A/N: Apologies for the late update, my loves! Here it is! Episode 6! Enjoy!
"Code blue in bed 27."
Emma and Ruby raced from the office, shoes pounding against the linoleum as they weaved their way around doctors and patients alike. They each paused long enough to grab a set of gloves before moving into the room in question.
"Keep doing compressions." The blonde ordered the nurse standing beside the unresponsive man. She scanned over his vitals and grimaced. "He's in afib! I need an OR cleared and ready for an angio now!" Emma pulled on a second pair of gloves and ordering the nurses to pump a mixture of medication into his IV. Everything from sedation medications to artery drainers were being pushed through the thin plastic line attached to his arm.
For some reason, this was a big deal to Emma, yet she couldn't figure out why. She had done dozens, maybe even hundreds, of surgeries like this before and they had all been successful. This one was different. This one was weighted differently. This wasn't like a physical medical exam where one was working on a patient for a grade. No. This was a different kind of pressure.
For a second Emma's mind was elsewhere before she refocused herself. She stretched her arms out, rolled her neck, and ran to the OR. She quickly but carefully got into her scrubs making sure to have gloves on top of gloves. And to have her mask io prior to entering the room. She nodded to herself as she mentally prepared herself, motioning for a nurse to begin reading her Daniel's chart.
Kathryn found Regina pacing one of the hallways near the E.R. Her face was pale and she was drumming her fingers against her arm as she walked back and forth, glancing occasionally towards the room where she could just make out Emma working on Daniel.
"Hey, there you are. What are you doing out here?" The blonde inquired, taking hold of Regina's arms to stop her pacing, her hands sliding up to cup olive toned cheeks gently. "Regina, talk to me. Are you okay?"
"His heart stopped. Kat, his heart stopped and I felt happy." Brown eyes looked up at her, swirling with confusion and concern. "I shouldn't be happy about that. I'm a doctor. I'm supposed to help people."
"That doesn't make you any less of a doctor, babe. His heart didn't stop because of you." She lead the brunette over to one of the empty waiting rooms, guiding her to sit beside her on one of the couches. "You and Daniel had a history, a damaging one at that. It's not unusual to feel relieved when the prospect of an event occurring again is removed."
Regina looked back at her friend in awe, nodding a little. "When did you get so smart, Kathryn Midas?" The blonde shrugged a bit and gave her a nudge.
"Somewhere between high school and med school." She checked her pager and frowned. "I have to go. They need me to scrub in." She stood and squeezed Regina's hand. "It'll be okay, no matter the outcome. I'll come find you as soon as we're done."
The brunette nodded and gave a little wave as she watched her friend retreat down the hallway and disappear as she rounded the corner towards the Operating rooms. She sighed softly and began making her way back towards the Pediatric ward. She would at least finish her rounds and try to stay busy until Kat came to find her.
The operating room was a flurry of activity as doctors, nurses and interns alike moved about in an attempt to keep the patient stable, a feat they were all failing spectacularly. Machines beeped and chirped warnings every few seconds to alert them of the ever increasing list of problems.
It was going on two hours that they had been working on the man. The constant order for irrigation or medication filling the tense space around them. Kathryn stood across from Emma, working to keep the field of view clear and rinsed for the older blonde. Another alarm sounded and the nurse read off the stats on display.
'His heart rate is dropping. Wait, why is that happening? I'm doing everything right. I've done this surgery before, many many times before,so why is this one so different? Cut open vein. Check. Remove major blockage. Check. Wait until heart rate picks back up. Not check. Why isn't his heart starting?'
Emma scanned over the opening in the twenty-seven year old's chest. There was no immediate sign of further damage beyond what had already been repaired. There was no reason that he should be bottoming out like this. Kathryn motioned to Neal to clear the sweat that was forming on the cardio surgeon's brow.
As another hour slips by, Emma finds herself barely able to keep the man stable for longer than a few minutes at a time. Nurses, interns and a few other doctors scrub in and trade places in order to keep the surgery moving along. Green eyes snap up from their exploration of a upper right portion of the chest cavity when the machines began blaring again, this time with a high pitched tone.
