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in the earliest days of medicine, we're going back thousands of years, doctors spoke of healing as a reunion.
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"oh, hey," lia smiles, with a slightly furrowed brow when she walks out of her bedroom to find jackson in the kitchen with darci and lily.
"hey, thanks again for letting me crash here," jackson nods.
"it's fine," lia assures as she walks over to give darci and lily a kiss. "we have a guest room for a reason, right?"
"can daddy take me to school?" darci looks up at lia as she takes a bite of some toast.
"oh, i don't know, baby," lia strokes darci's hair, and darci frowns. "daddy's busy, and it's mommy's day to take you a lil."
"pwease?" darci pouts, and lia sighs, turning to jackson.
"i can them. honestly, it's fine, lia," jackson assures.
"yay," darci squeals.
"but you have to get your shoes on, 'cause we have to leave now so mommy can get ready for work," jackson tells darci, and she quickly slides down from her chair and runs to grab her shoes.
"she does not put her shoes on like that for me," lia laughs.
"oh, she doesn't for me when she's at my house," jackson chuckles.
"ready, daddy," darci runs back over to them.
"okay, let's go then," jackson says, picking lily up from her high chair. "say bye to mommy."
"bye, mommy," darci waves.
"bye, darci," lia smiles. "thank you so much, again, jackson."
"i'll see you at the hospital," jackson nods as he leaves the house.
lia then returns to her bedroom so that she can get changed for work. once she's dressed and has done her hair, she heads back to the kitchen to tidy up. as she is doing so, she hears a knock at the door.
"did you forget-" lia cuts herself off when she opens the door to find mark standing there.
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when we close a patient, connect severed tendons, repair a liver, we're just reuniting the tissue. restoring what was there before the illness.
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"you're mad at me," mark frowns as he follows lia around the house as she gets her things ready for work, but she doesn't say anything. "i'm sorry, but i can explain."
"mark, i honestly don't have time for this," lia sighs.
"please, just let me explain," mark pleads.
"i said i don't have time," lia snaps. "stay here or go back to la. i don't care. i have to go to work."
"lia-" mark begins to interject, but he cuts himself off when lia walks out of the house, and slams the door behind her.
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ideally, it's a happy reunion, but things get tricky when we fail to make the right connection, or worse, when we reunite two things that were best kept apart.
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"bailey, ob is short staffed, and they keep paging me, so, uh..." lia explains as she takes a seat beside bailey at the nurses station computers.
"dr. deluca's an ob, right?" bailey says, with her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her.
"yeah, but she doesn't have privileges," lia points out.
"uh, by the power vested in me, blah, blah, blah. now go find her and tell her she has temporary privileges to stop watching ladies masturbate and to help pull babies out of people," bailey instructs.
"okay, in all fairness, she doesn't actually watch them masturbate," lia chuckles. "it's like-"
"are you having this problem?" bailey furrows her brow at the computer screen. "i can't get to the medical records."
"well, let me see if i can help," lia slides the keyboard over to herself.
"i mean, i got it. it- this- and..." bailey trails off when she notices a man hovering over them. "can i help you?"
"uh, yeah, i'm tim," he introduces, pointing to his i.d card. "tim ruggles from i.t. you called me?"
"t- uh, why can't i get into the medical records," bailey asks him.
"oh, have you tried turning it off and turning it-" tim begins, but lia cuts him off.
"don't finish that sentence, tim," lia warns.
"look," bailey gestures to the other computers at the station. "this problem's on every computer."
"oh. man. oh, no," tim shakes his head.
"'oh, no'?!" bailey's eyes widen.
"i mean, 'cause- plus the cardiac monitors malfunctioning-" tim stammers.
"cardiac monitors are malfunctioning?" lia raises her brow. "w- i have to-"
"yeah, go," bailey nods as lia jumps up from her seat and rushes away.
"oh, man. okay," tim then takes the keyboard to try and get into the system. "alright, um, so, when you remodelled the hospital, the computer systems were all networked. so these malfunctions might be related-"
"i don't care if they're related or not," bailey shakes her head. "just make it stop. i can't run a hospital without medical records and cardiac- what did-"
bailey cuts herself off, and jumps back slightly when the all of the computer screens begin to display a message.
