Scientists devour textbooks and data in an attempt to understand the world, to gain confidence or clarity, to be prepared. Surgeons are the worst offenders. We study for decades and stare down the barrel of worst case scenarios. We ignore sleep and friends and food and sex and actual real life so that we're ready for anything. So we know what to expect and know there's nothing we can't handle.
Webber was wakened by the sounded of his alarm going, he turned his alarm off and lied down again staring at the celling. He sighed, removed the covers and got out bed. He heard the sound of his phone, he looked at it and saw that he got a message from his wife, saying that she was going to say in Los Angels an extra day, because the foundation needed her.
Tom headed towards a jet, when he got in he saw Meredith sitting. "Oh. So, Catherine sent for you, too, huh?"
"Told me she needed a VIP consult," Meredith said.
"Yeah, and she needed the smartest neuro god she knows," Tom said, as he sat down.
"General, but the same."
One of the flight attendant walked up to Tom; "Something to drink, Dr. Koracick?"
"Double espresso, dash of cinnamon, lots of sugar."
"Of course."
The flight attendant he walked to the back. Tom moved some pillows around and lay down. He looked over at Meredith, who was checking her seat belt nervously.
"I'm sure, if you asked nicely, that flight attendant could scrounge up a kickass sedative, just knock you right out."
"If you knew my history on planes, you would not be making jokes," Meredith said.
"So, what do you think Catherine's got for us? Tom asked. Rock star with a spinal schwannoma?"
"Mm. Oh, please, we could do that in our sleep," Meredith said. "Chooramani technique?"
"What... you know the Chooramani technique, Dr. Grey? You impress me," he said.
"I dabbled in neuro for a bit," Meredith said.
"What... What made you give it up?" Tom asked.
"I could have possibly ruined my husband's Alzheimer's trial," Meredith said.
"Oh. I heard about that," Tom said. "Yeah, I met him on the conference circuit. He thought it was fitting that my name had the word "ass" right smack in the middle of it."
"That sounds like him," Meredith laughed.
"Yeah," Tom chuckled, he saw the flight attendant coming, he stood up and sat in the seat across from Meredith. "Oh."
The flight attendant put down Tom's espresso; "We're next in line for takeoff, he said. Don't forget to buckle up."
Tom buckled his seat belt, Meredith grabbed her drink and with a nervous feeling she started to drink.
"Do you want me to talk or shut up?" Tom asked.
"Talk."
Jackson was in the skills lab with Jenna watching the work of the interns.
"Thank you for helping me with this," Jackson said.
"No problem it's quiet in the Cardio department. Must be because a lot more people are eating healthier, if this keeps up I'm going to be out of a job," Jenna laughed, she looked at Jackson, who wasn't laughing at all and just had an awkward look on his face and Jenna stopped laughing. "That wasn't funny?"
Jackson shook his head; "No, not really."
"Note to self, work on jokes," Jenna said, she and Jackson walked over to the next table and Jackson looked at the work that was done.
"Number 5 looks very neat, good technique, no hesitation, you wouldn't say this is the work of a second year intern, am impressed, Jackson said.
"Good idea of you to give the interns numbers and not know signing their names to this,' Jenna said.
"That way they can look at their work with an fair eye," Jackson said.
"Maybe I'll do the same when I need an intern for a special Cardio case," Jenna said. "Note to self, use this idea for helping me decide with intern to use for future cardio cases." Jenna looked over at Jackson, who once again had a bit of an awkward look on his face. "Saying note to myself is a bit annoying isn't?"
"No, it's isn't," Jackson said.
"It's just bit weird? Note to self," saying note to self is weird, Jenns said, "Note to self, stop saying note to self."
"I've made my decision."
"I call the interns to come here," Jenna said, she grabbed her pager and paged the 2nd year interns to come to the skill lab. All the two year interns had gathered and were anxiously awaiting Jackson's decision.
"I'm impressed with your work, but only one person can be the winner, and that is the one who was number 5,' Jackson said." Dr. Wyatt who was number 5?"
"Dr. Medina," Jenna read of the list.
"Congratulations, Dr. Medina, you get to help me with a face reconstruction," Diego said.
Diego walked up to Jackson and shook his hand; "Thank you Dr. Avery."
"You don't have to thank me you did this yourself, I was very impressed with your technique, I'll see you in the patient's room in half an hour," Jackson said, he handed Diego the tablet with William's file in. "So make sure you go over your case carefully."
"I will not disappoint you Dr. Avery."
Webber walked past the nurse station and was greeted by the nurses.
