Crisis

Chapter One: Just Another Monday

The bitter January air stole the breath from Clarke's lungs. The walk to the hospital was only a few blocks, but with the frigid air the walk felt like miles. Clarke grabbed the lapels of her jacket and pulled them closer to her face, she tucked her chin deeper into her wool scarf, and hitched up the strap of her duffle on her shoulder. As she turned the corner an ambulance rushed past her, sirens blaring, another day of emergency medicine, another day of blood, tragedy, and tears, another day for her to forget about Finn and lose herself in work.

It had only been a month since Finn had been ejected from the residency program, and six weeks since their relationship had ended. Clarke knew she had rushed into the relationship with Finn. They were under immense pressure, finishing their fourth year of medical school and matching for residency. The stress and constant hours spent together made the relationship easy to start, and easy to continue. It was not until they matched with different hospitals and began to spend more time apart than together, that Clarke began to experience Finn's obsessive side. He would constantly call, text, or randomly visit while she was working. When she wasn't working he wanted to know where she was, he would show up at the gym to surprise her, walk her home, and stay the night, presuming it was always welcomed and wanted. Clarke had ended the relationship the day Finn left his shift at Mercy hospital to visit her during her shift at Johns Hopkins. She could not risk her residency, she had to choose and her future was more important than her troubled relationship.

The doors to the emergency room parted, greeting Clarke with a world of chaos. Surely her next forty-eight hours would be busy. She walked into the locker room where the residents ending their shifts were waiting to pass patient charts. As she slipped off her jacket and stuffed her bag into her locker, her fellow residents began chirping details at her.

"And this one, Jesus, I think this lady has a death wish. This is the third time within the last few months this lady has been in with a gunshot wound of mysterious origin."

The oddly judgmental patient summary alerted Clarke from her groggy state, "Wait, what."

"Sorry, it's just this patient will give us no information, when she arrived there was already a patient file for her, but there were previous report pages missing all over the place, notes blacked out. This is an odd one, just treat and release, don't invest any time with her, it seems to be pretty pointless, she'll be back in a month with another broken bone, or bullet hole."

"Well Dr. Jaha, that's rather judgmental of you. Our job is to treat the patient not judge them for their illness or injury."

"Clarke, come on, I've been working for forty-eight hours straight and this patient has been a pain in my ass, good luck with this one, you're going to need it."

"Get some sleep Wells, and when you come back, just remember there will always be pain in the ass patients, and we need to always treat them with respect and dignity, we do not know their past."

"I know Clarke, just, you'll see. Enjoy your forty-eight."

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The residents had switched to their forty-eight-hour swing shifts a month ago, and everyone had been on edge since. While the shift allowed them more opportunity to see patients throughout the treatment process, it also limited their sleeping, eating, and general wellbeing.

Clarke sat down on the aged bench in the resident's locker room, she wondered how many residents had come and gone, how many had sat on this bench emotionally exhausted after losing another patient, how many had to change their scrubs after delivering an unexpectedly eager baby. Knowing she had no time to waste, she quickly untied the laces of her boots, slipped them off and exchanged them for a pair of comfortable tennis shoes. Clarke's mother was always one to pass on advice, her best advice was to invest in a good pair of tennis shoes, and to buy multiple pairs. She retrieved her white coat from her locker as she walked out of the locker room with an arm full of patient charts.

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After quickly organizing her charts she went to see the first patient. A young mother sat in the room with her wailing baby. Respiratory illness ran rampant in the winter and it appeared another little one had become a victim. She listened to the infant's lungs, hoping she wouldn't hear the congested wheezing, a key indicator of a respiratory illness; unfortunately, her hopes would not be realized with this patient. After listening to the struggled breathing of the fluid filled lungs and reading the reported temperatures on the chart, she ordered a chest x-ray to confirm the diagnosis.

"Ms. Sanders, your son's lungs are filled with fluid. I'm going to order a chest x-ray just so we know what we are up against and I'm also going to be admitting him, I'll have a nurse come in shortly to start some antibiotics. We'll be moving Luke to the children's wing, he will be in isolation as these respiratory viruses are highly contagious. The floor nurses will show you the protocol. They are fantastic up there, you and Luke will be treated with the utmost care. They'll move you within the hour. If you need anything or have any questions, please have the nurses page me. Do you have any questions now?"

