HERE'S THE 3 O'CLOCK CHAPTER, ENJOY AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK
Chapter 13: Wanting
SCENE: ALEX AND JO'S HOUSE
(Amber is making herself scrambled eggs at the stove. Jo walks in surprised to see Amber cooking. Jazz is by her side)
Jo: Morning.
Amber: Morning, do you want eggs? I think I used like half the carton.
Jo: As long as it's not raw and gooey yeah.
Amber: (Puts eggs on plates) Here you go, I added salt but if you want more cholesterol be my guest.
Jo: (Eats eggs) Not bad, it's better than I expected from you.
Amber: Thanks. Hey, I hope I didn't keep you and Alex up. I had a…nightmare in the middle of the night and I couldn't fall asleep so I just came up and watched a movie.
Jo: No, you're fine, we were pretty tuckered out. Alex is still sleeping; Bailey is working to get him back to the fold so until then he is residing in our bedroom and only goes out to take your mom supply shopping.
Amber: Good times. Well, I have work today, Pierce is back on track so I'm on her service thank god. What about you? How's filling in for Mer treating you?
Jo: That woman is a force of nature with how long she kept this job with her sanity. On the plus side I'm doing elective surgeries, on the downside I don't have enough time to properly reunite with my husband.
Amber: It's been two days since he got here, how much reuniting do you need?
Jo: (Opens her mouth)
Amber: (Holds hand up) No scratch that I don't want to know.
Jo: (Raises eyebrow) I was gonna say it's a little hard to sleep together when there's a dog at the foot of your bed. I can't believe you talked Alex into letting a furry woodland creature in our bubble.
(Jazz looks at Jo offended as does Amber)
Amber: Hey! Jazzy bear is just what we need to bring joy into our bleak lives right now. I know it's been a day but he already feels like a member of the family. Besides it's not like he's gonna tell anyone what happens in the love shack.
Jo: It doesn't matter, it's weird, it feels like doing it in front of your kids.
Amber: Ah! See you acknowledge he's family! (Baby voice) Didn't she Jazzy bear? Yes, she did!
(Amber feeds Jazz a few scraps from her pan to Jo's amusement)
Jo: Dude you are that meme of the dad that hates the dog at first and then spoils it like it's a princess.
Amber: Oh, you know I love you too. I need a distraction and loving him is it, I've got enough on my mind as it is.
Jo: (Drinks orange juice) Like what?
Amber: … (Sighs) Okay can I ask you something personal? Something that you promise not to overanalyze, you will just answer can you do that for me?
Jo: Sure, go.
Amber: When you and Alex were broken up did you…ever dream about him vividly? Like so vivid that after you wake up you could still feel him around you and in you, like he never broke up with you in the first place. Has that happened to you?
Jo: (Looks at Amber startled) Are you asking me if I ever had wet dreams about your brother?
Amber: As wrong and incestuous as it sounds yes, I am so, have you?
Jo: (Exhales) Um not really I felt connected to him even when I was really angry at him but I never had dreams about him. Why do you ask?
Amber: What did I say about overanalyzing?
Jo: Not to do it, should I be concerned though?
Amber: I'll let you know if you do. I gotta go I got rounds with Pierce; I'll see you at work.
(Amber grabs her bag and keys walking away from Jo who looks at her worriedly)
AN HOUR LATER
SCENE: CARDIO FLOOR
(Amber and Maggie enter the patient room where a black woman types on her laptop)
Maggie: Hey Ira, how are we doing?
(Ira stays quiet as she continues typing)
Maggie: Ira?
Ira: Give me a second, I'm just finishing this chapter and…. done. (Looks up) Hi sorry about that, I'm free.
Maggie: Getting some good material for your book huh?
Ira: Well the publishers want at least three books before they publish the first one. I know it sounds like a hassle but when you have a chance to go from Wattpad to an actual shelf you gotta take it. Have you read it yet?
Maggie: No sadly no time.
Ira: You should read it, Gemma would probably resonate with you. A badass lawyer who doesn't hesitate to hunt down the werewolf pack that killed her parents and sister. What could be better than that?
Maggie: I don't know but if I find it, I will tell you.
Amber: (Realizes) Wait a minute, are you talking about Claws of Justice?