"Chief, good, you're here," said Frankie
"I haven't been the chief in years, Frankie," he said
"You'll always be my chief," she said, handing him one of the tables. Room 3 needs you. She and Webber started walking down the hall towards the patient's room. Your intern doesn't know a wound-vac from his ass."
"And here I thought motherhood would soften your edges," Webber said.
"Who needs soft edges when you're always right?" Frankie asked.
"You know, when I hired you, I knew you were gonna be nothing but a pain in my..."
"When you hired me, I was first in my class at nursing school and knew my way around a central line better than anyone, including you, Frankie said.
"Pain in my...
"Careful, or I'm not gonna let you put money down on baby names," Frankie said, Webber walked over the board with the names from Frankie's baby written on it. "Ginger put that up, thinking she could make a quick buck. She knows I'm just gonna wind up calling it "Chicken." Or L'il Pancake."
"L'il Pancake is not a name," he said, he took the top of marker and wrote down his name. "Now, Richard, that's a name. Very distinguished. Ah. Wise. All right," he put the marker down and turned around and saw Frankie groaning and holding her belly. "Frankie?"
"Aah!"
"Frankie," Webber said. he walked over to Frankie and held. Somebody get me a gurney! Frankie? Okay, we got you.
Frankie was brought to one of rooms, the rest of the nursing staff watched her. Frankie was laying down, while Webber was using the ultra sound machine to check up on the baby.
"Have you had any other symptoms... pain, dizziness?" He asked.
"I'm 28 weeks' pregnant at a crazy-ass job where people feed me cupcakes all day. I just thought it was indigestion," Frankie said. "Aah-aah, damn it."
"One of the nurse's walked in; "Frankie. What do you need?"
"No, I'm..," she began. 'Dr. Webber's just checking me out."
"Pulse is strong, but she's tachycardic," she said. "What are we thinking?"
"Ginger. Hi. Ginger. Over here. Hi. Richard is taking care of me. Richard is good. We like Richard, Frankie said. "So.."'
"Stand down?" Ginger asked.
"It would be appreciated," Webber said, Ginger got out of the room and watched from the door opening. "You've got a hell of a village there."
"My whole life, you know, I've had an order in my head... job, dog, house...," Frankie said.
"Ring, husband, baby."
"Exactly," Frankie chuckled. 'And I'm skating towards with a killer job, but no ring, no husband, no human man in sight. So I made my own damn order. And me and L'il Pancake are gonna be a helluva team. And we've got our village."
"L'il Pancake is not a name," Ginger said.
"Well, I never saw a challenge you couldn't rise to," Webber said. "And your baby has a nice, strong heartbeat, just like we like it."
"So then... Frankie said, as she felt pain again. "Aah, damn it." Webber removed the transducer. "What's wrong?"
"Uh, it's your spleen."
"Where?"
"There," he said pointing to the screen. "It is a wandering spleen. It's torqued around itself, and it's cutting off the blood supply. So I'm gonna get you up to the OR."
"No, no, no, no, hold on. It could resolve on its own. Sometimes the spleen turns itself back around."
"Highly unlikely," Webber said.
"No, it happened. I have seen it," Frankie said.
"It's possible, but, Frankie..," Webber began.
"At 28 weeks, the only way to make sure that this baby stays safely inside of me is to stay out of that OR," Frankie said. "I...I know the risks. I don't care."
"Frankie, listen to me. I..."
"41,632 dollars, that's what this kid costs, Three rounds of IVF and a miscarriage. I'm not telling you that so you feel sorry for me. This baby is worth every dime, all of it," Frankie said. "I'm telling you because this is it. I literally have all of my eggs in one basket, so there is no way we are risking this. I'm not going. Don't make me sic Ginger on you."
"I'm gonna check you in. I'm gonna watch you like a hawk, "Webber said.
"That part we've got covered," Ginger said as she pointed to herself and the rest of the nurses. Webber nodded his head and left the room, while other nurses walked in and stood next to Frankie's bed.
Jackson and Diego were in William's room; "Dr. Medina you may present."
"Okay, William Bennet, 33 years old, this was a Multiple glioblastoma and Dr. Nolan successfully removed it, to have to do this he had to split Mr. Bennet's face open. Now Mr. Bennet is here for his facial repair."
"And my face will look good as new?" William asked.
"Dr. Medina," Jackson gestured, Diego brought Jackson the computer screen and Jackson showed and explained his plan to William, and what the end result is going to be. "And this will be the result."
"And you can really do that? Make me look like that?" William asked.
