Goodbye Kiss

36. Lockdown

Lockdown
Season 8 x 22
Late May, 2002:

i woke up go my phone ringing. rolling to my side, i was surprised to see that carter had left for work already and was not in bed.
then again, his shift had started almost two hours ago.
between the heat, marks funeral and just life itself, i'd been pretty stressed. speaking about marks funeral, it was beautiful. it felt so out of the ordinary to be celebrating a man's life. a man who i had grown closer to these past few months.
"hello?" i groaned
"i know you're not in until one but we need you" susan said
it was just coming on noon.
"be there soon" i yawned
"love you gianna" she groaned
i hung up and reached for a light pink spagetti strapped top. the edges of my red bra showed through the shirt but, i put my open scrub shirt overtop of it.

"oh my god, i'm so glad you're here" abby panted, walking by.
i quickly clocked in and walked toward the trauma rooms.
"excuse me" a man shouted, making me turn around.
"nurse, we need to be seen" he said, wide-eyed
"sorry, they've been a little chaotic, a trauma came in" i smiled
"what's wrong with the kiddos?" i added, crouching down toward them.
the mother took the blanket off her little girls face. she was covered in some sort of pocs.
"okay" i said, wide-eyed, now.
"i'll find you a doctor"
i stood back up.
"how long have you been waiting?"
"too long"
"i'll be right back" i smiled, running down the hallway.
"gianna" carter smiled
"bet you mis-"
"something like that" i said, shaking my head
"there's two patients waiting in chairs"
"it doesn't look too good"
"and they've been waiting way too long"
"i'll go check them out" carter shrugged
i looked down at the iv i needed for a patient "i'll get these to luka"
he nodded and i headed off.
——
after putting an iv in one patient and discharging two others, i headed back toward the admit desk.
surprisingly, the er wasn't even that busy. however, i saw that security was locking every door.
"what's going on?"
chen was walking toward an empty exam room.
"we're locking down"
"what?"
i walked toward susan.
"what the hell is happening?"
"carters patient might have smallpox" she whispered
small pox?

an hour later and all the patients were already getting ansy. i was just trying to keep all of mine entertained.
"nurse?"
"hm?"
"what's happening?"
"i don't know" i shrugged
"really" i added
"it's protocol"
"why won't you tell me?"
"because i don't know what's going on for sure yet" i shrugged
"once i know, i'll tell you"
"i wanna go home" he groaned
"is there anything i can get you?"
he looked at the man next to him
"a deck of cards"
"i'll see what i can do" i smiled

i walked to the trauma room, the little girl that those parents brought in was dead.
i didn't know much, especially that this was that bad.
that all only made matters worse.
the chicago pd was barricading the er now.
i let out a sigh and walked back to the admit desk. it didn't help that the er was scalding hot.
"im so tired" i yawned
"you might wanna call your mom back"
apparently she kept on calling after seeing the news..
"sorry, susan" i frowned, dialling the phone
"yeah ma, im alright"
"i'll be fine" i laughed
"by tomorrow"
"yeah, i'll call you when i get out of here"
"love you too"
"bye"
"well?"
i shrugged my shoulders
"pizza is on the way for these crazy people"

my tank top was full of sweat stains and my little scrub top had been taken off a long time ago. my bra was showing through my shirt, but i didn't care anymore. i mean, what did it matter anymore? i'd been stuck in this hospital far too long.
all i could find to eat was a stale box of rice chex.
"gianna?"
"that's me" i smiled
i put down the box of cereal
"you're the nurse manager in the er?"
"yes i am" i nodded
"follow me"
i followed the chicago health and control lady into curtain three, she had a video playing on vaccinations.
"you're gonna be the one to administer these"
"there still coming in, though"
"okay" i nodded, tilting my head.
i watched the video.
however, as i did, i looked out the window. it looked like the patients had become angry and were trying to smash windows to get out of the exits.
"it's gonna be a long night" i sighed
"get comfortable" the lady laughed
——
"you look tired" luka smiled, sitting next to me on an empty gurney.
i looked up at his face, he had big dark bags under his eyes and his face glistened with sweat.
"you do too" i smiled
he pointed over to the trauma room
"carter and abby are stuck quarantining in there"
i raised an eyebrow "really?"
"i'm gonna go check on them" i smiled
"i'll be right back"
i wandered over to the trauma room, and i heard luka follow me close behind.
i looked into the room from behind the glass.
i couldn't believe it, though. abby had her hands around johns neck, she was icing it, he was looking down at her. then, he looked down at her and kissed her. it's not like it was a little peck or anything. he kissed her two times. she kissed back too.
a wave of disgust came over me. i didn't really know how to feel, but i didn't feel good. i felt stupid, mad and disappointed all at the same time.
carter looked up out of the door just as i turned around and walked out.
once again, luka followed me back to the admit desk.
"gianna"
i gave carter a nasty look as he watched me from the window.
as if this night couldn't of gotten worse..

a/n: remember when i said things were getting good? they are getting good alright. poor gianna, i mean. this episode was a wild one. crazy how they also moved past from marks death, too. i guess it just proved the fact that life keeps on flashing before you. it's bittersweet. i hope you enjoyed this part though! definitely not as detailed as the episode, but the next part will be. stay tuned, things are only getting better for gianna.