Saving Graces

Chapter 3

-Michael-

"What grade are you in?" Av- Nolan asks Beth. She groggily tells us that she's in the second grade, as I work with Vacarro to reduce swelling. "How have you been?" I say quietly to her, as she continues to drill. "We've been fine" she says curtly, which is unusual for her. She talks a lot, so I know she's pissed, I wish she'd just get over it already. I did what I had to do and that is that. I noticed Holly staring off into space, I have to admit it's good to see her again, but I can't have her in la la land while I have a six year old on the table. "Clarke, get it together" I say and I watch anger etch her features, even through the surgical mask. "I have it under control thank you very much Dr.Clifford." she says snappily. "I can do without the sarcasm in my O.R." I fling back at her. "Oh.my.God." she mumbles to herself. I hear Beth stop her conversation with Avery about her soccer team to ask her what is going on. "I'm not sure, but I'll find out." she says standing up to come and stand behind Holly and I "Both of you need to stop, right now. Unless you want her B.P. to shoot up I suggest you cool it." Avery returns to her her seat beside Beth and says "All is well darling, now tell me again about the game last week." I try to keep working before I hear Holly mutter under her breath "I don't think I'm the one who needs to cool it." "Get out Clarke." I growl trying to keep from becoming but so angry. "What? You can't make me-" "I am your attending so I can and will ask you to leave, goodbye Dr.Clarke" She stormed out of the O.R. and Angie looked at me, "Real smooth, Clifford." she said. I huffed, "Can we just work please, we are almost done." "Fine, have it your way" she says as we wrap up the surgery. A few more minutes pass and Angie pipes up "Okay Beth, we are just about done here love. Hang tight for just a few more minutes"
she says sweetly. Everything's smooth, until Beth's speech starts to slur and she seizes. "Clifford what'd you do?" Angie yells. "Her BP is dropping" says Avery panicked. "Move" Angie says beside me. "Move. You want to grill her for not paying attention, and you made it worse. Move." I back up shocked, as she quickly fixes my mistake. I can't say anything, even if I have alright to. I'm their boss and they talk to me how they please. She has no right whatsoever. "Stabilize her. I'll take the exacerbated brain bleed" she huffs as Avery begins trying to talk to Beth again. I comply only because at the moment we don't need to scare Beth anymore than we already had.

