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

17 | Trauma Surgeon to Trauma Surgeon

"Charge to two-hundred." I ordered as I grabbed the panels, "Clear!"

Pressing the panels firmly to my patient's chest for the third time, the shock emitted and the body jumped up a bit. "Still no change." a nurse told me as she glanced at the monitors.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped back. "I'm calling it." I put the panels down, "Time of death, twenty-one thirty-six."

Ripping my gloves off, I threw them in the trash as I marched out of the E.R. room. "Dr. Forrest." Owen approached me, "Are you doing anything right now?"

"Nope." I shook my head, "That guy who was in the MVC, I just lost him."

"Okay, I'll notify the family." Owen told me, "Can you discharge bed four?"

I nodded and walked off. After getting all of the paperwork and sending bed four, a little girl who had broken her arm, home, it was my turn to call it a night.

Heading through the lobby, I stopped in my tracks when I saw a guy in a giant fish costume with balloons just hanging out by the desk. "Maggie Pierce?" he looked to Maggie, who was standing on the steps, before he pulled out a ukulele and started singing, "We're so proud, we'll shout it loud. 'Cause we've no doubt that you'll be doing great as chief of cardiothoracic surgery. Maggie, we are so impressed you're our favorite surgeon, we send you our best wishes fro-o-o-m this giant singing sturgeon. We love you, Maggi-e-e-e-e-e."

Once the little song was over, everyone who was standing in the lobby, which had become a large crowd, started to laugh and clap. "That's hilarious." I chuckled as I made my way to an on-call room for the night.

It felt as though my pager went off minutes after I had fallen asleep, even though it was, in fact, the next day. Grabbing the beeping device, I took off running to the E.R.

As soon as I got there, I noticed everyone gathered around one bed. "What's going on?" Bailey asked as her, Stephanie, Webber, and Maggie joined me.

"Thirty-seven-year-old male rear-ended a lumber truck." one of the paramedics told us before they left.

"Anyone who is not treating this patient, please move out of the way." I could hear April's voice from behind the wall of people.

Bailey started pushing through the crowd as people took photos, "Hey, hey, hey! You heard the woman! This is not a spectacle for your amusement."

As people started to clear out, we finally saw what all the fuss was about. Sitting up in one of the gurneys was a man with a large tree branch through his chest. "Cool!" Stephanie squealed as Bailey gave her a look, "I'm sorry."

"Where do we start with this?" I groaned as camera flashes went off around us.

Moving in, we all got to work. As someone with a saw started cutting away the excess branch, I put on some gloves. "Okay, we need to get this man on his back in less than sixty seconds." Webber ordered, "Got to work faster."

"One more inch to the right, he'd be D.O.A." Bailey said, "How you want to proceed?"

"Ultrasound's negative for fluid around the heart, so I would do a laparotomy," Stephanie answered as the man started to cough harshly.

I stepped back to give him some space. "His airway's compromised."

"He needs a chest tube and intubation now," Maggie instructed.

Webber nodded, "Yeah, we're almost done here, okay? It'll be safer on his back."

"No, there's no time." Maggie disagreed, "I'll have to go in nasally. 7-0 E.T. tube? Charlie, I hate to tell you this, but your day is actually about to get a little worse. Hold the work!"

As the saw operator turned the tool off, Charlie gagged as Maggie fed the tube in through his nose and down his throat. "Okay, push one-hundred of propofol, please," Bailey said as the saw started back up. Once the tree branch had been cut away we carefully flipped the man onto his back.

A few minutes later I got a call from Meredith asking if I could come over to her old house, the one Alex was living in. Agreeing, since my day was free, I grabbed my things and headed over.

Meredith answered seconds after I knocked and practically pulled me inside. "Is everything okay?" I asked.

"No." Meredith shook her head, "No, everything is not alright. Maggie Pierce is my sister."

My mouth fell open. "W-what?" I asked, convinced that I had heard her wrong.

"My-my mother was her mother." Meredith ran her fingers through her hair, "Richard Webber is her father. My mother and Richard Webber had a baby, and that baby was Maggie Pierce."

"Dear, God." I gasped, "When did you find out?"

"About twenty minutes ago," she answered as there was another knock on the door. "That's Richard. Can you just go upstairs and help Alex with his speech to the board while we talk?"

I nodded and headed up the stairs. My mind racing and full of a million questions.

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As I sat down with everyone else for the board meeting that night, I could tell tensions were high. No one was speaking to each other as we waited to start. Once it did, we carefully listened one at a time to what Bailey and then Alex had to say.

It seemed to be over much quicker than I would have thought, and it was time to decide. After much consideration, we finally decided to choose Bailey, who just had all-around more experience.

After we brought Bailey in and shared the good news with her, it was finally time to split ways and head home.

Grabbing my things for the second time that day, I changed out of my scrubs and into the nice black jeans and shirt I had brought. Noah and I had finally decided to meet up and have some drinks at Joe's and celebrate him getting a job. Sadly, there hadn't been any room for him at Grey Sloan Memorial, but there had been an opening at Seattle Pres.

Hearing the door to the attendings' lounge open, I turned to see Owen standing there. "Chief." I flashed a small smile, "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh, uh, no." he shook his head, "I was just looking for Callie."

"Oh, you guys are working on that robotic limb for wounded soldiers, right?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, we are."

"That is so cool." I told him, "I hope everything goes well. I'm sure it will make the hospital look great."

Owen took a few steps into the lounge and sighed. "Thank you. Uh, you headed home?"

"No, I uh-" I paused when Owen got even closer. Out of nowhere, he placed his hands on my face and kissed me. The kiss was quick and over before I knew it, but it still shocked me. "I'm going out for drinks with someone." I swallowed hard, finishing my sentence from before.

"God." Owen instantly stepped back, "You-you're going out with a boyfriend. Ellie, I-I'm so sorry."

"No." I laughed it off, "It's not a boyfriend. It's just a friend, and it's okay. Don't worry about it."

Owen covered his face with his hands as he sat down in a chair at the table. "It's been...it's been hard since Cristina left." he admitted, "And I just want something to be good. I shouldn't have done that, though."

Sitting down next to him, I sighed. "I can cancel my plans if you need someone to talk to." I offered, "I know losing someone you care about can be hard. Trust me, I've lost a lot of people. My best friend, my mother...even the guy I thought I loved. Who, by the way, is married and about to have a kid. Time is flying by and somehow it's leaving me behind. Where's my husband and kids? Where's my family?"

"You sure it's not you who needs someone to talk to?" Owen asked.

"I think the drinks were supposed to suppress those feelings." I exhaled, "Trauma surgeon to trauma surgeon, I'm a little worried the only accomplishment I'll have when I die is being a surgeon. I know it's a great accomplishment, but it just doesn't feel like enough sometimes."

Taking a deep breath, I stood up and headed for the door. "I have somewhere I need to be." I said, "But if you need anything, let me know."

"Will do." he smiled.


Surgeons are bred to be invulnerable. It's very hard to lay ourselves bare. Because we know exactly how deep some injuries can go. But vulnerability isn't the opposite of strength. It's a necessary part. We have to force ourselves to open up...to expose ourselves...to offer up everything we have. And just pray that it's good enough. Otherwise, we'll never succeed.