AN: This takes so long to update, haha. I got a bit distracted / But anyway I'm back up and running. So enjoy.
Disclaimer: It's Josh Schwartz's.
breathe-in3- Thanks for your review. I tried to make Volchok a little more mature because of the age he was in this. I'm glad you noticed, and I'm glad you like the little moments Taylor/Ryan are sharing.
QuieraStrawberry9- Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. I tried to make it like the puilot of ER, because that's one of my favorite episodes. I thought it was amazing (:
Yarrie- I'm glad you caught that Ryan was Dr. Greene/older Carter, where Seth was young Carter. I was trying to make Ryan be like Greene, but I noticed he's quite similar to the older version of Carter, oh well! Thanks for the review.
Taylorforever- Thank you for the review! I'm glad you approve of using Volchok, most people can't see past the he killed Marissa thing. I think it's ridiculous, because they had such great chemistry on the show. I don't really like Marissa either, because of Mischa's acting, but her character has a lot of potential. OH, and Ryan and Taylor are meant to be. I love writing them (:
whitelilly0989- I love ER too! Marissa does have the Hathaway vibe, right? That's what I was going for. Oh and yeah, Taylor is supposed to be Abby with a little more perkiness. And Ryan is kind of Greene/Carter. Oh, and I can tell you I have an interesting path set up for Ryan and Taylor. Thanks for the review.
Krisz- Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yeah let me clear up Hess and Teresa. Teresa is kind of like Jen, Mark Greene's ex-wife and Hess is well that jerk Susan dated in season one. So I'm going with an Abby/Carter type of relationship, but starting it off differently.
Without further Ado...
A Lack of Color
Chapter 2: A Hard Day's Night
They worked on her all night. The dialysis was slowly working, but making her reliant on it for kidney function was a bad idea. If the kidney relied on the dialysis for too long the body wouldn't be able to make Marissa's perfectly healthy kidney work for her anymore giving her even more health problems however his protests fell on death ears. Volchok insisted that the only thing that mattered was making sure all the toxins were out of her body while Ryan was concerned about long term issues, "Look if we screw up her kidneys, she's going to need transplant."
"Look Ryan, we're not thinking long-term our job is to solve the emergency and let the other doctors take care of long-term stuff. Okay, no matter what we do we can't make her any worse off then she currently is." Volchok argued.
Ryan groaned, "You're wrong. She's not in renal failure; we can't keep her on dialysis. If we do, we'll send her body into renal failure. And that makes her a little worse, doesn't it?"
"She'd be dead if we didn't remove the toxins." Volchok stated fiercely with a glare, and removed the stomach pump.
Ryan ignored him, he was the Chief Resident. He got to make the calls, "Taylor run another toxicity scan. Tell me the levels, and I'll decide if she gets taken off dialysis." Taylor nodded, drew some blood, and ran off to the lab, "Why'd you take the stomach pump out?"
Volchok shrugged, "Nothing's left in the stomach by now. If we didn't get it out from the stomach already then it's already headed toward the liver."
"Good call." Ryan agreed, and the two work in silence for awhile until Seth ran into the room. Ryan raised an eyebrow, "What's up Cohen?"
"Stabbing coming in and I need your help to stabilize it. I'm sorry really I am." Seth muttered, "I know that she's everyone's friend and you all want to save her, but…"
"It's fine Seth," Ryan assured him, "You did the right thing. Volchok, I'll be back soon?" The other doctor simply shrugged, and Ryan ran after Seth who met the stabbing victim at the ambulance bay, "What do we have?"
"Jonas Lewis, 35 years old. Stabbed in right tibia." The paramedic stated.
Ryan nodded as the nurses pulled the gurney into the nearest trauma room, "Right, Cohen what do we have to be worried about?"
"There's a huge artery there so if we can't control the bleeding he's a goner. So our first thing we focus on is controlling the bleeding." Seth answered confidently.
Ryan nodded, "Right. And since the man is already passed out, wed can conclude that we have little time to do it." Ryan listened to the man's heart, "He has strong heart rate and breath sounds are fairly good. What's your method of treatment, Cohen?"
