Helena's head shot up as the ambulance finally stopped moving, her breathing heavy as she looked around.
"Are you ok?" Meredith asked her, as Helena checked herself.
"Y-yeah, I think so... you're bleeding." She pointed out, looking at the cut on her friends forehead.
"It's nothing, I'm good." The blond confirmed, as Helena approached the baby incubator. The girl looked at the small baby with determination in her eyes, as she opened the incubator.
"Okay, I-I'm taking her out. Mer, get me a blanket." She instructed as he friend did what she asked, Helena holding the baby in her arms. "We have to get out of here, this might blow up."
"Well, how are you gonna do that? She's connected to a million things!" Meredith let out, her voice high pitched.
"Uh, I have the bag and the baby. You get the 0.2 tank and the IV, and we'll need to disconnect her from the antibiotics..." She explained, as the blond hurried to pick up the materials, Helena disconnecting the medicine tube from the baby.
"Is that gonna be ok?"
"We don't have a choice, it'll have to be." The short girl sighed, as they got out of the ambulance.
At the sight before them, the doctors froze for a second. There was a flipped over car, three bodies splattered on the road.
——
As Helena had to continue bagging the baby, Meredith quickly kneeled by the first body, the man on the ground grunting. "Sir? Can you move? We need to get you off this road."
"Honey? Jessica! Answer me..." The man tried, glancing over to the body of his wife.
Helena wanted to help, she wanted to go check the woman's pulse. But the baby in her arms needed to be ventilated, she needed to keep bagging her. And, as such, she couldn't go help the family.
As a teen girl climbed out of the car wreck, she shook her mother's body.
"Mom? Mom, wake up! Wake up!" The girl cried out, glancing up and finding Helena, running in her direction. "Help! Help, please, you have to help. My mom, my dad, the van... and I just stepped the blood. I-I just stepped in the blood!"
"What's your name?" The short Doctor asked, her voice calming and steady.
"Lily."
"Ok, Lily, I'm Dr. Campos, but you can call me Dr. C. I need you to take a deep breath for me and hold the baby, ok?" She requested, knowing she needed to help the family.
"I-I-I don't even baby sit, I don't know how to h-hold a baby-"
"Lily, look at me. I need to help your family, but for that I need you to hold this baby. You can do this." She encouraged, the teen moving to hold the infant. "I need you to squeeze this bag. One, two, squeeze. Got it?"
"W-what if I mess up?" She cried, panicked.
"You're not gonna mess up. One, two, squeeze. Count out loud so I can hear you, ok?" The doctors instructed, hearing the girl beginning to count. "Good, good job. You can't stop squeezing, no matter what happens, alright?"
The girl nodded as Helena ran to the middle of the road, kneeling down by the woman.
——
The patients were moved to the side of the road, lying down in a line, as the doctors tried to help them. Lily sat by the ambulance, the baby still in her arms.
"You got any tape, Mer? I have to do an adhesive dressing..." Helena requested, kneeling by the woman.
"Probably. I just grabbed whatever." The blond told her, Helena going through the bag.
"Is my mom ok? Mom!" The teen called out, seeing her mother passed out.
"Lily, keep counting. I need you to keep counting." The short brunette asked, her pony tail swinging as she turned to look at her.
"W-why isn't she talking?"
"Lily, count!" Helena insisted, the girl beginning to squeeze the bag again.
"How's she doing?" Meredith asked, working on the grandmother.
"I may have to intubate. Do you need to do a pressure dressing?" The short doctor questioned. Going through the procedures out loud always seemed to help in these situations.
"I see gray matter, brains are on the ground... nothing I can do." The blond sighed, moving to the child laying by her. "She's got sharped glass in her eye, she's unconscious, her pulse is low..."
"That's my sister, that's Abby." The teen cried.
"Lily? Lily, close your eyes. Close your eyes, count and squeeze, keep counting." Helena requested, exemplifying. "One, two, squeeze."
"One, two, squeeze..." The girl continued.
"Good, good job. Just keep going. One, two, squeeze." The short girl nodded as she continued working.
"The kids... the kids." The father let out.
"Your girls are alright, Sir. I just helped one, the other one is right over there." Meredith told him.