" He's flatlining!" The blonde called out as if everyone in the room was deaf to the continuous noise. A third glove was pulled over her hand before she reached into his chest, the nurse reaching beneath the still muscle of the heart and beginning to squeeze it in a steady rhythm. Emma began working on removing the blood clots from the left atria.
The alarms continued to sound as they worked, Emma glancing at the monitors every few seconds for any sign that their efforts were working. The nurses traded out after twenty minutes,alternating the speed and pressure. The blonde finally sighed and removed her hands.
"You know what? We can't work on him for another 3 hours just to try and get his heart to start beating. This is a loss we're going to have to take. Kathryn, call code and wrap this up. Good work everyone." Emma takes off her gloves and backs away from the operating table before going to the wash station and disinfecting her hands. She watched as the operating room emptied one person at a time, her eyes following the younger blonde as she cleaned up the surgical tools.
Emma caught Kathryn by the arm gently as she made to leave the operating room. "Where on Earth are you going?" She frowned as the younger doctor pulled her arm away and glared at her.
"To go find my fucking friend. You had no intention of telling her about this at all, did you?" Emma looks at her blankly for a second, the discomfort evident on her face as she contemplated this question.
"I didn't think so. So, if you'd excuse me, Dr. Swan, I'm going to find Regina and make sure she's okay. Unless you're suddenly interested in how she feels and what she's upset about, I'll just excuse myself." Kathryn waits for a second before adding "You know, if you had bothered to ask her why she wouldn't take the case, you would have understood." she held the emerald gaze for a few moments, hoping that the older woman isn't as heartless and dense as she seems. After a moment or two, the blue eyed woman shakes her head and exits the room. She weaves between nurses as she makes her way along the hallway towards the emergency room bay to start her search for the brunette.
Emma opens the door to her office and sighs, running long fingers through her golden hair. She takes off her lab coat before turning and facing the window, surprised to find Regina sitting on the sofa at the far end of her office. She has her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes are rimmed red from crying, her fingers moving carefully to place stickers on various folders. .
"Oh, Regina! I didn't see you there."
"It's cool. I was just organizing things." The brunette gave a little shrug but the posture of her body told an entirely different story.
"Are you okay?"
"Um kind of."
"Look, Regina..."
"No no no I get it. I should have listened to you."
"No Regina, that's not what I meant. I meant…."
"No, no. I totally understand, I should have followed by protocol and done the assignment."
"No, Regina, that's not what I'm saying."
"Listen, I'm sorry. it won't happen again, I swear. I just really wanna be back on your team." Brown eyes lifted to look at the blonde pleadingly, her lip quivering a bit in an unintended pout.
"Regina, would you be quiet for 10 minutes? God, I swear you New Yorkers don't shut up." Emma joked, sending an immediate smile to Regina's face.
"Sorry"
"Okay, so a lot has happened in this hospital over the last few hours. You are more than welcome back on my team. It was a stupid move for me to take you off of it in the first place. Second, I should have respected when you told me you didn't want to take the case. Instead of snapping on you, I should have asked you why. So I'm taking the opportunity now. Why didn't you want to take the case?"
"Daniel or is my ex boyfriend." Regina began quietly after a moment, she didn't think she would be talking about him with anyone but Kathryn, but she couldn't help how easy she found it to confide in Emma. "We had an extremely toxic relationship, to say the least. I called things off before I left for medical school." She toyed with a sticker between her thumb and index fingers. "We…..he…..wasn't the nicest guy. He wasn't great at discussing his feelings, but could always make sure I felt when he was mad." She avoided laying the terms of the relationship out in any more detail, hoping the blonde would understand.
"Oh my god. I'm sorry, Regina. I feel so stupid."
"It's okay, Emma. I should have made a bigger effort to tell you why."
"Regina, we need to talk about his case"
"Okay," The younger woman turned her body to face her boss more fully. "What's going on with it? I heard the call for his room." She looked up into green eyes expectantly.
"His heart stopped seconds before I got my hands on him. It was such a close call but three hours in and I had to call it." The blonde grimaced and placed her hand on top of the olive toned one resting on the couch.
Regina started to laugh "I'm sorry, what?"
"Regina, it was life or death and he was so far in the wrong side of things. I didn't know it meant that much to you, I'm sorry." The cardio surgeon spoke softly, the way she would when breaking the news of a loved ones passing to a grieving family.
