flatline [m.s]

xviii.

- - -
we'll try again and we'll fail again because that's what progress looks like. progress looks like a bunch of failures.
- - -

"oh, joanne, this is why you and i need to get sick, these doctors," elaine gushes, as richard, mark, lia and alex all enter connie's room.

"one's more handsome than the next," joanne grins.

"oh, and here comes the handsomest one of them all," connie says. "hi, dr. webber."

"connie," richard greets.

"he took my appendix out three years ago. barely left a scar," connie informs her friends. "how's adele? and your daughter?"

"um, oh, she's good. good," richard mumbles. "and my daughter is now our head of cardio. in fact she's right here."

"oh my goodness, how beautiful," connie beams, and mark smiles slightly to himself at her words, from where he stands behind lia. "it's lovely to meet you. how are you, dear?"

"the pleasure's all mine," lia smiles at connie. "but more importantly; how are you doing?"

"oh, i just had a little bump on my tongue removed is all," connie tries to brush it off. "couple of taste buds. turns out it was a little touch of cancer. so i'm here to have the rest of it out. i mean, you know, the cancer, not the taste buds. i don't know exactly how bad it is because dr. sloan over there has been awfully quiet."

"'cause you don't let him get a word in edgewise is why," joanne chuckles.

"uh, how is she, dr. sloan?" richard turns to mark.

"well, we just got back the pathology report," mark explains. "connie, unfortunately, the cancer is a bit more widespread than we'd hoped. it's over sixty percent of your tongue."

"well, what- what does she do, chemo?" joanne asks.

"i think the, uh, best bet is a micro-vascular free flap," mark suggests. "dr. webber?"

"uh, he'll remove the cancerous part of the tongue, and then reconstruct it with a strip of flesh from your legs," lia explains. "karev?"

"the extra flesh will provide the bulk your tongue needs to breathe properly, chew, swallow," alex adds.

"and talk?" connie asks, hopefully. "dr. sloan... i'll be able to talk, won't i?"

"you'll be able to talk, connie," mark tells her, before pausing. "i just don't know how well you'll be understood."

■ ■ ■

"so, do you fancy getting a drink tonight?" mark asks lia as they're stood at the nurses station. "as friends, of course."

"mark..." lia trails off.

"friends," mark repeats, stepping closer to her. "friends go out for drinks together, all the time, without having sex."

"just drinks, no sex?"

"just drinks," mark confirms with a smirk. "no sex."

"no sex," she repeats, leaning slightly into mark.