Ira: Yeah, that's my first book, have you read it?
Amber: (Grins) Yeah, you wrote that? (Ira nods) Wow, it's-wow, I love your stories especially the part where Gemma shoots her ex, Conor, after finding out he's part of the pack that screwed her over. I have had fantasies of doing that to certain men in my life I can tell you that.
Ira: Thank you, it's always nice to meet a fan, most of them complain and bitch in the comments.
Maggie: You read the books?
Amber: Yeah I read for fun, don't you?
Maggie: …Present please.
Amber: Right uh Ira Vought, 20, she's here for an en bloc transplant for heart and both lungs due to type 2 diabetes mellitus. Oh my god, is this a first for the hospital?
Maggie: It's a first for Washington state, continue.
Amber: Right, her condition caused a renal dysfunction and thromboembolic complications. UNOS put her on the list two weeks ago and a donor was found last night. MVC who was declared brain dead, family signed off on organ donation and is headed here from Tacoma.
Maggie: We already scheduled an O.R. for you at noon, I will have a transplant team on standby and do the surgery with Dr. Karev assisting me.
Amber: (Looks at Maggie shocked)
Ira: When you told me I needed a transplant I thought I was gonna have to wait for years and with the pandemic that was probably gonna be decades but now…now you're telling me I don't have to live with this pain after today?
Maggie: There's gonna be post op pain naturally but with recovery and PT you should be out within a month. Do you have a support system in place?
Ira: My sister is coming up from San Francisco, she'll be here by the time your done.
Maggie: Okay we'll let you know when a team is gonna be in here to prep you, Dr. Karev will monitor you closely and I'll be close in case there's any complications. Dr. Karev?
(Amber nods and walks out of the room with Maggie barely containing her excitement)
Amber: Am I really gonna assist?
Maggie: Do you think you can handle it?
Amber: Yes, yes! I swear I will make you proud. Thank you so much, I really need this.
Maggie: I know, I feel like being nice and you're my best resident and we both need a break from the burnout. Let me know if Ira has any problems, and help prep her for surgery.
Amber: Yes, your majesty.
Maggie: Don't call me majesty, monarchy is just one person who got their power by blood not by hard work.
Amber: Yes chief.
Maggie: Better, but not around Bailey.
(Maggie leaves Amber who pumps her fist in the air thrilled)
Andrew: Happy day?
(Amber stops and turns around. Andrew is behind her grinning amused)
Amber: (Flustered) Um yeah, I got a case with Pierce, en bloc transplant, heart and both lungs.
Andrew: (Impressed) Nice, I'm actually kind of jealous. The only surgery I've had this past year is an appy and it wasn't even open. Maybe you could talk to Pierce and see if she has any transplants I can help with, what do you say?
Amber: (Clears throat) I'll uh I'll try but I don't want to be the needy resident asking for favors. Pierce said I was her best resident I don't want to tarnish that because you want a surgery.
Andrew: Yeah, Pierce is spoiled with you, I mean even as an intern you were quick and thorough and funny.
Amber: (Blushing) I don't know about funny.
Andrew: Not overly funny but in a sarcastic kind of way that takes time to really appreciate. I mean this morning I asked an intern to get me a coffee anything but caramel latte, guess what he got me.
Amber: (Grins) I'm going with caramel latte.
Andrew: There's that sarcasm, I don't suppose there's any chance you want to switch to general? Maybe work under me?
Amber: (Wide eyes) Um if I change specialties, I will let you know promise. (Flustered) I uh I have to go; I have to monitor my patient's good luck with your thing.
(Amber walks away from Andrew exhaling in lust)
LATER AT THE COVID WARD
(Alex sits inside Meredith's room catching up with her while she's asleep)
Alex: So you picked Webber huh? I guess if your gonna pick someone to kill you other than me it would have to be him. He's having second thoughts putting you in this trial but uh…what kind of doctors are we if we don't do everything to save you from this thing.
(Meredith moans a little and rustles in her blanket)
Alex: Izzie's coming back, did Bailey tell you that? She's coming back so we can raise the kids together with Jo. Jo is eight weeks pregnant, do you think that's worth waking up to?
