It had been a stressing day for everyone at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Between the quarantine in the emergency room, the negative publicity, and the added pressure of keeping her non-quarantined patient alive, Dr. Claire Browne was more than ready to go home once she was allowed to leave the hospital from the lockdown. She had been surprised that Dr. Melendez had violated a patient's DNR but at the same time amazed that Andrews and he had managed to get the bone marrow from Bob Cravens, who had been quarantined in the emergency room. It was unfortunate that Bob had passed away when he was supposed to have been a living donor for his estranged son. Now they would never be given the opportunity to reconnect or not reconnect. She knew how it felt to be estranged from a parent given the fact that she had a strained relationship with her mother and how tricky those types of situations could be. One thing was for sure: she definitely needed some down time after the events of the day.
Claire changed out of her scrubs and swung by the recovery room area to check in on Dr. Lim. Melendez was also in the room, the relief of her survival evident in his eyes. Claire smiled to herself, feeling glad for her superior. She knew how much Melendez cared for Lim. Hell, pretty much the whole hospital saw their chemistry except for the two of them and it had been pretty evident his worry for her ever since he had found out about Lim's condition. Since Lim seemed to be doing well, Claire decided to leave the two attending surgeons alone.
Claire stepped outside into the mildly cool San Jose air and decided she wanted to enjoy the breeze for a few moments before heading home for the night. She sat down on the bench, taking in her surroundings. Some of the images were a little disturbing: the CDC meandering around in decontamination suits carrying possibly infected material, the coroners loading the three bodies into their trucks, and Dr. Morgan Reznick observing them, knowing one body was the body of EMT Tyler Durness. Claire was so lost in her own world that she wasn't even aware when Shaun sat down next to her on the bench. Once she became aware of her surroundings she glanced over and noticed her fellow resident, smiling politely at him, but not forcing him to talk. She was surprised when he said, "I delivered my first baby today."
"I know," Claire acknowledged him, recalling that Shaun had performed an emergency C-section in the emergency room under the supervision of an OB/GYN.
"It was also my first solo surgery," Shaun announced. He seemed proud of himself, even though he wouldn't outwardly show it.
"Well, you saved multiple lives today, Shaun. I'm proud of you," commended Claire. And she meant it. The two of them had always had a special connection ever since they performed that emergency surgery on the liver in the middle of the freeway, "You're going to make an excellent surgeon."
Shaun didn't say anything, but Claire didn't expect him to right away. She had become used to his introverted nature. After a few more moments of silence, he finally said, "Thank you, that means a lot," his response seemed genuine. He turned to her and said, "I'm sorry for your loss."
Claire was briefly confused until she realized Shaun was talking about Bob Cravens, "Well, he wasn't really my patient. He was just the key to keeping my patient alive," she explained, "But thank you."
There was more silence between the two residents before Shaun asked, "Do you ever have days where you feel extremely overwhelmed?"
"Well sure," Claire thought. Today had been one of them. Trying to figure out how to keep Chris Santos alive, coming up with plan after plan how to get the bone marrow from Bob Craven while he was quarantined, having her supervisor instruct her to violate a signed DNR, watching him worry about the situation (and one specific individual) in quarantine, worrying about Shaun, Morgan, and Lim herself, the list continued. But she imagined how much worse it had probably been for Shaun. Being quarantined because of a deadly respiratory virus (that thankfully, had turned out to be droplet based and not airborne based), having to keep everyone calm, having his attending physician whom had become a mother figure to him contract the deadly virus, performing multiple surgeries, one completely solo, all while dealing with the challenges that came with having autism. She was honestly surprised that his breakdown had been as brief as it was. Once she realized she still hadn't answered Shaun's question, she finally answered, "Sometimes. But I know the way I felt today is what you might feel more often than me. But we both continue to persist through our own personal trials."
Shaun didn't respond, so Claire sincerely hoped she hadn't offended him, "We do. If it hadn't been for Dr. Reznick helping me up and for Dr. Lim being sick, I wouldn't have learned how to perform my first solo surgery," Shaun finally looked Claire in the eye since he had taken a seat, "You know how to talk to someone with autism."
This wasn't the first time Shaun had said this phrase to her. He had told her this after their day of performing emergency highway liver surgery, "Maybe I do," she placated him, "Or maybe I just know how to talk to my friends."
"Then you're good at talking to your friends," said Shaun. The bus pulled up in front of the hospital and Shaun stood. Before he got on the bus, he awkwardly turned to Claire and said, "Good night, Claire."
Claire smiled softly at him, "Good night, Shaun."