Asystole ✷ Mark Sloan

𝟬𝟳𝟱 these violent delights have violent ends

It was an understatement to say that Teddy was surprised to see Beth so energized. She'd been fully expected to be faced with a patient that was on the verge of crumbling; from Teddy's experience, surgeries like that took a lot of time and patience, things it appeared that Beth did not possess. 

Physically, Beth's body was still barely patched together. Teddy's gloved hands gently glossed over the raised incision that was still healing, noticing how Beth seemed to wince silently at the contact-- the ultrasound of her lungs told the same story, but she was healing, she was getting there.

"I guess I'm just harder to keep down," Beth exhaled as Teddy passed her a wipe to clean herself. The cardio specialist didn't speak, her brow dipping very slightly as she turned away. She was sure whether feeling within her was just suspicion or just intuition that something wasn't quite right. "I think it's like a Montgomery thing. You should've seen my Mom post-surgery on her last facelift. She bounced back like that."

The dirty blonde raised her eyebrows, laughing almost awkwardly as Beth shifted into a seated position.

"Your chest is fine, there's no fluid in your cavity and it seems as though everything is healing well," Beth nodded along to her words, appearing relieved at that assessment. It made Teddy idly wonder whether the anxiety of the unknown was what had been keeping her from attending her appointments (or was it something more?). "You're doing really well. Everything looks like it's good. I'm really impressed with your progress."

Beth cracked a small smile, "Thank you."

"But even saying that," Teddy said, picking up her chart and a pen, almost tempted to place her hands on her hips. "You need to take it easy. An open chest surgery like that isn't a facelift. Not by a long shot."

Her smile remained, "You're telling me," A sigh and she chuckled, "I think this whole thing has given me a lifetime's worth of wrinkles."

Teddy reciprocated the laugh, head-bopping knowingly as she wrote out her examination notes. Meanwhile, Beth just held onto the wipe in her hand, staring down at it as her brow furrowed very slightly. 

Between the quiet scratch of Teddy's pen against paper and the lingering chill, the room was silent. It was like an amounting pressure against their eardrums; the reality of a closed-door that seemed to isolate them in a hospital that had so much noise.

(Beth really didn't want to think about the last time she'd heard the hospital this quiet.)

"Okay," Teddy cleared her throat and gave Beth a wide smile, "I just have some routine questions just to check that you're coping well with the lack of medication--"

As if a signal from the high heavens, the surgeon was cut short by the sound of a knuckle against the door of the room. 

In unison, heads turned and Teddy had to chip out a very surprised "Occupied!" across the cold floor. 

But then the door very hesitantly opened and a familiar head appeared around the side. Archer smiled at the two of them dubiously, his eyes immediately fixing on his sister.

"Oh thank fuck."

He seemed to exhale loudly in relief, his shoulders almost slumping at the sight of Beth shrugging her t-shirt back on. 

The two women stared at him, watching as he stepped around the door and almost clutched at his chest. He sounded breathless as if he'd run from another part of the hospital; he held up a hand as he struggled to catch his breath. 

As Archer hunched slightly, he held up a hand, as if to ask them to give him a moment to compose himself. Teddy's brow furrowed in confusion and vague alarm. He barely managed to chip out his next words: