"Maggie?" he calls letting himself into the house. He checks the living room. Nothing. He makes his way upstairs taking them 2 at a time heads straight to her bedroom. She's rushing from her closet to a suitcase sitting on the bed, clothes strewn all over the place. "Hey!" he says taking it all in. "Going somewhere?"
"Yeah. I'm taking a little vacation. No big deal." She takes a shirt off a hanger and throws it into the bag.
"Kinda sudden, don't you think?"
"No. I think the timing is perfect." Now she's making her way into the bathroom and returning with what appears to be a toilet bag that she's zipping up. That too she throws into the suitcase and finally really acknowledges his presence. "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have a hospital to run?"
He finally takes a good look at her. Her eyes are puffy like she recently had a bout of tears and she's a little dishevelled. Not the calm collected woman he's so used to. Guess that woman has been missing since Sabi. He decides not to dwell on that right then.
"Amelia called, says you quit your job? What the hell Maggie, what's going on?" Immediately she averts her eyes and goes back to packing. "Maggie?"
"I don't know what to tell you Alex. I can't do my job if I'm second guessing myself every step of the way. So..." she takes a deep shaky breath and releases it, "I'm taking myself out."
Alex looks at her, not sure what to say. "You think you're the first person to lose a patient?"
She scoffs "Alex, I've lost patients. I'm good at what I do, well at least I was, but even I don't have that clean a record. Things go wrong in the OR but this…Sabi...", she takes a deep, almost painful breath_ "that wasn't supposed to happen." Her voice breaks. "That surgery was routine. I could do it with my eyes closed except I ended up killing a cousin I had only just met and with whom I had so much in common she could have been me."
She turns around and focuses on him, pinning him with a stare. "This is me Alex. I don't make my decisions on the fly. I don't trust myself in the OR so I'm taking some time to re-evaluate my options."
"How long?"
She folds he arms across her chest, almost defensively*. "I would be lying if I said I have that figured out."
"Were you at least going to say goodbye?"
She smiles at that, "I'm not Mere. I have left a note for her and Amelia. And I'll keep in touch." She wipes at her eyes. "I am going to wait for the kids and have a little chat with them and then I'm off."
When he says nothing she continues, "Look Alex…" she's about to get into it when he interrupts her.
"Where will you be going?"
She hugs herself, shifting from one foot to another. "I'll figure it out."
Alex releases an exasperated breath, "Maggie!"
"I'll figure it out, Alex! I really don't need you trying to talk me out of this right now." She walks over to the door, opening it wider. "If that's all you had in mind to do, you can leave right now."
He makes not move to follow her directive. "I have an idea."
She gives him a small watery smile, "Yeah?" He walks over bringing her in for a hug.
"Yeah!"
Maggie picks up her luggage at the Lubumbashi International Airport and starts looking around for her ride. She catches some movement from the corner of her eye. Wavy messy hair just fighting through the overwhelming number of bodies. Stephanie sees her and she holds up a big Médecins Sans Frontières sign as a smile takes over her face.