A/N: This is a mammoth of a chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Thirty One
Richard Weber stood in front of the surgery board, fingers working anxiously at his chin as he scanned the board. It was a quiet board and that was never good. If history had proven anything, it was that a quiet board meant trouble. It meant future brewing trouble that would throw the entire hospital into mayhem. Richard shook his head, clicking his tongue once.
"What is it?" Derek asked, stopping next to him and glancing at the board. When he saw it he went, "Ah, quiet board."
"Quiet board," Richard said. "It's a quiet board. And you know what that means."
"Come on, Richard, let's not get superstitious," Derek said, clapping his hand down briefly on the older man's shoulder.
"Do I need to remind you of the last time we had a quiet board, Sheperd?"
"That was a long time ago," Derek held. "We haven't had a real disaster in…" he trailed off, considering the point for a moment. "Would we count the Marburger outbreak as a disaster?"
"Would we-" he broke off, shaking his head. "Yes, Sheperd, we would call that a disaster."
Derek caught the tone of Richard's voice and laughed. "What? I wasn't sure!"
"Bailey did an emergency tracheotomy on one of our own. I'm pretty damn sure that would count as a disaster."
Derek nodded in agreement with Weber's reasoning and said, "Well, I didn't know. We tend to have a higher disaster-threshold than most."
Richard frowned and said, "You can say that again."
"Well, enjoy staring at your quiet board," Derek said, giving his arm a pat before heading off into the hospital. Richard spent one more moment at the board before heading off himself.
"So, have you met the new attending yet?" Michael asked April. They were standing at the circulation desk, each of them going through paperwork for the morning.
"Yeah, I did."
"I can't believe they hired her so fast. I told you – big deals."
"Yeah," she said off-handedly, flipping through the chart.
"So, what did you think?" Michael asked.
"About what?"
"About the new attending? I thought she was a little arrogant, but not as bad as I thought she'd be. She's hot, too. Always a bonus."
April laughed, shaking her head. "I thought she was nice. I actually, um, sort of knew her already. Well, not know her. We'd never met. But she worked at Seattle Grace before I was there. I'd heard a lot about her."
"Like what?" Michael asked, interest peaked.
"Nothing much," April said, not wanting to be a gossip. Besides, the bits and pieces she had heard about Addison's past was not hers to tell. She barely knew the woman – who was she to spread stories?
"Okay, now I know you're holding out on me," Michael said. She ignored him, continuing to look through her paperwork. When he tried again and she continued to ignore him he reached over and snatched her paperwork.
"Hey! I'm not finished with that!" she said, trying to get the chart back from him. He twisted around, holding it out of her reach.
"Give me something juicy and then I'll give it back."
"You're a five year old," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes, I am. Now give me the dirt."
April sighed, leaning against the desk. "Fine, um, she wore a lot of salmon colored scrubs."
He gaped at her and mocked, "Wow, that was some juicy information."
"Ha ha."
"Come on, give me something real."
"Nope. That's all you're getting," April said. "Now hand over the chart."
"Fine," he relented, returning the chart to her. "I am, if anything, a man of my word."
Cristina searched for Meredith and found her in one of the boardrooms, poring over the chart from her troublesome cancer patient. Cristina closed the door behind her and sat down, dramatically dropping her chin on her hands as she said, "God, I'm bored."
"Huh?" Meredith said, glancing up from the chart.
"There's nothing happening. Absolutely nothing."
"Don't you have surgeries later?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah, but they're just routine." She sat up and stretched, settling back in her seat with her arm slung over the back of the chair. "I need some excitement in my life!"
"Want some of mine?" Meredith asked sardonically. "I'd be happy to share this lawsuit."
Cristina snorted. "I think I'll pass. How's it going, anyway? Your deposition is tomorrow, right?"
Meredith nodded. "So, I'm brushing up on the case facts. Although I'm pretty sure at this point I could say them in my sleep."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Cristina said. "You just ended up with a whack job."
"Yeah, a whack job who decided to jeopardize my career."
"Well, what would you expect from a whack job? You'll be fine."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Alright, I need to go. Owen's bringing in a new cardio guy he wants me to meet."
"Anyone we know?" Meredith asked.
