She'd barely made herself dinner, before her pager beeped on the kitchen table and she groaned out loud, "We just got out of a 30-hour shift. I had to operate on a heart in a godforsaken elevator!"
Rolling out her neck, feeling the pressure release when the joints popped, Charlie quickly changed back into a pair of clean scrubs, opening her TV all the while.
If they were being called back, then surely it was an emergency.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
She stood in the hallway with both Cris and George, all of them in clean scrubs, as the her person murmured excitedly, "I think I saw a pneumothorax. I hope I get a pneumothorax."
Slapping her upside the head, Charlie muttered as she slipped on her trauma gown, "Maybe try sounding less excited at the prospect of human tragedy Cris."
Just then, their resident, Miranda Bailey arrived, decked out in a fancy dress and heels. When the interns stopped to look at her, she huffed, "What are you looking at?"
"You look lovely Dr Bailey," complimented the blonde honestly.
"Thank you Charlie." Turning to Alex, she ordered, "Hey, you, go get me my damn shoes. Let's move, people."
Mer stepped up to her, "Hello. I seem to be a little bit drunk. I was off duty."
"So was I! Anybody else half in the bottle?" When no one replied, she continued, "All right then. Grey just stay out of the way. I'll deal with you later. The rest of you, stick with me and wait for your assignments. Now you get all aquiver at the sight of blood, and organs but it's gonna be a long night and you're already tired. I don't want any mistakes."
Finished, the pushed. The doors of the ER open, revealing the chaos that lied behind.
The three friends looked on in wonder.
"I'm so not tired anymore." Murmured Cristina, in awe.
"Me neither. I'm not tired either." Added George.
"What's tiredness? Sounds like a disease I've never heard of." Joked Charlie with an excited smile.
"I've got a 3rd trimester burn victim here Dr. Bailey and I'm gonna need some help." Stated Addie, coming up to them.
All the interns raised there hands, before the woman chose, "Izzie, go."
The former model pumped her fist, before bragging, "Yes! Have a nice nap."
This was the moment Derek entered the OR, and Charlie gasped, "I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and assume he chose her, but was a little late."
"If you're right, I've just lost 50 bucks." Complained Cristina softly, only to begin gasping in pain when her person smacked her repeatedly, "Cristina Yang! We. Do. Not. Bet. On. Our. People's. Love. Life!"
The woman batted her hands away clumsily, as Tyler the scrub nurse ran in, holding a leg, "I've got the leg!"
"I want that leg..." whispered the Asian woman.
Richard sped over to them,"Dr. Bailey who you got?"
Both George and Cris raised their hands like idiots in a classroom, while Charlie simply rolled her eyes, pushing down the urge to face-palm in embarrassment, knowing full-well Bailey would choose whoever she wanted, regardless of their enthusiasm.
And indeed, the resident called out, "Ah! Cristina. Go."
The woman took off in a run, while George slumped over in defeat.
"Don't worry. We're her favourites, she knows something, and she's not telling us yet." Whispered the blonde conspiratorially, causing him to smile wildly,"You're right"
"I'm always right, Georgie-baby."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Her statement still held true, as the two interns were paged into a room by their lovely resident.
Walking in, with George and Meredith following behind her, Charlie called out, "Dr Bailey, you paged u...oh."
She came to a complete stop, as in the middle of the room, sat a man and woman, both connected by the pole impaled through their midsections.
Th girl looked at her with a smile, "Is this the craziest thing you ever seen?"
She nodded, smiling at her back ,"pretty much, yeah. I'm gonna go on a wild guess and assume it's the craziest thing either of you have experienced."
"Yep."
She then turned her head slightly towards Burke, calling out, "hello?"
He walked towards her with a calming smile, "Hi. I'm Dr. Burke. You shouldn't turn your head. You want to try and move as little as possible."
"Oh ok. ... So are you gonna pull this pole out of us anytime soon?"
"It's a touch uncomfortable," supplied her companion.
The attending smiled, "I'm sorry we can't until we get a better look on what's going on internally. But I assure you we will work as quickly as possible."
The girl, Bonnie, giggled, "Well, in that case, does anybody have a breath mint?" Before glancing at her companion, Tom, and elaborating, "For me, not for you."
Bailey looked at her two most promising and compassionate interns, and ordered, "O'Malley, Hawthorne, get them an X-Ray."
