Chapter 14
Season 2, Episode 13 - 15
I woke up that morning to a very rude awakening. What made me jump awake was the crash of glass coming from the hallway. I jump out of bed in a hurry when I hear George yelling and Doc barking. I open my door and stick my head around the corner to see George wrestling with the dog. When he sees me his eyes widen.
"Audrey! Help me!" He yells as I walk into the hallway.
"George it's just a dog," I smirk, attempting to walk past them when the rather large dog starts to jump on me. "Hey! Hey! Down!" I take off at a run down the hallway as George shouts after me. I make it to the bathroom and close the door quickly. When I turn, I come face to face with Izzie.
"What are you doing here?" I ask when I see she's just sitting on the closed toilet seat with a coffee and a magazine.
"Hiding from the dog." She says and I laugh at her comment before walking over to the sink.
"I said down! Audrey! Izzie!" We hear George yell from the hallway as we laugh. "Incoming!" I hear him yell so I walk over to the door and open it slightly, just as he comes barreling into the room. I close the door quickly behind him and hear scratches on the other side coming from the dog.
"You know, I'm thinking about coloring my hair. Maybe red." Izzie says and the two of us look to her in confusion.
"Red's nice."
"Yeah, red's good." George agrees. "I'm thinking about cutting mine."
"Yeah? You'd look good shorter." Izzie says looking at him.
"You think?"
"Yeah." She says when all of a sudden, we don't hear barking anymore. We turn and slowly open the door to poke our heads out. In the hall, we see Meredith giving Doc scratches on the head and praising him.
"What are you guys doing in there? We're gonna be late." She asks us when she sees our heads.
"We need to talk about the dog," George states a little scared.
"That's not a dog. It's a hyena escaped from the zoo dressed in dog clothing." Izzie steps out from the bathroom and puts her hands on her hips.
"Whatever. I don't chew up his clothes. I don't urinate on his bed. I don't try to mount him from behind." George rants, still poking his head around the doorframe. I say behind the two of them, watching the dog to make sure it doesn't run at us.
"People, he's our dog. We love our dog. He loves us." Meredith scolds before going back to praising him.
"We may love him but he doesn't love us," I mutter for just Izzie and George to hear and they nod in agreement. Meredith finishes petting him and walks away but as she does, Doc turns to look at us with a low growl. We all jump and run back into the bathroom, closing the door behind us.
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That morning was like any other at the hospital, until Chief Webber started explaining to the staff that many changes were going to be made. For one, interns and residents are only allowed to work 80 hours per week because last year there were too many mistakes caused by fatigue. I guess that means we can have an actual life now.
Unfortunately, since interns won't be around as much to pick up the slack, nurses are going to be working overtime. Nothing is worse than a pissed off nurse.
"Maybe you can cheer them up," Izzie says mockingly towards Alex, referring to the pissed off nurses. "You know what? My New Year's resolution was to let it go, and I am. I have. I've let it go. I apologize." She says but it doesn't sound genuine.
"That's unconvincing," I mutter as George, Alex, Izzie and I walk down the hall for rounds. Meredith was sent home because she exceeded her amount of time for the week.
"I'm serious." She argues to me before turning to Alex. "How'd your test go?"
"I feel pretty good about it, but I won't know for a few days."
"We're all pulling for you." She says as George and I look at each other with confused expressions. Who is this Izzie and where did the old hateful one go?
After following Bailey for rounds we finally make it to our final room, a man who has been waiting for a heart transplant. We shuffle into the room after Bailey and let her do the talking.
"Denny Duquette." She greets him as she enters the room.
"Hey, Dr. Bailey." A charming but sick looking man smiles from his bed.
"I hope seeing you here means they finally found you a heart."
"No offense, Doctor, but I'm not a big fan of hospitals. I'd take something pretty special to get me in here." He answers with a grin before Bailey looks over at Izzie.
"And what do we know about Mr. Duquette?" She asks as Izzie starts fiddling with her notes, trying to answer the question.
