When you think of a surgeon whats the first thing that comes to mind? Being cut open? Scalpel happy? Recovery time?... but there is one answer that crosses everyone's mind...death.
Running across the parking lot trying to escape the rain, Zola shielded herself with her purse. Turning back, she noticed her younger brother trailing behind not fazed by weather.
"Bailey!" she yelled out and frowned when he did not even look up at the sound of her voice. Turning around abruptly, she continued toward Grey-Sloan Memorial hospital.
She shook her purse from all the water before stepping in front of the hospital's automatic doors. She spotted Sofia, who was already dressed in her scrubs. She headed toward her.
"Hey," Zola Shepherd greeted her best friend, placing a hand on Sofia's shoulder.
Sofia turned toward her, giving her a smile. "Hey!" she greeted back. She watched as Zola grabbed a coffee and immediately added sugar yawning in the process. "So how's Bailey?" she asked as they both turned towards the lobby entrance with their coffee in hand.
"Well..." Zola started as they watched Bailey enter the lobby soaking wet, and walked right past the two women towards the elevator. "Not much has changed these past few weeks," she replied as they too went towards the elevator.
Bailey entered the elevator as Zola and Sofia followed after.
"Do you think he'll ever be normal?" Sofia asked tossing her long dark hair over shoulder as she glanced at Zola.
"I don't know I'm just tired of him moping around the house," Zola replied, not even acknowledging her brother who was standing in the back of the elevator. "He needs to get out there meet someone new so he forgets Dr. Adulteress."
She took a sip from her coffee. "I'm just shocked that she's married to 'thee' Dr. Carver. He's one of the greatest surgeons in the country let alone he's super wealthy, you know that guy survived testicular cancer twice, lost both his nu-" Sofia said with a chuckle.
"Can we not!" Bailey interrupted, the elevator doors fled open and he briskly walked out.
Both women stepped out as well, "Welp, I have surgery this morning with , patient with breast cancer that spread to the lungs," Sofia said as walked backwards in the opposite direction still looking at Zola.
"Meet at Joe's after," Zola called out after her friend. Sofia simply gave a thumb's up as she headed towards the OR, finishing the rest of her coffee and she turned to toss it in a nearby trash bin.
...
Opening the doors to the scrub room she spotted the auburn haired cardiac surgeon, vigorously scrubbing her arms with the disposable brush.
"Nice scrub cap," Sofia half complimented as she glanced up at the light colored pink neon scrub cap that had black pineapple silhouettes around it. It was quirky but definitely not Sofia's taste.
"Uh thank you," Ava replied shyly as she grabbed a clean towel and dried her hands. Then she left Sofia to continue alone.
It was fairly quiet during the surgery. Ava only spoke if she needed assistance or if she needed a surgical instrument. Not being able to take the silence anymore, "So... Dr. John Carver, huh?..." Sofia broke the silence as she glanced up at Ava, who kept her gaze down at the patients open chest cavity laying on the OR table. When she didn't reply, she continued.
"So were you ever going to tell Bailey Shepherd that you were married... Or were you just hoping that he'd never find out and you'd continue this little affair?"
Ava looked up from the patient, She looked around and seen nurses, anesthesiologist and Sofia all looking at her waiting for an answer, looking back down she let out a sigh. "Have you ever been used Dr. Sloan?" Ava asked as she continued her task at hand, glancing up slightly up at Sofia who stared back not saying a word, trying to figure out where was this conversation was going.
"Can't say that I have," she replied with a bit of bitterness in her tone.
"I was an intern at Mass. Gen. when I met him; he was kind, noble and a great teacher... He swept me off my feet," Ava explained as she gave the surgical instrument she was using to a nurse; swapping it for another. "So when he told me that he never had feelings for any other woman like he does for me, I believed him and we ran off... and eloped." Removing one of the lungs form the chest cavity and grabbing the healthy donor one, she continued. "So soon after I found out that all he wanted was a seat in the Harper Avery Foundation and you can't do be on the board unless you many into the Avery family... turns out I was naive and stupid enough to fall for his plan... We've been separated for what seems the majority of our marriage... I couldn't take all the lies and infidelity, so I traveled to other hospitals before I settled here in Seattle; to consult on cases just to get away."
Sofia glanced up at Ava, who was now detaching the other lung from the patient.
