This was not like any other patient. She needed three residents for this patient. Usually just one would do, and that was usually Karev or the younger Grey. Today it was three of them. Lexie Grey, April Kepner, and Jackson Avery were going to be in for the case of their lives.
"Avery, Grey, Kepner. Let's go." She saw Avery glance at Teddy for help. "Avery, my dying kid has a heart defect. Let's go." Dr. Robbins stressed the final 'go'. Time was short, and there was none to waste. She handed April a binder containing the vital information, which the three of them studied as they walked through the hospital. She spun around quickly and they came to a rapid halt. "You will follow my lead. You will not talk until I say you can talk. You will not look at her parents. Make eye contact with her. Do you three understand?" They were all wide-eyed and nodding yes.
Arizona opened the door to reveal three people in the room. The mother was wearing a cheap cotton robe with slippers. Her excess weight was bulging out the sides of the pink fabric. The father was no better, wearing a sleeveless shirt, his intoxicating body odor filling the room. His gut fell over his belt line, and his stomach was viewable above the belt buckle. The three residents looked to one another, but not in the eyes of the parents. They waited for Dr. Robbins to say something. April's eyes wandered to the daughter. She held back a gasp as she gently tugged Avery's lab coat. He in turn got Lexie's attention, and they all stared at the daughter with no sense or professional demeanor.
"Mr. and Mrs. Parker, these are the residents that are going to help me with your daughter's surgery, Dr. Avery, Dr. Kepner, and Dr. Grey."
"The hell are they gonna do? They're just kids."
"They're licensed doctors, Mr. Parker, and essential to Katie's survival. I can't do this alone." He didn't do anything, so Arizona continued. "Dr. Grey, patient history please." Dr. Robbins turned around so Lexie could make eye contact with her and not the parents.
"Kaitlyn Parker. Age 12. Suffers from Lukemia and Heart Cancer. Chemotherapy has not helped her after repeated trials." Lexie's eyes burned into Arizona's. The attending offered a small smile. This was no easy task for anyone.
"And that's why we're going to get you a heart and a bone marrow transplant." All three residents looked up to the perky attending, who was now facing the parents once again.
"We don't match our daughter's blood type Doctor Robbins. We don't got the money for a fancy heart transplant."
"You're daughter is going to die." Avery said calmly, but out of turn. Arizona turned her head to her side. Lexie and April stared at Arizona. "She's going to die and you could give a rats ass. Let us fix her before you start worrying about money and how she's going to be fixed." Katie's parents were fuming. Avery didn't move. He knew he was right.
"Dr. Avery, that's quite enough." Arizona's voice was firm and the residents remained silent as the attending spoke to the patient. "Katie, it is important for you and you alone to realize what it is we're going to do to help you. Do you understand?" The four doctors watched the fragile child nod her head yes. Her chest barely heaved as she took breaths of oxygen. Her skin was a pale and sickly blue. It was obvious she had been in hospitals for a long, long time. "Dr. Avery is going to kindly explain what we're going to do to increase the chances of your survival."
Before Avery could get a word out, Katie opened her lips and managed to speak quietly to the four of them. "He said I was dying. Why bother fixing me?" Arizona stood unnerved, and nodded for Avery to explain to Katie how they were going to save her.
"You're heart is weak, Katie. We need to take it out of you, and replace it with a new one." She nodded, but looked to Dr. Robbins for reassurance. The PEDS surgeon gave her a small smile. "Then, we are going to find you some new bone marrow, which will help you fight off the cancer that is affecting your blood. This gets entered into your blood stream, and fights off the bad cancer."
A small smile formed on her face. "Thank you, Dr. Avery." Her eyelids slid closed, and she fell asleep, tired from the energy she had just exerted.
"Mr. and Mrs. Parker, please excuse us. We need to go arrange for a heart and for a marrow specimen. When we have arranged for all of that to occur, we will bring you papers to sign for consent to perform the surgery. Is that clear?" They nodded without much enthusiasm. The four doctors took a last glance at the dying Katie, and left the room. "Grey come with me. Avery, go find Dr. Altman and tell her I need a consult. Kepner, tell the chief I need to speak with him." They each went their separate ways – it was time to save a life.
"Dr. Robbins, I don't mean to question your approach to this case at all, but how exactly will this all be paid for if the parents can't afford this?" Lexie panted her question as she swerved in and out of the crowded hallway following behind her attending. She was slightly disconcerted when Dr. Robbins didn't answer right away, the last thing Lexie needed was to be kicked off a case of this magnitude. Suddenly, she felt the surgeon's hand tighten around her wrist and she was forced into a vacant on-call room.
"Grey, this case isn't a normal case. You saw those parents, they honestly don't care if their daughter lives or dies. I do. I care. Now, you can go ahead and worry about how this is all going to get paid for, but it's going to happen whether people in this hospital care about the money or not. Is that clear?" Arizona realized her hand was still clamped around Lexie's wrist and she finally let go, turning her back on the young resident, and taking a deep inhale.
"It's clear, Dr. Robbins." She didn't say anything else as she watched Arizona continue to face the opposite direction. She glanced at her watch, not knowing what it was that was on the schedule, or what Dr. Robbins had planned. Finally, Arizona turned around to face Lexie, who offered a small smile.
"I need this case to work, Grey. I need this case to work because I miss Callie. I feel like if I can make this case work, Callie and I can work, too. Do you get that?" Lexie nodded and saw Mark's face appear in her mind. "Thank you. Now let's go, we need to find Katie's oncologist."
April hurried to Derek's office hoping that he was there and not busy. Despite Dr. Robbins' friendly nature, when she got into surgeon mode she was…fierce and really intimidating. She saw through the large glass wall that sat behind Dr. Shepherd's desk that he was in his office, so she hurried her pace and made her way into his luxurious office.
"Kepner, you're out of breath. Is everything okay?" He studied her face momentarily before rising from his chair and welcoming her into his office.
"Dr. Robbins has some very important things to discuss with you. I just wanted to get here as fast as possible due to the declining health of the patient. Plus, Dr. Robbins is slightly intimidating when she's focused."
He chuckled at her and grabbed his lab coat from the coat hanger. "Let's go find Dr. Robbins, shall we? I'll be the judge of how scary she actually is."
"Dr. Altman!" Avery yelled across the hallway, but his address to his attending failed as she continued to walk away from him. "TEDDY ALTMAN!" Avery bellowed down the packed hallway, when she finally spun around, wide eyed. She saw Jackson and her face grew annoyed, as she retraced her steps back down the hallway. He met her half way, where she seemed anything but pleased that he was demanding her presence the way he was. "Dr. Robbins needs you on a consult right away. We have a rapidly declining young patient who needs a heart transplant."
"Well why didn't you just yell that, Avery. Yang!" The resident stopped and looked over to her peers. "Push back our scheduled surgery, Mr. Graham can wait a few extra hours. Avery, show me the way to Robbins."
The six doctors, three attendings and three residents, sat around the meeting room table quietly. Derek and Arizona presided on the heads on the table, and the other four filled in accordingly. Arizona looked to Derek, and started her spiel. "Chief, I need to do a surgery pro-bono." He nodded, and motioned for her to continue. She glanced to her residents to give her support, Lexie offered a smile because she knew what this meant for Dr. Robbins. "My patient is twelve and dying. She needs a new heart and she needs a bone marrow transplant." She paused and collected herself, "Her parents don't care if she lives or if she dies. I do. We are doctors, Dr. Shepherd, we care. We can't let this child die because her parents are idiots."
"Do it, Robbins." He leaned back in his chair with confidence and offered her a smile. "Do it."