George O'Malley

~four~

Rileys POV

Derek left the room as everyone scrambled out of their seats to get a copy of Katie's chart. I took a copy and followed Meredith back to the spot where Alex started 'flirting' with her. I was looking over some of my patients charts when a nurse told Karev that his patient was still short of breath.

"Well she's old. She's freaking ancient." Alex explained to the nurse.

"She's lucky she's still breathing. I've got a shot to scrub in downstairs on a patient who wasn't alive during the civil war. Don't page me again." He finishes with the nurse.

Meredith walks away as Alex walks over to me.

"You know there could be something really wrong with her." I implied.

"Did I ask you?" He replied angrily.

"No. But if you want on shepherds surgery, I suggest evaluating Katie better than you did that patient." I shoot back as I walk away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Riley!" I hear George yell from the other end of the hallway.

"Oh hey George." I say, waiting for him to catch up.

"I can't find anything on Katie's chart. She has no CT lesions, no fever, nothing in her spinal tap." He tells me as we continue walking.

"I don't have any idea either. It's not an anurism. There's no blood on the CT." I am stumped.

"What if no one comes up with anything." George asks.

"Someone will."I assure him as we walk into a patients room to check their stats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "George quit pacing." I say.  We are stood outside the OR as his patient is getting surgery inside.

"I can't! I told these people that they were going to be fine. What if they aren't." He panics.

  I stand up and grab his shoulders.

"George you said it yourself. Dr.Burke is the best. This man is going to be fine." I tell him.

   He looks deep into my eyes, making my heart beat a little faster. His eyes search my face, not knowing what to say.

"Yea. Thanks." He says as he takes a step away from me.

   George faces his back towards the window of the scrub room. I keep watching as they pull the paddles out and shock the patients heart. This man can't die. George promised his wife that he would live (which was kind of a dumb move).

"Wow that was quick." George says as Burke walks through the door.
  

   "There was already too much damage. I had to let him go." Burke tells us.

George looks through the glass in shock. I place my hand on his back for sympathy.

  "It happens rarely. But it does happen. Right doctor Burke?" I question.

"Right Dr.Foster. It's the worst part of the game." He reminds us.

     "But I- I told his wi-  I told Gloria that he would be fine." George admits as I close my eyes tightly.

"I promised her."

   "You what?" Burke raises his voice a bit

"They have four little girls-"

   "I didn't ask you to promise anything this is my case." Burke cuts him off.

"Did you hear me promise? The only one that can keep a promise like that is God and I haven't seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patients family a good outcome!" Burke shouts the last two sentences.

   "I thought-" George tries.

"You think you're important enough to make promises, you get to tell his wife that she's a widow."Burke finishes, storming out of the scrub room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Christina, Izzie, and I are sitting on the beds in the hallways. Meredith found out what was wrong with Katie, but dint want to scrub in with Shepherd. For obvious reasons. The surgery was supposed to go to Yang, buy Meredith didn't tell Derek.

"I'll tell him I changed my mind." Mer says, standing in the doorway.

   "You know don't do me any favors it's fine." Christina shoots back.

"Christina."

    "You know you did a cut throat thing. Don't come to me for absolution. You wanna be a shark be a shark." Christina tells Meredith as I pop an apple into my mouth.

"Christina I'm not-"

     "Oh yes you are." Christina cuts Meredith off.

"You know what. Screw you. I don't get picked for surgery because I slept with my boss and I didn't get into med school because I have a famous mother." Christina shouts.

   I glance at Izzie, who is already looking at me. Meredith storms out of the room, leaving me and Izzie speechless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the 40 hour mark, I sit by George outside of the hospital. He is pretty torn up about his patient.

   "I wish I wanted to be a chef. Or a ski instructor. Or a kindergarten teacher." I tell him.

He looks at me with watery eyes, making me feel really bad.

   "You know I would have been a really good postal worker. I'm dependable. You know my parents tell everyone they meet that their sons a surgeon. As if it's this big accomplishment. I'm a superhero or something. If they could see me now." George replies.

"When I told my mom I wanted to go to medical school, she tried to talk me out of it. She said she didn't think I could handle all the blood. That I would never make it. So the way I see it superhero sounds pretty Dang good."I smile at him.

   "We are gonna survive this right?" George asks.

"Yea. Definitely." I reassure him  as he takes my hand into his.

   He looks over at me and smiles, as I do the same.

We are gonna survive this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The feels writing the last scene killed me.

Gah I miss Georgie so much.

Anywho thanks for reading!