"And Michael? What about Michael?" He asked, making the residents share a look.
"Lily? Do you have a brother with you?" Helena asked as she nodded, Meredith quickly getting up as running to the car.
By Helena, the father groaned and closed his eyes, as she checked his pulse. "There's no pulse..." She started compressions, as she turned to Lily. "Lily, honey, keep counting. Close your eyes. One, two, squeeze."
Hearing the sound of tires screeching, Helena called out, panting slightly from the effort of the compressions. "Mer, there's a car coming. Get out of there."
"Oh, crap!" The blond let out, as the boy was trapped under the car. "He's trapped, I can't get his legs free!"
"Oh my god!" Lily sobbed.
"Keep counting, Lily!" Helena told her. "Mer, you need to get out of the road!"
At that, the blond ran towards the coming car. "Stop, please!"
As it did, Helena let out a breath of relief. "Help's here Lily, just keep counting. Keep counting for me."
——
After repeatedly assuring a very worried Mark that she was ok, Helena was now in the NICU.
"She went about two hours without antibiotics and an unknown about of fluids, cause we didn't have a pump." Helena informed Arizona, as she worked on the baby.
"Alright, careful with that suction."
"We weren't able to suction for a while... her pneumonia may be getting worse, she probably needs another X-ray..." The resident finished, the blond smiling at her.
"That's great. You did extraordinary work tonight, Campos. I've got it from here."
"What? W-why?!" She furrowed her brows, a bit aggravated.
"You were in a major accident, you need to go get yourself checked out. Take a breath. You're gonna sit this one out." The attending told her.
"I-I promised her mother I had her, I can't just sit it out." Helena pleaded. "Arizona, I'm good, I can't get any sleep without knowing how the baby is, ok?"
"Fine, then go get yourself checked out and then you can scrub in. Until then, go eat, rest, get yourself checked out." She instructed, conceding.
"You have her?" The brunette wanted to confirm.
"I have her."
"B-because I've been with her since yesterday, she almost died and I almost died... you need to promise you have her." She insisted.
"I have her, Lena. Goodbye." Arizona told her, as Helena nodded and walked out of the room.
——
As Helena went down to the ER to get checked out, she heard scared yells. "No, keep trying, that's my mom!"
Turning her head, she saw Lily looking into the trauma room that held her mom. At the sight before her, Helena's heart broke, as she approached the girl.
"Lily..." She called, her voice soft, placing a hand on Lily's shoulder.
"You can't just give up, you have to keep trying!" The girl cried.
Looking into the window, Helena saw Meredith attempting to revive the woman. But, from the state she was in, it certainly didn't feel likely that she would come back.
"Time of death 2:27." The blond pronounced, as the teen practically collapsed into Helena's arms.
And as the doctor held the teen in her arms, feeling her body rock with sobs, her eyes filled with tears. The girl had just lost a parent and her little brother had lost feeling in his legs, all in a car accident: it all just hit a little too close to home.
——
"Lily, honey?" Helena called out, her voice soft, as she approached the teen on the waiting room. "I asked for an update for you. Your dad and sister are in surgery and Dr. Grey, the other doctor that was with us, is going to take your brother up to repair a tear in his liver."
"Ok..." She whispered, defeated.
"Do you know if anyone in your family in on medication, has allergies o-or has had surgery?" She questioned.
"I-I don't know..."
Helena gulped, looking at the girl in front of her before she asked the necessary question she dreaded. "Lily, I'm so sorry to ask, but we need to know. Do you remember your parents ever saying something about extraordinary measures, is someone ever got really sick? Would they want us to take them?"
"No, we don't talk about stuff like that. We just talk about normal things so I don't... I don't know anything..." Lily muttered, hugging her legs to her chest.
"I-is there anyone I could call for you? Maybe someone who takes care of you when your planets are out of town?" Helena tried.
"My grandma." She told her, looking up from her knees. "But she's dead now so..." The teen began sobbing again, as Helena rubbed soothing circles on her back.
"I know, sweetheart, I know..." She whispered soothingly.
