Chapter Eleven: Hold On
At the start of another shift, Santana and Rachel were in the locker rooms getting ready for what would most likely end up being a busy night. "So he still has the bike?" Santana asked.
"He promises weekends only and then on Friday, he rides it to work," Rachel said, getting something from her locker. "He says that it's the start of the weekend."
"So you get pregnant and he goes back to being an adrenaline junkie?"
"That's who he is," Rachel said, slamming the locker shut. "Which is frustrating because he's obviously happy."
"What is this, 1950? Clearly, you're not happy."
"The bozo went base jumping two weekends ago. He went parasailing strapped to the back of an ATV. I mean, really, who does that?"
"So tell him to stop."
"I can't do that. He loves that stuff. I mean…he will resent me and I know I would resent him if he tried to change me."
"But you're not risking your life," Santana said, following her into the break room. "He has to be more responsible to you, right?"
"I agree. But it's the man I fell in love with, you know," she said, leaning against the fridge. "It's what made him different from the other guys I was dating."
"And that's fine if you are dating. But now he's gonna be a father. There has to be a middle ground, right?"
Rachel shrugged as she walked out of the break room with a bottle of water and headed towards the nurses' station. "We're still trying to find it."
"We're on it," Puck said, hanging up the phone. "Santana, MVA in Prospect Hill. Auto versus auto and it sounds bad."
"Okay, I'm on it. See you later."
"Catch you later," Rachel said as she went into a patient's room.
Sam started running after Santana. "Hey, wait up!"
"Hey, what are you doing here? Isn't it your night off?"
"Yeah but I wanna go on a ride along with you," Sam said as Santana started laughing. "No, I'm serious. Look, I already got Puck's permission. I just need yours now."
"Why do you wanna do this?"
"Because I'm the new charge nurse but I don't feel much in charge yet. I wanna experience what happens to the patients before they come to us."
"Careful what you wish for. It can get crazy out there."
"Well, if anything goes down I'll be there to protect you," Sam said with a smile.
"Oh please. I've seen things that'll make you wet your pants. I'm ready for anything," she said, handing him a medical bag. "Just make sure you don't slow me down."
"Yes!"
Across town, Finn and Kurt were getting out of another ambulance at a rodeo. "Hey, watch out for live wires," Kurt warned Finn as he almost stepped on one.
They kept walking to where one of the traumas were. "What's going on here?" Finn asked.
"We got one female with a leg laceration right over there," the firefighter said.
"Shane!" she kept calling. "Shane! Oh my god, you have to go help my boyfriend over there. He's trapped under the thing over there."
"Ma'am, I need you to be patient," Kurt said. "Everything is gonna be okay. What's your name?"
"My name's Lindsay."
"Okay, Lindsay, is anything else hurt?"
"No, just my leg," she said as more sparks flew from the lights.
Finn knelt down to his patient. "Sir, you've been impaled," he said. "Don't move."
"Yeah, I'm Shane McCoy. You seen me ride out there, didn't you? I could have ridden that bull until sunset, you know."
"Okay, I need you to stop talking, okay? You've lost a lot of blood and your heart is racing. I just need to push this off you. One, two…" Finn started pushing the light off him and Shane screamed out in pain.
As Finn pushed the light off him, more sparks started crackling and another set of lights got shaky. "Finn, move!" Kurt yelled.
The light fixture started falling as Finn looked up to see it. His eyes widened and he rolled to his side, hopefully to avoid being hit with the light. He saw a sharp prong headed straight towards him and he closed his eyes, hoping it wouldn't be the last thing he saw.
"Whoa!" he heard Shane say. Finn opened his eyes and saw the prong not even inches away from his neck. "What a rush. What a rush. That's bull riding son."
"Finn!" Kurt called, coming over to see if his friend was okay. "Holy…"
"Close call, huh?"
"Just…be careful."
Back at the hospital, Puck was talking with one of the nurses. "High time we got this started. Thank you."
"Hey, Puck?" Mercedes said, coming up to him in the hallway. "I just wanted to make sure that you got my application for my second year—"
"Chief resident spot. Yeah, I got yours and Artie's. Too bad there's only one slot for the two of you," he said, going into the break room.
"Ow!" Jesse called out as Rachel started laughing.
"What's this all about?" Puck asked.
"Jesse's taking his medical boards next week and they hooked him up to a neuro-stimulator to quiz him."
"Savages."
"No, it's his idea," Mercedes explained. "He wanted the motivation."
"Jesse, if you wanna be a big swinging doctor, you gotta handle the pressure," Rachel said.
"Ten causes of pancreatitis. Go!" Artie said.
"Gallstones, ethanol, trauma, drugs, mumps—"
"Faster!" Rachel said, giving him a shock.
"Steroids, autoimmune, hyperlipids—" Rachel gave him another shock. "Hey, I was right!"
"Sorry. Finger slipped," Rachel said with a smile.
The phone in the break room rang and Molly answered it. "Hello?"
Jesse ignored Rachel's comment and continued. "Idiopathic…you've got that look in your eyes. Don't do it." He jumped as Rachel shocked him again. "You had that on high, didn't you?"
"Puck," Molly said, handing him the phone.
"Scorpion stings," Rachel said, moving along with Jesse's practice.
"Okay, thanks," Puck said, hanging up the phone. "Fun's over, people. Multiple traumas coming in from the rodeo."
"I'll take incoming traumas in four," Rachel said, setting down the shocker.
