June 16th, 2007
Derek's View
I stopped the bleeder and began to close up Mr. Wilson. A pager beeped loudly, breaking the silence in the OR. I sighed and glanced pointedly at the nurse.
"Who's is that?" I asked.
"It's yours Dr. Shepherd. Naomi Bennett is paging you. Something about Addison." The nurse answered.
"What about Addison?" I asked and tied off one of the sutures.
"Derek." Sam said from the OR entrance. I glanced over. Sam was holding a surgical mask over his face but I could tell that he was upset. I sat my instruments down.
"What happened to Addison?" I asked. There was an uncomfortable lump in my throat that I couldn't shake. My heart suddenly ached with dread.
"She was in an accident. With Callie." Sam choked out. His voice was catching, which was not a good sign.
"I can finish closing for you." Dr. Andrews offered. I nodded and stepped back from the patient before ripping off my gown and gloves. I followed Sam down the hallway to the ER. I pulled Sam off to the side before we walked through the doors that would lead into my fate.
"How bad is it?" I asked. Sam shifted uncomfortably.
"Apparently they were on the way up to Central Park for lunch and a cab t-boned them in the median." Sam answered. I swallowed hard and felt my heart drop into my stomach.
"Whose side did the cab hit?" I asked my voice breaking. I was afraid to hear the answer. Sam stroked his goatee.
"Addison's. She's in bad shape." Sam finally answered. I felt my heart ache. I pushed quickly through the doors into the ER.
"Where is she? I have to see her." I said. Then I saw a flash of red hair in trauma room two. I made my way over to where Mark and Naomi were staring through the glass watching Amelia and a team of other doctors working on Addison. Mark held me back from bursting into the room.
"Derek, they can't work if you're in there crying over her." Mark warned. I sighed and melted out of his grasp. I nodded warily and turned to stare through the glass. I could tell even from a distance that her face was cut in several places on her left side. A thick piece of gauze covered a gash over her left eye that was turning the gauze red at an alarming rate. I had never seen so much blood.
"Sam and I are going to go pick up Ella and the boys. We'll watch them tonight." Naomi told me. I nodded and closed my eyes tightly. Maybe when I opened them again it would all be gone, and this would just be a dream. When I opened my eyes again she was still unconscious. I broke down in tears. Mark pulled me into an awkward hug and patted me roughly on the back. I heard the trauma room doors burst open. Amelia and the hospital's second best orthopedic surgeon pushed Addison out of the room. Followed closely by the second best cardiothoracic surgeon. I pulled out of the hug and grabbed Addison's unbandaged right hand as they stopped the gurney next to us. Amelia smiled weakly at me.
"She's got some grade one bleeding on the brain. I think it will clear up on its own. The main problem is all of her fractures. She's got some broken ribs that are threatening to compromise her left lung. Dr. Tate will be working to stabilize those rib fractures while Dr. Paxton repairs the elbow fractures as well as the ankle fracture. I will just be there to monitor the brain bleed." Amelia explained.
"Are there any other internal injuries?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer. I felt a faint squeeze on my hand and I looked down to see Addison awake and staring at me. I smiled at her and squeezed back. I leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"It's going to be okay Ad. I promise." I assured her. Addison nodded and closed her eyes tightly as tears slid from her eyes. The fog from her breath on the mask was occurring at a faster rate than it had been when she was unconscious and I could tell she was in a lot of pain.
"Push five of morphine please. She's getting worked up from the pain. If she breathes too rapidly she could puncture a lung." Dr. Tate instructed a nearby nurse. The nurse nodded and grabbed a syringe.
"I'm right here Addie, and I'll be right here again when it's all over. I promise." I assured her. Addison nodded.
"Any questions?" Amelia asked me as the nurse pushed Morphine into Addison's IV.
"I want Sam to take over for Dr. Tate." I said. Amelia frowned.
"Derek, Dr. Tate is very good at his job." She told me with her arms crossed. I shook my head.
"It's nothing personal Dr. Tate. I would just rather have Dr. Bennett working on my wife. If Dr. Torres also wasn't injured I'd have her replacing Dr. Paxton. It isn't personal." I insisted. Dr. Tate nodded.
"I understand. I will gladly step aside." He said respectfully. I nodded my thanks. I felt Addison's hand loosen its grip on mine and I glanced down to see that she had passed out from the pain again.
"Amelia you never answered my other question. Are there any internal injuries?" I asked again. Amelia shook her head.
"Amazingly the CT scan didn't show anything. We'll keep a close eye on her though." Amelia answered. I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair.
"Okay. I'll uhm, leave you to it. I'm going to check on Callie." I said. My voice came out hoarsely and I sucked in a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. I kissed Addison on the forehead one more time before they pushed away toward the elevators. Sam followed Amelia and Dr. Paxton after her. "Mark, will you suture up her cuts?" I asked. Mark nodded and turned to leave. I was left standing with Naomi. She hadn't said anything the whole time. Now she was standing with her arms crossed over her chest and she was staring blankly at where Addison had been laying just moments ago. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She blinked a couple times before turning and focusing on my face.
"She has to be alright. Right?" Naomi asked. I nodded.
"She's Addison. She's a fighter." I answered. Naomi nodded.
"Uhm, so you mentioned checking on Callie. She's over this way with Arizona." Naomi said and led me over to a private room across the ER. Callie was sitting slightly upright on a bed while a resident cleaned up a nasty gash over her eyebrow. Her right arm was fixed into a sling that had forced it to stay at her side and not move. All over the right side of her face there were nasty gashes oozing brightly colored blood. Arizona was talking on the phone with someone and pacing back and forth at the foot of Callie's bed. Callie looked half asleep, probably from pain killers. I knocked on the door frame before entering the room. Arizona looked up at me and smiled sadly. Callie coughed harshly before speaking to me.
"How is Addison?" She asked roughly. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. This was an awful nervous habit I seemed to have developed.
"She's pretty beaten up. They're taking her to surgery now to stabilize her rib fractures and repair some other fractures. How are you?" I asked. Callie forced a smile.
"I'm great." She lied. She winced as the resident started to suture the cut above her eyebrow.
"No she isn't." Arizona rolled her eyes as she pocketed her cell phone.
"My mom is going to look after Theo tonight." Arizona said and gave Callie a quick peck on the cheek. Obviously not on the side that the resident was stitching up.
"Remind me to thank her later." Callie remarked.
"Anyways, you are definitely not great." Arizona said sternly. Callie shrugged.
"I have a separated shoulder and a fractured radius and scaphoid. Lots of physical therapy in my future. I've got a couple bruised ribs. But overall it could have been much worse." Callie answered, shooting Arizona a pointed look. "Compared to Addison I'm great." She added. I nodded.
"Get some rest Callie. I'll keep you posted on Addison. I'm going to go sit in the waiting room and try to keep myself from bursting into the OR." I decided. Callie smiled weakly and I took that as my cue to leave. I wandered into the waiting room and sank down heavily into a chair. I dropped my head into my hands and started to pray even though I didn't believe in that kind of thing.
I can't believe I cranked out two chapters in two days. Go me! I hope y'all enjoy. As always please review! Much love, Jane Torres-Cooper.
