*KIND REMINDER: English isn't my language*
I'm clearly not a doctor, nor do I have medical knowledge, therefore some of the data may be incorrect.
(Fic named after Adele's song "I'll Be Waiting")
Never Let Me Go
Looking up from underneath, fractured moonlight on the sea, reflections still look the same to me as before I went under… And it's over and I'm going under, but I'm not giving up I'm just giving in, I'm slipping underneath, so cold and so sweet…Never let me go.
11:00 PM, it had only been 15 minutes since the last time April Kepner had seen the clock but it seemed like hours to her. Owen had left her in charge of the ER, but he didn't fool her, most likely he was sleeping in an on-call room or snogging in a hallway with Carina DeLucca, honestly whatever Hunt was doing wasn't April's concern; it wasn't as if his presence was necessary at this time.
No big emergency had come to the ER practically since that afternoon, everything else were simple emergencies without meaning, people who claimed again and again that they were on the verge of death but that after an analgesic they were ready to go home, not without making the doctors and nurses to waste supplies and, above all, time.
April wished that some great emergency would enter through those doors, she didn't wish anyone harm either, it wasn't her nature, but she longed for that feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins while attending to some big trauma.
"Come on! What's happening today?" April shouted to no one in particular, just wanting to get rid of all the boredom in her.
Just at that moment the phone at the ER station rang. "Dr. Kepner, a person hit on the street is on the way, four minutes away."
"YES!" Thought April, but she immediately regretted it, or maybe not, it was a shame that this poor person had been run over, but luckily she was more than willing to help. "Page Ortho and Neuro!" Without thinking twice she ran to the ambulance bay.
In exactly four minutes the ambulance appeared at the doors of the Grey Sloan, when the doors opened the paramedic came out immediately.
"What do we have?" April asked as usual, without looking at the patient and carefully checking the chart.
"Woman between 40 and 45 years old, without ID, unconscious until 2 minutes ago, fracture in skull, left shoulder, tibia, fibula and ankle also the left, 8 in Glasgow scale, BP 160/100". The paramedic answered while entering the ER.
"Take her to trauma 2, please... and where is Neuro and Ortho?!"
"Ortho is already waiting in trauma 2 and Neuro is on the way, Dr. Kepner." A nurse who was going quickly to the same room as her told.
When April entered the trauma room, the orthopedic surgeon was already working on the patient who was deeply complaining and muttering something April can't make out, suddenly she stopped in her tracks when she saw the bloodied face of the patient but definitely a familiar face.
"Page Dr. Hunt, NOW!" April shouted and immediately went to work on the patient.
"Easy Teddy, everything will be fine." Teddy was trying to say something and take off her oxygen mask. "No, no, no, don't do that, we have you, you're going to be fine."
"Ok, what do we have, Kepner?" Amelia asked as soon as she entered the trauma room.
"Woman hit by a car, many fractures among them the skull, VP is high and she is half conscious, responds to the pain". April said updating Amelia.
"Oh my God, Kepner, isn't she?" Amelia said stunned.
"Yes, it's her, so let's do everything we can to not losing her."
"VP is falling fast... She's on V-fib!" The orthopedic surgeon shouted.
"Paddles, charge 300!" Kepner shouted, immediately grabbing the defibrillator paddles and applying a shock to Teddy's chest. "Nothing, charge 350!" After applying the second discharge Teddy's heart rate stabilized a bit.
Just then Owen entered the room. "What do we have, Kepner?"
"Did you page him?" Amelia asked.
"Of course I paged him, he's her only contact here in Seattle."
"Whose contact?" Owen asked confused.
Stepping aside April showed the image of Teddy's body, covered in blood. Owen froze, he couldn't move from his spot.
"Owen, if you're not going to help it's best if you leave the room!" Amelia said when she saw that Owen didn't move or do anything to help Teddy.