-Hayden-

I'm heading to NICU to check on the baby when I get a page from Avery telling me to find Holly. I immediately panic. She was supposed to be in surgery, and I couldn't stand to think that she'd just leave on the first day of actually having a full-blown medical license.
"Holly!" I yell as I find her sitting at the bottom of the stairwell. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the OR" I say frustratedly. There a long pause and I notice she'd been crying as I sit down beside her. "He kicked me out" she says starting to cry again. "Why is he back? He's acting like absolutely nothing had ever happened and it did! He kicked me out! He said 'get out of my OR' like I was an unfit intern, but I'm not! I'm a surgeon." I nod, "that's right. You are. You've earned that title. He just doesn't know how to cope any better than you do. He's a smart guy, but he's still an idiot, and there's absolutely no reason you should cry over him. You got here even after what he did. So stop crying, and don't give him the satisfaction of it all. You're his loss, Okay?" I say trying to comfort her in the only way I know how. She sniffles. "Thank you." She leans her head on my shoulder, and we sit there until I get another page, but this time from NICU. "I gotta go. Are you gonna be okay?" I ask. "Yeah I'm good now" she shrugs with another sniffle. "Ok well just page me if you need anything" I say before heading up.
I arrive to see Clifford out of surgery and standing over the still resting baby. "What's wrong with her?" I ask not seeing signs of anything at all. "You can't talk to me the way you did earlier. I'm an attending and you're a resident" he says stolidly. "Excuse me?" I choke, surprised by the trivial confrontation. "You heard me just fine. I'm not your intern. I'm an attending and you will respect me" he challenges. "Nope. That's not how it works and you know it. My respect isn't given, it's earned and you know that very well. You also aren't going to tell me what I will and won't do. You have that right in the OR, but not anywhere else. You just want confrontation, because you know better than to get butt-hurt over something like this, but you don't have the right or the place to be angry, and you certainly don't have the right to kick Holly out of the OR, because of the past" I say trying to control my volume. "It wasn't because of-", "that's bull Michael and you know it, but guess what? You don't get to be angry. You not only left Holly, but you left us, your friends, too. She was in love with you, and you left for Boston never to return her calls. You didn't even have the balls to dump her first. So you know what. No. You don't get to be pissed or hurt. Now get away from my patient."
He angrily walks out, and I turn because I expect to hear the door slam, but instead someone catches it. It's Doctor Irwin again. "How's mom?" I say trying to avoid his persistent tendency to question. "She's fine. We were able to safely remove the glass and repair damage" he smiles looking down at the baby. "Good, good" I say awkwardly nodding. "So... What's the story between you and Michael?" He asks. I take a deep breath, "Look, you seem... Nice... But I'm not big on randomly spilling my past to my co workers. I don't generally walk around with a smile for no good reason, and I find it irritating when others do. There's nothing between Michael and I and there never was, but all you need to know is that the patient is fine." He nods still with a small smile, "It helps me through the day, after seeing everything we see on a daily basis. Well bye Doctor Matthews" he says kindly turning to exit. "My name. It's Hayden" I mutter grabbing the baby's hand. "Hayden" he says looking at me once again. "I said that's my name. I didn't say you could call me that" I press. He chuckles lightly, "goodnight Doctor Matthews." "Goodnight."

-Angie-

The day is finally over, but it feels far from such, as I see my cheeky "date" standing in the elevator as the doors open. "You ready?" He smiles. I sigh, "I really hate to do this. Believe me, but I need to go home. Holly needs me, and I have to be there." He nods, "I get it. I heard she got kicked out of OR. But don't worry. Michael is just an anal person. He does stupid impulsive things" he says apologetically. The doors come to an open, and I look back at him sadly, "I know." And I walk away leaving him confused.
I find Holly sitting outside on the bench in the rain. "Let's go home" I say softly placing my hand on her shoulder. I know what I should do. I should sit down in the pouring rain and let her cry, and as much as I want to be the perfect friend from the movies, I can't be that for her. If it were Avery she'd bring her hot cocoa and an umbrella. If it were Hayden, she'd sit on the bench and let her rest her head on her shoulder until morning, but I'm me. I'm Angie, and for once I don't know what to say. I don't know how to make her feel better.
She stands up and I grab her hand, and we walk to my car. We take the 10 minute drive home in silence and I have Snow Patrol and The Frey playing in loop, because that's what you do when someone's sad. You play sad songs even though it only makes them sadder, because they need to take their time to be sad, and you give it to them.
We arrive at the house, and go straight to her room to plop down on the bed with Avery and Hayden who had been waiting. "If it makes you feel better, Hayden yelled at him in front of my patient" Avery says flatly. "How many times do I have to tell you, our patient?" She scoffs in reply. "You should've kicked him in the balls" Holly says hoarsely. There's a long string of silence before we all begin giggling. Still in shock, but coping through harmonious giggles. "I thought about it" she replies wiping tears from her eyes. "This is almost worse than our first day as interns, except this time no one died yet" I say thinking aloud. "Amen to that" says Avery deliriously. And with that we all pass out on Holly's full sized bed.

A/N
  Hey guys! I absolutely despise authors notes, so I'll try my best to keep them limited and brief but I wanted to fill you in on what's happening these coming up weeks. For the next three weeks we will have very little time to write, and I deeply apologize for that. We both have two trips we will be embarking on, and only a week with our families in between each trip, so we appreciate the understanding. Thanks for the reads and don't hesitate to vote and spread the word!
~H