Rookie 2 | Ethan Ramsey

Chapter 28~ Team

Team

"...We're a team."
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A week later, Blue was helping Esme wrap up her case load for the day.

"...It says here that Ms. Meridjen asked to be taken off the ranolazine?" Blue questioned. "Yeah. She, um, wasn't feeling well." Esme answered hesitantly. "Wasn't feeling well how?" Blue asked, reading through the charts again.

The intern and resident paused just as they approached a huddle of doctors speaking quietly near the nurses' station.

"I heard he asked her to do it." a resident was speaking in a hushed tone with another surgical resident. "Not a chance. Have you met her? She's way too heartless to risk her career over someone else's pain." the surgical resident responded.

Blue narrowed her eyes, turning to see Esme clearly affected by the ever happening gossip and rumour mill of the hospital. "Esme, I need you to focus. You're letting the lawsuit distract you. With everything going on, we all need to be on our A-game. And you can't afford another mistake. You know how people are around here, gossip spreads faster than someone's good news. You can't let them have more negative things to add on to that." Blue told her firmly yet empathetically.

"Trust me, I know." Esme responded grimly, knowing that the gossip around her was even more abundant then the gossip about Dr. Ramsey's mother being admitted in the hospital as well. "Look, it's not just you. Everyone's been on edge since we lost our partnership with Kenmore." Blue tried to reassure her that not everything was fully on her.

"Which might have been fine if it weren't for the lawsuit from Levi's parents." replied glumly, slumping against the wall next to her. Blue sighed, knowing that part of it was due to Declan taking revenge on Jackie and them for exposing Panacea as well. "Thinking that way won't help anything." Blue told Esme.

"But it's true. Edenbrook is balancing on a knife's edge right now...and everyone in this place thinks that I'm the one about to push it over." Esme responded, her eyes watering as she tried to control her emotions in front of her mentor. "Esme..." Blue sighed.

"It was the nausea." Esme said suddenly wiping her face.

"Huh?" Blue looked at her questioningly. "You asked me why Ms. Meridjen refused her ranolazine. The dosage was giving her nausea. If that is all, I'm gonna head home." Esme responded, the impassive front she usually put on, making an appearance again. Blue shook her head that there was nothing more to discuss, her eyes worried as her intern kept trying to bottle up her distress.

As Esme left with a slight nod, Blue thought back on what Benicia Valdez, the malpractice lawyer told her...

~

"My clients believe that Dr. Ortega overdosed their son because he asked her to..."

~

Blue breathed through her nose as she watched Esme's retreating form.

Could she really have helped Levi end his own life?

"Hey, Blue."

Blue turned around, as the sound of Aurora's voice snapped her back to the present.

"Aurora, hey. What are you doing at Edenbrook?" Blue asked, handing Esme's and her own patient charts to one of the nurses at the station, before walking down the hallway with her roommate.

"Tobias and I are here to pick up some supplies we brought over when the partnership was ramping up. I...hope you know how sorry I am that things fell through." Aurora said ruefully.