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

23 | Make a Choice

With lunch finished and our run-in with Melissa leaving us practically radiating shame, those of us that were still on Bobby's case—probably not for much longer, however—returned to his hospital room, hoping that the lunch incident hadn't spread throughout the hospital yet. When we arrived, Bailey and Webber were discussing Bobby's infection with him. 

"If I don't have the surgery, I die?" Bobby asked and Bailey nodded. "How long will I have, do you think?"

"Mr. Corso, you want the surgery," Webber told him. "You want to try-"

"I've tried . . ." Bobby sighed sadly. "Everything. High protein, the low carbs, drugs, pills, hypnosis . . . I have tried everything."

Bailey thought for a second. "You have a baby on the way. Think about that."

"Who do you think I'm thinking about?" Bobby spoke weakly. "You . . . you dream of having a kid. You picture yourself playing ball with him. You picture her standing on your feet while you dance around with her, you know? You don't picture them bringing you food and cleaning you up. I can't walk four steps to go to the bathroom. You tell me . . . who deserves that guy as a father? No. I just . . . want to be gone before the kid has a chance to know who I am. Don't tell my wife about this, okay? Let's just tell her it's too risky. Let me go home."

Just then, as if on cue, Bobby's wife walked into the room. "Oh, hey, peanut." Bobby greeted her, a fake smile plastered on his face.

"What's going on?" Melissa asked, instantly sensing the tension in the room.

Once Webber had told Melissa that the surgery was too risky like Bobby asked, she reluctantly exited the room to sign discharge papers with Alex. When Webber and Bailey excused themselves and left as well, it left just Bobby and myself in the room.

I wasn't sure if I should leave as well, but something told me to stay. The look on Bobby's face said that he didn't want to be alone. It was the look of someone who knew the decision they were making was hard, but they weren't making it for themself. 

"For the record," I smiled. "I think any kid would be lucky to have you as a father. You show so much strength and I think any kid would benefit from that. My dad is one of the most important people in my life, and the lessons that he taught me are the ones I hold most valuable."

Bobby's mouth curled ever-so-slightly into a smile, and with that, I went to check on how Alex and Melissa were doing. When I joined the two at the desk, Alex was retrieving a clipboard of papers from one of the nurses.

"You wanted me to sign discharge papers?" Melissa asked, her eyes red from crying. She was devastated that there was nothing we could do for her husband; or, at least, she thought there was nothing we could do. 

"Mrs. Corso, I . . ." Alex mumbled as he handed over the clipboard. "I'm sorry about the thing in the cafeteria."

"It's easy to make jokes about him." Melissa looked up at Alex as she took a pen in her hand. "You didn't know him before. You didn't know that inside all that is the same man I've always known, who can make me laugh till I can't breathe. He's been trying to make you guys laugh all day, but you're too disgusted to even smile or joke with him . . . make him feel like a person. I brought him here because I thought you would help him. But you're only making him feel worse. So unless you want to tell me the next step to getting him outta here and home, I don't need to hear anything from you."

As Melissa walked away, I turned to Alex. "If only they knew we aren't allowed to laugh." I sighed.

"Yeah." Alex nodded, his gaze drifting as he thought. Then, he turned on his heel and headed back into Bobby's room, and as curious and equally worried about what he was going to do as I was, I followed him. 

"Are you bringing my forklift around?" Bobby joked.

For once, Alex laughed at Bobby's jokes. Then, he made one of his own, and the whole time, I was looking over my shoulder for Bailey. "We thought we'd just open up the loading dock and roll you out." Alex cracked. 

Bobby chuckled. "That's good. Right into Puget sound. You'll float me home like a barge."

Alex picked up Bobby's chart and began to glance over it. "I got a good one."

"Yeah?" Bobby smiled.

"What did they call the guy that was so fat that he couldn't get out of the house?" Alex asked.

"What?" Bobby played along.

Alex started writing in the chart. "Dead . . . and selfish." he deadpanned. "Yeah, 'cause, uh, you left a seven hundred pound mess for your wife to clean up."

Bobby's face instantly changed from amusement to annoyed. "That's a good one." he scowled.

"Look, I'm sorry that we've been tiptoeing around you all day trying not to make jokes," Alex told him. "But you're the one who's gotta stop. Stop calling yourself that fat guy. You got a wife who loves you, you know, who stuck by you through all this. I mean, you did something right to deserve that. Look, I know what it's like to have life hand you so much crap, you just want to sit on the couch and die. But you gotta look at what's in front of you. You can't just walk out on her now. She deserves better. Chances are you're gonna die on that table. Then you get what you want. But at least your wife will think you tried. She'll tell your kid you tried. Give 'em that at least."

Bobby listened to what Alex had to say, but before he could respond, Alex turned and pulled me out of the room with him. "That was a little harsh." I sighed.

"Yeah, maybe." Alex agreed. "But guys like that just need a push. You'll see."

Although I had doubted Alex, much to my surprise, a few hours later I was helping get an OR ready for Bobby Corso's surgery. We had to make some accommodations to the room, like pushing two beds together and laying a sheet of plywood over the top of it to fit him. Then, we had to use a lift to even get Bobby into the room. Thankfully, he was already under anesthesia, so he didn't have to endure any of this.