flatline [m.s]

cl.

- - -
every surgeon is trained to look for problems. to look at a person and say: 'what's wrong with you?' we're trained to foresee the ugliest possible outcome.
- - -

jackson is pacing by the elevators in the hospital lobby when one dings and catherine avery steps out of it.

"hey. look, i need to run to my nec fasc surgery," he greets his mother and hands her a copy of richard's charts. "he's in cardiogenic shock."

"no," catherine shakes her head.

"bailey feels like there's likely some internal necrosis. so she took him up to the o.r," he informs her.

"with this kind of cardiac compromise?" catherine's eyes are wide.

"yeah- and she-" jackson begins.

"unh-unh," catherine slaps the charts to his chest before storming away.

"she- mom. mom?" jackson calls after her.

- - -
when your job is to make people better, you're automatically inclined to look for the worst in them. it's hard to fight against certain biases.
- - -

"how's my dad?" lia asks mark as he's sat holding lily on lia's bed.

"still critical, but his pressure stabilised once bailey closed," mark informs her.

"so bailey closed because his vitals tanked, or because catherine avery was in the gallery screaming?" lia raises her brow, and mark shakes his head. "okay, so you need to go to the day care and pick up darci because she's gonna think we had a baby and forgot about her. i'll call the babysitter and tell her to meet you at the house in an hour."

"okay," mark nods, but doesn't take his eyes off lily.

"give me the baby," lia tells him.

"okay," mark kisses lily's forehead before handing her to lia, and kissing lia on the forehead.

"i know," lia soothes lily as she begins to fuss in her arms as mark leaves. "it's gonna be okay."

■ ■ ■

"you can't scream at my doctors when there is an open body on the table," owen scolds catherine.

"i can't believe you let her talk you into a boondoggle like that," catherine shouts.

"dr. avery, if you have any issues with-" owen begins, but he cuts himself off when catherine steps around him to address bailey.

"does he know why you cut open a man in severe cardiac distress just so you could poke around and see what's going on?" catherine challenges.

"we looked at all the options," owen interjects.

"tell him. you tell him you feel guilty because the last thing richard webber heard from you is that he's a drunk who ruined your life. after all he's done for you. we talk on the phone for an hour every night. it came up. you feel bad, go find a priest. but do not try to fix it with a hail mary that very well may kill the man!" catherine rampages before bailey walks away, leaving her alone with owen. "i want access to his charts... right now."