Curled up on a bench in the waiting area Lydia let out a long groan. Amused, Meredith sat down next to her.
"I'm fairly certain it's not okay for residents to sleep in the waiting area" she laughed softly.
"I'm fairly certain someone hit me with a brick last night..." Lydia mumbled back. "What time is it?"
"Five" Meredith sighed.
"Urgh, crap...I'm on till three"
"Three?"
"Mmm two of my nurses are off sick, flu...got to cover some of their scut work, registry alllll backed up" she sighed in response before sitting up and rubbing at her face.
"You stay at Mark's last night?" Meredith asked handing her a coffee.
"Oh thank you, uh yeah I did...asshole left me on the couch" Lydia muttered.
"Ouch" Meredith replied as she recalled the size of his couch.
"Oh yeah" Lydia sighed. "Did you and Yang get home okay?"
"Mm Derek wasn't pleased when we woke him up though" Meredith laughed.
Looking over to her Lydia offered her a warm smile "I like you and him, I mean I remember when he was with Addison it seemed so right but that's nothing compared to what you and he have...really"
Turning to her Meredith matched her smile "thanks Lydia"
"You're welcome, thank you for the coffee...I should probably go check on my interns huh?" Lydia asked her with a disappointed smile.
"Yeah you better, you've been here since about half two" Meredith laughed.
"Oh" Lydia replied slightly shocked. "Okay" she stood up slowly with a pained expression "I can do this"
"You can do this" Meredith encouraged her with an amused smile.
"I'm doing this" Lydia continued as she walked through the waiting room.
"You certainly are! Go get 'em Dixie, you can do it" Meredith said jokingly, tapping her shoulder as she turned in the other direction.
"Laters Grey!" Lydia called with a slow wave behind her.
"Laters Dixie!" Meredith called back.
...
"Dr Dixon?" a young female intern called as Lydia walked by.
"Ah Holly" Dixie replied, turning and smiling to the girl.
"Um, I think I just broke this guy's rib" Holly announced semi-frantically.
"You think?" Dixie asked following her to the exam room.
"Well he was in cardiac arrest, and I was doing compressions and I heard a crack, he's stable now...just thought you better check it out" Holly replied worriedly.
They came to a stop at the patient's bed. "Mr Anderson, you've had quite the going over haven't you, I'm Dr Dixon, I'm just going to listen to your chest okay" the man nodded wearily. Lydia listened carefully to each side of his chest. "Sounds okay sir, we'll have you fixed up in no time" she offered him a warm smile which he returned and began to walk away followed closely by Holly. As they entered the corridor Lydia stopped and turned to face her "it's common in elderly people to have their ribs break during compressions, it's just one of them things, there's no pneumothorax so I think you've just knocked the rib" Dixie explained calmly, though Holly's expression remained slightly horrified "It's okay Holly, he's okay, we all do it" Dixie gave her shoulder a reassuring touch before continuing down the corridor while Holly let out a sigh of relief.
"DIXIE! GSW TO THE CHEST COMING IN" a nurse called to her.
"When?" Dixie half yelled, half sighed.
"NOW!" the nurse called back before hurrying off.
"Shit! HOLLY YOU'RE WITH ME! GET DANIEL AND MEGAN IN THE TRAUMA ROOM NOW TELL THEM GSW TO THE CHEST" Holly nodded at Dixie's orders as Dixie followed the nurse.
"MY CHEST MY CHEST!" the man screamed as the EMTs wheeled him through.
"Okay sir we'll get you fixed up in no time, Darla get onto surgery, we need resps down here now too this man's lung has been completely taken apart. Sir did you bang your head when you fell"
"I don't think so" he said quietly as the fear grew.
They pulled the gurney into the trauma room and swapped him onto a new bed, Holly, Daniel and Megan already waiting.
"Megan run it" Dixie ordered stepping back from the trauma.
"What?" Megan asked slightly shocked.