"Use a tourniquet?" Seth asked. Ryan nodded, and Seth ran to grab one, he applied the tourniquet quickly and efficiently. When the pressure was on the wound, Seth wrote the time down on the man's chart, ands then looked at Ryan for more information.
Dr. Atwood shrugged, "What next?"
"Call the OR to explore the wound to check for damages, and control the bleeding." Seth suggested. Ryan gave him a nod, and Seth called the OR.
"What are they going to look for in the operating room?" Ryan asked him.
Seth considered it, "There are tons of nerve endings there. The knife might have hit one, and screwed up the guy's nerves which would mean he'd lose feeling below the knee along with other abilities."
"Right, and they want to make sure that they can minimize the damage that might be done, although there's very little you can do once nerves are damaged." Ryan explained, "I'm going to go back to Marissa's room. If you need me, please feel free to get me."
Seth nodded in agreement and Ryan moved over to the next trauma room, and his eyes fell on Taylor's, "What are the results?" She handed him the scan, and he read it over, "I'm taking her off dialysis. The toxins levels are as low as we're gonna get them without having the liver interfere." Before Volchok could reply, Ryan handed him the scan, and he groaned knowing Ryan was right, and began taking Marissa off the dialysis. As soon as the job is almost complete, Ryan said, "Her heart is going to stop."
"What the hell? Then why are we taking her off?" Volchok demanded angrily.
"What the hell is going on in here?" A new voice interrupted, and both Ryan and Volchok turned around and saw Luke looking from Marissa limp body to them. The three coworkers couldn't do anything but look at each other, until Ryan finally said, "Suicide attempt."
"Fuck." Luke said reading the chart, and noting all he developments. He had woken up this morning thinking all was good with the world, and gone to work like usual only to walk into his friend being treated for a sucicde attempt.
"So like I was saying why the hell are we taking her off dialysis if her hearts going to stop. It doesn't make any sense." Volchok snapped. This caught Luke's attention and he listened hard.
"The way I see it she stays on dialysis for another hour or so, and her heart stops, and we can't fix it because she's been so dependent for so long that she'll die right there, or we can take her off now and her heart will stop, but we'll have more ways to revive it." Ryan shouted, "So please take her off the damn dialysis."
Volchok shot a hopeful look towards Luke, but Luke groaned, "Ryan's right, you need to get her off dialysis. Ryan why don't you go home? Your shift's over. I'll finish up here, and make sure she gets off dialysis."
"No, thanks. I'd like to see her through." Ryan replied without hesitation, and Luke nodded and left the room. Ryan went over to the dialysis station, and looked at Volchok and Taylor, "We're going to need all the time we can get so Taylor be ready for compressions, and Volchok you're mouth-to mouth." With that Ryan took Marissa off dialysis. It wasn't even a minute before they lost a pulse, and then her heart stopped beating. Taylor started compressions, and Volchok did the mouth to mouth, as Ryan got the AED and shocked Marissa's heart, the heart started again and they all took a breath of relief.
"Taylor, new toxicity blood work." Ryan said quietly, "Any ideas if the toxicity doesn't come out clean?"
"Water IV?" Volchok suggested.
"We're already hydrating her like crazy. So any benefit we'd get from that is done." Ryan reminded him calmly.
Volchok glared, "Focus on the liver, help it break apart the pills. Make sure it does it's work right, kind of have a liver catalyst."
"Okay." Ryan stated, and looked over her chart as Taylor came back in the room and handed Volchok the results. Ryan looked at Volchok, and saw a small smile come over his face.
"She's all clear except a little bit of alcohol. We're taking out the intubation tube!" Volchok told them, "Before you say anything Atwood, I know she has a DNR."
Ryan just nodded as Volchok took out the tube, and then watched as Marissa Cooper took a breath on her own, he smiled to himself. They'd saved her.
"Alright call pysch and get her a bed up there." Ryan told Taylor with a smile, she reciprocated his action as she dialed up to pysch.
"They have one set up for her." Taylor told them, "They'll be here soon. And that's my exit cue, see you guys." Volchok nodded in her direction as he took a seat next to Marissa.