"So my answer to your question is, yes, Dr. Sloan... I was planning on telling Bailey Shepherd that I am shamefully married once to a man who used me to be on the very foundation that keeps this hospital going," letting out a sigh she stopped what she was doing and looked up at a speechless Sofia. "He fixed me... He made feel things tha-that I thought I would never be able to feel towards a man ever again, but how do you go on explaining that without getting the same look that you're giving me...pity eyes."
Sofia grinned under her surgical mask, "My pity eyes and cheater eyes are all the same." she said with a laugh, smiling when she heard Ava laugh as well.
"I-I am not a cheater...If it makes you feel better we haven't been intimate for over two and a half years... we've been married for three." Ava said as asked for more suction to continue working.
"So Bailey Shepherd scratched that itch, then?" Sofia said as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Ava nodded letting out a small laugh, her face turning red under her surgical mask.
Sofia then narrowed her eyes at her, "Why not ask for a divorce?... I mean if you were so unhappy and knew why he even married you in the first place why not divorce?" she asked curious to know why she choose to stay in a loveless marriage.
"It was easier to stay... than have to explain to my family and friends what was going on behind closed doors," she simply answered. Sofia understood; she had known about both her mothers' ups and downs and no matter what low they were going through you made a marriage work. Clearly knowing that she and Ava followed the same beliefs of the sanctity of marriage and religion.
Hearing a buzzing sound Sofia broke her train of thought as she heard one of the scrub nurses, "Dr. Avery it's your Realtor." Holding up Ava's phone in her hand so that she can see the message, "She's asking if you want to put in an offer on the house that you saw this morning?"
"Tell her that I'm thinking about it," Ava replied looking up slightly at the device in the nurses hand before continuing with her surgery.
Sofia bit down on her lower lip behind her surgical mask, knowing what she was about to propose would upset both Zola and Bailey Shepherd. But Ava had just confided in her on why she had kept her married life a secret and she felt for she didn't think that Ava was a bad person or 'adulteress whore' as Zola had a habit of calling her now, "You know... I just moved into my dad's old apartment I get pretty lonely being there by myself and was thinking on getting a roommate, maybe if you're interested...you...can...move...in...with...me?" she spoke the last few words slowly.
"You sure, I don't want to impose," the cardiac surgeon asked as they closed up the patient then stepping back away from the table and watched as the nurses now prepped for Sofia's part of the surgery.
It was too late for her to take back what she had said she took a deep breath knowing that Zola was going to kill her... metaphorically speaking of course, "No-no you wouldn't be imposing." she let out a nervous laugh.
Ava gave out an excited shriek, "Then I'll take you up on your offer, roomie!." She said with her face lit up behind her mask.
"Yay..." Sofia replied lazily as she stepped forward towards the OR table.
...
Racing out of the elevator towards the ER unable to catch her breath after being paged 911.
"What do we got here?" Zola asked one of the interns frantically examining the woman on the gurney.
"Marlow Porter, thirty-four years old... fracture to her left forearm and serious abdominal injury caused by car collision," Zola lifted the gauze from the women's stomach exposing her severed flesh. "Her husband was trying to cross, railroad tracks car got stuck and well you know..." the intern's voice trailed off.
"Book an OR!" Zola called out as she laid the gauze back down on the woman's abdomen, then tried to wheel the gurney out, when she heard a frantic voice calling from the ER ambulance entrance.
"Please help them!" a dark haired lanky man came running in after a a gurney and two paramedics wheeling in what appeared a child laying on it.
"Take her up to the OR and prep her!" Zola called out to the two interns pushing the Marlow Porter's gurney.
Zola jogged over to the man and the unconscious boy, "Sir calm down." she said as she examined the boy.
"Eighteen-year-old male, head injury to the left side of his head," the paramedic said as he lifted the gauze from the young boys head exposing the head wound.
"Page Dr. Shepherd, and tell Peds to be on standby!" she called out to the nurses. "Were taking your son up to the OR, sir you can wait in the waiting... he's in good hands," Zola reassured the frantic man, she turned heading towards the elevators when she once again heard the man call out.
"What about my wife Marlow Porter... is she fine!"
Zola paused, "Your wife's in surgery as well Mr. Porter... Now if you want to wait in the waiting area and you will be informed on how they are both doing." And with that she turned back around and headed towards the elevator.
...
{Zola:OR 1}
Stepping out of the elevator, she jogged towards the OR room that Marlow Porter was being prepped in.
