seeing the leg drop, Elijah opened his mouth to tell the other to be more careful when a voice shouted at them. His head turned in shock and he dropped the priest's upper body. He gasped looking down in shock as he had let Gabriel down by letting go. He truly hoped the man with the wonderful hair and near perfect smile hadn't been injured by the drop.

"W-w-we were just going to .. move him from the steps! You c-can't startle people like that!" It was an explanation and an excuse. He didn't want anyone even guessing that he'd made it a habit of dropping people who needed help, especially the priest.

The dentist, unperturbed, looked down at where Gabriel had landed on his foot. With Elijah having dropped him, he was now holding the unconscious man upside down by the knees. Too late to drop him? He looked down contemplatively.

Probably.

[CW: Swearing]

"Jesus!" Tristan called out when the man dropped the priest. Several gasps from the pews reminded him where he was. He ran over and knelt down on the steps. "Put his legs down," he ordered. He checked the priest's pulse. It was there, though low. Then he began feeling the man's neck and skull for potential fractures. He didn't have his bag with him. He didn't even have anything to clean the head wound.

Elijah was clearly distressed as he noticed the blood, there was more now than when he first fell. He wanted to take off his coat to hold to the wound but the doctor was right there and hadn't said much other than shout for them to not lift him or put him down. "C-can I do anything, doctor?"

The dentist frowned. What the doctor said sounded sound … so he dropped him.

"For God's sake!" he shouted at the dentist.

More gasps from the pews. Tristan turned to them. "There won't a Sunday service today."

Then he turned to Elijah. "I'm going to need some hot water with soap, a clean towel and clean bandages. And something that can serve as a stretched, a straight board preferably."

"There's the old door that was replaced in the sacristy," said one of the altar servers.

"That'll do."

"Mr. Crane, come help me in the presbytery. There's bandages there." said the housekeeper, who had been standing around helplessly.

Elijah was grateful at there being something he could do. He ran immediately to help gather bandages and water, but glanced at the doctor before he left. "Please save him." He was sure it was seen as a constable caring about his priest and nothing more, he just had to say it. He hadn't even been sure if he'd ever had the nerve to talk to the man, but this was the last thing he could have ever wanted to happen to him.

"I'll do my best," Tristan said. The truth was, it was hard to say what state the priest was in. He was breathing and had a pulse, and there didn't seem to be any neck or skull fractures, but that didn't say anything about possible brain damage. What he was most worried for now was any swelling under the skull. He didn't feel any yet, but if it would develop, the priest's life would still be in danger.

A man he recognized from a few houses down came over asking how he could help, and Tristan sent him for his bag. There was always one ready in his office with some emergency essentials.

The housekeeper meanwhile accompanied Elijah through the sacristy into the presbytery. "There's bandages in that drawer over there. A towel in the dresser in the room upstairs on your left. Bring 'em to the doctor already. I'll fetch hot water 'n soap!" she instructed. She looked pale. Not even tea could solve this disaster.