A gentle head shake was the only response she received. Clarke could see the tears filling the young woman's eyes, she had seen this countless times, parents never responded well to their children being ill.

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As she read the next chart she couldn't help but roll her eyes and then scold herself for judging the patient. New Year's had been over a month ago, she thought by now the firework related injuries would reduce until just before Independence Day. To be fair the number of firework related injuries was far less than the twenty she had on New Year's Eve night. This time it was a sixteen-year-old boy who had decided to have a shooting contest with a Roman Candle. The chart indicated he had several burns on his back and hands.

As she continued to read the patient's stats her gaze caught the sight of a poised woman in curtain three. She was sitting there, with a fairly expressionless face staring across the hospital, holding a cloth to her arm with blood seeping through. While Clarke stood a considerable distance away, she could not help but feel drawn to the intense stare.

"I cannot believe you are this fucking stupid. How many times have I told you to not just do whatever your dumbass friends are doing? I'm telling you here and now you little asshole, I will not take any more of these shenanigans. I'm fucking done with this shit."

Clarke was pulled away from her awkward staring by the sounds of a boisterous voice. She walked into room fifteen to see a large man, standing over a small framed boy. The boy had recoiled as the man raised his hand, before she could think Clarke positioned herself between the man and the boy, the top of her head barely reaching the man's shoulders but nonetheless her presence stopped him in his tracks.

"Excuse me sir, but I'm going to need you to leave the room."

"The hell I will, I don't know who you think you are but this is my fucking idiot of a son and I ain't going nowhere."

"Sir, I will not have my patients subjected to or threatened with physical violence. So I'm going to ask you again to please leave this room or I will have you escorted out. The choice is yours."

"What the fuck. Seriously who the fuck are you. I'm not going to let some nurse tell me how I will treat my fucking son."

With an overly assertive push the man shoved his way around Clarke and reached his arm back to continue the tormenting of his son. With a quick motion Clarke secured the man's arm twisting it into a precarious position and slamming him to the floor taking a hospital tray and empty IV pole as he went. The sound of the crashing supplies brought people running. From orderlies, to nurses, to her attending physician, she was quickly surrounded by surprised individuals, surely they did not often see a five foot five, hundred and forty-pound woman maintaining a position of dominance of a six foot six, two hundred and eighty-five-pound man.

"Dr. Griffin, may I ask why you have accosted this man?" With a presumptuous tone Clarke's attending physician questioned her actions.

Without letting go of the burly and clearly embarrassed man Clarke explained her reasoning in an even and conclusory tone. "Mr. Moore decided it was a good idea to beat his injured son, I advised him against such actions and he elected to ignore my advice, so I elected to protect my patient." She knew she had done the right thing and she would not have her motives questioned.

Clarke released the man's arm and stood, once freed, the man stood awkwardly rubbing his shoulder, "Call the police, I'm pressing charges against this woman, she assaulted me."

"We will certainly be calling the police. We will be reporting an incident of child abuse and the proper term is a battery sir, not an assault. And I'm sure the police will rule it justified as a self-defense on behalf of a third party." Kane had appeared from nowhere, his authoritative tone quickly calmed the situation. Clarke was grateful to have a hospital administrator who supported his physicians.

"This is fucking ridiculous. My son and I are leaving, what a fucking joke of a hospital."

"Sir, respectfully, you will not be leaving with your son. We have admitted him, he will be taken to the burn unit shortly, and Officer Blake is here to deal with you."

"Mr. Moore you're under arrest for child endangerment, attempted child abuse, and interfering with medical treatment. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you." Officer Blake asserted herself with confidence as she read Mr. Moore his rights.

"You've got to fucking kidding me, I'm assaulted and you're arresting me. Are you fucking out of your mind, or are all you women fucking menstruating, men hating lesbians? What the fuck?"

"Sir, I'll gladly add resisting arrest to the list of charges if you'd like." Officer Blake heard these kinds of accusations far too often and her patience for them had worn far too thin.

Realizing he had lost the battle Mr. Moore turned around and allowed himself to be handcuffed, "This is not over mother fuckers, I will be back, I will be taking my son home and all of you sons a bitches will fucking pay."

