Liliana's pov
"Hey." Meredith smiled cheerfully walking over to the front desk where I stood looking over my patient charts.
"Hey, someone's in a good mood. I assume things are going well with you and Riggs ." I chuckled. Riggs and Meredith are officially dating and I could tell that she was happy and I'm happy for her. She deserves joy and I would support her in every way possible.
"Yeah, things are going good. I'm actually thinking about letting him meet the kids." She said.
"Wow, sounds like you two are getting serious," I said.
"I think we are." She nodded. "But enough about me. I have something for you." She smirked.
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"A tumor." She said excitedly.
"A tumor." I repeated.
"The tumor. The drawing of the tumor that Derek drew on the wall. I want you to have it."
"You want to give me Derek's infamous tumor?" I asked.
"Yeah, I thought about giving it to Amelia, but I remember you operating on that tumor with Derek. I know it was a special moment and if anyone deserves that drawing it's you." She explained.
"Well, yeah. I would love to have it. Thank you." I smiled. I'm always appreciative of reminders and things that connect me with Derek especially during times where I'm stressed or overwhelmed. I'm appreciative of the friends that I have in my life, but no one was Derek. We had a bond that could never be replaced and I miss him every day.
"No problem. It's in my car, I'll get it for you before I leave work."
"Okay." I nodded as my pager went off. "I have to go." I sighed. I went to the ER where a patient was just being brought in. After running some tests I took her to the O.R. to operate. Once I finished I went to the daycare to check on Isabella before going to the conference room to work on files.
I heard the door open and looked up to see Jackson walking into the room.
"Hey." He said closing the door behind him.
"Hey." I said as I focused back on my paperwork.
"Peace offering." He said offering me a cup of coffee.
"No thank you." I shook my head.
"Come on. You know you want it." He said jokingly trying to lighten the mood as he sat down.
"Fine, but only because I'm tired." I said grabbing it.
"You left the house early this morning." He said.
"Early surgery." I shrugged.
"Really?" He asked. It was obvious that he didn't believe me.
"Yep." I said taking a sip of coffee.
"We need to talk." He said.
"I tried to talk. You didn't want to listen." I said flipping through files.
"Lily." He sighed.
"Jackson, we're at work. I'm not discussing our problems here. It's unprofessional." I huffed. "I need to focus on this work."
"Okay, fine. I'll just see you when we get home." He said.
"Okay." I nodded before he got up and left the room.
I was so frustrated with Jackson. I feel like we're barely ever on the same page anymore and I was so tired of us arguing. I felt completely drained.
My pager began going off gaining my attention. I see that Alex is paging me to the E.R. so I gathered my things before going to meet him.
"Hey, you paged?" I said walking over to the front desk where he stood focusing on his eye iPad.
"Yeah." He nodded. "That little boy over there." He said looking over to the E.R. room where a blonde hair little boy lay. He was obviously scared. "His name's Liam. He has a pituitary adenoma and he needs surgery." Alex said handing me his iPad so that I could look at his files.
"Okay." I nodded. "Have his parent's signed the consent forms?"
"No." He sighed. "They won't. They're following some religious crap where they don't believe in medical intervention."
"Alex, he's a minor. We can't operate without their consent." I shook my head.
"We're not going to get it. This isn't his first time trying to get help. He ran away, took a train by himself to get here yesterday just for his parents to take him home, and today he found his back, but now the tumor is bleeding and putting pressure on his optic nerve. He can't see Lily and we can fix it." He said. I looked at the little boy and I couldn't understand how a parent could sit by and let him suffer. You're supposed to protect your child and they were failing him even though they had people who were willing and ready to help him.
"Okay, we're going to take him to surgery. We have to say it's an emergency, that's the only way we can do this without the parent's consent." I sighed.
"We'll say he was having a seizure and we had to operate," Alex said.
"Okay." I agreed. I know what Alex and I are about to do is against the rules, but if this little boy's parents aren't going to help him, we have to.
We got Liam prepped for surgery before taking him into the O.R. to operate.
"Dr. Garcia, I've got social work paging you." A scrub nurse said as I operated.
"Almost done here." I said as I continued focusing on operating. "Basin." I requested as Edwards handed it to me.
