"Doctors spend a lot of time focused on the future, planning it, working toward it, planning it, working toward it. But at some point you start to realise your life is happening now. Not after med school, not after residency, right now. This is it. It's here. Blink and you'll miss it. Did you say it? "I love you. I don't ever want to live without you. You changed my life". Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around. Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow"
"but who am i supposed to talk to, what am i supposed to do, if there's no you"
All the residents were sleeping in Lucy's room, waiting for her to wake up. Bailey entered the room, waking them all up. "Any changes overnight?" she asked them. "No", Cristina replied. Alex got up and sat close to Lucy rubbing her arm. Bailey's pager went off. "That's the chief. Somebody better make a coffee run", she said. "You all look like hell". She left the room. George got up. "I gotta be in surgery in ten minutes", he said. He looked at Holly. She was looking everywhere else. He sighed and left the room. "We should go too. It's probably gonna be awhile", Meredith said. "Derek said she'd wake up. What'd he tell you? Was that all crap?" Alex said angrily. "What did he say?"
"He said it may be a while"
Holly approached and put a hand on his shoulder. "She's gonna wake up", she whispered. She then left the room with Cristina and Meredith. Alex continued to stare at Lucy, hoping she'd just wake up. Holly put on her doctor's coat as she left the room. She then saw Owen and George shaking hands then hugging. She sighed, her eyes filling with tears.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up", Alex muttered to a sleeping Lucy.
"I have a headache"
He looked up to see her slowly opening her eyes. "You're up", he said. "You're up and you're talking. You talked, right? Talk!"
"I said I have a headache, stop yelling, geez, who pissed in your cereal?"
"Page Shepherd!"
Owen approached Aurora on the catwalk. "Hey", she greeted.
"I slept, Aurora. Last night. I slept for the first time... I slept"
"That's so great. I'm happy for you"
"I slept. And that's because of you. You came with me to see my mom, and then I slept. And I slept without nightmares. That's not a small thing, Aurora. That...that is everything. I can be a better man. I can be a better man for you. I hope, if you'll let me, I can be a better man with you. Don't say anything. Just think about it. Ok? Ok"
She giggled as he leaned in and kissed her.
Holly was walking down the hall when George caught up with her. "Holl, can we talk?"
"I'm busy"
"Walking down the hall?"
"Fine, George, what do you want?"
"You've barely spoken these past few days, and I know it's hard. But I report for duty tomorrow, I don't want to say goodbye to you like this"
"I don't either. I'm sorry, it's a lot to take in"
"I know. Okay, well I've got the day off, I'm gonna visit my mom and tell her"
"Good luck"
"You could come if you want, we could bring Heather, I'm sure the chief would understand"
"Nah, I need to work, and check on Lucy and stuff. You go, I'll see when you get back, ok?"
"Ok, I love you"
"I love you too"
They kissed and went in seperate directions.
Callie, Kelly, Owen, and Meredith were in a trauma room with a patient who was unrecognizable after being hit and dragged by a bus. The paramedic was performing CPR before Callie took over. "Push 20 of etomidate and 100 of sux", Owen ordered. The girl the patient had saved, Amanda walked in. "He saved my life. The bus was gonna hit me, he threw me out of the way", she explained. "Ripa, get her out of here", Callie ordered.
"It was supposed to be me under the bus. He's all alone. They don't even know who he is. Please!"
Kelly sighed. "Stand over there and just don't move", she said. The monitor started a steady beep. "He's back", Meredith informed. "Let's get a trauma series, trauma labs and O neg blood in here", Callie said. "Severe avulsion injury to the left forearm"
They began to peel off the bandages covering his face. His face was completely dismembered. "Skull's bashed in. Page Shepherd!" Owen said. "And Sloan", Callie added.
"Start antibiotics and start cleaning out those wounds"
Amanda then got sick. Callie looked at Kelly. "Now can you get her out of here?" she asked.
Derek was checking on Lucy, while Alex held her hand and Cristina stood nearby. "Did you get the whole thing?" Lucy asked. "Did you get the whole tumour out?"
"Just let me finish my exam. Can you tell me your name?"
"My name is Lucinda Shepherd, it's 2009 and I'm in the Neuro ICU at Seattle Grace Hospital. Did you get the damn thing out?"
"Got the whole damn thing, baby blue"
"You got it!"
"Yeah"
"Oh, God, you got the whole thing. You're a good brother. Now I can talk and I know my name. And I'm not a turnip!"
"Nope", Alex agreed. "No offense, you are a great surgeon", she said to Derek. But I really thought I was gonna be a turnip. This is so unbelievably great!"
"Your kidneys are a little bit sluggish, so we're gonna keep an eye on your electrolytes for a few hours", Cristina said. "Your post-op crit was fine".
