Meredith freezes to her spot. Only when the elevator dings and the doors roll open does her brain begin to process what Callie just said.
The gurney rolls into the OR, and Meredith jumps off to let the nurses prep Agent Prenton as she goes and scrubs in with Callie.
The Scarlet Killer case she's been following for months has been cracked. And the woman she's about to operate on is the one who cracked it. Olivia Prenton saved an untellable amount of lives, and now it's up to Meredith to save hers.
Of course she couldn't just have an easy, low-risk surgery on her first day.
Controlling her breathing, she pushes away all other thoughts and focuses on her surgical plan. Meredith has been in high-pressure and intense surgeries countless times before, and this isn't any different.
The door to the scrub room swings open, and Teddy walks in.
"I heard you have a case that may be cardio?" She asks eagerly, straining to see through the glass window at the patient.
"What did you do, bribe one of my trauma nurses to update you with the stats of my patients?" Meredith teases.
"I'll never reveal my secrets. Can I scrub in?"
Callie gives her approval, saying that they'll probably need an extra pair of experienced hands anyway. The three women quickly scrub and enter the OR, where the anesthesiologist is already standing, shouting orders at the scrub nurses and techs around the patient.
"Her BP bottomed out, pulse is way too high. You need to get in there and stop that bleeding now." The anesthesiologist yells to the surgeons, who rush to the table.
Without hesitation, Callie slices open Agent Prenton's leg, and as soon as she does, blood pours out like a waterfall. It splatters all over their legs and shoes, soaking the OR floor. Monitors beep rapidly in the background.
The skin on Prenton's leg is a mix of purples and blues, signaling that not only is there internal bleeding, but the lack of blood to the furthest extremities is causing it to die.
Before she can think twice, Meredith and Teddy have heavy suctioning in the leg, yelling for more and more blood to be hung up. Meredith's hands are deep in the leg, searching for the femoral. In a matter of seconds, she finds the artery, even without any visibility.
"Do we have a DeBakey Vessel Clamp anywhere?" Meredith demands, instantly realizing that the femoral is sliced completely in half. She pinches the end in her hand, trying to slow the bleeding.
She glances up again, and a pristine, exact size and type of clamp she needs is being held in front of her. Before she can dwell on her shock at the fact that not only do they have it, but she got it so quickly, she takes it and clamps off the artery.
"Okay, bleeding should stop now, but I need to find the other side so Teddy can repair it before we lose the entire leg," Meredith announces, moving to try and find the rest of the femoral.
"This bone is shattered. I'm going to need a few plates and at least four screws. Get me a supporting rod as well." Callie orders after examining the area for a few moments.
In mere minutes, all three surgeons are working diligently to fix the extensive damage done to this poor woman's leg by three bullets.
Mark pulls up a rolling seat and takes one of the agent's hands in his own gloved ones, slowly examining it. "We get any scans of these? Looks pretty bad to me."
"I didn't even get a chance to look at them, this leg was our first priority," Callie replies.
Without even needing to ask, a nurse pulls out x-rays of Agent Prenton's hands and arms and hangs them on the lightbox on the wall of the OR. Callie stops what she's doing momentarily to study them.
"Okay, the left one will just need a cast to support those wrist and finger fractures, but you might need to open up the right one, Mark."
"No, if you use MBM, it'll cut down recovery time, restore blood flow, and allow the bones to heal in half the time. There's no need to open her up." Meredith cuts in, narrowing her eyes at the scans. The OR falls silent, only broken by Callie's hesitant voice.
"MBM?"
"Madison-Britts Method." Teddy murmurs subconsciously, not looking away from her repair.
"Shit, right, that's a military move. Sorry, I'm still in the mindset of a Colonel."
"No, tell me. I've never heard of that. If it'll help the patient, it's worth trying."
Meredith launches into an explanation of the military trauma shortcut she's used more than once overseas. Most regular surgeons in the states haven't heard of it because they've never had a need to use it. MBM is used a lot of the time for hand-to-hand combat injuries.