"Capricorn, single, loves to travel and cook," Denny speaks up while looking at Izzie with sparkly eyes.
"Denny, be quiet." Bailey hushes him and he looks at her sheepishly. "Let her show off."
"Denny Duquette, 36, admitted today for a heart transplant necessitated by viral cardiomyopathy." Izzie reads off his chart and I watch as he continues to smile in her direction.
"And what does that mean?" Bailey looks to me to answer the question.
"That his heart is unable to fill and pump blood normally," I answer simply.
"Good. Denny, this is Dr. Stevens and Dr. Karev. They'll be tending to you prior to surgery today." She looks at him and I notice he can't pull his eyes away from Izzie.
"Nice. I get the hot blonde doctors." He says with a charming smile. "I guess I'll be seeing you around, Dr. Stevens." He says to her as we start to leave the room. Once we are out of earshot, my brother speaks up.
"Well, I gotta hand it to the guy, trying to get some action when he's practically a corpse." He says, obviously ticked off that the guy was flirting with his ex-girlfriend and called his sister hot.
"Alex, he was just trying to be nice." Izzie defends him but Alex just rolls his eyes and walks away.
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It's been an hour of paperwork but Izzie and I decided we should go check on Denny since Bailey was leaving to get the new heart any second. We walk into the room to see him lying in bed seemingly asleep. I walk over to the monitor with the chart to record his states while Izzie walks over to his bedside with her stethoscope.
"Hi." He says all of a sudden making Izzie jump.
"Denny," She smiles. "I thought you were asleep."
"Nah. I don't sleep in hospitals. Scared I'll never wake up." He says with a laugh as she puts the stethoscope on his chest. "Can I ask you something personal?" His voice is soft when he asks and I look up at the two of them. Izzie gives me a quick look before looking back at Denny.
"If I say no?"
"I'll hold my breath, which will stop my heart, killing me." He gives her a smile. "You'll be charged with murder and go to prison being loved by a big girl named Hilde."
"So, my choices are homicide charges or inappropriate personal questions from a patient?"
"I know, kinda sucks." He says and I start to feel like a third wheel. I continue what I'm doing as they flirt with each other. Eventually, he brings up his personal question.
"That guy Alex, you with him?" He asks and I freeze before looking up at Izzie.
"No, not anymore, and never, ever again." She says dismissively.
"Good." He says with a smile and I take that as my cue to leave the room.
After talking with Burke about the operation, he gets a call from another hospital which I assume is Bailey when he starts talking about Denny's new heart. After a long conversation, he informs me that Denny is not getting the heart because it has too many complications from coronary artery disease. My heart drops at the thought of telling him.
After informing him that he would not be receiving the heart, he didn't want to spend another night in the hospital so we discharged him. Watching him leave was heartbreaking, we try so hard to help people and when we can't, we feel so helpless.
At the end of our shift, Izzie and I met in the lockerrooms to get our things. She seemed to be extra bothered by the outcome of our patient.
"It's so unfair." She mutters from beside me as I put my shoes on.
"I know, but he's high up on the list. He'll get a heart." I try to comfort her but it doesn't seem to offer her much peace of mind. Obviously, from what I saw, she grew close to him today but she needs to understand that he's just a patient.
I know better than most, not to grow such an emotional connection with a patient. If I had known back when Jeremiah was my patient, I wouldn't have grown attached.
Once we were home and greeted by the very high energy Doc, we ordered some pizza and closed ourselves in the bathroom to catch a break from him. George joined up sitting on the bathroom floor and we listened as Meredith started yelling at Doc.
"That was my laundry!" She yells at him as he continues to bark. "Don't eat laundry! Bad dog!" She continues to yell as the door to the bathroom opens and she runs inside clutching a pile of clothes. She joins us on the floor and takes a slice of pizza offered to her by George. Who said interns having a dog was a good idea?