"I'm going to make it happen, I promised you," Jackson said.
"I no longer have a tumor, my face will look like new, so my chance to find love is not over," William said.
"Medina prep Mr. Bennet for his surgery and then meet me in O.R. 4, Jackson said.
"You got it, Dr. Avery, Diego said.
Meredith and Tom had arrived in Los Angels and went straight to one of the Cathrien Fox's hospitals.
"I mean, we're always hoping for the patient to be Bono, but at some point, the patient has to actually be Bono, right?" Meredith asked.
"Well, I met him once. Even his brain is cool. It's annoying," Tom said.
Cathrine walked up to Meredith and Tom; "What took you two so long?"
"Catherine, this place is gorgeous," Meredith said.
"The patient is a 65 year-old female," Catherine began.
"Susan Sarandon? Helen Mirren?" Tom asked. Make my dreams come true.
"She's complained of neck and back pain off and on for the past several weeks, and, yesterday, the pain reached a fever pitch," Catherine said. "Head of Ortho insisted on a C.T."
"It would be nice to have a cervical MRI so we know what we're dealing with," Meredith said.
"Already done," Catherine said.
Meredith and Tom followed Catherine to the CT room, Catherine pushed a button on a remote and showed the two doctors the scans.
"Oh, will you marry me?"
"Thomas, please," Catherine said.
"No, I'm not kidding. She is smart, wily," Tom said.
"I mean, I have never seen a tumor invade both the vascular and the nerve domains like that before," Meredith said.
"Neither have I," Tom said. "I always thought a blonde would take me off the market, but, spinal tumor..."
"Tommy."
"You have my..."
"Tommy."
"No, I'm just saying, this tumor is not going anywhere anytime soon," Tom said. "You know I love my women stubborn."
"We're gonna need to do a biopsy to determine if it's cancer or not," Meredith said.
"Oh, cart, horse. Love the enthusiasm, but, uh, I prefer to meet the patient first," Meredith said.
"You already have," Catherine said. Meredith and Tom turned to her. "Sorry to disappoint you, Thomas. No Hollywood movie stars today." She sighed. "I'm the patient."
"Catherine, I'm sorry," Tom said.
"Don't apologize."
"I didn't... I didn't..."
"You meant every word you said," Catherine said.
"Look. Including the part where we don't know if it's cancer or not," Tom said.
"Are you having any numbness or loss of motor function?" Meredith asked.
"No, just the pain, which is why I need a biopsy right away," Catherine said. "I have things to do.
"I think a spinal tumor's a pretty good reason to postpone a ribbon cutting," Tom said.
"I didn't send for you to postpone a damn thing," Catherine said.
"Catherine, why aren't Richard and Jackson here?" Meredith asked.
"They don't know," Tom said.
"They will know when there's something to know," Catherine said. "Now, I've reserved the IR suite. We can take care of the biopsy right now."
"The tumor extends into the sub-q area..
"Which makes it my dance space, Tom said.
"Well, just make sure when you finish dancing, I can still cut the ribbon on this place, Catherine said.
Frankie was surrounded by the other nurse and they were trying to come up with baby names.
"Icilda! Said one of the nurses, others started to laugh. You better not make that fun of that. That's my mama's name.
"Okay, I want Q two-hour neuro checks on, Fankie said. And, Carla, please make sure that Mrs. Chen is double-gowned. That woman does three laps a day with her rear flapping in the breeze.
"Yeah, she does.
Frankie started to groan in pain again, the nurses stopped smiling and now had a worried look on their faces. Ahh... Now, the only way for you to help me is to go do your jobs, please.
"Yeah, you heard the boss. Let's go," Webber said entering the room and putting on gloves, he walked over the Frankie. "And so, as the boss of you..."
"Here he goes."
"Um, you should be resting."
"Pulse has gone back down to normal. Her blood pressure is stable," said one of the nurses.
"We checked it manually twice."
"We're not all just trashy magazines and noise violations."
"She's good, Dr. Webber," said Ginger
"Indeed,' Webber said. "Now, if you all don't mind, I'd like to do a quick ultrasound. How about some privacy?"
The rest of the nurses got up and left the room, one of the nurses said better name the baby while they were gone. Only Ginger stayed and sat on the edge of the cough, Webber closed the curtain
"They mean well," Frankie said.
"You're exactly the boss I always knew you would be... tough, fair."
"With a little bit of flair."
"You always had that," Webber said as he turned on the ultra sound machine.
"Is that..."
"I believe it is," Webber said. "Your spleen's beginning to untwist. I can see blood flowing again."
