No Time | Grey's Anatomy // Book 1 // COMPLETED |

4 | Into the OR

"From your x-rays and CT,  it looks like part of your bowel has died," Bailey explained to Kelsey the next day as soon as she had woken up. Everyone had been waiting nervously since Kelsey had passed out outside, waiting for her to open her eyes again. 

"It's a side effect of your poor circulation," Cristina added. "It's why you collapsed."

Kelsey's boyfriend looked up at us, worry in his eyes. "But just . . . fix her, okay? She can't have come this far to . . . just fix her."

Bailey nodded, and without anything else to say, we exited the room and left the scared couple alone. "We're gonna need to repair this as soon as possible. The more time we wait, the more bowel dies," she said. 

"But how?" I asked. "She's septic, hypotensive, and she has no heart."

"Her pressure's too low for general anesthesia," said Altman. "She won't survive."

I thought for a moment, trying my best to use the knowledge I learned in New York to prove what I was made of.  "What if we don't put her under general?" I suggested, knowing full well that it probably sounded insane. 

Just as I had expected, everyone looked at me like I had completely lost my mind. Then, ever so faintly, Bailey began to nod. "That . . . that could work." 

I grinned. "I mean, it'll hurt like hell, but Kelsey seems like she wants to fight. It's better than dying."

"Alright." Altman clapped her hands together, clearly thrilled that there was a plan in place, no matter how risky it was. "I'll book an OR. Everyone be ready."

Over the moon at the team's willingness to try my suggestion, I waited until we had all parted ways before giving myself a small pat on the back. Thank God for that one time I went to work sick and ended up witnessing the surgery that gave me my brilliant idea. Just then, my phone started to ring, dragging me out of my thoughts. Fishing my phone from my pocket, I answered it and brought it to my ear. "Hello?" I spoke as I continued through the halls.

"Ellie!" I heard Sam chirp from the other end of the call. "It feels like I haven't talked to you in ages. How is everything?"

Entering one of the empty on-call rooms, I closed the door so I could hear the conversation better. "It's great! Later today I'm going to help operate on a woman without a heart."

"Did you just say there is a woman without a heart?" Sam asked. "Is that even possible?"

I laughed. "Apparently so. Listen, Sam, I'd love to chat more but I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to take personal calls during work hours."

"Aww." Sam groaned, but I knew she understood."But it's Christmas and we aren't together!"

My eyes widened as I was suddenly slapped into reality. Thanks to Kelsey's case and my drive to prove to everyone and anyone that I knew what I was doing, it had been quite a while since I had left the hospital. "I totally forgot! Is it actually Christmas today?"

"Yup!" Sam answered. "Somehow, I'm not surprised in the least that you lost track of what day it is. Well, see you tonight!"

"Sure thing," I assured her before hanging up the phone, the cogs in my head turning fast as I tried to mentally put myself back on track. If you had asked me this morning, I would have said Christmas was still a week away, at least.

As I dropped my phone back into my pocket, making sure it was on vibrate, the door to the on-call room burst open, startling me a little. Looking up, I saw Alex walk in. "Looking for someone?" I asked.

"No." Alex walked towards one of the beds and collapsed onto it. "Taking a nap before I operate on a heartless woman later."

"I'm in that operation, too," I told him. "First surgery here and it's on a woman living with no heart. I'd say I'm doing pretty well."

Alex shifted onto his back and closed his eyes. "Not everyone can be as lucky as you."

"I hope you know that I'm here because I worked for it." I rolled my eyes and opened the door. "Maybe if you actually worked instead of taking naps you wouldn't feel so inferior."

Alex just scoffed, but I had made my point so I let the sleeping dog lie and spun on my heel. "Close the door!" I heard him yell after me, but I ignored it and went to find some work to do. Luckily though, in Seattle Grace/Mercy West, there was always work to be done. As soon as my pager went off, I snatched it from my waistband, noted the OR I was being paged to and relied on the memory I had of the building to guide me to my destination. 

Pushing my way into the scrub room, I came face to face with Bailey, who was already in the middle of scrubbing in.  "You're fast, I like it." she looked up at me. 

"I was just close by," I explained as I stood next to her and turned on the faucet in front of myself. "Alex shouldn't be far behind. Last time I saw he was taking a nap in an on-call room."