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"He peed on my bed. My bed, Meredith!" Izzie complains as we change into our scrubs the next morning at the hospital. After shredding most of our stuff last night, we brought him in to work to tell Meredith he needed a new home. He currently is lying down in the middle of the locker room.
"He's our dog!" Meredith argues but it doesn't do much.
"No, he's not my dog. You two bought him without even asking me!" George fires back and I nod in agreement.
"You didn't ask me either." I continue. "Meredith, I love dogs but I don't think living with us is fair to him."
"Fair to him? It's not fair to me!" George exclaims and I glare at him. He's not helping my point.
"We rescued him from certain death," Meredith says. "Come on, you guys."
"I'm putting my foot down," George says harshly. "Either the dog moves out, or I do. Me or the dog, which is it?" My eyes widen at his statement and I quickly look to Meredith and much to my shock, she doesn't say anything.
"She hesitated. She hesitated!" He exclaims as she sits there conflicted.
"You hesitated?!" Izzie accuses her.
"Meredith!" I can't believe she would choose the dog who ate most of her laundry over George.
"I didn't hesitate. I was thinking."
"You have to think about it? Fine, I'm moving out right now." George says before starting to storm out of the room. When he gets to the door, Bailey is standing there unimpressed so he turns around. "Later. I'm moving out later because right now, I have rounds."
As Bailey walks into the room, I cringe when she sees Doc lying on the ground. She looks up at Meredith with an unreadable expression.
"Tell me that is not a dog." She says very loudly and all of us answer at once.
"It's not a dog." As we say it, our pagers beep up down to the pit. Once we get there, a man with three severed fingers is taken out of the ambulance and brought to the ER. He explains to us that he's in a band and needs his fingers to play.
Bailey didn't need all of us for the case so she sends us to be on different services for the day. After a fairly boring day of charts and labs, I decided to go find George. I don't want him to move out and I can't let his pride get in the way. I find his patient's room and walk-in.
"You're not moving out, George," I say to him once I see him.
"Oh, yes, I am." He argues as he pulls up the handles on his patient's gurney. "I gave an ultimatum. I threw down the gauntlet. I drew my line in the sand." He says as he starts to pull the gurney to the door so I go to help him.
"Well, un-draw the line."
"A man does not give an ultimatum and then back down. Meredith has a choice, and she chose the dog." He says which gets the attention of his female patient.
"A girl chose a dog over you?"
"Yes!" He complains.
"No!" I try to argue against him but it's going to be harder then I thought. "I'll get the dog out of the house, okay? Just don't move out yet." I assure him before walking away down the hall. Now, all I have to do is get Meredith to get rid of the dog.
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I wasn't able to find Meredith but all of us eat lunch together, so I plan on talking to her while we eat. I make my way to our normal table to see Alex already sitting there, looking at something in his lap. Staying very quiet, I sneak up behind him and see an envelope so I snatch it from his hands.
"Hey! What the hell?!" He exclaims as I look at it out of his reach. It's the results from his boards that he retook.
"Why haven't you opened this?" I ask him as he reaches forward to try and take it from me.
"Give it back." He says impatient but I keep it out of his reach.
"You're scared, aren't you?" I ask but he just looks pissed at me so I roll my eyes and hand him the envelope which he shoves in his pocket.
"None of your business."
"Kinda is. I mean, I spent a whole month helping you study. I'd like to know if I'm going to become the only Karev at this hospital." I joke with him but he still doesn't look very impressed so I sigh. "Look, it's going to be fine. You passed."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah, but you could if you just opened the damn envelope." He's about to answer when he sees everyone walking over to the table. He tells me not to tell them anything and I agree. Cristina sits down beside him with a cafeteria platter stacked with six hotdogs. That's when I notice that Alex has the same.
"Are we gonna do this or what?" He asks her as she puts her hair up.
"Yeah, let's go." She challenges as George runs up to the table holding the same amount of hot dogs.
"Don't start without me!" He sits down beside me and I look at them skeptically.
"What are you guys doing?"
