The Lieutenant's Love

Here's to Future Days

Dr Robbins and I walked to the OR board to find Bailey.

"Dr Bailey, are you busy today?" Dr Robbins asked.

"That depends. You got any more dying children you want me to become overly attached to before they expire?" Dr Bailey asked.

"No. I have an 8-year-old neuroblastoma patient, And he's gonna live. I can feel it in my bones. So scrub in with me and see the joy," Dr Robbins said.

"Um, Dr Bailey. May I borrow you?" Chief Webber asked walking towards us.

Timeskip

Cristina had paged me and Meredith to look at scans of cancer patients similar to Izzie.

"It's impressive, but it took two years to get these results," Meredith said.

"Yeah, but these two scans were taken three months apart," Cristina said.

"But Izzie may not have three months. That tumor could start bleeding in three days or three seconds," I said.

"And since when are you not about cutting?" Meredith asked.

"Since it may not be in the best interest of our patient," Cristina said.

"And Derek's not acting in Izzie's best interest?" Meredith asked. Derek walked in.

"They're ready for us in radiology," Derek said before leaving with Meredith following him.

"I've gotta go prep my patient," I said before leaving.

Timeskip

Robbins and I stood at the nurses' station filling in charts.

"Dr Robbins, Dr Bailey just performed Seattle Grace's first single-incision gall bladder removal," Dr Webber said walking over with Bailey.

"Oh, wow. that's cool," Robbins said.

"Through the patient's belly button," Dr Webber said.

"And now it's kinda creepy," Robbins said.

"No, no. You shoulda seen it. No scars, no bleeding, and about half the time it would've taken laparoscopically," Dr Bailey said.

"You want to do one after lunch? I've got another coli," Webber offered Bailey.

"Y-you don't mind?" Bailey asked.

"Oh, well, also, I guess we're on our own for this afternoon," Robbins said. "My neuroblastoma?" Bailey went to say something. "No, no, no, no. Don't worry. You don't have to. You'll have the rest of your life to do neuroblastomas," Dr Robbins said.

"Well, then I'll see you after lunch, sir," Dr Bailey said walking off.

"Go study for the neuroblastoma. You're now assisting instead of just observing," Robbins said to me. I nodded walking off.

"Hey, I was just coming to find you. I got burgers and fries from Joe's," Addison said holding up a bag.

"Lunch date? Awesome," I said. "But I've got to go study for surgery. Robbins is letting me scrub in on a neuroblastoma on an 8-year-old," I said.

"See this is where it comes in handy being married to an experienced surgeon. I've done neuroblastoma surgeries so I can help you study while we eat," Addison said. I smiled. We stopped by the residents' locker room so I could grab a notebook that I had been using to study. We sat outside studying and eating. Callie walked over.

"Sage, I need your army perspective. You're 19 and you're experiencing leg pain and the only way you think you can lessen the pain is to amputate the leg. Even though there's nothing surgically wrong with your leg," Callie said.

"Well at 19 there was nothing I wanted to do more than fight in the army. I tried other stuff and at the time being a surgeon didn't make sense to me. At the time the army was super iffy about letting amputees fight in combat but maybe if I was 19 now I probably would try," I said.

"He said he feels like he's not done," Callie said.

"I get that. It's why I went back last year," I said.

"Thank you," Callie said reaching for my fries.

"Here," Addison said handing her a box of fries and a burger.

"I'm stealing your wife," Callie said to me.

"Nope. She's mine but our bed is big-" Addison glared at me to shut up.

"Ignore her," Addison said glaring at me. Callie walked away. "Study for your surgery," Addison said feeding me fries.

Timeskip

Robbins and I finished surgery and were at the OR board doing post-op notes.

"Impressive work today, Dr Bailey," Dr Webber said walking out of the OR hallway.

"Thank you, sir. It was fun," Dr Bailey said.

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Dr Webber asked. Robbins and I walked over to the OR board where Bailey was.

"Sounds like you guys had a good day," Dr Robbins said.

"Oh! how did the, uh, neuroblastoma kid do?" Dr Bailey asked.

"Oh, he was awesome. The surgery was totally easy, and he's gonna make a full recovery," I said.

"That's kind of why I wanted you there. 'Cause the kids you can save almost make up for the ones you can't. Anyways, I'm gonna go monitor him post-op. And then I'm gonna tell his family the good news. You should stop by, and come see the joy," Robbins said.

"Okay," Bailey said.

Timeskip

My pager went off. It was Izzie. I walked into Izzie's room.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I'm signing a DNR before I go in for brain surgery. I need you to promise me you'll make sure Alex doesn't go crazy. You're his person and he trusts you with his life and I know you'll be there for him but you have to promise me," Izzie said.

"Izzie, Derek's good at his job," I said.

"I've made up my mind. You've gotta be here for them not just Alex but Cristina, George and Meredith too. You're the oldest and you've gotta look out for them. I know you don't like me but I have cancer so you can't break promises to me because that's fucked up," Izzie said.

"I've got them, Stevens. But you see a bright shiny light you run from it. You run like hell until your lungs burn," I said.

Timeskip

I found Alex pacing down the hallway.

"She signed a freaking DNR. She's quitting on me and we've been married less than 24 hours," Alex snapped.

"She's not quitting on you. She loves you enough to not want you to have to sit by her bedside while she's hooked up to wires hoping and praying that she wakes up or that she gets better. She loves you enough not to put you through that," I said. "She doesn't wanna be remembered by you as the girl who spent years hooked to machines. She wants you to remember her for all the good times you've had together and hopefully, more good times that you'll have together," I said.

Timeskip

I walked into the house and heard giggling coming from the garden. Emily was chasing Harry and Charlie around the garden while Addison was sitting down with Everett who was babbling to himself.

"Hey," I said walking over.  Charlie ran over to me. I caught him in my arms and spun him around. He giggled. I tickled him. He cuddled into me.

"Love you," Charlie whispered.

"Love you too," I whispered back. Harry ran over. I picked him up and he cuddled into me.

"Love you," Harry said.

"Love you too," I said. He smiled. I set him back down and walked over to Addison. I pulled her in for a kiss. "I love you,"

"I love you too," Addison said as Everett continued to babble.

"Someone's got stories to tell huh bud," I smiled. "Want me to take him?"

"Go on," Addison said. I scooped Everett into my arms.