"Jesse, Molly, get rooms ready," Puck called as he left the break room.
"Had it on high," Jesse said, looking at the shocker as he took off the sensors.
In other part of town, Santana and Sam pulled up to the scene of the car accident. "Arrest him!" someone yelled.
"Paramedic coming through! Make a way!"
"I'm not telling you again, get off of my son," someone said in the background.
Santana looked in one of the cars. "Where's the driver?"
"He's over here," one of the police officers said.
"You need to move. I'm not telling you again before I kick your ass," the same voice from before said.
"Sir, you need to step back," Sam said.
"He's the one who hit my boy. He's the driver."
"Brody?" Santana asked, noticing he was taking care of the crash victim.
"He's barely breathing," Brody said.
"Doctor Weston, you are really bleeding," Sam said, looking at the gashes on Brody's forehead.
"We need to get him out of here now," Brody said, ignoring Sam.
"That man should be in jail," someone said, pointing at Brody.
"Sam, I got this," Santana said, going over to the guy who kept getting in the way. "Listen to me carefully because I'm only gonna say this once. That man is a doctor. You want your son to live? You let us work and you let us get to the hospital."
"He hit my boy," his father said weakly.
"And now he's trying to help."
"I'm gonna need a statement from the driver," one of the police officers said.
"Can it wait for the hospital?" Sam asked.
The police officer nodded and started walking away, trying to clear a path so they could get the gurney through to head back to the hospital.
Back at the hospital, Finn and Kurt were coming in with traumas from the rodeo. "Alright people, let's move," Finn said, bringing Shane in first. "Male, 40s, severe puncture wounds to the lower flanks, severe bleeding and possible brain trauma."
"Man's a champ!" Shane said. "He saved my ass."
"Hang two units of O-neg and send off a trauma panel. Molly, take him to trauma four and notify CT," Finn said.
"Shane, how is he?" Lindsay asked as she was being brought in to the hospital.
"Still talking," Kurt said. "Female, 40s, deep leg lac, stable."
"Nice work, Kurt," Finn said, patting him on the shoulder. "Send him to curtain one and let's get Shane taken care of."
"Someone's feeling energetic," Rachel said, walking over to where Finn was.
"Yeah, you know. You'll get the feeling when you're always out in the field."
"Finn," Puck said from where he was standing behind the desk. "Sorry but I'm gonna have to pull you off your case. I need you on incoming. Rachel, you're with Kurt on the cowboy."
"Okay, catch you later, Rach," Finn said as she walked to the trauma room. "Enjoy the rodeo vic, he's a real piece of work." He turned his attention to Puck. "What's up?"
"Brody got in an accident. I need you to step in."
"Male, 20s, blunt chest trauma from MVA, tachy and hypotensive," Santana said, coming into the hospital.
"Flail chest, probable hemothorax trauma," Brody said. "I'll take him up to the OR."
"Finn, go," Puck said.
"No, no, no. This is my patient!" Brody said.
"Brody, the police called," Puck said. "You were in that accident."
"Yeah, I was but I'm fine."
"Okay, but you're going to have to answer some questions. They need you to take a drug test What happened out there?"
"I don't – can we talk about it later?"
"Fine. But there's no way I can let you work on that kid."
"There's no time for this!" Brody said. "The kid needs me in there right now."
"Not until we check you out. We have to make sure there's no brain trauma."
"My name is Brody Weston. Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T—"
"Brody…"
"It is Tuesday night at 8:30 pm and that boy's blood pressure is 82 over 42 and falling fast. I am the on-call surgeon and if you don't let me in there right now to drain the blood from his chest, he's going to die."
"Finn can get it started. We're going to have to call around for another thoracic surgeon."
"Oh come on, Puck! Just do the neuro, clear me, and let me get into surgery."
"Brody," Puck said, dropping his voice. "The family has called the hospital. They don't want you anywhere near their son. You're gonna have to sit this one out.
"You know, it's not as dangerous as people think," Shane said to Kurt as he was trying to stitch up his cheek. He looked up as Rachel walked in and smiled at her. "Whoa! You're hotter than a summer revival."
"Amen," Rachel said with a shrug.
"Easy, there, cowboy, she's already spoken for," Kurt said.
"Well a man's gotta speak his mind."
"You better speak it quieter with your girlfriend in the next room," Rachel said, looking at another set of stitches that were done.
"How is she?"
"She's good," Rachel said.
"I sutured the wound but he's still tachy," Kurt said.
"A blood infusion could help. What about his x-rays?"
"They're right over there," Kurt said, pointing in the general direction. "They look normal to me."
"Where's Doctor Superman at?" Shane asked, sitting up in bed. "I need to give him a hug. I'd be feeding worms if he hadn't come around."
"He's talking about Finn," Kurt said, noticing the expression on Rachel's face.
"Talk about bravery. He nearly gave up the ghost—"
"I'm sorry, what?" Rachel said, cutting him off.
"He almost died. This giant silver thing-a-ma-bob, sharper than a spur, came down about this close to his neck," he said, demonstrating how close it was.
"Is that true?" Rachel asked, glaring in Kurt's direction.
"I guess. I don't know. I mean, I was, I came in from a bad angle."
"Bad angle? What are you talking about?" Shane asked. "This thing would've cut his head. I swear to god."
"Okay, just take deep breaths," Kurt said, putting the oxygen mask on him so his voice would be muffled.
"Kurt?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow.