"'hello seattle grace mercy west'?" bailey furrows her brow as she reads it. "'currently, we control your hospital. we own your servers. we own your...' tim, are you seeing this?!"
"oh, man," tim's eyes widen.
■ ■ ■
"hey. you came. thanks," lia smiles when she finds carina walking towards the e.r, and she begins walking alongside her. "ohh. we're slammed. on top of the- the hacking, we have a bunch of ob's that are out with the flu, so bailey's gonna give you ob privileges and asked if you could help."
"what hacking?" carina furrows her brow as they open the e.r doors.
"well, the computers are down. we've been hacked," lia explains.
"oh! i thought my last patient had the saddest climax i've ever seen, but it's just the screen was frozen," carina tells her.
"can you help?" lia turns to her with an awkward smile.
"of course, alivia," carina smiles.
"hey. how we doing here?" lia asks april as they approach her at the e.r nurses station.
"uh, i- i keep telling them that we can't take patients," april gestures to the laboring woman that's leaning on the counter whilst her wife rubs her back.
"but i'm super having a baby right now!" the pregnant woman, peggie, groans.
"we were having a home birth- a water birth- and she panicked a little," her wife, dayna, explains.
"um, let's get a gurney," lia suggests, and carina nods and moves to do so whilst lia turns to april.
"hey. how are the babies in the nicu?" april asks her.
"well, the nicu monitors aren't networked, so they haven't been affected," lia informs her.
"thank god," april sighs.
"um, hey, will you tell them to stop paying me for births?" lia requests. "'cause i'm not an ob. dr. deluca is. so they should just page her."
"right. yep," april nods as she walks away and lia turns back to find peggie, now on a gurney, and carina at her side.
"you're the ob?" peggie looks up at carina.
"yes, i am," carina confirms.
"i want an epidural. okay?" peggie grabs onto carina's arm. "and i want monitoring and painkillers. and i want all your drugs. and m- machines and robots. who does this in a kiddie pool in their kitchen?"
"just breathe," dayna soothes. "just breathe."
"my first patient!" carina enthuses to lia as she and the porters begin to wheel peggie's gurney away and lia laughs from where she stands at the nurses station.
"i'm your first patient?!" peggie's eyes widen.
"no, no, no, no. in- in this hospital," carina shakes her head before sighing to herself. "oh, my god."
■ ■ ■
lia is walking through the o.b ward when she sees carina coming out of peggie's room, and she runs over to her.
"hey! hey! will you tell them to stop paying me to ob? i can deliver babies, but i am not an ob," lia explains as she approaches her. "i used to be a cardio thoracic surgeon, then i completed my paediatric training, and now i work on fetuses and moms, mostly. i do not go into ladies' vaginas."
"that was me. i sent for you," carina reveals.
"w- why?" lia furrows her brow.
"my patient is terrified," carina tells her. "she wants drugs that i can't access, and she's too far along to go somewhere else."
"so, uh- what do you want me to do about it?" lia asks.
"she won't listen to me. since i suggested that her partner initiate an orgasm-" carina begins, but lia cuts her off.
"yeah. see..." lia clears her throat. "you got to be real choosy about when you bust that out."
"you are the kindest person i've met here," carina tells her. "you work with mothers. you are a mother. i thought you could calm her down, no?"
"no," lia shakes her head, and carina raises her brow, but smiles softly. "i mean, yes."
"thank you," carina smiles, leading her into peggie's room.
■ ■ ■
"no! no, we are not staying here!" peggie shouts as she walks out of her room. "i'm not having my baby by flashlight!"
"hey, look, the lights just came on, so hold on, alright?" lia places a gentle hand on her arm.
"nope, we're going to a hospital that's not celebrating pioneer days!" peggie continues to walk away, until she stops and clutches onto the nurses station counter.
"babe, get back in bed," dayna coaxes. "come on."
"no!" peggie groans, as carina helps her to carry on walking.
"peggie, why are you walking like that?" lia asks.