"We will contact the boy's mother regarding his medical needs. We wish you the best sir, and if you decide to enroll in anger management classes and sensitivity counseling, the hospital offers both of those services, which your insurance will cover" Kane's diplomatic response to the outlandish threat was impressive. No matter how unruly situations became, Kane always maintained a diplomatic presence.

Clarke passed the patient chart to the nurse from the burn unit, there was no need to provide treatment in the emergency room as the child clearly needed burn treatment. After collecting herself Clarke looked at the next patient file, she was only an hour into her shift and was already tiring of the drama she had encountered.

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Her next patient was waiting in curtain three. As she read the file she found large amounts of information had been redacted from the medical file. Admittedly Clarke had only been a resident for a short time, but she had never encountered a medical file with redacted information, to properly treat a patient it was critical for her to have a complete medical history, how was she to do that when the majority of the history had been blackened out. Previous injuries gone, medications gone, allergies gone, all personal information gone, Clarke only knew the patient's current injury, blood pressure, weight, and first name. This may very well be the oddest patient file she had ever seen, even in practice cases in medical school she was supplied with more information.

"Good morning, uh, Lexa. I apologize for your wait, let's take a look at your injury." Clarke felt awkward. From the moment she had walked past curtain three she had felt pulled towards the patient, and now, looking into those piercing green eyes she felt uneasy.

"No need to apologize doctor, I've never experienced such an exciting show while waiting to see a doctor. I must say you handled yourself quite well. I thought about going over there to provide assistance but then you just, handled it."

Clarke's cheeks blushed at the odd compliment. "Well, I'm glad we could make your wait a bit more entertaining." Lexa removed the clothe from her arm, staring into Clarke's eyes. Clarke examined the wound, trying to not be distracted by Lexa's gaze. As she examined the wound she could see it was a through and through bullet wound by a small caliber handgun, luckily the bullet had caused very little damage to the patient's arm.

"So Lexa, a few inches to the right this bullet would have hit you in the heart, how did you come by this injury?" Clarke tried to fill in the gaps in the medical record. She noticed bruises on the woman's arm, and legs thanks to the short hospital gown cloaking her. Clearly this woman was encountering some form of violence in her life, did Clarke need to intervene to protect this woman, was the question she was left asking herself.

Lexa shifted her gaze from Clarke's bright blue eyes to her white doctor's coat, "I appreciate your concern Doctor Griffin, honestly my line of work gets a bit hectic is all, I'm sure you understand that considering what just happened across the way."

Clarke knew the patient was hiding something and she knew she had to do something, even if it was only a temporary fix. "Lexa I'm going to clean your wound and stitch it up, but I am concerned about infection and nerve damage as it appears it's been a while since the time the injury occurred and treatment was rendered. Because of this risk I am going to admit you for observation." There was no real risk of infection and no nerve damage, but Clarke wanted additional time with the patient, she needed to make sure there was no risk to her safety.

"I appreciate your concern and if the first doctor treated me rather than try to fill in the blanks on some form so much time would not have passed, but I'm fine, just stitch up this hole in my arm and I'll be on my way."

"If you'd like to refuse the treatment plan I offer, I can get another doctor to treat you."

"Doctor Griffin, you are certainly a person who likes to have things her way. You win this one, treat my wound and I'll stick around for a while. I just ask you allow me to stay here. I have no desire to deal with other doctors and nurses, and the entertainment value is much better here."

"I won't admit you, you can stay here, but you stay for my entire shift rather than just a night."

"How long is your shift?"

"I have 46 hours and 35 minutes remaining."

Lexa nodded in agreement as Clarke continued to tend to the wound. Her hands were gentle and skilled as she cleaned and stitched the wound. Injecting a round of antibiotics into Lexa's IV, Clarke stated she would check on her after she finished with her stack of patient charts.

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For the next six hours Lexa watched Clarke rush from one patient to the next. She witnessed how Clarke was compassionate and invested in each patient she treated, whereas many of the other doctors spent only a few minutes with a patient aiming only to diagnose and move on. Lexa found herself intrigued by Clarke wondering what motivated her to do more than all the others, to spend more time with her patients, to invest a piece of herself with each one.

Shadows shifted as time went on. Patients came and went as Lexa kept her word and sat waiting for Clarke's shift to end. By four pm Lexa found herself wondering where Clarke had ventured off to, it had been at least two hours since she had last seen her running about the emergency room.

