AFTER THE LONG day she had, Skylar was absolutely exhausted. Even though all she wanted to do was fall into her bed, she and the other interns were still waiting to see if Derek would choose Meredith or Addison.
"When you tell someone I'll meet you later at a bar tonight, how long exactly does that mean you're supposed to wait?" Cristina wondered aloud as the group watched Meredith drink away her worries at the bar.
"Do you think he's really not coming?" George asked.
"It is getting a little hard to watch," Izzie added, tilting her head.
Cristina shook her head. "It was hard to watch an hour ago. Now it's just pathetic."
"You know she can hear you, right?" Skylar tiredly laughed.
"Who's pathetic?" Meredith questioned, turning around in her seat. Skylar gave them an 'I told you so' look. "You, who pretend to be my friends, are calling me pathetic, behind my back, in front of my face," Meredith slurred, glaring at the group of four. "Why don't you just dump the pigs blood on me now and get it over with?"
"Pigs blood?" George murmured to himself, putting his arm around the back of Skylar's chair. Neither of them noticed the look that Izzie sent the two.
"It's from Carrie," Skylar informed as he just made a noise in realization.
The bell above the door jingled as someone walked into the bar. They looked at the door for what seemed like a thousandth time that night, just to see Tyler, a nurse who worked at the hospital.
"He's really not coming," Meredith said to herself.
Suddenly, everyone's pager went off all at once. "Joe, turn up the TV!" Someone shouted as the news reporter spoke urgently. "A massive train wreck occurred just outside of Seattle just minutes ago."
Cristina looked at her pager. "911."
"We just worked a 30 hour shift," Izzie complained.
"I don't have any clean underwear," George added.
"You guys do realize there will be multiple traumas, right?" Skylar asked as she made her way toward the door. "As in, surgeries?" They perked up at her words, standing and quickly making their way to the hospital.
Izzie, Cristina, Alex, George, and Skylar all left the elevator that took them to the pit. They all made their way down the hall, but in Meredith's case, she drunkenly stumbled down the hall.
"I think I saw a pneumothorax. I hope I get a pneumothorax," Cristina said as they put their trauma gowns on. Izzie and Alex were having a conversation about how Alex wimped out in the elevator and missed his chance to perform open heart surgery. Cristina, George, and Skylar were helping each other tie their trauma gowns. George accidentally hit Cristina in the head when he got his arm into the sleeve and he and Skylar had to contain their laughs while the brunette glared at them.
Their eyes widened when they saw Dr. Bailey walking up to them in a beautiful green dress. Nobody was able to look away since it was such a rare sight to see their resident in regular clothes. She grabbed a trauma gown while all the interns still stared at her. George even let out a gasp of shock. "What are you looking at?" She asked.
"You look very nice, Dr. Bailey," Skylar said with a cheesy smile.
"Thank you." Bailey walked over to Alex and handed him her jacket and purse. "Go get me my damn shoes. Let's move people." She put on a gown and started walking to a door where Meredith was leaning beside.
"Hello. I seem to be a little bit drunk. I was off duty," she added that last part as an explanation.
"So was I!" Bailey looked at the others. "Anybody else half in the bottle?" Everyone shook their heads. Skylar's eyes lit up in amusement when she saw George checking his breath to make sure. She slightly nudged him, and they both shared a look anybody else would describe as two people completely enamored with each other. "All right, then. Grey, just stay out of the way. I'll deal with you later. The rest of you stick with me and wait for your assignments." Cristina moved behind her resident to tie the back of her gown. "Now, you get all a-quiver at the sight of blood and organs, but it's gonna be a long night and you're already tired. I don't want any mistakes." Cristina was still tying up her resident's gown. "Come on, now!"
"I'm done. I'm done," Cristina replied but Bailey didn't reply. She just walked through the door and into the pit. It was chaos in there. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, and family members of those who got hurt in the crash were bustling all over the place. Voices clashed together and there was not a single moment of silence. More than two dozen people were bleeding and hurt and more were still coming. "I'm so not tired anymore."
"Me neither. I'm not tired either," George agreed with Cristina. Skylar nodded silently as her eyes scanned the room. People were groaning in pain and bleeding, hoping that they would make it. The adrenaline in her from seeing all those wounded in the same room did make her feel less tired. Meredith walked away to stand near a wall when she saw Addison with a pregnant burn victim.
