S C H M I C O || A collection of short stories

Heart of Stone

Then, Meredith's expression fades into something softer, more concerned. It matches Link and Jo's expression from earlier.

"You seem distracted," she starts, and Nico relaxes a little. He just nods in place of words, not knowing what he could say. There was no lying to Meredith. "What's bothering you?"

"I have this feeling. Like, something is going to go terribly wrong, and I can't hide from it or stop it. I've felt like it since I woke up this morning. It won't budge."

When Meredith's expression once again changes, into a look more horrified, Nico tenses up. That surely isn't a good sign, especially when Meredith says what she does next; "I know that exact feeling."

She's as pale as a ghost, all blood drained from her face as she looks up at Nico. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, arms folding across his chest.

"You do?" Nico eventually mutters out. Meredith nods.

"I do," she confirms. "I had that same feeling the day I stuck my hand inside a patient to keep a bomb from exploding."

That sure helped Nico feel so much better. The absolute look of horror on Nico's face lets Meredith know that she should not have said that, and she instantly tries to retract her statement.

"I was fine, the bomb didn't explode inside the patient, it didn't explode in my hand, but-" she stops herself before she accidentally lets Nico know what happened next. He doesn't need to know that when he's feeling such a way. "It doesn't matter. What I'm trying to say is-"

"Trust my gut?"

"That may be the case. However, you may also be perfectly fine. Don't let it drown you. You have to fight back against it."

Nico wonders if he should take Meredith's advice to heart or not; the talk with her hadn't exactly been comforting. Not in the least. Instead, he purses his lips together and lets out a short sigh, dropping his arms back to his side.

Just as he opens his mouth to reply to Meredith, her pager sounds, startling the both of them. She looks at it, reading it over before looking back up to Nico, shooting him an apologetic smile.

"Massive trauma coming in, I have to rush," she starts to jog away, but stops and turns back to Nico. "Don't let the feeling drown you!"

Nico watches as she disappears around the corner, leaving him to dwell in this feeling. He repeats Meredith's words in his head, don't let it drown you, and sits himself down on the floor. Everything feels off- like the world has been tilted off its axis- and his legs feel like they may give out on him. Everything around him feels like it's distorted and the feeling keeps coming back in waves, slowly getting stronger, harder to ignore or push aside.

He lets out a sigh as he leans his head back against the wall, taking in a couple of deep breaths to try calm himself. He sits for a minute, or two, just thinking and breathing. Eventually, he decides that maybe he can go help and the trauma coming in, that might distract him.

Or it may be the very thing that this feeling has been telling him about.

-

When Nico eventually wonders down to the ER, there are doctors and nurses rushing in and out of Trauma 1, so much so that Nico can't even get in to see if he can help. They seem more frantic than usual, rushing about and trying their utmost best for this patient. Nico stands back, trying to catch a glimpse of what is happening.

He can see Link in there, along with Meredith, and Amelia. It must be quite serious, he thinks to himself. If only he could get in there and see for himself.