Code Blue | Grey's Anatomy // Book 2 // COMPLETED

9 | Grind

As I walked through the hospital the next day, everyone was studying for their boards. Which, of course, was a good thing; but they were everywhere.

"Ah." Jackson flipped through his cards as he leaned up against the wall, "Sixty-five-year-old woman enters the E.R. in shock. Presents with a pulsatile, expanding abdominal mass. Go."

"Ruptured triple-A." April answered as she wrote on the O.R. board, "I would take the patient straight to the O.R. and access the peritoneal cavity through a vertical midline incision."

"Nice." Jackson read the back of the card to check the answer.

"You guys studying for the oral boards in the middle of the day?" Meredith asked as she walked up in surgical scrubs.

April nodded, "Just another benefit of having a study buddy. You should get one."

I chuckled as I checked the board, "Yeah, because Jackson ditched me for April. Thanks for that by the way."

"I have one." Meredith said, meaning Cristina, "It's just that my stupid study buddy's too busy trying to save her stupid marriage to actually help me study."

"Well, you know what's better than a study buddy? A study lackey. Check it." Alex said as he looked at one of his interns, "Hey, you. Brown-haired girl, you're up."

Quickly, the girl rushed over, "Uh, trauma incident or surgical situation?"

"You made your interns come up with study questions?" April asked.

Alex smiled, "Surprise me."

"A twelve-year-old boy fell off his bike, hitting his abdomen against the handlebars. Complains of progressive abdominal pain and is short of breath. Breath sounds cloudy." the intern said as she and Alex walked away.

"Ohh." I gawked, "I want a study lackey."

Just then, Jackson's pager went off. "What is it?" April asked.

"Sloan. 9-1-1." Jackson answered as he took off.

"Hey, if you want, we could-" April turned to Meredith.

Meredith refused, "I don't need help. I'm an excellent surgeon. You know it, and I know it. Everybody knows it. I don't have to prove myself to anyone."

April wrote on the board some more, "Yeah, except to the American Board of Surgery."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed, "there's them."

After April left, Webber approached Meredith and me and suggested that we talk to Callie about a study method for the boards. Agreeing, we set off to find Callie. "Dr. Torres, Dr. Webber suggested-" we found Callie in the hall and caught up with her.

Callie cut us off, "Unh-unh, here's how this is gonna work...I talk, and you listen. You are here because you and your little pals are all freaked about the oral boards, and Dr. Webber suggested that Callie Torres might have a special secret study method, right?"

Meredith and I nodded, "Mm-hmm."

"Yeah, Dr. Webber's correct." Callie told us, "Callie Torres does have a study method, an excellent study method, but she's not about to just give it away. Callie Torres' study method has to be earned. Frankly, she doesn't think that Meredith Grey and Ellie Forrest have what it takes."

"I think we do." I took a pair of plastic shoe covers from Callie and put them on, "I think Meredith Grey and Ellie Forrest have what it takes."

"His B.P. was low and his vessels are collapsed." the ambulance paramedic announced as a group of people crowded around her and the patient that we couldn't see, "We could only get one good I.V. in."

"We're gonna have to get another one." another doctor said.

"For their sake, Meredith Grey and Ellie Forrest better hope their right, 'cause today, today is gonna be a grind."

"Excuse me. Coming through." we pushed through the crowd to see a man with his arm half way eaten by a meat grinder, "Excuse me."

"A grind? Really?" the paramedic asked.

Callie smiled, "It's a meat grinder. Oh, whatever. Like you weren't thinking it, too."

Once we had the meat grinder guy in his own room, Callie removed the cloth covering the hole where the meat came out and took a look at it. "Hang in there, Dom." the man's brother encouraged him, "Yeah, you're looking good, bro, real good."

"You're lying, Tommy." Dominic groaned in pain, "I look like sopressata."

"Don't worry, Dominic. We just gave you some drugs for the pain." Meredith assured him, "You're gonna start to feel better real quick."

"What do you think, Dr. Torres?" I whispered, "Is this an amputation?"

Callie looked at me, "I-I don't know. Is it?"

"What?" I asked.

"No, you tell me, Dr. Forrest." Callie insisted, "Does this look like an amputation to you?

I stared at the chopped up fingers coming out of the meat grinder with Meredith, "I mean, yeah." we both answered.

"Amputate?" Dominic asked as Callie sighed, "No, you can't. I need my hand. Tommy, don't let them take my..."

Dominic fell silent as the drugs started to kick in. "Whoa. Is he-" another one of Dominic's brothers asked.

"No, those are the drugs." Callie assured them, "They work quickly, just like we have to."

"But, you're just gonna cut off his arm?" the brother asked, "I mean, I-"

Callie turned to him, "No, this is a teaching hospital, Mike, okay? I'm doing a thing. Grey, Forrest, here's how it's gonna work if you want my help on the boards. You're gonna run this. You're gonna decide our course of action. You're gonna be the people that stand between Dominic and a hook for a hand. You in or you out?"

"I already said amputation is our best option," Meredith said.

Callie nodded, "Oh. Best?"

"Yeah, best," Meredith confirmed.

"Okay, so book an O.R. and fire up the bone saw." Callie told us, "Let's move him out, people. Grey and Forrest want to amputate."

Looking down, Meredith touched one of the fingers sticking out of the machine, "Dr. Torres, wait. I have a finger here."

"I knew that already, Dr. Grey." Callie sighed.

"No, a viable finger." I added and squeezed the finger, "Look at the cap refill."

Mike tapped Callie's shoulder, "I-is that bad or good?"

"Dr. Forrest, is that bad or good?" Callie looked at me.

"That's good," I told Mike.

"All right. So what do you want to do?" Callie questioned.

Meredith pointed to the machine, "I think we should take this thing off and see what's left."

Callie nodded, "All right. Time's a factor here."

"Why is time a factor?" Tommy raised his eyebrows.

"Because the longer his hand stays in there, the more we compromise his circulation," Meredith answered.

"Tick tock, guys." Callie wrote something down on the chart.

I sighed, "So let's call up to maintenance and get a Sawzall."

"Mm. You really want to wait that long?" Callie tutted.

"Uh, fire and rescue have tools." I corrected myself.

Callie nodded, "Better."

Wasting no time, Meredith and I took off to get the tools. "Hey, th-these tools, what are they gonna do, rip apart the grinder?" Tommy stopped us.

"To save his hand," Meredith told him.

"Yeah, we dropped a couple grand on that thing." Tommy informed us, "You can't trash it."

I stared up at him, "To save his hand?"

Tommy turned to his brother, "Mike, how long is it gonna take you to get that thing apart?"

"I-I take it apart and- and I clean it every night." Mike replied, "We can get him out. Quick."

"Dr. Torres." Meredith turned to Callie.

Callie sighed, "Can you do it in under forty-five minutes?"

"Give or take," Mike admitted.

Callie looked back at us, "Grey? Forrest?"

"Dr. Grey what?" Meredith asked, "Do I think it's okay to let a couple of civilians take apart the machine that's grinding their brother's hand?"

Callie leaned against the bed with the clipboard in her hand, "Yeah."

Meredith and I exchanged a look, "Let's do it."

Mike clapped his hands together, "Okay. I'm gonna need a set of Allen wrenches and a Phillips head screwdriver."

"Make that two." Tommy turned to us, "Stat!"

Huffing, Meredith and I set off to find the tools. This day really was going to be a grind.