flatline [m.s]

cxxi.

- - -
in hospitals they say you know. you know when you're going to die. some doctors say it's a look patients get in their eyes.
- - -

lia is lying in the bath, her head tilted slightly to look up at the bathroom ceiling. she lays there for a while, thinking, before sliding down the edge of the bathtub so that she is lying flat, completely underwater.

"lia," mark furrows his brow when he walks into the bathroom and sees his fiancé. when she doesn't respond, he leans over the bathtub and reaches in, grabbing hold of her shoulders. "lia!"

he then pulls her up so that she is sat up in the bathtub. when she hits the air, she takes a large gasp of breath.

"what are you doing?" mark shakes her slightly before letting go and grabbing a towel.

■ ■ ■

"i was taking a bath," lia rolls her eyes as mark follows her down the hospital corridor.

"that's not a bath," mark argues. "i know what a bath looks like."

"drop it," lia stops a few feet away from the nurses station and turns around to look at him.

"look, your mother-" mark begins, but lia cuts him off.

"drop it," lia snaps.

"your mother- look, your mother is sick, and you've had a baby, and now we're getting married-" mark begins, but lia cuts him off.

"my mother has been sick for a long time," lia reminds him.

"having a baby is a big deal and so is getting married.  and i just think it's all caught up on you," mark says softly, cupping her cheek. "do you want me to talk to your dad? if you tell him how you're feeling, i'm sure he'll give you the day off."

"stop. this has nothing to do with my mom or the wedding or darci. i do not need rescuing," lia insists, turning and walking over to the nurses station where callie is stood.

"oh, you would've drowned in the bathtub had i not been there," mark scoffs, following her.

"i'm a surgeon. i do the rescuing. you are not my knight in shining... whatever," lia rolls her eyes.

"so we're gonna fight because i pulled you out of the tub?" mark raises his brow.

"you have patients. treat them," lia encourages.

"just for the record, i am your knight in shining whatever," mark smiles, leaning forward and kissing her before walking away.

"i did not try to drown myself in the bathtub," lia tells callie once mark is out of sight.

"hey, i ate everything out of the fridge last night, everything, including a tub of butter," callie chuckles. "there's no judgement here."

"you ever feel like you're disappearing?" lia quietly asks, looking down.

"all the time," callie nods.

■ ■ ■

"sorry. attention, people. look, i'm sorry," richard says, approaching his attendings in the e.r as they are conducting a triage activity to teach the residents and interns. they all stop and turn to look at him. "i have to interrupt the session for a moment. we just received word of a casualty incident nearby. all available level one trauma centres have been asked to respond. i need to send a team into the field immediately."