Saving Us

Get Back To Where We Were

A month has passed since Neil and Claire's first date. Or rather, dates. They have been on a few more since then. Mostly dinners at a restaurant nearby. If not, they jog together after work. At the hospital, Claire is still not working with Neil.

"Neil. My office. Now." called Dr. Lim.
Neil leaves the residents' lounge while Dr. Park and Dr. Reznick watches.

"What's up?" he asked.
"I heard from Dr. Andrews that Claire is still booted off your service."
He sighs. "Yes, she is."
"Neil, you need to take her back."
"Audrey, she is my resident. It's my decision."
"And you're my attending. It's clearly causing tension on the team and you're not being the best captain."
Neil sighs.
"Neil, you have cut her learning in half."
"She has a lot to learning from you and Andrews. I don't see the issue."
"You don't realise that you have cut everyone else's teaching in half. I don't get to teach Reznick, Park and Murphy that much because Claire is with me, most of the time. You have an ego and..."
"So now I have an ego?"
"Yeah, and it's getting in the way of working together as a team. You need to put your ego aside and fix this. You need to apologise to her."
"You're kidding. This is her fault, not mine."
"She kept a secret from you. So you punish her by booting her. Sounds like it's both of your faults. But mainly yours."
"Unbelievable. I have patients to see. I need to go."
"You better apologise."
He walks out the door and goes back to the residents' lounge.

"Okay. Where were we?" Neil asked.
"We figured out a simple solution. We use a tube." said Dr. Park.
"I'm listening." said Neil, intrigued.
They explain the procedure.
"That would work, if she wasn't haemophilic."
"Right." said Dr. Park, sighing.
There is silence.
"What if we use insert a balloon?"
They look at her.
"I know, it is radical, but.."
"That could work." said Dr. Melendez.
Dr. Reznick smiles.
"Nice job, you two. Present the procedure to the patient and get her consent."

They nod and he is left alone in the residents' lounge.

He continues with paperwork and Dr. Reznick and Dr. Park return with the patient's consent.

"Great. You guys can scrub in in the meantime. I will be there soon."
"Where are you going?" asked Dr. Reznick.
"I have things to see to before surgery."
He leaves and walks to the OR.

He sees Dr. Browne scrubbing in for Dr. Lim's surgery.

He takes a deep breath.
"Dr. Browne." he said, as a greeting.
"Dr. Melendez." she said.
She waits for him to speak.
"It was wrong of me to boot you off my service. I didn't realise that it would cause this much tension on the team. Not only between you and me, but Reznick as well."
He exhales.
"I never thought that by booting you off I was not only cutting your learning in half. I was cutting Park, Reznick and Murphy's as well. I also cut the other attendings' teaching in half as well. And for that I am truly sorry."
She keeps quiet for a moment.
She nods.
"Thank you."
He nods. "All the best with the surgery."
She nods in reply.
He starts to walk towards the door.
Just then, Dr. Lim walks in, about to scrub in. "Dr. Browne. You ready?"
"Yeah." she nods.
Neil takes it as a sign to leave.
He turns towards the door.
He turns to look at Claire.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." he said.
She nods and watches him leave.
She makes her way to the patient.
Neil enters his OR and scrubs in.
"Okay. Let's do this."

Hours later, he exits the hospital and sees Claire outside. He walks towards her.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"How's the patient?" he asked.
"He is doing great. Should be able to leave in a few days. And yours?"
"She is fine."
"Morgan told me that the patient has haemophilia."
"Yeah. Fortunately, she didn't bleed, so it was a good day."
She smiles.
He smiles and exhales while looking at her.