"We have a patient who is a professional eater," Cristina explains. "It's like a sport. Race eating."
"That sounds healthy," I mutter sarcastically as Izzie looks at me with the same weird expression.
"Not really. I mean, she did end up in the hospital." Cristina answers, too distracted to pick up on my sarcasm.
"What should I put on the flyer?" Izzie asks and when she realizes I have no idea what she's talking about she clarifies. "For the dog."
"Did Meredith agree to get rid of him?"
"Not exactly." She answers a little guilty before Cristina answers her initial question.
"Destructive, aggressive hell dog available?"
"That's not helping," George says picking up his first hot dog.
"Fine. Playful, protective puppy. Need loving home."
"That's actually good." I compliment as Izzie starts writing it down. Meredith walks over with Doc by her side. She sits down at the already very crowded table.
"Hey, George." She greets but he doesn't look very happy.
"Don't talk to me! You'll only make me mad. You're gonna mess up my game and I'm in the zone." He says without looking at her and she diverts her attention to the flyer Izzie is making.
"What are you doing?"
"It's a flyer. I'm gonna put it up-" She starts to explain but Meredith looks offended. Before she can finish explaining, Cristina yells at her.
"Izzie, come on!"
"Fine! Keep your panties on!" She says picking up her timer before handing it to me.
"What the hell do I do with this?" I ask her and she just looks to the others unimpressed.
"Time us," Alex answers me and I realize what's they're doing with all the hotdogs. This is going to be a mess.
"Three, two, one, go!" I count down for them. The moment I finish, I am disgusted by the hyena-like eating happening in front of me. They start shoving the hot dogs in their mouths, trying to beat each other. When Cristina starts falling behind, she takes her water bottle and pours it over the bread to make it easier to eat. I let out an audible gag as I watch them.
Izzie and Meredith continue to argue about getting rid of Doc as it starts to get very overwhelming around the table. After a couple of minutes, Cristina throws her arms up in the air and mumbles something I can't understand.
The three of them start yelling at each other with food still in their mouths and I can't tell what they're saying. Eventually, Cristina stands up and starts dancing in victory.
"You wanna be me, but you can't be me! You wanna be me but you..." She trails off and puts a hand to her stomach.
"Crap, she's gonna blow!" Izzie says as we all stand and back up from the table. Cristina puts a hand over her mouth as she gags. I grab my tray of food and start to run away.
"Run!"
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After a day of working in the pit, mainly sutures and discharges, it was finally time to go home. As I start to make my way to the intern lockerrooms, I see Alex standing by one of the nurse's stations. Once he's spotted me he walks over and grabs my arm lightly before pulling me into a near on-call room and handing me an envelope. I look down at it, realizing that it's his board's evaluation.
"Can you read it?" He asks me simply, without looking at me.
"You want me to open it for you?" I ask and he just nods without answering. I can tell he's extremely nervous but is trying not to let it show. No wonder he brought me into the on-call room, if it's bad news he doesn't want anyone to know.
I rip the seal on the long envelope and pull it open. Once I have the paper in my hands, I unfold it. There is a very long letter but I scan it to find the words I'm looking for. Once I do, I smile and hand him the letter.
"Congratulations." I grin and he looks up at me quickly, taking the paper from my hands and reading it himself. He lets out a very nervous laugh and I put and hand on his shoulder. "I told you."
"Yeah." Is the only thing he can say as he reads it in disbelief.
"I'll see you later." I walk over to the door and open it, but before I can leave I hear his voice.
"Addie...thank you." I turn back to look at him and see he's finally pulled his eyes away from the letter. I walk up to him and pull him into a hug which for the first time in years, he accepts without complaint.
"This was all you," I assure him with a smile before walking out of the room. The moment I'm out, I almost collide with Meredith in the hallway.
"Oh, hey." She greets me. "Did you hear about Bailey?"
"No? What happened?" I ask, very worried that something is wrong with our severely pregnant resident.