Entering the scrub room and quickly turning on the faucet and soaping up her arms she harshly scrubbed her hands and arms, her eyes never leaving the patient laying on the table. Suddenly feeling a nervous sensation in the pit of her stomach as she dried her hands and entered the OR.
The nurses quickly dressed her in an operating gown and then gracefully slipped on the latex gloves over her dark skin toned hands and lastly placing the surgical mask over her mouth and slipping the ends of the elastic strings behind her ears.
The length of the gown fluttered behind her as she briskly walked towards the operating table. Setting her hand palm over the woman lying on the table; towards the scrub nurse she took in a deep breath, "Scalpel."
...
{Bailey: OR 2}
"Who do we have here!" Bailey Shepherd called out as he walked into the operating room, as the nurses dressed him too; operating gown, right glove, left glove, then mask.
Putting the back of his right hand on his left palm, keeping them elevated over his chest. He approached his surgical team.
"Eighteen-year-old, Trevor Porter... injury to the head... his skull cracked in the collision," One of the surgical residents explained, as he held up head scans towards Bailey who examined the scans, his blues scrutinizing every single angle of the boy's head that was printed on them.
Bailey narrowed his eyes, "See how the cracked skull fragment is digging in to the brain... the more the brain swells the more that fragment is puncturing it." He explained to his OR as he approached the end of the table to where the boys head was prepped, slightly lowering his head as so the scrub nurse can slip on his head gear.
Taking in a deep breath then letting it out he extended his palm, "Scalpel."
...
{Zola: OR 1}
"More huck towels," Zola bellowed out reaching her hand towards her surgical resident for another blue towel, once the resident placed the towel on her hand she quickly shoved it into the open abdominal cavity. "We need to control this bleeding, I-I can't see the source of where all this blood is coming from... Suction!"
...
{Bailey: OR 2}
"More suction!" Bailey called out as he frantically tried to work on the cause of the problem.
"Dr. Shepherd... BP and heart rate are dropping," one of the residents helping with surgery called out.
Bailey looked up to the monitors then back down at his patient his hands working quickly.
...
{Zola: OR 1}
"She's crashing Dr. Shepherd!" She hears the concern tone in the residents voice.
Looking up at the monitors she watched as the numbers dropped. "Get me the defibrillator!"
A nurse wheeled in the equipment placing the paddles in her hands.
"Push 100... Clear," she called out as she looked up at the monitor.
...
{Bailey: OR 2}
"Stats still dropping , Dr. Shepherd!"
Bailey watched as the patient started to flat line, "Push 200!" He placed the paddles on the patients chest, "Clear!" He yelled out the young boy's body convulsing under his hands as he shocked his body.
...
... and when a surgeon does lose a patient, they take a mental note: age, sex, and time of death... and embed it to their mind.
The eerie sound on monitors filled the OR. There was no beep and pause indicating the patient's heart rhythm but rather a long beep that kept going none stop, no pause but on going.
"Dr. Shepherd?" An intern called out to the surgeon still holding the defibrillator paddles.
"Time of death...8:45 p.m..."
...
Sam Parker met his wife Marlow Parker when he was eighteen years old at community college in Alabama.
From the first time he saw her, he feel in love. He used to watch her from a distance, until he mustered up the courage to walk her to her classes, soon after that he asked her on a date... When he kissed her for the first time he knew that her lips were the only lips he wanted to kiss for the rest of his life.
After graduation, they married and moved to Seattle where he got a job as a local columnist for the Seattle times.
He found out he was going to be a father for the first time when his wife Marlow, gave him a shirt with 'worlds greatest dad' written across it. And the day he held his son, Trevor; for the first time, he thought about all the life lessons he'd be able to teach him. Help him grow up to be a man with values and goals. So when his now eighteen-year-old son got accepted into Yale university to pursue law, he was over the moon about it.
They packed up their old station wagon with Trevor's things and both Sam and Marlow Parker decided to drive their son there, their last family vacation before their son moves forty-four ours; three thousand miles away.
Now the station wagon wasn't always reliable it had a history to break down at the worst moments so when it stalled right in the middle of the train tracks. He chuckled as he got out of the car; hearing his wife bicker how they should of rented a car instead. Lifting up the hood of the car white smoke came barreling out, a slight odor of exhaust filled his nostrils, but he ignored it. It was an old car after all. He told his wife and son that he would walk back to the gas station he they passed a couple of miles back.
