Paradise-Grey's Anatomy AU Book 8

Chapter Fifteen

"When you've tried everything, but that headache won't go away, you can't stop coughing, the swelling won't go down... That's when you turn to a professional. As surgeons, we spend years developing skills of perception that allow us to see exactly what the problem is. Trouble is, sometimes all that time spent developing those skills of perception can leave a person with an extremely narrow point of view. And how are you supposed to argue with someone who has science on their side? Actually, finding out that you've been looking at things all wrong can be sort of liberating. And suddenly you see new potential, new possibilities where you'd never seen them before. And that's all fine when a hopeless situation suddenly looks good. Unfortunately, sometimes it goes the other way"

"are you gonna shame me and take my toys away?"

Owen and Aurora sat in a therapist's office. "We fight", Owen said. "No, we don't", she argued. "You yell and then go silent".

"I yell because you... We don't communicate. There's no intimacy"

"There's intimacy"

"Okay. Alright. There's intimacy, but we're not on the same page"

"Because I don't do what you want me to do"

"Because you put our child in danger"

"We've done couples therapy before. He has PTSD"

"From the war, and she's had it, too"

"From the shooting, but not at the same time. We didn't have it at the same time. And mine wasn't as bad as his"

"You couldn't sleep alone for months"

"You choked me"

"You double-locked the doors every night. So..."

"For a little while. But now we're fine"

He scoffed.

"Really?"

"Sure. Okay. We're fine..."

"I meant the PTSD"

"Okay. Yeah. We're fine"

"We're fine"

"Except for the part where you knowingly put our child in danger and he died"

"Except for the part where I didn't expect the ambulance to crash. Except for the part where you held my hand every night while I cried myself to sleep. Then I took some space and you screamed, "you killed our baby" in front of all of our friends"

"So..."

"65 year old woman enters the ER. In shock", Jackson said to April. "Presents with a pulsatile, expanding abdominal mass. Go". "Ruptured triple-A", April answered. "I would take the patient straight to the OR. And access the peritoneal cavity through a vertical midline incision".

"Nice"

"You guys studying for the oral boards in the middle of the day?" Meredith asked them. "Just another benefit of having a study buddy", April replied. "You should get one".

"I have one. It's just that my stupid study buddy's too busy being sick to actually help me study"

"Study with Lucy"

"No. I work better alone", Lucy said. "Well, you know what's better than a study buddy?" Alex said. "A study lackey. Check it. Hey, you. Brown-haired girl, you're up". "Trauma incident or a surgical situation?" the intern said. "You made your interns come up with study questions?" Lucy said. "Surprise me", Alex said to the intern. "A 12-year-old fell off his bike, hitting his abdomen against the handlebars", she said. "Complains of progressive abdominal pain and is short of breath". They walked off as she continued talking. Jackson's pager beeped. "What is it?" April said. "Sloan. 911", he said, rushing off. "Hey, if you want, we could...", April suggested to meredith. "I don't need help. I'm an excellent surgeon", Meredith said. "You know it, and I know it. Everybody knows it. I don't have to prove myself to anyone". "Yeah, except to the American Board of Surgery", Lucy stated.