Kim walked into the gallery and looked at the surgery Julia was doing. Al eyed him from the corner of the gallery. He seemed exasperated as he looked at his watch. It was a delicate surgery she was performing with Kit, Mina, and AJ.

A young boy had fallen out the window three stories below on concrete. He was in terrible shape, and it still wasn't certain that he was going to make it. Most of his organs were impacted as well as his spine. AJ and Mina had stabilized and tended to his heart. They had then left Kit to work on the spine before turning him over and letting Julia and her assistant treat the other major organs.

The boy had coded twice, and they had been able to bring him back both times which was nothing short of a miracle. They had been in surgery for five hours and were exhausted by the time they had closed him up and sent him to the ICU, saying a silent prayer that he would make it, as the next 48 hours were going to be critical.

As they exited the scrub room, Kim walked menacingly over to Julia.

"You took up three other surgeons and an OR room for 5 hours. I want an explanation."

They all looked at him angrily. Seeing that Kit was about to respond, Julia turned and looked at her. "I've got this."

Kit tilted her head to the side almost making sure that Julia was certain.

"Doctor Adams?" reiterated Kim.

As Mina, AJ and Kit headed off, she started to walk in the opposite direction toward the waiting room. He hastened behind her.

"Where are you going? I asked you a question, Doctor Adams."

Conrad turned the corner of the corridor at that exact moment. He saw a calm Julia pivot and force Kim to stop dead in his tracks in order to not crash into her.

"Mr. Kim, I'm not deaf. I heard you. But right now, you are not my priority. My priority is to my patient and his family. There are two worried and praying parents waiting for an update on their son. When I'm done, I'll give you an answer."

Kim stared her down. He wasn't one to like people defying him. "I don't like your attitude, Doctor Adams."

Julia gave an amused smirk. "Mr. Kim, Red Rock Medical did not hire me for my attitude but for my skills and talent. I could care less that you don't like it or me. I don't like yours either."

With that she walked away and headed for the waiting room. Conrad was jubilating inside upon seeing a rather distraught Kim standing in the middle of the corridor uncertain as to what had just been thrown at his face very tactfully.

Once the parents had been advised of the situation and she had brought them to their son in the ICU, she headed for the elevator to go talk to Kim. She knew she would need to make a pit stop first; it was of the essence. When she walked inside the elevator, Conrad was standing in it, leaning against the back wall.

They locked eyes and she smiled seeing a grin on his face.

"What?"

"The way you handled Kim back there was inspiring. I've dealt with him in the past and I was never that tactful."

"I could teach you."

"I bet you could," replied Conrad as he removed his back from the wall and stood next to her.

"I don't have anything against Kim, personally. He's only a pawn for Red Rock Medical. He's only doing what they've asked of him. And unfortunately, even if he is business savvy, he's not smart enough to know that they are wrong and that their interest is not in the patients."

He looked at the numbered floor button she had pressed. It was obvious she was heading up to see Kim. He had a few more minutes before reaching his floor.

"Listen, I was wondering if you'd want to grab a drink later on tonight after work?"

She smiled. "I'd like that."

He smiled too. "Great."

The elevator door opened on his floor. He put his hand on the door to keep it open as he looked at her. "I'd wish you good luck, but for some reason, I have the impression, Kim is going to need it more than you."

She nodded but said nothing. The truth, even if she didn't show it, was that she was terrified.

When the elevator stopped on the executive floor, she made a quick stop inside Marshall's office making sure to not be seen. She was not in the know that they had been spotted by Irving the night before at the lounge of the hotel and that he had misinterpreted their interaction, but it was important to remain discreet. The stakes were high, and she couldn't fail.

He rose upon seeing her.

"I'm going to need you."

He put on a serious face. "You have what you need?"

"Yes. Give me five minutes."

"Got it."

As she started to walk out, he stopped her upon reaching her.

"Julia, if at any moment in time things get tricky, you stop."

She stared at him. Something was different in his tone of voice and his dialogue, but she didn't have time to stop and discuss it. Therefore, she simply nodded before venturing out in the corridor, destination: Kim's office.

