Mighty Little Man…
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Of all the things I didn't expect to happen in Australia like meeting the Crocodile Hunter and riding Skippy, becoming an overnight hero was the most unexpected thing of all. After the initial press conference and re-enactment for a current affairs show it seemed like we'd be etched into Australian history forever.
However, as a doctor things change quickly and while yesterday we were heroes, today we're just doctors and because we spent the day schmoozing with the media we've all been put on-call tonight. Apart from Dr Cox who refused to get involved in the media circus and is probably propping up a bar somewhere since all this hero worship has given the media liaison more work.
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"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Gina groused, pulling her phone from its cradle and watching as each little red light eventually gave up and disappeared. "Bloody doctors," she added, dropping her head into her hands.
"Oh see now I'm hurt," Dr Anderson mused, appearing at the door.
"Don't you have sick people to cure or something?"
"Actually by some freak of nature they're all stable and it's unnaturally quiet around here."
"Must be the calm before the storm."
"And just what do you mean by that?" Dr Anderson mused as he took to sauntering around Gina's office prodding things.
"That maybe it's a little too quiet," Gina shrugged. "Or maybe you're just lucky."
"Let's stick with lucky," Dr Anderson countered. "Anything else is a jinx."
"True," Gina agreed. "How are our American friends doing?"
"Between Dorian singing Heroes and the black guy dancing I think they're fine," Dr Anderson jeered.
"They're like dopey little puppies," Gina mused. "I wish we could keep them."
"I hate puppies," Dr Anderson scorned, narrowing his eyes.
"Are you sure you don't have lives to save?" Gina frowned as Dr Anderson's beeper went off.
"I'm being paged because someone has a runny nose!" Dr Anderson gasped.
"Oh better hurry along with a box of tissues then," Gina enthused, lobbing an unopened box at him.
"You know there's a reason we divorced," Dr Anderson groused, picking up the box of tissues and lobbing it back at Gina.
"Yeah, I was sick of hunting out a magnifying glass and tweezers," Gina teased.
Dr Anderson pouted before heading out of the door. "Evil, spiteful woman…"
******************
"Cos we can be Heroes, just for one day and we're gonna be ourselves, just for one day…"
"Bambi you so have to stop singing that song," Carla mused as she perused some paperwork. J.D was leaning against a nurses station desk seemingly dancing to invisible music. "Bambi!"
"Just for one day…What?" J.D gasped, finally shaking himself out of his daydream.
"Nevermind," Carla sighed as Turk appeared looking utterly bored. "Hey baby."
"Hey," Turk sighed. "I've never seen such a quiet hospital in my life. The only patient I've seen was a guy with broken leg."
"Tell me about it…" J.D nodded. "I palmed what little I had to do off on an intern."
"That's terrible," Turk scorned, looking disgusted at J.D. "Dude, you can't just make someone else do your work."
"I'm sleepy," J.D said pathetically. "I never realised how much being a celebrity could take it out of you. Besides, I only have a handful of patients and they're all asleep and fine."
Turk shook his head. "You wanna see if the café has any strawberry sundaes?"
"Why yes Dr Turk I do," J.D perked as Turk led them in the direction of the cafeteria. Carla pondered a moment, checked there were plenty of other nurses around and then hurried off to join them.
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You should never be too complacent as a doctor, while at that very moment things seem to be quiet and calm you never know when the tables are going to turn and what was once easy turns out to be a lot harder than you imagine.
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A tired man in his chair doesn't move he only stares
At the machine across the room there's nothing there
It's not getting through
He finally stands up throws his hands up in the air
A blinding flash across the room a sudden crash a sonic boom
Changes everything he knew
******************
"Ross," Gina announced breathless as she found Dr Anderson stepping into the elevator. "Thank Christ I found you."
"Why? What's wrong?" Dr Anderson asked as they both slipped into the elevator.
"I just got a call from one of my media contacts," she breathed, her face the picture of seriousness. "There's been some sort of horror crash on the freeway, and I mean horror. A truck and a bus full of kids…"
"Jesus…"
"I don't know how bad they are but they'll be here within minutes," Gina explained. "The ER is horribly understaffed and you're to only resident here."
"What?" Dr Anderson gasped. "I'm in charge?"
"Yeah," Gina nodded.