Cristina shook her head. "No. It's some guy from Northwestern."
"Let me know how he is."
Cristina left the boardroom and made her way to Owen's office, winding her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck while she walked. She stopped outside of Owen's office and knocked twice. Usually she wouldn't knock, but she thought Owen would appreciate that if the guy was already in the office. Owen opened the door and she spotted a middle-aged man behind him, hair combed neatly and lab coat pressed. She wouldn't have been surprised to look down and see polished wing-tipped shoes.
"Dr. Yang, thank you for coming here," Owen said, stepping back. "I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Alan Rivers."
"It's very nice to meet you," Cristina said, reaching her hand forward. "I'm Cristina Yang."
"Dr. Hunt has been saying glowing things on your part," Dr. Rivers said, handshake as clean and structured as his hair and lab coat. "I hear you were chosen for the cardiothoracic surgery fellowship here?"
Cristina nodded. "Yes, sir, I accepted a few weeks back."
"You worked with Dr. Burke, right?" he asked.
Cristina exchanged a quick look with Owen and said, "Yes, I did."
"Remarkable surgeon," Dr. Rivers said. "I had the honor of working with him on a surgery a few years back."
"He is one of the best," Cristina said, thinking to herself that she wished that were still true.
"Yes," Owen echoed, his tone mirroring hers. "So, are you ready for a quick tour of the hospital?"
They got the call an hour after lunchtime. There was a four-car collision ten minutes from the hospital and the serious trauma cases were on their way to Seattle Grace. Richard Webber watched the hospital mobilize, an undercurrent of frenzy evident, and he murmured, "Quiet board."
Outside the hospital, Meredith, Bailey, and Jackson waited for the ambulances to arrive. It was cold for April but none of the doctors noticed as they waited in anticipation. This was what surgeons lived for, after all.
The first ambulance arrived and the doctors rushed forward, eyes hungrily searching the inside of the ambulance after the doors opened and the paramedics jumped out, gurney pulled behind them. The paramedics lifted the gurney up onto the rolling bed and spouted off the stats.
"We have a female, mid 20s, with possible internal injuries," the paramedic said. "She's unconscious with faint heart sounds."
"Bring her inside and page Weber," Bailey told Meredith, already looking toward the next patient.
Another woman was pulled out on a gurney, brace around her neck and femur bone sticking clear out of her leg.
"Torres is going to love this," Bailey murmured. Behind the patient a woman climbed out, blood staining her clothes. She didn't appear to be seriously injured, and held on to the other woman's hand as she cried, "She didn't mean to do it. She-she was fine. She was completely fine."
Bailey took a hold of the woman's arm and said, "Ma'am, we need you to calm down. Now, let us take her inside."
"She was fine," the woman repeated, following Jackson blindly as he brought the patient inside. "I don't know what happened. We were talking and then she just…she just started screaming. She wouldn't stop screaming."
"They were in the first car," the paramedic explained, closing the back door of the ambulance. Another already pulled up behind with more victims of the crash. "They went clean through the red light."
Bailey caught up with Jackson, who was doing a quick examination of the patient. She noticed something off about the woman's gaze and said, "Take her for a CT scan now, and page Dr. Sheperd."
Meredith headed in doors with the paramedics, the clang and clatter of the emergency room filling her ears. Weber was already on the floor and he came forward and said, "Talk to me, Grey."
"Female in his mid-twenties with possible internal bleeding," Meredith said quickly.
"Alright, take her to radiology so we can see what we're dealing with. Keep me updated."
Meredith nodded, taking the bed and rolling it out toward radiology. Meanwhile, the remaining victims of the car pileup began to file in. Lexie took one of the men who seemed less injured.
"Aaahhh," a man said loudly, hissing as Lexie examined his leg.
"This looks like it's only fractured but I want to check with an x-ray," Lexie said.
"My-my girlfriend," he said, clenching his teeth at the pain radiating through his leg. "I need to see my girlfriend."
"Okay, we can have one of the nurses call her. I'll-"
"No," he said loudly, his hand closing on her arm as she turned. She looked back at him, startled. "She was with me. She was in the car. I-I need to see her."
