⋆ ★ ALREADY GONE ━━━CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
( AND THEY'RE ALL DEAD ) , superstition.
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"SHIT," JAMIE CURSED OPENLY IN HER OR, TRYING TO SUCTION AS MUCH BLOOD AS SHE COULD SO SHE COULD ACTUALLY SEE WHAT SHE WAS DOING. "More suction- now please, while this patient is still alive. Thank you."
But she knew the odds were never in her favors these days and that the patient on the table didn't have great odds either. The monitor was beeping loudly- so loudly that she didn't really hear anything other than that. Which was hard for her considering the other nurses in the room talking.
"BP is dropping." One of them announced.
"Charging to 300." Another said.
"I have to take him off, he's having a reaction." The anesthesiologist told Jamie.
"BP is still dropping, doctor." All the voices seemed to be overlapping one another.
So, Jamie took a deep breath and sung to herself, "It's the edge of the world and all of western civilization." She started to sing Californication by the Red-Hot Chili Peppers. It was one of her favorite songs, one she like to hum whenever she felt anxious or scared in the OR. "The sun may rise in the east, at least it settles in the final location..." The blonde then took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this." And she was back to work.
But she couldn't save the patient. And the dead tone was like poison to her heart.
"Time of death, 8:17." She spoke before ripping off her mask and scrubbing out. "Pay your surgeon very well, to break the spell of ageing. Celebrity skin, is this your chin? Or is it war you're waging? First born, unicorn. Hardcore, soft porn. Dream of Californication."
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"Come on," Jamie pounded on the interns' lockers as she entered the room with Bailey. "Let's go, lazy asses. We don't get all day."
"Where?" Mila's head shot up.
"ER."
George twisted his face. "All of us?" He asked.
"We've all had deaths. Let's all go save a life." Bailey tried to lighten the mood a bit, but the interns didn't really buy it, however, they just trudged along behind.
"Uh, Dr. Bailey." Addison stopped the group of doctors and handed the cup to her. "Here you go."
"What's this?" The resident questioned.
"Hot cocoa. It's a little ritual we have in New York. Five surgeries, five deaths. Oh, and Jamie." Addison then handed one to the eldest Grey sibling. "One for you too. I figured we could all use a little good juju."
The blonde smiled, still confused on the nice gesture from Addison. She didn't think it would be possible. "Thank you, Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd."
"And cocoa equals juju how?" Bailey retorted.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't question the cocoa. Carry on."
Derek, who was a few feet away, watching the interaction between Jamie and Addison also had a confused look on his face. He accepted the cup from his wife and asked, "Juju? You jujued Jamie."
"I did..." Addison nodded with a strained smile. "In the spirit of friendship. What, are we not being friends with Jamie anymore?"
"No, no, we are. Jamie and I are friends."
"Yeah, and you and I are married. So then by proxy, Jamie and I are friends."
He shrugged at hi wife's math. "That's very big of you."
"Yeah, well."
"You don't have to do that. it's not like I'm going to be friends with, let's say, uh, Mark." Derek then forced a smile as he took another sip of his drink. That would probably never happen again.
Addison nodded. "Yeah, well, neither am I. Now finish your juju before somebody else dies."
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The ER was silent and peaceful which was weird to the interns. Jamie just shrugged it off before throwing her juju away, ignoring the look she received from Bailey. "What?" She asked in confusion.
Miranda shook her head and practically scoffed. "Nothing,"
"Great," Cristina mumbled. "No blood, no guts, no lives to save. It's dead quiet."
"Did you really just say that?" Her resident asked.
"Cristina," Izzie scoffed lightly.
"What?"
George looked up from the floor. "You said the 'Q' word."
"That's like saying MacBeth in the theater." Jamie chuckled before finally noticing the intern's hair. "O'Malley. What the hell happened to your hair? Did you get run over by a goddamn lawn mower?" She asked him.
Ross messed with the boy's head and said, "Nope, cut it himself. Georgie, you should really stop being a surgeon and become a hair stylist. The ladies would love you." He teased.
"Please." Cristina shook her head with annoyance. "You think because someone says it's quiet, that it'll mean-"
"Can someone please help us here?" A woman rushed into the ER, another woman by her side who was obviously sick. "She's coughing up blood."
"O'Malley, take that." Bailey motioned the intern forward.
Suddenly the rest of the group's pagers beeped, and it was Denny, the heart patient. "I got it." Izzie mumbled before taking off, Alex on her trail.
"He's my patient." The male retorted.
"He's both your patients. Answer the call!" Bailey yelled after them.
"Two incoming!" A nurse alerted them.
Jamie sighed. "I feel like she jinked it. Great going, Yang." The intern just smiled in reply as they raced off to the ambulances. "Okay, Yang, Stacey, the first one is your guy's. Mer, Cameron and Evans, take number two."
"Jesse Fannon, 32, unrestrained driver in a rear-end collision. There was spider webbing of the front windshield where his head hit."
"What is this Spiderman?" The eldest Grey sister asked.
"BP is 120 palps. Pulse is 75." The paramedic spoke.
"What do you want to do, you two." Bailey motioned at the two interns.
"A primary and secondary survey." Cristina answered.
"Then a head CT and an x-ray." Mila finished off.
Jamie nodded. "Great, page male Shepherd when you get there. This guy is definitely going to need a neuro consult." Then the resident moved onto the next ambulance. "What do we got?"
"Nikki Ratlin, 30, erratic BP in the field, complaining of chest and leg pain."
"What happened?" Meredith asked the paramedic.
"I got struck by lightning." The patient yelled in exasperation.
