Lost and Found

Chapter 55

Enjoy!

"So, what's next?"

Meredith's voice rang through the phone. Amelia stared back at Herman's brain, at all the scans on the wall, at her reflection in the scrub room glass. Her mind tick-ticked, until...

Pick a path.

"Navigation Probe," Amelia commanded, turning back to the fleshy pink matter beneath her fingers. Eyes deep in the microscope, she focused. She'd made her choice.

"Dr. Shepherd is identifying the Lamina Terminalis so she can go around the Commissure, laterally dissecting away from the perforated arteries." Edwards narrated.

"Amelia?" Dr. Webber arrived, standing off to the side. "Mark asked me to come in. Is that okay?"

"It's fine," she nodded. She'd need all the support she could get. "Bipolars." She began to carefully dissect her path across the cortex, around the Commissure.

"Can you avoid splitting the Fornix?" Meredith asked, still on speaker.

"I sure as hell hope so," she muttered, using all her concentration to avoid the arteries.

"Keep going. Find your way out. I've gotta go. Lexie needs me."

"I'll be alright."

"I know you will."

Painstakingly she made her way through Herman's brain, along the path she mapped out in her head. Everything else around her faded and dulled. She stopped hearing the beeps of the monitors, the comments and requests from the nurses and those watching, even Edwards' narration faded into the background as she picked and pulled at the tumor.

There was a shift in the air. Amelia looked up. The scrub nurses were swapping out, finishing their shift. Amelia turned to her resident.. "How're you feeling, Edwards?"

"Good." Stephanie arched her back and loosened her shoulders. "I'm good," she said.

"You sure?" Amelia said, offering her an out. She knew Edwards must be tired and sore already. She was. And she was used to long surgeries. "This is the point of no return," she said. It would be too difficult to replace her after this.

"I'm here," her resident spoke with confidence. "I'm with you, Dr. Shepherd. You're not gonna find a better assist than me, I earned this spot."

Amelia couldn't help the small smile creeping on her lips. She wasn't as alone as she thought she was. "Are you ready?"

"Are you?"

"Smartass."

xxx

Arizona carefully finished the embolizing the second last artery. It was taking too long, but it couldn't be helped. It was taking all her effort and concentration to complete this task.

"This is taking way too long," Bailey muttered. "Increase ventilatory support," she told the anesthesiologist.

"Ligating the last artery," Robbins said tiredly. Suddenly the monitors shrilled. Her head snapped to the sats on the screens.

"We've lost the fetal pulse. Is the cord compressed?" Karev asked.

She quickly finished her last stitch, "No, he's in cardiac arrest." Dammit. She'd been almost done.

Bailey fruitlessly dabbed with lap pads. It wasn't helping.

"Put your hand on top of the wound like this," Arizona instructed, watching as Bailey did so. "Now, put your other hand underneath." She guided her colleague's hands around the baby's back. "Press down. It's okay, he won't break." This young, she'd discovered how strong and resilient a fetus was. Their bones, cartilage and muscle were actually quite malleable. "Good, good. Push his chest up."