"Okay," she said slowly, twisting from his grasp and laying her hand on his shoulder. "Let me get this x-ray done and then I will see if I can find your girlfriend."
"Thank you," he said. "I'm sorry I…I just…"
"It's okay," Lexie told him. "I've already been vomited on twice today. A little arm grab is nothing."
She helped him into a wheelchair and began wheeling him toward radiology. He was silent for a while and then said, "I was going to propose."
"You were?"
He winced as pain shot through his leg again. "This weekend. We were driving to this bed and breakfast that we went to last year for our one-year anniversary. She loved that place. Talked about it non-stop afterwards. So, I was going to take her there and propose. Get down on one knee and everything."
"You still will," Lexie told him. "You both will be fine and go to that bed and breakfast."
"What if she's…"
"What if she's not," Lexie said fervently. "Don't give up hope. Now, what is her name? I'll look for her when I drop you off at radiology."
"Rebecca Williams."
"This is not good," Weber said, looking at Rebecca Williams' x-rays. Meredith was similarly disheartened by the x-ray. It showed extensive internal damage that required immediate attention. "We need to get this woman into surgery now. Page Torres and Yang."
Izzie walked into the hospital, surprised by the amount of activity on the floor. A nurse rushed past her, and another a few minutes later. Interest piqued, Izzie went over to the circulation desk and asked what was going on.
"Big car pile-up," the nurse said. "The ER is crazy right now."
"Wow, um, thanks."
"No problem."
Izzie turned away from the desk and walked to the elevators, pressing the up button and then waiting for the elevator to come back down. She glanced back toward the ER and felt a pang of jealousy. She missed the hustle and bustle of the ER. The frenetic energy and never quiet knowing what to expect next had been invigorating. Sure, it had been terrifying too, but it was a rush like no other.
"Hey Iz."
She looked over to see Alex next to her and offered him a smile. "Hi Alex."
"You hear about the big car pile-up?"
She nodded. "Yeah, just a bit ago."
"Crazy stuff, right?" he said. She nodded and they were quiet for a moment, watching the still-not-moving elevator doors. After a moment he asked, "Do you miss it, too?"
She let out a relieved breath and admitted, "You have no idea."
"That's twisted, right? To miss people being really seriously injured like that?"
"Very twisted," she agreed. "But it doesn't make me miss it any less."
"I mean, I like pedes. It's, you know, fulfilling and all that crap. But, the rush of the ER-"
"There's nothing like it," Izzie agreed. "Nothing in the world."
The doors opened and Alex gestured for her to walk in first. He followed behind her and both went to press their floors at the same time.
"Oh, sorry, you go," Izzie said, laughing awkwardly.
"No, you go."
"No, Alex, you go. Really."
He smiled a bit, reaching forward and pressing his floor number. He asked for hers and then he pressed that one, too.
"And this is the pediatrics wing," Owen said, continuing the tour of the hospital. "A few years ago Dr. Arizona Robbins came in as head of pediatrics. She's one of the best in the nation."
Dr. Rivers nodded. "Yes, I've heard of her. She did work in Africa, didn't she?"
"Yes, and that initiative has continued here."
"That's wonderful."
"Over here we have…"
He trailed off when he heard Cristina's pager go off. A moment later his did, too, and both of them glanced down at their waistbands while Dr. Rivers watched.
"Weber needs a consult," Cristina said.
"I have the same," Owen said. He put the beeper back in its holder and looked up at Dr. Rivers. "Well, Dr. Rivers, you're about to see Seattle Grace in action."
"You paged for a consult?" Derek asked, walking into the radiology.
"The patient is Heather Jacobs," Jackson said. "She was in the first car in the pile-up. The other person in her car said she was fine one moment and then was screaming the next. She passed out and went through a red light."
Derek stepped forward, quickly scanning the CT. He saw the damage immediately. The blown aneurysm with the tell-tale darkness of blood surrounding it.
"We need to get her into surgery now," Derek said. "Give her friend an update and then prep yourself for surgery." He stepped forward, looking at the scan closer. "This is a lot of damage. Let's hope we're not too late."
Jackson went out into the waiting room and found Heather Jacob's friend. She was still in her blood-stained clothes, gaze empty as she sat by herself. She looked up at him when he was at her side, face crumpling.