"You can say it, you know? It won't kill you," Frankie said.
"You weren't wrong for waiting a while," Webber said.
"Oh, that's the best you can do?" Frankie teased.
"For today," Webber said.
"Hey, what gives?" Frankie asked. "You're cranky. Your jokes are stale. I could fly to Paris with the bags under your eyes."
"If you weren't my patient, I'd have you fired," Webber said.
"How's Catherine?" Frankie asked.
"She's busy, traveling a lot," Webber said.
"Hey, I know it was hard losing Ollie," Frankie said.
"Yeah, it was," Webber said. I'll check on your vitals in a bit. He opened the curtain and saw Ginger standing.
"You keep up the good work, our girl may name her baby Richard after all," Ginger said. Webber walked passed her and she handed him a cupcake, he took the cupcake and left the room.
Jackson and Diego were in the O.R. doing Williams' facial reconstruction, Diego looked over at the monitor and nodded his head; "BP looks good Dr. Avery."
"Nice," Jackson said.
"And his whole face will look good again?" Diego asked.
"Yep, You couldn't even tell he had plastic surgery," Jackson said.
"When I see this, I realize that plastic surgery is more than Botox and breast implants, but I'm from Miami and I've seen almost nothing else there, so..."
Jackson had to laugh a little at Diego's comment; "Speaking of Miami are you going to watch the game tonight?"
"What game?" Diego asked.
"Miami Heats are playing tonight, since you're a fan, I figured you are going to watch," Jackson said.
"What makes you think I'm a fan?"
"Always when you arrive at the hospital you come in wearing a Miami Heat cap, Jackson pointed out.
"I don't know, had other things planned, studying for the intern exam," Diego said.
"But that's still months away," Jackson said.
"I just want to be prepared, You can never study enough," Diego said.
"Sounds like something my ex-wife will say," Jackson said.
"Now let's just focus on the surgery, No more talk about basketball games or studying, please? I would like to focus," Diego said.
"Okay," Jackson said.
Webber walked back into Frankie's room after being paged by one of the nurses, Frankie looked like she was in terrible pain, she was groaning and sweaty.
"What happened?"
"Her blood pressure tanked, and her pain level's through the roof," Ginger said.
"What is happening?" Frankie asked.
"It's gonna be okay," Ginger said.
"My baby."
"Okay, let's take a look," Webber said, he turned on the machine. Your baby looks strong. He saw something that wasn't good. "Damn it. There's fluid in her abdomen. It's likely blood. Her splenic artery probably burst, okay?"
"I'll go tell them to prep an OR," Ginger said.
"And shut down the gallery," Webber said. "You page Alex Karev, page Robbins and the head of OB staff, If we have to take this baby out... I want the best on-hand, okay, all right?"
"Wait, no. Please, no, please. Please...," Frankie begged.
"Listen to me, Frankie, There is nothing you can't handle, okay?" Webber said. "Come on, let's go. Come on. We got to move."
Meredith and Tom were busy doing Catherine's biopsy; "Do you think it's cancer?'
"Dr. Grey, that's why we're doing the biopsy," Tom said. "Actual answers. Science."
"I'm asking if you have a feeling," Meredith said.
"I'm a Big Gun," Tom said.
"Yes, I know. You're amazing, incredible. There's no one in the world like you. I get it."
"I feel so seen. Thank you," Tom said, he walked over the Cathrine and grabbed one of the tools. "And we are ready to roll."
"Okay, now, you want to be careful because you...," Meredith said.
"Grey... you're not gonna backseat drive a simple biopsy, are you?" Tom said.
"Nope."
"No? Good."
"Be careful because..."
"Da, da, no, no, no, no. no, no," Tom said. "People don't come to The Meredith Grey for appys and choles anymore, do they?"
"No, they don't," Meredith said.
"You are a Big Gun. You spend your days with the worst-case scenarios. You are the last stop on the Hope Train, and if you felt that every hour of every day, well, you'd be a miserable first date. Big Gun worry when there's something to worry about."
"Put a rush on that."
Alex walked into the O.R.; "Hey, the nurses are lining the halls," he said. "Can I help?"
"Yeah. Get in here," Webber said, Alex walked over the nurses and helped him put the gown on. We need to get this spleen out.
"She's hypotensive. We need to take the baby out," Alex said.
"The baby's 28 only weeks," Webber said. "You're talking months in the NICU and a potential lifetime of deficits."
"Dr. Webber..."