"i'm fine. i'm fine. i'm fine," peggie insists before groaning in pain.
"okay, i'm just gonna check it. alright," lia warns her before she puts her hand up her hospital gown. "okay, that's it. that's the baby."
"what?" dayna's eyes widen.
"no. no, no, no," peggie shakes her head.
"okay. i can feel your baby's head. she's coming," lia tells her.
"no, no, no," peggie continues to protest.
"okay, let's go," carina says, attempting to guide her back to her room.
"no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i'm not ready," peggie continues to freak out. "i'm not ready. i'm not ready. i'm not a mom. i'm not a mom. i don't think that way. i'm not kind or selfless. i mean, i know you are, babe, but i'm not. i'm not. i'll lose her in a supermarket or something. yeah, she'll get l- lost or- or hurt or something. i'm terrible. i'm a terrible person. i can't do this. please don't make me do this. i'm not a mother!"
"whether you like it or not, this baby is coming, so let's go," lia places her hand on her arm and when they turn to head back to the room peggie screams in pain. "get me that gurney."
"here we go," a nurse pushes a spare gurney over to them.
"it's okay. it's okay. it's okay," lia soothes as they move peggie to the side of the gurney. "let's lay down."
"i can't move," peggie pants as she bends over the gurney slightly.
"yes, you can. look at me, peggie," lia instructs from the other side of the gurney. "peggie, you just need to push, okay?"
"i can't do this!" peggie shakes her head. "mnh-mnh."
"you can. yes, you can," lia encourages.
"no! no!" peggie screams.
"hey! look at me!" lia shouts, moving her face so she's right in front of her before softening her voice again. "i know that you don't feel ready and i know you feel like everything is going to change in an instant. but you feel blindsided now? you trust me- you're gonna take one look at this baby, and you won't remember anything else. you won't care what life was like before you met her. believe me. you want to meet her."
"okay," peggie nods, much calmer than before.
"okay," lia smiles. "i'm gonna need you to push. ready?"
"yeah," peggie nods, her breath shaky.
"breathe. take a deep breath," lia soothes. "and..."
"peggy, push," carina instructs, from where she is crouched on the floor.
"push, push, push, push, push!" lia encourages, and peggie grunts and screams as she does so. "you got this. yes, yes, yes! you got this, peggie! yes! yes, yes, yes! keep going, keep going. you've got this! you've got this! you've got this!"
peggie pants as a baby's cry sounds out. carina then stands up straight, holding their new baby, that she places on the gurney for lia to wrap up.
"oh! oh, my god! oh, my god, peggie!" dayna begins to cry as the corridor fills with applause from ob staff and other pregnant woman.
"hi, there," peggie coos as she picks up her new baby, and lia smiles as she watches.
■ ■ ■
"congratulations," carina smiles at peggie and dayna as peggie cradles her newborn, back in her patient room, whilst lia watches through the window.
"thank you," dayna nods as carina turns and walks out of the room and stands with lia.
"nice work," lia praises.
"pfft..." carina blows her lips. "i haven't delivered a baby since i started my research. and this is my first patient here, and i totally screwed the dog."
"uh, the pooch. you screw- you screwed the pooch," lia chuckles. "and you didn't. you didn't. you were smart, and you called me, and we made a good team."
"i think so, too," carina agrees.
■ ■ ■
"all is right with the world," bailey let's out a sigh of relief as she places her hospital tablet down on the nurses station in front of her.
"what's going on here?" jackson furrows his brow as he and maggie return, wearing green scrubs. "why does everything look normal?"
"it is normal," bailey tells him.
"you paid the ransom?" maggie raises her brow.
"i didn't have to, and i'm not at liberty to discuss why, so let's just leave it at- you're welcome," bailey dismisses before eyeing them up and down. "those aren't our colours. go change."
bailey then walks away, and jackson and maggie are about to leave in the opposite direction when lia runs up to them.
"hey," lia breathes. "i've not seen you guys all day."
"we had to take our patient to seattle pres," maggie explains, gesturing to her scrubs. "hence the green."