"I'm gonna head out too. My shift ended about two hours ago. Bye, Volchok." Ryan called and followed Taylor out of the room, "Hey Taylor, great work tonight."
She turned around, "You too. I think that might have been the hardest case of my entire career. God, I can't believe that even happened it just seemed out of my nightmares."
"Yeah it was definitely a tough night." Ryan concluded understandingly, "Do you maybe want to grab a coffee or something?"
"I'd love to, but I have a biochemistry class focusing on Medication and Drug Interactions." Taylor replied.
Ryan laughed, "The irony of that statement is unbelievable."
"I know right?" Taylor smiled, "It's so ironic that I'm having trouble grasping it. I'll see you Ryan. Get home to your wife."
Ryan nodded, "Good idea. Have fun at Med School." She laughed and walked away, and he watched her walk away. Then he headed to the locker room to change into his real people clothes, as he liked to call it. When he was changed, he walked out, but the clerk stopped him, "Ryan, how's Marissa?"
"She's gonna be alright." Ryan told them confidently, "I'll see you tomorrow." The clerk waved, and Ryan walked into the garage and pulled his car out, and headed toward the home he shared with Teresa.
Summer walked into the hospital with a broad smile on her face. She had been able to get eight hours of sleep which was more than she usually dreamed about. She was well rested and relaxed, she figured it had something to do with the two beers she'd drank last night while out with Luke and Holly. It was a rare occasion that she was able to have a night to hangout with her friends and just enjoy life. So when she clocked in her mood made her feel invincible and then she saw Cohen's charts on rounds or lack there of. Summer groaned, Nichol was going to kill her. Rounds were supposed to be done by seven and right now it was seven thirty. She sighed, and picked up the charts and ran off to begin her rounds.
"Good morning Mr. Cox." Summer said enthusiastically. She walked over to the man who she had stabilized in trauma the day before. However today a petite woman sat with him with a smile and put a finger to her lips signaling to Summer that her husband was still asleep. Summer nodded and frowned, "I'm going to have to wake him up unfortunately, but no worries he'll probably fall asleep right away."
The woman smiled at her, and flipped a strand of her brown hair out of her eyes, "Are you Dr. Roberts?" Summer nodded her head as she headed over to wake up Mr. Cox, lightly tapping the shoulder that wasn't operated on. The woman looked pleased by this, "He told me all about you, he said that you're the reason he has his arm. I'm Nancy, his wife."
Summer blushed as Mr. Cox stirred lightly, "It's nice to meet you Nancy, but I didn't save your husband's arm. A very gifted surgeon did." Mr. Cox was still waking, and Summer went over to his other side by the arm that Dr. Nichol had reattached. She examined the stitches; they were a little sloppy for her liking, she tried to make them as straight as possible to avoid less pain when the patient would have them removed. There were many other stitches so that the arm would manage to stay on, and Summer double checked to see that there were no signs of infections.
"Hey Doc Roberts." Mr. Cox said groggily. He tried to lift his head but his wife insisted that he just stay where he was.
Summer smiled at him warmly, "You're arm looks better than it did yesterday, Mr. Cox. Dr. Nichol did a fantastic job on the surgery. On a scale of 1-10, how much pain do you feel?"
"Eight," Mr. Cox answered quietly.
Summer nodded, "Sounds about right for the trauma you just endured. Tell me if you can feel when I touch your arm, alright?" Mr. Cox nodded, and Summer moved her hand on different parts of his arm, and each time she touch him, he did notice which was a good sign that he didn't have blood clots, "Okay, so everything looks great for right now, but we're going to have to be on the look out for infection and blood clots. Infection is just a thought due to the amount of stitches and blood clots are always a risk in reattachment surgery, so I'm going to order an ultrasound, okay?"
Mr. Cox and his wife nodded their heads, and Summer wrote down the order on the chart for the nurse to read, and said, "Well I'll see you later Mr. Cox."
She began exiting the room when she heard her patient call, "Dr. Roberts?" Summer turned around and raised her eyebrow in question, "You're an excellent doctor, don't let that asshole surgeon make you think you're not."