"She's dead, isn't she? Oh God, she's dead."
"No," he said immediately. "She's alive."
"She's okay then?"
He shook his head. "She had a brain aneurysm that blew. It's caused some bleeding in her brain, so we took her straight to surgery."
"Surgery?"
"We have our best neurosurgeon on the case," Jackson assured her. "I will be back after the surgery to give you another update."
"Okay," she said, nodding. He went to turn away and she asked, "How are the others?"
He turned back and said, "Um, a few are in surgery."
She glanced away, dragging the heel of her hand over her nose. "Will they make it?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know."
"She didn't mean to go through the light," she said softly, voice shaking. "Heather's a good driver. She's one of those people who never goes over the speed limit or does a rolling stop. She's a good driver. She's…"
"No one's blaming her," Jackson said, sitting next to her. "Heather had an aneurysm that blew. There was no way she could have anticipated that."
"Were there signs before? Should there have been?"
Jackson shook his head. "No. Aneurysms have almost no symptoms. People usually don't know they have them until, well, until something like this happens."
She nodded, dragging her hand across her nose again. "Okay."
"I will be back here when we're done to give you an update," he said. "Just hang in there, okay?"
"Okay."
Jackson gave her arm a reassuring squeeze before standing and heading toward the OR.
Lexie's patient, whose name she found out was Brian Flynn, ended up only having a fractured leg and as one of the interns set him up in a cast she moved around the hospital trying to find his girlfriend. She scanned the entire ER and came up short. Determined, she moved on to the pit, peaking behind curtains.
"Lex, what are you doing?" Mark asked, watching her with a bemused smirk.
"Trying to find my patient's girlfriend. Hey, do you know if any of the car pile-up patients are still in surgery?"
"One that I know of," Mark said.
"Male or female?"
Mark thought about for a moment and he said, "Uh, I think female."
Lexie felt her stomach drop and she asked, "Do you remember the name?"
"No, I…" he trailed off when he saw the stricken look on her face. "Lexie, what's going on?"
"I need to find the OR," she said, pushing past him.
Over at the Seattle Women's Clinic, April was suspicious the moment that Addison Montgomery requested her to be on her service. Nothing in the act itself was really that questionable. Addison wanted an extra hand and as the newest addition to the staff she was shifted among services pretty regularly. Still, she felt there was an ulterior motive.
"So, Dr. Kepner, you're from Seattle Grace," Addison said, phrasing it as a statement and not a question. "How are things there?"
"Fine," April said carefully, not exactly sure what Addison was fishing for.
"You don't have to sound so guarded," Addison said, glancing at the monitor. "I'm not trying to sniff out information."
"I didn't think you were, Dr. Montgomery."
Addison was quiet for a stretch as she worked. Just when April was about to speak and break the silence, Addison asked, "So, what have you heard of me?"
"What? I haven't heard anything. Nothing."
"Now I know that can't be true. I saw your face when we were introduced."
April took a deep breath and admitted, "I've heard some things."
"Let me guess, you heard I'm Derek Sheperd's conniving ex-wife who carried on an affair with his best friend?"
April's cheeks flushed and she said, "Something like that." After a moment she added, "I also heard you're a very talented surgeon."
Addison laughed. "Well, I'm glad to hear that some talk of me not involving activity below my belt is left there."
"It's really not that bad," April said. "I only heard because of that one time you visited. When Dr. Torres and Dr. Robbins got in the car accident."
"No one knows me here," Addison began, glancing at April. "It's a nice change from Seattle Grace and the clinic back in L.A. Everyone knew me there. They knew me and everything that comes with me. I was looking forward to a fresh start."
"I wasn't going to say anything," April said quickly. "Your past is, well, your past."
"Good," Addison said succinctly, reaching into the open incision and carefully pulling out the baby. The umbilical cord pulled at the baby's belly-button and Addison said, "Dr. Kepner, do you want to do the honors?"
April smiled slightly and picked up the scissors. She leaned forward and exchanged a look with Addison before clipping the cord.
"What do we have here?" Owen asked from the scrub room, prepping to enter the ER.