In a patient's exam room, Artie was doing an exam on her. "Does this hurt?" he asked, tapping a place on her stomach. She shook her head. "Okay, how about here?" He tapped again and she shook her head.
"Ow!" she said when he changed places again.
"How long have you had this pain?"
"About a week. At first I thought it was just cramps but then I got a fever."
"Where are your parents? We need consent for tests."
"My dad's driving in from Dallas. He had to go there for work. You can reach him on his cell." She looked down at her hands. "Does this mean I'm going to have to miss volleyball? I gotta get my practice time."
"What grade are you in, eighth?"
"Ninth grade. I'm a freshman. I play JV but I'm first alternate on varsity."
"Is that how you sprained your wrist?" Artie asked, gesturing to the brace on her arm.
"No. Carpal tunnel. My dad says I text too much."
Artie nodded. "I see you had your appendix taken out."
She winced sharply and nodded. "Yeah. Right there. It still kinda hurts."
"Do you remember who your surgeon was?"
She thought for a second. "Doctor Jones."
Artie nodded. "Excuse me for a minute." He walked out of her room and saw Mercedes walking in the hallway and ran after her. "Mercedes, hold on a second."
"Hey," she said, turning around to smile at him.
"Hey, I'm doing a surgical consult on Catherine Redding. She was your—"
"My appy patient. She's a sweet girl. What's she in for?"
"Abdominal pain and fever. It could be post-op complications. Who was your attending?"
"It was Joey but he let me do the whole thing."
"So you counted lap pads? Irrigated before closing?"
"You think I screwed up? It could have been any number of things. Did you even check?"
"Of course. I'm still ordering a CT just to be safe."
"She's 14-years-old and you're about to give her more radiation?"
"Then we'll do an ultrasound and run labs. But you better be right because if something else happens to her, this will be on you," Artie said as he walked off.
"How's he doing?" Puck asked as he walked into the trauma room.
"Touch and go," Finn said. "We stabilized him for surgery. I heard Brody plowed into him. Is that true?"
"Brody doesn't know how that happened. Police are on their way and they wanna talk to him."
"That's never good. I hope for his sake he wasn't responsible."
"Pulse ox is down to 80," Heather said.
"Okay. Second tube is in," Finn said, putting another tube into his abdominal. The monitors started beeping.
"He's gonna bleed out. Get me gloves!" Puck yelled.
"I'm losing his pulse."
"Heart rate's up to 170," Heather said.
"I'm cracking his chest," Finn said. "Aorta's clamped. Paddles. Clear," he said, shocking the heart.
"Still nothing," Puck said. "Increase to 30 joules," he said to Heather.
"Ready?" Finn asked. "Clear."
The three of them intently watched the heart monitor. "It's beeping," Puck said. "That was close."
"Pulse is strong."
"Let's pack him and get him up to surgery," Finn said.
"You want me to scrub in?"
"No, I can get started. What I need is for you to convince the dad to let Brody up there."
"Alright, let me get into it," Puck said as he took off his trauma gown.
Rachel wheeled Lindsay out of her room so she could see Shane. "Now, we gave him something for the pain," she said, stopping when she got the wheelchair close to the bed. She lowered one of the railings so Lindsay could take his hand.
"This is the quietest I've ever seen him," Lindsay said. "How's he doing?"
"His hip is healing fine but we're having trouble getting his heart rate down," Rachel said, grabbing a clipboard. "Does he have a history with drugs or alcohol?"
"Yeah, he used to drink a ton. That's the one thing about him I fixed," she said, reaching out to take one of Shane's hands.
"Well, he is quite the character."
"He talks a lot and flirts, skirts death on a daily basis. He's been that way since I've known him."
"Does he still ride bulls?"
"No, not on the rodeo circuit. They made him quit."
"So, what does he do?" Rachel asked as she listened to his heart.
"Nearly gets himself killed. Steer wrestling, barrel racing. The crowd loves it. We're a team. I'm retired but now I call out the acts and he does his thing."
"And you're okay with that?"
"You take that away and he wouldn't be the man I fell in love with, would he?" Lindsay asked, causing Rachel to stop and think for a second. "He'd be dead inside without it."
"How long have you two been together?"
"Oh my. Too long I suppose. We don't have any rings. We never thought to make it official. No kids, though we did talk about it from time to time."
"Seems like a sweet guy," Rachel said quietly. "I'm sure he would have been a great dad."
Lindsay nodded. "His heart's in the right place. He just never really was daddy material. You know, I'm not the smartest woman in the world, but I wasn't dumb enough to get knocked up by a man who couldn't think past his next bull ride."
Rachel looked down and resisted the urge to rest her hand on her stomach. "Excuse me," she muttered as she walked out of the room.
In the scrub room, Finn and Kurt were getting ready to start the surgery to save the guy's life. "It was really something, huh?" Finn said. "I haven't felt that way since—"
"Getting shot at and missed. It's great," Kurt said flatly.
"Kinda makes you see everything in a whole new light."
"So what are you seeing?"
"Just how confused I am. My life's changing so much. I feel bad for Rach. I just…I feel stupid for going all out and in."
"Oh no, you went all in. I mean, you got her pregnant."
"Yeah," Finn said with a chuckle. "She needs more than that from me. You know, I thought I'd be okay by now but after break down in group and…look, having a baby – is great. It's exciting. I'm excited."
"But?"
"It just feels like I have to get things together faster. I have to be able to fix things in my head quicker than if we weren't having a kid, you know? It's a lot of added pressure."