"Lexa, how are you feeling?" Clarke appeared for out of nowhere, carrying two cups of coffee with her. "How's your pain? Are you terribly bored yet? Hope you like your coffee black." Clarke's questions came at Lexa faster than she could respond.

"I'm feeling fine, I have no pain, my arm is fine, you did great work Doctor Griffin. I'm only bored when you disappear and I have no one interesting to watch. And black is perfect."

"Call me Clarke, Doctor Griffin reminds makes me feel like my mother. We are experiencing an odd slowdown in patients right now so I thought I would come and check on you, add a little morphine to your IV, and bring you a cup of coffee."

"Thank you Clarke. I'm really not in any pain." Clarke gave Lexa a knowing look, she was going to get the pain medication rather she liked it or not, as there was no way she was not in pain. "Clarke, are you trying to keep me medicated in order to get information out of me, people have tired that before it doesn't work." Lexa offered with a sly smile.

"Umm, no I'm interested in keeping your pain at bay so you can function. Now, why would people be drugging you to get information from you, are you a spy or something?" Clarke smirked at her joke, Lexa's expression turned stoic.

Clarke felt a vibration in her hip, not again. "Excuse me Lexa" Clarke pulled a small pager from her waistband, pediatrics was paging her. "I need to go check on a patient, I'll stop by soon, and sooner than this time, I promise."

With a flash of blonde hair Clarke was gone, racing once again to help another patient.

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"Dr. Griffin quick, it's Luke Sanders."

"The infant with an upper respiratory infection? What's going on, has his pediatrician made it in to see him?" Clarke inquired about the patient she had seen only hours earlier.

"Yes doctor. His oxygen stats are dropping and we cannot reach the attending. The mother is panicking and insisted we page you."

Clarke rushed to Luke's room, slowing to calm herself just outside the door. "Hey little man, I hear you're not feeling so well." Clarke looked at Luke's mother she truly looked like a nervous wreck. Luke's oxygen stats were certainly lower than they liked to see, his were in the low nineties and his wheezing had become more apparent.

"Gina, let's increase his level of antibiotics, and put an infant oxygen mask on him, put the oxygen level at hundred percent. Page the pulmonologist as well, I don't care if he is in the middle of a business dinner, get him in here immediately. If he is not here in thirty minutes I want to know, and I will get Kane to drag him in here. In the meantime, get the breathing therapist in here and have her do a breathing treatment." Clarke's seriousness was not to be mistaken.

Clarke spent the next ten minutes comforting Luke's mother, reassuring her that Luke would be okay, that he would recover, and that she would be taking him home in a few days. "

'Dr. Griffin, Dr. Tolfkosky is on his way in, he should be here in about three minutes or so."

"Thank you Gina. Mrs. Sanders, I need to go back to the E.R. to check on additional patients. Dr. Tolfkosky is fantastic, he will take great care of you and Luke, if you need anything else, again, just have the nurses page me and I'll be here."

Mrs. Sanders thanked Clarke as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'll come back and check on you two before I leave." She acknowledged Clarke's statement with a simple nod and turned her gaze back to her ill son.

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As Clarke walked her way through the newly designed pediatric wing, back towards the emergency department she felt the all too familiar vibration on her hip. She retrieved her pager from the waistband of her scrub pants, nearly dreading what news the vibration would bring. A page to the lecture center in the medical school, this was unusual.

Clarke changed her direction and began walking towards the medical school, which was located across the street from the hospital. She noticed she was not the only one walking in the direction of the lecture center. Hushed voices discussed what the mass page would be about, why everyone was being gathered, it seemed all attendings and residents were being paged to the lecture center.

She had been in the lecture center for about ten minutes when Kane finally stood to address the waiting crowd.