(Meredith doesn't respond)
Alex: Eli and Alexis ask about you, ever since I told them you were sick they've asked about you at least three times a day. I tell them you're my best friend and that we planned for our kids to meet and play together. They were so excited that they had a whole itinerary planned for one night. First they would do Jenga and then a Marvel movie marathon and then they would do playdoh surgeries. Alexis wanted to do a Whipple and Eli wants to do an appy. Imagine how competitive we would get, whose kid can do more pretend surgeries.
(Meredith still doesn't respond)
Alex: Please wake up so we could do that, please meet my kids and get to know them…please make it thought this Mer, I can't do this without you. Please.
(Alex sniffles as he tears up)
TWO HOURS LATER
SCENE: IRA'S ROOM
(Amber enters the room with a prep team. Ira is still typing on her laptop)
Amber: Hey are you ready to go? There's a heart and a set of lungs with your name on them.
Ira: (Still typing) Yeah just get started while I work on this final chapter. I'm this close to a bestseller I can imagine it.
Amber: I'm afraid we can't Ira, you need to be completely still while we prep you.
Ira: I can't do that I'm on a rollercoaster here you don't stop when you are in the middle of the loop.
Amber: Ira, I am sure if you call your publishers and tell them about the surgery, they will extend the deadline. Their bookworms not soulless monsters that's what surgeons are trust me.
Ira: It's not about a deadline. It's about my readers out there who are waiting for me to continue a series they have been following for three years. I don't want to lose my creative process and I don't want to lose my vision for my characters.
Amber: (Sighs) If you don't let us prep you, you won't get this surgery and you'll go into organ failure. I love your books but I want you to live to tell the tale for many years to come. What can I do to get you to stop typing?
Ira: (Thinks) …How fast can you type?
(Amber looks at her with a raised eyebrow)
TWENTY MINUTES LATER
(After fitting her in a gown a nurse puts an IV in Ira as she tells the story out loud with Amber typing every word)
Ira: Gemma couldn't keep it to herself any longer. As Gemma looked up into Kevin's kind blue eyes, she knew that she had made her decision. She knew the path she had to take for her heart after years of only guiding herself through her brain. "I know what I want Kevin, I know the thing that will make me feel whole and loved. I know it with all my heart and I can't keep myself from it anymore."
Amber: (Elated) You go Gemma, get your man.
Ira: Gemma continues with more conviction, "I can't choose what happens to me but I can choose who I let into my heart." Kevin pulled her into his burly arms and sighed with content, Gemma whispered into his chest, I'm sorry, I am so, so sorry."
Amber: (Stops typing) Wait what?
Ira: "It's Conor, Conor is the one I choose."
Amber: (Displeased) What? She chooses Conor? Are you serious?
Ira: You wrote that down right?
Amber: No! No way it has to be Kevin, he's the one.
Ira: But he's not.
Amber: But he's handsome and good and kind, he's lawyer like her. Conor is-
Ira: Is her soulmate.
Amber: He lied to her! he deceived her for a pack that killed her family, is that someone you would willingly choose? They are on completely different wavelengths, they make each other miserable.
Ira: Dr. Karev, it's my story and I will write it as I see fit.
Amber: You're the writer, you can make your characters do what real life people would do. And choosing Conor is like going back to a drug that will kill you the more you use it.
Ira: He changed for her, he became the person he always was because her love for him made him want to be better.
Amber: Oh please you really think what's between Gemma's legs is gonna magically make Conor a better option than Kevin?
Maggie: Dr. Karev.
Amber: (Angry) What? (Composes herself) Sorry I was just-
Maggie: Getting my patient into an O.R. for an en bloc transplant, does that ring a bell?
Amber: (Clears throat) Sorry I'm gonna get right on that.
(Amber closes the laptop)
TWO HOURS LATER
SCENE: O.R. 2
(Amber retracts as Maggie transplants the lungs into Ira)
Maggie: Left lung is in now we have the right one and the heart next. How did the book club go? Did she finish it?
Amber: (Bitter) Yes, on a piss poor note. It's so stupid. She's written this incredible book with amazing characters and then she just pairs her main star with the wrong guy.
Maggie: Wow you sound like those girls I went to high school with when they would gossip about 90210.
Amber: Okay let me ask you this, gun to your head who would you choose, Avery or Winston?