"Extensive internal damage, we have a lot of work ahead of us," Richard said, glancing up from the patient. He saw Dr. Rivers there and said, "Alan, what are you doing here?"
"Looking into your head of cardio position."
"Are you interested in lending a hand here? We could use as many hands as possible."
"No problem, Richard," Dr. Rivers said. He glanced over at Owen who looked surprised that the two men knew each other. He began to wash his hands and said, "Richard was leaving medical school right when I was entering. Looks like I'm going to be getting the full Seattle Grace tour today."
"Looks like you are," Owen said, beginning to scrub in beside him. They prepped quickly and went into the OR, taking their places around the operating table.
"We got the internal bleeding under control," Meredith said. "But the heart is severely damaged. We need to attend to that first and then Dr. Torres can work on the broken legs."
"Well, people, let's get going then," Dr. Rivers said.
Dr. Rivers and Cristina set to work, assessing how much damage was present before they began making repairs. Rivers felt the heart with his fingers, eyes trained ahead as he went purely by touch.
"You weren't lying when you said this heart was damaged," he muttered. "Dr. Yang, clamp please. We'll try to stitch up what we can and then assess from there."
"Yes, Dr. Rivers," Cristina said, holding out her hand for the nurse to hand her the clamp. They worked in near silence, Dr. Rivers making soft noises of approval at her stitch work.
"Beautiful work, Dr. Yang."
Just as he said that one of the stitches broke and blood gushed from the opening. Dr. Rivers swore aloud, diving his own hands into the open chest cavity as he plugged the hole with his finger.
"Clamp," he bit out, working quickly to stop the bleeding. Another stitch broke and he went, "Dammit!"
They tried for some time to fix the damage, always one step behind. None of the sutures would hold, and it became harder to work as the body cavity filled more with blood.
"Her pressure's dropping," Richard said, eyes on the monitor.
"There's too much bleeding," Dr. Rivers said through clenched teeth. "I can't see."
"Should we try-"
The patient flat-lined and Dr. Rivers' shoulder slumped.
"It's no use," Rivers said, drawing his hand out of the chest cavity and stepping back. "That heart is shot."
Cristina gaped at him. "We can try something else. We can shock it. Someone give me the paddles!"
"There isn't any more that we can do," Rivers held, voice laced with disappointment. "The damage is too extensive."
"But-"
"Dr. Rivers is right," Richard said. Cristina glanced at Owen, his eyes drawn above the surgical mask. He stepped back and pulled off the mask, calling the time of death.
Lexie sat in the observation deck, watching numbly as Dr. Weber pulled the sheet over the patient's head, the doctors shuffling unhappily back to the scrub room. She had checked the chart outside the OR and her stomach twisted when she read Rebecca Williams. It twisted even further now.
She heard the door open and Mark walked down to where she sat in the front row, settling next to her.
"Are you going to tell me what's happening?" he asked.
"That woman was in a car with her boyfriend," Lexie said, her eyes trained on the sheet-covered body. "They were going to a bed and breakfast that they went to for their one year anniversary. Apparently she liked it a lot."
"Okay," Mark said slowly, not completely following where this story was going.
"Her boyfriend was going to propose. He was going to propose and now she's dead."
"Lex-"
"I told him they'd go to the bed and breakfast. He was worried and I told him that they would still go. I told him they'd be fine."
"Lexie, you had no way of knowing," Mark said, turning toward her and taking a hold of her hands. "You had no way of knowing this would happen. You couldn't have."
She looked away from him, fighting off tears. "God, I have to tell him now. I have to go and tell him that the girlfriend he was going to propose to – the one I said would be fine – is dead."
"Where is he?"
She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes and said, "He's in the pit getting his leg set."
"I'll come with you," he said.
"What?"
"I'll come with you," he repeated. "I'll be with you the whole time."
Lexie shook her head. She shouldn't need someone to be with her to deliver bad news. This was her job. People died and she had to tell family members the news. She'd done it before.
"Hey, let me do this," he said. "Let me be there for you."
He was so earnest, sitting there in front of her and wanting to help. She leaned forward and kissed him softly.
"Thank you."