"What's Rachel have to say?"
"Rachel? I haven't told her."
"Why?"
"Why? Because it's all swirling around in my head. I don't wanna hurt her and I don't want her to feel like it's anything to do with her because it's not. It's all me."
"But not telling her is worse," Kurt said.
"Doctor Hudson," Heather said, poking her head in. "The patient's ready now."
"Patient's ready," Finn whispered to Kurt as he finished scrubbing his hands.
"Lucky you."
Out in the lobby, Puck was talking to the victim's father and it wasn't going well for Puck. "I've got witnesses saying he hit my boy and now you're telling me—"
"I understand. I know this is hard, Mr. Johnson."
"You don't know nothing. What are you talking about?"
"Doctor Weston is our most qualified surgeon, especially with this—"
"Mr. Johnson?" Brody said, coming up to join in on the conversation.
"Brody, this is not a good time," Puck said when he saw Brody walking towards him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Malik's father asked. "Take another step closer, please."
"If you want your boy to live, you'll let me do this operation," Brody said.
"You're not touching my boy."
"Just let me say my part. Sir, Malik's lung is badly injured and several ribs are detached from his chest. We need to repair the lung and put his chest wall back together. No one can do that like I can," Brody said. "Believe me, Mr. Johnson, there is no one in this hospital – no one wants your boy to live more than I do."
"Oh is that right? More than me? More than his family?"
"No, what I meant to say –"
"No, I know what you meant to say. You meant that you're guilty. You hit him. So you better go in there and you better fix my boy. That's right. Because if you don't, I'm gonna sue you. And I'm gonna see your ass rot in jail."
"Okay, we'll fix him," Puck said, intervening before the situation elevated even more. "Brody, go scrub in. I'll call legal."
"Don't say nothing to me," Malik's father said when Puck turned around to talk to him. "Don't say nothing."
In Catherine's exam room, Mercedes and Artie were doing an x-ray on her to make sure there weren't any complications post-surgery. "There's no gallstones so it could be viral," Mercedes whispered to Artie, setting the wand down.
"Or a drug-induced peritonitis. Did you sterilize your instruments?"
"No I spat on them. Artie, what do you think?"
"I think there's a giant neon sign over this girl that says mistakes were made during surgery."
"Oh, a few weeks into your rotation and you're suddenly the experts on surgical mistakes. You're not your dad."
"Gee, thank you for the reminder. Maybe if you focused on surgery a little bit more than Joey's ass, this girl wouldn't be back in here."
"You don't—"
Puck walked into the room. "I get this crap at home. I don't need it here. What the hell is going on?"
"We were just—" Artie started.
"Disagreeing on the differential."
"You guys are on the same team," Puck said.
"Sorry. We'll work together," Mercedes said.
"See that you do. Just run your tests and then report back to me."
Mercedes waited until Puck left before giving Artie serious side-eye. "Nice job."
"Really? You're blaming me?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Well, don't worry. I'll solve this."
Mercedes scoffed. "Right."
"Any word on Brody?" Santana asked Rachel as they were talking at the nurses' station.
"Okay, the rumor mill? It is in full force. You know, it was his fault, it wasn't his fault. I can't imagine what he's going through."
"My buddy on the force said he might be facing charges."
"Really?"
"I gotta go, but I'll see you later," Santana said as she walked off.
"Rachel?"
"Yeah?" she said, turning around to face Kurt.
"Fresh off the scan – Shane's heart echo. It's weird. His ejection fracture is way down."
Rachel frowned at the scans as she heard Shane's voice behind her. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Doctor Beckman."
She turned around and shook her head. "You think this is weird? Look at that."
"I hate to be the one to deliver this news to you, ma'am, but you have lupus," Shane said as Lindsay rolled up.
Kurt and Rachel could sense this wasn't going to go over very well and rushed over to the patient's bed.
"You may also have the herpes."
"Shane, let's go," Kurt said, trying to get him away.
"I'm here for my bunion," the patient said, gesturing to her foot.
"I understand, ma'am. He's not a doctor, I apologize," Kurt said.
"Shane, what's going on?" Lindsay asked.
"What do you mean I'm not a doctor? You don't know who I am," Shane said.
"Baby, this is not funny. Stop fooling around."
"No, but my name's Doctor Beckman. And this woman here – she's in serious trouble." He started coughing and ended up coughing up blood.
"Okay, let's get you back," Rachel said.
"Get him on his side," Kurt said to Rachel, helping her guide him to the floor.
"Somebody get me a gurney!" Rachel yelled.
Once they got Shane back to his room, Rachel started doing an exam in his throat. "See that right there?" Rachel asked, showing Lindsay a spot on the screen that the scope picked up. "Shane's bleeding is caused by dilated veins in his throat called varices. They can be caused by alcoholism. Is it possible that he never stopped drinking?"
"No, I believe he quit. I mean, he makes things up but he's not a liar."
"Did he ever have a psychiatric evaluation?"
"No. Not since I've known him. Listen, I know how people talk and I know he can be boastful but that is…that's just part of being in the rodeo, you know? And stretching the truth is just part of his charm."
"Well, pretending to be a doctor is a step beyond boastful," Rachel said, taking off her goggles.
"Yeah, that did kind of freak me out."
"Just hang tight, okay?"
At the nurses' station, Puck was on the phone with legal. "Wait, in which case, liability is unlimited? That…hold on just a second," he said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone when Jesse got to the nurses' station. "What?"