"Surgery's been paged and so have resps, he just needs to be stabilised" Dixie explained calmly "go go go" she added with an encouraging nod.
"Okay" Megan said with a sudden courage. She listened to each chest and pressed on one side. "We got a tension pneumo on the right, get me a chest tube tray..." Lydia watched with a slight smile as she watched the interns and residents run the trauma, a sense of pride running through her as she watched their assertiveness and attentiveness throughout.
"Somebody call for a consult?" Sloan asked with a triumphant smile as he stepped into the room.
"GSW to the chest, tension pneumo on the right, he's stable" Megan explained in one breath before Dixie could even open her mouth. Dixie turned and offered her an impressed smile and a nod.
"Alrighty then let's take him up! Hello sir my names Dr Sloan, I'm gonna be operating on you" Mark said calmly as they began to wheel him out. Lydia watched him through almost loving eyes with a warm smile as they wheeled him down the corridor.
"Am I going to die?" the man asked scared.
"Not in my hands" Sloan replied smiling before glancing to Lydia and offering her a wink which she shook her head at slightly though couldn't control the smile the formed on her face.
"Megan's going to come with you, good job Dr" Dixie said to her before turning off and entering an exam room.
"Thanks Dr Dixon" Megan replied softly.
"What have we got here?" Lydia asked Holly who was stood by a patient's bed.
"This is Alison Deanway, fell down the stairs this morning, complaining of headache no surface wounds though slight bruising of right shoulder"
"Have we done a head CT yet?" Lydia asked with a look concern.
"Yep, nothing showed up" Holly replied with a sigh.
"Are you feeling any dizziness or feeling of nausea Ms Deanway" Lydia asked stepping to the other side of the lady's bed.
"Um a little dizzy I guess, I felt sickly before but not so much now. Please call me Alison" she replied with a smile.
"Okay Alison we're gonna get you fixed up" Lydia replied with a warm smile "is your neck hurting at all? I take it you landed on your shoulder"
"It's a little stiff yeah, I had a shooting pain up it too" Alison replied, an expression of discomfort on her face.
"We checked it out, there was nothing on the X-Ray" Holly said softly.
"Mm very often when you fall like that you can jolt your neck, it's probably from muscular stress" Lydia said thoughtfully. "Can I just check your eyes?"
"Sure" Alison replied.
Lydia shone the torch carefully into each eye. "Okay, I'm going to send you for another CT, it's probably nothing but it's always safer to double check with these kinds of accidents" Lydia smiled softly to Alison who smiled back before glancing to Holly indicating her to follow her. They walked across the corridor and into the lounge "was there no bruising at all when you checked her over?"
"There were a couple of old bruises on her back and on her arm, she owns a farm with her husband she told me she often had bangs and scrapes" Holly replied curiously "you think domestic violence?"
"I dunno" Lydia shrugged her shoulders with a sad expression "her injuries aren't consistent with her story, I could see the bruise on her shoulder...the pain in her neck and head could be from being shaken violently...did you do a tox screen when she came in?"
"No should I have" Holly asked worriedly.
"No no, it's just a hunch... get a full-"
"Lydia the woman in exam 3's crashing!" a nurse shouted from the corridor.
She and Holly ran through the corridor and back to the exam room.
"Alison? Alison?" Lydia called as she stood by her side. "Why is she cyanotic? We were in here like two minutes ago. Where's the crash cart?"
"What happened?" Holly asked.
"I don't know" Lydia replied quietly as she focused. "Charge it to 300, how have her sats dropped so low?...Clear...360...clear"
"I got a pulse!"
"Sinus rythm, Alison can you hear me? Come on sweetie can you open your eyes?" Lydia asked softly. She opened her eyes and shone the light in them "pupils responsive" she muttered to herself. She listened carefully to her chest.
"SATs are dropping!" a nurse called.
"She can't breathe" Lydia announced.
"Something obstructing her airway?" Holly asked worriedly.
