slow night, so long
season 7 ep 9
🎵Therefore I Am-Billie Eilish🎵
"You think that you're the man, I think, therefore I am"
~~~~~
The night shift, the dreaded night shift, the tired residents, the no attending, the horror stories
Tonight was that night, Madelyn is woken by the sounds of screaming coming from Jackson's room. This wasn't an unusual way for the girl to be woken up since the shooting
After laying in bed and staring at the ceiling for a while she yawns and stretches then grabs her things and heads to the bathroom
As she exits her room she walks straight into someone
"Woah" Derek says steadying his sister by her shoulders
"Sorry" the girl says yawning
"I got the grant"
"What?" Madelyn says confused
"For the alzheimer's research. I got the grant"
"Oh- OH. Oh my God. You got the grant" Madelyn says finally understanding
"Yeah. I got the grant"
"Does Meredith know?"
"Not yet. I'm just about to go and tell her" Derek says with a huge smile on his face, but his smile falters when he sees his sisters hand "What happened to your hand?"
Before Madelyn can reply April opens her bedroom door, dressed and ready for the day
"Dr. Shepherd. There's french toast and coffee if you want breakfast" the perky redhead says
Derek looks at his watch "It's 6:00 p.m."
"Right. Um, bacon for your dinner?" she offers cheerfully
"Thank you, no" the man declines politely before walking towards his bedroom
Madelyn gets back on track to her original destination. The bathroom
-
The six residents sit in the car, Meredith driving next to Lexie followed by Jackson, Alex and April sat in the middle row and Madelyn shoved in the back. I guess that's what you get for being the last one to the car
"Nice face" Madelyn says teasing Alex who turns around
"Well, at least I can do surgery. How's that hand?"
"Ah, it'd be better if you hadn't run your face into it" Madelyn replies both parties laughing
"So you both act like fools, and now you're laughing about it?" Meredith says
"Ah, some of us can move on" Alex replies
April who is sat next to the boy tugs on her coat "You're sitting on my coat"
Alex frowns at her "And some of us can't"
~~~~~
Once at the hospital the tired group of residents meet with the group of attending's
Callie looks up at them "Did you just yawn? Was that a yawn?"
"Don't tell us that you're tired after getting to sleep all day" Mark adds
"It's not as easy as it sounds" April says innocently
"Not easy? Not e ... when I was a resident, I actually worked for a living. I did every other night call for five years." Bailey says
"There were days that i didn't go home for 72 hours. I loved it." Stark adds
Madelyn rolls her eyes "As you trudged through the snow while you whittled your own scalpels" She jokes making her fellow residents laugh
"Sorry. I didn't quite catch that, Shepherd" Bailey says glaring at the girl but quickly switches her attention to Alex "Uh, Karev, I need you to follow up on my post-ops. And here. Take this research. Divide out all the fistula cases"
"Avery, little Shepherd and little Grey, Hunt is waiting for you in the pit" Teddy says making Madelyn and Lexie turn and high-five each other
"All right. Try not to screw up our patients. Good night and good luck" Callie says
"Gonna be over at the bar. Try not to need us" Mark adds
-
Madelyn, Lexie and Jackson arrive in the ER to meet with Owen who is giving them a debrief
"Everybody else is stable. Watch I.C.U. bed 12. He may need to be intubated, and call me if there are any major traumas" Owen pauses before turning to Madelyn "Shepherd" he says taking her aside so they can talk privately
"How you feeling?" the man asks genuinely
"What, my hand? It's fine. Just a little bruised"
"No, I'm not talking about your hand. I know you're interested in trauma, and trauma demands a cool head. If you're not up to this, then ..."
Madelyn interrupts him "No, I'm good. Thanks. Karev and I are cool. That's, uh ... Over, out of my system"
"You don't sound good, I mean this as well as walking out of your trauma certification..."
"I said I'm good"
"I'm sorry Shepherd, I just can't have you on trauma, not tonight"
"But you know I want to specialise in trauma-"
"I know, I just think you need to talk to someone before-"
"No"
"Shepherd i'm not asking. I'm telling you. Talk to someone, and then i'll happily put you back on trauma"
Madelyn sighs "Whatever" she says before walking off
-
It wasn't long before Madelyn walked back into the ER despite Hunts prefers
"He said any major traumas" Lexie says
"We are not calling hunt. We don't even know what this is yet" Jackson dismisses the girl
"Jackson, don't get cocky" Madelyn snaps earning a glare form the boy
"E.R.'s swamped. We had to split trauma 3 and put 'em both in there" Lexie says
"Did you call Dr. Hunt?" a nurse asks
"We are not calling hunt" Jackson snaps
Jackson walks over to one of the patients "All right. On my count. Ready? One, two, three" the paramedic says as they lift the boy onto a bed
"Reilly, you okay?" the older brother says
"Lucas, it hurts. It hurts really bad" his younger brother replies
"You'll be okay, ri, all right? We'll be okay"
"What do we got?" Jackson asks the paramedic
"Car versus train. 2 brothers, 17 and 15, tried to outrun the coast starlight to portland. The train won."
