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

10 | We Work

As I stood there, dealing with Dominic, I wasn't actually one hundred percent sure that we could have his hand. However, one thing I was sure of; I would never be able to look at ground-up meat the same again.

"O-okay? You got it?" Mike asked as they removed the panel from the grinder, "You got it?"

Callie turned to Meredith and me, "So what's your plan?"

Meredith thought for a moment as I checked Dominic's heartbeat, "Okay, the plan is, they get this thing off, and then we assess."

"Right, but what if they don't." Callie countered, "You need an alternate plan."

"Well, we don't need an alternate plan, because they're gonna get it off." Meredith looked to the brothers.

Just then, one of the monitors went off. Both brothers instantly backed away from the machine with their hands up. "What'd you do?" Tommy put the blame on Mike.

"I didn't do anything," Mike told him.

"The more you guys loosen that, the more he's gonna bleed," I informed them as I put a cloth back over the meat output hole.

Mike looked to me, "Should we stop?"

I shook my head, "No, keep going, just go faster."

"Y-you sure you have time for that?" Callie kept interrogating us.

I looked up at her, "If you have something to suggest, why don't you?"

Callie crossed her arms against her chest, showing no signs of stopping, "Now you're just wasting everyone's time."

Meredith sighed, "Well, we have to get him up to the O.R. or he's gonna bleed out."

"Yeah, well, his hand's still trapped in that grinder." Callie reminded us as if we weren't already fully aware.

"Let's get a pneumatic tourniquet on his arm above the grinder." I asserted, "That'll buy us a few minutes."

Callie nodded, "Okay."

Meredith turned to the brothers, "I can give you guys fifteen minutes, and after that, we have to amputate."

"Understood." Tommy went back to work.


"I almost got it," Tommy said as Callie, Meredith, and I stood by, watching the time like a hawk. "B.P.'s dropping," Callie told us.

"You guys need to be done now." Meredith grew impatient with the brothers.

Mike turned to us, "Just one second, Dr. Grey. Just one...one more-"

"And done." Tommy pulled out the last part of the grinder.

"We should be able to turn back the auger and pull him out," Mike said.

Callie shook her head as the three of us moved in, "No, we'll pull him out. It's time for you to go." Callie handed a wrench to Meredith, "Grey, take this. You've got the auger."

Slowly, Meredith started to turn the auger. "Look, can't we just stick around and see-" Tommy asked.

"There we go." Callie successfully pulled Dominic's hand out of the grinder, only two fingers still intact.

"Oh, holy God." Tommy gasped before he fainted. Seconds after, Mike too fell to the ground.

"Okay, so...we've got a piece of hand with sort of fingers on it." Callie looked at Dominic's hand.

With gloves on, I pulled the severed fingers out of the grinder, "What about these? Can these be saved?"

"I don't know." Callie huffed, "Can they?"

After looking at the finger, Meredith and I decided it was worth a shot to try and re-attach the fingers. So, up to the O.R. we went, to hopefully save this man's hand.


"Ugh." Meredith groaned as we cleaned the fingers.

Callie looked up from Dominic, "Grey, I'm surprised. I wouldn't think you'd be thrown by a little thing like a severed finger."

Meredith took a deep breath, "Yeah, well, it's just, it smells like pork."

As Callie turned away, Meredith gagged again. Looking up to the gallery, I saw Alex, Jackson, Lexie, and Derek's sister, Amelia, all watching us. "Oh, full house." I sighed as I continued to clean my severed finger.

"Okay, so I think it'll work." Meredith told Callie once the fingers were ready, "If we cut down the macerated part of the finger, it'll be short, but it'll still be salvageable."

Callie nodded and pointed to the thumb which was just a small lump of ground-up flesh, "Okay, but this thumb, I'm gonna go ahead and say that's not salvageable. Yeah, you're done here. He'll be better off with a prosthetic."

"No," I said as Callie walked back over to the table.

"The thumb is responsible for forty percent of hand function." Callie turned back to us, "Without it, we're done."

Meredith looked down at the fingers, "But there's gotta be something else. I mean, I read something about surgeons using a man's big toe as-as a replacement for a thumb. Let's do that. Let's-let's use his big toe."

Callie sighed, "Listen, Dr. Frankenstein, the big toe, it's pretty important, you know, for walking."

"And he can learn to re-balance," I said.

"Or he can keep his toe where it is," Callie argued.

"This is a good fix." Meredith insisted, "I know it is."

Callie huffed, "No, it's not."

"Dr. Torres, it has to be," Meredith told her.

Callie looked at us, "The big toe is not the fix. That is why we're gonna use the second toe. It'll provide the same benefits, but reduce potential disability."

"Really?" Meredith and I asked.

Callie nodded, "Yeah, but we're not doing anything without the patient's consent."

So, just like that, we had to finish up and wait for Dominic to wake up to talk to him about the toe idea.

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"His toe?! Are you serious?!" Tommy yelled.

Mike turned to his brother, "Tommy, calm down."

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Tommy apologized, "I didn't mean to yell. It's just...that's weird."

"Yeah." Meredith nodded.

"But if I say okay, I get my hand back?" Dominic asked, "Otherwise, you fit me for a hook?"

"A prosthetic, but if you give the go-ahead-" I told him.

"He gets a hand," Tommy said as he and Mike looked down at Dominic.

"Well, what are you looking at me for?" Dominic questioned, "Take my toe already. Take my left nut if it'll help."

Meredith made a face, "I...think the toe will be fine."

With that, we turned and gave the thumbs up to Callie through the window who was standing just outside of the room. So that night we had Dominic back into the O.R. and ready to get a toe for a thumb.

"He's dorsal dominant, so I'm not going to use a plantar incision to find the artery," Meredith announced as we worked on getting the toe.

"Okay." Callie agreed from Dominic's hand.

"And we have isolated a good draining vein," I added.

Callie nodded, "Uh-huh."

Meredith looked up for a moment, "Is that it? You're not gonna ask us if we're sure?"

"Are you...sure?" Callie asked.

"Yes." Meredith nodded as I continued with the toe.

Callie sighed, "Okay, then. You're impressive."

"I am," Meredith said in unison.

Callie looked to us, "Look, there's always been a lot of hype surrounding you two, okay? Meredith Grey, ohh, child of Ellis; Ellie Forrest, one of the youngest surgical interns to enter a hospital, ohh, aren't they so special?"

"You don't have to help us if you don't want to," I told Callie.

Callie stopped me, "No, no, no, that's not...that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying...you're tougher than I thought. I'm saying...you're smart. I'm...saying...okay, look...you know, we've never been friends, not even when I was with George, mainly because you thought I was a freak and you're blonde and very..." she directed this mostly as Meredith I could tell, "And now you have a baby, and I have a baby, Ellie is still a baby, and we're both married and Ellie is dating Jackson again, and...I don't know. I'm saying, we're kind of alike. I'm saying I'll help you."

I chuckled, "I feel that that speech was directed at Meredith."

"Ah, well, you'll get there." Callie told me, "You're Meredith and me three years ago."

"You're not a freak." Meredith assured Callie, "And we can be friends. "

Callie's face turned serious, "Every morning, five days a week, you are in my office at 4:00 A.M. and we work. If you don't show up, if you are late, I will kick your ass. We work, guys. We work. And you two are gonna pass this test. You're gonna pass it hard."

Once we were ready, we attached the toe to the hand. The sight was odd, and probably disgusting to most, but to me it was beautiful. A work of art if you will.