Robert
Warren and me unloaded the gurney when he pulled into the emergency entrance at Grey Sloan.
"What do we got?"
"Andrea Herrera, 31. Allergic reaction. Had to be intubated on sight."
"Where's Miranda?"
"Where's Chief Bailey?"
"She's inside. She's waiting with Dr. Grey."
"Let's go."
We rolled the gurney into Grey Sloan.
Miranda and Meredith were standing around, waiting for her.
"You've got the best Doctors here working on her."
"I know."
"I can see what he's talking about, Bailey. You can see it behind the tube. The trauma a Surgeon left behind on her throat. It's a terrible closing job."
"Well, it's held for 16 years."
"And now it's holding on by a thread."
"We'll be waiting here."
"Yeah."
They rolled her into a hospital room.
Warren moved Aid Car 19 into a parking spot.
He joined me in the waiting room.
Miranda
We took the tube out of Andy's throat.
"Start on a chest tube." I instructed Levi.
He put the tube in her chest.
Andy continued breathing.
Levi secured it to make sure it doesn't come out while we're working on her throat.
He headed out.
We slid Andy's dress down her body.
We put the hospital gown on her.
"Alright. Let's go."
We rolled her down to the O.R.
"Is that Pruitt Herrera's kid?"
"Is that the legacy kid at 19?"
We pushed Andy's hospital bed into the O.R Room.
Meredith and me scrubbed in.
McCallister
I still didn't get an update from Warren.
I had e-mailed Bishop about it.
She didn't get back to me.
Maya
I was going through the filing cabinets.
My computer had dinged, signaling I had got an e-mail.
I didn't care.
I pulled a file from August 5th, 2005.
There wasn't another one.
"Oh, I love you right now, Captain Herrera."
I was skimming through it.
Captain Herrera had done the same thing I did with Zaza with Andy.
McCallister
I left my office.
I drove to Kaminski.
I walked in.
Gibson, Hughes, Ruiz, Montgomery, Emmett Dixon, and Miller were here.
Sullivan, Herrera, Bishop, and Warren weren't.
I headed to Grey Sloan.
Maya
I walked into McCallister's office.
He wasn't in.
I left the file on McCallister's desk.
Miranda
We cut open Andy's throat.
"Jeez. Her whole trachea is screwed."
"Tracheostomy, it is."
McCallister
I headed into Grey Sloan.
"Sullivan."
He sighed.
"I don't know what is going on with her. Because all this God damn nurse keeps telling me is that she's in the O.R, getting surgery."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't tell you anything more than that. If you're not family."
"How many times do I have to tell you this?!"
Sullivan got up.
"We're married."
"Am I supposed to believe that?"
"Would you like me to go get our Marriage license?"
"Never mind."
"That's what I thought. Shut up."
"Well, normally husbands and Wives wear Wedding bands."
"Not Firefighters."
"That's not true. Captain Herrera did."
"Well, I'm not him."
"Not even half the man he was."
"I'm so sick and tired of hearing Andy and you say that."
"Andy expects you not to stab her in the back. That's what she expects from her husband. But she can't even get that."
"So... Chief Bailey and Dr. Grey have decided on the type of surgery Andrea is getting."
"And what is it?"
"Tracheostomy."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"A Tracheostomy is a bit extreme."
"Not for the damage the previous Surgeon left behind on her Trachea."
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Yeah."
"Can you pull up Andrea's medical records?"
"Yeah."
The nurse accessed them.
"Do you have a particular date or year in mind?"
"2005."
"She only came to the hospital once in 2005."
"Mm-hmm."
"Andrea was brought in on Engine 19 by her father, Pruitt Herrera. She had a bleeding forehead, broken nose, broken jaw, crushed windpipe, bruised/broken ribs, and her stomach was displaced. It was caused-"
"By a motorcycle landing on her."
"Yeah. How do-"
"Let's just say- My Wife wrote things down before she passed out."
"Your Wife isn't gonna be eating for awhile."
"Oh, I already know that."
Miranda
I made a horizontal incision through Andy's skin at the lower part of the front of her neck.
Meredith carefully pulled back the surrounding muscles.
I cut a small portion of her thyroid gland.
It exposed Andy's Trachea.
I created the tracheostomy hole.
I inserted the tracheostomy tube into the hole.
