Bad Break

Part 1

The intern's face reddened a little before going off to do as she was asked.

"Maya," Link said, meeting them in Trauma 1, "Not exactly how I was hoping to see you next."

"Same Link," Maya said, wincing as they moved her from the gurney to the bed.

"Well, let me see what you did to this knee," he pulled up the blanket, looking at the knee, "Ok, that swelling does not look good. I'm gonna want a portable x-ray stat."

"And someone page Neuro," Meredith called.

"I didn't hit my head," Maya said, shaking her head, "I landed on my left leg."

"I still want to have Amelia check you out," Meredith said, "Just to be safe."

Maya nodded, knowing hospital procedure. Plus, she couldn't be mad because she liked Amelia Shepard. Amelia and Carina walked in together, laughing until Carina saw who the patient was.

"Maya," she gasped, going to her, "Oh my god, what happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Maya said, "I just fell through the floor and did something to my knee."

Carina looked to Link.

"I'm about to get an x-ray," Link said as one of the interns rolled the machine in, "Now, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but I have to ask: is there any chance you might be pregnant?"

"No," Maya said, shaking her head.

"Alright," Link said as someone laid a lead blanket over Maya before taking the x-ray.

He went to review it while Amelia did her neuro exam.

"Your head is still enacted," Amelia said, nodding as she finished, "Which is a bummer because that means you are going to continue to kick my ass at game night."

"Good," Maya said, cracking a little smile.

"So it looks like you fractured your tibial plateau," Link said, coming over with his tablet, pulling up the x-rays, "Which is basically your lower knee and it's going to require surgery."

"No," Maya said, eyes filling with tears as Carina held her hand.

"Unfortunately, yes," Link said, "Now, what I want to do is use three screws because I think the break is small enough that that should be sufficient, and your young and your bones are strong."

"Apparently not that strong," Maya said, wiping at the tears in her eyes, "What is the recovery for this?"

"It'll be one to two nights in the hospital, depending on how you do. Then, twelve weeks of non-weight baring," Link said, cringing as he watched Maya's face, "And probably 12 to 18 months before you are 100%, but I'm guessing that it'll maybe take 4-5 months before you're ready to go back to your normal job. Normally, I would expect it to be longer, but knowing what I know about you, I'm betting you'll blow expectations out of the water."

Carina looked down at Maya, watching the fear and panic wash over her.

"Can we have the room for a minute?" Carina asked, knowing Maya was going into a panic attack.

All her colleagues nodded.

"I'm going to go book an OR," Link said as he left, "I'll be back in ten."

Once the room was empty, Carina looked at Maya.

"Hey," Carina said, climbing into bed next to Maya, careful not to jostle her, "Hey, eyes on me. I'm right here. It is going to be alright."