flatline [m.s]

ciii.

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superheroes. soldiers. first responders. that's who we think of when we think of bravery. but surgeons should make the list too.
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"there you are," nicole observes as lia enters nicole's office to find her setting up a large cork board. "where have you been?"

"i was just giving my presentation to the other doctors about the sick africa children i'm bringing over to finalise my peds qualifications," lia explains as nicole begins to look through stacks of files, and coloured flash cards. "once i've done this; i'll be a board certified peds surgeon, and that way all i've got to focus on is fetal surgery."

"and when are the children arriving?" nicole asks.

"oh, not 'til tonight," lia shakes her head. "but consults and surgeries don't start 'til tomorrow."

"well, then there's nothing to do about it today, which is good," nicole points out. "i have been working on miracles. i have found us the most incredible surgeries, all for the next few weeks. look, a t.t.t.s in a nineteen weeker. a twenty one week t.r.a.p sequence that needs an r.f.a. a unilateral pulmonary agenesis. and that is just the beginning."

"the beginning of what?" lia furrows her brow in confusion as nicole presents her with various coloured flash cards.

"your crash course," nicole clarifies. "i have hunted down the most screwed up, medically compromised fetuses that i could find, and i'm bringing them all here to this hospital for you to learn and us to save."

"and you'll get to fix them all?" lia smiles, hopefully.

"we will," nicole proudly states. "start reading. you can thank me later."

lia takes a seat at the table and begins reading through the mountain of charts with a huge smile on her face. nicole takes the flash cards and begins to pin them to the cork board, whilst looking back to lia and smiling at her enthusiasm.

■ ■ ■

"please talk to me about something that's not unborn babies that are going to die," lia pouts as she takes a seat next to mark and across from derek and meredith in the hospital cafeteria.

"um," derek chuckles unsure of what the say.

"hurry," lia urges with her eyes wide. "because i have to get back to trawling through more potentially hopeless cases before i greet my sick africa kids."

"you really ought to relax, babe," mark says, placing a hand on lia's swollen stomach. "if this fellowship is getting too much, you can say."

"i'm fine," lia insists, semi-aggressively. "i just need someone to talk to me about something other than sick kids."

"uh, uh," meredith begins the think quickly due to lia freaking out. "the dream house is ready?"

"really?" lia smiles before taking a bite of her lunch. "that's great you guys! so who's going to be living at your- our- um, ellis' old house?"

"well, april's already moved in with matthew; so alex, jackson, amelia and maggie," meredith informs her.

"oh... that's a-a strange combination," lia furrows her brow with a slight chuckle. her pager then goes off, and she immediately checks it. "crap. i've got to get back to herman. i'll catch you guys later."

she stands up from the table, but bends back down to kiss mark before leaving the cafeteria and heading back to the nicole's office.

■ ■ ■

"this h.l.h.s case seems impossible," lia shakes her head, as she and nicole are both sat at the desk as lia is continuing to read through patient files. she hands the file she's currently reading through to nicole. "this mother's pregnant for the third time, and each baby was stillborn."

"well, this one will be too. 22q11 deletion? she should adopt," nicole shrugs, closing and discarding the file before picking up another. lia frowns as she winces slightly, rubbing her own pregnant belly. "now this one, however- tracheal balloon occlusion for c.d.h? card that puppy."

"how do you do this without- i mean, these stories are awful. this could've easily been me and my baby," lia points out.

"they're patients, webber," nicole reminds her. "the more you find, the more you learn, the more we save. it's as simple as that. your work is making these three categories- possible, impossible, maybe. any other approach is a waste of our time."

lia exhales deeply, continuing to work through the files, attempting to put the image of her own unborn baby out of her head as she does so.

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surgeons don't wear capes or armor. we don't carry guns and no one throws us a parade, but we do fight like hell to save your life. and we're also holding a knife in our hands, knowing we might be the one to end your life.
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jo, steph, and ben all walk out onto the ambulance bay to greet the mini bus that has just pulled up. the door opens and lia walks out first carrying one of the africa babies.

"i need a wheelchair," lia announces, stepping to the side to allow the other passengers to get off. she then looks to the interns to call them over. "jo, steph, warren."

jo smiles as she walks over to help the others get off the bus with steph following behind her whilst ben goes to grab a wheelchair.

once everyone is off the bus, they are all led into the hospital by the interns and lia follows behind, smiling at the baby in her arms, proud of her project.

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bravery isn't always about running into the fire. sometimes it's about facing our past. and on the hardest days, it's about facing the future.
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