"Ok, good. Good"
She sighed and then her smile faded. "How'd the surgery go?" she asked them. "Did you get the brain tumour? Did you get it out?" "Lucy, you just asked him that. We just talked about it", Alex said. "No, no. It's ok. She's gonna be foggy for a while. The tumour's out", Derek said. "There was a little bleeding during the post"
"You got it?" she exclaimed.
"Yeah"
"All of it? That's amazing! Derek Shepherd, you are a good brother! And I know that that's Derek Shepherd and you're Alex. And you should kiss me"
He smiled and kissed her.
"Alex, I don't have a brain tumour. I'm tumour free"
"Yes, you are"
"What's wrong? Why do you look weird?"
"Nothing. Nothing", Cristina reassured. "Your kidneys are a little slow. We're just gonna watch them".
"Ok, so you'll just re-check my electrolytes in an hour. Ok. How'd the surgery go? Did you get the tumour?"
"We did", Derek said, trying to smile with tears in his eyes. "Tumour's gone. There was a little bit of bleeding and we took care of that".
"You got it? Oh, my god! And I can talk and you didn't kill me. What's wrong with you people? We should be celebrating".
Derek and Alex were talking outside of the room. "She's like the woman who couldn't remember her husband was dead", Alex said. "We had to keep telling her every five minutes".
"Could be a perfectly normal post-operative haze"
"Or the bleeding during the procedure blitzed her short-term retention. Did you screw up her brain?"
"Karev... (his pager went off). I'll be back. Try and stay calm. Freaking her out is not gonna help"
Derek walked away and Alex leaned against a wall and sighed. "Wake up", he muttered to himself.
Kelly was outside the trauma room suturing Amanda's arm. "You think he's gonna make it?" Amanda asked.
"I hope so"
"He really has to make it"
Mark appeared behind Kelly.
"Dr Sloan"
"There's gonna be too much tension. Start over and do a layered closure"
"Can I ask a question about that?"
They walked over a bit, away from Amanda. "Ok, you brought up moving in together and marriage, and I put it off, and now you're embarrassed and you won't make eye contact with me because you feel that I have all the power in the relationship", Kelly said. "But I don't want all the power. I'm happy to share it. Can we just skip this part?"
"Get some 4-0 vicryl so you can redo your patient's sutures"
He walked away and she sighed.
Beck came into the trauma room. "Do you need any extra hands?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll need you for something", Callie replied. Bailey stormed in. "What did you do to O'Malley?" she asked Owen.
"Excuse me?"
"Somebody else around here likely to convince someone to join the Army and be a trauma surgeon in Iraq?"
"What? Army?" Meredith and Callie exclaimed. "O'Malley won't last a day in the army", Beck commented. They looked at her.
"Sorry. Continue"
The monitor started beeping. "V-fib!" Beck said. "Charge the paddles to 360", Owen ordered. "Call who you have to call and undo this", Bailey said, still talking to Owen.
"Bailey, busy here"
"George O'Malley?" Callie questioned.
"It wasn't my idea!"
"No change", Beck informed.
"Charge again. Clear! I did what I could to give him a decent education in trauma. I didn't know he was gonna go and enlist"
"He keeps coding"
"Here's why, open book pelvic fracture", Callie said, pointing to the scans. "Too much bleeding. We take him to an OR now, he'll die on the table", Owen said.
"He needs to go to Angio if we're gonna stop the pelvic arterial bleeding"
"Sinus tach. We have a rhythm. Barely there, but it's there", Beck said. "Let's stabilise the pelvis", Owen said. "I know what goes on in this hospital", Bailey continued. "I know you're messed up from that war. And not in a small way. He has a wife, and a child. Get him out of it". "Page me if you need me. I've got other patients", Callie said, leaving the room with Bailey. Mark came back into the room. "How'd you piss off all the women?" he asked.
"Let's get our guy to Angio"
"Angio? He's barely got a pulse!" Beck exclaimed.
"It's now or never, if we want him to live. Let's move! Sir, I know it's tough, but I'd be grateful if you'd stay alive for the next few minutes"
Meredith, Beck, Holly and Cristina were sitting in the canteen. "You gonna chew?" Cristina asked. Meredith hummed and pointed at Beck. "Our dragged under a bus guy's in Angio", Beck explained. "They're gonna page us any minute". Alex sat down. "How's Lucy? Retaining anything?" Meredith asked.
"No"
"Ok"
Bailey and Callie approached the table. "Ok, at 6pm, your idiotic colleague George O'Malley will finish his surgery with the chief", Bailey said. "At 6pm, you will be standing beside us in the OR hallway prepared to join in an intervention", Callie continued.