Marlow and Trevor Parker never even heard the train coming; the funny thing about carbon man oxide in car is that it slips you into a deep slumber... And eventually death.
Sam Parker ran his clammy hands down his face, glancing up around the room he noticed two surgeons approaching him still wearing their surgical gowns as they fluttered behind them like a cape, he stands up and suddenly time seemed to stop; everything and everyone were going in slow motion.
"Mr. Parker?" He heard one of the surgeons say snapping him back to reality.
The lanky man nodded, "I'm Dr. Shepherd. I operated on your son... The injury to Trevor's head was to extensive... It left him in a vegetable state, he is currently on life support in the ICU, and once again I'm so sorry," Bailey explained as he hung his head.
The man began to sob into his hands after a while he lifted his head, "An-and... My-my...wife?" He asked with a shaky voice.
Bailey looked back at Zola, who stood frozen unable to speak. She glanced at Bailey, he gave her a nod knowing exactly what she wanted him to do.
Turning back towards Sam Parker, "I'm sorry to inform you but, we did everything we can-"
"No! No not my wife!" Mr. Parker interrupted Bailey.
Bailey inhaled in as he continued, "But due to the extent of her injuries she did not make it... Again Mr. Parker I-I mean we are so, so sorry."
Zola teared up and felt a single tear trickle down her check. She quickly wiped it away, "I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned and walked away.
...
"Two tequilas and scotches," Zola asked the bartender at Joe's. Taking the drinks once they were poured, she walked over to the booth and handed one to her younger brother.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man gratefully taking a tequila and scotch from Zola, "Rough day..." he said bringing the tequila glass close to his lips.
"Rough day," Zola agreed as she and Bailey downed the bitter liquor both making a face as it burned their throats.
"Rough day?" Sofia asked, who was standing by the booth they were sitting in, with a drink in her hand.
"Rough day," both Bailey and Zola replied at the same time nodding their heads.
Sofia slid into the seat next to Zola, "Well... I have a roommate," taking a sip from her drink, she glanced over to Zola and Bailey.
"Really?... Anyone I know?" Zola asked as she too took a sip of scotch.
Sofia put down her glass on the wooden table, "Uh...yes...Ava Avery...I think she's over there unpacking some of her stuff," she replied taking another sip of her drink.
Bailey looked up from his drink, turning his head towards Sofia with a somber expression.
Zola swatted Sofia's arm, "Really!? Sof!"
Rubbing her arm,"Ow! what the hell-"
Downing the rest of his drink, Bailey grabbed his jacket and slid out of the booth. "I have to go," he said, heading toward the bar exit.
...
Flipping through the songs on her ipod, she clicked on her favorite;
CAPTURED EFFORTLESSLY
THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS
HAPPENED SO NATURALLY
I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS LOVE
THE NEXT THING I FELT WAS YOU
HOLDING ME CLOSE
WHAT WAS I GONNA DO? I LET MYSELF GO
Ava sang along as she unpacked a few articles of clothing and hanging them in the empty walk-in closet at her room in Sofia's apartment.
AND NOW WE'RE FLYIN' THROUGH THE STARS
I HOPE THIS NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER
Hearing a faint knock on the door she rolled her eyes in annoyance, and headed out of her room towards the front door. Music still playing in the background.
I'VE BEEN WAITIN' FOR YOU
IT'S BEEN SO LONG
I KNEW JUST WHAT I WOULD DO
WHEN I HEARD YOUR SONG
FILLED MY HEART WITH YOUR BLISS
YOU GAVE ME FREEDOM
YOU KNEW I COULD NOT RESIST, I NEEDED SOMEONE
Placing her hand on the door handle she abruptly opened the door, "Bai-Bailey... what are you-" she began but was cut off by Bailey's lips clashing with hers gasping between his lips she pulled away, panting as she looked up at him.
AND NOW WE'RE FLYIN' THROUGH THE STARS
I HOPE THIS NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER, OH OH OH OH
Bailey stepped farther into the doorway, placing his hands on her face pulling her closer to him as his lips found hers once again.
AIN'T NOBODY
LOVES ME BETTER
MAKES ME HAPPY
MAKES ME FEEL THIS WAY
Wrapping her arms around his neck, he lifted her up her small frame and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Keeping her body elevated with one arm, he closed the front door behind him.
AIN'T NOBODY
LOVES ME BETTER THAN YOU...
...and the one's that they do manage to save are tucked away safely in a room full of dusting files.