"She's fine, but had some problems in the OR. They're sending her home until the baby is born." At her answer, I let out a sigh of relief.
"That was long-awaited." I laugh and she agrees before we take off down the hallway to meet her before she leaves. We find her in a wheelchair with Dr. Montgomery by her side. All of us interns are trailing behind her as usual.
"Bed rest at home until the baby comes. You do know what bed rest is, don't you, Miranda?" Dr. Montgomery explains to a rather pissed off Bailey.
"Yeah. Hell." Bailey answers unimpressed as a nurse brings her into an elevator and we all stand outside of it to say goodbye to her.
"Hell with TV and books." Izzie clarifies before handing her a little purple present. "Here, it's from all of us."
She takes it skeptically but we can tell she appreciates the gesture. The doors start to close but before they can, her foot shoots out from the wheelchair to stop them.
"I may be 47 months pregnant, I may be on best rest, I may not be able to see my own feet, but I am Dr. Bailey." She says staring all of us down. "I hear everything, I know everything. I'm watching each and every one of you. I will return." She finishes as the doors finally close.
I let out a little laugh at her menacing speech as we depart and all head home. Turns out, George talked to Meredith about Doc and convinced her to give him up. Surprisingly, she gave him up to Derek and Addison which is the last home I thought he would have gone to. That being said, they are good people and he'll be well taken care of.
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That morning at the hospital was loud. I mean, screaming and yelling loud. The nurses were all outside the hospital protesting for fair wages and hours. Honestly, I'm on their side but as an intern, I can't afford to not go into the hospital. Izzie, George, and I stand looking up at the hospital from the outside, slightly afraid to cross the picket line and be screamed at by angry nurses.
"Can't...can't cross the picket line," George says nervously.
"I don't like it either, George, but what choice do we have?" Izzie argues sounding just as nervous. "Okay, you took an oath to heal. You're a healer."
"My Dad's a truck driver. Mom's a teacher. The evening news shows me crossing a picket line, they'll outlive me just to pee on my grave." He explains.
"But we have to work...we're interns." I try to argue but I can't even convince myself as I can't pull my eyes away from the crowds of nurses. All of a sudden, I feel an arm wrap around my shoulder and for a second I'm scared it's a nurse about to attack me but I look over and see Cristina.
"Has there been any blood yet? I hear they brought in scab nurses." I roll my eyes at her comment and shrug her arm off my shoulder.
"I think the nurses know that we are on their side," Izzie says sounding a little more confident.
"Why don't you test that theory?" I suggest, not wanting to be the first person to cross the picket line.
"We're doctors. We have sick patients inside. I mean, we have surgeries." Cristina says without sounding very scared.
"Okay, then you go first." I challenge her and she nods.
"Screw it." She mutters before walking over the picket line and down the aisle made by protesters. The moment she passes over the line, nurses start throwing food and paper at her.
"They threw food at her!" Izzie yells in disbelief. "That is just wrong!"
"Here goes nothing," I mutter. "Sorry, George." I take my first steps over the line and the moment I do, I'm hit with flying objects. I lift my arms to cover my head as I hear George and Izzie calling after me. I end up taking off at a run when someone throws a banana peel at me. This is just barbaric.
Once inside I change and find myself in the main lobby with Cristina, Alex, and Izzie. We're all standing around the nurse's station waiting to hear from our new resident, whoever that may be. George still hasn't crossed the picket line and I'm a little concerned for him to be honest. As we stand around waiting, a random resident walks by and Cristina swats my arm.
"Yes, yes. That's him. He's published twice and he's flawless."
"Oh, I don't want that guy. That guy is a freak. He doesn't let you speak in the OR." Izzie says from over my shoulder.
"Yeah, but he's flawless." She says before another resident walks by.
"What about him?" I gesture to him and she looks over.
"Oh, yeah, mouth breather guy, but he'll let you do a procedure on your own if he likes you." She explains and I nod in understanding, I wouldn't mind that. As we continue to scout for residents, Meredith joins us.