Summer's jaw dropped, and then her face became full of respect as she couldn't fight the grin coming to her face, "Thank you, Mr. Cox." She left the room, and had an extra bounce in her step as she made her way to finish rounds.
Luke groaned as his patient let out another scream. Pain like this was usually surgical, but Luke had other ideas. For one, the man's pain was not directly in one spot, but seemed to travel throughout the body. The man let out a yelp, and Luke sighed, "Okay, Mr.Stevens, I'm rather concerned about your headache, so I'm going to have Nurse Lopez here bring you over to radiology, and then we'll go from there, okay? He waited for the patient to nod before he left the room, and headed to the front desk, and rechecked the chart. He looked at the chart which was missing Marissa's name on it, and turned to Holly who was the clerk on call tonight with a frown on his face, "Where's Marissa Cooper?"
"They did all they could." Holly muttered in a bored voice, as she flipped through her latest issue of Cosmo, and chewed on her gum.
Luke's face curved into a bigger frown, "Shit, who called it?" He had thought that Marissa would pull through, but apparently they couldn't restart her heart after they'd taken her off dialysis.
"Volchok." Holly replied in a monotone voice still mindlessly flipping through her magazine, not bothering to look up at Luke's panicked face.
Luke groaned. Volchok would never have called it, he could never say that Marissa was dead. Ryan would have had to call it, but according to Holly, Volchok had pronounced his ex-girlfriend dead, "That must have been tough for him."
"Well you know no one likes these things." Holly replied dully as she flipped a piece of her bleached hair. She twirled it mindlessly around her finger, and kept her eyes on the magazine, Luke figured it was because she was to embarrassed of crying in front of him, but then again her voice wasn't shaky. How could Holly not care that Marissa Cooper was dead? She had been her friend too after all.
Luke nodded, his voice still shaking, "Do you know why?"
"Suicide." Holly responded.
Luke groaned agitatedly, "No I know that, but why did you know it happen?" There was no reason for her not to tell him. He was a doctor, he'd understood if he told her the reason why Marissa was no longer with them.
"That's what they're going to find out." Holly commented in a voice that seemed just as annoyed as his did, apparently the doctors had no idea why she had died and that would mean Holly had no idea so it would make sense that she would be getting annoyed with Luke's questions.
"They're doing an autopsy?" Luke asked calmly but still doubtfully. Usually the blood work showed what was being used to make the body fail and autopsies were not necessary.
This caught Holly's attention, "Wait, isn't an autopsy only for dead people?" Luke nodded, "Then why would Marissa get an autopsy? She's up in pysch!"
Luke was relieved, but only for a moment before he glared down Holly, "Why would you tell me she's dead if she's not?"
"I didn't tell you she died." Holly argued.
"You sure as hell made it seem like she was dead. I thought she was dead, and you never stopped me and told me she wasn't." Luke snapped angrily
Holly shrugged, "I was too busy reading to listen to you Luke."
Luke examined what she was reading, "You were too busy reading Cosmo?
"Hey if I were you, I wouldn't be complaining," Holly remarked, "I was reading 100 Sex Tips that'll drive your man crazy."
"That was a one time event." Luke muttered. He had slept with Holly the night before after going to a bar with her and Summer. He had drank quite a bit, but nothing that was too risky considering that he had to be a fully functioning doctor the next morning, but still he blamed the alcohol for his idiotic mistake.
Holly laughed, "Actually it was a four time event."
Luke was about to retort when Nurse Lara Lopez handed him the CT scan of Mr. Steven's brain. He saw it immediately it was impossible to miss by the pure size of it. It was located in the frontal lobe, and was the size of Luke's fist, easily, "Shit!"
"What Luke? Are you embarrassed? There's no reason to be embarrassed, everyone's doing it. It's kind of like drugs." Holly teased him with a smirk on her face.
Luke's vein in his forehead felt like it was about to explode out of the fury he felt in the moment, "No, actually Holly, I'm about to tell a man the same age as me that he has a brain tumor the size of my fist which is probably fatal. So trust me Holly, I'm not embarrassed by you at the moment."
