Chapter 4
"What is it Izzie?" Dr. George O'Malley pondered, "Do we have to do some complex neo-natal procedure? I don't think I worked with Addison much so I'm not sure what to do. What if we..." George continued rambling as he began prepping the patient for an emergency c-section.
Izzie interrupted him, because he just would not stop talking. "George, shut up and give the woman an epidural." Izzie placed her pager on her belt and tried to focus on the patient. I am not sure if what I am doing is right. Someone has to take charge here. George hasn't worked with Addison that much at all, so I guess I drew the short straw.
"Are we supposed to do that when she's this close to giving birth? Does Addison know the patient's work up? Did she know that I have no clue how to do an epidural? Are you sure we are going through with the right procedure? Are you sure..."
"I'm sure you can be quiet now. Help me prop her upright." Izzie said. The two managed to get the patient into an upright position, which was no easy feat considering the amount of weight gain gone through in pregnancy and the advanced stage of the patient. Izzie gave the patient an epidural while George held the woman in place. Right when Izzie inserted the epidural, the patient screamed. I wish Addison was here. I know that was the right thing to do but George is probably freaking out. A moment later, the patient calmed down though. Izzie and George put her down on the table and extended her arms out like a cross. Next, they stuck the needles that kept track of the vitals into the patient's arms. After hastily sterilizing the patient, Izzie reached for a scapel.
George grabbed her pager and read it. "Izzie Stevens! What the hell do you think you're doing trying to hide that page from me? Are all these people going to die?"
Izzie, tired of telling George to be quiet, grabbed a towel and shoved it into his mouth. I am tired of all the second guessing. I do that enough to myself. I just can't afford it in a surgery. "We'll save this patient. Then we can worry about the rest of the hospital. So, let's get to work." She ripped the towel from his mouth, and the two got to work on the surgery.
"Please, please, please don't kill her." Derek mumbled under his breathe as his eyes were glued to his wife. Her eyes were closed, squeezed tight, her chest heaved up and down, drawing in deep breaths to calm down. Addison was trying not to tremble in fear of what could happen to her, she tried not thinking about it. She tried not regretting never having the chance to tell Derek everything she wants him to know, not having a chance to even come clean about the whole Mark situation. But most of the time, she was trying not to let her fear show. But he could tell. After 12 years of marriage, Derek could tell everything about his wife. He could tell she was trying not to tremble with fear, he could tell she was very close to planning her own death, how she want her funeral to be like and what she wants him to do if she should die. He licked his dry lips, watching her trying to calm herself down. If there is anything he can do now to save her from the position, he would. But there was nothing. With Addison held at gun point, one wrong move will cause the bullet to be inserted right into her brain, and not even him, the best neurosurgeon in Seattle Grace, can save her.
"Shut those pagers and phones off now! Throw them into the wall! You aren't doing any surgeries anymore. The interns are the competent ones. They'll take over from here, doctors." Martin shouted, shaking Derek out of his worried daze. But his eyes never left his wife. His limbs were frozen on the spot. "Derek." Preston called out, giving a small touch to his shoulder, as though to wake him up. Derek's body jerked, turning around with a blank stare at Preston.
He's losing it. Richard thought, catching the look on Derek's face. Then, Martin let go of Addison and tossed her to another corner of the room. Her body slammed straight into the wall, but she fought the pain to stay conscious, glaring up at him. "You, stay here." Martin sneered, pointing the gun briefly at her before making his way to Derek. The gun point now has switched its target. The nuzzle was pressed against Derek's forehead as the doctor slowly turned around.
"I said, turn off that darn pager of yours and throw it against the wall." He repeated. "Like how I did to your wife, Dr. Shepherd."
Derek could strangle him right now, but he has a cocked gun pressed against his forehead. He swallowed hard, gritted his teeth to stop himself from saying anything. The man obviously has serious mental issues. Derek looked up briefly at Martin, his eyes conveying that he would do whatever the intern says, and unclipped the paged off his scrubs. He switched it off, choosing not to look at the page before doing so, and tossed it against the wall. It didn't break, it didn't crack. Martin laughed, releasing Derek from the gun point and made his way towards the pager. Looking down at it, Martin shook his head, then lifted his foot up and stomped down with a satisfying crack.
Dr. Christina Yang stole the pager from George. "Alex, let's go stabilize our patient. Help isn't coming for awhile. Unless that's a problem with you Chief Stevens?" Izzie didn't say anything, so Christina dragged Alex down to OR 3. "She's chief-of-surgery now. Help isn't coming, so let's get to work at least saving this patient until the big-wigs get out of the hostage situation."
"Izzie? They put her in charge? This is definitely going to put a strain on our relationship." Alex began studying the patient. "We should give her a Ct-scan to determine the extent of the injuries. We should do it now because there's not much time." Alex grabbed the cart and started to wheel outside of the OR.
"Stop right there. She's bleeding out her left side. You can't see it from where you stand. We've got to close her up first and clean the wound." Christina answered as she stopped Alex from leaving. "Let's do that and then we can do the ct-scan, MRI or deal with relationships later." Even Christina's worry about Burke was transparent though. She just figured that she would hide it, like she did everything else.
Hannah Jones walked away from Meredith and Callie. They aren't being helpful. So I'll find my mother myself. She ignored them suturing and giving post-op information to patients. If they couldn't help her, she would find Dr. Stevens, she would do it herself. She walked for awhile, unable to find Izzie. Meredith left after stitching up a patient and decided to go tell Izzie about Hannah being here to see her. Callie assumed that Meredith had left to assist in taking care of Hannah.
