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

8 | Speech

Surgery is a solo act. We step up to the table with a scalpel in our hand, and we go it alone. The isolation can start to define you. Because even though you're surrounded by a team...what it really comes down to is your training, your choices, your wits, your hands, your stitch. It comes down to just you.

Cristina was due to leave for the Harper Avery awards in Boston in the morning and still hadn't written her acceptance speech; which to me sounded like a bad idea but she had gotten this far with her own ways so how bad could it be? The one thing I really didn't approve of, though, was the fact that she insisted on going alone. No matter how much Meredith, I, or even Owen begged her to let us come and be supportive, she just wouldn't let us.

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"Ellie!" Cristina called my name as I rushed past her in the hospital that night.

Stopping and looking to her, I tried not to drop the armful of patient files I had. "Hey." I forced a smile even though I was completely exhausted, "Aren't you supposed to be out with Meredith writing your speech?"

Cristina nodded, "I was supposed to, but she's working. So, come on, let's go. We don't have a lot of time."

I raised an eyebrow at her as I felt the files slipping through my fingers, "Go where?"

"To Joe's." she said as if it were obvious, "We have a speech to write."

"Oh, I wish I could." I told her as I started to slowly walk away, "But I am so backed up on paperwork, as you can see. I really, really can't. I would, but I can't."

After dropping off the large stack of files I had possession of and filing out my remaining paperwork, I was walking by a patient room when the alarm sounded for a code blue. Stepped into the room to assess the situation, Meredith was seconds behind me. "What happened?" Meredith asked.

Looking up to the patient's monitor, I replied, "His blood pressure is dropping, and his heart rate is in the 130s."

The nurse beside me nodded, "N.G. tube lavage is clear."

Meredith lifted up the blanket to see the sheets covered in blood. "He's got a G.I. bleed, wither from the remnant or the J-J staple line." she noted, "Activate the massive-transfusion protocol. Call the O.R. and let them know we're coming. Get me a second-year resident. I'm gonna need extra hands in there."

"None of the second years are available." the nurse told us, "They're all with Dr. Shepherd."

Meredith looked up in confusion, "Dr. Shepherd isn't even in the hospital."

"He is. He has surgery scheduled." the nurse left the room moments later.

Meredith just watched the nurse leave, confusion on her face, "Then where the hell are my kids?!"

"I'm free." I told her, trying to get her mind back onto the patient, "Let's get him to the O.R."

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Well into the surgery, one of the scrub nurses held up Meredith's cell phone as she desperately tried to get a hold of Derek. I could hear the ringing in the background as we worked since the phone was on speakerphone, and it filled the usual silence in the room when no one was talking.

"This remnant is completely distended." Meredith worked away as I lent a helping hand when she needed it. Looking up to the nurse with the phone, Meredith sighed, "Try his cell again."

The nurse nodded and began dialing Derek's cell phone. "All right, I'm performing a gastrotomy to remove the intraluminal blood." Meredith announced as she gave us instructions, "Keep transfusing until I get the bleeding controlled. Suction. Lap pad. More suction."

"Hi, you've reached Dr. Shepherd. Please leave a message and I will return your call." Derek's voicemail greeted us instead of him.

Turning to the phone, Meredith started to speak, "Derek, the daycare is closed, the babysitters have not heard from you, and no one is answering at home. Where are our children, Derek?"

After the surgery was complete and the patient had been taken back to the I.C.U. Meredith went off to locate Derek while I set off to get something to eat. I could hear my stomach growling due to the fact that I hadn't had anything to eat in hours, but you get used to that feeling when you're a surgeon. Sometimes you had to stand for eighteen hours straight doing one surgery. That's eighteen hours without a bathroom, water, or food...but that's only the worst-case scenario.

Meeting up with Meredith again after eating, we both made our way to see how Cristina was doing during her surgery as she was to be on a plane in a few hours. Stepping into the O.R. with masks over our mouths, we spotted Alex. "Alex, you're still here?" Meredith questioned even though the answer was clear.

Alex nodded as he operated, "Nightshift. You're still here?"

"Yes, we're all still here, obviously." Cristina scoffed.

I chuckled before looking to Cristina, "Did you finish your speech?"

"Nah, I-I'm just gonna wing it," Cristina replied.

Meredith shrugged, "It's weird. They've made their decision. Your name is typed on a piece of paper in an envelope."

Alex nodded in agreement, "I know. I always figured I'd read about you winning the Harper Avery. I didn't think I'd be operating with you the night before you won it."

Meredith laughed, "When is the last time we all pulled an all-nighter together? Third-year?"

"Oh, God. Look at us now." I sighed.

"You've got two kids." Cristina shook her head playfully at Meredith.

"I mean, you're about to win a Harper Avery." Meredith said back, "And Alex..."

"Oh, sad." Cristina joked.

"Oh, shut up." Alex warned, "I got my own stuff."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "What stuff?"

"Oh, lying." Cristina chuckled, "Sadder."

"A private practice is interested in me, and I think I'm gonna take it," Alex told us.

"A private practice?" Cristina questioned.

Meredith looked to him as she continued to hold the mask over her face, "Is this the butthole guy?"

Alex smirked from under his mask, "I've been moonlighting over there, taking some shifts, just to see if I get along with his partner. Don't tell Robbins. And I'm killing it. And I'm killing it here at night. I'm killing it twenty-four hours a day, and I can't tell anyone."

"Private practice?" Cristina asked again, "Why in the world would you want that?"

"Because my fellowship is ending, and it's a crapload of money." Alex told her with a straight face, "And I didn't come from a rich family like you, and I'm probably not gonna win a Harper Avery any time soon."

Cristina nodded, "Mmm, that's true."

"Screw you," Alex grumbled.

Cristina looked to Meredith, "She might."

"Might?" Meredith mocked, "Screw you."