The two nodded, beginning to wheel their gurney towards the elevator, as George murmured, "They never would have picked me before the elevator."
Glancing at the two, Charlie asked softly, "Is there anyone either of you would like us to call?"
"No they called my wife from the ambulance." Answered Tom.
"And my fiancé. They're flying down from Vancouver together."
The man chuckled slightly, joking, "Normally, Amanda would be a tad upset to find me pressed up against another woman. But in this case I think I'll get a pass."
Tilting his head curiously, George asked, "You two weren't traveling together?"
"No. We just met."
"Bit of an awkward introduction." Joked Tom in good-nature.
Smiling at them, the girl called out to the amalgamation of people in front of her politely, "let us through, please and thank you."
They parted like the red sea when they noticed the state of the patients on the gurney.
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Observing Bonnie's films, she sighed sadly, "it goes straight through her spine."
Bailey nodded, "It does. T8 is completely crushed."
Derek made his entrance then, heading straight to Meredith in concern, "What happened?"
"Tequila."
He nodded, as Bailey elaborated, "I'm keeping an eye on her."
He continued nodding, until his eyes noticed the X-Rays, "Look at this. These people are still alive?"
"Making small talk and joking about." Stated Charlie.
"Pole's tamponading the wound as far as we can see." Informed Bailey, as the blonde intern nodded beside her, mind already whirring with possibilities.
"It's hitting the aorta."
"And look at him. It's right in line with his inferior vena cava." Added Burke, walking over to them.
George glanced at him hopefully, "Is there anyway to operate without separating them?" Before deflating when the attending shook his head.
"But if we move the poll..." he began hesitantly.
"They'll both bleed out." Finished their resident.
The group's attention was then drawn to a pacing Charlie, who was mumbling softly to herself, "what if we...but no that's too big a risk...but then again...high possibility of it working."
"Charlotte," interrupted Derek, "Spit it out, whatever idea you've got floating up there. They tend to be good, when you start talking to yourself."
The girl nodded, "I think I may have a solution. What if we don't move the pole? What if we simply moved one of the patients off the pole, enough to insert a saw between them? That would allow us to hold it steady in the other one."
Burke nodded in understanding, picking up for her, "Move it slowly, and repair the damage as we go." Smiling at her, he commented, "It's been very handy, having a certified genius on our team of interns."
"But who? Which would you move?" Asked the dark-haired intern softly.
Charlie closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly, "With her aortic injuries, her chances of survival are extremely slim no matter what we do."
"But, if we move her, we have a real shot of saving him." Added Burke.
"Then again, shouldn't that mean that we should move him off the pole, giving ourselves a better chance at saving them both?" She argued uncertainly.
Derek nodded, pointing at her, "Exactly. Since her injuries are so extensive we should move him. Give her the best shot we can."
"So basically whoever you move doesn't stand a chance?" Asked Meredith, from her perch in the corner of the room.
"So how do you choose?" Wondered Charlie quietly.
"How do you decide who gets to live?"
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
"We have to make this call soon if we want our shot of saving either one of them." Warned Burke as he and Derek walked down the hallway, followed by Bailey and her interns.
"I'd like to examine them before I weigh in."
"I'll wait for your page."
"Thank you."
Once the cardio-thoracic surgeon had left, Derek turned to Meredith, before grimacing slightly, and shifting to Charlie with a raised brow, "Ready to go check on our miracles?"
The blonde girl nodded emphatically, before looking worriedly behind her at her person.
Noticing the concern, Bailey reassured her with a smile, "I've got her. I'm gonna make sure she gets herself a blood alcohol test before practicing any medicine tonight."
"What?" Slurred the shorter blonde with a dopey grin, "No. I'm totally fine. Look." Begins spreading her arms out, balancing precariously on her own feet, before bringing the tip of her finger to her nose, "See? Fine!"
Charlie exchanged an amused glance with her attending, looking back at her person with a grin, "Alright Mer. Maybe just double-check to be sure."
They were checking over the woman, with Derek attempting to ascertain whether she had any feelings in her foot. "Can you feel that Miss Krasnoff?"
She smiled dopey down at him, "Hmm. You're a cute Doctor. Cute doctors get to call me by my first name. Including the beautiful Dr Hawthorne."
The blonde chuckled, "Bonnie?" At the woman's nod, she smiled, "Alright, but only if you call me Charlie."