"You have visitors. And they say they've been waiting a long time."
Puck looked up and saw some police officers. "Greg, I gotta call you back." He hung up the phone. "They want more than a drug test, don't they?"
"Yeah. And I overheard them talking about pressing charges for reckless driving."
"Stall them."
"What? What do you mean, stall them? What am I supposed to say?"
"Tell them the truth. Tell them the kid is critical and I'm talking to Brody now," Puck said as he ran off to the OR.
"Pulse ox is holding at 91 percent," Heather said in the OR room.
"Fine job stopping the bleeding," Finn said.
"I had to take out half a lung to do it," Brody said. "Stabilize the rib while I drill?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Finn said.
Puck slid open the doors. "Guys, I hate to have to do this. Brody, I need you to come downstairs with me."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"What the hell's going on?" Finn asked.
"Finn, please just take over," Puck said.
"Are you insane? The boy has a hole in his chest," Brody said.
"You think I want to do this? The police are downstairs."
"Well, the police can wait," Brody said as he kept operating.
"Let me give you a reality check, Brody. They're talking about filing charges down there," Puck said as Brody stopped drilling and turned to face him. "That's right. So take the damn drug test."
"I'm not leaving the kid. We need one more hour. Then they can do what they want."
Finn sighed. "Give him the hour, Puck."
Puck groaned. "One hour. I don't know that I can but I'll try."
Finn turned to face Brody. "You okay?"
"Do I have a choice? Stabilize the rib."
Santana and Sam were on their way to another accident. "You really cried watching Finding Nemo?" she asked.
"Oh my god. Like a freaking baby. I mean, his mom gets killed the first minute. Are you serious? Who put that in a kid's movie? I'm almost tearing up just thinking about it right now. Stupid ass barracuda."
"I'm surprised it got you," she said, turning to face him.
"Why do you always say stuff like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you're always surprised that I feel this or that I feel that. Basically that I show my feelings and that I'm open."
"I'm just giving you crap. It's whatever. You're a guy. I'm not used to that from guys."
"Okay, what are you used to in guys?"
"Well, you know that I've dated like, thousands, so let me see…"
"Ah, there we go. I remember this. We're deflecting again. You know you do that a lot, right?"
Santana rolled her eyes. "Okay. So I'm always surprised by you and I always deflect. Is there anything else you'd like to comment on?"
"Look, I'm not trying to put you down. We're just talking. We're just having casual conversation. I deflect too. I have the fake laugh I do when I don't wanna talk."
"No, it's not that I don't want to talk. It's just that I don't want to talk about that. The men in my past? No, don't do that."
Sam nodded. "Okay. We'll talk about something else."
"We're here," someone said, knocking on the back of the ambulance.
The two of them got out and walked over to where a man was sprawled on the pavement. "Oh, my back. Oh my god, my back."
"Everybody back up," Sam said, trying to clear space so they could get through.
"I fell off the roof. There's no railing."
"Okay, I'm gonna go get the backboard," Santana said as she started back towards the ambulance.
"And get me a painkiller."
"Hold on," Sam said. "Who saw this man fall?" he asked the small crowd of people. "Who actually saw it?" He crossed his arms. "Get the hell up."
"I-I can't even move, man."
"Get up, Sean."
"You know him?" Santana asked.
"Oh yeah. Every couple of months he takes a ride to the ER and every time it's the same story – fell off the roof. And every time he just wants more oxy. Come on, on your feet, Sean."
"Come on, Sam. Damn, man."
"Sucks, doesn't it? Have a nice night," Sam said.
"Nicely done," Santana said with a smile on her face.
"I've got a few moves."
Back at the hospital, Mercedes and Artie were looking at paperwork for other patients. "Hey, Mercedes?"
"You know what? I don't think we should talk about things other than the case right now, Artie."
"Okay. Then let's review what we have here," Artie said, setting aside the paperwork to look at medical books to see what was wrong with Catherine. "It's a weird collection of symptoms. Inflamed pancreas."
"Pleural effusions."
"Trouble breathing."
"Increasing pain."
"All in a 14-year-old girl," Artie said.
Mercedes thought for a second. "Catherine's on the JV squad right? And she's pissed she's not on varsity. And she wants a scholarship to college. I mean, what if she's trying to impress her dad?"
"It wouldn't be the first time."
"That's our answer," Mercedes said.
"Her carpal tunnel isn't from texting, is it? We need a hormone panel."
In the lobby, Rachel was talking to the police. "Let me make this as clear as I can," Rachel said. "If you pull Brody Weston from this surgery, you are endangering this boy's life."
"We were told there's another doctor up there. You're a doctor. You can replace him."
"It doesn't work like that. Brody Weston is our on-call surgeon."
Puck came into the room. "I just spoke with Brody. They need one more hour up there."
Rachel sighed. "They have a warrant, Puck."
"We just got a bystander video from the accident. This will change your mind." He pushed a button on his phone as a video of the accident started playing. They saw teenagers playing in the street and saw Brody's car speed into the frame, run a stop sign and they heard a crash. "He ran right through that stop sign," the officer said as Puck and Rachel shared a look.
Up in the OR, things weren't looking so good as the monitors started beeping like crazy. "BP's down to 74 systolic," Heather said.
"Something's wrong," Finn said.
"It's not just a bleed."
"Brody, we've got company."
"Guys, I did what I could," Puck said, coming into the OR.
"I said I needed more time."
"They have you on video, Brody."