"What polite company might call an intervention, though I'm not sure interventions involve whooping people on the behinds with a belt"
"What? He's got a drinking problem now?" Alex asked. "No, he joined the Army", Holly answered. "Listen-". "What?" Cristina exclaimed. "Double O Seven? He can't go, he's the guy that gets killed", Alex said, earning a smack on the arm from Holly.
"He's the guy that gets killed cleaning his own gun"
"Grey is going to coax him back as a loving friend, Yang, you are going to use logic and reason to point out the idiocy of his ways, Shepherd will make sad cancer eyes, Kepner, you can play the wife and kid card, and if all of that doesn't work, Karev, you pull out your "I was raised out back with the trash cans" roots and just beat the crap out of him", Bailey said. "You are supposed to be his friends. What is the matter with you?" Holly snapped. "This is something he's really passionate about. He really wants to do this. I don't want him to go just as much as you, but I promised I would support him. I'm not gonna break my promise". She stormed off.
Beck, Meredith and Owen were with the John Doe in Angio. "Hey, there", Meredith greeted him. "I know this must be scary. If it's any consolation, you're a hardcore hero. You saved that woman's life". He grabbed her hand and started making motions on her palm with his finger. "Is he trying to write something?" Beck questioned. Beck pulled out a pen and put it into his hand. "Can you hold this?" she asked. He dropped the pen back into her hand. "Ok. You'll be stronger tomorrow", Meredith said, squeezing his hand. "Call OR 1, tell them to get ready for him", Owen said.
"Ok"
Holly sat with Heather in the daycare center. She sighed shakily. A tear spilled down her cheek.
Alex was sticking post-it notes all over Lucy's room. "Derek got your whole tumour out. Oh, my god!" she exclaimed. "Alex, why didn't you tell me? Oh, my god!" He pointed to a pink post-it that read: your memory sucks. "But we're working on it. Do you remember what time you woke up this morning?" Alex said.
"Not exactly"
"7:45"
"7:45. "O'Malley joined the army?"
"Gonna be a trauma surgeon in Iraq. When'd you wake up?"
"7:45. He's gonna get killed"
"Yeah, we're dealing with it"
Cristina entered the room.
"Did you know about this George thing?"
"Yup. Cannon fodder. I'm just gonna take some more blood"
"Last time we checked, your potassium was 6.3. When'd you wake up?" Alex continued.
"Early, I can't quite remember"
"7:45. 6.3, 7:45"
She sighed and looked at a post-it. "O'Malley joined the Army?" George?" she exclaimed.
"We're dealing with it. What's your potassium?"
"I..."
"Lucy, what's your potassium?"
"You know what? Why don't we just give her the chart to read and try and memorise, ok?" Cristina suggested. "I can talk to you about her hyperkalemia".
Beck and Amanda were standing outside of John Doe's room. "Is he gonna be ok?" Amanda asked.
"We'll know more in the morning"
Amanda looked at him.
"Go ahead"
Amanda went over and sat with him.
Holly entered the doctor's lounge where Callie sat on her own. "You know what? George is awesome", Holly said. "It is people like him that keep us safe, and I think that's really brave. People die over there because there aren't enough doctors. George is awesome. And I'm gonna support him even though I want him to stay".
"Hey, I'm sorry"
"Callie, I'm so scared"
"I know, me too"
Callie pulled her into a hug.
Aurora sat at the vents when Owen entered. "I'm sorry...", he began.
"Wait!"
She got up and took a deep breath. "I love...you"
"I...I love you too"
"No. Just... I love you. I said I love you! Me. Aurora Sloan! I don't say that to people. You traumatised me"
"I didn't know... I'm so sorry"
"No, damn it, not about the choking. You come here and you pull out my icicle and you make me love you and I can't... I mean, I don't want to... I can't breathe...without you"
"You can do this, Aurora. We can do this. All you have to do is meet me halfway. All you have to do is say yes. All you have to do is say yes"
"What's your crit?" Alex asked Lucy as she ate green jell-o and he paced around the room.
"Ugh! This is disgusting. I can't believe we serve it to the patients"
He pointed at a post-it note.
"You keep asking for lime jell-o and don't like it" So stop giving it to me"
"You get mad if I don't"
"That does sound like me"
"Ok. Now what's your crit?"
"I don't know. I'm tired"
"What's O'Malley doing tomorrow?"