"What are we doing?"
"Trying to figure out who they're gonna pick for Bailey's replacement," Alex answers before a shockingly loud voice booms from the main staircase, making us all jump.
"Yang! Stevens! Grey! O'Malley! Karev!" We all turn to see a small brunette woman walking down the staircase with a giant smile. "Here you are! I was looking for you guys in the locker room, but you weren't there. And then I thought, well, maybe my interns are looking for me, too. Then, I come out here and here you are!"
Her bright smiley face and giggly voice are enough to make me sick. I don't know how one person can be that happy or excited about anything.
"Yeah, you guys look like a great group, which is awesome because my horoscope said it was gonna be a very challenging day and I was a little worried, but no. You guys look like a good group. Which is great because we're gonna have so much fun!" I flinch a little whenever she says her words a little too loud and high pitched.
She reaches forward and pulls Cristina into a giant hug which makes her tense up. That is not the best move to make, even I knew not to hug Cristina the first day I met her. Of course, I'm not the hugging type either unless I know the person.
"Hi! First of all, hi!" She giggles while hugging her.
"Ow. Ow. Ow." Cristina mumbles while engulfed in a tight grip so the woman pulls away.
"Oh, sorry! Am I hurting you?"
"Uh, no. You're touching me." Cristina states blandly and I can tell the woman doesn't know what to say to that so she changes the subject.
"I'm Sydney Heron, fourth year, and my philosophy, just so you know, is heal with love. Okay? Wonderful." She finishes and we look at each other, not exactly sure what to say. She ends up looking at us and starts pointing. "Stevens. Yang. Grey, Karev...O'Malley?" She says when she gets to me and I shake my head in confusion.
"Uh, no, Audrey Karev." I introduce myself and she looks at Alex confused.
"Oh, you're..." She looks between us.
"Alex Karev." He answers and she lets out a very high pitch laugh.
"Aah! Okay, because the notes I got just have your first initial. Didn't realize there were two of you!" She starts laughing it off and I try to give her a smile but it's kind of uncomfortable. "So, that means we're missing one."
"Yeah, George O'Malley, he's cowering behind the strike line like a little girl," Cristina says with a smirk but Sydney shakes her head with a motherly smile.
"Standing up for what he believes in. That's my kind of little girl." She says looking to us for support but we stay silent. "Okay, the ER needs somebody down there for a consult. Who wants to?" She starts to ask and we look at each other confused.
"We get to pick?" Meredith asks confused but Cristina's hand shoots up.
"Me. I'm on it." She says before walking away.
"I'll help," Alex mutters before following her to the ER.
"I have patients I need to check on." Meredith uses it as her out and I take that as my chance.
"Me too," I say before trying to walk away as Izzie gives me pleading eyes.
"Oh, no you don't!" Sydney says with a grin and a finger gesturing for me to come back. Now is my turn to look at Meredith pleadingly, but she just smiles and leaves. "There are still attendings who need interns."
Luckily, Dr. Montgomery walks up to us and asks Sydney for interns. Izzie and I were quick to volunteer and follow her down the hall and away from the overwhelming ray of sunshine. She takes us to a room with a young girl and her mother. After reading her chart we find out that she is quite heavily pregnant. We start to give her fluids and take an ultrasound.
"Is that too much?" She asks as I hold up the fluid bag going into her.
"It's a lot of extra amniotic fluid, Cheyenne, but your baby looks strong." Dr. Montgomery comforts her.
"Does that mean we can go?" The mother asks us. "I mean, I appreciate you seeing us, I really do, but this is a long drive for us, and I can't afford to miss another shift."
"Unfortunately, Ms. Wood, the mass on the baby's neck is what's causing the build-up of fluid. It's also obstructing her airway and the spine." She explains as I watch the girl look more frightened.
"Mom..." She looks over to her mother in a slight panic.
"It's all right. Let's listen." She answers comfortingly.