"No, no that's a bad, bad idea…" Ross swallowed and began to pace the elevator until it stopped at the right floor. "I've never been in charge of anything, I'm horribly irresponsible…"
"You have so and you're not irresponsible when it comes to things that matter."
"What about the hero himself, Cox?"
"He's not here, it's all up to you."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Dr Anderson sighed. Gina patted him on the shoulder before she headed off to warn security of the impending media onslaught and the frantic parents and relatives that were about to descend on the hospital.
******************
"So what's it like working with Dr Anderson?" Elliot asked. "I mean other than the fact he's a lazy jerk?"
"I wouldn't know," J.D mused. "I don't see him enough, he kinda hands all his patients to me and then disappears ninja-like."
"Makes you wonder how he ever got into medicine," Carla agreed and then winced. "Speak of the devil."
"Listen up everyone," Dr Anderson announced as he marched over and stopped beside their table. "There's been a nasty accident and we're about to have an influx of patients ok?"
"How nasty?" Turk asked, not looking all that flustered.
"A truck and a bus of kids," Dr Anderson replied bluntly. "We're short staffed so we've all got to work together. Turk and Todd, I want you down at the ER pronto," he ordered and Turk and Todd left immediately. "Dr Reid I'm gonna need your help with addressing the parents of the kids. As sexist as it is, you'll find the frantic mothers are more easily calmed by a woman. When not doing that you'll be helping Dr Dorian and Nurse Espinosa are we clear?"
"Couldn't be clearer?" J.D said quietly as he tried to process everything he'd just heard.
"Good," Dr Anderson said gruffly. "So what are you waiting for, dancing girls and a pinata?"
J.D, Elliot and Carla quickly got up from their seats and headed out of the cafeteria. Dr Anderson took several reassuring deep breaths before he was ready to go out and face the carnage.
******************
Its everything he's never seen
The biggest deal there's ever been
Described in light upon the screen it said
Nobody else is stronger than I am
Yesterday I moved a mountain,
I bet I could be your hero
I am a mighty little man
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It wasn't long before the hospital was overrun with young children needing desperate medical attention; everything from small cuts to emergency surgery was being undertaken.
"So he's going to be ok?" a woman asked as she looked pleadingly at Elliot. Her face was white, the blood having drained from it long ago.
"Yes, your son is going to be fine Mrs Parker," Elliot soothed.
"Dr Reid," Dr Anderson announced causing Elliot to jump. "A word," he added less harshly. They moved into a quieter corner and Dr Anderson handed her a chart. "Mrs Parker's son just died."
"Oh," Elliot said speechless.
"We thought he was…" Dr Anderson's voice trailed off. "Anyway, break it to her gently yeah, he was her only child."
"Yes sir," Elliot said quietly and looked blankly at the expectant Mrs Parker.
Dr Anderson ran his fingers through his hair in the half a second before a worried couple approached him.
"Doctor," the man swallowed.
"Yes," Dr Anderson replied, trying to ignore the worried expression on their faces.
"We're looking for our daughter, she was on that bus," the man continued. "She's got blonde hair."
"She was wearing a red jumper," the mother piped up in words that were barely audible.
"Oh," Dr Anderson breathed. "I'm not sure if she's been admitted, I'll have to check with a few other doctors and I'll be sure to let you know just as soon as I find out," he said soothingly and then hurried toward the nearest corridor.
"Dr Anderson," J.D announced as he walked in the opposite direction. "The worst seems to be over man."
"The worst," Dr Anderson laughed coldly. "I've got to go back out there in a minute and tell a couple their twelve year old daughter is dead, mate it isn't anywhere near over."
"Sorry," J.D breathed, not knowing what else to say.
"So am I," Dr Anderson sighed, forcing himself to turn around and head back toward the waiting area.
"Ross," Dr Cox announced, appearing through the crowds. "I heard about what happened on TV, d'you need any help?"
"Yeah but not with work," Dr Anderson replied and then gave Dr Cox an appreciative look. "If you could take over admissions for me, that'd be peachy."
"Yeah, no problem," Dr Cox nodded. "So were you running the show tonight?"
Dr Anderson nodded as he headed toward the waiting parents. "Wasn't much of a show, too much tragedy."