"She cannot breathe, getting ready to intubate." Kepner said, she never stopped working to help Teddy. What was she thinking about when she wanted a big trauma? Had she known who it was, she would have preferred to stay bored and to treat headaches and backs pains until her shift was over. "Done, intubated."
"Ok, get ready to take her for a CT scan!" Amelia instructed to the rest of the surgeons.
"She's crashing again, charge 300!" April said.
Owen still didn't move, suddenly it was as if his world had stopped, he was paralyzed just thinking that Teddy's life was hanging by a thread. "Save her." He whispered after a few seconds in shock. "Save her."
"What do you say?" Amelia asked, still working on Teddy with the cranial ultrasound.
"Ok, she's stable again, to CT Now!" April said.
"There is no time for a CT, let's go straight to the OR, she has cerebral hemorrhage, I need to go in there immediately or it will be fatal". Amelia intervened.
Immediately the entire team of surgeons and nurses got ready to take Teddy to the OR as quickly as possible. Owen could only see from one corner of the room how everyone worked to keep her alive, he suddenly felt so useless, like that time when he couldn't do anything to save the life of his entire group in Iraq.
"I'll scrub in with you." Owen said.
"I don't think it's convenient." Amelia answered.
"I have to be there, I have to save her, she cannot die Amelia, she doesn't have to die."
"The best thing is that you wait outside, you are practically considered a relative and you know the rules."
When Amelia went behind the stretcher carrying Teddy, Owen stopped her by the arm. "Please, for God's sake, promise me you'll save her." He begged her.
"You know we can't promise anything, but we will do everything we can."
Owen stood in the corridor, watching the team of doctors surrounding Teddy's stretcher, hurrying her to the OR.
The minutes and hours passed and nobody gave Owen information about Teddy's condition, a couple of hours ago Amelia had kicked him out of the gallery and sent him to the waiting room, although on one hand he was anxious not knowing what was happening, he also felt hopeful because he took the lack of news as a sign that she was still alive.
For a few seconds he thought about what would happen if Teddy dies, the poor thing had no family and Amelia was right, practically he was all she had in this city, no, she couldn't die, just imagining what his life would be like without her caused in him a huge desire to break into that OR and do everything possible to keep her best friend alive.
And to think that the last time he saw her he only used her as a security blanket due to his failed marriage, she deserved much more, but Owen never apologized or rather, never thanked her for being with him in difficult times, she had to live, Owen had so many things to tell her, even if maybe it was too late for that he would try, he would try by all means once and for all to thank her for all that she had done for him since they met. From that moment Owen promised, if Teddy lived he would be by her side, supporting her, just as she did when Megan returned to their lives.
When Owen looked at his watch he realized that it was already past 4:00 AM, about half an hour ago a nurse had come out to inform him that they were still working on the brain hemorrhage and its multiple fractures but she didn't say anything else.
"Owen, Owen." Amelia's sweet, deep voice woke Owen from a restless and extremely uncomfortable sleep, at the sight of her immediately he was alert again.
"Amelia, how's Teddy?!" Owen asked in a worried tone.
"Come with me to the conference room, there we can explain you the situation better."
"No, tell me now, Amelia please, tell me how is Teddy... Did she? Is she...?"
"No, no, no! Luckily she survived, but there are some things that Ortho's head and I would like to talk to you about."
Owen just nodded and followed Amelia to the conference room where Dr. Brown, head of orthopedic surgery, was already waiting for them.
"Doctor Hunt, good night, or rather, good morning." Dr. Brown greeted Owen.
Once everyone took their respective seats, Dr. Brown was the first to update Owen with Teddy's situation.
"When Mrs. Altman arrived..."
"Doctor". Owen interrupted.
"What?"
"Dr. Altman, she is a doctor, a surgeon."
"Oh yes that... well... When Dr. Altman arrived at the ER she had fractures mainly on the left side of her body where apparently the impact of the car was. Luckily the fracture in her shoulder was clean and will heal in a couple of days as well as her ankle... however the fracture that concerns me the most is her tibia and fibula, both fractures were comminuted damaging part of the surrounding muscle and tissue... "
Owen couldn't believe what he was hearing, his whole being cringed as he listened to what Teddy had gone through and only imagined the amount of pain she was surely in and the hard journey to recovery that awaited her.
