Magic Smile

Chapter 14: Neuro! Day 1

"Girly, thank you again for watching Scout the other night. Link and I really appreciated it! I can't believe it's already your second week as an intern!" Aunt Amelia said as we both rode up on the elevator to see a patient.

"Me either, the first week went by so fast. And you're welcome. Jackson and I had a lot of fun with all the kids."

"I heard Bailey brushed your hair?"

"He did. He was surprisingly good at it too." Aunt Amy smiled at me as we got off on the Peds floor. Alex was already in the room waiting for us.

"Dr. Montgomery-Sloan present." Alex said with a smile. 

"Quinn Wesley, 13, they are here today to remove their grade four medulloblastoma. The blastoma first presented itself two months ago and Quinn has had two rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor which have been successful. Dr. Shepherd and I will be removing the medulloblastoma with a craniotomy." Alex smiled at me as did Quinn.

"I'm sorry I'm late my meeting ran over. Quinnie how are you doing my baby girl?" My blood boiled at hearing Quinn's mother misgender them. It was quite clear that Quinn was uncomfortable too.

"Quinn, what's the matter baby? What's wrong with her?" Their mother stared at the three of us hoping us doctors would somehow fix her child, but it was clear to me that Quinn was not in anymore physical pain than they were two minutes prior.

"Quinn's going to have their craniotomy today." Their mother's face contorted as an ugly green vein popped in the middle of her forehead. 

"Quinn is my daughter Dr..." Ms. Wesley started, "Montgomery-Sloan." I finished.

"Stop referring to her as they. They is plural and she is one person. You'd think with all that schooling you doctors do you'd know proper grammar." Ms. Wesley practically spat at me. I clenched the charts to my chest trying to settle down, but I couldn't help the response falling out of my mouth.

"Actually Ms. Wesley your teenager's pronouns are they/them. They have made it quite clear they're non-binary. And just so you know you yourself use they/them pronouns in everyday life referring to singular people. For example; that nurse over there has cool shoes I think I'll ask them where they got their shoes. But maybe you'd know that if you weren't so busy working and paid more attention to Quinn's needs." I couldn't help the slew of words that came out of my mouth, but I did make sure to punctuate every word despite Ms. Wesley's glare.

Alex looked like he was going to burst into laughter and even Aunt Amy wanted to smile. Ms. Wesley on the other hand was about ready to scream. Just as she opened her mouth to speak Quinn cut her off.

"Dr. Montgomery-Sloan is right mom. I'm non-binary. I am not a girl. We've talked about this." Their mother just stared at Quinn not really knowing what to say. The three of us took it as a sign to leave the room.

"That was badass Gummy Bear!" Alex whisper yelled to me as he gave me a high five. I smiled proudly to myself. 

"Sticking up for your patient is admirable Y/n, but just remember so is bedside manner. Don't make it a habit because parents can request you off of a surgery." I nodded at Aunt Amy, but even she couldn't hide her proud smirk as we continued rounds.

I'm not sure what came over me back there. Usually I'm great with parents, but not when they're blatantly disrespecting their children. It's not that hard to be the parent a child deserves.

"Hey Kiddo, come here for a sec." Uncle Derek called to me after I'd finished rounds.

"What's up Uncle D?" He flicked his head up from his charts making sure no one could hear. I smiled at him with his childish antics.