Hey guys! This is for a livejournal community that I'm in, and I decided to post it on here. I'm still working on My Fifty Things, in case you were worried. I should have a new chapter of that up in the next day or so.
Disclaimer on my page.
Read, enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think!
He's been on call all night, and for the most part, it's a relatively calm night. He's only has an hour more until he is free to go home and just sleep—freedom at dawn. He set an alarm for seven AM, so he would know when his freedom begins.
But of course, as soon as the clock hit six, trouble starts. Within the first ten minutes of the hour, he has three codes, one right after another. And of course, he's stuck with incompetent interns who don't know the right end of the needle to stick into the patient. At this point, he would prefer Barbie or Nervous Guy…at least they knew what to do.
He manages to save all three patients, and then feels pretty damn proud of himself. But, he only has a few moments to savor that pride before he gets yet another page. This time for a patient of his who is going into cardiac arrest. He tries as hard as he can, but he isn't able to save her. He slumps against the door: she was his favorite patient. She reminded him of his Newbie—she had the same optimism, the same sense of humor, even the same goofy smile. Perry feels the tears begin to push against his eyes, but covers it up by yelling at three interns who are standing near him. After that, he feels better.
The rest of the hour progresses similarly—page after page, each one with a new disaster. There are patients with no previous problems who suddenly coded, patients who he couldn't save, patients he could save. By the time the dawn began to break, he feels worse than when his shift had started, and his shoulders are lower than he thinks they have ever been.
He walks up the stairs to the roof, just to get away from everything down below. As the sun begins its ascent into the sky, he tries his hardest to forget about the past hour, slumping down on the ground to watch.
Behind him, he hears the door open, and footsteps approaching him. "Perry?" He hears.
"Yeah Newbie," Is all he can manage to say in response.
"There you are. I brought you some coffee and breakfast, but I couldn't find you anywhere downstairs." JD appears in front of Perry, holding a cup in one hand, and a bag in the other. Looking down at him, JD frowns. "What's wrong?"
Perry doesn't say anything, just takes the food from his hand and sets it beside him. He then tugs on JD's hand to get him to sit next to him. As JD lowers himself down, Perry notices the sunrise was illuminating him from behind, giving him an almost ethereal glow. In a way it fits, he thinks: JD is always the one to save him when he has shifts like this.
Together, the two of them watch the sun rise in silence. By the time it finished, Perry feels better. The dawn made everything lighter and washed away the darkness of the last hour. He glances over at JD, and speaks for the first time since JD had approached him: "I thought you had today off…"
JD only smiles, shrugs and says, "The coffee is probably cold, but the breakfast should still be good. It's only bagels."
Perry reaches into the bag and pulls out a bagel for JD, then retrieves one for himself as well. As they begin to eat, JD told Perry a story about his night, and Perry laughs, a genuine laugh, at his Newbie.
Everything would be all right. The dawn had come.