Lexie and Madelyn take the younger brother and start examining his injuries
"I know. It was stupid. It was so stupid. I'll never do it again" the older brother says
"Driver was inside the car. The other was thrown out. No seat belt." the paramedic explains
Madelyn and a Lexie look over Riley's injuries, and what they see shocks them
"Dr. Avery, come take a look at this" Lexie says in shock
Jackson moves over and looks at Riley who is missing his leg, on top of multiple other injuries
"Yeah. Call hunt"
-
Owen walks into the ER
"Shepherd, didn't I tell you to leave?" the man says
"Yes, but-"
"Go! Get out. Now!" the man yells
~~~~~
"What are you doing in the attendings' lounge? You could get in trouble." April says walking in seeing Madelyn, Meredith and Alex eating pizza "I thought there was a major trauma?" April says to Madelyn
"Hunt kicked me off trauma. Twice" Madelyn says: "Pizza?" she offers April who declines
"I have stupid teenage patients who superglued themselves together so their parents can't tear them apart" April starts complaining
"That sounds romantic" Meredith says April:
"Yeah. More like moronic. I have no idea how to get them apart without taking off half their skin"
"Try acetone" Alex says through a mouthful of pizza
"Try going away" April says before turning back to the two girls "Any ideas?"
Madelyn just shrugs in response
"Acetone?" Meredith suggests
"Thank you" April says leaving
"So what's the deal with stark?" Meredith asks Laex
"He's a lazy, a backstabbing weasel. Why?"
"Because I called him in to examine this patient..."
"You called him in? I wish I coulda seen that. You don't call stark"
"Well, my kid just had pectus excavatum surgery, and he was in serious pain"
"Yesterday my fundoplication patient was vomiting. You don't call stark"
"Well, this kid's mother is a nurse at Seattle pres"
"Let's play a game. There's one rule. You don't call stark"
Madelyn rolls her eyes "Alex, stop being an ass for like two seconds"
"I'm serious. Normally I would handle this myself. But I haven't been on peds in a while, and you know the complications with these kids" Meredith says
"Did you order blood work and a C.T.?" Alex asks
Meredith nods in response
"I'd add an L.D.H. , a C.R.P. and a sed rate. I mean, with stark, you have to cover all your bases so if you do end up calling him, he has no excuse but to get off his ass and come in"
"Thank you" the blonde replies
~~~~~
Madelyn has been walking around the hospital aimlessly unsure of what to do
She sees Meredith at the nurses station and heads over
"What's wrong with you? You didn't call stark again, did you?"
"No. I'm not calling him until I get my C.T. results, and there's only one C.T. tech down there, and he's really backed up, so ... Have I mentioned that I hate the night shift and I hate stark?"
All of a sudden Richard storms in
"Hey, chief. What are you doing here? It's late" the blonde asks
0Well, when a screaming mother calls me at home to tell me my residents are about to kill her son, time becomes irrelevant, wouldn't you say? Dr. Grey, are you familiar with Mrs. Mcneil?"
"She called you? I did not give her your number"
"She's a nurse. She worked the system. But what concerns me is not how she got my number. It's why she felt the need to call me in the first place. Now what the hell is going on?!"
"I have a plan in place. I'm just waiting for a C.T. , and the guy is just very backed up down there"
"How long have you been waiting?"
"Two hours"
And with that Richard storms into CT followed by Madelyn and Meredith
"Get up" Richard demands the CT tech
"Excuse me?"
"Get on your feet." the man obliges "Now I understand you're a little behind schedule"
"Yeah. It's just me tonight, so we're backed up."
"Well, why didn't you call the on-call tech? Tech: Well, he wasn't feeling so hot. I thought I'd cut him a break. He does the same for me"
"Listen ..." Richard hesitates looking at the name on the man's badge "Hawk. We're in the business of saving lives. Now I don't care if your friend is lying in a ditch bleeding, he will come in tonight. Now get him on the phone. Now"
Hawk calls his friends but Richard snatches the phone from the man's hands
"Give me that. Hello. No, this is not your dude" Madelyn and Meredith look at each other trying to to laugh "This is chief webber. What do I need? I need you to get yourself into this hospital in the next five minutes, or you and your dude can kiss your jobs good-bye!" Richard turns to the two girls "Now that's how you get things done at night"
"Impressive" Madelyn says to the blonde who nods in agreement
~~~~~
After getting the results Meredith finds Madelyn
"Drew's got a perforated ulcer. And Cristina's working at Joe's"
"What?"
