Lover // g. o'malley

The Heart of the Matter

"Uh, Dr. Bailey's right," I tell the couple.

"So what, you're saying that you won't operate unless she puts on a bunch of weight?" Will asks me.

"No, but, um..." I stutter, too upset to be able to find the right words.

"Then why are we still standing here, talking about this? We came here to get her leg fixed. So fix her damn leg!" Will yells at me. Lord, is it taking everything in me not to punch him directly in the face.

"Okay," I say, holding myself back from yelling at him, before walking out of the room.

It's finally time for lunch so when I walk into the cafeteria, all of the interns are sitting together at a table, minus George. "Izzie!" I call out, motioning for her to come over to me.

"Let's do this. Let's go. Let's go," Izzie says, putting two fists up.

"Go where?" I ask her.

"You know, go," she says. She still has her fists up in front of her face.

"I just wanted to apologize to you," I tell her. I treated her terribly when she was just looking out for George, and I figured I owed her one.

"You want to apologize to me. You don't want to kick my ass?" she asks me.

"You thought I was going to fight you? You... just excuse me," I say before storming out of the cafeteria. I can't believe all these people thought I was going to fight Izzie at work. I'm not like that, at all.

After the incident in the cafeteria, I go into Ruthie's room after I get a page from Bailey. "Sorry I'm late," I apologize.

"Well, I was just about to explain the surgery. Since your bones have splintered, Dr. Torres and Dr. Lopez will place metal plates and screws to hold the ankle together," Bailey tells Ruthie.

"How long will my recovery time be?" she asks.

"It's hard to say right now. You'll be in a cast for 8 to 12 weeks," I tell Ruthie. She looks disappointed, but not as disappointed as her boyfriend looks.

"Three months?" he asks.

"Right Dr. Lopez?" Bailey asks me for confirmation.

"Longer if she doesn't eat," I say.

"She eats," Will tells us.

"Not enough to keep her bones from snapping in half, but you don't seem too concerned about that," I snap at Will.

"What is your problem with me, lady?" he asks me.

"I don't have a problem with you. I'm also not the one who has to live with you," I tell him, knowing I'm testing my limits here, but I can't help it. This man is crazy. Bailey gives me a look, which is silently telling me to shut the hell up.

"You know what? This... you have a problem, not me. Ruthie!" he yells. When I turn around, she is vomiting blood into her hand.

"In here, go ahead. In here," Bailey says, rushing her to an OR room. Since Callie is the new chief resident, Bailey told me she wants to lead this surgery since Callie was backed up. As an intern. I just nod my head and pray everything goes smoothly on my part.

George, Bailey, and I start to operate on Ruthie. "I thought Ruthie wasn't going into surgery until tomorrow?" George asks.

"That's before she started vomiting up blood a few minutes ago. She's got a bleeding duodenal ulcer," Bailey tells us.

"How could we have not seen this before?" I wonder.

"She came in with a broken ankle, that's why. Her malnutrition and the amount of Ibuprofen she's been taking, she's lucky to even be alive right now," Bailey says.