flatline [m.s]

cxlviii.

- - -
i had this badass professor in med school. she seemed invincible. then, one day, she needed her gallbladder out. and the surgery killed her.
- - -

"ah! oh. ooh," lia groans, leaning over her bed, now in a patient gown, as mark rubs her back.

"figures you'd go into labor in the middle of another super storm," callie shakes her head as the door swings open and she waltzes in. "okay, we need to go over your birth plan. we never talked details."

"hang on," lia waves her hand in protest.

"i can't bully people unless i know what to bully them about," callie tells her as the lights begin to falter and flicker.

"maybe you should get back into bed," mark suggests. "you want to go back to bed?"

"no!" lia shouts.

"she says no," callie looks over to mark.

"ohh!" lia moans in pain.

"what do you need- a pillow, a bouncy ball?" mark asks.

"ice chips," she groans.

"she says ice chips," callie looks to mark again.

"are you gonna do this the whole time?" mark raises his brow, cocking his head to one side.

"uh-huh," callie smugly nods.

"okay, i'm gonna check on connie, see what's taking her so long," mark announces.

"oh, she's with other laboring moms right now," lia tells him. "she's busy. ohh,"

"you're the only one i care about. the rest can wait," mark tells her, then makes his way around her in order to exit the room. once he's left, callie takes his place.

"god, how is your pain now- seven, eight?" callie softly rubs her back.

"nine," lia cries.

"ooh," callie winces as the lights go out completely.

- - -
her platelets stopped clotting, she bled out on the table. everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. surgeons have a name for it. we call it a 'perfect storm'. funny. never thought it would happen to me.
- - -

"can't you just rotate the baby and- and push her face away?" callie asks connie who is stood at the foot of lia's bed whilst she and mark stand on either side of her.

"it's very risky, for the baby, for alivia," connie informs her.

"ooh," lia squeezes callie's hand.

"uh, dr. torres," deluca appears in the doorway, holding a torch. "dr. webber needs you in o.r two."

"to do what? i can't operate in the dark," callie's brows knit together before she turns to connie. "no one is operating in the dark."

"okay, just go. i'll be fine," lia assures.

"okay, deluca, come here and update me as soon as they've made a decision," callie instructs andrew, trading places with him, before leaving the room.