Meredith attached a neck strap to the face plate of the tube.
I did sutures to secure the face plate to the skin of her neck.
We got the Oyster out of Andy's throat.
Robert
Miranda and Meredith walked out.
"How'd the surgery go?"
"She's getting transferred into the ICU. Andy still has several days here."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. But if we didn't do the Tracheostomy, she was gonna be on a ventilator for a very long time, Robert."
"Yeah."
"I'll come get you once she's transferred into the ICU."
"Okay."
McCallister
Two Doctors walked out.
"How'd the surgery go?"
"She's getting transferred into the ICU. Andy still has several days here."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. But if we didn't do the Tracheostomy, she was gonna be on a ventilator for a very long time, Robert."
"Yeah."
"I'll come get you once she's transferred into the ICU."
"Okay."
I left.
I went back to my office.
A new file was sitting on my desk.
I opened it.
It was time-stamped August 5, 2005.
I was reading through it.
It was Herrera's incident with the Motorcycle.
It was her best friend, Ryan driving it.
He made a sharp turn too sharp.
Ryan had went flying away from the motorcycle.
The motorcycle had landed on Herrera's face and neck.
He had called 911.
Engine 19 and Ladder 19 had reported to the call.
Aid Car 19 was busy on a different call.
Captain Herrera had put Herrera into Engine 19 when he saw how extensive her injuries were.
He had dropped her off at the hospital.
Captain Herrera had signed off on the report.
I shut the file.
I wasn't changing my mind.
Robert
"You can come back, Robert. She's groggy and tired because of the anesthesia."
I followed Miranda.
She had walked off before reaching the room.
A bunch of people were in the room.
Andy had her head in her knees.
"Get out!"
All of them looked up at me.
"Get out! Now!"
They all walked out.
"How loud do you have to be to get people to listen to you?"
Andy smiled.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you."
She grabbed her phone off the table in here.
"Are you?"
"Yeah. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have decided on a Tracheostomy. But Doctors know best."
"The decision is up to you."
"Did you ever change it?"
"I don't know."
"Andy!"
"Well, I'm sorry. I've been busy at work. I work the same shift as you."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to take it out on you."
"You sound like you do."
"No. It's the God damn nurse at the reception desk."
"What happened?"
"She just keeps assuming we're not married because we don't wear rings."
"Screw what anybody else has to say. It doesn't matter."
She smiled.
"What?"
"It's kind of ironic."
"What?"
"Ryan is the reason I'm here. Quite literally too. He took the bullet for me."
I nodded my head.
"He was a good man, Andy. I've always respected him. And not because of what he did."
"But Ryan is also the reason I started a relationship with you."
I laughed.
"I think you do mean what you meant."
"What?"
"All of the things you've said before our Wedding?"
"Yeah."
"I do think you are fighting a lineage of mistakes. But you are making even bigger mistakes, Robert."
I closed my eyes.
"And I do believe you love me. I know you do. I believe in the guy I married. And so did Dad. And that's the only reason he walked me down the aisle. Because he was so sure he was right."
I opened them.
"But this isn't the man I married. This is a ruthless version of that man. And I'm not gonna put up with it for the rest of my life. So, you better figure it out. Or you will lose me."
I nodded my head.
"I want you, Andy."
"Then fix your mistakes. And that's making amends first. And don't start with me first."
I nodded my head.
She fell asleep.
I put Andy's phone on the charger.
I pulled the blanket up to cover her.
I walked out.
I had talked with Maya and Warren.
Both of them forgave me for my actions.
I walked back into Andy's hospital room.
The speech therapist was in here.
She had her arms crossed against her chest.
"Andy?"
"She's bothering me."
"I highly doubt she's bothering you."
"I'm not eating that."
"Mrs. Sullivan-"
"What do you think this is? The 1960's?"
I laughed.
"It's Sullivan-Herrera. How hard is it to understand that?!"
Andy tripped the tray off the table.
"I think she doesn't wanna eat right now."
"I'm gonna tell Chief Bailey to put a feeding tube in you if you keep this up."
"Toodle-loo, Jennifer."
"Can you at least try to cooperate with the speech therapist?"
"I was. Until she brought that crap in. I'm not eating it. I don't eat fats like that and not burn them off after. I'm sorry."
"I get where you're coming from."