AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hi everyone! I am so sorry to have kept you waiting on a cliffhanger for so long! It certainly wasn't my intention, but I was very busy these last two weeks, and I only got the chance to sit down and write this weekend!
Here is chapter 10 of "Shock to the System"! I hope you all enjoy it! Remember to leave your feedback and reviews for me to read!
Chapter 10
"We need a crash cart in here!" Alex yelled, sticking his head out of the doorway into the hallway.
Almost immediately, an army of nurses rushed into the room, pushing a red cart containing a defibrillator alongside them.
"Switching to manual ventilation!" Callie declared as she unhooked Briley from the mechanical breathing machine and began bagging her herself.
"Charge to 100! Clear!" Alex instructed once he was standing over Briley's body with the paddles in his hands.
Immediately after administering an electrical shock through her body, the continuous beeping sound returned to it's normal periodic ones.
"She's back," Alex said as he read her heart rhythms on the monitor.
Everyone in the room exhaled with relief. Alex returned the paddles back in their place on the cart and Callie reconnected Briley to the ventilator. The nurses retreated back out to the hallway with the crash cart and Alex took a seat in the chair next to the bed and put his face in his hands.
"This is the end. I wouldn't give her much longer. She wants to go," he said blankly, stating the obvious.
Callie sighed as she nodded her head. Briley was at the end of her journey with cancer, and she was going to have to be the one to relay this heartbreaking information to Chandler and Nicole. Fantastic.
PICU room 622 was eerily silent, with the exception of the whir of the ventilator and the beeping of the monitors. What kind of small talk can you make with one another in a situation like this?
The uncomfortable silence didn't last for long, though, because just minutes later, a ghostly pale Arizona limped through the door.
"What the hell happened?!" she breathed, gasping for air. "Why- why didn't you page me?"
"Because you're sick! You're not allowed in the Intensive Care Unit with a fever, and besides, you need to rest!" Callie scolded her, ready to push her back out into the hallway.
"Please, Callie," Arizona pleaded with tears brimming in her eyes. Arizona needed to be here in Briley's final moments, no matter how sick she felt.
Callie's gaze (and heart) softened when she saw the helpless look on Arizona's face, begging to stay. She clearly looked so exhausted and sore, that it must have taken so much effort out of her to have made it across the hospital from where she was sleeping. The least Callie could do for her wife at this point in time was to let her stay.
"Fine. But you have to wear these," Callie gave in, handing Arizona a sterile gown, a sterile mask and a pair of sterile gloves so that she wouldn't spread her germs. "And you have to take a seat and rest, for the love of God."
Alex got up from where he was seated and motioned for Arizona to take his place. Taking small, carefully calculated steps so that she didn't trip and fall, Arizona made her way towards the chair.
"How did you even hear about the crash?!" Callie asked as she slowly helped Arizona lower herself into the seat.
"Nurses talk. And gossip like that spreads fast," Arizona replied, taking a big exhale.
Soon after, Briley's parents returned from their coffee break, surprised to see all three doctors in their daughter's room. Panic arose in their eyes when they saw the somber looks staring back at them.
"Did something happen while we were gone?" Chandler apprehensively asked, taking Nicole's hand in his and making individual eye contact with each of the doctors before him.
"Chandler, Nicole, why don't you sit down," Callie said, leading them towards the couch in the crowded room.
After they were seated, Callie clasped and unclasped her hands trying to find the words she needed to say. Telling bad news to a patient's family never gets easier, specifically when it's a couple that has felt like your own family for many years.
"About ten minutes after you left, Briley went into cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped."
Both of them gasped. Their faces fell, along with their hearts, as they processed this news. A single tear slid down Nicole's cheek, but she brushed it away with the back of her hand. Surely this was the worst moment of their lives.
"This is it, right? This is the end?" Nicole asked, standing up so that she was able to take her daughter's lifeless hand in her own. Her hand, which was usually warm to the touch, felt so cold now.
Callie nodded.
"Dr. Karev was able to successfully restart her heart, but it won't be long until her heart gives out again. The infection is too strong for her compromised immune system," Callie explained. "This is it. I'm very sorry."
Chandler audibly exhaled a shaky breath. Neither Nicole or Chandler had any tears left to cry, though. They just looked at their teenage daughter. Hooked up to countless machines and monitors that were the only thing keeping her between life and death. She really was surviving by a thread. A very artificial thread. This isn't right.
"We discussed this situation- the worst case scenario- previously with her before she fell ill with the infection. We asked her what she would want if she were in a situation like this…" Chandler told the doctors. "She said she didn't want to be kept here longer than what God wanted her to be. She didn't want to be kept alive by machines that would only prolong the moment until death. Briley wouldn't want… this."
Arizona wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye. No family should ever have to have life or death conversations with their adolescent child. This was so unfair.
"She would want to be taken off of the ventilator, off of the feeding tube, off of all forms of life support," Nicole said, honestly. Even though this was the most difficult statement she had ever said, she delivered it confidently. "But she would want Sofia to be here. Sofia should be here."
