Author's Note: one of my favorite shows (next to CSI) is Grey's Anatomy. Its very fun to watch and I've always found medicine amazing. So, naturally, I've decided to put a little bit of doctoring into my story. Of course I have no idea what I'm talking about so I don't even know if this surgery is possible….but we can all just come to the conclusions that we can all pretend Alinna knows what she's talking about!! Oh and another thing…I used my own name in this. I don't know why….maybe I'm just crazy like that:) So anyway….enjoy!

Chapter 52 – Brain Surgery

Alinna Travis walked down the hallway quickly. Dr. Gertrude was waiting patiently for her and she needed to go quickly. Alinna had only been a doctor for about six months and was still learning a great deal about medicine and how to treat patients. This case was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she wasn't going to dawdle to get to this patients room. She knocked softly then went in. Dr. Gertrude was just explaining the procedure to the patient's mother. Alinna thought her name was Barbara but couldn't be sure.

Dr. Gertrude looked up when Alinna came into the room.

"Mrs. Kennedy this is Dr. Travis. She is an intern and will be assisting me with your son's surgery."

Mrs. Kennedy gave a nervous hello and Alinna gave her a kind smile. Dr. Gertrude was actually a lot stricter then she was letting on. She was Alinna's mentor and teacher and had told her about an hour before that she wasn't to speak at all if she wanted to partake in this. Alinna wouldn't miss this for the world so she compiled quietly.

"As I was saying," Dr. Gertrude continued, "The procedure is actually very simple. We will open up his brain and…restart it. Once we see the brain we can pinpoint the spot that suffered this damage and fix it using this new technology. When he comes off the anesthesia he will wake up and be able to lead a normal life again."

"He's going to wake up?" Mrs. Kennedy asked. She looked at her son lying on the bed. He had been unconscious for nearly eleven years and she was ready for him to wake up again. "Why couldn't you have done this earlier?"

"This procedure has been in trial for about five years. We have just now perfected it and we are ready to try it on coma patients."

Mrs. Kennedy nodded. She looked at Alinna. She gave her a kind smile again. Alinna was probably just as excited about this as this woman, but for different reasons. She knew she might not ever see this procedure done on anyone else in her medical career. Ever. And she wouldn't miss this for the world. Dr. Gertrude handed Mrs. Kennedy the papers and she signed them. She was led out of the room and Alinna was left to prep Trevor for surgery.

SnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickers

Sara, Catherine and Lindsay got out of the hospital the next day. Catherine had to take Lindsay into the police station to give her statement. George had tied her up and gagged her until he was ready to put the bomb on her. She couldn't remember anything about him that they could use and he had been careful not to say anything around her that might be relevant.

This frustrated pretty much everyone at the lab. The parking lot was still had a small crater in it and the back had crime scene tape around it. Sara and Catherine were told to cut down their hours right from the beginning but they both knew that wasn't going to happen. Catherine wasn't going to rest until this guy was put behind bars and Sara was just as nervous.

Both women were nervous about letting their daughters go back to school. Lindsay couldn't go yet because she was still on bed rest (she had been closest to the blast) but Charlotte should have been going to school. Sara ended up keeping her out of school for a week. She let her go a week and a half after the blast but she took her back out again at lunch time. Of coarse the school board wasn't happy with this but Sara wasn't about to take their advice.

Catherine, Sara, and Nick all had a little system worked out. Both girls would always be watched by one of them, all three were never at work at the same time and the girls were left with constant supervision. Sometimes even Warrick or Greg would help out. Sara knew this seemed a little extensive but even this system didn't ease Sara's nerves and she knew Catherine felt the same.

Meanwhile, they had no leads on George. He was in the wind. They had tracked down his family and they had each been interviewed multiple times. Everyone George had known had been grilled for any information they might have but by the time the two weeks was up they still had nothing.

The end of the two weeks also left Catherine and Sara feeling extremely tired. Sara hadn't slept in a few days but it wasn't from lack of trying. Every bump and creek in the night sent her sailing out of bed and running into Charlotte's room. She was on high alert and nothing would help her sleep. Catherine had told Sara that Lindsay had started having nightmares. Catherine couldn't sleep either and she was up with Lindsay anyway. Neither woman had slept a full 24 hours in two weeks.

The upside to getting no sleep was that Sara hadn't had one of "those dreams" in two weeks. Sara was very glad she wasn't having them but she couldn't help but think about them during the day. Of course she hated it but whenever she sat still for a little while her mind would drift to him. This was one of the reasons she was keeping busy.

SnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickers

Alinna had some help from her coworker, Matt, wheeling Trevor Kennedy into surgery room three. He was prepped and the surgical nurses took the gurney from them as they went into the station to scrub in. Neither of them said a word as they washed their arms and tied their masks behind their heads. They were both equally excited but neither would dare speak a word of it.

Going into the surgery room they were equipped with blue robes and long latex gloves. After they were dressed, Matt and Alinna made their way over to the table where the surgical nurses were laying blue paper over Trevor's unconscious body. His head was surrounded by different machines that whirred and beeped. His mouth already had a tube sticking out of it and the surgical nurses were almost ready to go. The operating room was bustling with people and when Alinna looked up she saw a good thirty people in the observation room. This was definatly one for the history books.

Dr. Gertrude and Dr. Lemming were talking quietly by Trevor's head. Dr. Lemming was the other neurological surgeon operating today. They talked for another minute of so before Dr. Lemming shouted out,

"Is everyone ready?" Everyone mumbled their "yes" so he said, "Ok, then. Let's get started. Let's wake this guy up."

Alinna and Matt stood very still. Seen and not heard. They watched, barely blinking for a few hours while the surgery was done. In a normal surgery Dr. Gertrude or Dr. Lemming would be asking them questions and they would have to answer them. In a normal surgery they could have participated in the surgery in some small way. But this was not a normal surgery. This was a once-in-a-lifetime-never-witness-again-in-your-entire-career surgery. And even though Alinna wasn't participating, she would never forget this.

Hours went by. There was a lot of movement in the operating room but not much talking. Dr. Lemming or Dr. Gertrude would tell people to do things and ask for tools but otherwise didn't say much. There was a rough patch a little ways into the surgery. Trevor's heart rate dropped and there was about half a minute of excitement getting it to go back up again. Once that was under control the surgery went smoothly.

When Dr. Lemming was finished there was a lot of applause and everyone was smiling. Alinna and Matt wheeled Trevor back to his room and they took turns keeping watch for him to wake up. Alinna was on shift when, two hours later, he woke up. He was disoriented and a little confused but he was awake. Alinna called Mrs. Kennedy in and everything was explained to him.

The next couple of days were very confusing and rather stressful for Trevor. It was hard for him to hear that he had been hit by a truck and knocked into a coma for eleven years. It was Alinna's job to make sure he was comfortable and looked after. Sometimes she would be the only one in his room and eventually they got acquainted.

Trevor did suffer a little bit of memory loss. He was having trouble remembering some things about his life. Alinna knew that was normal but she would try some exercises the therapist taught her sometimes, just to make sure he didn't forget some things for good.

One morning, three days after his surgery, Alinna was changing his IV bag. She could tell he was deep in thought and asked him what he was thinking about.

"I have a girlfriend," he said so quietly she barely heard him.

"You do," she said, sounding cheerful. "What's her name?"

Trevor sat for a minute, thinking about this. "Sara…I think. Yeah…Sara Sidle."