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

27 | Lockdown

It was yet another busy morning at Seattle Grace/Mercy West hospital, and as per usual, I was rushing through the halls with a pile of medical supplies in my arms, trying to do about five different things at once. 

Ever Since Skylar had been in her accident, I had taken on responsibility for her, seeing as she still refused to call our parents. So on a daily basis, I was balancing making sure she was okay and recovering well with my job. And in the middle of all of that, I was still having to take care of myself. Needless to say, I was running on little sleep and had missed a meal or two in the past few days.

It was hectic, but as far as I was concerned, I was managing it. As well as I could be, that is. 

Hearing my pager go off, I looked down at the device on my waistband for a second, and as I did so, I accidentally bumped into someone. My supplies tumbled out of my arms and all over the floor and I let out a frustrated exhaled.

"Sorry." a familiar voice apologized, and when I looked up at who I had bumped into, I froze. 

Standing before me was Gary Clark, the man whose wife we had taken off of life support a few weeks ago, despite his protests. Moments from that day flashed through my mind: Alison lying in bed, Gary pleading with us, me turning the machine off. 

It was clear that Gary recognized me as well because, for a while, he just stared at me. Then, he smiled. "Do you know where I can find the Chief of Surgery?" he asked.

"Derek Shepherd?" I clarified, and when he nodded, I smiled back. "He's usually in his office but I think he had surgery this morning. Try going to the third floor and asking one of the nurses there."

Gary gave a curt nod before stepping over the medical supplies on the floor and continuing on his way. I watched him leave, wondering why he was here in the first place. When he rounded a corner, disappearing out of sight and consequently, out of my mind, as well, I gathered up the things I had dropped before dropping them off where they needed to be.

After that, I answered my page, which was Bailey paging me to our patient's room. My phone went off as I headed toward the elevator, but when I saw that it was Sam calling, I denied the call, making a mental note to text her later to see what was up. Normally, I would have taken the call, but I was already late and making Bailey wait any longer than she already had was a bad idea. 

Speed-walking into the patient room, I flashed Bailey an 'I'm sorry I took so long' smile. She just glared at me, but when it came to Bailey, that was about the best I could hope for. Charles, who was also on the case, just smirked. 

"Shut up." Mary, our patient, groaned. She had obviously just heard some news that she was not too thrilled about. 

"I'm sorry." Bailey apologized, turning her attention back to the patient. "I'm truly sorry."

Turning to the man by her side, her husband, mary groaned again. "Honey, are you hearing this?"

"I told you." he glanced up from his magazine. "You know, I told her, Dr. Bailey. "

Mary sighed. "That doesn't mean I like it. I really can't have my second surgery today?"

Turning to Charles, who was holding the chart because he had been on time, Bailey motioned for him to elaborate. "Your hemoglobin and hematocrit are extremely low," he read off of the chart. "Your tank is empty. You need a blood transfusion before we can operate."

"Shut up." Mary huffed. 

Charles chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."

"Do you know how long I've been living with a colostomy bag?" Mary asked us. "A bag of my poop is attached to me. Do you know what that's like? It's gross. It's truly the grossest thing I've ever had to deal with and I'm starving because I can't eat solid food for twenty-four hours before surgery. Starving!" she looked at Charles. "I would eat you if I could." 

The husband just smiled. "Yeah, on the plus side, that means no poop in the bag."

"Bill," Mary warned, obviously not in the mood for jokes, which her husband was pretty good at. 

"Okay, we're gonna get some blood and urine," Bailey said. "Dr. Percy is gonna monitor your blood levels and tomorrow, we'll see if we can help lose the poop bag. And let's get you some food so you don't eat Dr. Percy. I don't like him, but he's useful."

"Can I have real food? Like pizza . . ." Mary asked, her eyes wide with hope. "From that one place near that one spot, with, um, pepperoni and sausage and ham?"

"If you get the pizza, you also get the bowel prep and enema that comes with it," Bailey told her.

Mary smiled wide. "Totally worth the pizza! Bring it on."

"Back in fifteen minutes." Bill reached for his wallet before giving Mary a kiss and heading out the door to retrieve said pizza. 

With both Bailey and Bill out of the room now, Mary turned to Charles and I. "How hot is my husband's ass?" she inquired, and I was unsure if she really wanted an answer to that or not.

"It's . . . very hot, ma'am," Charles muttered.

"Super hot." I laughed. 

With Charles on watch duty for our patient, I excused myself to go check on Skylar really quickly. She was almost ready to go home, but before she could leave, she was ordered a few sessions of physical therapy to teach her how to do common tasks with only one arm, and I wanted to make sure she was doing okay.