"Can anyone spell coincidence?" Cristina then yelled over all the commotion.
Jamie shook her head. "Not the time, Yang."
grey's anatomy
"I got jujued." Jamie told Adam as they walked down the hallways together. "Addison actually gave me... hot chocolate. And she was being nice. It's her juju."
He shook his head in response. "I don't like it when people say juju."
"Juju, juju, juju." His friend mocked him. "You're missing the point, Williams. I didn't drink it. As soon as I was out of her sight, I threw it away."
"I thought you and lady Shepherd were being friends, babe. What happened to that? Not that I like her but she's a pretty damn good doctor. It's almost-"
"-hard to hate her, I know." Jamie huffed a breath. "It's just... I am, with him. Do I really have to be her friend too?"
"Definitely not, James. I mean, I don't know. I'm terrible at this relationship stuff."
"You're not the only one."
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"Oh, my lord..." Jamie sighed, looking at the scans of the patient with Meredith.
Meredith had the same reaction. "Is that her spleen?"
"You better believe it, Mer." The older sister nodded. "It looks like we've got a grade three laceration, possibly a four on our hands today. What in the hell was this woman doing standing under a tree in a thunderstorm?"
"She wasn't standing under it, James. She was climbing it."
"Why?"
"Uh..." Meredith trailed off. "I'm getting the feeling she's a little bit of a stalker, but I don't think we need to call the police or do anything to get them involved. She seems more of a gentle stalker than a kill you with a knife stalker."
Jamie forced a laugh. "Huh, right. Well, let's hope this crazy stalker lady gets to live another day."
"Hey, James, you don't believe in that seven-fatality thing, do you? I saw you throw your juju away down in the ER."
"Eh, I don't know. But I do know that this girl needs her spleen removed immediately before she actually dies under our watch. So, with that being said, go pick up her las and get her on the board, ASAP."
"Geez," Meredith mumbled under her breath as she left the room.
Jamie sighed before looking at the patients scans and scoffing. "Damn stupid. Bailey would agree with me." As she went to exit the room, she quickly ran into somebody and fell back against the wall. "I'm so sorry." And she looked up to see Derek. "Oh, hey."
"Hi," He smiled.
"Oh, hey," Addison smiled at the two as well as she approached from an elevator.
Jamie nodded at her. "Hi. I uh... have to get down to the... lab. I'll see you." And she hurried off, not wanting to be in the awkward situation any longer. "Geez,"
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"I'm not having surgery today." Was the first thing the patient said as Jamie and Meredith entered her room. "Not happening."
The resident sighed and rubbed a hand over her tired face. "Ma'am, you have a severely ruptured spleen. We need to fix it." Jamie tried to explain.
"And I'm sure that the spleen is very important, but I am not having surgery today. You can operate after midnight but not one minute before."
"Ms. Ratlin if I thought it would be safe, I'd be more than happy to wait till after midnight, but the damage of rupture is so bad, we absolutely cannot wait that long." Jamie argued. "And you won't be happy about that decision. Your spleen is bleeding and that means it trumps your horoscope."
"But it was more than just my horoscope." The patient whined. "I went out to my car this morning- flat tire. That's a sign, but I just changed the tire. Then there's a wreck on the freeway. Do I turn around and go home like it's telling me to? No. I detour an hour out of my way so that I can get to Kevin's house. And when I get to Kevin's house, I get struck by lightning."
Meredith shook her head. "But you were not struck by lightning."
"I'll die, okay? If you operate on me today, I'll die, because I know I will. Please just... just call my boyfriend and tell him that I'm having an operation at midnight because he will want to be here. Please."
"Fine," Jamie sighed to herself as she exited the room with the intern.
"Should I call psych?" Meredith asked.
"You can give it a shot. Meanwhile, get her down to the ICU, poor woman is going to kill herself trying not to die today."
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"She's bleeding out," Jamie panicked, walking into Nikki's room as the monitor beeped erratically. "Shit, we need to get her to the OR now. Get ready for transport, Mer."
The patient shook her head as much as she could in her dying state. "I don't want an operation."
"Nikki, your boyfriend called. He said he doesn't want you to die."
"Kevin called?" She slurred, a happy smile on her face.
Meredith nodded. "Yes, now will you let us operate?" But the patient closed her eyes. "Nikki?"
Jamie felt for a heartbeat but found none. "Code Blue!" She shouted before pressing the emergency button. "I need a crash cart in here now!"
"Here you go, doctor." A nurse brought the cart in and handed Jamie the paddles.
"Charge to 200, quickly... clear!" When nothing happened, the resident cursed under her breath. "Shit. Charge again... clear! Okay, now, charge to 300. Clear!"
Nothing happened.
"Time of death..." But Jamie just shook her head. "Mer, call it." And then she left.
That was the official fifth death of the day.
"It's the edge of the world and all of western civilization. The sun may rise in the east, at least it settles in the final location... pay your surgeon very well, to break the spell of ageing. Celebrity skin, is this your chin? Or is it war you're waging? First born, unicorn. Hardcore, soft porn. Dream of Californication."
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"You ready, Mer?" Jamie asked her little sister who nodded in reply. "Oh,"
"Hi," Addison approached the two. "I, um, sorry to hear about your guy's patient."
"Thank you, Addison." The resident used the girl's first name, a genuine smile on her face. "That's very nice of you but... you didn't have to."
"No, I did. What are friends for?"
But as soon as she walked away, Jamie took a sip of the liquid in the cup and threw it away. "I hate hot chocolate."
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— AUTHOR'S NOTE:
fun fact, i love hot chocolate.