𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

twenty seven | tremor

"She collapsed in my arms. I just want to make sure she's okay." Addison mutters to Mark. "You got it from here?"

"They don't call me doctor for nothing." Mark keeps his gaze on the superficial cuts on Janelle Duko, the patient on the bed.

"You're with me, Phoenix."

"Okay, Dr. Montgomery."

I follow her towards another one of the other patients, only to return to Janelle when she reveals she's pregnant.

Addison sends me to retrieve an ultrasound machine and the portable chest x-ray machine for Janelle so she can assess the fetus.

"Did Dr. Bailey see the chest x-ray?"

The OB specialist scans the wand over Janelle's exposed abdomen.

"Not yet." I shake my head. "But her low pulse ox and decreased breath sounds point to the need for a chest tube."

"I'm sure you can set that up, then." She nods in my direction.

Alex, of course, takes this as a sign to complain. "I'm dabbing out freaking glass splinters, and she gets to do a chest tube?"

"You signed up for this." Mark proceeds with stitches to her forehead lac.

"The baby looks good, Janelle." Addison smiles down at her. "Heartbeat is strong."

"You know, I can suture. I've done it before."

"When you can do a z-plasty and barely see the scar, give me a call. Until then, dab and clean, Karev. Dab and clean."

Bailey barges in, holding the portable chest x-ray films in her hand.

"Uh, we're not doing the chest tube, Dr. Phoenix." She informs me.

"What's going on?"

"Ms. Duko, there's a shard of glass going into your heart."

Mark and Alex finish cleaning Janelle up while Addison and I figure out when to squeeze her into the O.R. schedule.

"It looks like we'll have the O.R. in a few hours." Addison informs the young woman.

"So, if I get hit by a car, get thrown through a window, have a big shard of glass in my heart. . .and my baby survives, that's pretty much a sign I should have this baby, right? Even without the father?"

Just saying all of those words in the same sentence sends waves of panic through my body.

"There are plenty of single parents who raise wonderful kids." I comfort her with a gentle grin. "I think you're going to do well, with or without the father."

"He cheated on me."

"Makes him an ass, then, Ms. Duko."

The whites of her eyes disappear behind her closed eyelids, and her heart rate drops in the matter of milliseconds.

"I'm getting muffled heart sounds."

"We can't wait for an O.R.."

"Leven, bolus a liter of saline and get me a unit of blood. Alex, find Dr. Burke." She strings the stethoscope around her neck. "We've got to get her ready for transport, people."

Soon, we're in the O.R.. Burke leads the surgery with Cristina right next to him. Seeing as there's no OB-related surgery, Addison lets me scrub in with them.

"It entered the right ventricle and went right through the septum." Dr. Burke slides the giant shard of glass from the incision, disposing of it in a metal bedpan. "I'm going to need to place a pericardial patch."

"Shall I do a running whip stitch?" Cristina offers a bit eagerly, ready to grab the tools once she's granted permission.

"No, I've got it." He replies.

"I can do a McGoon." She grabs a pair of forceps. "I've been practicing."

"Dr. Phoenix, would you like to close up?"

"Are you kidding me? Yes."

"Dr. Yang, move to the other side of the table."

"Dr. Burke, I apologize. I didn't mean to —"

"Move to the other side of the table so Dr. Phoenix can join me. Thank you."

All goes well with the surgery, and soon enough, we take her off bypass and move her into a recovery room.

But news of Burke's tremor surfaces, questions his and Cristina's intentions as to why they've been hiding the truth of the matter.

"Did you know?" I stare into the mirror, and my eyes instantly shift to the bullet wound scar running across my temple.

"No." He steps out of the bathroom, a somber look on his face. "No, I didn't know. . .and I hate that I didn't know."

"Cristina never said a thing to me."

"I cleared him for surgery, and I didn't know."

From behind, his arms loosely circle my waist, intertwining his fingers across my abdomen. I shake my head, exhaustion creeping up.

"Do you want to stay?"

"Only if you want me to."

"Well, I do."

"Then, I guess you're staying.