"Brody Weston. San Antonio Police. You need to come with us right now."
Brody took a few deep breaths and started taking off the surgical gown. "I'll be back."
"Okay," Finn said.
"Doctor Hudson, what should we do?" Heather asked.
"Let's just hope he passes that test."
Back in Shane's room, it wasn't going well for him. "I can't breathe. I can't keep my breath."
"It's okay," Lindsay said. "Just breathe."
"I'm trying. Hey," he said when Rachel came in. "There she is. My wild Texas rose."
"Hi Shane. How're you feeling?"
"He's getting weaker," Lindsay said. "I've never seen him this bad."
"I'm all stove up."
"Shane, don't talk like that."
"I been ready for some time, baby. You know that. I'm at peace with the world."
Lindsay looked at Kurt then Rachel. "That's the delusions talking, isn't it? Right? Please tell me that it is."
Kurt and Rachel shared a look. "I'm sorry. We have a few more tests that we need to run," Rachel said. "Kurt, can I speak with you outside?"
Kurt followed Rachel out and drew the curtain. "I put in a swan. He's got a little upper cardiac failure. I couldn't figure out the cause."
"But what about the psychotic behavior?"
"Comes and goes. Two minutes ago he was a Navy S.E.A.L. But it's weird because he keeps telling the same rodeo story, but it's got different people in it each time."
"Okay, let's run another scan and could you bring Lindsay out here please? I need to talk to her in private."
"Yeah, okay."
"Thanks Kurt," Rachel said.
Brody was pacing around his exam room, waiting for the test to be over with. Jesse opened the doors and stepped in. "Any news from Finn?"
"He's still in surgery and Puck's assisting. How are you holding up?"
"How do you think I'm holding up, Jesse? I'm getting drug tested and I didn't use anything and I didn't drink."
"Okay, let's have a seat," Jesse said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Did you tell them what happened?" he asked, tying the tourniquet on Brody's arm.
"Yes. Ten times. I was driving to the clinic and I was running late. I looked down for like two seconds – maybe two seconds. And the next thing I know, this kid's car is right in front of me. If anything happens to him…"
"Oh no. Come on. We won't let that happen."
Out on the road, Sam and Santana were headed back to the hospital. "Aren't we a mess tonight?" he asked with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah," Santana whispered.
"How about this. How about we move away from the awkward silences and trying to guess what the other person is feeling? Move over, give me a little space here," Sam said, moving closer to where Santana was sitting. "How about we talk about something that's really been bothering me."
"What?" Santana asked him.
Sam took a deep breath and faced forward. "How gassy you are when you sleep."
"I'm not gassy!"
"I didn't want to say anything before, but I feel like we've reached this point where I feel that we can talk about these things."
"No."
"We're at a plateau and we – we can talk about these things."
Santana started laughing. "I'm not, I swear."
"Um, yes, you are. I mean, you've woke me up out of some sound sleep before."
"You are making this up."
"I'm talking about dream state sleep, okay? But, I mean, this is a serious issue. Baby, it's like I'm in…it's like I'm in a hot box," Sam said, adjusting the way he was sitting as Santana started laughing.
"Is it a nice hot box?"
"It's like you got the child lock going. I can't get out."
"Oh you poor thing."
"I don't know where to go. But I don't wanna go anywhere else and that's the important thing," Sam said.
"Santana, we got a code three chest pain," the driver said, knocking on the back of the ambulance.
She sighed and nudged Sam off her. "We'll finish this later," she whispered.
"The morning trumpets will be talked about."
Back at the hospital, Rachel was sitting down with Lindsay to talk about Shane. "Shane's heart is not pumping enough blood and we're trying to figure out why. Has he had any mental changes before this?"
"Well, little slips here and there. I was afraid it might be Alzheimer's."
Rachel nodded. "Those are called confabulations. He's not forgetting; he's making things up. You know, about his past, who he is."
"Might that have something to do with his disease?"
"It might. I know that he's had problems with alcohol, but what about his diet?"
"Shane is all about the protein. Rice and shrimp."
Rachel stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "Rice and shrimp and…"
"That's it."
"No fruits or vegetables? Other meats? Dairy?"
"Oh, no, no. He hates greens, he's lactose intolerant. But he loves shrimp. Why? Does that mean something?"
"You know, it just might. Um, sorry, you'll have to excuse me," Rachel said, getting up from the table in the break room.
Jesse was walking the halls of the hospital and saw Malik's dad sitting in the hallway. "Hey. I'm Jesse St. James. I thought I'd bring you some coffee," he said, extending the cup in his hand.
"How's Malik?"
"He's still in critical condition."
"But he's alive?"
"Yeah. And we're doing everything we can. The damage to the lungs was much more extensive than we thought."
"But Doctor Weston is gonna fix him, right?"
Jesse nodded. "He's in good hands."
"My boy Malik is special. Now I know every parent says that about their kid but he's got something extra. I've known that since the first day I saw his big hands the day he was born. He's a musician."
"Really?" Jesse said.
"Oh yeah. As a matter of fact, check this out," he said, handing Jesse an ear bud.
"That's really good," Jesse said, listening to a little bit of it.
"And all the instruments, that's him. Piano, guitar, that's all him. And that's just him messing around. He's been like that ever since he was five. Man, he's got a bright future. Brighter than I ever had. Why my son?" he asked as his voice broke. "Why my boy?"
"I wish I knew," Jesse said. He handed him the coffee and walked off.