"Of course he was." Bailey shook her head, unsurprised by the news in the slightest. Minutes later, Cristina and Alex flooded into the scrub room, really making me feel like a packed sardine in a tin. "So Forrest, what's your specialty?" Bailey asked as I reached for a towel to dry my hands. 

"I don't really have one," I admitted. For the past few months, I had been solely focused on getting into Seattle Grace/Mercy West, and not so much what came after. "Guess I'll have to get on that."

"Well, if you're half as good as your reputation, you shouldn't have a problem finding something you like." Bailey grabbed for a towel as well. "General tends to get overlooked, but you should come work with me sometime. Get a feel for what's out there."

I nodded, taking her suggestion into consideration. "Nothing's out of the running for me yet, so I'll be sure to do that. Thank you, Dr. Bailey."

"Ever worked on a woman without a heart?" Cristina followed up. 

"Nope." I shook my head. "But there's a first time for everything, right?"

Once everyone was scrubbed and the patient was draped and ready to go, Bailey gave Kelsey a local anesthetic and before starting to open her up. As I worked on the simple things such as suction and sponging up the blood, I could hear Kelsey moaning in pain. "It hurts." she cried out despite the brave face she was sporting. 

"I know," Bailey assured her, her tone full of sympathy. "Surgery with only a local anesthetic is not ideal. Hang in there."

"It's gonna be okay." Kelsey's boyfriend soothed her. "I'm here with you, all right?"

As Kelsey's eyes began to well with tears, Bailey looked down at her. "Hey, hey, hey. No tears. No tears at Christmas. No, there's only, uh, lights, and um, snowmen, and songs."

"Spending time with loved ones," I added.

Bailey gave me a nod as she began to sing, desperate to lift Kelsey's spirits, even if only a little. "Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful."

Alex, Cristina, and I shared a look, unsure if this was a solo or if we were supposed to join in or not. "Come on now." Bailey encouraged us as Kelsey's boyfriend started singing too. "But since we've no place to go . . . Karev."

"No, thanks." Alex refused.

"Sing, Yang." Bailey almost demanded.

Cristina shook her head. "Oh, no. I don't . . . um, I'm Jewish."

"Hey, don't play the race card with me. Sing or get off my service."

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Cristina belted as we continued with the surgery.

"It doesn't show signs of stopping." I joined in as I suctioned more blood, hoping to avoid being yelled at during my first surgery. "And I've brought some corn for popping."

"You, too, Karev," Bailey ordered. "The lights are turned way down low. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

With the operating room filled to the brim with Christmas carols for the remaining duration of the surgery, Kelsey was in much higher spirits, and before she even knew it, Bailey was done and stitching her back up. With my first official surgery at my new place of work complete, I said goodnight to Cristina and Bailey, who were heading out to a Christmas party, and stayed behind with Alex to get Kelsey situated back in her room. 

"You should sing more often." I joked to Alex as I handed Kelsey's charts to the nurse at the station."You have a beautiful voice."

"Funny." Alex cracked a fake smile. "Wanna head to Joe's and get a drink?"

"Joe's?" I cocked a brow.

"A bar across the street."

I shook my head, grateful for the offer even if Alex was a menace at the best of times. "I actually have plans to go home for the first time in three days, but thanks anyway."

"Whatever." shrugged as he walked off. It was clear he didn't take rejection too well. 

Too tired to care about Alex's mood swings, I headed back to the lounge where I changed out of my scrubs and back into my regular clothes. As I was heading out to the parking lot toward my car, I checked my phone and saw that I had one missed text from Sam.

Sam: Super sorry to do this but Jake invited me to his parent's place for Christmas dinner. Won't be at home when you get there, ttyl <3

Letting out a sigh, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and walked over to one of the benches just outside the hospital. Sitting down, I leaned back and pulled my hair out of the ponytail that it had been stuck in for three days. Just then, the large doors slid open and Alex walked out with his bag over his shoulder. 

With nothing better to do, I shouted toward Alex, hoping he could hear me. "Hey, Alex! Still wanna go for that drink?" 

Flashing a cheeky smirk, Alex waved for me to follow him. And so for my first Christmas in Seattle, I spent it in a dingy bar with a man I didn't even like that much, drinking overpriced beer and playing darts.