Luke walked away from the desk, leaving the blond girl shaking her head, as she twirled her hair and reading her magazine, "Whatever. I'm just trying to be supportive in his crisis of manhood."
Seth stood outside the room, patiently waiting for Dr. Roberts to arrive so that she could see the patient. When she arrived, she seemed flustered. Her face looked worn, and she seemed slightly annoyed, but she still looked beautiful, he apparently let his eyes linger too long as she was glowering at him, "What do we have Cohen?"
He didn't think he could speak so he handed her the CT results, and watched as Summer gasped, "Crap. That thing is the size of a baseball. You want to brief me on the patient, Cohen?"
"Right," Seth replied, "Zach Stevens, age 26, comic book enthusiast. Came in after falling down and suffering intolerable headaches."
"I bet he was," Summer muttered, "Does he know?"
Seth nodded, "Luke let him know there was a mass in his brain. But he didn't really go into specifics, and just got him some consults."
"Right," Summer said and she headed into the room where the handsome comic book enthusiast sat, "Good morning Mr. Stevens, I'm Dr. Roberts."
The man looked up towards her and shrugged, "Oh is that what you call it?"
Summer sighed understandably, "I know things aren't going good for you this morning Mr. Stevens, but even though you're upset you really shouldn't be. I mean technically you should be upset because well it's an upsetting thing. I mean I really shouldn't be speaking because I've never experienced what you're going through, but if there's one thing I learn with my job it's that life's too short to hold onto emotions."
Zach Stevens turned to her, "Ironic how you can say that isn't it Dr. Roberts? Life's too short. It's an easy statement to make when you're not dying."
"We're all dying, Mr. Stevens from the moment we're born. Life is so fragile; it can be taken away at any moment. I could walk outside, and be hit by a car and die. Just because I don't know when my time is coming doesn't mean it can't come." Summer muttered quietly. Seth looked at her then, really looked at her. She wore her long brown hair down, and her eyes were as majestic as ever, except this time he saw something different in them. He could see how human she was in that moment. He could tell that despite working in a manipulative field, she hadn't lost her principles. She was human and he was pretty sure at that moment he had never seen someone so beautiful as her.
"You're beautiful doc." Seth heard someone say, did he seriously just say that out loud? He looked at the room and Zach was wearing a confident smile and Summer looked stunned by the abrupt subject change.
"Thank you Mr. Stevens." Summer responded with a smile.
Zach shrugged, "Are you married, Doctor Roberts?" Seth inwardly groaned, how come he didn't have the guts to just up and ask her a question like that. Technically he was allowed to ask her a few questions, but really what right did he have to ask her a few questions.
Summer chuckled more to herself, "No, I'm a doctor. No one wants to marry someone who won't be home to cook. Trust me there's tons of research about it."
Zach smiled, "Well would you maybe…"
"Before you finish that statement Mr. Stevens, I would like to remind you that you already fell on your head once today." Summer told him with a smile, "Shall we go over the medical information?" That's why, Seth decided, he'd never ask her out because he was sure to be rejected.
The other man nodded, "Right, well you can't blame a man for trying, right Dr. Cohen?"
Seth had forgotten that this wasn't some bizarre dream that he was having, but that he had the ability to speak, "Absolutely especially a beautiful girl with the potential for making tons of money."
Summer smirked at him, "What in a prostitution ring?"
"Uh, well I guess there but I uh was thinking more in the OR." Seth stuttered awkwardly. Zach laughed hysterically.
Summer fought off a grin as she rolled her eyes, "Cohen, I was kidding. Mr. Stevens you have a very large tumor in your frontal lobe, which would be the reason why your headache was so severe after falling today. There's only one way of treatment, really chemotherapy and surgery. As a surgeon, I think that the tumor is operable. However it is impossible to truly know until we open up your brain. Still there are no guarantees with a brain tumor this advanced."
Zach sighed and asked quietly, "So what if I choose not to get treatment? What happens then?"
Summer took a deep breath and then told him straight forward, "Then you'll pass away."
"How much time are we talking without treatment?" Zach questioned her forcing her to keep her eye contact.
