Saving Us

Surgery

Claire wakes up. She is surprised to see where she is lying. She tries to get up without waking Neil, but he is already awake.

"Hey", he says, caressing her hair and her face.
She blushed and shivered.

"Hey. How did..." she began to ask.

"I asked Nurse Villanueva to help pick you up once you fell asleep. You are quite heavy. She had a hard time lifting you." teased Neil.

"Funny", said Claire, feigning a smile.

Just then, Audrey entered.

"Hey. We gotta get you prepped. Dr. Browne, you need to get to the OR."
She then looks at Neil and Claire, suspiciously.

Claire nods. "Right. I gotta go."
She then turns to Neil.
"I will see you when you get out."

Neil nods and squeezes her hand before letting go. He sees Audrey looking at them. He gives a stern stare.
"Nothing is going on."
Audrey nods, not believing him.
"Okay. If you say so. I'll let it slide though, since you're a patient."
He rolls his eyes and then sighs with relief as she exits.

Claire gets prepped and sees Neil in the OR next door to hers.

"Never thought I would ever see you here." said Dr. Andrews.
Claire smiled: "Never say never."
He smiled.
"You know the routine. Count backwards from... " said Dr. Andrews.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6..." interrupted Claire.
He smiled and she was asleep.

A few hours later...

"Specimen extracted. Dr. Park, please close up."

Dr. Lim is in the other OR and she takes the liver from Dr. Andrews.

She extracts Neil's liver and transplants the piece extracted from Claire.

"Transplant completed." said Dr. Lim.
She closed him up.

Hours later, Audrey is with Claire.

"You did great, Claire."

"Thanks" she said.

She nods and then sighs.

"Somehow, you are going to have to tell him. He is going to start wondering if you do not see him soon."
Claire sighs.
"Get some rest."
She turns to exit the room.

"Can't you tell him?" asked Claire.

"It is not my secret to tell."
She exits.

She then enters Neil's room. 
He wakes up and his eyes are looking around for something. For someone. For Claire. He spots Audrey and exhales with disappointment.

"Hey. How did I do?" he asked.

"You did quite great. You will obviously need to be here for a while. You may have to have quite a few tests." said Audrey.

"You do realise that I'm a doctor too, Audrey." said Neil.

"Not right now, you're not. Get some rest."

"Where is Claire? I thought she was with you in the surgery." asked Neil.

Audrey feels anxious.
"She was, but Andrews has her on consults and then paperwork in the residents' lounge. Which reminds me, that I have my own pile of paperwork to get through and a meeting. See you."

He nods.

She leaves.

Neil falls asleep and so does Claire.