"Where am I?" I ask when I wake up to a very bright light in my face.
"You should know by now, you're here so much."
"Ahh, Dr. Karev. So what's up?"
"Well, Justin said that you fell off of your roof while trying to clean the gutters out… At 5:00 in the morning."
"Oh…right."
"Yeah"
"So what's the deal with my knee?"
"It seems by the way you…landed, we'll have to do some pretty serious surgery. We did an MRI while you were out and you have no internal bleeding, so after the surgery you'll stay here for a few days and then you can go home."
"When can I have the surgery?"
"Well, that's the tricky part."
"You…need a parent to sign the consent forms, don't you?"
"Yes. Would you like me to call someone for you?"
"The same answer as always, Alex, no."
"Yeah, well, it's routine."
"Hmph. So are you busy or can you talk?"
"It depends on what you want to talk about."
"Who are you screwing this week?"
"What did he do it for this time?"
"Got any girls pregnant yet"
"Gotten together with lover boy yet?"
"He's not."
"He so likes you."
"Why? Because he actually cares?"
"No, because he looks at you with the same eyes I used to- never mind. Maybe I'm wrong."
"Yeah. Maybe."
"Hello, Austyn, I'm Dr. Torres, and I'll be your Ortho surgeon." Alex leaves and Dr. Torres removes my bandages around my knee. "You may not want to look." She says, but I brush her off.
"Woah! Is that my bone sticking out?"
"Yes. That doesn't make you want to puke?"
"No! Can I touch it?" I ask reaching for it.
"NO! Stretching could cause a tear in your leg muscle which is already very torn and trying to repair itself."
"Oh." I sit back.
"The girl wants to touch her bone. I like you." I smile and Dr. Torres leaves.
"Justin?" I call and he comes in.
"Hey, babe. How are you?"
"I saw my bone!"
"You actually looked?"
"Yes! It was the coolest!" It became silent for a minute. "So, where did he go?"
"He went to the bar again."
"Figures."
"Listen to me, ok?" Justin said moving so that his nose almost touched mine. "This is not how it should be. I don't really have a father, but I know that this is not how it should be. You CAN leave, and as soon as I find an apartment, we're going to live together. I will take care of you and I WILL protect you. We're going to make it through this."
"Fish fly when I say jump!"
"What?"
"I- I don't know. I meant to say oka-" Everything went black. The world flashed in and out. I saw Justin, then Alex.
"She's seizing!" I heard someone yell. A body crashed on top of mine, and we were off. "Take her to O.R. 1 and page someone from neuro!" My body went numb as the anesthesiologist pressed a breathing tube type of thing over my mouth and nose and I went to sleep just like that.