Gravity: Prologue

(italics are the voice-over)


As doctors, we plan for disaster. Our most prized moments can be found at the height of a catastrophe.

"Goddamn it, Pierce!" Callie yelled at the flustered intern as she pressed heavily on the tiny, immobile frame lying on the pavement below her. "If you can't intubate her properly get over here and take over CPR."

It is in the moments of fear of danger of pain that we thrive. Our skills are necessary only in the direst of circumstances.

"This area is the triage zone only. Move any non-emergent patients to the soccer fields for evacuation." Owen called over the din of wailing children and teachers and the paramedic nodded a wordless reply. "And for god's sake can someone get these damn reporters out of here!"

When the world comes crashing down we are there to hold back the sweep of death; to pull our fellow man from the wreckage.

Meredith tossed aside the sodden piece of surgical gauze and replaced it with swift efficiency. "You're going to be fine," she promised the trembling child as he squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, "I'm going to take good care of you."

We are the lifejacket, the fire escape, the rescue boat.

Arizona blinked, trying to focus her eyes. Smokeless clouds of fine debris were floating through the sun-drenched space and every few moments a rain of concrete pebbles and broken glass slid to the ground with a soft hiss.

The blue, cloudless sky peeked through a large rupture in the ceiling and several birds wheeled through the opening and down the two stories of gaping flooring and exposed steel to land and peck at the pebbles, as if the crumbling building around them was the safest and most natural home for them. As the dust settled around her, Arizona coughed and immediately regretted the motion. A searing pain shot through her abdomen and her mouth filled with blood. Her vision faltered once again and her blonde curls sunk back down against the floor as she allowed the darkness to envelop her senses once again.

We are the back-up plan. Life's last chance.