——
As Helena walked towards the scrub room, Mark walked with her. "You sure you're ok, honey? Are you sure you didn't get hurt?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." She shrugged him off.
"Y-you almost died and you have been working for so many hours, Lee. Maybe you should just sit this one out, sleep for a couple hours." He tried, worry in his eyes.
"Mark, I'm good. There's a kid who just lost her mother, her father and grandmother in surgery, and there a baby in critical state, who got thrown around an incubator." Helena told him, as they arrived to the scrub room. "I'm not gonna be able to rest until I know this baby is ok, at the very least."
"Ok, sweetheart, alright. I love you." He told her, Helena smiling at him as she entered the scrub room.
"I love you too."
——
Helena had finally gotten to close her eyes for a moment, laying on top of the covers in an on call room. Her whole body fell heavy and tired, the long hours of work catching up to her. The emotional aspect of the car wreck certainly didn't help either.
However, just as she was beginning to drift off to sleep, her eyes snapped open as a thought came to her mind, the girl rushing to the NICU.
As she got there, she put on the pink gown, calling out for her mentor. "A-Arizona, I think we have to go back in."
"What?" The blond asked, looking away from the baby.
"On the baby, I-I think I forgot to place the tension free anastomosis." She mumbled, hurrying to tie her gown in a frenzy. "I forgot to place it, we need to-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at me." The attending placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did the anastomosis, I watched you do it. You used the double layer technique, remember?" At that, the brunette blinked rapidly, furrowing her brows in confusion. "Ok, you need to sit down."
"No, I'm good-" She attempted to argue, as Arizona guided her to a chair.
"You are overtired and probably experiencing some residual shock. You're gonna take a break this time, for real." She told her resident, as she measured her pulse.
"But the family in the pit, they-" She tired.
"Don't argue with me, Lena. Slow down for a moment, deep breaths." Arizona ordered, as Helena closed her eyes, shaking her head lightly. "You ok?"
"Yeah, it's just... it's been a hard day." The short girl told her, her lower lip trembling slightly. A moment of silence followed, before she continued. "The family, and the almost dying, and this baby... it's just a lot." She whispered, looking up a her mentor.
"Alright." The blond whispered reassuringly. "Then you go get yourself some food, drink some water, take a breath... just take a moment. The world won't end if you're not working for ten minutes."
——
"Hey, honey." Helena greeted the teen girl outside her father's room. "I finished up with surgery, how are you doing?"
"I'm... Dr. Grey said that my dad's organs are starting to fail." Lily told her, tears in her eyes. "She told me that they k-keep having to revive him, and that it's really hard in his body. And I just... I turned eighteen today, four hours ago. S-so I decided that they should unplug him. W-we are gonna do i-it in the morning..."
"Oh, Lily." Helena whispered, her hand on her shoulder."I'm so sorry." As the girl yawned, Helena glanced up at the clock. "It's late, you should get some sleep..."
"No, I have to stay with my siblings, I need to-"
"I'll stay with them." The brunette offered. "I'll stay with them and watch them, you need to rest for a couple hours."
"You promise?" Lily questioned in a whisper.
"I do." She nodded, taking her hand and she began guiding the girl through the hallway. "Come with me, you should rest somewhere quiet."
As they arrived at April's office, Helena opened the door, guiding the teen to the sofa. She got a blanket from a supply closet on their way there, dropping it over the girl's shoulders as she laid down.
"I'll come wake you when it's time, try to rest a little." Helena whispered, the girl's eyes already beginning to close, as she walked out of the room.
"Dr. Campos?" The girl called out in a whisper.
"Yes?" Helena whispered.
"Can you please be the one to do it, tomorrow?" She asked, softly. "I don't want to do it alone..."
"Alright, honey. I'll be there."
"Thank you." The teen muttered, as Helena slipped out of the room.
Outside, the doctor pressed her back against a wall, a tear rolling down her cheek. She couldn't help but see herself in the girl inside the office.
——
At dawn, Helena sat in a chair outside the kids' rooms, her head against her knees as she walked the line between being asleep and awake. As she saw Mark sit by her side, she lifted her head, shooting him a sweet, drowsy smile.
"I heard about the father. How are you, doll?" He asked, Helena resting her head on his shoulder.