Eventually, they agree to use it, and Meredith steps away from the leg to sit next to Mark and demonstrate the technique on Prenton's hand. She trusts Callie and Teddy to keep everything under control.
xx
Multiple hours and two crashes later, Teddy leaves after finishing her repair, and Mark moves to examine Agent Prenton's face, which is bloody and beaten nearly beyond recognition. Both times she crashed, it was brief and they got her back, but intense and worrisome nonetheless. They've replaced her blood volume at least three times by now, but Callie finishes her femur repair, leaving the leg with more metal than bone and she closes up.
Finally, Meredith can step back and relax. They're finished, and Prenton's stats are stable. Meredith steps back ad strips off her gloves and gown as nurses step forward to move their patient to the ICU. Exhaling shakily, Meredith feels an abrupt rush of exhaustion crash over her.
"We should get a neuro consult. With all that blood loss, the lack of oxygen to the brain could mean that she won't wake up." Callie's voice by her side makes Meredith flinch in surprise.
"Good idea." Meredith nods, still trying to get used to the fact that they actually can get a neurosurgeon to come and consult at a moment's notice. Glancing up as she makes her way out, her feet stop on their own accord when she meets her favorite pair of brilliant blue eyes.
Derek is standing in the gallery, and after watching the entire surgery, he wants nothing more than to kiss Meredith harder than ever. He smiles when she looks at him, and she tears off her mask, revealing her own warm smile in return.
Beckoning him with her hand, Meredith leaves the OR and Derek instantly moves to go meet her outside. He finds her standing in front of the OR board, one hand on her lower back, the other on her midsection.
"Are you okay? That was at least ten hours you were on your feet," he comes up behind her, whispering the words into her ear. Meredith's body shivers, and she relaxes back into him.
"I'm just tired. Feeling a little achy."
"Mhm," Derek hums in acknowledgment as he brushes his nose across the soft skin of her neck, causing goosebumps to break out all over her body.
"Stop that," Meredith hisses playfully, making no move to pull away from him. Derek wraps his arms around her waist, not caring one bit that they're standing in the middle of the hospital OR floor.
"When's your shift over?" Meredith asks.
"It was over an hour ago."
She pulls away suddenly, turning to face him. Before Derek can dwell on the loss of contact, he is fixed with a confused look from his girlfriend.
"Why are you still here, then?"
He blinks. "To watch you operate."
Meredith steps back, crossing her arms over her chest. Derek wonders briefly what he did to make her take on such a defensive stance.
"That...that doesn't make sense. You were here way earlier than me, you had the most boring day ever, and yet, you stay after your shift ends? To watch me?"
"It's your first day. Your first surgery in Seattle Grace. No way was I going to miss it."
"Aw Shep, you are so whipped." A deep voice interrupts, laughing from behind them, and Mark Sloan materializes out of nowhere.
"Did you talk to the patient's family yet?" Meredith turns her attention to the plastic surgeon, changing the subject.
"Nope, that's the lead surgeon's job. This was your case, you get to go update them."
"Shit, I didn't know that." Meredith's gaze darts between the two men, eyes wide. "I haven't spoken to the family of a patient since I was a fellow.
"Meredith, relax. You have good news. All you have to do is start off by saying she's alive, brief them on what you did, and answer any questions they might have." Derek steps closer to her comfortingly.
She nods, taking a deep breath. "Can you go to her room? We need a neuro consult anyway. I'll take the family up to see her when you're done."
Derek nods, hesitantly leaning in to kiss her cheek. When she doesn't pull away, he does then turns to head up to the ICU. Meredith turns back to Mark.
"I'm going to get fuckin' lost."
Mark laughs again. "I'll come with you, then, GI Jane."
Meredith shakes her head at the nickname but doesn't bother trying to fight it. The two walk towards the waiting room in comfortable silence, and as soon as they open the doors, a large group of people stands up.