Artie and Mercedes walked into Catherine's room and she sat up in bed. "Did you guys find something?"
"We tested your blood for hormone levels," Mercedes said.
"We found high levels of growth hormones. Dangerously high," Artie said.
"Catherine, you need to stop using it. It's killing you."
"You don't understand what it's like, trying to compete. If I stop now, I'm gone. No varsity team, no scholarship. That was our whole plan. It – oh my god," she said, looking out her window. "That's my dad. What am I gonna tell him?"
"The truth. He's gonna hear it from us," Mercedes said, reaching out to take her hand. "It's probably better he hears it from you first."
"So, how's she doing?" her father asked when he came into the room.
"We'll let her tell you," Artie said.
Jesse went up to the OR. "I put a rush on Brody's blood test."
"How long?" Puck asked.
"Not sure. Maybe an hour?"
"I don't think he has an hour," Finn said. "I can do it, but I'm not as fast as Brody."
"We gotta do something or this kid's not gonna make it," Puck said.
"I have an idea. Let me go talk to Rachel." Finn handed over his surgical tools and left the OR.
Rachel opened the door to the room where Brody was waiting for his results. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked.
"I'm gonna ask you this once and you are going to tell me the truth. Understand? And I know what your mother means to you so you swear on her life that you did not have a drink or take anything."
"Rachel, you know that I haven't had a drink in over 10 years. I still go to meetings."
"Swear that when those results come back, they will be negative."
"I swear."
"For anything."
"Yes."
"On your mother?"
"On my mother. What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about your test results will take another 45 minutes and Malik does not have that time. So we are signing off on the results."
"You're faking them?"
"No. We're just saying that they're negative. Which means we are all going out on a limb for you. So I need to know that I can trust you when you say that those results will be clean as a whistle. Because that's what they're going to be. Right?"
Brody nodded. "Yes. They will."
"Okay," Rachel said. She got up from where she was sitting and left.
Back in the OR, it still wasn't looking good for Malik. "Heart's tachy to 158," Heather said. "BP only 64."
"You were right. It's an air embolism," Puck said.
"And it's already in the heart. If that bubble reaches the kid's coronary, he's dead," Finn said.
"Increase oxygen to 100 percent."
"I'm losing his pulse," Heather said.
"Damn it," Puck muttered.
"I can try to aspirate the air from the atrium," Finn said. "But, uh, let's place the central line."
"No time for that," Brody said, coming into the OR. "He'll be dead by then."
"So what do we do?" Puck asked.
"Take it directly out of the heart."
"You've done this before?" Finn asked.
"Only about a dozen times. But I've done this before." Brody stuck the needle into Malik's heart and started pulling it back. "See? There's the embolism. We got it."
Back in Shane's room, Rachel was explaining to him what she was doing. "Okay, this is thiamine, or vitamin B. Your body doesn't have enough of it, and it hasn't in a long time. Now, I need you to get on your side," Rachel said as she started to help turn him.
"That's it?" Lindsay said. "A vitamin?"
"Well, the deficiency has caused Shane to suffer an illness called Korsakoff psychosis. Now, if severe, it can really mess with your heart. That, and, well, you make things up."
"What are you talking about? She's calling me a liar," Shane said.
"You are one, Shane," Lindsay said as Rachel stuck him with thiamine.
"The good news is, it's reversible. Regular thiamine and a diet other than just shrimp and no alcohol."
"Alcohol? No, I don't take the drink. No, uh…"
"I know you tried, honey," Lindsay said.
"I'm sorry."
"I think the best thing for Shane right now would be some rest," Rachel said.
"I used to like you," he said to her.
"Alright," Rachel said, helping Lindsay back to her room.
"So, the stories are gonna stop?"
"No," Rachel said, propping Lindsay's leg up on some pillows. "His behavior won't stop right away. It might take a few months to clear up."
"And the thrill seeking?"
"The risk taking can be part of the condition."
"But that's who he is. He can't lose that light, can he?"
"I don't know. I guess you're gonna find out what was really Shane and what wasn't." Rachel pulled the chair closer to Lindsay's bed. "Did you ever try to change him?"
"Sure. In the beginning. But you know what? Eventually, you realize that you love a man for his falls as much as his wins. Maybe even more."
"Yeah," Rachel nodded. "It's complicated, isn't it?"
After surgery, they took Malik back down to a recovery room. "Great save, Brody," Finn said.
"Yeah, it was touch and go there for awhile," Puck said.
"Thanks for sticking up for me," Brody said. "Accelerating those test results."
"You realize if you were lying and something shows up—" Puck started to say.
"I wasn't lying," Brody said with a sigh. "I'm gonna follow him down to post-op and make sure everything goes right."
Brody got into the elevator and hit the close door button as Rachel ran after him. "Wait!" she called, shoving her hand in the path of the elevator so the doors wouldn't shut. "So I saw Malik on the way to post-op. It looks like things went well," she said, pushing one of the buttons.
"We'll see. Still not out of the woods."
Rachel nodded. "I got your test results back. Totally clean."
"I told you."
"Look, I'm…I should have known that you wouldn't lie to me and I'm sorry that I questioned you."
"You had to. But you stood by me."
"You stood by me enough. It's my turn."
Outside of Catherine's room, Artie and Mercedes watched as she talked with her father. "I'd say that was a success," he said.
"Yeah, but I don't know if Catherine's going to see it the same way. Her volleyball ambitions took a big hit."