"Joining the Army. I need a break"
"You don't think I need a break? Suck it up"
"God! Back off. I'm sorry if this is hard for you, but you are not the one with the short-term memory of a carrot. Hey, go ahead, get it off your chest. It's not like I'm gonna remember in five minutes"
"Ok, I'm not the one with the carrot brain, but I'm married to it. Because of some crock of a wedding we walked into, because we thought you'd be dead in a week. You made me promise you you wouldn't live like this. So now what the hell am I supposed to do? Smother you with a pillow? Shoot you up with an overdose of morphine? Not really psyched about that. Leave you? Not really psyched about that, either. So I guess I'm kinda screwed, right? Not as bad as you, but not a friggin' walk in the park either! I'm sorry, Lucy"
"No, I told you to get it off your chest. You did.
"Did you forget yet?"
"Nope. Not yet, give me a minute"
Mark was in an exam room looking at houses when Kelly came in. "I thought you were operating on John Doe", she said.
"I already did. I'm looking at houses. One has a stone fireplace which I like. But this one has a backyard the size of Montana"
"Uh huh, you're buying a house?"
"Yeah"
"Right. Ok"
"I'm buying a house. Right now. It's a buyers' market and I'm buying a house"
"The only reason that you're even talking about a house is to make me feel bad. You're trying to prove you're moving on without me so then I'll regret my decision and change my mind"
"This is what women are doing when they say they're moving on?"
"Yeah. They don't usually take out a home loan to do it but-"
"Pathetic. Let me be clear. I'm moving on. I'm a better woman than you"
She scoffed.
Cristina came back into Lucy's room. "Gotta do an EKG", Cristina said.
"I don't even get any small talk?"
"What's your problem?"
"I'll tell you. I know I'm supposed to be grateful for my new lease on life. But Alex marched in here and basically told me that being married to me was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Yeah. And that he was trying to decide if smothering me with a pillow was the best way to put us both out of our misery"
"Ok, where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"Where's the note that says that? Did you write that down?"
"No"
Cristina smiled.
"No!"
Aurora found Owen talking to someone in the hall. He spotted her and made his way over to her. She grabbed his face and kissed him. "Yes", she said, when she had pulled away. "Yes! I'm gonna go while you think about that, but, I said yes".
Alex entered Lucy's room. "You remember?" he asked, sitting down on her bed.
"Pillow or morphine. I got the whole thing"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that"
"Of course you didn't. You love me too much to shoot me up with morphine even if I asked you to. And my stupid gorked brain is coming back"
"Oh, my God, I was so scared"
They hugged.
"I mean, I would have loved you no matter what. You're back. You're back"
She suddenly went limp and the monitor started beeping.
"Lucy. Lucy? Yang!"
Meredith was running through the hospital. "It's George! It's George!" she yelled. She made her way to the OR board where Owen, Derek and Callie stood. Holly stood at the nurses station nearby. "It's George! John Doe is George!" Meredith exclaimed. "Who's John Doe?" Holly asked. "What's wrong with George? Is he okay?!"
Lucy's monitor continued to beep. "Lucy, look at me! Open your eyes!" Alex yelled. "Page Shepherd, page the chief, page Bailey", Cristina ordered.
Owen, Meredith, Callie and Derek were wheeling George to surgery while a tearful Holly followed closely behind. "We have you, O'Malley, you hear me?" Owen reassured. "We have you, we'll fix this. Just stay with us". Owen made his way into the OR with George. "Meredith", Holly called.
"Yeah?"
"Please don't let him die"
"I'll keep you updated"
"Ok"
Richard and Bailey rushed into Lucy's room. "What happened?" Richard asked.
"Is it her brain?"
"No, it's hyperkalemia", Cristina replied. "We couldn't control the arrhythmias", Alex said.
"Pressure's dropping"
"Get me an intubation tray"
"Alex, she signed a DNR"
"Shut up!"
"She signed a DNR"
"Shut up, Yang"
"She knew this might be happen, that's why she signed it"
"I don't give a crap what she signed!"
"Alex, it's not what she wants"
The monitor started to flatline. "Get me a crash cart!" he ordered. "Karev, if she didn't...", Bailey began.
"Look at her! Get a crash cart!"
They all looked to Richard. Alex had started compressions. "Screw the DNR! Hand me those paddles!" Richard said. "Yang, take over compressions", Bailey said. Alex was backed into a wall by Cristina as she took over.
Holly sat outside the OR, with shaky hands and she started to nervously and aggressively run her hands through her hair.
Alex began to cry as they continued to try and resuscitate Lucy.
Lucy got into the elevator in her prom dress. She pressed a button and the doors closed. She took a deep breath and then the doors opened revealing George in his army uniform. She smiled at him. He smiled back, but then it faded. Her smile faded too as she realised what was going on.
End of Book Five
hope you enjoyed! comment your opinions! and look out for book 6!!! song is soon you'll get better by taylor swift featuring the dixie chicks