Thank you to the reviewers. I hope that you enjoy this update.
CHAPTER NINE
George opened the door to the hospital morgue and allowed Richard to enter first. George hated going to the morgue on any occasion but this night made him hate it even but more. He took a deep breath and bravely led Richard over to the table where Adele was lying under a sheet. There were two men from the funeral home there waiting for a formal identification of the body so that they could transport her body and make room for more casualties in the already overcrowded morgue.
"Are you ready?" George asked Richard, wondering how somebody could ever be ready for a moment like this.
"Yes," Richard stammered, his voice filled with dread.
"Okay," George said softy. He carefully pulled the sheet back to reveal Adele's face. Thankfully it was relatively unscathed from the effects of the earthquake. The same couldn't be said for the rest of her body but thankfully Richard would never see that.
"That's her," Richard said, chocking back tears. "That's Adele."
"Okay," George said, sadly. He went to pull the sheet back over her face.
"Wait," Richard said, raising his hand to stop George. "I just want a moment alone with her."
"He needs a moment," George said to the undertakers.
"We're pressed for time," one of them said. "It's a very, very busy night. We're needed in ten different places right now."
"I understand that," George said as diplomatically as he could, "but it's his wife."
"One minute," the undertaker said.
"He'll take as long as he needs," George said sternly. The undertakers nodded and stepped outside. "I'll be outside," George said to Richard. Richard didn't hear him. He hadn't heard a word of what had been said. He was transfixed by Adele's face. She looked as lovely as ever. She seemed so serene, as though she was asleep and would wake up at any moment. There was nothing in her face that hinted at the horror that she had experienced in her final hours. Richard stroked the side of her face gently with his hand. It was cold.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "I'm so sorry, Adele… for everything. I love you. God, I love you so much." Richard heard the door to the morgue open.
"I'm sorry, Chief," George said, stepping in. "They need to bring more… people in." Richard nodded. He understood how it was. He kissed Adele softly on the lips and looked at her one last time, savoring every detail of her face. He couldn't bring himself to cover her face back up. He turned and started to walk out of the morgue, his heart aching with every step that he took. Richard couldn't help but notice the body of a child, a young girl approximately six years of age, being wheeled into the morgue as he left.
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Cristina stirred awake again in the surgeon's lounge. She could hear a woman talking. It took her a moment to register that it was the reporter on the TV.
"Seattle has been declared a disaster zone in the wake of an earthquake measuring six on the Richter scale," the reporter said. "All roads leading into the city have been closed. The official death toll is listed at twenty six but that is expected to rise due to the massive number of seriously injured people…" Cristina watched on in horror. She looked at her swollen ankle.
"Oh you've got to be FREAKING KIDDING ME!" She shouted, more pissed off than she had been in a long time. She couldn't believe that she had missed out on what was possibly the biggest disaster to ever hit Seattle.
"Great, you're awake," Alex said, entering the surgeon's lounge with a stack of folders. It was his turn to check on Cristina. He went to the freezer to get some more ice for her ankle. Cristina looked at him bitterly. Alex couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Sucks to be you," he said.
"Shut up, evil spawn," Cristina snapped back, angrily. She hated being incapacitated almost as much as she hated being reliant on other people.
"Maybe we should get you some more morphine," Alex chuckled. "I hear you're much friendlier on that stuff."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cristina asked. She clearly had no memory of her morphine experience.
"Nothing," Alex said, deciding that he'd save that information for when he could really use it. "It's been a pretty horrible night. I get my kicks where I can."
"Yeah I bet all that surgery is just terrible," Cristina said with a roll of the eyes. Alex looked at her seriously. "What?" Cristina asked, wondering if she wasn't the most seriously injured in their little group.
'"It's Derek," Alex said. "He was on his way here when it happened. He's got pretty bad burns and damaged airways. He's on a ventilator." Cristina's jaw dropped in shock. It was one thing when the injured were faceless strangers, mere medical experiments to help advance her career. It was very different when she knew their identity.
"Wha… is he… how's Meredith?" she stammered.
"We're keeping an eye on her," Alex said. "The Chief's wife died in surgery too," he added sadly, sighing and placing the pile of paperwork that he had been carrying on Cristina's stomach. "I gotta get back," he said. "Have fun with this." Cristina lay there dumbfounded by the information that she had just heard. She turned her attention to the pile of surgical paperwork that her friends had lumped on her and decided that it was a better option than staring at her foot for the rest of the night.
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"Excuse me, Doctor Sloan," Izzie said as she went into the scrub room where Mark was preparing for yet another burns surgery.
"Yes, Doctor Stevens," Mark replied.
"I have an idea for the burns surgeries," Izzie said as she started scrubbing in.
"And what might that be?" Mark asked.
"Spray on skin," Izzie said. Mark raised his eyebrows. He was surprised that she had even heard of the procedure. Izzie took his silence as permission to keep talking. "It reduces the time that it takes to culture skin," she said. "We take the skin for the graft, grow it in the lab and then spray it on. It's quicker, less invasive and will probably mean much less scaring for the patient."
"You forgot one part," Mark said as they went into the OR.
"What's that?" Izzie asked.
"It's still largely unproven," Mark said. "Do they even use it outside Australia?"
"They've started to," Izzie replied. "But look at these burn victims. Some of them are kids, there's a woman my age about to be married, parents, teachers, doctors-" Mark's expression changed as he thought back to Derek. Izzie wasn't thinking specifically about him when she said it but he was a perfect candidate.
"Doctor Stevens, I've been following this procedure. I think it's a fantastic idea in theory. In fact, I wish I'd thought of it myself. But I have a reputation as one of the top plastic surgeons in the United States and I'm not about to jeopardize that on something that isn't proven.
"Then let's prove it," Izzie said, hopefully. Mark looked at her, both amazed and frustrated at her stubbornness. "Come on, it's only unproven because not enough studies have been done on it. This is the perfect opportunity. It's non invasive and I know that I can find a group of candidates to try it. I'll do all the groundwork. You'll get all the credit." Mark thought about it for a moment.
"What's in it for you?" he asked.
"Getting to see somebody walk out of here with a better quality of life," Izzie answered honestly. "Just think what will happen if we pull this off."
"You're on," Mark said, secretly wishing that the experiment was his own idea.
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Lexie rushed back into the ER after taking a break for a few minutes. She was holding a mug of freshly brewed coffee. Lexie spotted Meredith at the nurses' station on the phone arguing with somebody in the radiology department and went over to her.
"Idiot," Meredith said angrily after she hung up the phone. She noticed Lexie standing there. "Not you," she said.
"I know," Lexie said, handing Meredith the coffee. Meredith looked surprised.
"Just trying to make you feel better," Lexie said shyly as Meredith took the coffee. Lexie had noticed Meredith's swollen eyes after her break down earlier and wanted to do something for her.
"Thank you," Meredith said appreciatively. Lexie gave Meredith a little smile.
"I should get back to work," she said.