Callie and Arizona exchanged a glance. Would this environment be too difficult for Sofia to handle emotionally? Or would the right thing to do be to allow her to be present as her best friend died? Both sides seemed equally as awful.
"We want her to be able to say goodbye. Those girls were- are- as close as sisters. If their roles were reversed, Briley would be destroyed if she wasn't given the chance to say a proper goodbye to Sofia. Briley would want her here," Chandler nodded, placing his hand on his wife's arm as he looked back and forth between Arizona and Callie.
Callie and Arizona made eye contact before Arizona nodded her blessing. Chandler was right. Sofia needed to be here.
"I'll go get her. I'll be back in fifteen," Callie said as she nodded, giving her own stamp of approval.
The Robbins-Torres family only lived a short drive from the hospital, and Callie knew that Sofia would be at home by this time in the evening, probably completing her homework.
As Callie made her way towards the parking lot, she couldn't help but wonder how Sofia would handle this situation. How would she react to this news? Would she be strong, or stoic or break down? What kind of effects would Briley's death have on her, given that they are so close? Should Callie and Arizona be taking Sofia to see a therapist? Would she become clinically depressed? There were so many "what if" situations that Callie played over in her head.
Before Callie knew it, she had arrived at the front stoop of their house. She felt a shiver run up her spine as she she inserted her key into the knob and pushed open the door.
"Sofi?" Callie called as she shut the door behind her, not bothering to take off her shoes.
"Mama?" Sofia called back, appearing outside her bedroom door at the top of the staircase. "Where's Mommy? You look sad… Is everything okay?"
Callie bit her upper lip as she crafted her response.
"Mommy's sick. She has a fever, but I actually came home to grab you. I'm taking you back to the hospital with me."
A concerned look appeared on Sofia's face as she ran downstairs to get her shoes and jacket on.
"Is her fever really that bad?! That she has to stay at the hospital?!" Sofia asked, concerned for her other mother's wellbeing.
"No, no, she's fine! It's low grade. I'm taking you back to the hospital because of Briley," Callie explained. Sofia gasped. "She's dying. And Nicole and Chandler don't want to turn off her life support without you there."
…
The ride back to the hospital and up to the PICU was silent. Sofia's heart raced and her palms were sweaty as she followed her mother in the familiar halls of the hospital. She hadn't seen Briley in days since she had been transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, but from her understanding, a fatal infection was ravaging through her friend's body. Is she awake? Would she look different? And if she did, would she even be recognizable? Sofia's thoughts ran free as her footsteps echoed in the quiet halls of the hospital.
It wasn't long before Callie stopped at the doorway of one of the patient rooms. She knocked softly before opening the door and holding it open for Sofia to follow.
Sofia took a deep breath as she walked through the door frame, and let out a small gasp at what she saw.
She was immediately met with the puffy-eyed, emotionless faces of Chandler and Nicole as they looked over at her when she entered the room. She quickly darted her eyes away, unable to see the two adults in front of her in such a vulnerable state.
But once she switched her gaze from the parents, her line of vision was met with an even worse sight. Briley.
There she was- her face looked so hollowed out and ghostly. Almost like a skeleton with skin. Sofia immediately noticed how thin her body was. Her muscles were usually so toned from years of playing soccer, but now even Sofia could see that they were beginning to atrophy. Even while unconscious, Briley looked as if she was uncomfortable and in pain. And Sofia felt the same emotions while just looking at her.
"Briley," Sofia managed to whisper, her eyes filling with tears. She wasn't sure what to expect when coming up to the hospital room, but she surely hadn't expected this.
"Why don't we give them some privacy? Just a little time for them to be alone," Nicole suggested, looking at all of the adults in the room.
Everyone simultaneously nodded as they began to file out into the hallway one by one. Alex shut the shades before leaving the room, and Callie had gone to quickly fetch a wheelchair to bring it over to where Arizona was sitting. She helped her wife transfer into the chair, then silently pushed her out into the hallway, leaving the teenagers alone.
Sofia took a deep breath before sitting down on a stool next to her friend's hospital bed. She hesitated before taking Briley's hand in her own. She hated seeing her friend in this kind of state. The whole situation made her feel like her stomach was doing backflips, but deep down, she knew that this was a thousand times more unbearable for Briley and the Locke family. This was her friend. And this would be the last time she would ever see her living again, regardless of whether she was being kept alive by machines or not.
"Bri… Briley…" Sofia didn't even know where to begin. How do you say goodbye to your best friend since day one?!
The tears that Sofia had done a good job so far of holding back finally made their breakthrough. Sofia held Briley's lifeless hand as she sobbed, silently pleading to God not to take her friend away.
"I'm sorry this happened to you, Bri," Sofia told her, slightly hesitating before adding: "If I could switch places with you, I would. In a heartbeat."
The room remained silent except for the noises from the ventilator and heart monitors.
"We were supposed to become doctors. Together. We were supposed to live next door to each other and raise our families together. How am I supposed to do any of that without you by my side?!" Sofia tearily asked her friend, half expecting a response.
"I will miss you until the end of time. But I know that you'll be right by my side along the way. You'll be in my heart forever, Briley Locke."
…
Briley's funeral service was held the following Monday.