"I've got a third trimester burn victim here, Dr. Bailey, I'm gonna need some help," Addison asked. Izzie, George, Skylar, and Cristina immediately put their hands up in the hair. Even though they felt bad for all the patients, they were still surgical interns who wanted nothing more than to stand in the operating room.
"Izzie, go." When Dr. Bailey said this, all the other's shoulders sagged. The blonde was very excited.
"Yes! Have a nice nap," she teased and Skylar playfully rolled her eyes.
Tyler, from the bar, walked into the pit, still dressed in his casual clothes but when he saw Meredith he stopped walking. "Oh, hey! Joe told me to tell you that McSteamy came looking for you," he passed on.
"You mean McDreamy," Meredith corrected, a bit frazzled. She didn't know what to do now. "Joe said McDreamy came looking for me?"
"No," Tyler shook his head. And for a second there Meredith deflated, but then rose back up at what Tyler said next. "I'm pretty sure it was McSteamy. Yeah." He kept repeating to himself as he walked away. Skylar, George, and Cristina were all watching the exchange between the two. The three exchanged a look, not knowing what to do now.
"Does that mean he picked her?" George wondered.
"If it does, I just lost 50 bucks," Cristina complained.
"I should've known that you would bet on something like this." Skylar shook her head at her friend, who shrugged her shoulders. George shot her an apologetic smile when a paramedic rushed through the double doors.
"I've got the leg!" He yelled, holding a severed leg in his hands.
"I want that leg..." Cristina dreamily said.
"Dr. Bailey, who you got?" Webber asked and immediately the three interns' hands went up once again. They almost whacked Bailey in her face, but she ended up choosing Cristina. She joined the team that was wheeling the man with a severed leg away, while the remaining two were watching them go with a sad look on their faces.
As Derek walked by Meredith, he solemnly nodded at her. "Was that a nod?" George asked.
"Yeah," both Meredith and Skylar answered in unison.
"Do we know what it meant?" He asked again.
"No."
Then Alex Karev entered the pit with Bailey's work shoes. Another big emergency came through those double doors: two people were sitting on a gurney together with a metal pole sticking through their abdomens. They were facing each other, almost touching. They were being rolled into one of the trauma rooms, so they could be checked on. Alex, Skylar, George, and Meredith followed the paramedics into the trauma room.
George, Alex, and Skylar were standing to the side while Meredith was looking in amazement at the two people. The blonde woman, named Bonnie, saw Meredith's curiosity. "Is this the craziest thing you've ever seen?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Yeah. Me too." Bailey and Burke were still outside, but Bailey's all-knowing powers sensed something and she glanced at Meredith. The look on her face said that Meredith needed to stay away from the patients. She quickly scurried off to the side where her fellow interns were standing. Bonnie saw Burke and Bailey talking outside and was a little agitated.
"Excuse me!" Bonnie called out which made Burke and Bailey enter the room.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Burke," the attending quickly greeted. "You shouldn't turn your head. You want to try and move as little as possible," he advised.
"Oh, okay," she slowly said. "So are you gonna pull this pole out of us any time soon?"
"It's a touch uncomfortable," Tom, the impaled man, admitted.
"I'm sorry, we can't until we get a better look on what's going on internally. But I assure you we will work as quickly as possible," Burke informed and Skylar's eyes roamed through the patients.
"Well, in that case, does anybody have a breath mint?" Bonnie asked, which made Burke smile while Tom furrowed his eyebrows in question at the woman in front of him. "For me, not for you." They both smiled. Burke already moved to exit the room again but not before whispering something to Bailey.
"Uh, O'Malley, Kepner, get them to X-ray." The two of them shared a look of shock but that quickly turned into one of excitement. Skylar immediately gestured to Alex to untie her gown as Meredith united George's. "Move them extremely carefully."
Skylar quickly nodded and George seemed to panic slightly as he whispered, "They never would have picked me before the elevator..." Both Skylar and Alex overheard this but only one got mad because of it. Alex looked annoyed and glared at George. Skylar just patted him on his shoulder.