"Well, as my father likes to say, life's full of sacrifices. Choose wisely."
"Speaking of which, I just wanna say I'm sorry. About what I said earlier. Everything. I'm just…I'm competitive. Like, overly competitive. And I really want to be chief resident in a couple of years."
"Yeah. We both do."
"I don't want us to hate each other."
"Yeah, me neither," Artie said. "We both went mean pretty quickly. We just have to find a way to stay friends during all of this, you know?"
"Yeah, we do."
"So, I guess we'll have to see how it goes then," Artie said as Mercedes nodded and smiled at him.
In Malik's post-op room, everyone was gathered around to wait for him to wake him. "He should be coming out of anesthesia any minute now," Puck said.
"We have movement," Brody said as Malik's hand twitched. "Okay, Malik," he said, checking his pupils. "Pupils are reactive."
"There he is, that's my boy," his father said as Finn reached out to take one of Rachel's hands in his own.
"Okay, Malik, I'm going to ask you a few questions. I don't want you to try and speak yet, but you can nod your head for yes and shake your head for no. Can you do that?" Brody asked as Malik nodded. "Okay good. You were in an accident. Do you remember that?"
Everyone watched as Malik nodded his head.
"This man, to the left here, do you know who he is?"
Malik slowly turned his head and saw his dad standing there. He nodded and reached his hand out to brush against his dad's.
"There's my boy. He used to tickle my hand and wake me up when he was a baby. Thank you, Doctor."
"Kid's jumping the gun on us with the arm movement," Brody said. "Now, Malik, can you move your other arm for me?" Brody waited for something to happen. "Malik? Are you trying to move your other arm?"
Malik nodded.
"Okay," Brody said, pulling back the blanket to reveal his feet. "Um, Malik, can you move your feet please?"
Everyone waited but there wasn't any movement.
"Malik, can you move your toes? Just wiggle your toes," Brody said. Brody took a pen out of his pocket and pressed it against his toes. "Can you feel this? Can you feel any of this, Malik?"
He shook his head no.
"Come on, son. Move your leg. Move your arm, move your hand. You can't do that?" his father asked.
Again, he shook his head no.
"There's…there's some cord damage, but that can be reversible," Brody said. "We can…we'll run some tests. And there's…a lot of reasons that – that can happen. So, I can help. I can help," Brody said, visibly shaken.
"Brody, step outside with me for a second," Puck said.
"It's okay son. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
In the lobby, Sam and Santana were walking around after their shift. "I've gotta say, it's not like I didn't respect you before, because clearly I did, but after riding along with you tonight, I must say you are something special."
"You're not so bad yourself," Santana said, sniffing.
"Wait, what's wrong?" Sam asked as they stopped walking.
"God, it's just that damn Nemo. You know?" she said as they both started laughing. "Gets me every time."
"Yeah, I get that actually. See, you and me both," he said, kissing the top of her head.
In the locker rooms, Finn was looking at something he had in his locker. "Hey, Finn, you done changing?" she asked, opening the door.
He quickly put what he was looking at back in. "Yeah. Just, uh, tough surgery."
She walked in and leaned against the lockers next to him. "I can imagine. Thank you for trusting Brody."
"Oh, I didn't trust Brody. I trusted you."
"Well thank you for trusting me."
"I'll always trust you, you know? Because I know you're trying to trust me."
"I do trust you."
"Yeah?" he said with a slight laugh. "You sure? Look, I love you. And I love the baby. And…I'm just still struggling a little bit. You know with…I thought all these PTSD was going away and it hasn't."
"That sounds like progress to me. For the record, the risks that you take, they scare me. But I do trust you. Okay? It doesn't mean that I don't wanna smack you every once in awhile."
"Hey, if I was you, I would smack me all the time."
"Noted," Rachel said with a soft smile.
"When I figure this all out, I'll be good for you and me and the baby. The three of us. I promise."
"I know," Rachel said, looking in his eyes. "I'll see you outside." She gave him a smile and left.
Finn turned back to his locker and pulled out what he was looking at earlier. He opened the top of a velvet box and looked at the engagement ring he got for Rachel. He ran his thumb over the diamond and put it back in his locker.
In the lobby, Brody was waiting for some news on Malik. He stood up when he saw Puck walking towards him. "His MRI, what did it show? Was it the surgery?"
"No, it wasn't. Don't do this to yourself. When he coded, the upper part of his spinal cord died. There was nothing you or anybody could have done. You saved the boy's life, Brody."
"How can you say that? I changed his life forever. Forever. He's going to be paralyzed, Puck."
"I know," Puck said gently.
"So how can I possibly make this right? How can I make this up to him?"
"You're going to figure out a way. I promise you. But right now you need some rest. Let me drive you home, okay?"
Brody nodded and followed him out of the hospital.
After Finn and Rachel had breakfast, they rode in silence back to Rachel's place. She looked over at him and smiled. "You know something crazy?"
"What's that?"
"A year ago, you and I were barely talking. And by talking, I mean I was nagging you. And in that year, you've grown so much. I'm so proud of you, Finn. And I don't ever want you to forget that."
Finn felt a small warm feeling in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time. "Thanks, Rach." He stared straight ahead. "You know, I never really stopped loving you."
Rachel smiled and set her hand on the center console, which Finn reached out to take. "I never really stopped loving you, either, Finn. I love you so much and I can't wait to start a family with you."
His thumb grazed over her knuckles and he thought back to the ring in his locker. "I can't wait to start a family with you either."