The alarm buzzed at 5:00 in the morning, startling Melendez awake. He rolled over and smacked the snooze button, trying to motivate himself to get out of bed. He had a bypass surgery with Dr. Park along with assisting Claire with another transfusion session for Chris. On top of that, Andrews had asked to speak with him first thing in the morning and that was rarely a pleasant experience. He finally pushed back the covers and went to freshen up in the bathroom. He showered and dressed and was just about to leave the room when he noticed something half-heartedly thrown in the corner of the room. He picked it up and noticed it was a black leather jacket that didn't belong to him, "Audrey," he whispered to himself amusingly, throwing it over his arm so he could return it to her, hopefully without anyone else noticing.
Then he remembered where Lim was: trapped alone in isolation with no one else to comfort her, hooked up to IV's, ventilators, and other various monitors. That was if she even made it through the night. Why, oh why, did he actually go home instead of sleeping in the break room last night? He shouldn't have just left her alone without at least one familiar face nearby. Somehow, he managed to bring himself back to reality enough to drive to St. Bonaventure and went to the locker room to change into his scrubs, storing Lim's jacket in his locker for the time being. He knew that the first stop he had to make today was Andrews's office, so he mustered up the courage to go find his boss. He found Andrews's office and knocked on the door, "Dr. Melendez, please have a seat."
Melendez nodded nervously and sat down across from Andrews, "Dr. Andrews," he tried to hide the quiver in his voice.
Andrews folded his hands on his desk and leaned, "It pains me that I'm going to end up rewarding you for your actions once this conversation is over, but what were you thinking yesterday? You had no idea what was going on in quarantine other than the little information we were provided, you had no idea how Dr. Lim was going to respond to any of those treatments because she was not your patient, and you put your patient's life in the balance by trying to get his donor out of quarantine instead of just going for a match from the bone marrow registry."
"My patient preferred a biological match for the bone marrow," Melendez defended, "And Dr. Lim wasn't anyone's patient."
"But taking over a case without being assigned to it," warned Andrews.
"Dr. Andrews, I realize Dr. Murphy and Dr. Reznick are second-year residents, but they were both overwhelmed without Dr. Lim's guidance. I had full confidence in their abilities as long as they had a supervising physician," Melendez explained his motives, "I had them treat Audrey the same way I would have treated any other patient with ARDS."
Andrews sighed, "I really shouldn't be doing this, because your actions were somewhat reckless, but if it wasn't for your knowledge of treating ARDS and respiratory failure, then the hospital could have very well had four victims of the SARS mutation."
"So she's still alive?" Melendez asked himself happily.
"Because you often exercise good judgment and because you were in the running for the chief of surgery position, I'm assigning you as Dr. Lim's attending physician while she's hospitalized. You will work with the team from the CDC team and do exactly as they tell you to do in regards to Dr. Lim's course of treatment. You will follow all hospital protocol, you will protect yourself from infection at all times, and you will not disobey or take over unless absolutely necessary. Have I made myself clear, Dr. Melendez?"
"Yes sir," Melendez affirmed.
"Good," Andrews said, "You may go about your day."
Melendez went to go find Park before he turned back to face Andrews, "Dr. Lim? May I check on her before I start my day?"
Andrews nodded, "You may. She's still in isolation and potentially contagious, so you need to wear a full decontamination suit."
Melendez nodded his appreciation, "Thank you," Melendez went down to the ER and found a fresh HAZMAT suit. Thankfully, the ER was no longer under quarantine, so he didn't have to worry about guards. He went over to isolation and Lim seemed to be awake, so he quietly knocked on the door and entered. She turned to face him and she seemed relieved to finally have someone familiar near her in the midst of all of this unfamiliar territory. She tried to sit up, but was struggling since she was still weak, so Melendez stopped her, "Here," he raised the bed for her. He took a deep breath and said, "You know you gave everyone a scare, Audrey," he commented. Lim pointed to the tube and motioned for Melendez to find paper and a writing utensil, "Yeah, of course."
He quickly obtained a pen and scratch paper, handing them to Lim. She scribbled something down and it looked like typical doctor handwriting; thankfully, Melendez was used to reading her messy penmanship, "Don't think I don't know it was you who was guiding Drs. Murphy and Reznick."
Melendez raised his eyebrows in surprise, "So you saw me?" Lim nodded, "So, um, how are you feeling?" he asked a little awkwardly.
Lim scribbled down some more words, "Like someone ran over my chest with my motorcycle."