"Hey, is this Liam?" Minnick asked entering the O.R. "Little Liam with the religious parents?"
"It is." Alex nodded.
"I saw his name on the board, and I couldn't believe it. How did you get consent?" She asked.
"We didn't need it. He was emergent." I lied.
"Did what we needed to do to save his life." Alex shrugged.
"Karev." She scoffed disapproval clear in his voice. "You two opened this child's skull without his parents knowing after what happened last time." She frowned.
"He seized in the E.R." I said.
"Dr. Garcia, it's social work again, 911. The patient's parents are here." The scrub nurse said.
"I'm operating on their son's brain right now, so they will wait." I said.
"One of you better start talking right now." Minnick said sternly.
"No, you are going to leave my O.R. right now, because I am in the middle of brain surgery which actually requires a lot of focus regardless of how easy I make it look, so anything you need to discuss can and will wait." I said continuing to operate. She rolled her eyes before storming out of the room.
"Thanks." Alex said.
"No problem. If Liam's parents aren't going to help him we have to." I nodded. We completed surgery successfully before taking Liam to recovery. Alex had to meet Bailey and Minnick to speak to the parents while I spoke with social services. Once I finished speaking with them I checked in on Liam before going to the locker room and changing out of my scrubs. I got Isabella from daycare before meeting Meredith so that I could get the drawing before leaving to go home.
- -
"It's pretty cool isn't it?" I smiled sitting in the nursery with Isabella looking at Derek's tumor drawing. She was obviously fascinated by it. She kept trying to trace it with her little hands. "When mommy was a resident, your uncle Derek and I got to remove it. We were in surgery all day. It was one of the most difficult surgeries of my residency, but you know what? Your uncle Derek did it. He saved a man's life when everyone else thought it was impossible." I smiled at the memory as I adjusted Isabella in my lap. "I wish you got a chance to meet him. He would've loved you. He was the best person." I sighed. Even though I knew Isabella couldn't understand what I was saying I always felt like she could feel when I was sad, she instinctively laid her head on my chest cuddling up to me making me smile. "I love you so much, baby girl." I said kissing her on the forehead.
After a little while, Jackson made it home for the night.
"Is that Derek's tumor?" He asked walking into the nursery while I played with Isabella.
"Yeah, long story." I nodded.
"Okay." He said obviously still curious.
"How's my girl." He smiled walking over and tickling Isabella making her giggle.
"Still full of energy." I chuckled. Even when I was irritated with Jackson I tried to have a good attitude around our daughter because I always wanted her to be in a happy environment.
"That's always." He laughed as he picked her up. We stayed in the room playing with her until she started to get tired and fell asleep.
"So where exactly are we going to put this tumor." Jackson asked as we walked to the kitchen and I set the drawing against the wall.
"I don't know. Maybe the hallway." I shrugged.
"You want to hang the giant scary tumor in the hall?" He frowned.
"Yep." I shrugged as I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
"You still mad at me?" He asked.
"Jackson, I'm not mad. I am tired and frustrated." I sighed. "I was more than patient with you during the whole Maggie situation. I have been handling everything basically on my own for weeks without complaining and when I finally tell you how I feel, you blow me off." I shake my head.
"I'm sorry." He said walking over to me.
"I don't want to keep hearing that Jackson. I need to see action. I need to see you putting your family first." I sighed.
"You and Isabella are always first." He frowned.
"Lately Maggie has been your main focus and you know it." I said angrily.
"What is your issue with Maggie? She lost her mother and I was trying to be there for her as her friend." He sighed.
"Why are you always defending her?" I scoffed.
"I am not always defending her. She is just going through a hard time. She lost her mother. How can you not understand that?"
"How dare you." I frowned. "There are two of us in this room, but only one of us has lost their mother and it wasn't you so if anything I understand Maggie's situation a hell of a lot better than you do."
"I wasn't trying to.." Jackson began to say before I cut him off.
"I don't want to hear anything else that you have to say tonight. I'm done." I said as I began to walk away from the kitchen.
"Liliana." He called, but I just ignored him closing the door behind me once I made it to the room.
We clearly weren't making up tonight.
More trouble in paradise for Jackson and Lily.
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