Addison shifted. Her knees were drawn to her chest, but now she sat crossed legged at the corner she was placed at. The staff now has a total different view of her, watching as she fight to stay sane at the corner. But Addison didn't care, all she cared about was Derek. If anything should happen to him, she was too far from him to help. Many times, both of them had been held at gun point, causing the heart to stop a beat in the other's. It's as though Martin did all that false threatening and gun point holdings just for the pleasure of watching the panic on their faces.
Martin sat on Richard's armchair, swinging back and forth while toying with his gun. The position of him, Addison and the rest of the staff, made the points of a triangle. If Addison were to run back, he would be there to shoot, if someone were to tackle him, he would have time to shoot. Perfect. He thought, his eyes flickering back and forth from the group and Addison now and then.
"How long, exactly, is he going to hold us here?" Richard whispered. Derek turned around, finally tearing his eyes off Addison. "Addy sent a text out. To who, I don't know, but I hope the person will get help, at least." Derek whispered back. Then he turned around to Addison again. Their gaze met, they eyes locked onto each other's and silent messages were sent. That was the only thing at the moment that kept them together, that kept them from going insane.
Dr. Meredith Grey entered OR 1 without knocking or scrubbing in. "Izzie, there is a Hannah Jones here to see you. She won't let any of us help her." Meredith looked down and realized that George and Izzie were operating on a patient, which quickly made her worry about their places in the program. "Didn't you already get in trouble for doing an illegal surgery once before?"
"We have a very bad code black. I'll explain everything after this patient is stable. Just please get as many interns that aren't in surgery to go into the lobby and place have m... Hannah go into the chief's office. Yes I can ask that of you. I'll explain that later. George and I just need to stabilize this patient." Izzie carefully began to pull the woman's child out from her uterus. George, completely ignoring Meredith, cut the umbilical cord off from the child. Meredith tossed Izzie a sterile towel, so she could wrap the child. In a few minutes, they had managed to stabilize the mother and the child.
"You're thinking of getting her out of there, aren't you?" Bailey's voice sounded behind Derek. He nodded, without turning around. He needed to look at his wife, who is still alive, to comfort himself, and Addison needed him to calm herself down. "You're crazy." She said.
This time, Derek turned around, his eyes shifting back and forth from Miranda, Preston, and Richard. At first confused, they frowned at him. Richard was the first to get the silent message. "No." he said firmly. "You're not!" But Derek nodded his head firmly.
Then there was a cry, an infant's cry. All eyes turned to Miranda as fear gripped the fearless resident. No. No no no… she thought, her eyes shifted back and forth from behind the stack of books to Martin as he got up from the armchair.
"You brought William in here!" Richard demanded, turning to face Miranda. She didn't respond, distracted as Martin started shifting objects to get to the source of the cry. "You brought William in here." Richard said again, this time with disbelief in his voice.
"I didn't have a choice." She said with her soft voice. Then, Martin started to reach out for the stack of books that was shielding William from everyone's view. That was when Miranda stood up.
"No!" she shouted. Moments of desperation brings out the most vulnerable side of people. She thought to herself, remembering how she watched Addison struggle. But it was her baby's life at stake now. Martin spun around, cocking his eyebrow at her. "It's yours, isn't he?" he said. Miranda nodded, starting to step out from her position. Martin sighed, turning to look at William once again. "Take him. And make him stop crying!" he demanded. The breaths held in the room were let out as Miranda made her way hurriedly and picked him up. There was still hope. The insanity level hasn't gone high enough for Martin to kill an innocent infant.
Taking that opportunity, Derek made his way to Addison ready to grab her. He had turned his head a couple of times towards Martin to make sure he wasn't looking. But just as he reached out for Addison, the gun trigger went off.
Dr. Izzie Stevens took a deep breath as she went down into the lobby. Everyone was surely waiting for her to explain the code black scenario to them. So, that's exactly what she'd do, once she regained her composure. I am in charge. I can handle this. I can lead. "There's been an incident in the auditorium. Someone's held the attendings, residents and chief hostage. Dr. Addison Montgomery Shepherd was the only one capable of sending a message, and she put me in charge until that gets resolved."
"Do you think I'm taking orders from you Dr. Model?" A blonde in the back interrupted very rudely. "I'm not taking orders from you. I'd rather miss out on the surgeries. These patients are dead if you're in charge. I'm out of here." The blonde and another man followed her outside. "I don't care if it is your birthday. You aren't getting credit for our hard work."
Why did Addison pick me? I haven't even laid down the ground rules and people are already rebelling. Izzie sighted. "Fine, whatever. I can't stop you from being paranoid but Dr. Webber will get real upset at anyone who leaves probably. Does anyone else have any problems?" The group remained silent. "Good, here are the ground rules. One, surgery must always be done in pairs. If you don't know the answer to a question, you ask. No one cuts blind unless three doctors can't figure it out and there's no time to look up the answer. Two, no one does a surgery that is not life-threatening or would greatly reduce the quality of life in a patient if not done. We want to limit the surgeries done without an attending or resident. Three, do not let me catch you breaking a rule if you have to break them to save a life. Let's go save some lives." Most of the group scattered in pairs towards patients.
Izzie and George went up the stairs. "What are you doing Izzie?" George asked.
"I've got to close the hospital so paramedics take patients elsewhere and someone named Hannah is waiting for me in the chief's office."
Dr. Callie Torres and Meredith exchanged worried glances. Then, Callie said the one thing on both their minds, "Where's Hannah?"
Hannah Jones had snuck down the hall during Izzie's speech. None of the doctors would see her as she opened the door to the auditorium. Doctors were crowded at one corner of the room, but that was all the little girl could see. Innocently, she peeked her head in.
"Dr. Stevens?" Hannah shouted above the chaos.