WILDFIRE
chapter eight, season seven episode twenty one
VICTORIA WOKE UP TO A finger drawing shapes all across her bare back. It was the morning after Callie and Arizona's wedding, bright and early, just five minutes past seven o'clock. The hand on her back felt familiar.
Too familiar.
"Thomas!" Tori shrieked, jumping up from the bed, covering her naked body with one of the sheets. And then her head started pounding with might as she had risen from the mattress too fast, causing her hand to shoot up to the top of her head. It was as if God was punishing her for sleeping with her ex boyfriend, by giving her the worst hangover she's had since her college days.
Now Thomas on the other hand, he wasn't as freaked out as Tori was. "Be quiet..." He mumbled, also very hungover. "I forgot how loud you scream. No kidnapper would ever be able to get away with kidnapping you."
"Get out of my bed." Tori muttered, wrapping her full body in the soft fleece blanket she had thrown over a chair during last night's previous events. She felt disgusted, confused, frustrated. Why was this happening to her, she wondered as she grabbed Thomas' ankle, giving it a tug since he wasn't moving.
The tall man groaned, getting up from the pink sheets. His eyes traveled to his feet on the floor, seeing a used condom on the floor as well. "Well..." He cleared his throat, picking up the condom and throwing it in the trash. "Looks like we had a bit too much fun last night."
Tori grabbed all of his clothes, shoving them in Thomas' hands. "Go home. Get out of my apartment." She let out an exhaustive breath, realizing Thomas' feet weren't moving. "What?"
"Can I at least put on my clothes?"
. . .
ON HER WAY INTO WORK, Tori was on her way to drop off her baby girl at daycare, but then she remembered Derek and Meredith were wanting to adopt a little African baby from Alex's program. Tori was so happy for her brother and sister in law. She knew Meredith struggled to have children, so this was an amazing opportunity for her. Tori took the elevator up to the Peds floor, and was now in Zola's hospital room, watching Derek play with her.
"Look at the little airplanes!" He pointed to the mobile moving above the crib. "Maybe you'll be a pilot one day, huh?"
Tori laughed, looking down at her own baby. "Isn't this crazy?"
"What do you mean?" Derek turned around with a puzzled look.
"Well..." She took her eyes off Maisie Ella, looking at her brother and Zola. "Don't you remember the days when we told Mom we were never gonna have kids, over our dead bodies."
"It's not official yet, Tor." Derek chuckled, looking down at the little girl in his arms. "We don't wanna jinx it. We have the interview with the social worker."
Something about his demeanor seemed off to Victoria, like her brother was nervous and trying to hide it. "Hey," she stood up from her seat, giving him a hopeful look. "It will be okay. I mean, I know Meredith doesn't have the most endearing instincts, but she can learn. I was just like her before I had Maisie." The baby cooed, looking up at her mama. She recognized her name, waking her out of her drowsiness. "I didn't know how to take care of a baby. I didn't want a baby, but...I got a feeling and decided to run like the wind. Am I still scared? You bet your ass I am. But I trust the people around me to point me in the right direction. Meredith is always welcome in my home if she needs help. You tell her that, okay? Ohana means family..."
"Family means no one gets left behind." Derek smiled, looking at his little sister with her daughter. "Thank you."
. . .
APRIL WANTED TO BE CHIEF Resident.
Ever since she was a little girl all her teachers made sure to include in the report card comments how thoughtful and thorough she was in the classroom. Sometimes her classmates found it annoying, but today, Victoria appreciated it, just like April's former teachers. Victoria saw potential in April as a Trauma Surgeon, so she opted to hear her out on a new way to run the Emergency Room, being that Dr. Hunt put Victoria in charge of choosing Chief Resident. Everyone was sucking up to her today, wanting to get a leg up in the race.
"It's based on a protocol used in aviation. A simple checklist has led to a huge drop in plane crashes."
"'Cause it cuts down on human error?" Tori asked, checking her watch before moving her attention back to April. They were walking to the pit, about to check out April's new system.
"Exactly!" The redhead grinned as they entered the pit. "And I thought instead of telling you about it in an interview, I'd walk you through it. I know you're a hands-on teacher."
"I appreciate that! That's so innovative!" Tori put her hands in her pockets as she sent the resident a warm smile, nodding for her to continue.
"So the checklist is the first page on every patient clipboard, so you can see at a glance that Mr Aranda has been checked in for coughing up blood, has been seen by a physician, has has a chest x-ray, and those results have come back. So now we just need to obtain consent for a bronchoscopy to rule out cancer—"
April was interrupted by a curtain being pushed to the side. Behind it was a family: a father in the hospital bed, with the mother and child looking very worried standing next to him. "Cancer? He might have cancer?" Mrs Aranda asked frantically.
"Like Grandpa had?" Their son chimed in, looking scared as he clung to his father's bedside. "He died."
Mr Aranda shook his head, "Woah, woah. What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry." April looked embarrassed about the miscommunication. "I-I said 'rule out cancer.' There's a spot on your x-ray that we just need to take a closer look at so that we can be sure that your dad's just fine. Just to be sure, okay?" The family looked a little bit relieved as April turned to face Tori, checking off the next step of her checklist. "Okay. So that's, uh...update the patient."
Tori just sighed, motioning for the redhead to follow her out of the ER.
. . .
IN BETWEEN EACH SURGERY AND rounds on patients, Tori took every chance she could to go to the daycare nursery and check on her baby. Maisie was swaddled in a periwinkle colored blanket, her tiny hand escaping up to her face.
"You inherited your mommy's strong arms, didn't you?" Tori noticed her daughter was wiggling around, placing her down on a changing table to re-swaddle her and put her back to sleep. "It's time for you to have your nap, munchkin." There was a knock on the wood door behind them, but the woman didn't acknowledge it. She was a little busy. There was a knock again. "What? The door is open." She looks over her shoulder to see Thomas. "Oh. It's you."
"We need to talk about last night." The tall man crossed his shoulders over his chest, leaning against the doorframe.
Victoria scoffed, picking up Maisie and putting her back in the crib. "Have a nice nap, sweet girl. Mommy will be back in a few hours to take you back home." She turned around to face her ex. "No, we don't. How did you even find me, anyway?"
Thomas shrugged with a smirk, "I told Yang I would put in a good word for her to you about Chief Resident if she told me where you were. She couldn't resist the opportunity. You don't have another surgery scheduled for another forty-five minutes. We can talk for a few."
The woman sighed, shaking her head. "Thomas...what happened last night was a mistake. Nothing more, nothing less. It was stupid, and we were drunk. It didn't mean anything." Thomas grabbed her arm, a coaxing look in his eyes. Tori's eyes traveled up to his, her taking her other hand to gently grasp his. She removed his hand from her arm, taking a step back. "I'm here for you if you need to talk about your mother, but I will not be here for you to use me for sex. Okay? Is that clear?"
A pager went off, Victoria looking down and noticing she was being called to the pit.
"Clear as day. Yes, ma'am." Thomas sighed, watching the love of his life walk away from him. "I am such an idiot."
authors note . . .
hello my loves! i am so so sorry it took me a year to update! thank you for sticking around! i promise i will be more active on here :) predictions on what will happen with tori and thomas?
with love,
kylie!