"We're gonna do a procedure called an exit surgery. Basically, we do a c-section and only half deliver the baby."
"Half deliver?"
"That's right. We pull the head and the arms out, but we don't cut the umbilical cord."
"Why?" She asks, obviously concerned for the life of her baby.
"The tumor won't let air get to the baby's lungs, so we need the umbilical cord to keep her alive during the operation," Izzie explains, trying to offer as much comfort as she can but the girl still looks scared and I don't blame her.
"It's kinda cool if you think about it. You'll be like your baby's life support machine." I say to try and calm her down.
"Then after the surgery, if all goes well, we cut the umbilical cord and you'll be the mother of a healthy baby girl. How's that sound?" Dr. Montgomery finishes but the mother speaks up.
"It sounds expensive."
"Well, your doctor at the clinic is a former student of mine, so it's covered." She says with a smile before excusing herself out of the exam room. Considering they just got offered a free surgery, they don't look very impressed and I understand why.
"The hospital gets a write-off for the surgery, and it makes Dr. Montgomery look good," I explain as Izzie watches me curiously.
"So it's not charity?" The mother asks me and I shake my head.
"It's not charity." I give her a little smile and she returns it before Izzie speaks up.
"What time's your shift?"
"6:00 to 6:00."
"Graveyard. In Chehalis?" She asks her which earns a nod and I'm curious how she knows this. "That's three hours away. You better get going. We'll look out for her."
After a moment of consideration, the mother agrees and leaves to get to work, leaving us to look after her daughter. There's really no safer place to leave your child than a hospital. After we finished in her room, I decided to go get some food since I hadn't eaten all day.
I'm walking down the hall when I see George, still in his normal clothes holding a little notebook. When he sees me his eyes widen and he starts to speed walk the other way. I run up behind him and call his name.
"What's going on?" I ask him very confused but with a smile as I watch him fiddle with his scribbled and eligible notes.
"N-Nothing." He stutters as he tries to put the notebook in his pocket. I manage to take it from his grasp before he can, having siblings has paid off. I look at it and realize that these are patient notes.
"Are you running around for the nurses?" I ask him as he snatches the notebook back.
"Maybe...but I was never here! You never saw me!" He tries to stay quiet but it comes out at almost a yell before he turns and starts to run down the hall. Unfortunately, I watch as he bumps into the chief. That's not going to be fun.
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We ended up moving Cheyenne to a private room before surgery, and after a consult with Derek about the baby's mass, both Izzie and I were left in her room. Izzie notices that she brought a bunch of books and binders with her, but one particular book catches her eye.
"Wow. Shakespeare."
"I was reading it to my baby. It's really homework for English...was." She corrects herself and I realize just how young this girl really is.
"I never understood Shakespeare when I was in school." I try to lighten her mood and she gives me a smile.
"He just has a way with his words." She explains to me before her mood shifts again. "The baby wasn't due for another three weeks. But now I guess..."
"No more school." I finish for her.
"It's weird. It's like when you're in school you hate it." She smiles as she explains.
"Until you can't go anymore." Izzie continues. "Have you made any plans?"
"Plans?" She asks confused.
"Bought a crib, called about child care, looked into assistance?"
"Not yet." She says sounding a little overwhelmed by it all.
"Are you gonna live with your mom?"
"I was supposed to be saving money to live in my own trailer home. I don't know, I guess I just thought I'd have more time. Nine months go by fast." She looks a little lost and I don't blame her.
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Cheyenne's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and Dr. Montgomery only needed one intern monitoring her and the baby overnight so I volunteered while everyone else went to the bar for a drink. I hadn't done a night shift in a while anyway so I was fine with it.
I'm currently standing at the nurse's station outside of Cheyenne's room to let her get a little sleep. Probably, one of the last nights of good sleep she'll get for the rest of her life. My eyes are heavy as I fill in charts but I'm wide awake the moment I see Izzie walking down the hallway in her normal clothes.
"Izzie? What are you doing here?" I ask her as she walks over to me.
