𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄 ━ derek shepherd

002. ━ burke's operation

season two // episodes twenty-six and twenty seven
[ burke's operation ]

𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 patient room and saw Dr. Preston Burke laying in the bed, his hand into a fist.

"How you doin'?" Derek asked him, walking over to the bed. Abby, meanwhile, pulled her long brown locks into a messy bun before taking the chart from the end of the bed and began reading it over.

Burke sighed at Derek's question. "I'm developing numbness in my... fourth and fifth fingers."

"And there's a pseudo aneurysm in the subclavian artery," Abby added, looking up from the chart and at the cardio surgeon.

Burke raised an eyebrow at her and Derek cleared his throat. "Oh, right. Dr. Preston Burke, this is Dr. Abigail Thompson. She's agreed to help me with your surgery."

Abby smiled at him. "Just Abby is fine. It's nice to meet you, Dr. Burke."

"You, too."

"Alright." Derek nodded, returning to the subject of the surgery. "You know the drill. We'll wait a few days, maybe the aneurysm won't grow."

"Even if it stays this size," Burke said with a huff. "There's too much damage."

"We'll just go in there and we'll fix it," Derek told him. "We'll relieve the compression on the nerves."

"But the operation could cause damage to the nerves," Burke pressed, looking between the two neurosurgeons.

Abby nodded with a sigh. "Yes."

"And I could..." He trailed off and let out a breath. "Lose function of the entire arm."

Derek pressed his lips together. "Y—Yes."

Burke looked at the two surgeons in the room. "Can you do this?" he asked them. "Are you good enough to do this?"

"I think so." Derek nodded. "But that's why I asked Dr. Thompson to join me. I need another set of eyes for this."

"Well, then what about you?" Burke asked, shifting his gaze to the female surgeon. "Are you good enough to do this?"

Derek also turned to Abby who let out a breath under their gazes. "I won't lie..." she said, clearing her throat. "It'll be hard. Anything to do with nerves is always a risk and it's always complicated."

"So you can't do it," Burke sighed, leaning further into the pillow.

"That's not what I said." Derek and Burke both looked back at her, the latter with a hopeful expression on his face. "That's not what I said. But... if we do this, then Dr. Shepherd needs to be on board. So it's up to him whether we do this or not."

Burke turned to his left and faced the man. "Derek?"

He let out a breath. "We'll wait until the morning," he replied. "And we'll evaluate after that."