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From way up here you can't look down
As of now there is no ground
The microscope is turned around
Don't be alarmed don't make a fuss
He's still like you he's one of us
And he'll come back before to long
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"I can't believe it's finally quiet in here," Gina announced as the sky through the large, glass entrance windows started turning purple. There were only a few people left in the waiting area and most of them were asleep.
"It won't last," Dr Cox shrugged wearily mulling over a mug of coffee. "It never does."
"Thanks for helping out," Gina smiled. "From what I saw it was near chaos in here."
"Actually Ross had it all under control," Dr Cox smiled coyly. "I didn't have to do much other than deal with your normal run of the mill patients."
"It's a compliment Perry," Gina chided. "Take it."
"Well thankyou Blondie," Dr Cox jeered. "And since we're handing out compliments, you look very hot for someone who hasn't slept, bathed or probably eaten in 24 hours."
"Flatterer," Gina blushed and averted her attention to the papers in her hands.
"I've got a couple of hours before my next shift starts," Dr Cox piped up gingerly after a few seconds of silence. "Don't suppose I could buy you breakfast?"
"Now why would you want to do that?"
"Think of it as an apology for doing nothing but increasing your workload."
Gina looked up from her papers and pondered a moment. "Ok, breakfast it is. I've just got to hunt down Ross and tell him something and I'll be with you."
"I'll be waiting right here pumpkin," Dr Cox mused as he watched Gina saunter toward the elevator.
******************
Dr Anderson stood on the roof of the hospital watching the sun rising, the sky now a deep array of pinks, oranges and yellows.
"Finally," Gina mused as she appeared beside him. "Been looking for you everywhere."
"I needed to clear my head," Dr Anderson replied, not averting his eyes from the rising sun.
"Did it work?"
"Nope," Dr Anderson breathed and hung his head. "Never does."
"You did amazing last night," Gina soothed, rubbing his back. "I mean I've known you a long time and seriously man, that's like a career high."
"Great, telling devastated parents their kids are dead is a career high," Dr Anderson groused. "Remind me to get that printed on a certificate."
"It could have been a lot worse," Gina breathed. "You know that."
"Yeah," Dr Anderson nodded. "It was a team effort though, those American kids worked damn hard and I even owe one to Perry."
"That's gotta hurt."
"Like a knife in my back babe," Dr Anderson sighed, exhausted.
"You gonna be ok?" Gina asked, wrapping him up in a comforting hug.
"Depends on whether I can con you into more than a hug?" Dr Anderson mused as Gina pulled away.
"No," she said with mock seriousness. "Go home and sleep yeah?"
"Sure," he agreed and watched and Gina disappeared back into the hospital. He gave the sunrise one last glimpse and then went in the same direction.
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He takes a breath and clears his mind
Grabs his coat and steps outside
An empty street there's no one there
He lifts himself into the air
A billion thoughts expressed as one
Etched in words across the sun it said
******************
"Hey Dr Anderson," J.D called as Dr Anderson, changed out of his scrubs into normal attire, strolled across the parking lot.
"What Dorian?" Dr Anderson sighed as he reached the waiting J.D
"I just wanted to say that I was impressed with the way you handled last night," J.D said sincerely.
"I was just doing my job," Dr Anderson shrugged. "And you didn't do too badly yourself."
"Does this mean I won't have to discompact any more bowels?"
"No," Dr Anderson said with a raised eyebrow and then smiled cheekily. "Going home to sleep?"
"Nah, I'm still wound up," J.D shrugged. "I was thinking of heading to the beach…"
"Want to join me for a beer?"
"Sure," J.D said, trying not to show he was more than excited by the offer. They both paused as Gina and Dr Cox walked out of the hospital laughing and talking.
"Make that tequila slammers," Dr Anderson breathed and shook his head. "Come on Dorian, before I change my mind."
"Do you have an iron liver?" J.D asked as they headed in the direction of the nearest pub.
"Do you actually own a working pair of testicles?"
"I'm not showing you."
"Thank Christ for that."
"Dr Anderson."
"Yes Dorian."
"What's a wombat and where can I find one?"
"Oh for…"
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Nobody else is stronger than I am
Yesterday I moved a mountain
I bet I could be your hero
I am a mighty little man.
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Mighty Little Man by Steve Burns from the album Songs for Dustmites