"Forget it. It's bleeding, and it must be from the anti-inflammatories"
"Wait. Wh-what about Cristina?"
"She's a bartender now. I called stark in and no answer"
"Well, big surprise. This kid needs surgery. Alex was right. Starts a douche."
"I know. I need your help. You're the only one available and you've been on ped's more rex than I have-"
"I do not do ped's"
"I know- but. Please" Meredith begs
"Fine. What do you need from me?"
-
Meredith introduces Madelyn to her patient
"Mrs. Mcneil. This is Madelyn Shepherd. She'll be consulting on your son's case"
Madelyn smiles at the woman "The C.T. scan revealed that your son has a perforated ulcer. That's what's causing his pain"
"So does he need surgery?"
"Yes. And we've called Dr. Stark, and he's on his way. We can start prepping him immediately" Meredith says
"Thank you. Thank you"
Madelyn's n's Meredith both smile at the woman before leaving her alone with her son before his surgery
"Okay, so hold on. Are we really gonna call in a whole O.R. team without an attending? I mean, what if Stark doesn't answer the page? What if he doesn't come in on time?"
"What if the kid dies while we're waiting to find out? Look, I'm taking this kid to the O.R. whether stark comes or not. Like the chief said. This is how you get things done at night"
"What if we have to do a truncal vagatomy or a pyloroplasty? Have you ever done those on your own?"
"Not only can I do it. I can do it better than stark. Are you in or out?"
"Well, like hell if I'm gonna let you do it without me"
-
The tow residents are now in the OR
"Okay. Is he under? Is he talking?" Madelyn asks
"Yeah. He's under"
"No word from stark yet?" she asks
"No"
Madelyn turns to one of the scrub nurses "Call him every five minutes until he answers. And page Dr. Bailey"
"Bailey's not on call tonight"
"Just keep calling her"
Meredith looks at her friend "I thought you said you could do this better than stark"
"Shut up" Madelyn says taking a deep breath "All right. All right. 10-blade"
-
Madleyn and Meredith are still working on Drew
"Any word from Stark?"
"No. Here's the perf" Meredith replies
"Anterior duodenum" Madelyn says
"Well, we could do a graham patch" Meredith suggest
"Excellent suggestion, fellow surgeon" Madelyn says grinning at her friend
"2-0 silk, please" Meredith asks the scrub nurse "Can you believe we called an entire O.R. team and they came?"
"Amazing. We've got balls. Clamp."
"You've got balls. I've got cojones"
Madelyn frowns at her friend "You know those are balls, right?"
~~~~~
After a successful surgery, to neither girls surprise they are sat in the conference room
"What can stark do? I mean, we had to operate" Madelyn says
"He can yell. He will yell" Meredith replies
"It doesn't matter. You know, the kid's in good shape, the mom's happy. We did what we were trained to do"
"Remember the first day? The chief said only two of us would make it"
Both girls at the same time say "I thought it would be me and Cristina"
"How are we the last two standing?" Meredith asks just as Stark walks in
"I am gonna make your lives a living hell. And you know what? I'm gonna enjoy it. You lied to my patients. You hijacked an O.R. you preformed a surgery that you had no possible business performing, and for the life of me, I-I-I don't know what you were thinking. Medicine has a hierarchy for a reason. If there had been a complication, you know whose ass would've been on the line here? Mine! Not yours. Mine! You doctors in this residency, you think you can do whatever you want, whenever you want..."
While Stark continues to yell at them a rather amused Richard stands outside the room staring at them through the window
Madelyn makes eye contact with the chief, surprised he finds this funny as opposed to Stark
Both Meredith and Madelyn try to contain their laughter as they're being scolded like school children
"...I've got some news for you. I am the attending! You are the resident..."
~~~~~
The six residents are now on their way home
"I had to use soap and water" April says breaking the silence
"What?" Alex asks confused
"The acetone didn't work on the superglue till I mixed it with soap and water"
"I could use a little soap and water right now. I feel disgusting" Jackson says
"I can smell you from up here" Meredith jokes
"Dibs on the shower" April says taking a slice of pizza from the box Alex holds
"I want a beer. Who's up for a beer?" Alex says
"Where are you gonna get a beer at 6:00 A.M.?" Lexie asks
"At home" Madelyn says closing her eyes and smiling to herself