On Call | Grey's Anatomy // Book 3 // COMPLETED

6 | HIV Positive

The Harper Avery is one of the highest awards a surgeon can earn. They always make the calls to the nominees on the same Friday of the same month at eight a.m. east coast time...five a.m. in Seattle. If the phone rings, everything changes. Suddenly, you're a superstar. If it doesn't...I don't know.

The loud alarm woke the three of us up. Meredith and I had slept over in Cristina's room in Alex's house that night so that we could be together when Cristina got the call. There was no if...it was when.

"Oh, my God!" Cristina yelled as she and Meredith shot up from the bed while I yawned from the floor, "The phone! Oh, Mer!"

Meredith reached for the alarm to shut it off, "Oh! I'm sorry."

Standing up, I sat down on the end of the bed. "Did we remember to-" Cristina started.

"No, no, it's...it's-it's charged." Meredith grabbed the phone, "It's...it's charged, and the ringer's on. Okay, hold on. You got to put on some lipstick. Here."

Cristina grabbed the lipstick from Meredith and dug around for a compact mirror, "What if-"

"No!" I told her, "It's not possible, because Catherine Avery said that you were on the shortlist, and your project is...it's innovative."

Meredith nodded, "It's gonna lead to the actual printing of hearts. Millions will be saved."

Cristina applied the lipstick, "What time is it?"

"Five-o-one." Meredith checked the phone.

"Did they?" Alex stuck his head in the door.

Meredith shook her head, "Not yet."

"Did they?" Jo ran up beside Alex.

"No." Alex and I both said.

"Oh, God!" Cristina started to freak out.

Jo and Alex sat down beside me. "Okay, listen, if there are five nominees, it's alphabetical." Meredith tried to calm everyone down, "Yang is last."

Just then a cellphone went off, but it was just Jo's. "Oh!" Jo picked up the device, "Oh, sorry."

"Geez, hairball." Cristina snapped, obviously on edge.

"It's Shane." Jo answered her phone, "Hey. No. Uh, not yet, but it's still early. It's uh..."

"Five-o-two." Cristina huffed.

Cristina stared down at her cell, "Mer, seriously, what if they don't call?"

Seconds later, the ringer went off. Everyone started to scream. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Cristina panicked, "What do I do?"

"Answer it," Alex told her.

Cristina read the caller I.D., "It's Boston. It's Boston. It's them. It's them. It's them."

"Okay." Meredith turned to her, "You are gonna be gracious and humble. You are gonna thank them, but you are not gonna grovel. You remember who you are. You are Cristina Yang, and you are going to change the face of medicine. Go."

"Just answer the damn phone!" Alex grumbled.

"Oh, shh! Quiet." Cristina stood up on the bed and answered the call, "Hello? Yes, this is Cristina Yang."

══════════════════

The lobby was packed full of staff that morning; everyone waiting for Cristina to walk in. There were balloons around the lobby and everyone had a glass of champagne. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with people that I had never even seen before, but it was for a good cause. Cristina deserved this.

As soon as the doors opened and Cristina's face came into sight, I smiled. "SURPRISE!" everyone shouted. Owen and Arizona, who had walked in with Cristina, smiled wide. "Congratulations Doctor Yang." people called over the cheering.

Once the celebration had calmed down, I headed off with Meredith to work with her on her HIV kidney transplant. Although she didn't necessarily need the help, it was still an interesting case and I had no surgeries booked for the day. However, with Trauma, you never know.

══════════════════

"Okay, guys, bear with me." Meredith looked to the gentlemen sitting in front of us in the patient room, "I know we've gone through all this before, but the hospital just needs your consent one more time. Go ahead, Murphy."

Leah nodded and looked down at the tablet, "State your name."

"Keith Kalber." the older man with white hair said.

"Keith, you understand that the kidney you're getting today is being donated from a person infected with HIV?" Leah read off of the screen.

Keith turned to the other man and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I should hope so. I was there the day he got his diagnosis."

Leah nodded, "And although small, there is a risk of superinfection by mixing his strains of the virus with yours. Knowing this, do you still wish to proceed?"

"I do," Keith answered.

"God, it feels like we're getting married." the other man, Marty, sighed.

Keith scoffed, "How would you know how that feels?"

"Excuse me?" Marty chuckled.

"He always has the best boyfriends, but he refuses to commit," Keith explained.

Marty shook his head, "Can we just get back to my huge sacrifice?"

"Marty, you understand that the risk of donation are similar to those involved with any major surgery, such as bleeding and infection?" I stepped up, knowing this question by heart. As a Trauma surgeon, I dealt with my fair share of transplants and donations. "And death resulting in kidney donation is extremely rare." I finished.

Marty stared back at me, "Define...'extremely.'"

"Uh, .06 percent," Meredith assured him.

"Oh." Marty seemed worried as he inhaled deeply.

"We've beaten worse odds." Keith encouraged his friend.

"Oh, yeah." Marty chuckled before turning to us and nodding.

Returning to the room an hour or so later, we smiled. "Okay, time to get you prepped and ready for-" Meredith started before we saw Marty sitting in the room alone, worry on his face.

"I can't do it." Marty stood up, "Uh, Keith's right. I mean, w-w-we've beaten huge odds. I mean, we're still alive while so many of our friends died. And I've been healthy for so long now. Y-you get a little cocky. You forget how lucky you are. And I...I-I'm the most horrible friend, but I just...I'm scared. W-what if I'm one of the .06 percent? I-I-I don't think I can give him...my kidney."

"Have you told Keith?" Meredith asked.

Marty sighed, "H-h-he's been suffering for so long, a-and when the law was passed, he was so happy. And then I turned out to be a perfect match. A-and now...how can I look my best friend in the eye and tell him I won't save his life?"

══════════════════

"It is unfortunate, but...it does happen." I explained to Keith as Marty sat by his side, "We misread the screening, and it turns out that Marty is not a suitable donor."

"I don't understand." Keith looked to Marty.

Keith nodded, "Yeah, uh, this is outrageous. I'm...I-I'm completely shocked."

"So were we." Leah deadpanned, obviously angry at Marty, "Shocked and disappointed."

"So, what now?" Keith asked.

"Well, you'll continue on dialysis and go back on the transplant list," Meredith told him.

"You know, it's ironic." Keith seemed to be taking the "news" rather well, "I spend years fighting HIV. I get myself to the point where the virus is virtually nonexistent in my body. I survive. And now I die of kidney disease."

"I'm so sorry." Marty started to cry, "I'm so, so sorry."

Keith wrapped an arm around his friend, "It's not your fault. You tried. You...you...you stepped up."

"Oh, God." Marty wailed as Keith pulled him in for a hug.

"I don't know what I would do without you," Keith said.

Meredith, Leah, and I all looked at each other. This man was going to die because his friend was a coward. But could you really blame him? The possibility of death, no matter how small, is still as scary as ever.