He was standing at the window looking out at the skyline. He turned around as she knocked on the open door.

"I've been waiting for you." He seemed unamused by the wait.

"As I told you downstairs, my patients will always have the priority no matter how long it takes. I'm sure you could have kept yourself busy and put that time to good use."

And bam, once again, very diplomatically she had sent him an invisible slap.

"Sit down."

She headed for the chair across from his desk and sat down.

"You mobilized 3 surgeons and an operating room for five hours. Do you have any idea what that does financially and in terms of productivity?"

"Mr. Kim, even though you are not a doctor or surgeon, I'm sure that a very intelligent man like yourself can see the advantage in what I did. If I had operated on my own, I would have held that operating room hostage for another three hours, at the least. Bringing in my qualified colleagues, helped reduce the time we were in the OR. Had any of them been needed for emergency surgeries, they would have been able to leave my patient and OR, without the slightest of problems."

Seeing he was not responding but thinking about what she had just said, she continued.

"Do you know what a trauma is in medicine?" It was a rhetorical question as not only did she not leave him time to answer, but she was certain he didn't know.

"Trauma occurs when an outside set of forces or influences result in pain, injury, serious illness, medical procedures, or surgery. They can go from minor to life-threatening. It means that when a patient comes in, we don't know what we will find. You can't plan how long a trauma surgery is going to take. It's not an appendectomy or a cardiac bypass."

She tilted her head to the side. "Now the question is, should I go faster, kill patients, and tarnish the reputation of Red Rock Medical and Chastain? I don't think you want that nor your superiors. They brought me in to make this a level three trauma hospital and I'm going to do that on my terms. If you're not happy with that, then fire me. I can live with that."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. She turned around and saw Marshall standing at the door he seemed upset.

"This is a joke, right?"

Kim stood and looked at Marshall.

"What is?"

"The report I've just gotten from you sent over by your assistant, on the latest figures."

Kim looked disturbed.

Marshall continued. "A 30% drop in revenue the past quarter?"

"No, that's not possible," said Kim frowned.

"Well, you and your assistant better come into my office and clear this up."

Kim looked at Marshall.

"I'm in a meeting with Doctor Adams."

Marshall defied him. "You want me to call the board for an exceptional meeting?!"

Kim looked at Marshall then at Julia.

"Doctor Adams, please wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Julia nodded and settled comfortably in her seat as he went around his desk and met up with Marshall. They headed for the assistant's desk and called him over to join them before leaving down the hall toward Marshall's office.

After a couple of minutes, once she was certain, he wasn't going to turn back around to take something from his desk, she stood. She took a device from her pocket and a flash drive. She headed for Kim's computer. She placed the device on top of the computer; and it started to decrypt the password, giving her access to it. She looked at the various folders on his drive, opening each one quickly looking at what was in it. She copied a few files on the flash drive. She managed to erase the history of what she had done on his computer as she heard his voice heading back toward his office. She removed the flash drive, grabbed the device, locked the PC, and quickly returned to her seat.

When Kim entered his office, she was reading her emails on her phone. He looked at her. "That will be all Doctor Adams. Just try to be as productive as possible."

She stared at him. "You made me wait for almost ten minutes to tell me this? Why didn't you say so earlier. I have patients to tend to."

"I really do believe you have an attitude problem, Doctor Adams, it would be good for you to work on that."

She stood and then leaned over on his desk, planting her hands down on it. "Don't confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am, my attitude depends on who you are."

Kim stared at her agog but visibly angry by her remark. Marshall who had staid a bit in retreat in the hallway heard her and laughed quietly.

Julia walked out of the office then out in the corridor. She was smart enough to not acknowledge the fact that Marshall was in the corridor. She only gave him a quick nod which he responded to before she disappeared.

She sat down in the locker room and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down as her hand dug into her pocket and let it clasp around the flash drive. When she had gotten a grip and the adrenaline died down, she stood and headed to the doctor's lounge to work on her patient files.