Summer looked him straight in the eyes, "Two months, three months if you're lucky." She looked away from his eyes refusing to see the pain her words had caused him, that's what she hated about her job, "So Mr. Stevens, you have a decision to make."
"What would you do?" Zach asked her seriously.
Summer didn't stutter, "I wouldn't give up."
Zach nodded, and then he looked at Seth, "What would you do?" And Seth felt like this was him. It was actually his decision. Zach was a lot like him and him having to make the decision, made Seth struggle for his answer. If Zach hadn't been a comic book addict his age, he was pretty sure he'd have his answer easily, but now he was actually considering.
"I'd fight like hell." Seth told him securely.
Zach nodded, "Well I guess I'm going to be in for the fight of my life."
"Alright then, I'll admit you to the surgical ward Mr. Stevens." Summer grinned at him in a grin that was so infectious, that everyone in the room soon wore wide spread smiles on their faces. Seth followed Summer as she left the room, and as they walked she turned to him, "Thanks for the support Cohen, I appreciate it."
"No problem Dr. Roberts," Seth told hr and the quietly mumbled, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Cohen," Summer grinned, "This is a teaching hospital after all."
Seth began, "Well er my parents are coming up and they wanted to have lunch. And I was wondering if I could leave for two hours so that I could you know satisfy the parents wishes."
"So let me get this straight," Summer began, "You miss rounds and then you ask me if you can have a two hour break."
"Uh, yeah." Seth replied lamely.
"Hmm why did you miss rounds, too busy sleeping or something?" Summer demands feeling a rage blackout come over her.
"I was covering the ER." Seth responded quite clearly terrified of her.
Summer's fury was evident in her voice as she yelled, "Why would you cover the ER? You're only a med student."
"Because Dr. Atwood and Dr. Volchok were taking care of the nurse manager after she came in on a suicide attempt." Seth told her hesitantly.
Tears came to Summer's eyes, but she closed them to fight them back. People thought that because she was a girl, Summer was supposed to cry over everything, and in her field it was dangerous to make the stereotypes real, "Marissa Cooper?"
Seth nodded, "Yeah…they got her stable though, and sent her up to pysch."
"Oh." Summer whispered and she began walking towards the front desk, "Holly, I need Marissa Cooper's chart."
"So can I uh go?" Seth asked nervously.
"Sure Cohen," Summer murmured distractedly, as she flipped through a chart that Holly had just handed her.
"Or I can uh stay with you?" Seth suggested awkwardly.
"Why would you do that?" Summer questioned, not bothering to look up, "Just leave Cohen."
"Theresa! I'm home!" Ryan yelled as he entered the apartment he shared with his wife. He placed his car keys down on a table, and made his way into the kitchen where he knew his wife would be sitting reading the Times. When he walked into the kitchen, he placed a kiss on her forehead, "Hey."
"You're late." She whispered not looking up to meet his eyes, she continued reading the Times and drank her coffee, mindlessly stirring it, and diving into a stack of fluffy pancakes that she had made for her.
Ryan ignored her, "So how was the party last night?" He headed over toward the coffee pot, and poured himself a cup, "I'm thinking you had fun last night, but today's not going to be as fun."
"How'd you know?" Teresa raised an eyebrow, as she took another bite of her pancakes.
Ryan laughed, and took a seat across from her, "Well your hangover food is pancakes."
She shrugged, "Well you certainly know little details, but big ones such as time are lost on you, huh?"
"Can we just drop it?" Ryan asked beginning to get irritated.
"No, Ryan," Teresa argued, "I talk to you yesterday about how your hours are getting to be too much for me, and you go and work overtime?"
"I was saving Marissa Cooper's life after a suicide attempt!" Ryan shouted, "So don't you dare tell me I stayed after to spite you, because you know that's complete bullshit."
Theresa was quiet; stunned. Ryan hadn't meant to yell at her, but really what she was accusing of him was so far from the fact that he felt the need to defend himself. He looked at her, but didn't say anything, until she said, "Sandy and Kirsten called."
"Huh?" Ryan muttered while taking a sip of his coffee. He took the front page of the LA Times, and breezed through the headlines, nothing too exciting.