"My judgment is not clouded," Webber said, "Suction." One of the nurses handed him the suction. "The nurses in our hospital put their own needs their own lives aside every hour of every day for the good of their patients. Clamp." He was handed the clamp. 'So I owe it to them to do everything in my power to keep that baby right where he belongs."
"Then let's do what we can," Alex said.
Webber and Alex worked hard to help Frankie and her baby stay safe. Webber removed Frankie's spleen and the bleeding was under control. Alex told Webber he did a good job and everything looked good until the machines started beeping rapidly
"Damn it!" Webber shouted.
"Is your vascular clamp still in place?" Alex asked.
"Maybe it's the short gastric arteries," Webber said.
"Her pressure's tank," Alex said.
"Okay. Suction," Webber said, Alex started to suction and Webber tried to look for the problem, but because of all of the blood it was difficult. "There's too much blood. I can't tell where it's coming from."
"Dr. Webber, baby's in distress."
"Where the hell Robbins?" Webber asked.
"She just took off, she is on her way back from New Orleans," Alex said. "Sir, we need to get this baby out now. Dr. Webber."
"Then do it," Webber said. "Some pads."
Everyone worked as fast the could to get the baby out and trying to stop the bleeding.
"Baby's out, Alex said, he took the baby to another table and hooking him up to the wires.
"Okay, where the hell is all this blood coming from?" Webber asked.
"I need suction and intubation, stat."
"Oh, she's going into DIC. Let's hang FFP. Karev, how you doing over there?" Webber asked, but Alex didn't answer, he was focused on the baby. Karev? Karev!"
"Got an airway, but no movement," Alex said and he continued giving the baby oxygen. "Come on, buddy. Come on, come on, come on, come on," he looked over at the screen. "We got movement! We got it. Sats are improving. We got him. We're good," Alex took the baby boy and brought him to the incubator.
"Did you hear that, Frankie? Your baby boy's okay. He's okay. I need you to stay with him," Webber said. "The monitors started beeping rapidly again and the alarms were blaring. We need that crash cart!"
"Get him in the NICU now, stat," Alex said, the nurse took the baby out of the O.R. Alex walked over to Frankie and started giving her heart massage.
"Let's charge to 120."
The nurse handed Alex to paddles ready to go; "Clear," he said, he shocked Frankie but not happened, he put the paddles aside and started giving her heart massage again.
"Come on, Frankie. Come on. Come on," Webber said. "Let's charge to 200."
"Clear."
Meredith walked in to Catherine's room, Tom was sitting at her side and the two of them were singing the song They Can't Take That Away From Me. The two turned to Meredith and stopped singing.
"Oh, that's just a little routine we used to do over sacral nerve implants back in the day," Tom said.
"So, how did I do?" Catherine asked.
"Oh, you were perfect, just like a professional patient," Tom said, he got up and poured some water in for Catherine and handed it to her. "We're still waiting on the results."
"Catherine? Can I call Richard now?" Meredith asked.
"In a bit. I think I need a real drink," she said, taking another sip from her water.
"And we're almost done here," Jackson said. "Now we need to stich him up. He handed Diego the needle and thread."
"Do you want me to hold this for you, Dr. Avery?" Diego asked.
"No, you can do it," Jackson said.
"Do what?" Diego asked.
"I'll leave this to you, that's why I had you do that assignment, I know you can do it," Jackson said.
Diego took the needle and started stitching William up, under Jackson supervision; "Am I doing that right Dr. Avery?"
"You are doing well, relax think back to what you did during the skills lab, I was very impressed with your work in the skills lab," Jackson said.
"Thank you," Diego said.
'And that's why you shouldn't be nervous," Jackson said. "You were the best in your class and it's impressive for a second year intern to do something like that already."
"I just followed you instruction and for the rest I just followed my gut," Diego said with some laughter in his voice. "Pretty crazy actually that I followed my gut, I've always been someone who follows logic more, but with this it just went almost naturally."
"That's good."
"And all done," Diego said finishing up with the last stitch
Jackson inspected Diego's work carefully and nodded his head; "That looks good."
"Now what?"
"Now we just need to apply the bandages and then take Mr. Bennet to the recovery room, please."
"Yes, Dr. Avery," Diego said.
Frankie was still coding, the O.R. floor looked like a battle field with how much blood it was cover in. Alex stopped giving Frankie heart massage and looked at Webber.
"Dr. Webber," Alex said. "Dr. Webber, she's been down."
"I know," Webber said. "Time...," he couldn't bring it to say it, he cleared his threat. "Time of..."
"Time of death 15:42."