"I just wanted to talk to Cheyenne." She answers and I'm confused.
"You took a night shift yesterday, you need to go home and sleep, she's fine." I try to send her away but she just walks over to her room. I follow her to make sure she doesn't wake her up but to my surprise, she's already awake.
"Hey. You're awake?" Izzie says softly as she walks over to her bedside. I stay by the door, leaning on the frame with my arms crossed.
"Yeah, the baby jumps up and down in my belly all night. Makes me have to pee all the time." She laughs. "You work long hours, huh?"
"Yeah, but I'm off work now. I just came back to talk to you." She hesitates a moment, looking back at me before turning to Cheyenne and continuing. "I grew up in Chehalis, too."
"Serious?" She asks with a smile.
"Serious. Forest Park."
"That's the trailer park behind the church!"
"Yeah, behind the church."
"My friend Shelley lives up there."
"My mom still lives there." Izzie answers and I feel like I should leave the room but I don't. "Can you keep a secret?" The girl nods as Izzie looks back at me with a small smile. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little polaroid photo. "That's my daughter."
Luckily, Izzie wasn't looking at me because my eyes widened in shock. I can't believe Izzie is a mother and I never knew about it. She continued to talk to Cheyenne about her daughter and how she gave her up for adoption because she knew that it was best for her. I decided to step out of the room and let them talk.
A couple of minutes later, Izzie walked out of the room. I look up at her before make my may over to her.
"Izzie, I-" I start to speak but she cuts me off.
"Please don't tell the others. I'm trusting you with this because you're my friend." As she speaks I'm nodding along in understanding.
"I wasn't planning on telling anyone. Your secret is safe with me." I assure her and she gives a tired smile.
"I'm going home to get some sleep."
"Goodnight. Thanks for trusting me."
∞∞∞∞∞∞
The next morning when Izzie came back into work, she did my rounds so I could get at least a couple hours of sleep. There were no complications through the night and Cheyenne is ready for her surgery. Both Izzie and I are standing by the nurse's station in the lobby when Cheyenne's mother comes storming up to us.
"You said you would look after her." She looks me dead in the eye and I'm not sure how to respond.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I'm not sure what you mean. Cheyenne is fine." I start to defend myself but she doesn't listen.
"You told me to go to work, and you said you would look after her." She accuses me and I look to Izzie for assistance and she walks over, looking guilty. "She's a kid, you know? She's scared enough without you putting ideas in her head."
I look towards Izzie curiously, what did she say about her daughter after I left the room. Did she try and convince her to give the baby up?
"How do you tell a scared kid to give her baby away?" The mother confirms my suspicions but Izzie speaks up.
"I didn't tell her. I didn't advise her. I didn't pressure her. I just talked to her." Izzie explains but it doesn't offer any comfort to the mother.
"You're not a shrink. You're not her mother. She's my kid and you crossed the line."
"I'm sorry," Izzie admits defeat but the mother doesn't accept it.
"No, you're not sorry, you're superior. So what, you're a big-shot doctor, and you get to judge us? You get to tell my kid how to live her life?"
"Cheyenne is smart and thoughtful, and she can have more. She can have more than a trailer park and a graveyard shift at a truck stop diner. Don't you want that for her?" She questions and I let out a slight cough to stop her from overstepping. "I mean, if you can get past the fact that I'm superior and that I'm judging you and that I'm telling you what's best for your family. If you can get past all that, isn't it possible that I'm also right?"
Izzie finishes, leaving the mother standing in front of us speechless. Before I can comment, Izzie starts walking away and I give the mother a small smile. I understand that a decision like this can't be easy to make, but at the end of the day, this girl could have an amazing life.
The surgery went well and Cheyenne had a beautiful and healthy baby girl who she ultimately decided to put up for adoption. It was the best thing she could have done for that child. I sometimes wish my parents did that for me, maybe I would've been dealt a better childhood. That being said, my life now is pretty great. I wouldn't trade today for the world.