𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

forty eight | walk

"This woman is the reason I went to med school in the first place."

Sadie Harris is an interesting blast from the past for Meredith, and a less than enthusiastic stranger to the rest of us.

"I figured if a slacker like Death —"

Right. Apparently, Meredith's new name is Death.

"— could handle slicing people open, then I could, too."

"Meredith's not a slacker."

"Ooh, I could tell you some stories."

"But you won't."

"So, Sadie." Cristina clears her throat from behind the two friends. "You postponed your residency to work in a morgue?"

She barely glances back at us. "Yeah, you know, a lot of the fun cutting with none of the rules. . .but I got bored. Started craving blood that was flowing."

"Shocker." I stare her up and down as she slings an arm around Meredith's shoulders.

"And now you're here. I can't believe you're here." Meredith beams brighter than I've ever seen her.

"Yay."

Upon entering the hospital, I drift straight towards the elevator with Cristina, who seems to be the only one feeling the same way about Death's friend.

"Oh my God." My jaw falls as I witness the scene inside the trauma room: a man impaled by his own femur bone.

"I know. It's a beautiful sight." Cristina checks for a popliteal pulse, which was ordered by the new trauma surgeon Dr. Hunt.

"Poor guy was crushed in a dumpster while sleeping." Meredith helps Callie on the other side.

Sadie turns the corner and enters the room. "I'm here, I'm here. What did I miss?"

"Okay, it's your first day. Why don't you just stand back and shut up?"

"Equal breath sounds on both sides." I remove the stethoscope from my ears. "Not even a punctured lung."

Hunt nods only once. "We need a portable x-ray and an ultrasound."

"Someone paged us?"

"I did."

"You did? That's a first."

Ignoring the rude comment on Derek's part, Dr. Hunt briefs them of the victim's unique but quite detrimental circumstances.

After taking whatever films we can due to his position, the several attendings and residents work to unimpale his femur from under his clavicle.

Just in time for him to regain consciousness.

"I don't want to live if I can't walk."

"We'll do our best to save the leg —"

"I'm homeless." Timothy Miller, the victim, interrupts the orthopedic surgeon. "Walking is how I survive. It's how I. . .get from one day to the next." He proceeds to detail his daily routine. "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?"

Mark speaks up. "Your injuries are critical. If we don't get you to surgery —"

"Will your surgery make me walk? Huh?"

The rest of us remain silent, knowing we can't give him a real answer.

"Then I don't want it!"

"Okay. Alright." Hunt nods his head and begins to remove his gloves. "You heard the man. The surgery's off."

Derek and Mark confront him for completely abandoning a patient in need, but Hunt merely removes himself from the case.