Webber took off his mask and his gown and left the OR. Alex put a cover Frankie's body. Webber looked through the window, he saw the nurses crying and comforting each. Webber left the scrub room, he walked down the hallway and saw the rest of the nursing staff, waiting there. He walked through those door and looked at the nurses, who had anxious and awaiting looks on their faces, Webber sadly shook his head and the nurses broke down in tears. Ginger walked over to Webber and fell into his arms and cried even harder.
Webber was attending an AA meeting, but he wasn't focused on anything, everything looked blurry for him and voice were echoing in his head.
"Hi. I'm Gina. I'm an alcoholic."
"Hi, Gina."
"I lost my job busing for the school district last week. Budget cuts. I couldn't believe it."
"Haven't seen you around in a while," said a man
"Work," Webber said.
"Glad you're back."
"I grabbed my last paycheck, and every bone in my body told me, "Call your sponsor." But I thought, "I'll just walk it off. I'll just walk it the hell off," like being a drunk is like being in a bad mood or trying to lose a few pounds. I pass by this bar, McGovern's, right off Main, and I see this crappy little sign in the window, hung up with masking tape. "Chips for shots." And at first, I... I didn't know what it meant. And then I see the emblem. You give 'em your chip, and they give you a shot for every year you're sober. I wish I could have felt the way that you feel right now... angry, horrified. But all I could feel in that moment was lucky, because I have four years under my belt and I got bucks in my bank account. Had. I had four years. God, I'm so ashamed. But I'm back,and I got hours under my belt, and I am grateful."
While the rest of the attending applaued Gina, Webber got up and left the meeting.
Meredith and Tom were in the hotel they were staying with Catherine and the three off them walked to the hotel bar.
"Okay, run it down for me," Cathrine said.
"Look, the results aren't in yet," Tom said. "The tumor could still be benign, so let's not worry about that until..."
"Why do we do that? Why do we refuse to talk about it?" Cathrine asked. If I have cancer..."
"We don't know that you do," Meredith said.
"Yeah, but I might, and your tip-toeing around it doesn't make it any better," Cathrine said.
"Can I get you guys something?"
"Andrew, yes," Catherine said, as she sat on one of the stools. "What are you having, Tommy?"
"The sun is still out," Tom said.
"Oh, he'll have the same as me... tequila, neat. Make his a double," Catherine said. "Meredith?"
"I'll have the same," she said as she sat down, Tom sighed and he also sat down. The bartender gave them their drinks. "Thanks."
"So...," Catherine began. "Do you think, if you talk about it, it'll scare me? It'll remind me? Do you think there's any world where I'm not sitting here wondering if my right foot is numb because of the heels or the tumor snaking down my spine? Do you think I'm sitting here now wondering, "How long is it gonna be before they tack the word 'Memorial' at the end of that sign?" After all these years, I have built a legacy that finally has my own name on it. I have a grandchildren that I want to watch take over the world. You don't think I'm sitting here wondering if I'll get to? There is nothing you could possibly say that's worse than what I've been imagining since the second I saw those scans."
"Well, if it is cancer, we are looking at, um... osteosarcoma or a chondrosarcoma," Meredith said.
"Which means what?" Catherine asked.
"If it's osteo, assuming it has not spread, we are looking at chemo and radiation to shrink the size of the tumor and operate with as little chance of paralysis as possible.'
"And if it's chondrosarcoma?" Catherine asked.
"Chondro is a beast. Doesn't respond to chemo, Tom said. So, if you're lucky... and that's a big if... we may be able to cut it out without, uh..."
"Making me a quadriplegic, which means I'll never operate again," Catherine said.
"Okay. So that tequila went right through me. I got to go see a man about a horse," Tom said, het got up and left.
"Dr. Grey, you are among the finest surgeons that I've seen in my career. But that's not the only reason I called you here," Catherine said. "When I look in Richard's eyes, he's barely holding on. His sponsor died, and he hasn't replaced her, and if I tell him this..."
"Catherine. My mother hid her diagnosis and spent years alone because of it. This is not an excuse to cut the people you love out of your life," Meredith said.
"Meredith, I don't know if he can handle this, Catherine said.
"Well, I don't know if he can handle it, either, but it's his life, too, Meredith said. This is not your choice to make for him.
Tom walked back to Meredith and Catherine; "All right, the hospital, uh, paged. The biopsy results are back," he said. Catherine drank her last bit of tequila and put her glass down.
"Okay, well...," Meredith said, as she got up. "Let's do this."
"Yeah."