Melendez couldn't help but chuckle. Lim nearly died yesterday, but could still crack jokes to him, "Well, the CDC team hit you with a high dose of antiviral medication, so hopefully you'll start to be able to breathe better soon and hopefully your fever will come down," Melendez stood to leave, "Well, I have both a transfusion to perform and bypass surgery, so I'll check on you later," he went to lay his hand on her shoulder, but stopped himself. They were just friends, after all. He went to leave but remembered something, "Oh, you left your black leather jacket at my house. It's in my locker; I'll give it back to you once you're out of isolation."
Lim wrote down some more words, "When you leave for the day, can you stop by my house and get some stuff for me? Spare key is hidden under the potted plant in the backyard."
"Why there?" he asked.
More scribbling, "Because under the doormat is too obvious."
"Well, I have to make sure all of my patients are well taken care of," commented Melendez, a hint of amusement in his voice. Lim's eyes widened at his statement, "Oh, I didn't tell you, Andrews assigned me as the attending physician to your case. You have to follow all of my orders," Lim scowled and fell against the pillows, perturbed that she couldn't rip the endotracheal tube out of her throat and start giving Melendez flak, "Now get some rest," Melendez emphasized, "It's an order," he added just to get on her nerves. She scowled at him, but, of course, couldn't say anything, and even if she could, she was too tired to argue. He was going to enjoy this experience a little too much, she just knew it.
Melendez found Claire in Chris's room and she was surprised he was running behind, "Where were you?" she asked.
"Emergency room. Andrews assigned me to Dr. Lim's case," Melendez informed.
"Oh," Claire responded, "Well, I have the marrow and Chris is ready for his second transfusion."
"So, how have you been feeling after your first round of marrow?" asked Melendez.
"Pretty crappy still," responded Chris.
"Well, as your bone marrow levels rise, so will your white blood cells to fight off infection. You should begin to feel more like yourself again," assured Melendez.
Melendez let Claire go work on another case while he found Park to do the bypass surgery. At the end of the day, he decided to check in on Lim one last time before heading home for the day. He put on his gear and entered the room. It was clear she had been asleep, but she stirred when she heard noise, "Hey," he said softly, "I just came to check on you before I head out for the day. I'm going to swing by your house to get whatever you need. Do you have any preferences," Lim handed him a long list, but Melendez wasn't entirely surprised by this fact, "I'll leave the stuff in my locker and check to make sure what you can and can't have in here," Lim nodded her understanding, "Now, don't do anything to scare me tonight, understand?"
Lim found the pad of paper and pen and wrote something, "Do you think my stubborn ass is going to allow a deadly airborne infection to kill me? I'm too obstinate to die right now."
"I take it that means you'll try," answered Melendez. Melendez went to leave, pondering on whether or not to bring up the other night's activities, but he decided to wait. He couldn't discuss it right now, not with Lim unable to speak directly to him and not in someplace as public as a hospital emergency room, "Hey, Audrey?" he asked, but noticed Lim had fallen asleep again, so he just let her be.
When Melendez arrived at Lim's house later that night, he had a hell of a time finding the key to her house, because what Lim hadn't mentioned was that there were multiple potted plants in the backyard. When he finally found her key, he unlocked the door and entered her house. When he stepped inside, he found the place to be a complete and total mess; if he didn't know any better, it looked as if her house had been burglarized. Melendez looked at the list Lim had given him and said, "This might take a while."
Melendez hung the jacket in the closet and went upstairs to find the toiletries and pajamas, feeling a little awkward as this was the most personal thing he had ever done for a patient. But Audrey wasn't just any patient; she was his closest friend and colleague. When he reached Lim's bedroom, he was shocked at the picture he found on the dresser. It was taken at a party when they were second-year residents, he had this look on his face was as if he wanted to be anywhere but there; Lim, all decked out in a Wonder Woman t-shirt and sporting her thick glasses (she hated wearing contacts for the longest time), was grinning at the camera with her arm wrapped around him. He honestly didn't know why Lim had kept this particular photo. He figured it was because he looked ridiculous in the picture so she kept it so she could look at it every time she needed a good laugh.
He put the picture back down and began to gather the clothes and toiletries, wondering if he would ever bring up his feelings for her. Honestly, he was wondering if they even were true feelings, or if it was just because she was severely ill. Sure, they had both enjoyed the sex a few nights ago, but in all honesty, Lim had seemed like it was just casual and that it didn't mean anything. She never struck him as the type of person looking for a committed relationship, particularly after her divorce. But then again, maybe she hadn't settled down because she hadn't found the right person yet. Surely, her keeping that one photo of them together meant she cared about him a little? One thing was for sure, almost losing her and quite frankly, the idea that he could still possibly lose her made Melendez no longer want to chicken out about how he felt about Audrey.