Disclaimer: I own nothing from the show
I honestly hate mornings. I lie in bed as my alarm buzzes and thunder booms overhead. I run a hand through my hair and get dressed quickly, going downstairs to join Mer to head to work. We park beside McDreamy and I quickly walk away, not interested in that conversation, so I take the stairs this morning.
I pass by Cris as she leaves a lab room, Burke coming out behind her with a small smile. I head to my first patient of the day, a woman named Annie Connors with a large tumor on her stomach. How someone lets it get this bad, I'll never know. Karev greets the woman kindly, a strange thing for the prat, but whatever. Burke walks in so Karev begins to present, leaving said intern to wheel her up to C.T. with me, until I'm called to O.R. One.
I end up with a GSW to the left side of his chest and another guy with a knife sticking out from his left side between ribs three and four. As the second guy is in more imminent danger I decide page Burke as the knife is so close to the heart, and take the other to a room. It's about an hour to open, find the bullet that is miraculously still intact, and then to close.
I run a hand through my hair once I scrub out and head back to Ms. Connor's room. I listen to Burke, Bailey, and Shepherd as they discuss how to go through with Ms. Connor's surgery but they somehow end up on her lack of will to live, yet that is not how I see it. I follow Burke to her room where they discuss it with the patient, the mom finally speaking up about the surgery.
"No, no, Annie. She will have the surgery." The mom states, clearly distraught over this.
"I think that is a very wise decision." Burke replies, smiling down at the patient gently.
"On one condition, I don't want him there." Annie says, pointing at Karev with hurt clear in her eyes. He asks what he did wrong, definitely something apparently, but she ignores him.
"If he's in the surgery, I'm not having it," She says, finally looking at Karev, "That's how I live with myself."
"Okay, Miss Connors. Dr. Karev." Burke murmurs, taking the douchebag with him while the mother runs to make a call to whoever. I look at Annie and move to her right side, tilting my head to the side while donning my nicest smile, albeit the fakest one. It's rare I smile for real anymore without it being fake or malicious.
"What did he say?" I ask simply, leaning against the railing while not putting any weight on it.
"It doesn't matter, and you don't have to talk to the nasty tumor lady either. I mean, I let it get this bad. How much sympathy do I deserve?" She mutters, not looking me in the eye as she speaks, clueing me into what the prat must have said.
"I'm going to say it was apparently rude, but I wouldn't listen to him. He is the douchiest intern in the entire program, and no one particularly likes him. Plus, you shouldn't listen to what anyone says," I state gently, placing my hand over hers, watching as tears gather in her eyes, "You have your reasons for not coming in, but that doesn't make you a 'nasty tumor lady'. It makes you a woman who is obviously terrified of the hospital."
"Thank you," She whispers, the tears rolling down rosy cheeks as I smile down at her softly. I place a gentle kiss on her forehead before walking out, making no indication I knew that Dr. Bailey was listening in. I go get another coffee before surgery as I know I'll most likely need it and head to which room we'll be operating in.
I grab my scrub cap, the one Hermione sent me when she found out I was going to be a surgeon. Little snitches against a black background that, had I been in the Wizarding World, would actually zip around. I go down to eat with Mer and Cris who are discussing McDreamy's obvious favoritism, that is until Izzie and Karev join us. The dick talks about the surgery and how he's off but it's the comment about Burke getting into Cris's scrubs that irks me the most.
"If I stuck this fork into his thigh, would I get in trouble?" I wonder allowed, glaring at the little prick as he subtly squirms in his seat under my gaze. Thank you Snape for teaching me the death glare.
"Not if you made it look like an accident." Mer replies, apparently all for the maiming of Karev. George plops down between Mer and Iz with a muttered 'hey' as they finish eating, the puppy embarrassingly trying to ask Mer out but undoubtedly failing. I pass by Mer as I go, but she grabs my sleeve and pulls me in close.
"I need you to work your magic on Mr. Levangie, he needs DBS but he won't agree." Knowing she doesn't mean my literal magic as she's not dumb enough to say it in a crowded hospital, I raise a brow in question as to what she wants.
"And you want me to…" I trail off, crossing my arms over my chest and sighing softly.
"Talk to him, convince him, Hadrien." She explains, pointing to an open door down the hall with a puppy dog eyes. Damn, she knows how to play me. I groan inwardly but go down to the room anyway, knocking on the doorframe before stepping inside.
"Hello, Mr. Levangie, I'm Hadrien Black. Do you know what I want most in the world," I start, watching the older man closely, "I want my wife and son back. I'd do anything to have them happy, would you do the same for your daughter? All she wants is for you to walk her down the aisle, if I had been blessed with a daughter I would do this for her." I turn on my heel as the man silently contemplates what I said, glaring half-heartedly at Mer as I pass, now having to run to get to the O.R. on time.
I tie my scrub cap on quickly before washing up, not looking up when Mer sticks her head in to tell McDreamy that Mr. Levangie has agreed to DBS if they do it today. I don my gloves as Shepherd leaves, practically running away when Mer tries to talk to Bailey about what she saw. I take a deep breath as Mer's face falls and am slightly glad when she leaves, that means I finally start the surgery.
I see Cris and George struggling with retraction but at this point I can't care too much, more intent on saving Annie's life. I do my best to help isolate the small bleeders, but they keep popping up faster than we cauterize them. Her arteries are thick as hell which means we need more blood, but that's the least of our struggles as George slips a bit, dropping the tumor a bit.
I swear softly as we keep trying to resect the tumor, but it's harder than we had expected. Shepherd strides in as we get yet another bag of o-neg and it seems Shepherd is facing as much of a struggle as we are. Iz walks in and says that she had to recrack Mr. Harper's chest, shocking all of us as Karev and Iz argue where we scrub out. Something suddenly blows and we don't have anymore blood, there's too much damage. We do our best to squeeze off the bleeding but she's losing too much so Shepherd starts CPR, to no avail though and in the end it doesn't matter.
"Time of death, 11:42." I call out, removing my mask and glancing up as Karev runs through with the blood a bit too late. I scrub out and head to the lounge while Bailey goes to tell the mother, something I am glad I don't have to do. I sling my bag over my shoulder and step outside, finally breathing out as rain pours down around me. I glance to my left, and see a tumorless Annie, smiling over at me.
"You tried, Dr. Black, don't beat yourself up over it." She says softly, making me chuckle drily.
"I am truly sorry." I whisper, walking off and doing my best to not wallow in the fact that there is now another person I couldn't save.