Regina laughed for a while before looking Emma in the eye "You're serious?" Emma nods slowly "I'm free?" she chuckled before sighing and nodding, running her hands over her face. "Free. That's funny." Regina looks at the blonde sitting across from her, the confusion palpable on her face as she observes the near hysterical behavior. "It's funny, right?" The older woman tilts her head a bit, squinting as she tried to understand what was happening.
Regina took a deep breath before a single escaped and made a trail along the curve of her cheek. From that single tear it felt like she had every single brick taken off of her back. From this moment on she felt like she could breathe. She felt like every voice that had been doubting her in her head had faded away into nothing but whispers of praise for the future.
Emma backed away for a few moments to give Regina her space,taking the time to observe the woman, before she realizes that this isn't going to be a short cry. She realizes that Regina's going to be crying for a while as she processes everything that's transpired that day.. She scoots forward, closer to the brunette, and wraps an arm around her shoulder. The younger woman takes full advantage of the situation and buries her face against the strong shoulder being offered to her. Emma turns Regina's body in order to provide more stability and she holds her close to her chest as she cries. Her hand trailing up and down the petite spine as she murmurs soothing words into chocolate locks.
It was going to be a long cry, but it would be easier with company.
Killian and Neal circle the E.R floor as they do follow up checks on each of their respective patients, both men lifting their heads as they hear the wail of a siren outside the doors. Neal calls over his shoulder towards a group of nurses.
"Incoming trauma! Get us a bed ready." He grabbed a set of gloves and tossed a pair to the one handed man as they watched the vehicle pull to a stop outside. The back doors of the ambulance flew open and two medics jumped out, lowering a gurney from the back of the vehicle.
"Female,24. Severe whiplash and a minor concussion. Other injuries include minor bruises but I'd check for internal bleeding. She got hit pretty hard. Full collision, driver's side. She lost consciousness on the scene."
Killian sucked in a breath as he looked down at the patient. "Shit….shit! Neal! It's Lacey!" He checked her vitals quickly and did a quick check of her pupil response. "Pupils fully dilating. Someone page Neuro! Get Dr. French down here now!"
Neal looked at the paramedic who was watching the interaction with a grimace. "Thank you for getting her here so quickly, I'm Neal. Neal Cassidy. You are?"
"Robin. Robin Locksley. Nice to meet you." he shakes his hand quickly before Neal takes control of the stretcher and pushes it over to a room, trying his best not to stare at the state of his friend.
Several nurses rush in to hook up an IV and get working to clean up some of the cuts that were visible along the petite woman's hands, obviously from shards of glass.
"Who has her chart?" Neal calls out over the rumble of noise in the crowded room.
"I do" Jasmine says from behind everyone, waving her hand to get his attention. She reaches her tiny arm across to him and hands over the requested folder. "I've already paged Dr. French for you."
"It says that she was in a minor car collision with a few of the bike riders from the race. There's no way a bike did this." He continues scanning over the report and nods a little "She was collateral damage. Another driver swerved to avoid hitting the bike riders who were in the path of his car. He over corrected and careened into Lacey's car."
"You guys know she's a intern here, right?" One of the nurses pipes up, a redhead by the name of Ariel who tended to be too cheerful for everyone except Mary Margaret.
"She's French's sister, right?" Killian asked, examining a small laceration across the brunette's right temple.
"Yeah, she is" Neal nods.
He starts to list off narcotics to put into her IV before he leaves the room and starts to get the materials needed to stitch up her forearm. She had a deep tissue cut on her arm which was most likely from the glass in her window shattering.
Belle approaches the room and motions for the chart. "What do we have? Car accid- Lacey? Lacey!" She tosses the chart at the end of the bed and moves to stand closer to her sister's head. Taking out her pen light to test the responsiveness of the younger woman's senses again. "Why didn't anyone tell me the patient was my sister?"
"Dr. French, it doesn't appear to be anything major. She has some scrapes and bruises. A small head lac and a possible concussion. No broken bones to be noted. She was really, really lucky."