Per request from Briley, the service was closed casket, but she was wearing her favorite pink dress. The Lockes asked everybody to wear bright colors, rather than black, to remember the happy-go-lucky and vibrant girl that she was. They also requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the peds ward at Grey + Sloan Memorial Hospital.
Briley's casket was a pearl white color, and beside it, there was a bucket filled with multi-colored Sharpie markers for those in attendance to write an everlasting message to Briley on her coffin.
As the Robbins-Torres family approached the station, each of them opted for a different color marker. Arizona hesitated before selecting a gold Sharpie- the color of the childhood cancer awareness ribbon- to leave her message:
Briley, I am sorry we failed you. You deserved so much more than we could offer. You deserved the world. Rest in the sweetest peace, sweet girl.
Much love, Dr. Arizona
…
Callie and Arizona returned to work, and Sofia returned to school, about a week after Briley passed. They had taken some time off to spend together as a family and grieve, following the events that had shaken each member of their family differently.
Within five minutes of having returned to the lobby of Grey + Sloan, Callie and Arizona were already buried in cases that they had missed last week that they needed to familiarize themselves with. As they were reading through their schedules for the day, Bailey tapped them both on the shoulder.
"Torres, Robbins? I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am to both of you for the loss of that precious baby girl. Please give my condolences to Miss Sofia as well," she told them
"Thank you Bailey, it means a lot. The services were beautiful- just as she would have wanted," Callie replied. "Sofia is having a tough time, but she is getting through, day by day."
As she finished talking, both Callie's and Arizona's pagers went off. Glancing down, they both realized they were being paged by Alex. Both of their hearts began to race, because in the last few months when they were both paged, it was usually bad news about Briley.
But Briley was no longer here. Why would Alex be paging both of them?
Callie and Arizona exchanged a confused look and a shrug before saying goodbye to Bailey and heading towards the conference room that Alex was paging them to.
When they arrived, they were shocked to find Alex sitting at the table beside Chandler and Nicole. Callie and Arizona weren't sure what they had expected, but this truly came as a surprise.
"Hi Chandler, hi Nicole, is everything alright?" Arizona asked as she hugged the couple, who she hadn't seen since their daughter's services.
"Yes, we're fine. Well… we're managing," Nicole said, with a small nod.
Callie and Arizona took seats across from Alex and the Lockes on the opposite side of the conference room table.
"So… what brings you guys in today?" Callie said, asking the question that both her and Arizona were anxiously wondering.
Chandler put his arm around Nicole.
"We are both just so grateful for everything the three of you and this hospital did for Briley during her battle," he said. "So grateful, in fact, that we have decided to start a foundation in Briley's memory."
"The Briley Madeline Locke Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research," Nicole announced, flashing the first real smile Callie and Arizona had seen her give in months. "While we are thankful for the treatment Briley received here at the hospital, we also know that childhood cancer is very underfunded and under researched, specifically childhood bone cancers like Ewing Sarcoma."
"Our goal with this foundation is to raise money that can be put towards groundbreaking innovative childhood cancer research at Grey + Sloan Memorial Hospital," Chandler explained. "And we want to start off the foundation by handing the three of you a check for one million dollars."
Callie, Arizona and Alex's jaws dropped at this news. ONE MILLION DOLLARS?! They couldn't believe it. This money could get them started on the right track to work towards studying, researching, and developing safer and more effective treatments for pediatric cancers. Wow.
"I don't know what to say!" Arizona gushed, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Thank you so much for this, you guys. You have no idea how you- and Briley- will continue to help other patients," Callie told them, giving them each a hug.
"We were looking for a way to honor Briley and keep her fighting spirit alive, and we found this foundation to be the perfect solution," Chandler said.
And it was the perfect solution. Maybe the treatments available today couldn't have saved Briley from her subtype of aggressive childhood cancer. But this money donated in her name can help so that one day in the future, another little kid could be spared. Even though Briley had passed on, her legacy has found a way to live on forever.
And that was everything.
THE END.
So there you have it everybody! The final chapter of "Shock to the System"! I know that this wasn't the ending that some of you wanted, but it was the ending I had in mind since the very beginning. AWARENESS inspires ACTION! I have worked so hard on this story for many months, and I am so proud of how it turned out. I am so glad that you all enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! The feedback from this fic has been phenomenal, and I very much enjoyed telling Briley, Arizona, Sofia, and Callie's story.
Thank you so much to Shonda Rhimes for creating "Grey's Anatomy" and the characters of Arizona Robbins, Callie Torres and Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres, as well as thank yous going out to Jessica Capshaw, Sara Ramirez and Eva Ariel Binder for portraying them. Thank you to Maddie C., a real teenager (and "Grey's" fan!) who battled Ewing Sarcoma (and survived), who was the inspiration and dedication behind this story. Thank you to all of the amazing readers and reviewers who have read and followed along with this story- I appreciate you all so much!
If you liked this story and/or you like my writing style and point of view, be sure to follow me here on FanFiction so that you are alerted when I post a new story and update my current stories! I am looking forward to sharing my new stories with you, and I hope you are all looking forward to them!
xoxo Arizona Robbins MD