"Ok, Bonnie. Do you feel that Bonnie?"
"Can I feel what? Oh well I guess that's a no."
George walked in, calling out for the attending, "Excuse me, Dr Shepherd?"
"Yes."
"I got the labs." He stated, handing them over to the man.
"Oh, thank you. Now, can you wiggle your toes, Mr Maynard?"
The man's toes wiggled successfully, and the blonde intern smiled when he asked, "Are they moving?"
"Yes, they are."
"Oh good. That's good right?"
Smiling at him softly, Charlie replied, "Indeed it is, Mr Maynard."
"What about me? Are mine moving?" Questioned Bonnie happily.
As they all glanced down at her toes, Charlie swallowed heavily, but kept the soft smile on her face, as Derek replied, "Yes, they are."
"Oh, yay me!" She cheered happily.
"Dr ... ah Shepherd is it?" Questioned Tom softly.
"Yes it is."
"Dr. Shepherd ... Bonnie and I ... are we gonna live through this?"
The woman chuckled, looking at her companion with a mock-frown, "Now that's just morose Tom."
He smiled down at her, "Sorry dear," before looking back up at the surgeon, "Doctor?"
"We're gonna do everything we can Mr. Maynard."
Though she was smiling on the outside, Charlie felt her heart snap in half. One of them would be making it out. Poor Bonnie's injuries had proved too fatal after all.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
"Where are we?" Burke questioned, walking into the room holding what Charlie had subconsciously dubbed 'the Bonnie and Tommy Team'.
"You were right. Her vitals are erratic. Pulse is weak. Spine severed. I was hoping it didn't hit from that angle. It just can't miss the aorta." Stated Derek.
"What about him? Think he can live?"
"He's got better odds."
Burke sighed sadly, before nodding towards George, "Alright. Let OR 1 know we're coming."
The boy had begun walking off, before Bailey stopped him, "O'Malley, close off the gallery. We don't need an audience for this."
"She's cracking jokes," he whispered, voice cracking slightly, "How do you tell somebody that she's gonna be dead in a few minutes when she's sitting up cracking jokes?"
Charlie closed her eyes, inhaling deeply before murmuring, "it feels wrong. Like we're playing God. I know it's triage and necessary, but I feel wrong and dirty."
A soft hand was placed on her shoulder, and her resident squeezed reassuringly and murmured, "I know Charlie, I know."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Derek was trying to explain the situation to their two patients, "This is hard, because your body is in a certain amount of shock. It's preventing you from feeling pain. Feeling the extent of your injuries."
Bonnie sighed softly, "Dr. Shepherd. We have a metal pole cutting a path through our insides. I don't know about Tom here, but I didn't expect to walk out of here anytime soon. So ... whatever it is you have to say just please ... say it."
The neurosurgeon smiled sadly, nodding, "Okay Bonnie, in order to operate on Mr. Maynard, we have to separate you two. In order to do that, we have to move you backwards off the pole."
"Can't you just pull the pole out of both of us?" Asked Tom.
Charlie shook her head, "If we did that, you'd both begin bleeding out too quickly. Right now, the pole is basically plugging all of your injuries, keeping you alive."
The brave woman swallowed heavily, vice cracking with tears, "So if you move me, I'll die?"
Derek hesitated, before explaining, "We're gonna do everything we can to..." only to stop when she began softly crying.
Charlie rushed over to her, holding onto her hand tightly, rubbing the skin, as Tom argued, "No. No. If anyone body has to go it should be me. You just move ..."
"No. Mr. Maynard..." interrupted Burke, before swallowing and continuing, "Mr. Maynard your injuries are less extensive. If we pull the pole from you as we operate around it, we have a better chance at repairing the damage."
The man shook his head, "It's not right. It's not fair."
Bonnie smiled sadly at him, soothing, "Shh Tom. It's not fair either way." Before looking over at the surgeons, "Is ah, is my Danny ... is he here yet?"
"There are delays at the airport, ah the storm." Answered George, voice quiet.
"Uh we could wait but ah the longer we do the higher the risk of infection for the..." added Bailey quickly, only to be interrupted by the woman, "No, no. This is better. Huh. Danny, he wouldn't understand. I've had a couple of hours to, you know, process all of this. But if, if he had to see me ... talk to me like this ... well, I just think it would be too hard."
