Photograph (camren)

Chapter Forty-Two

Being a doctor wasn't what she had planed.

When Camila had been just shy of five years-old she told her Mami she wanted to be 'a nurse for sick boys and girls who didn't have anyone else to take care of them'. And even since then she had an outstanding effort in doing just that. Her plans had gone smoothly, everything going just as she suspected- if she was at the top of her class, she'd get a good practicum- then possible end up at the children's hospital.

Only since coming to Charlotte Gen, had the young nursing student even considered the possibility of being a surgeon. Of course, back in Bio 1001 she'd thought about it, hell, after watching too much Grey's Anatomy she was damn near ready to take a minor in pre-med. Which she ended up doing, and by some weirdly, unexpected, and not-entirely proper, Grace of God- she ended up where she was then.

Holding one of her best friend's hands as she was being put under. Watching her idol perform a preterm fetal surgery, seeing how much blood Ally had lost. How much blood Ally had lost. How much blood Ally had- .

"Damnit, damnit, damnit!!" She heard Doctor Lucas curse, the first time under her breathe as she looked on the monitor and squinted her eyes almost as if she couldn't believe them. The next two, were loud and clear.

"What's going on?" Shawn, having been given the chance to scrub in shortly after arrival, had asked.

"Camila." Doctor Lucas turned to stare the younger woman directly in the eyes; a look of concern flowing through her ocean blues, but only those who looked hard enough could detect. Something the older woman had mastered by being a pediatric surgeon and something Camila would come to have in her skillset as well. Ambiguity.

"Yes?"

"How long has your friend been pregnant? Solely based on what she's told you, not what you've observed."

"Just shy of six months."

"And from what you've observed?" The doctor sighed, turning her attention back to the monitor.

"Seven and a half, if not nearly eight." Camila furrowed her brows, knowing where this could be going but too close to the situation to accept it. "What's wrong?"

"Well," Doctor Lucas sighed heavily while turning the monitor towards the brunette. "You see this? Right near the baby's heart?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Shawn voiced, from across the table, his voice horse.

"Ectopia Cordis." Camila recited, eyes closed, as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "H-his heart's outside of h-his b-ody."

"In any normal pregnancy, stress isn't good for the mother or the fetus. But in this case, I'm afraid it's far, far, worse." The blonde doctor shook her head as she tried to think of what to do while explaining everything to her prospective fellow. "If I do an emergency C-section , it's risky but I can save them both. If we induce her, there's more of a chance we lose her, and we could end up losing both of them. As long as he's out of there and we get him right on the table with your chief of peds, to put the heart back in his chest, we've got this."

Suddenly there was a loud beeping sounding through the room.

"Doctor Lucas, BP is dropping." A scrub nurse interjected.

"Damn it, we need to make a decision, quick." The woman turned to Camila, seeing the shocked look on her face. "Cabello?"

Silence.

"CABELLO?"

"Do we not have to ask the father?" Someone spoke up.

"There's no time for that." Camila stated, letting go of Ally's hand with a small squeeze. "Do the emergency C-section, I'll scrub in and assist, and page Doctor Hunter and Cardio. Tell them what's going on. We're going to need towels, lots of them, and packing."