"Just leave him alone, Alex. It's not his fault you choked in the elevator."
"You always have to defend little Georgie, huh?"
"What is your problem? You know you can tell me anything, right?" He didn't respond but Skylar didn't have time left to continue asking him questions. She wondered what he wasn't telling her. She knew something was bothering him. And she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't doing enough to help through whatever he was going through. So she let out a sigh and followed George out the door.
As they wheeled Bonnie and Tom through the halls, Skylar was desperately trying to find a way to cure their anxiety. "Is there anyone you'd like us to call?" She wondered.
"They called my wife from the ambulance."
"And my fiancé," Bonnie added. "They're flying down from Vancouver together."
"Normally, Amanda would be a tad upset to find me pressed up against another woman, but in this case I think I'll get a pass," he joked, making the girl giggle.
"You two weren't traveling together?" George questioned.
"No...we just met," Bonnie clarified.
"A bit of an awkward introduction."
"You have nice pores," she said, making the man laugh.
When they got to radiology, there was a long waiting line, so Skylar walked ahead and cleared her throat. She got the intern's attention, who, looking at her patients, allowed her and George to go ahead. They kept doing this until they were at the front of the line.
In the x-ray observation room, Bailey, Skylar, and George were standing next to the scans, eyeing the many details. Burke was seated on a chair, looking at them on a computer screen while Meredith was standing off to the side with a banana bag IV connected to her arm, trying to quickly sober up. Skylar wasn't exactly sure why she was there, but she figured that Meredith needed someone after the whole not knowing who Derek chose debacle.
"Is—is it going straight through her spine?" George questioned.
"It is. T8's completely crushed," Bailey answered, pointing at it with her finger.
Derek then entered the room and his eyes immediately fell on Meredith. Meredith straightened and tensed when she saw him. "What happened?" He asked, seeing the IV.
"Tequila," she simply answered.
"I'm keeping an eye on her," Bailey clarified before sending a look to the intern.
He moved to look at the scans and look surprised. "Look at this...these people are still alive?"
"Still making small talk," George answered.
"The pole's tamponading the wound as far as we can see," Bailey informed the man as Skylar leaned on the table to have a better look at the scans.
"It's hitting the aorta," Derek evaluated.
"Look at him," Burke spoke up, looking at Tom's scans. "It's right in line with his inferior vena cava."
"But there's a way to operate without separating them, isn't there?" Skylar hopefully asked. Skylar looked at everyone in the room, hoping that the answer would be yes. However, it wasn't.
Burke shook his head, while Derek actually said, "No." Both of them were oblivious to how their answer caused the girl's expression to drop. George saw this and took his hand out of his lab coat and put it in Skylar's, squeezing just enough to let her know that he was there for her.
"If we remove the pole then..." George trailed off.
"They'll both bleed out," Bailey finished his thought.
"What if we don't move the pole? What if we move one of the patients off the pole to get the saw in there? Then we can hold the pole steady in the other one. Move it very slowly and repair the damage as we go," Burke suggested.
"Who? Which would you move?" Skylar asked while Shepherd glanced at Meredith, who stared back at him.
"With her aortic injuries, her chances of survival are extremely slim no matter what we do. But if we move her, we have a real shot of saving him."
"Well, I could argue since her injuries are so extensive we should move him. Give her the best shot we can," Derek objected.
"So basically, whoever you move doesn't stand a chance." Everyone glanced at the blonde, unsettled. "So how do you choose? How do you decide you gets to live?"
"We have to make this call soon if we want to have a shot at saving either one of them," Burke warned Shepherd as they walked through the hallway, the three interns and Bailey behind them.
"I'd like to examine them before I weigh in."
"I'll wait for your page."
"Thank you." The neurosurgeon turned to the interns. "Dr. Grey—"
"Dr. Grey needs to get herself a blood alcohol test before practicing any medicine tonight," Bailey intervened, turning to the girl with the banana bag.
"What? No, I'm totally fine." The girl started connecting her pointer fingers to her nose, causing Skylar to chuckle at her. "See?"
"Right, okay. Dr. Kepner, then," the attending turned to the redhead, who flashed him a smile before they made their way to Bonnie and Tom's room.