"Lily is on her last year of high school. She just lost her mother, she died immediately in the car crash. We're unplugging her father in the morning." She started, tears forming in her eyes. "And her brother... her lost feeling on both his legs."
At that, Mark pressed a kiss at the top of her head. "I'm sorry."
"I know... it's not your fault." She whispered, taking a hand to cover her eyes. "It shouldn't... I shouldn't be this down it's just... I saw them on the road, Mark. I saw them splattered against the road and I saw her sobbing, and... Lily was me. And I was younger, yes, but I had my mother. She's just turned eighteen and now... they're alone. It's just a lot."
——
At the end of the day, after having unplugged the man, Helena wheeled Lily's younger sister into her brother's room, where the older girl stood. The kids had just learnt about their parents' death, as Helena sighed before turning to them.
"Lily, do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, stepping out into the hallway with the teen girl.
"Is everything ok, Dr. Campos?" Lily questioned, worried.
"Yes, don't worry." She reassured her, before turning to the girl. "There's just... your siblings are getting discharged today, so I probably won't see you when I come in tonight, so... I think there's some things I should tell you."
"Ok." The teen muttered.
"It's just... I wanted to let you know it's not your fault." She started, fidgeting with her pigeon. "It's not your fault what happened, and it's not your fault you made it and they didn't. You're going to blame yourself, ask if there was anything you could have done differently. There wasn't. You didn't do anything wrong, it's not your fault."
Lily nodded, teary eyed, as the woman spoke.
"You're brother is going to be paralyzed from the waist down, as you know. It will take some time for him to accept what happened, to come to terms with it. I need you to tell him there is still a lot to look forward to. That he'll learn to live in his new body." Helena continued, giving her some advice. "And you are going to wonder if it ever gets better. If it ever gets ok to live in a world without them, without your parents. The truth is, it never gets ok, it will never be the same. But it does get better. You're going to miss them so much at first, almost like you can't breathe. But that feeling is going to lessen. You'll still feel it, it'll still be there, but it will be less strong. And the really strong missing them will come less often."
The girl now cried openly, as Helena had her hand on the girl's shoulder. "And if you need anything, you call me, ok?" She told the teen, giving her a life of paper with her phone number. "I know you have your parents money, but if you need help getting a job, o-or if your siblings get worse after surgery, you call me. If you ever feel like you might hurt yourself, or you need someone to talk to because it gets too much, you call me, ok?"
The teen sniffled as she wiped her tears, taking Helena into a hug. "Thank you, Dr. C."
"It's ok, sweetie. You're welcome." The doctor whispered back to her.
The girl should have someone to lean on.
——
About an hour later, Helena laid in bed, phone to her ear as she listened to her father's last voice mail, the one that somehow always comforted her.
"Olá, pequenina. A tua mãe contou-me a nota que tiveste no teus teste de biologia. Sei que estás a dormir, mas sabes como os horário de médico são. Só te queria dizer o quão orgulhoso estou de ti, minha pequena cientista. Chau, adoro-te." ("Hi, little one. Your mother told me about you biology test grade. I know you are asleep but you know how doctor's hours are. I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you, my little scientist. Bye, I love you.")
As Mark entered the room, right after putting Alice down, Helena was putting her phone down on her bedside table. "Ready for sleep?"
"Please. I've been up from 39 hours and I've had an emotional day, I need sleep." She answered, moving over so her husband could get in bed.
"I know today was though. How are you feeling?" He asked, changing into his pyjamas.
"I'm... I'm ok. It was a bit rough, seeing Lily a-and everything, but I'm ok. Just tired." She nodded, as Mark laid down next to her.
"Goodnight, doll." He told her, pressing a kiss to her temple.
"Goodnight, querido." She smiled, closing her eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Mark turned the light off. "Amo-te."
——
Word count: 3324
AN:
Ever since I started this book, I've been thinking about this chapter, because of the car crash and how much it relates to Lena. Hope you enjoy!
Also, because I've seen that some of you are worried about it, you can take a deep breath because I will not kill Mark in the plane crash. I don't want to spoil anything further but he won't be dying then.