"No, she's in respiratory arrest I need to intubate, in fact Holly come here" Holly looked at her with wide and fearful eyes. "Come on you can do it, we're running out of time" Holly stood at the top of the bed "now careful of the teeth...visualise the chords...think about it Holly...y-yeah yeah you got it...bag her...okay now listen to the chest" Holly moved around and placed the stethoscope in different places on her chest.
"Good breath sounds" Holly replied slightly stunned. She looked up to Lydia who was smiling slightly "good breath sounds" she repeated with a smile.
"Good work Holly, now go find out why she's deteriorating by the hour" Lydia tapped Holly on the back before leaving the exam room again with a smile. She rubbed at her neck and proceeded to the lounge before collapsing on the couch.
"Dixie...Dixie...DIXIE!" a nurse called by her head.
"What? What I'm awake" Lydia sat up and rubbed her face "how long I been down?"
"An hour, Alison Deanway just woke up" the nurse called.
"Oh" Lydia stood up rubbing her neck and walking back to the exam room "where's young Holly?"
"Chasing up results I think" the nurse replied "want me to page her?"
"Would you mind? Thanks Cathy" Lydia entered the exam room and crossed over to Alison. "Hey Alison, don't try to talk we had to put a tube through your mouth to help you breathe, blink once if you understand" Alison blinked "I see in your medical history you've got a history of respiratory failure?" Alison blinked "okay well very often in recovering patients they can have a weakened defence against certain substances um...have you taken anything today? Anything unusual...or been near anything you could have aspirated?" Alison thought for a moment "can you remember" she didn't blink "okay well we're doing tests now and we should be able to find out what's going on, okay" Alison blinked "um I have another thing I'd like to talk to you about" Lydia drew the curtains around them "your injuries aren't quite consistent with what you've told us...is it possible that you may be sustained the injuries in another way...it would help us greatly in treating you if you could tell us" Alison closed her eyes as a small tear fell down her cheek, she opened them again "Alison..." Lydia's eyes filled with sadness as she asked the next question "did your husband do this?" For a moment she didn't move before blinking "okay" Lydia closed her eyes. She took Alison's hand and held it gently "it's going to be okay, okay? We're going to get this fixed" Lydia smiled to her and Alison blinked. "I'll be back shortly" Lydia smiled lightly and caringly before standing. She walked out of the exam room and closed her eyes placing her hand on her forehead. She didn't know where she was walking to she simply carrying on until she found herself outside.
Falling against a wall and she let her legs out straight in front of her as she placed her head back against the wall. Sighing she rubbed at her eyes, wiping away a tear. "Pull it together" she hissed at herself.
"Are you alright?" Lexi asked as she sat sipping her water.
Jumping slightly Dixie looked up to her "tough shift" she offered an unconvincing smile before returning quickly outside.
"Hey" Mark smiled to her as he approached from upstairs.
"I'm late, I'll see you later" Dixie replied evasively wiping away another tear.
"Woah woah, what's this" Mark asked pulling her arm so she was stood in front of him "why are you crying? You never cry"
"Everyone cries, I'm having a tough shift is all" Lydia shrugged her shoulders.
"Well just, take a breath" Mark replied with a concerned frown. Lydia nodded and bit at her lip. "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked seriously.
She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed before opening them and nodding "um how was the gunshot guy from before?"
Mark looked at her for a moment before replying "how do you think? He was my patient right!" he smiled.
Lydia rolled her eyes "thanks for calming me down Marky boy, I gotta go for real though!"
"Okay, take it easy yeah?" Mark insisted.
"Yeah yeah" Lydia smiled to him.
"Drinks tonight?" he asked hopefully as they began to part ways.
"Working" Lydia replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I'll pay you a visit" Mark assured with a wink.
"Looking forward to it sweet cheeks!" Lydia winked back.
Mark walked along for a minute before turning and watching Lydia walk away with a worried expression. 'I know those tears' he thought.
