Always you [J. Avery]

11

Everything was a blur.

The rushing to the OR, the scrubbing clean and being suited up, no prior warning, no teacher there to help her. Ophelia was alone with the nurses to help her, but they weren't, they'd told her that Dr. Shepherd had been pulled into an urgent surgery that was still ongoing and he couldn't leave and they couldn't find Dr. Bailey yet, meaning that Ophelia was alone.

They'd been able to stabilize Mr. Gaunt and put him under for the surgery, just in the nick of time. 

Thankfully Ophelia had been reading Mr. Gaunt's file and knew where the tumor was and where it was pressing, and thankfully due to having Derek as her brother-in-law, she had an extensive knowledge of the brain, a bit more than what they learned in med school, which meant that she knew the general layout of the brain pretty well.

As she stood at the head of the operating table, looking down at the patient before her, Ophelia felt a rush course through her, she couldn't tell if it was anxiety or excitement, or maybe even fear. 

She glanced up at the awaiting nurses, her green eyes nervously shifting from one to another, breathing slowly as she did so. She was attempting to calm her nerves and it wasn't really working, especially considering the fact that when her eyes returned to Mr. Gaunt and the knowledge that she was actually going to have to perform the operation if Derek or Bailey didn't get here in the next five seconds was really getting to her.

"Any news on Dr. Shepherd or Dr. Bailey?" she asked hopefully, her voice muffled by the mask on her face, the nurses shook their heads, making Lia feel the impending doom crash down on her. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in, tilting her head back before exhaling and opening her eyes.

"Alright." She told the nurses, her voice wavering slightly even though she was trying to make herself sound confident and ready, "I know I'm not Dr Derek Shepherd, I'm only an intern but let's get this tumor out of Mr. Gaunt." she flashed the nurses a smile, even though none of them could see and asked for the sponge to numb the part of the scalp she was going to cut.

After numbing the area, cutting the skin, remembering what Dr. Burk was just telling George before she had to dash away, and opening the cranium Lia took another deep breath, the taste of iron filling her mouth so strongly she nearly mistook it for her own. 

Loupe glasses were placed on her face, causing the ginger intern to slightly wrinkle her nose to wedge them down into a more comfortable position on her nose, and that also allowed her to work. She kept asking for equipment and working, almost absentmindedly, almost like a true neurosurgeon, although she would stop momentarily and look at Mr. Gaunt's vitals for a few moments as if to make sure the monitor was actually still working.

She worked cautiously, not too fast and not too slow, but she was so focused on her work she hadn't noticed when her resident or her brother-in-law entered the OR with shocked faces. It seemed like they were waiting to find Mr. Gaunt still closed up and ready to be opened up but instead, they found the youngest Montgomery looking like she was in her natural habitat.

That was until suddenly she stopped moving, her eyes squinted slightly and she took half a step back from the table, turning her head away from the open brain displayed before her, "I'm going to sneeze." she wheezes, causing a nurse to quickly, yet gently grab the instruments and allow the ginger intern to step to the back of the OR and sneeze.

Not once.

Not twice.

But five times.

Bailey rose a brow as she looked at her intern while Derek chuckled a "Bless you." which startled said intern.