"One more?" Catherine said, she gestured to the bartender for another round, Meredith and Tom sat down again.
After William woke up, Jackson and Diego went to his room.
"And?"
"The surgery was successful and now it is important to recover properly," Jackson said.
"And in a few days, the bandages can be taken off," Diego said.
"There will still be some swelling, but it will go away soon," Jackson said.
"And then my face will look good again?" William asked.
"Then your face will look good again," Jackson said.
"Thank you."
"I promised you and I'm a person who keeps his word," Jackson said.
"If I ever need anything done to my face again, I know where to come," William said.
"Let's hope nothing more happens to your face, Mr. Bennet," Diego said
"Please call me William," William insisted.
"All right, William," Diego said.
'Okay but then nothing with my face, but if I ever come across someone who needs Plastic Surgery, I will send them to you," William said.
"Now get some rest, William," Diego said. William nodded his head and closed his eyes, Diego and Jackson left the room and walked down the hallway. "Thank you for letting me be a part of this, Dr. Avery."
"No problem, we were a good team together, Jackson said. And speaking of team, I should be starting soon for the next board meeting.
"You don't sound too excited about it," Diego said.
"Board meetings aren't exactly things I get excited about," Jackson said.
"I get that," Diego said.
"And it's also...," Jackson sighed. "I've been head of the board for almost six years now and it still feels like some don't see me as the head, and sure I know my mom made me, I mean it wasn't my choice."
"You're the Red Ranger," Diego said to him.
"The what?"
"Have you ever heard of the Power Rangers?"
"I saw that show a few times when I was a kid," Jackson told Diego.
Well as a giant geek here, I've seen a lot of the seasons of the show," Diego said. "And what the deal is with the Red Ranger is that he didn't make the choice himself to be the leader, he was chosen."
"What does this have to do with me exactly?" Jackson asked.
"As you also just said you didn't choose to become the head of the board, you were chosen, and you were chosen because you were the best for the job," Diego said.
"I think it had more to do with nepotism," Jackson said.
"Even if it might be, you're the leader of the team and I think you're doing a good job, I mean the hospital still exists," Diego said.
"That's true," Jackson. "So I'm the Red Ranger."
"You're the Red Ranger," Diego said.
"Thanks for saying that, I kinda needed that," Jackson said.
"No problem."
Jackson looked at his watch; "It's been a long day and now go home," he said, as he started walking. "I'm going to watch the game, if you haven't watched it I won't tell you."
"I'm actually not a fan of basketball, Diego said, Jackson stopped walking and turned to Diego. The hat belonged to my brother, he was a big Miami Heat fan.
"What happened to your brother, from this I assume he is no longer around," Jackson said.
"He was killed when he was 18, shot by a police officer," Diego said, he sat in one of the chairs and whipped away his tears.
Jackson walked over to Diego and sat down next to him; "I'm sorry about that for you."
"My brother was in the supermarket getting ice cream for my grandmother and further on there was a robbery, the two robbers were members of the local gang and they fled into the supermarket, the cops followed them and there was my brother. And cop saw him and thought he is part of the gang, because is almost expected of every Latino teenage boy, he wanted to know what my brother had in pocket that he had with him, my brother wanted to take out what was in it and then the cop shot, there was ice cream in it, ice cream that my brother had gone to get for my grandmother."
"That's terrible," Jackson said.
"He had gone to get it as an excuse, my mother wanted to get him out of the house for a while so we could prepare things for his party, because he was going to college. When she told us the news, my world has never been the same again, for anyone in my family," Diego said. "My mother has always blamed herself, from that day on, my grandmother's favorite ice cream flavor was no longer her favorite. And I also feel very guilty now."
"Why?"
"My brother was actually the first in our family who will go to college and I took that away from him," Diego said.
"You didn't take that from your brother, it was taken from him, but not by you," Jackson reassured him.
"My brother had gotten a basketball scholarship, he was that good and everybody knew for sure that one day he's going to play for the Miami Heats.'
"What was his name?"
"Raphael," Diego said. "So that's why I wear the cap, so I my brother is still close to me."
"I get it," Jackson said.
"Thank you so much for listening to me Dr. Avery," Diego said.
"No problem and if you need anything, come to me," Jackson said.
"Thank you."
"And like I said before, you did a great job today, I hope we can work together again sometime," Jackson said.
"That would be great to work with you again," Diego said.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. Medina, Jackson said.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. Avery, Diego said.
Webber walked down the street heading towards the bar that Gina was talking about, he entered, he took of his jacket and sat down.
