Stitches of Life

Sanctuary

"Oh, yeah." Arizona nodded. "You have a very angry appendix."

"That's surgery?" Mrs. Kendall asked. "She needs surgery?"

"Yes, she does, but the good news is, it's the easiest surgery in the world." Arizona assured the worried parents before nodding at me. "I mean, she's a baby surgeon and she could do it."

"What, you're gonna let me do it?" I asked.

"You're going to let her do the surgery?" Mrs. Kendall frowned.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. No, of course not." Arizona shook her head. "I'm gonna do it. I'm kinda fabulous at it. And, Ruby, you are gonna be outta here by tomorrow with a teeny, tiny little scar and a very good excuse to have your parents feed you ice cream every night of the week. Dr. Watley, admit her to peds and make sure she's comfortable while we get an OR."

"Got it." I nodded as she walked away.

"Dr. Watley?" I looked down at Ruby, a small smile making its way onto my face when I saw how nervous she looked.

"Yes, Ruby?" I raised brow slightly as I added some notes to her chart.

"Is the surgery gonna hurt?" She asked, looking up at me with her large brown eyes, they reminded me of Joel.

"Not at all, you'll be asleep the entire time." I assured her. "Afterwards, you might feel like you've got a little tummy ache, but that's what ice cream's for, right?"

"Right." She gave me a bright smile, clearly eager at the thought of ice cream.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What the hell?" I swore as my pager went off, seeing that it was an alert that the hospital was on lockdown. I shook my head at the page, guessing that it was just some sort of drill.

"They want attending approval to do the auditory evoked potentials." I heard Lexie say. I glanced up from my own paperwork to see her handing some papers over to Mark, both of them standing at the other end of the nurses' station. "Can you sign for it?"

"Lockdown. Kinda crazy, right?" Mark said, glancing from Lexie to myself, clearly trying to pull me into their conversation, too. "You guys think it's, uh, serious?"

"Can you just sign the order?" Lexie insisted.

"This Avery thing serious?" Mark looked right at me this time.

"Mark." I gave him a sharp look. Even though Jackson and I weren't even together, being brother and sister, I didn't want to talk to Mark about this. "Just sign Lexie's papers."

"I miss you." He told me.

"Please," I scoffed.

"Can you just sign the order?" Lexie asked him as I started to walk away from the nurses' station. Even if I was stuck on this floor for the lockdown, I didn't have to be stuck in the same room as Mark. 

"Sir, you can't leave this area. The hospital is in-" I heard a nurse begin. She was cut off by the sharp sound of gunfire. Out of instinct, I ducked down, my eyes scanning the area until I spotted an older man on the stairs, a small handgun in hand. 

"Get down! Get down!" I heard someone yell as the man fired off a few more shots, earning frightened screams from everyone. I saw the man continuing up the stairs as everyone started to rush around in a panic, yelling different things here and there. 

It felt as though my heart were pounding in my chest as I glanced over at the nurses' station, where Lexie and Mark had just been standing together, talking to me. A small sense of relief filled me when I spotted both of them crawling on the ground together, in case the gunman returned to fire off more shots. I watched as Mark grabbed Lexie and started to rush down the hall with her, wanting to get them both to safety.