"Everyone I'm sure you're all wondering why we brought you here today. As I'm sure you're all aware a large storm has been approaching, the initial predictions indicated the snow would begin around mid-night and would last the next few days. The storm has picked up energy, the snow accumulation began two hours ago and we already have three to four inches on the ground. Because of this the city has issued an emergency storm proclamation. We have posted shift lists on the back wall. Several of you will be leaving immediately, we need you to get home to your families, get some rest and be ready to replace all of us staying in a couple of days. The rest of you, the majority of us, will be staying and rotating shifts in the hospital. It is predicted we will be snowed in for a couple of days, at least. What I need you all to do now is check the lists, see if you are staying or going home, if you are slotted to leave get out of here immediately, those of us staying will make sure charts are passed accordingly. Those working in the emergency room, I need you to go release any patients you can as soon as possible. In about an hour the roads will be impassable and everyone still here, will be here for a few days, try to spare the patients this experience if it can be avoided. If you have any questions, please find me after you verify your status."

There was no need for Clarke to check the list, she knew she would be one of the many staying at the hospital; however, she followed protocol and verified her assumption. Learning of the impending lockdown, she rushed to the emergency room to do as Kane had requested and begin treating and releasing as many patients as possible, in an hour, she knew she had to begin with Lexa.

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"Hey Lexa, I'm going to go ahead and release you. I'll write you a prescription for some pain medication and antibiotics just to be safe. You'll want to head out right away, there is a blizzard and in about an hour the roads will be impassable. Do you have any questions?"

"Clarke, you seem frazzled, all day I have seen you manage complicated cases and even take down a man twice your size, never once seeming to be distracted by it, but a little snow storm and you're all concerned?"

"Sorry Lexa, I do not mean to seem panicked. I, as well as others, have been assigned to treat and release as many patients as possible before the roads shut down. We would like to not have a bunch of people trapped waiting for the next several days to go home."

"Well then Clarke get to work. I can wait, there are worse things in life than being stuck here with you for a couple of days. I'll get the next round of coffee; I'm betting you'll need it. Make sure you use this bed if you need it, I don't need it." Lexa stood and ripped the IV line from her arm quickly grabbed a piece of gauze and pressed it to the spot where her IV line once was. "I'm good Clarke, get to work." Lexa winked and walked towards the cafeteria.

Clarke stared in the direction Lexa ventured off in, she was not sure what she had just witnessed but she was sure Wells had been right when he warned her about this particular patient earlier in the day. With the constant reminder that time was not on her side, Clarke quickly went back to work.

When she arrived in the emergency room forty-five minutes ago there were twenty-five patients in assigned beds waiting to be treated, admitted or released, and another eighteen waiting to be seen. At the end of the forty-minutes the swift working team of doctors and nurses had admitted ten patients and treated and released all of the remaining patients. The emergency room was eerily empty, in the five years Clarke had been at Johns Hopkins, she had never seen the emergency department empty.

"Clarke you are certainly efficient." Lexa smirked, handing Clarke a hot cup of coffee.

"Thank you Lexa, you still have time to get home, you showed go." Clarke wanted Lexa to stay, she wanted to find out more about the patient with the redacted file and the woman with dazzling green eyes, but knew her job was to treat and release today.

"Good evening Clarke, is this the last patient?" Kane inquired as he walked through the now empty emergency room.

"Yes sir. I mean technically she has been released, but she asked we see to all the other patient's before getting to her. We treated her for a gunshot wound, completed a couple rounds of IV antibiotics and pain medication, and provided her with a prescription for the same. She is able to go now Kane." Clarke spouted off far more information than Kane needed.

"Ah, I see. Well ma'am I'm sorry to say the city has officially closed the roads and the weather is too powerful to walk in, it looks like you'll be spending the next few days here. We will have your prescriptions filled at our pharmacy, and find you an empty room. This will all be provided to you at no cost. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused…" before Kane could finish, the head of hospital security interrupted.

"Kane, my apologies but I need to see you immediately." Indra was never one to offer cordial greetings, her focus was on the task at hand.

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Wells parked his jeep in the parking garage across the street. He could not believe he was back here already, but who knew what kind of chaos the storm may bring and how understaffed the hospital might be, his obligation, as a doctor, and as a resident of Baltimore were to the people of the city. As he walked towards the sky bridge linking the parking garage to the hospital, he saw a body lying on the ground.

"Officer Blake?" Wells shouted as he ran towards the woman lying on the ground. "Octavia?" Wells gently rolled her over, discovering a large gash across her forehead, apparently he had already found his first patient of the evening. After checking for any additional injuries, he picked up the unconscious woman and proceeded to carry her towards the hospital. There was no doubt, things were about to get interesting.