Maggie: (Chuckles) Do you seriously have to ask me that after listening to me picking a fight with Jackson for the majority of the year?
Amber: Exactly you know what is good for you. Avery practically left you for dead, Winston waited patiently for a chance to be with you. He was in love with you for years and sought you out when the time was right. He is the physical and spiritual embodiment of a perfect man; you see that and you choose that. She should base her character on a smart woman like you, someone who knows what's good for her and when she wakes up I am going to tell her that.
Maggie: Not exactly a great way to greet someone after a major surgery. Besides it sounds like to me it's none of your business and this is about something more than just some book on an app. Retract here.
(Amber does that and looks at the body cavity in thought)
LATER AT THE ATTENDINGS LOUNGE
(Jo walks in and finds Alex sitting on the couch brooding)
Jo: Hey I didn't know you were here, you mom called and said you weren't home when she woke up.
Alex: I'm sorry I just…I just went to visit Mer.
(Jo looks at Alex with sympathy and sits across from him)
Jo: I'm sorry.
Alex: (Inhales and exhales) Tell me she's gonna beat this thing, even if you don't believe it just tell me. I need to hear someone say it.
Jo: She's gonna beat this thing.
Alex: She's gonna beat this thing.
(Jo moves to snuggle against Alex)
Alex: Jo six feet.
Jo: If you get covid I get covid.
(Alex holds Jo)
FOUR HOURS LATER
SCENE: IRA'S ROOM
(Amber is charting next to Ira when she wakes up)
Amber: Hey, how are you feeling?
Ira: Like a woman who just had her chest sliced open and her organs taken out.
Amber: Fair enough, can you tell me your name?
Ira: Ira Vought.
Amber: What's your birthday?
Ira: I'm a Leo, I don't give my birthday so people don't know how old I am. Ask me something else.
Amber: Why can't Gemma choose Kevin?
Ira: She's going to.
Amber: I mean I feel like you have a moral obligation to your readers and…wait what? Really?
Ira: Yeah for now, I had my fourth book playing out in my head while I was under. I think my publishers are gonna be happy. So…for now yeah, she's gonna test the waters with Kevin.
Amber: (Narrows eyes) She's gonna test her relationship with Kevin for a while but she's gonna end up with Conor, isn't she?
Ira: Yep, that's the plan.
Amber: (Incredulous) What is wrong with you? I mean what did Kevin do to deserve this much crap?
Ira: Nothing he didn't do anything. I love Kevin probably as much as you do. He's kind and funny and smart. But it's not him it's Gemma, she doesn't love him.
Amber: (Sniffles) She should. She should love him, she should want something easy not something that will probably destroy her and break her heart again.
Ira: I know…but sometimes the heart trumps the brain.
(Amber sniffles and starts to tear up)
Ira: (Concerned) Hey are you okay?
Amber: (Voice breaking) I'm sorry it's just…I wish reality would be rewritten like books.
Ira: (Looks at her in sympathy) Do you want to help me with number four? I think that might make you feel better.
Amber: (Nods) Okay.
(Amber exhales and sits down with the laptop ready to write)
LATER AT THE RESIDENTS LOUNGE
(Amber gets ready to leave when Jo walks in)
Jo: Hey do you want a drink? I can't drink but maybe you could and I'll live vicariously thorough you.
Amber: Yeah I think you're gonna get a sympathy headache in the morning because I need to get away from reality.
Jo: Why? What's going on Amber?
(Amber is about to explain when Andrew walks in)
Andrew: Hey heard about the surgery great job.
Amber: (Flustered) Thanks, I needed it.
(Jo notices her blushing and not looking Andrew in the eye. Andrew is oblivious)
Andrew: Well hey if you ever need a break from cardio and I need a resident who can actually listen-
Amber: I'll know where to find you.
Andrew: Great, have a good night.
Amber: (Swallows) I'll try. Good night.
(Andrew leaves. Jo looks at Amber who exhales)
Jo: (Realizes) Oh no. DeLuca is keeping you up at night?
Amber: Shut up. Please shut up.
Jo: Look into getting melatonin and possibly a showerhead.
(Amber sighs and leaves for a much needed drink)
THREE MORE HOURS TILL THE NEXT CHAPTER STAY TUNED!