A Holiday Album
A House, MD fan-fic by entercreativename.
Summary: Brief snapshots of everyone's holidays.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just admire what Fox and its affiliates have created.
Chapter 2 - Silent Night
He looked down at the chart in his hands. He had pulled the short straw, had to work on Christmas. Not that it really mattered, he was alone here in this country. With both of his parents dead, and no significant other, he felt better working the holiday than being alone at home brooding. Instead, he was surrounded by nurses who were brooding that they were not at home. He sighed, grateful that there was no major change in the patient that lie asleep before him.
He put down the chart, he missed home, if he even knew what home really was. He had been in the states for just a few years now, just enough to still be teased by his boss about being from Australia. He had been alone for so long now that it didn't really seem to matter what was going on. Holiday, weekend, evening, it didn't matter. He knew he wanted comfort and solace from anyone, even if it was her. He looked back at his patient knowing that this was the closest anyone would get to being caressed tonight. He took a chair from the corner of the room, pulled it over, and watched the woman in front of him sleep away her pain and suffering.
He looked back in the patient's chart. She had been in a motor-vehicle accident the night before buying presents, however, she had no family and no one to come visit her. It was the staff's best guess that she was buying presents for charity when she was in the accident. Several people on that evening had tried to find relatives or friends to come and visit, but could not locate anyone. She was young too, that's what really got to the doctor. She looked to be about his age. He felt for her as he was the closest thing she had to family for Christmas; she was the closest thing he had.
He looked at her, it was if he knew her or at least saw himself in her peaceful slumber. She was alone. He was alone. She had been trying to do something good for someone. He was there, watching over her. He could imagine her awake, active. She was beautiful and obviously knew how to take care of herself. He was shocked that someone didn't miss her tonight. He looked closer at her and saw how her chest rose and fell with the mechanical grace of the ventilator that kept her from crossing over.
It was a shame for a Jane Doe to be alone on Christmas, and, he wanted to at least be there for her. He didn't want her to be alone that night as he felt no one should be alone on that night.
He had just closed his eyes when the alarms started to blare for the third time this evening; her condition had never stabilized after repeated surgeries. His patient had suffered from internal bleeding that the surgeons could not repair, and everyone knew that she was going to go at some point. The doctor sighed, called the code, and got to work, trying yet again to pull her from the grasps of death.
They tried.
But they could not save the nameless patient.
Three nurses, himself, and two interns tried for forty-seven minutes to resuscitate the young woman, but could not. Robert Chase looked up at the clock, and called the time of death at 1:26 AM on Christmas morning.