"What can I get you?" The bartender asked. Webber said nothing and took his coin out of is pocket and put it down on the countertop, the bartender looked at the coin. "Eight years, huh? Impressive. I had five once." He put Webber's chips in a bowl that was filled with other chips. "God grant me the serenity, right?" The bartender grabbed 8 shot glasses and put them in front of Webber. "What's your poison?"
"Vodka."
The bartender grabbed a vodka bottle and filled the shot glasses with it. "Enjoy."
The bartender turned around. Webber stared at the glasses and sighed, the took his chip back and got up and walked towards to bartender.
"Hey. You can't come back here," he said. Webber said nothing and grabbed the baseball bat. "What the hell, man?!" Webber swinged the baseball bat and started smashing the bar. "Whoa, whoa! Whoa! Hey! Whoa! Stop it! Whoa! Hey! Stop it! Whoa! Hey, whoa! Somebody call the damn police!"
"Do it! You call the police, and I'll tell 'em what you do to people, people who are just trying to be there for their children...," Webber said, he took the chips and threw them at the bartender "Trying to be there for the wives that love 'em...," he took another hand of chips and threw them at the bartender. "Just trying to hang on with everything they got. And you find 'em, and you hunt 'em down!"
Webber took the baseball bat again and started smashing the bar
"Aah! I didn't hurt nobody! The choice was all yours," the bartender said.
"Damn right it is," Webber said. He swung the baseball bat again and smashed the 8 shot glasses in front of him. He put the baseball bat down and yelled, and he broke down.
"This foundation was created to change the face of medicine. And because of the brave women who came forward and told their truths and overcame insurmountable odds, the Catherine Fox Foundation will change the face of medicine once again," Catherine said, the crowd was clapping and cheering for her. "This is just the beginning."
Catherine got a giant pair of scissor and gut the big red ribbon, while Meredith and Tom watched.
"Damn," Tom said.
"Right?"
"No, I mean, she looks good, Tom said. She always looked fantastic, but..."
"Okay, what is it with you two?" Meredith asked. "Because you realize that Richard and I are like family, so if there's something going on..."
"I'm not one to kiss and tell," Tom said.
"That's literally all you ever do," Meredith said.
"Oh, you want... you want details?"
"No, I don't," Meredith said.
"She woke me up," Tom said. "I had a kid, a son, and, uh... then I didn't. Uh, I sleep-walked through years of my life, and Catherine, uh... reminded me that I was alive. And she sings a mean harmony, too. She's my friend."
"Then she's in good hands," Meredith said.
"No, I'm a Big Gun, Meredith," Tom said.
"Yeah, okay, with the Big Gun. I get it,' Meredith said.
"No, you don't. You don't. There is no one smarter, no one better than me. And my friend has Grade 3 chondrosarcoma," Tom said. "She has cancer in her spine that won't shrink with chemo, and I have no idea how to remove it without killing or paralyzing her."
"Thomas, what the hell are you doing standing here? Catherine asked as she walked up to Tom and Meredith.
"Ugh. Catherine...
"You have work to do," Catherine said. "I survived losing my mother before I could even get to know her and my father, who dropped dead on his way to church when I was 18 years old. I raised my sisters alone... no help, no money. I have survived racism, sexism, every "ism" designed to make me feel small or make me less. If I can do all of that, if I can survive all of that, then I just might survive this, too. But I can't do this on my own. So I need you to figure it out, fast. Tom nodded with his head. Now, excuse me. I... I have to go call my husband."
Alex was in the NICU doing a check up on Frankie's infant son; the rest of the nurse staff stood around the incubator. Alex finished his check and nodded his head that all was well with the baby, this made the nurses update and they joined them at the incubator, Alex left the NICU to give the nurse a moment alone.
Hey, there, L'il Pancake.
Diego was in the interns' locker room getting dressed, he put on his cap and left the locker room while looking at the times of the basketball game on his phone.
Catherine sat outside, with her phone in her hands, she called Webber, but got his voicemail and she sighed deeply.
Meredith sat at one of the hospital's outside lunch table, she heard her phone go off and answered it.
"Hello."
"Meredith."
"Richard?" Meredith asked. "Are you okay?"
"Please don't tell Catherine. Just promise me."
"Okay, I promise, Meredith said. What's going on?"
"I've been arrested, Meredith. I need your help."
Next time: Seattle is hit by a huge wind storm and Grey Sloan becomes inundated with patients. Schmitt gets closer to Kyle's younger brother Tate, while Meredith confronts Richard about getting his life back on track.