Mason's Medical

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

The truth will always be the truth. Even if no one believes it.
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Grace was in early, having got a call that one of her patients was on the way in. She was walking past the nurse's station when Debbie, one of the head nurses, stopped her and spoke quietly.

'We're given the Chief notification of a strike at the end of the day. And if he doesn't do something drastic, there will be a sick out for the second shift.' She nodded at Grace's wide eyes and then walked off again.

Grace just stood for a minute before quickly walking off, plans to reschedule appointments for the next few days already filling her mind.

'Miranda!' Grace said as she caught up with her and Izzie at the elevator. 'You alright?'

Miranda glared at her. 'Just Braxton Hicks, I'm fine.'

'Did Addie already tell you the answer to that or do I need to say it?'

'I'm fine, I'm a surgeon, I can deal with a little pain.' Miranda said as she stepped into the elevator with her intern. 'Now go do your job! You're not getting your godson yet!'

Grace laughed, relaxing a bit, as the doors slid shut.
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'Have a word with him,' Patricia said as she walked past. Jabbing a thumb in the direction of the OR board.

Grace chuckled already knowing who she'd see when she rounded the corner. 'What did you say to annoy Patricia?'

Richard grunted. 'Nothing. What do you think?' He nodded at the board. 'Isn't this a beautiful board?'

'It's a crowded board,' she continued, ignoring his groan. 'There is little time between ops - '

'Meaning we get more patients to see too.'

' - Meaning the scrub nurses have to rush to sterilise and clean everything. Meaning the floor nurses have to find spaces for new patients when the old ones aren't even out the door yet. Meaning the orderlies are getting inundated with used linens and are overworked keeping up.' Grace stopped and jabbed his chest. 'Meaning - all the nurses are overworked, rushed and getting pissed off. Pissed off nurses is bad news.'

Grace gave him a long look before putting a coffee in his hand and leaving.

She was glad the nurses liked her enough to give her time to reschedule things. And there was no way in hell she'd piss them off by blabbing about the strike beforehand.
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Grace looked at the chart in her hand. 'She's seventy-four.'

'Yes, Doctor Mason,' her intern said hesitantly.

'She had a full hysterectomy years ago.' Grace looked into the room where the old woman had been temporarily placed. 'Why the hell is she here for a prolapsed uterus then?'

'She won't leave,' a nearby nurse said. 'At least that's what one of the surgicals told me.'

'Thanks, Fiona.' Grace smiled at the nurse and then started flipping through the chart to see who sent her up here. 'O'Malley. Damn Rosemary's babies!' She took a deep calming breath. 'Doctor Hayton, take the patient back to the surgical floor, make sure they know it's impossible for her to prolapse without even having an uterus. And make sure O'Malley knows I know what he did.'

Grace shut her eyes briefly as the woman started singing.

Good air in, bad air out.
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Grace was sat on the steps near the OR board, watching Richard wipe it clean, smiling and drinking her hot chocolate, Burke was leaning against the railing watching as well.

Derek came around the corner and saw them. 'Strike?'

'Strike.' Preston said in reply.

The Chief turned as looked at the two men. 'You are all a bunch of arrogant surgeons.'

As he walked off they just looked at each other, then Derek saw her.

'What are you smiling about?'

'Let me ask you something. Have either of you ever seen me have a problem with misplaced charts, slow labs, unmade beds...anything that's sorted by the nurses, or orderlies, or lab techs?'

'Well, I haven't been here long but...no. Why?'

'Preston?' Grace asked with a smile.

Preston shook his head slowly. 'Now that you mention it...I can't think of a single thing like that happening to you.'

'It's because I like the nurses, I appreciate what they do, I make sure they know how much I appreciate them, I know their names, I know how to do things so they have less work and I acknowledge the fact that without nurses, hospitals don't work.'

Grace stood and walked down the steps to stand in front of them. 'In short gentlemen, this isn't a big issue to me, because I had to reschedule everything I could, so that I don't have to work with nurses who don't know me. Enjoy the chaos, I know I will.' She walked off laughing.