flatline [m.s]

cxcii.

- - -
adrenaline is the body's response to stressful situations. it's one of many vital chemical compounds our bodies produce that alter our state of consciousness.
- - -

"hi. cookie?" lia smiles as she approaches maggie at the back of the presentation theatre, holding a tin of cookies.

"oh," maggie furrows her brow as she reaches into the tin. "you had time to make cookies?"

"they are lesbian gratitude cookies," lia tells her, as she moves past maggie to make her way around the room.

"what?" maggie asks as she follows her.

"hm. yeah. i mean that's what they call them," lia shrugs. "remember my patients who had the cancer that turned out not to be cancer?"

"mmm. lesbian gratitude cookies are delicious," maggie groans.

"take another. you're going through a break up," lia turns and holds the tin back up to her. "when mark and i broke up i think i ate and drank my body weight in cookies and tequila."

"thank you," maggie exhales deeply, taking a handful of cookies as carina approaches lia.

"hi," lia smiles. "cookie?"

"hi. um, one of my patients just went into labor. if i don't make it back, you got this," carina assures before she leaves the presentation room, and lia walks over to take a seat next to jackson.

"cookie?" lia holds up the tin.

"don't mind if i do," jackson pulls a cookie out of the tin and places it in his mouth as lia passes the tin back to catherine.

"hmm," catherine hums before she breaks the cookie in jackson's mouth, eating the other half as she passes the tin along to bailey.

- - -
oxytocin makes us feel bonded with others. dopamine makes us more alert and motivates us to seek reward. a lack of serotonin has been linked to depression.
- - -

lia is sat in the presentation theatre, next to maggie, meredith, and derek, watching richard's presentation, when her pager begins to vibrate in her pocket.

she furrows her brow as she reads it before hurrying out of the theatre, as quietly and as inconspicuously as she can, in order not to disrupt her father's presentation.

after she leaves, she quickly makes her way to the lobby, stepping out of the elevator to find peggie and dayna waiting for her.

"hey. hey, peggie, dayna. what's going on? are you okay? is- is the baby okay?" lia asks.

"no, no, no, we're fine. rose is fine," dayna assures. "it's the cookies."

"i'm sorry?" lia furrows her brow. "you paged me nine one one."

"we're so sorry," dayna says, frantically.

"we need the cookies back," peggie urges.

"we're so sorry," dayna re-emphasises.

"it was an accident," peggie explains.

"do you still have them? please say that you still have them," dayna pleads. "the cookies? all of the cookies? all the cookies, all of the cookies."