"yeah, i do not miss that green," lia shakes her head before turning to jackson. "anyway. jackson. can you do me a huge favour? can you take the girls home with you, tonight?"
"oh, tonight, we're actually-" maggie begins to protest.
"yeah, that's fine," jackson cuts her off, and maggie frowns.
"you sure?" lia raises her brow.
"yeah, of course," jackson assures. "is everything okay?"
"uh, mark, showed up this morning just after you left," lia explains. "i don't know if he's still gonna be there when i get home, but if he is, i really don't wanna fight in front of the girls."
"yeah, no problem," jackson nods. "call if you need anything."
"thanks," lia smiles as she walks away.
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we do our best to reunite the healthy cells and tissue and if we do our jobs right, there's another kind of reunion: the patients and their families, their loved ones, their lives.
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when lia returns home from work, the lights are off and the living room is empty. she sighs, setting her bags on the floor and making her way over to the kitchen, not sure if she's relieved or disappointed.
she opens the cupboard door and pulls out a virtually empty bottle of tequila that unscrews the top from, and brings it to her lips. not putting it back down again until it's empty.
then, she turns back to the cupboard to look for something else to drink. at the back of the cupboard, she finds a bottle of wine that she pulls out along with a glass.
"hey," mark's voice sounds out as she's pouring the wine.
"crap," she groans as she flinches, knocking the glass over, causing it to smash on the counter.
"sorry," mark apologises as he walks over to her and puts his hands on hers as she attempts to clean it up.
"i got it! i've got it!" lia snatches her hands away. "i thought you'd gone back to la."
"no," mark shakes his head. "i told you i want to explain."
"go on then," lia throws the broken glass in the trash, and grabs another one out of the cupboard. mark stands watching her in silence as she fills the large glass up before bringing it to her lips and drinking the entire thing. "what?"
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but those reunions can get tricky, too. if you had troubles before going into the o.r, they won't magically go away now that you're healed.
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lia and mark are now sat on the couch, as lia opens up and begins to make her way through a new bottle of wine, whilst mark remains completely sober.
"i wanted to come. i really did," mark tells her. "but in my defence, you weren't there either."
"h- hey, it was my ceremony to- to miss," lia slurs.
"i know, baby" mark grabs her hand, and she looks down at it, but doesn't pull away. "i was about to come. but i got so busy-"
"busy in the lab. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," lia rolls her eyes. "you're always busy in the lab. and i get that. i- i do. but this was- this was so important. it's another freakin' harper avery. i know i didn't move to la with you, but do you really think that if you were nominated for an award, or- or you had a b- big breakthrough that i wouldn't be there. 'c- 'cause i would be there... for you... mark."
"i know you would," mark assures. "and i felt so bad for missing my flight. i went to book the next one out, but maggie called me and said you were still in seattle so i booked a flight to seattle instead."
"i didn't see you in my o.r when i won," lia raises her brow. "i saw literally everyone, but you."
"i know," mark sighs. "my flight kept getting cancelled, so i'm the end i just decided to drive here. that's why i only got here this morning."
"guilt makes you do crazy things," lia brings her glass up to her lips, but mark takes it off her and places it down on the coffee table. "hey!"
"i can't take it back now," mark tells her. "i can't go back and get on my flight to boston. all i can do is try and make it right now."
"if you couldn't see that that was the wrong choice at the time... i don't think this is gonna work," lia shakes her head.
"don't say that," mark pleads. "please, don't say that."
mark then moves into her and presses his lips onto hers, and she kisses him back at first out of instinct, but after a moment, she pulls her head away.
"i love you," mark says, planting kisses on her neck as he guides her back on the couch, moving on top of her.
whether it was due to the alcohol levels in her system, or due to the fact deep down she knew he regretted his decision, as wrong and hurtful as it was, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips back down to hers.
- - -
some things will get better, others could get worse. because when you let your guard down, you're a lot more likely to go down a dangerous path.
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hello angels,
i've been reconsidering the ending to my book slightly, and i'm really torn right now which is why i want to know whether you guys would prefer her to end up with mark or jackson? and i really appreciate all of your lovely feedback.
lots of love
liv xxx