A Good Day to Be Alive

Genre: Family

Pairings: Greg and Molly

Main characters: Greg, Molly

"Oh my God!" Molly cried suddenly, jumping back from the steel table with a small shriek. She blinked, then stepped forward again, promptly dropping the scalpel she held in her hand back onto the tray beside her. Her hands began to shake with the knowledge of what she had been about to do.

She leaned over the body, closely watching the face. She held her breath as her attention fell on the eyes of the young athletic woman who lay before her. She let it out in a rush as her hand, completely breaking protocol, flew to her mouth, and then to the young woman's neck, seeking out her carotid artery.

Molly dealt with the dead, and as such, her place was in the morgue. Molly's charges were the unfortunates who found themselves on her steel post-mortem table. Whether they died expectedly or unexpectedly, whether they had left this earth in a timely, or untimely manner, it was part of Molly's job to explain why they were there.

This young woman, a college student on an athletics scholarship, had appeared on initial examination, to have passed away from cardiac arrest on the race track. Suddenly, however, she no longer fell within the definition of one of Molly's charges.

This woman was, most decidedly, not dead.

Cursing the fact that a stethoscope was useless in the mortuary, Molly quickly called upstairs for assistance, and then she got to work, doing the best she could with what she had on hand.

Greg, having arrived home ahead of Molly for once, busied himself in the kitchen preparing dinner. He had arrived well early enough to give their childminder an early dismissal, and greet his children in their routine - Greer swept up into his arms for a cuddle, a book chosen with Johnnie and Scott for later on. He smiled to himself at the memory of the text message he had received from his wife several hours prior.

You know how you say that some days aren't good days? ML

Yes, Love? GL

This is a good day. A very, very good day. =D ML

Wonderful, sweetheart. What's happened? GL

I was prevented from doing my job today. ML

Okay… and…? GL

I'll explain when I get home. I love you Gregory! ML

I love you too Molly :) See you later Love. GL

Now, sliding a casserole dish into the oven chamber and glancing over at his sons playing with their Lego sets, and his daughter busy with a colouring book, Greg shook his head, smiling to himself. He honestly hadn't the foggiest idea what Molly was on about, but he knew that generally at best, Molly usually came home from work happy to be done with it for the day. At worst, she came home subdued and quiet, when a particularly difficult case had found its way to her midst.

This day, however, something had made it absolutely marvelous. He went to the fridge and pulled out a cold beer, twisting the cap off. Turning to the dining table, he sat down with the newspaper he had picked up over his lunch hour and began to browse.

Some 30 minutes later, when Molly appeared at the door, she made her way through her children in much the same way that Greg always did, then appeared in the kitchen in front of him. Greg grinned at the light in her eyes. Something had definitely made her day.

"Well?" he asked, after he'd pulled her into his arms and soundly kissed her hello. "What's happened to make my already beautiful wife so radiantly gorgeous?"

"An accidental incidence of induced hypothermic coma," Molly said, mysteriously, reaching her hand up to trace the contours of his face.

"Eh?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow. He understood the terminology, but not the finer details. After all, he was a Detective Inspector, not a doctor.

"Today I had a young college student in the mortuary, only nineteen years old. She had been in the cooler of course, waiting her turn. She had been a track athlete and had collapsed on the race track from an apparent heart attack while training for hurdles." Molly sighed contentedly as she played with Greg's collar.

"When I pulled her out to begin her post mortem, I saw movement in her eyelids. Honestly it scared the shit out of me," Molly giggled softly. "There's nothing spookier than a dead body suddenly moving about on the table."

Greg nodded in agreement. He had seen a lot in his time, and he could withstand a lot of sights and sounds as a result without so much as blinking an eye, but there was no question that a suddenly undead in the place of the dead would be particularly off-putting.

"So I called for help and did what I could. It turns out, she didn't die on the track after all. She just managed to hang on, and when she was cooled, she was put into a hypothermic state. Being dead saved her life, darling."

"That is absolutely amazing, Love," Greg smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "I had a good day as well, but not nearly as interesting. I'm not sure I could ever top that."

"I'm not sure I could either now," Molly said, wrapping her arms around him and settling happily against his chest. "Every day is a good day to be alive, Gregory. But today especially, is a good one."