Teresa shrugged, "They're in LA for the day and they want to have lunch. I told them that you'd be there."
"Cool. Where and when?" Ryan asked.
"Eleven at the Ritz Carlton." Teresa replied fairly bored
"Well is Soph going to be there?" Ryan asked curiously as he finished off his cup of coffee. Sophie was the closest thing he had to a sister; she had been born at the end of his freshmen year of college. When Ryan was little he had taken care of his mom and brother, but now here he was 19 and he had no one to take care of anymore, and Sophie had come into his life, and she was so small and so cute. He felt like he couldn't love anything more in the world, and so far he'd been proven correct.
"How should I know, Ryan?" Teresa asked, "She's like twelve now, she might not go along with Sandy and Kristen everywhere."
Ryan shrugged. She had a good point. Who knew what preteen Sophie was like? "Look we should probably get going its ten thirty; we're just barely going to make it."
"I'm not going." Teresa told him quietly, "I'm too pissed at you and hung-over to go today. Maybe next time."
Ryan glared at her, "Whatever." He then left the kitchen, and headed to the Land Rover, and made a mad dash towards the Ritz, hoping he'd get there in time.
"Hey Seth!" His mother called out to him before ambushing him in a hug.
He laughed, as he gently kissed his mother's forehead, and escaped his mother's hug, "Well hello to you to mom, I suppose you missed me?" He shook his father's hand, and his parents laughed.
"Missed is a bit of an understatement. She's been driving Soph crazy with her stories about how you're working in an ER like Ryan, and how she hopes nothing happens to you like on TV. Actually Soph didn't come, because she was scared Kirsten would embarrass her in front of you." Sandy grinned.
Seth laughed, "That's impossible dad, we all know mom embarrasses all her kids at once, therefore Soph and I could rant about what an embarrassing mother we have without consequence." For that he earned a smack across his head from his mother.
"I'm not that embarrassing." Kirsten argued with a pout, "Seriously why are my kids so embarrassed of me?"
Seth was about to respond when he heard someone else say, "Because you can't cook." His eyes turned to face the new person who had entered the room. It was his boss; well not really, it was the replacement son and the Chief Resident at the Compton ER. Seth had been dreading working with him, but the past twenty four ours he had spent with him weren't all too bad.
"Ryan! It's been forever! How have you been?" Kirsten said as she gave Ryan a hug.
Ryan hugged her back, and kissed her on the cheek. He then headed over towards Sandy, and gave him a man hug, "Pretty good, and it hasn't been that long Kirsten, only like a month or so. Where's Soph?"
"She stayed at home, because she thought Kirsten would embarrass her." Sandy commented lightly.
Ryan grinned, "Ah so Sophie's one of those pre-teens that thinks she's a teenager. That should be fun to deal with."
"Oh it's a blast." Kirsten replied sardonically.
Ryan laughed, and Seth felt Ryan's eyes land on him. Seth quickly greeted him with a nod of his head, "Dr. Atwood."
Kirsten and Sandy began laughing hysterically at his words, and Seth glowered. Ryan smirked at him, "Seriously, man you can call me Ryan. Everyone does except Summer, I uh mean Dr. Roberts, but she doesn't call anyone by their first name not even her friends."
This was useful information, Seth concluded, and said, "Okay, Ryan."
"Dr. Atwood, does anyone call you that?" Sandy wondered out loud. It was weird to hear the kid he'd rescued from Chino be referred to as anything other than Ryan.
"Hardly anyone, it's even rare for my patients to call me that." Ryan responded with a shrug, "I like to keep things casual." When he saw Seth frown of embarrassment, he added, "Students usually do though until they feel comfortable."
Seth wrinkled his nose, "So I can call you Ryan in a trauma room?" The concept was new to him. He had been taught by his professors that it was rude to call a fellow doctor by their first name.
"Why not?" Ryan raised an eyebrow in confusion, "And while you're at it call Dr. Ward, Luke. He hates his last name, and even Summer doesn't bother using his last name, she thinks it sounds too much like wart."