The neuro surgeon grimaced a bit and ran her fingers lightly over the cleanly stitched section of her sister's arm. "I want her taken for an ultrasound and an MRI. Then I will decide how lucky she was."
About an hour later most of the interns were gathered at Lacey's feet asking her about the accident and how it happened. She had regained consciousness around the time that her sister had ordered her to be taken to Radiology for scans.
"Wait, did they like just cut you off completely?"
"Well yes and no. They were moving out of the way of the bikers and I happened to be sitting at a red light waiting to move. I don't think it was intentional. They didn't want to hit any of the bicyclists."
"And what's the next thing you know? Boom accident?"
"No, they moved and didn't see me nor did I see them. They hit my side of the car when they went to trun. It was so quick that I don't even remember the color of the car that hit mine. Oh no! Speaking of mine can someone check on my baby after work?" She looked around the room in concern, anyone who knew the petite woman knew that she had a serious passion for her silver Cadillac ATS-V Coupe.
Jeff nodded immediately "Of course I will. I'll make sure she's good as new!"
"You're the best." lacey smiled, her eyes beginning to droop as her pain medication kicked in. None of her injuries had been too severe save for some extensive bruising on her ribs from the collision. The interns all waved as they made their way out one at a time, wishing her a speedy recovery.
"Alright, Lace, sleep tight. We'll see you in the morning." Regina smiled and waved before taking graham with her to the scrub room along with Jeff who kissed the bedridden brunette before wishing her good night.
"Night Lace, glad you're alright. " Neal walked away with a smile
"Don't grit that face anymore, aye love?" Killian waved to her with a wink before making his way down the hall after the others.
"Bye guys" She waved a little, resting her head back against the pillow.
"Lacey French! Don't you dare scare me like that, ever again, do you hear me!?" Kathryn stormed in, blue eyes ablaze.
"I won't, I'm sorry." Lacey chuckled which was quickly followed by a whine of pain. "Ow, fuck that hurts."
"You have a concussion of course it does." Kat laughed at her, moving to sit beside the other woman.
"Don't laugh at me. It makes me wanna laugh too and I can't" The brunette pouted, tilting her head to see the blonde better.
"You're cute." Kathryn smiled, leaning down to press a kiss against her forehead,
"What was that?"
"What?"
"That kiss on the forehead. That was light, kiss me like a real man." Brown eyes sparkled mischievously.
"I can't yet, you're concussed. I'll make it up to you once you're cleared."
"Just wait until I'm cleared." she smiled, yawning softly as Kathryn moved to sit in the chair beside her bed, holding the other woman's hand.
"Another day down at the hospital of sins, sex and scandal" Graham joked, shrugging his jacket on.
"Facts" Jeff smiled.
"Today's been kinda crazy. I'm really ready to go home" Regina smiled, rolling her shoulders.
"I feel that" Jeff nods in agreement.
Regina finished changing before she grabbed her keys and hugged Graham goodbye "I'll see you. Bye Jeff" she waved before walking out of the hospital, amused to find a certain blonde looking perplexed at her own inability to locate her vehicle, even in its horrendous and obnoxious coloring.
"Lost your car?" Regina asked
"A little. You'd think it would be harder to lose." Regina took the car keys from the other woman and pressed the panic button, an alarm sounding a few parking spots away. "I found it!"
"Wow, Regina, thanks." Emma chuckled and decided to walk the brunette to her car, wanting to have just a few more minutes before they parted ways."I'm sorry about tonight. I wish I could make it up to you in some way. How about I do my own rounds? Or like I could make sure you get to scrub into a surgery or…"
"Or you could take me to dinner and a movie?" Regina supplied helpfully, her cheeks flaring red as she realized she had voiced the option out loud. "I….you don't have to…"
"Sounds perfect. I'll pick you up at 7 next Saturday." Emma winked before kissing her on the cheek. She grinned as she walked backwards. "See you later, Mills. Try not to get attacked by any loose dogs this weekend, yeah?" She teased
The brunette laughed softly and shook her head. "I'm only in the habit of being attacked by slobbering giants with cute owners." She blushed again before ducking into her car, giving the blonde a small wave before backing out of her parking space and steering her car towards home.
A/N: Aww see, we got 2 cute couples with blossoming love! Please leave your thoughts and comments for us!