Charlie kept her hold on her hand, rubbing skin calmly, vowing to keep ahold of it until the end.
No one deserved to die alone.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
They were in the OR, preparing to remove Bonnie off the pole.
Charlie still had a hold on her hand, and the woman murmured to her male companion, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Do you believe in heaven?"
"I do. ... Don't you?"
She sniffled, holding back the tears, "I want to."
"Bonnie...I just wanna say ..."
"Shh," she interrupted softly, "I know. I know."
The doors opened, with Derek and Dr Adam, the anaesthesiologist walking in, the surgeon introducing him, "This is Dr. Adams, our anaesthesiologist. When you're ready, he's gonna put you to sleep."
"So it's not gonna hurt?" She asked softly.
"No one bit." Reassured hearth man.
"Good. That's good. ... Charlie?"
The intern leaned close, "Yes Bonnie?"
"You're gonna be there when they talk to my Danny, right?"
The girl nodded, swallowing back some tears, "yes, what would you like me to tell him?"
Bonnie smiled in relief, before gesturing for her to lean closer, whispering the words in her ear. Pulling away, Charlie smiled, nodding her head, pushing the sobs that wanted to crawl out of her throat down.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
They'd separated them successfully, before shifting their efforts to saving Bonnie.
Charlie ran to the table, handing Derek sponges, and retracting the woman before he could ask. The man looked at her gratefully, before proceeding.
"Her aorta's shredded," Burke stated sadly, "She's gonna bleed out."
Adam's voice sounded out, worried, "Doctors, he's losing pressure."
Derek nodded once, making eye-contact with his favourite intern, before announcing, "He's bleeding. Let's go."
The girl followed after him, heart heavy at the knowledge that Bonnie could not be saved, but efforts focusing on saving one life today,
Meredith however, stayed in place, screaming, "What about her? We can't just abandon her. We can't just abandon her!"
Charlie glanced over at her, voice clam, "Mer, it's too late. But it's not for Tom. We can still save his life darling."
The shorter blonde nodded, tears in her eyes, before taking position beside her friend, hand hooked onto her gown, as Charlie's hands were too busy retracting.
"Time of death, 3.49." stated Bailey, regarding Bonnie.
Charlie swallowed her tears back, single thought in her head for once; keep tom alive. Keep tom alive. Keep tom alive.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
They were informing Bonnie's fiancé of her death, the intern choking back tears as he asked, "Did she ah ... did she suffer?"
Derek shook his head, "No. Her injuries prevented her from ... no, she wasn't in any pain."
The man nodded, wiping his hand across his face.
"Danny? Before she died, she asked me to, uh.." Began the blonde girl, voice heavy with sadness and tears, "She asked me to tell you that, if love were...if love were enough that she'd still be here with you." When he nodded, she quickly excused herself from the group, leaning back against the elevator, fists pressed harshly into her eyes.
When they all walked in, in complete abject silence, she kept her fists there, only removing them when she felt the elevator come to a stop, noting it was Bailey who'd pressed the button.
Glancing behind her, she realised Derek had moved away, shedding silent tears, and she headed towards him, tears of her own flowing down her face, and placed an understanding hand on his shoulder.
He nodded, wiping them away, before nodding at the resident, who was staring at them with compassionate eyes.
"You two good?"
They made eye-contact, before nodding at once, "yeah, we're good."
And the elevator started moving again.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
She sat beside George in the locker room, eyes staring vacantly ahead of her.
"The last thing she wanted, was to let him know how much she loved him." She whispered sadly.
"I know sweetie, it's okay." Murmured the boy, wrapping a comforting arm around her.
Cristina kneeled in front of her, a cup of coffee in her hand, "here, I uh, I know how much you need it."
Smiling sadly at her, she took it, kissing the palm of her hand and pressing it to her person's cheek in thanks, before sipping at the scalding beverage.
"The last thing my mum ever said to me, that night, was that she loved me more than the idea of staying alive. And those words, they'd be engraved in my memory for the rest of my life, eidetic or not."
A soft kiss was pressed to the crown of her head, as the door opened, and Bailey popped her head in, stating softly, "Better get cleaned up. Rounds. 5 minutes."
The interns all nodded, before preparing for a new day,
As Derek Shepherd often said, death or not, today would be a beautiful day to save some lives.