Meredith instantly recognizes the blonde woman in the front from earlier; Agent Prenton's girlfriend.
"I'm Dr. Grey, and this is Dr. Sloan, we are two of the surgeons who operated on Agent Prenton," Meredith announces, keeping her voice level and calm as soon as she gets within earshot. "She's alive."
She's unable to keep a smile off her face at the visible wave of relief that washes through the group.
"The bullets sliced her femoral artery and shattered her femur, so we had a cardio and ortho surgeon repair those as Dr. Sloan looked at her hands and face, which were both pretty badly damaged from hand to hand combat," Meredith continues. "Agent Prenton coded twice on the table, but we got her back both times and her stats are stable for now."
"When can we see her?" The blonde demands.
"We have a neurosurgeon consulting right now, I will take you all up to see her in the ICU in about ten minutes."
"A neurosurgeon?" A smaller woman from the back pipes up, with curly black hair and brown skin.
"Yes. We had to replace Agent Prenton's entire blood volume at least three times, and because of that, we're not sure if her brain is damaged from lack of oxygen." Meredith presses her lips together. "There is a very likely chance that she will not wake up from the coma she's in."
The blonde gasps, her knees buckling beneath her. A big blonde man sweeps in, catching her before she can hit the ground as she collapses into his arms, sobbing.
The dark-haired woman from earlier steps up, reaching out a hand to shake Meredith's and Mark's. "I'm Special Agent Maggie Webbs. These are Agents Jake Desmond, Ryan Howard, and Vanessa Lohan. We're the team that works with Olivia. We're her family, and Lindsey's the love of her life."
"You have to save her," Lindsey says, voice breaking. "Please."
Meredith nods, taking in the faces of everyone in front of her. Her phone buzzes, and she pulls it out briefly to see a text from Derek, saying he's finished his consult.
"Okay, I can take you up to the ICU to see her now if you'd like." Meredith offers.
At her words, Lindsey manages to find the strength to remove herself from Jake's arms and stand on her own shaky feet. Mark turns first, Meredith by his side as the rest of the group follows.
"You're a natural, Grey," Mark leans down to whisper to Meredith ask they walk, and a proud smile takes over her face.
xx
Over half an hour later, Meredith makes it back to her office where she finds her boyfriend waiting.
"You definitely need a nice, comfortable couch in here," Derek says from his spot sitting on her desk.
Meredith laughs and collapses into his arms. "Get me a chair first," she mumbles into his chest. He strokes her back for a while until she finally pulls back enough to meet his gaze. "What are your thoughts on Agent Prenton?"
Derek sighs. "I'd give her about a forty percent chance of regaining consciousness after two weeks."
Meredith hangs her head. "Goddamnit. Today really couldn't have been an easy day? First patient back and it's not looking good..."
"Hey, you did everything right. It's not your-"
"I know," Meredith cuts him off with a small laugh. "Honestly, I'm not blaming myself for this. I know what I'm doing in the OR, and there were no big mistakes made in there. Sometimes these things just happen. I know that. It just..."
"Sucks?" Derek finishes for her, and she nods. "I know you didn't do anything wrong, but don't you like the reassurance? From a third party?"
Meredith shrugs, moving back to leaning completely against his body. "I'm just ready to go home."
"You need to rest," Derek agrees. Neither of them moves.
They stay like that for at least fifteen minutes, until Meredith finally has to get up to stretch her back. Teddy volunteered to stay at the hospital and watch Agent Prenton overnight, so Meredith doesn't have a problem just going home with her boyfriend to get some much-needed sleep.
A/N: Soooo, I may or may not have made up a couple of medical terms in this chapter...got a bit lazy and didn't feel like doing all the digging to find the real terms. lol, sorry, don't go trying to save anyone's life with these tactics.
ALSO: Here's a little poll for the next chapter...do we want some spice?