I was in the locker room with the others.
"Four surgeries, four fatalities and the day has barely started," George said.
"I talked to the morgue guy this morning," Izzie said.
"The one with the unibrow?" Meredith asked.
"The one with the like teeth thing. And he said that surgical fatalities come in threes and sevens. Says there'll be three more before midnight," Izzie said.
"Well, ok then. Since "dead tooth" morgue guy said so," Cristina mocked.
"He's the morgue guy. He knows things about death," Izzie said. "Sage, you've worked in medicine longer than the rest of us is that true?"
"You loose seven people in Combat medicine it's been a good day. From what I learned living with doctors my whole life it's pretty much true," I said.
"Come on," Dr Bailey said walking in.
"Where?" Meredith asked.
"ER," Dr Bailey said.
"All of us?" George asked.
"We've all had deaths. Let's all go save a life," Dr Bailey said. We followed her out and Addison stopped us.
"Uh, Dr Bailey. Here you go," Addison handed Dr Bailey a cup of hot cocoa.
"What's this?" Dr Bailey asked.
"Hot cocoa. It's a little ritual we had in New York. Four surgeries, four deaths, I figure we could all use a little good juju," Addison said.
"And cocoa equals juju how?" Dr Bailey questioned.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't question the cocoa," Addison said handing the rest of us a cup. "Carry on," We walked to the pit which was empty.
"Great. No blood, no guts, no lives to save. It's dead quiet," Cristina said. We all turned to look at her.
"Did you really just say that?" Dr Bailey asked.
"Cristina..." Izzie said.
"What?" Cristina asked.
"You said the Q-word," George said.
"It's like saying Macbeth in theater," Izzie commented.
"Please. You think because someone says it's quiet that it'll mean..." Cristina was cut off by the ER doors opening.
"Can somebody help us here? She's coughing up blood," A younger woman said holding up an older woman.
"O'Malley! Take that," Dr Bailey yelled.
"Dr Bailey, I need an intern to come to Seattle Elementary with me," Dr Torres said with a trauma kit bag on back.
"Sloan, are you good?" Dr Bailey asked.
"I'm good," I said taking another trauma kit bag. Torres and I left the hospital.
"We're on foot. A 3 car pile up in the area has taken out all the medics and the roads are too backed up for another ambulance to get up there," Torres said.
"So run?" I asked.
"Run," Dr Torres said. We ran and made it to the school being escorted to the school's yard where a young boy was laying with an obvious leg injury. He was in a lot of pain.
"Is it dress up day at work? You two don't look like medics," A teacher said.
"We're surgeons at Seattle Grace Hospital. Dr Torres and that's Dr Sloan," Dr Torres said as I made my way to the patient.
"Hey, champ. I'm Dr Sage Sloan. I'm gonna take a look at your leg alright," I said. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Jacob," The boy said. "It hurts,"
"I know champ," I said as the teacher who had been applying pressure moved aside.
"What are we looking at Sloan?" Torres asked.
"Open fracture. Losing blood," I said. "He's in a lot of pain," I said.
"Risks?" Torres asked.
"Loss of too much blood which could cause him to go into shock and infection," I said.
"He can't stay here," Torres said to me. "We need to get him back to the hospital. You got any idea on how to do that?"
"Uh. Immobilize his leg. With the open fracture I suggest covering the wound to reduce risk of infection," I said.
"We've got no back board," Torres said. I looked at the teachers.
"Do you guys teach woodshop and art class?" I asked.
"Yeah," One teacher said.
"Okay we're going to need a sheet of ply board and styrofoam," I said. "Oh and duct tape,"
"How much?" The other asked.
"As much as you can," I said before turning to look at the other teacher. "Go help her. Now!" I yelled.
"You got a plan?" Torres asked.
"Yep," I said. "Jacob, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"Still hurts," Jacob said.
"I've just given you something for the pain. It should help," Torres said.
"You're being super brave for us. Good job," I said.
"How are you getting me to the hospital?" Jacob asked. Torres looked at me.
"Favours," I said.
"What?" Torres asked.
"Connections Dr Torres. They make the world go round," I said. "Helicopter 8 minutes out," I said as the teachers came back. "Good timing," I took the styrofoam and pulled my army knife out of my pocket.
"That's a big knife," Jacob said.
"It's not going anywhere near you. Don't worry," I said cutting the styrofoam to make a temporary splint. "Jacob, champ this is going to hurt. I've got to move your leg alright," I said.
"Okay," Jacob said.
"Keep talking to me," Dr Torres said. "Do you have anyone that we can call?"
"My social worker," Jacob said.
"We've called but there was no answer," The one teacher said.
"Leave a voicemail," Dr Torres said. I got Jacob's leg in the styrofoam. I duct taped the styrofoam to the plyboard.
"Way to go champ," I said.
"I did good?" Jacob asked.
"You did awesome," I smiled. The helicopter arrived and landed "And that's our ride,"
"Are one of you coming with us?" Dr Torres asked the teachers. They shook their heads.
"Alright, let's get you to the hospital," I said to Jacob. Dr Torres and I lifted the plyboard up and as we got closer my friend Mason came out. He helped us carry the board onto the helicopter.
"This is awesome," Jacob said.
"The hospital is waiting for your arrival," I said. "They've rolled out the red carpet for you,"
Timeskip
Dr Torres and I were operating on Jacob.
"What was that back there?" Dr Torres asked.
"I signed up thinking I was gonna treat wounded soldiers. Turns out you treat just as many kids and injured civilians," I said.
"You've done that before?" Dr Torres asked.
"I've done that before," I said. "With far less resources," I said.
"I'm impressed. That was impressive for an intern," Dr Torres said. "Hang another unit of blood," We kept working.
Timeskip
Jacob pulled through the surgery and was in a room recovering. I was stood outside his room.
"Are you ready to go?" Addison asked.
"Yeah," I said. I grabbed her hand. We walked out of the hospital together.
"You've been the talk of the hospital with what you did for your patient," Addison said.
"As weird as it sounds it was nice to work my brain like that. I haven't done that in a while," I said. "I've been thinking. When we have kids they're gonna need a garden to play in. The apartment is great but it doesn't have a garden. It would be nice to raise our kids in a house with a garden,"
"It would," Addison said.
"So should we start looking at houses or is it too soon? We could wait," I said.
"What's going on?" Addison asked resting her hand on my thigh as she drove.
"Nothing," I said. Addison gave me a look. "Jacob, the kid Dr Torres and I treated today all he has is his social worker. He's gonna have one hell of a recovery period and he's gonna have to do that alone. He's 9 years old. There are more kids like him out there. Kids who have no-one. I knew that there's always been kids who need homes but it hit close today," I said.
"Okay," Addison said. "Slow down. Jacob's not going to be alone. He's going to have you and Torres. As for other kids we'll do our bit when we're ready. Let's not do anything irrational right now," Addison said.
"You're right," I said.
"I'm always right," Addison said. I smiled at her. We got home and were sat watching tv with Ace when George walked in with Callie. George was smiling. I smiled at him.
"Jacob's awake," Callie said. "You were insane today,"
"It was nothing," I said.
"You airlifted a kid to hospital on nothing but a sheet of plywood and art supplies," George said. "That's not nothing,"
"He's not wrong," Addison said.
"He's safe in a hospital bed with a fixed leg that's all I was aiming for," I said.