A Little Unsteady (A Grey's Anatomy Story)

See You On The Other Side

Our trip to Bali came and went and we soon found ourselves thrown back into our everyday routine. I spent my week on Cardio with Dr Pierce. I adored her as a doctor. Her work was flawless and precise. Cardio was certainly a specialty I was highly considering taking on.

"Dr Pierce this is Casper Riley, 28 year old male suffering from Bacterial Endocarditis. His symptoms have worsened with a high fever and severe swelling in the feet. He is scheduled for a valve repair this afternoon" I presented the case to Dr Pierce

"Okay Casper, Dr Quinn here is going to prep you for surgery and we'll have you fixed up in no time" Dr Pierce beamed as she checked all of Casper's vitals

Maggie soon left the room and I began to take some of Casper's blood.

"So Mr Riley, are you from around Seattle?" I asked nonchalantly as I focused on placing the syringe into his arm

"No, I'm actually from Boston but I heard Dr Pierce was the best so I decided to take a trip across to Seattle so that she could fix me. Oh and please, call me Casper." he grinned

"Boston eh? Your Red Sox are barely hanging in there this season" I teased as I removed the syringe from his arm and placed some cotton wool over the needle mark

"Hey we're doing just fine thank you very much! We trashed the Mets last week!" He shot back, clearly a big baseball fan

"Oh please, me and a bunch of other doctors from this hospital could probably beat the mets! I'm a Yankees woman born and bread! The World Series is ours for the taking this season" I joked

"Yeah right" he scoffed

"Alright I won't start a fight right before your surgery, you need your energy" I laughed as I finished up with the blood work and began checking his SATs "Looks like you're good to go. Let's get you up to the OR" I smiled

"Wait" Casper said suddenly as he grabbed my wrist before I could walk away "I'm gonna walk away from this right? My feet will look normal and I'll be able to run again" He said with worry clear in his tone

"We're going to do everything we can for you Casper. It's like you said, you came here for the best" I tried to calm his nerves by reassuring him

"Cmon Dr Quinn you give that crappy speech to everyone, I can tell! Doc I haven't ran in 8 years with this crappy heart and now it's at the stage where I could freakin' die. I need you to be certain that I'm going to walk away from this." He said sheepishly, he was clearly the macho type and didn't like admitting that he was scared

"Casper trust me. I won't let anything happen to you okay?" I gave him a supportive smile

"Thanks Doc" he sighed, content with his answer

Two nurses came to help me wheel him into the elevator and out onto the OR floor. Maggie was already scrubbed in and waiting for us.

"See you on the other side" I said as I gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before leaving his side to go and scrub in

Dr Pierce and I stood at either side of the operating table along with the scrub nurse and two interns who were observing.

"10 blade" Dr Pierce said softly as she held out her hand to receive the scalpel

Dr Pierce began the incision into Casper's chest. She began working on clearing some of the bacteria from the lining of his heart but most of it would have to be cleared through a high dose of IV antibiotics. She then began to work on repairing the weakened valve. I watched as she delicately worked her way through the vessels, working swiftly yet accurately, making sure to not make any mistakes. The surgery was long as Maggie had to work a little slower than normal seeing as Casper's heart was pretty fragile. The time passed quiet quickly as I lost myself in the procedure and we were soon ready to finish up.

"Dr Quinn, would you like to close?" Maggie asked, looking up at me

"Of course, thank you Dr Pierce" I smiled through the mask as the scrub nurse passed me the suture tray

We soon had Casper returned to his room and his SATs were stable. He was on the home stretch to recovery and he would soon be up and out of here.

"Hey Doc" Casper croaked just as I was about to leave his room

"Oh Hey Casper. Glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" I smiled as I walked back towards him

"I feel like I've been hit by a bus. You sure you patched me up right Doc?" he braved a smile

"That's normal after an intense surgery like that Casper. But I can happily say your heart is as good as new and you'll be up and running back onto the baseball diamond in no time" I said as I patted his hand

"Thanks Doc" his grin grew to a smile from ear to ear as he flipped his hand so that it was holding mine "I appreciate your support earlier Dr Quinn. Hospitals freak me out a little bit" he gave an embarrassed laugh

"It's no trouble at all Casper" I flashed a smile as I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before turning to leave

"Wait Doc!" Casper said gripping my hand tighter so that I couldn't leave

His grip was strong enough that he pulled me closer towards him and before I could react his lips were placed firmly on mine. It took me a moment to react as I tried to process the situation but before I could, I heard a familiar voice coming from the door.

"Hey J, I paged earlier but I was just wondering if- Jesus christ Jamie what the hell?!" Arizona yelled as she saw me kissing the stranger

"Arizona! Wait, let me-" I began but she stormed out of the room before I could explain myself

"I'm so sorry Doc, I don't know what came over me" Casper hung his head

I didn't bother responding, I ran from the room to see Arizona run into the nearest on call room. I ran after her and walked into the room, trying to compose myself before I spoke.

"Arizona" I said softly as I saw her sitting on the bed with her head in her hands

"Jamie, just leave" she growled as I sat down beside her

"I'm not leaving until you hear me out. That patient in there, he's just out of surgery, hyped up on all sorts of medication. He was scared as hell going into that surgery and I was the one there to comfort him. He didn't mean to kiss me and I certainly didn't want to kiss him" I apologized as I placed my arm around her shoulders

I heard a small sob escape her lips and I knew that I had upset her.

"Hey baby, Arizona look at me" I whispered as I lifted her head to look at me and I could see the tears glistening in her eyes

"I'm sorry, I'm being silly, I know it meant nothing." She said softly

I placed my palm along her cheek as I wiped her tears with my thumb. We both stood up to hug it out and I pulled her tight into my chest.

"You know I like women, and I especially love this woman right here" I mumbled beside her ear

"I bet he liked kissing you though" she mumbled, clearly still a little upset

I held her back at arms length from me as I looked into her ocean blue eyes.

"Arizona Robbins are you jealous?" I smirked

"No" she mumbled as she looked away from me

I couldn't help but laugh and I brought her face closer to mine and gently placed my lips on hers.

"You know you're kinda hot when you're jealous" I whispered close to her ear, sending a shiver down her spine

I began trailing kisses down her neck, hearing a small moan escape her lips. I moved back up to her lips as I pulled her hips closer to mine.

"These lips are the only ones I'll ever want on mine" I smiled into the kiss as I slowly pulled away

"Cmon, we've got more lives to save. We'll finish this later" I winked as I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, receiving a small laugh from Arizona as we left the on call room.