Seth laughed, "It kind of does. So do I not call Dr. Volchok by his proper name either?"
"Oh you call Volchok, Volchok, unless you want to die." Ryan told him seriously, "The only one who can call him by his first name is Marissa."
"Why?" Seth wondered out loud.
"They used to go out," Kirsten told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Seth looked confused, and Ryan nodded, "Yeah they did, I'm surprised you didn't pick that up in the trauma room by how possessive Volchok was being. And the nurse gossip."
"Really, Seth," Sandy teased, "Get with the program."
"Dr. Volchok, we have a trauma coming in." Holly shouted as Volchok clocked out of his day from hell. He double checked the clock, 7:05. He was off five minutes ago and he didn't intend on doing anymore overtime, especially today.
He yelled back, "I'm off Holly! Get Luke to take it!" He signed off on one of his final charts of the day, some idiot bitching over falling down and getting a bruise, he wouldn't leave till Volchok prescribed him to pain meds, luckily Volchok was an expert in dealing with junkies, and gave him a prescription for Tylenol in a fancy word, and assured him it was part of the morphine family.
"You told me to get you if a gangster got himself shot, so you could take care of it." Holly reminded him in an arrogant tone. Volchok groaned, he had told her that. Today he had been taking the cases that no one wanted, pretty much. Dealing with junkies, bratty teens, annoying parents, killers, and thieves. But right now he just wanted to get out of the damn emergency room.
"Forget what I said Holly," Volchok mumbled, "Give the damn case to Luke." He headed towards the staff room, to take off his lab coat. He hated people most of this time; he had no idea why he'd chosen a profession that was so dependent on how he interacted with people. When he hung up his lab coat, he slammed his locker door shut, and headed towards the elevator and pressed the button to take him to the third floor. When he got out of the elevator, he walked towards room 212. When he reached the door his hands shook on the doorknob, he wasn't sure if this was really the right thing. Maybe this wasn't what she needed. He sighed, and after further debate pulled the door.
The first thing that he noticed when he walked in was the steady rising and falling of her chest, something that had been absent from her when he had last seen her. He had never really noticed how beautiful she was till this moment, as she watched her chest rise and fall. He realized that Marissa Cooper was beautiful when she breathed, something that he'd never have realized if she hadn't stopped breathing. She laid there so perfectly still, but not limp like she had been last night. He slipped into the empty seat next to her bed, and watched her sleep.
He realized it was pathetic to watch someone sleep. He also recognized that it was something one of the leading men in the movies would do as they stared after the girl that they had fallen in love with over night. Volchok was not the leading man. He was the asshole who broke the girl's heart. But at the moment Volchok didn't care about the role he was supposed to play, he just wanted to be with Marissa because her heart was still beating. That was really all that mattered.
"Dr. Volchok?" A voice said suddenly taking him away from the solitary moment he was sharing with Marissa.
He turned relentlessly towards the new voice, "Hmm?"
"Visiting hours are over. Usually we wouldn't ask someone like you to leave but well in the pysch ward we have to make sure everyone abides by the rules or else some people get paranoid…" The nurse told him.
"Right," Volchok replied distractedly, "Did she wake up today?"
The nurse shrugged, "Once or twice."
This perked Volchok's interest, "How'd she uh seem to you?"
"Tired," The nurse told him, "You know she's still recovering medically, the body just fought for its life, it's pretty tired."
Volchok overcame the urge to roll his eyes. He'd been there when the body was fighting for its life, he'd helped it along. He was the doctor, he knew the medical recovery period, instead of pointing this out to the nurse he said, "Right. Well I should get going."
The nurse nodded, "Dr. Volchok would you like us to tell her that you stopped by?"
He looked her over, and squeezed her hand gently. He held it a bit longer than he should have, but as he squeezed her hand, he knew what he had to do to make the recovery easier for Marissa "No, please don't tell her I was here."
AN: Okay so what do you think of that? I know it was kind of lacking in the Taylor/Ryan department, but it'll have some more in the next chapter, seriously. Otherwise what did you think of the other characters/relationships/Cohen+1. Oh and Zach is sticking around for awhile. Please review.