"But you managed to repair the fractures, Don't you?" Owen asked.
"Yes, yes, yes with some plates and screws I was able to reposition the bones in their place; however the recovery will be long and painful, that without counting the physiotherapies to recover her mobility, she will need someone by her side. Do you know if there is a family member we can contact? Husband, children, parents?" Dr. Brown asked, evidently he was unaware of Teddy's family situation and her close relationship with Owen.
He and Amelia shared a knowing look. "She has no relatives, Dr. Brown." Amelia said. "That's why Dr. Hunt is here, he's her only contact here in Seattle."
"Oh, I see… Well, in that case if you don't think you can be with her through the recovery I can recommend you very good nurses and physiotherapists that will surely help her..."
"No!" Owen interrupted him. "I'll be with her, I'll take care of her."
"Owen, you have a job, you're head of trauma, this will be a very long recovery without counting that she..."
"Without counting that she, what? No Amelia, she was with me when I needed someone the most, it's the least I can do for her."
Amelia couldn't help taking Owen's comment as something personal, she had left him down at a difficult time and Teddy was there for him, that was a fact, but what was also a fact was that she wasn't in her full senses, her tumor made her make wrong decisions, some of which she regretted now, but it was too late for regrets, life went on and she was healthy now and sure of what she wanted for her future. However, at the moment the issue was not her, but Teddy, surely Owen would be more devastated with what she had to tell him.
"Owen, listen to me."
"No Amelia, she needs me, I'm all she has." Owen said rising from his seat, irritated.
"Ok, ok, it's ok I understand, I will not fight about that with you, but that's not what I want to talk to you about... I have to talk to you about her neurological health".
"What about that?" He asked taking his seat again.
"Once in the OR we took x-rays to see if there was damage to her spine... and there was, the blow apparently created a whiplash effect with her spine causing great damage and inflammation."
"You mean it's likely that she... that she will not walk again?" Owen asked in a thin voice.
"We cannot know yet until the inflammation goes down and she wakes up."
"Which will be in a few hours, isn't it?"
"I don't know Owen." Amelia said, seriously.
"You don't know? How are you not going to know when your patient is going to wake up?" Owen asked, desperately.
"I mean I don't know because she's not sedated... she... she's in a coma, Owen, I'm so sorry."
Owen could feel all the blood from his body down to his feet, a thin layer of cold sweat beginning to appear on his forehead and he could hear the beating of his heart in his ears.
"No… that, that, that can't be true, she... Amelia". Owen said in a pleading tone.
"Believe me I'm sorry too, I didn't want this kind of outcome but it was... you know we can't give an estimated time of how long she will be in that state, it can be ours or weeks."
"Looking at it on the positive side, it will give her the chance to heal her fractures with minimal pain." Dr. Brown intervened.
"Can I... can I see her?" Owen asked.
"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible, she's at the ICU, but as soon as she gets out of there, you'll see her." Dr. Brown said without looking up from his iPad.
"You have to be kidding, I'm a doctor, I work in this place, I know perfectly the care I should have in ICU... Amelia, please."
"I think we can make an exception this time, isn't that right, Dr. Brown?" Amelia said. Dr. Brown just shrugged and rolled his eyes. From that moment Owen could already tell that he will have a lot of problems and differences with the head of orthopedics.
"Follow me." Amelia said to Owen placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "Although I warn you that you can only be there for a few minutes that's better than nothing, don't you think?" She said with the sweetest smile.
Owen just smiled sheepishly and followed Amelia to the ICU wing. At the end of the corridor in a dark and cold room was Teddy, the image that Owen saw upon entering the room filled him with anger towards the person who had done this to her, swearing to make pay.
To be continued...
Song: Never Let Me Go - Florence + The Machine.