𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀, 𝐝.𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

xliii. ❝I want kids.❞

xliii. ❝I want kids.❞
3.24 + 3.24

Derek is in the ER with the three men when Atlas walks up to him with a chart in hand.

"Follow my finger, okay? Up, down, up down, side to side. Good. Let me know if you can feel this, okay?" Derek pokes the patient.

Jack the patient Derek had poked nodded, "Yeah, I'm not enjoying that."

Derek gave the patient a happy look, "Good. That's a good sign."

"It means I'm not paralyzed?"

"Well, the MRI Will show us the full extent of the injuries." Derek answered before he had a question of his own. "But, uh, can we ask you what happened up there?"

" It was my fault." Dale, another patient, one of the mountain climbers muttered, and Atlas sent a wary look to Derek.

Andy sighed, "Dale...it wasn't your fault."

"60 ways to get up Mount Rainier, and I had to pick Liberty Ridge" Dale sighed.

Jack shook his head, "It wasn't the route. It was the storm. On a clear day, you don't think about storms. A minute later, the wind's pasting you to the side of the mountain, and you can't see your hand in front of your face."

Atlas looked between each of the climb, "Is that why you fell, because of the storm?" Atlas was having a hard time believing that they everything had happened because if the storm.

"All I know is I felt the rope tug, and...I was in midair."

"We all were. We were tied together. Must have been a 100-foot drop." Andy shook his head slowly.

"And when we came to, Lonnie wasn't moving."

"Lonnie? He's your friend who's still missing?" Derek walked closer to the patient so he could talk directly to him face to face. (ish)

"Well, this Lonnie, is that why he didn't make it back, because he was hurt?" Atlas questioned.

"Because he was dead." One of the climbers answered Atlas.

"I'm sorry."

"We had to leave him. We had to get to the other side of the mountain, or we'd be dead, too. We had no choice."

"You always have a choice. You never leave a man behind." Dale deadpanned.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"Hey." Atlas waved once Addison walked over to the group of guys that consisted of Burke's bachelor party.

"Hey. This is what you invited me to? This is your big bachelor party?"

"It was last-minute. I needed some warm bodies." Derek muttered taking a sip of his drink.

"Which would explain why I'm here." Mark added.

"Why am I the only girl, by the way? What am I, the entertainment? I am not stripping." Addison chuckled.

"That's okay. We've seen it already."