Melendez woke up and rolled over the next morning to find Lim still fast asleep, but he figured this was the most restful sleep she had had in nearly two months, so he decided to just let her be. He showered (hoping no one at work would ask him about smelling like green apple shampoo), brushed his teeth, and dressed in his scrubs from the night before, figuring he could change into dress clothes or obtain fresh scrubs from his locker when he arrived at St. Bonaventure. He quietly left the room as not to disturb Lim and was just about to leave for work when he realized he still had the key to her house. He laid it on the coffee table in the living room and turned to leave again when he heard Lim come down the stairs, "You're still here?" she asked surprisingly.
"Yes, but I was just getting ready to leave. I'll grab a coffee and a muffin at the hospital cafeteria," said Melendez.
Lim nodded, "Hey Neil, do you think it's safe for me to drive?"
Melendez sighed, "Well, depends on how far."
"Just to the supermarket," she responded, "I wanted to restock the fridge and the cabinets."
"I think you'll be fine as long as you take your time and drive your car and not your motorcycle," he informed.
"I can't drive my motorcycle anyways," said Lim.
"Why not?" asked Melendez.
"Because I got my motorcycle license suspended for a year for speeding," informed Lim unintentionally.
"What? When?" asked Melendez in shock.
"The same day I spent nine hours in jail," Lim chuckled and then stopped herself when she realized what she had said to Melendez.
"Wait a minute? You spent nine hours in jail?" Melendez asked in confusion.
Lim froze briefly before she said, "Not important in this conversation. Take things slow, don't drive my motorcycle, got it."
Melendez was just about to ask more questions about his dear friend spending time in the slammer, but decided to stop himself, "I have to get to work."
Melendez arrived at St. Bonaventure and changed in the locker room before he found Shaun and Morgan, who were to assist him with a bowel obstruction surgery. Once their patient was in the OR and anesthetized, Melendez began the surgery. It didn't take long before Shaun started asking some random questions, "Dr. Melendez, where were you last night?"
Melendez scowled a little under his mask, "I was at home just like you were, Dr. Murphy," Melendez answered. And he had technically been at home, just not his home.
"You came from the south today and you usually come from the north end of the street," stated Shaun.
"Well, there was traffic, so I had to make a detour," Melendez lied.
"No there wasn't because I also come from the north end of town. The bus did not have to make a detour," explained Shaun.
"Shaun," scolded Morgan snippily.
Melendez noticed that Morgan was doing an exceptional job with the surgery, but he also noticed she wasn't her usual persnickety and borderline rude self, "You're doing a wonderful job, Dr. Reznick," commented Melendez.
Morgan brought her attention to Melendez, "Oh, well, I recently performed a bowel obstruction surgery."
"Oh really, when?" asked Melendez.
Morgan knew exactly when, but she didn't like remembering that day, so she lied, "I don't remember exactly."
"I do. It was the day of the quarantine. Dr. Lim was guiding us from isolation," said Shaun.
"Thank you, Shaun," said Morgan sarcastically. Sometimes Shaun's autism really got on her nerves, even though she was learning that he couldn't help it.
"You're welcome," said Shaun.
Once Morgan used her finger to plug the hole, she stopped. She hadn't gotten any further in the surgery because Lim had collapsed from the virus, "Dr. Reznick?" asked Melendez, "Are you alright?"
"Yes," she confirmed, "I just don't know what to do after this point. Dr. Lim collapsed before I could get any further," Morgan didn't like remembering that moment, seeing her mentor on the floor of isolation, three dead bodies lying on the gurneys behind her, one of them being Tyler's cold, lifeless body. She couldn't help but worry that Lim would be the next to join them, even though Morgan usually wasn't too attached to other people.
Melendez managed to get the young blonde back on track, though he could tell something was bothering her still. Once the surgery was over, Shaun and Morgan helped close and the nurses wheeled the patient to the recovery room. Morgan was just discarding her gear when Melendez came up behind her, "Dr. Reznick?"
