Chapter 12: Surgery and Coffee
Disclaimer: Do not own any of Grey's Anatomy, sadly.
"Hello, again, doctors," greeted Mr. Jackson. Both of them knew that he was by far one of the friendliest, most easy-going, and downright sane patients they would be blessed to have at Seattle Grace. SGH did have a way of attracting the weirdoes and the headaches. Thus Meredith and even Alex was appreciative and particularly fond of this patient.
"Hi, Mr. Jackson. How are you feeling?" Meredith asked easily.
"Not as good as you two, I suspect," he answered with a grin. "But ready to get the show on the road, that's for sure."
"Well, good news: we're also ready to get this party started," Alex said. "We're going to prep you for surgery, then have Mike and Denise a/n: nurses standing in the corner, whom I made up take you down to the OR. Once you're down there, the scrub nurses will make sure everything's set, then I think Dr. Tyson will administer the anesthesia. It is Dr. Tyson, right, Grey?" He turned to his fellow for intern for confirmation on the anesthesiologist.
She nodded, "Dr. Tyson is the one scheduled. And he's very good. The procedure should last about eight and a half hours; once you're done there, we'll take you into recovery. Because it's a spinal surgery, you'll have to spend the night there, unfortunately. But Alex and I will come into check on you, and we'll make sure to monitor you closely."
Mr. Jackson nodded, fully ready for his surgery. Alex and Meredith completed all of the necessary pre-op tests, easily keeping up a stream of conversation with their patient. After finishing the prep work, they watched as Mike and Denise gently transferred Mr. Jackson onto the gurney to be taken into the OR. "We'll see you down in the OR, ok, Mr. Jackson?" asked Alex.
"Sounds good. But no necking on the way down- I need you two kids in there, to make sure those fancy doctors do their job correctly. Got it?" he winked at Meredith as he asked.
She blushed a little bit, but good naturedly replied, "I'll make sure Alex is on his best behavior, at least for the next nine hours. Just for you."
Alex pretended to be affronted by that statement. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dr. Grey. I'm always on my best behavior."
His fellow intern opted out of verbally responding, just rolling her eyes in response. "We'll see you soon, Mr. Jackson," she said, giving his hand one squeeze before walking out, Alex in tow. The pair began to head down the stairs to OR 3 where the operation was to take place. "This should be a great operation; Dr. Shepherd's going to use the splicing technique to isolate the mass. I've never seen that before."
"Yeah, I know. It's supposed to be incredibly cool- and we'll get to be tableside, not just watching up in the gallery. Ha, poor suckers. We're getting the hot surgical action and they have to watch." He smirked.
She playfully elbowed him, saying, "You are incredibly obnoxious, Karev. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm hot. And you can't keep away from me, so whatever."
Upon those words, the two interns entered the scrub room to get ready for the upcoming surgery. Dr. Shepherd was already in there, washing his hands and carefully putting his favorite cap on. "Hey, you two. You ready for an amazing surgery?"
"Always," replied Alex.
"Of course," answered Meredith, smiling at Alex, not Derek. After all three were scrubbed up and suited up, they entered the OR where Mr. Jackson was waiting, already under.
"Alright, people. It's a beautiful day to save lives. Let's have some fun," and with that, Dr. Shepherd began the procedure, Meredith on his right, Alex on his left.
Nine hours later…
"That went very well. Thank you for your help, Dr. Grey, Dr. Karev." Dr. Shepherd nodded at them as discarded his gloves and headed out to wash out.
"That was seriously awesome, Dr. Shepherd. The way you managed to remove the clot and preserve the stream all at once…" Alex enthused. Dr. Shepherd couldn't help but smile at his intern's enthusiasm, recalling his own days new to the procedures.
"Glad you enjoyed it, Karev. Hopefully we won't have to do it again for Mr. Jackson. Can I count on you to look after him?"
"Of course, Dr. Shepherd," answered Meredith smoothly.
"Great. Good work here, again." With that, he gave Meredith one last glance and left.
Alex and Meredith stood side-by-side at the sink, washing up. This time, Alex elbowed her. "Pretty cool, huh, Grey?"
"Yeah, even if you had to be there. It was pretty terrific."
"Haha. So, you realize we're still on call for another, oh, 18 hours?"
"Ugh. Don't remind me."
He looked at her. "Wanna grab some coffee, you know, so we can make sure Mr. Jackson stays alive?"
She looked back at him, time momentarily suspended while she once again got lost in his eyes. Meredith smiled. Smiled a real, happy-to-be-around-this-guy smile. "Sure. Coffee sounds good." Alex returned the smile, and the two interns headed out of the OR to go find some caffeine to get them through the rest of the day.