"Can you feel that, Miss Krasnoff?" Derek asked, squeezing Bonnie's fingers.
Bonnie drowsily smiled up at him, the accident beginning to take a toll on her body. "You're a cute doctor," she said, her voice very sweet. She seemed a bit loopy from the morphine that was keeping her pain away. "Cute doctors get to call me by my first name."
"Okay, Bonnie, can you feel that?"
"Can I feel what? Oh...I guess that's a no."
"Excuse me, Dr. Shepherd? I got the labs," George called out as he entered the rooms, labs in his hand.
"Oh, great, thank you," he swapped clipboards with George. "Could you try to wiggle your toes, Mr. Maynard?" Tom did it successfully which caused Skylar's lips to form a small smile.
"Are they moving?" He questioned, not being able to look down because of the neck brace.
"Yes, they are," Skylar told him.
The man laughed lightly. "Good. That's good, right?"
"Yes, it is," Derek assured.
"What about me? Are mine moving?" Bonnie asked, hope filling her voice. George, Skylar, and Derek looked down at her foot. They guessed she was trying to move it but it stayed still.
"Yes, they are," Derek lied, wanting to keep her happy and not have her break down in this situation.
"Yay, me!" She giggled in relief.
"Dr. Shepherd, is it?" Tom asked and at Derek's nod, he went on. "Dr. Shepherd, Bonnie and I...are we gonna live through this?"
"Oh, that's just morose, Tom," Bonnie playfully scolded.
"I'm sorry, dear." He looked back at Derek. "Doctor?"
"We're gonna do everything we can, Mr. Maynard."
"Where are we?" Burke asked, joining the others in the x-ray observation room.
"You were right. Her vitals are erratic, pulse is weak, spine's severed...I was hoping that it didn't hit the—but from that angle it just can't have missed the aorta," Shepherd informed.
"What about him? Think he can live?" Bailey questioned, looking over Skylar's shoulder.
"He's got better odds."
"Okay, let OR one know we're coming," Bailey told George, lightly tapping him on the shoulder
"And, O'Malley? Close off the gallery. We don't need an audience for this," Burke instructed.
Something stopped George from leaving, he wasn't feeling right about choosing who got to live and who got to die. "She's cracking jokes. How do you tell someone she's gonna be dead in a few minutes when she's sitting up cracking jokes?" With that he left, sighing.
"I hate this..." Skylar trailed off, shaking her head. "It feels wrong to just choose," she sighed, looking down at the floor.
"I know. But, sometimes, it's the job." Bailey put her hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"This is hard because your body is in a certain amount of shock," Derek explained to Bonnie and Tom. "It's preventing you from feeling pain. From feeling the extent of your injuries." They were back in their room, giving both of them the bad news, which they were bound to react badly to.
"Dr. Shepherd, we have a metal pole cutting a path through our insides. I don't know about Tom here, but I didn't expect to walk out of here anytime soon," Bonnie softly said, making Skylar frown. "So, whatever it is you have to say, just, please, say it."
"Okay, Bonnie," Derek started. "In order to operate on Mr. Maynard, we have to separate you two. In order to do that, we have to move you backwards off the pole."
"Can't you just pull the pole out of both of us?" Tom asked.
"Well, if we did that, you would start bleeding very quickly. Too quickly. Right now, the pole is plugging the wounds. Once removed, the organs will shift and there's a great deal of damage," Burke explained.
"So if you move me, I'll die?" Bonnie whispered, trying to keep her tears at bay.
"We're gonna do everything we can to—" Derek began but was cut off.
"No," Tom interrupted. "No. If anybody has to go it should be me. You just move—"
Burke sighed. "No. Mr. Maynard, your injuries are less extensive. If we pull the pole from you as we operate around it, we have a better chance at repairing the damage." Skylar's eyes began to water, but she willed them not to fall. George grabbed her hand, and Skylar squeezed it, needing to hold onto him like life support.
Tom shook his head. "It's not right. It's not fair," he whispered.
Bonnie sadly smiled. "Shh, Tom. It's not fair either way." She glanced up at Skylar and George. "Is, um, is my Danny, is he here yet?"
"There are delays at the airport," George told them.
"Because of the storm," Skylar added.