Morgan turned to face her superior and stood a little straighter, "Dr. Melendez."
"Nice job in there. You've really improved in bowel obstructions," commended Melendez.
Morgan nodded stiffly, "Just doing what I was taught," she said curtly, "How is Dr. Lim doing?"
"She's doing well, breathing better, can do day to day tasks as long as she doesn't exert herself," informed Melendez.
"Well, that's good," said Morgan. At least Dr. Lim had lived. At least Lim was still there for Melendez (Morgan might be competitive and overbearing, but she wasn't unobservant. She could tell immediately via their little bet when she had joined their team and the annual charity gala that the two attendings were burying mutual attraction for each other). But Tyler had been a different story. His body had succumbed to the SARS mutation. They never got to take their first date, he never got to leave the hospital, his family had spent their first Christmas without him. Morgan had secretly attended the burial, but nobody knew she had been there. She felt flirting wasn't enough to actually approach close friends and families at the funeral. But she had had to say goodbye, "Well, I really should be making my rounds with Dr. Darlington, so I have to get going."
Lim arrived at the grocery store and she wasn't looking forward to shopping. She hated any kind of shopping and wasn't one of the girls who spent all her free time at the mall in high school. She had been more likely to be seen on an athletic field. She went to grab a shopping cart, but she suddenly couldn't help but think about the amount of germs on the handle. Funny, she had never really thought about it before now. She grabbed a wet one from her bag and thoroughly cleaned the handle before going inside. She needed to go through pretty much every aisle and once she arrived at the check-out, she couldn't help but flinch at the person coughing behind her. She told herself that it was probably just the common cold; it was January after all. But what if it wasn't? She couldn't helped but discretely observe the person's neck. No rash, no flushed skin, just the cough.
"I can help the next customer," the cashier interrupted Lim's daydream.
"Right, of course," Lim got out her wallet to pay. She cringed again when the patron behind her coughed some more.
"Having a party," joked the cashier as she observed the amount of groceries on the conveyor belt.
Lim shook her head, "No I…I'm a trauma surgeon at St. Bonaventure. I don't always get to spend a lot of time at home," she didn't want to admit she had been in the hospital since early December. She didn't need to scare anyone with the concept of a lethal airborne infection nor did she want a pity party.
"Oh, my brother is a cardiac surgeon at Johns Hopkins. He's lucky if he gets to spend a full six hours in his house sometimes," the cashier sympathized. More coughing coming from behind Lim.
Once she had paid, Lim got out of the supermarket and drove home as quickly as she possibly could without breaking the speed limit (she couldn't get her regular driver's license suspended on top of her motorcycle license). She couldn't help but wonder what the hell was wrong with her? Sure, she was well aware of microscopic viruses and bacteria, but she had nearly panicked over a simple trip to the grocery store. She was Audrey Lim, daredevil extraordinaire for crying out loud! She arrived home and put all of the groceries away when she noticed her house key on her coffee table. It must have been the one Melendez had been using when she had been an in-patient. She picked it up and sighed, figuring she could go out and hide it amongst the plants at a later time (Lord knows what kinds of illnesses were in the backyard). Later that night, she was secretly hoping that Melendez would stop by, though she knew he probably wouldn't. They had decided that if she really was in trouble to call 911 and to have the paramedics take her to St. Bonaventure; Andrews or whomever was on call would contact Melendez. She took the key to her room and put it on her nightstand. She flipped on her iPad and began binge watching Arrow for the umpteenth time. Once it hit 8 PM, she decided to call it a night; she could probably use the extra sleep. She turned out the lights, though she spent another hour pondering her life. She finally decided she was done being cautious. She always lived her life on the edge and the next time she saw Melendez, she was going to state exactly how she felt about him. She honestly didn't care whether or not he liked her back; if he didn't, she could at least move on with her life. But if surviving a fatal disease had taught her anything, it was not to take anyone or anything in her life for granted because it could all end in a split second. Now if only she could find the words to explain how she felt.