The Lieutenant's Love

Crash Into Me

Mark had called us all into a patient's room.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is Nick Hanscomb," Mark said.

"Hi," Nick said.

"Nick was lucky enough to have me remove a large carotid body tumor from his neck. The fact that I was able to get clean boundaries is pretty darn impressive, even for me," Mark said.

"Congratulations," Alex said.

"Don't interrupt. Now despite the fact that it was a wildly successful surgery, we had to dissect out deep lymph nodes in his neck. There is now only a delicate flap of skin between his carotid artery and the outside world. That said, what am I worried about?" Mark asked.

"I would think given the friability of the skin, that there's a great possibility that the, um, the artery could blow?" Cristina asked.

"Right," Mark said.

"Oh, don't worry. I've ... I've heard this before," Nick said.

"If that happens, whoever's in the room, I don't care if it's a doctor, a nurse, an orderly, your job is to stop the bleeding then page me, in that order. Are we clear? Any questions?" Mark asked.

"They look scared," Nick said.

"They're medical professionals, Nick. A healthy level of fear is encouraged," Mark said.

"Okay, then, uh, if I do die, it will have been lovely meeting you all," Nick said.

"See? The patient is confident. You should be confident. That's it," Mark said.

Timeskip

I was doing charts.

"Dr Sloan, think you can help me outside with the ambulance crash?" Dr Webber asked.

"Yes sir," I said. I followed him down to the ambulance bay. We both got on the floor.

"Talk to me. I need you to help me hold on until Sara gets here," Stan said.

"I'm not helping you hold on, cause you're not dying," Ray said.

"Ray. Talk to him. Help him," Dr Webber said.

"Remember the night you met Sara ... at Joe's? You used that ... that stupid line about ..." Ray said.

"About the bet over the song lyrics?" Stan asked with a smile.

"Right. Right. What was that song?" Ray asked.

"It was, uh. It was. "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone," Stan said.

"I can see all the obstacles in my way gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day. It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day," Stan and Ray sang together. Stan struggled to breath.

"What comes next?" Stan asked.

"I don't know," Ray said.

"I think I can make it now, the pain is gone," Dr Webber and I said.

"I, um, I can't believe Sara fell for that line. Listen, when you get outta here, you're gonna have a great story to tell. You can tell it in the bar. You tell 'em how you got into this accident and your best friend died. Chicks love that stuff. Ray. Don't tell Sara that I was talkin' about you gettin' tail right before I died," Stan said. They both laughed.

"Okay," Ray said.

"She should be here any minute. Just hold on, Stan," Dr Webber said.

"Sloan, what about you and your girl?" Stan asked.

"I proposed," I said.

"That's awesome. Congrats man. If I weren't going to die I would buy you a drink," Stan said. "Drink for me," Stan said.