Derek and Jackson stood behind Heather on the examining table, a light blue partition obscuring their view of her body beneath her chin. Derek had removed the small piece of skullcap where the aneurysm had blown, and he stared at the mess that was his to work through. He took a deep breath and glanced at Jackson and said, "Let's save some lives."
He began to work, setting on the delicate task of repairing the torn artery. Almost immediately the area flooded with blood and he said, "Suction."
Jackson moved the suction over and the area cleared. Derek nodded slightly, taking a moment before continuing. The aneurysm did some damage when it blew, and he assessed just how much there was to repair. After just a moment, he saw the answer to that was quite a lot.
"We're going to be here for a while," he murmured.
Lexie approached Brian, Mark just a step behind her. Brian looked up when he sensed her approaching and the hopeful look on his face broke her heart. She stopped short but then Mark laid his hand on her shoulder, reminding her that she could do it. Taking a deep breath she explained what happened – detailing what she had seen in the best manner that she could.
"But, you told me she'd be fine," he said, voice laced with disbelief. "You-you told me she would be fine."
"I know," she said softly. "But, the damage to her heart was extensive. It was too much to repair."
He was silent for a moment, processing the information, and then he began to sob, his body rocking forward and back as sobs racked his body. Lexie stepped forward, laying a hand on his shoulder as Mark had done for her a moment before.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry."
Jackson left the OR exhausted but content. It had been a long six hours, but the patient was alive and stable. He walked into the waiting room and saw Heather's friend in the same spot, hunched in her chair. When he got closer he noticed she was sleeping, and gently touched her shoulder to rouse her.
"How-how is she?" she asked groggily, sitting up.
"The surgery was a success," Jackson said, smiling at the relief that was evident on her face. Surgeons reveled in the cutting, but this – relaying good news – was a part of the job they didn't value enough.
"Thank you," she said, rising quickly from her chair and throwing her arms around him. "Thank you."
"You can see her if you want," Jackson told her. "She's not conscious yet, but-"
"Yes," she interrupted. "I want to see her!"
He laughed and said, "Alright, I'll take you to her room."
Lexie and Mark sat outside of the hospital, taking a moment to themselves from the discord and mayhem. Brian's brother had come to the hospital and taken him home. Before he left, though, Brian asked to see his girlfriend's body, and Lexie rolled him into the OR to see her one last time before he left. He cried at her side and Lexie's chest ached. When she saw Mark afterwards it ached even more, because he was there, and he was hers, and she never wanted it to be anything different.
"Today made me think a lot," she said, staring down at her hands. "My patient and what you said to me."
"I know it's difficult-"
"No, it's not that," she interrupted, turning her head toward him. "I thought about the two of them and how unpredictable life can be. He thought he was going to marry her, and now he's not. He will never be married to her. She will never be his wife, and they'll never go and do married things." She took a hold of his hand, grasping it tightly. "I don't want that. I don't want to miss our chance. I don't want to spend another day where I'm not…"
She trailed off, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Lexie, what are you saying?" he asked carefully.
She turned her gaze back to her lap and he took a hold of her chin, bringing her gaze back to his.
"I want to marry you," she said, forcing herself to hold his gaze even as every instinct told her to look away. She was afraid he'd say no – tell her it was too soon – but her fears were outweighed by the overwhelming need to show her just how much she meant what she was saying. "I want to be your wife and do all those stupid little married things with you. I want…I want you. Because I love you. I love you, and the thought of us not getting to do those things scares me. It terrifies me, and-"
He cut her off with a kiss, his arms snaking around her waist to hold her tightly. She kissed him back, taking comfort in the familiar feel of his mouth against hers. He pulled away after a moment, forehead resting against hers as he murmured, "If you want to do those things, then we'll do those things."
"Really?" she asked, heart slamming against her chest. She would have thought that him agreeing like that would calm her down, but it only served to excite her more.
He grinned, kissing her again. "Yeah."
"I want those things. I want them with you."
"Okay then." He pulled her in close, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Hey, Lex?"
"Yeah."
"I think we should get married."
A/N: I'm obviously having a lot of Lexie/Mark feels lately. I've been re-watching S5, and just gggahhhhh. They are too cute. Anyhoo, next chapter will have more April/Jackson interaction. I got all case-happy and had to sacrifice some Japril lovin' for it. PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK!