Salvation ► GREY'S ANATOMY [2]

TEN

COURTNEY WAS STANDING OFF TO THE SIDE, HIDING A SMILE. She was looking outside the window, which was open to let some fresh air in. A couple of birds flew by. Cars speeding down the lanes could be heard in the distance. You could even hear the siren of the ambulance getting closer to the hospital. While Courtney was partly zoning out, Peter Allen was telling his patient that their surgery had gone well with the chart close to his chest. He was holding onto it for dear life. Even though he had presented quite a lot, it was still something that he couldn't get used to. He kept fearing that he would say something wrong. Normally when he felt that way, he would look over at his resident, who would then nodd, but she didn't this time and she wouldn't.

From the moment the patient had been admitted, Courtney had deliberately chosen to take a step back. "See it as an exercise, Allen. You'll have to do this alone eventually. I can't keep holding your hand. Trust in yourself a little bit more, okay?" Courtney had said, once he had asked why she was basically doing nothing.

"When can I leave the hospital? No offense to all of you, but I miss sleeping in my own bed. You even made me miss my husband's snoring," The patient chuckled, gently rubbing her finger over her wedding ring. "I hope that my sweet Lewis hasn't burned down the house. He's a horrible cook; can't even fry an egg."

The room was filled with laughter. "We're going to have you to keep you with us for one more day, Mrs. Gillespie. We just want to make sure that you're as healthy as a horse. I'm sure that your husband wouldn't mind." Peter said with a charming smile, which could make any lady swoon. The elder woman beckoned him over with a wave of her hand. Peter looked behind him at his resident as if to ask for permission to move over. Courtney simply stared back with her hands in her lab coat pockets.

Mrs. Gillespie took his hands in hers, giving it a squeeze. "You're going to make a lady very happy one day. You're such a handsome boy. You remind me a bit of my dear Lewis back in the day. What a lady killer he was." At that moment, her husband walked in with a bouquet of flowers and a big smile.

"But I only had eyes for you, my dear," Lewis Gillespie replied as he slowly made his way over to his wife. Once he arrived at her bedside, he gave her a peck on the lips, before he sat down on the chair — which Peter had pushed a bit closer. "I heard from the lovely nurses that your surgery went well. Didn't I tell you that everything was going to be alright?"

Courtney made eye contact with her intern and gave him a sign that it was time for them to leave. He nodded and took a couple of steps back, "Mrs. Gillespie? We're going to be back in a couple of hours to see you again. So, for the time being, we're going to leave you in the very capable hands of your husband." Peter said, making the woman smile at him. He then followed his resident out the room. He looked back the elderly couple with a smile, before closing the door behind him.

"You know what to look out for?" Courtney asked, not even looking back to see if Peter was close behind. She stopped at the nurses' station right outside of the patient's room, asking for a chart of another patient — who was going into surgery in about an hour. As she flipped it open, her intern hummed and went on to list them. "Alright, have fun, Allen. Please make sure that she's still alive when I get back from surgery."