"We could wait," Bailey suggested. "But the longer do, the higher the risk of infection for—"
"No, no," Bonnie reassured them. "This is better." She managed to smile through her tears. "Danny, he wouldn't understand. I've had a couple hours to, you know, process all of this, but if—if he had to see me, talk to me like this, I...well, I just think it would be too hard," she rambled, a sense of acceptance washing over her.
In the O.R, nurses were prepping Bonnie and Tom for surgery while Skylar held Bonnie's hand, trying to calm her down and make her feel less alone during this difficult time. "Can I ask you a question?" Bonnie asked. Tom made an affirmative noise and she continued. "Do you believe in heaven?"
"I do. Don't you?"
"I want to."
"Bonnie...I just want to say—"
She shushed him. "I know, I know."
"This is Dr. Addams, our anesthesiologist," Derek told them, entering the room. "When you're ready, he's gonna put you to sleep."
"So, it's not gonna hurt?" Bonnie asked, tears still in her eyes.
"Not a bit, Bonnie," Skylar responded.
"That's good. Skylar?"
"Yeah?" She whispered, trying her best not to let her tears show.
"You'll be there when they talk to my Danny, right?" She asked, her voice softer than ever.
"Yes, I will. What do you want me to tell him?" As Bonnie uttered her message to Skylar, she allowed herself to spill the first tear of the day, quickly wiping it away. She was always thinking of how the patient would respond, and the last thing she wanted to do was to get too attached, but she was sure that she already failed that.
After separating both patients and verifying that Tom was stable, the team moved to work on Bonnie, wanting to give her the best shot they could.
"Grey, Kepner, get in here and retract," Bailey ordered. Skylar quickly moved to do her job.
"Retractor. Quickly, please. Give me some sponges. Lap sponges," Derek asked as the attendings worked.
"Her aorta's shredded. She's gonna bleed out," Burke realized, shaking his head, knowing there was slim to no chance that she was going to live.
"Doctors, he's losing pressure," the anesthesiologist monitoring Tom warned them.
"He's bleeding, let's go," Derek ordered and everyone started moving from one patient to the other. It pained Skylar to have to leave the girl on the table, but she knew there was nothing they could do if they wanted to give Tom the best shot they could.
"What about her? We can't just abandon her," Meredith yelled as Skylar changed gloves so she could operate on Tom. "We can't just abandon her!" The blonde refused to move.
"I'm going in. Scalpel," Burke started on Tom as Skylar moved in to help the team.
"Let's go, Dr. Grey," Bailey urged her.
"Meredith," George called out.
"What about her? We cannot abandon her! We have an obligation." She seemed to panic slightly.
"Meredith, come on," Bailey tried to stop her. "There was too much damage. There was never anything we could do. We have to let her go." As she tried to stop Meredith from pumping the poor girl's heart. "Time of death 3:49."
Several hours later, the surgery was finally over, taking Bonnie's life with it. Derek had offered to talk to her fiance, but Skylar made a promise, which she fully intended on keeping.
"Did she suffer?" Danny asked, trying and failing to stifle his tears.
"No," she instantly answered. "Her injuries prevented her from...no, she wasn't in any pain."
"Good. That's good."
Skylar felt a lump in the back of her throat, and she'd barely even started speaking. "She asked me to tell you that, um, she wanted you to know," she cleared her throat and took a deep breath before looking at him directly in the eye. "Bonnie wanted you to know, that if love were enough, she'd still be here with you."
Danny sucked in a breath, sending her a small nod before standing up and leaving without another word. Skylar stood as well, not bothering to acknowledge the tears that were begging to break free and run down her cheeks.
Without saying a word to anyone, or bothering to smile at people she passed in the hall, she made her way to the locker room. When she got there, George immediately stood up from his seat on the bench and made his way over to her. He knew how much that day took a toll on her.
When he saw her face, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and cradled the back of her head as he whispered over and over again, "It's going to be okay," as she silently cried into his shoulder. And George realized that he would do anything to protect her from the dangers of the world that were bound to come.
Words: 4344
When I first watched this episode I cried a little, so I tried to make it sad but I'm not sure if I like how it turned out. Maybe I'll come back later to edit and add some things
But for now, I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review
