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

25 | Earthquake

I was walking down the hallway in the hospital when it happened.

All of a sudden the ground started to shake. It was subtle at first but it grew more intense, throwing things from shelves and knocking frames from walls. People were screaming, patients mostly who had no clue what was going on. Reaching out, I grabbed onto the wall as the shaking slowly came to a stop. I had experienced an earthquake before, but never one as rough as that.

As soon as it was safe to walk around again, I made a B-line for the E.R. because with a natural disaster comes a whole lot of traumas.

Approaching the desk, Owen, who was on the phone at the moment, turned to me. "Forrest, get on with 9-1-1 and get them to trace the call on line three right now. It's a kid with her injured mom in the mountains somewhere. Go."

"Okay." I nodded and took off for another phone close by. Picking up the device, I typed in the three numbers before it rang a few times and someone answered. "Hello, this is Dr. Forrest from Grey-Sloan Memorial hospital. I need you to trace a call for me."

"Okay." the operator paused for a moment, "Is the call coming to you?"

"Yes, it's a line coming into Grey-Sloan Memorial," I answered as I tried to hear over a woman screaming at the desk.

Owen turned to the woman, "Quiet, please."

However, the woman ignored him and continued to yell. "He said, 'quiet'!" I screamed. The woman instantly shut up and Owen moved to another phone so he could hear the little girl on the other end a little better.

Once the operator gave me the instructions, I hung up and walked over to Owen. "She needs to call 911 from a landline." I told him and Amelia, who was also there, "It's the only way the E.M.S. can trace her directly."

Nodding, Owen turned to the phone which was on speaker. "Ruby, listen to me. Uh, what kind of phone are you calling on? If it is the phone in the cabin, you need to hang up and call 911."

"No, that one's dead." the little girl, Ruby, spoke, "I-I'm on a cell...my mom's."

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I sighed. "Cell won't work. Crap. Okay, okay."

Taking off, I called 911 back letting them know about the situation. On the way, I ran into April and told her the whole story as well, just in case she had any ideas. I was surprised that she was even working though because she had just lost her baby. However, I had done the same thing so I knew why she was back.

Returning back to Owen and Amelia, they were still on the phone with the girl.

"Her lips are blue..." Ruby said, most likely talking about her mother, "Why are her lips turning blue?"

Owen took a deep breath. "Because your mom's not getting enough air. Ruby, open your mom's mouth and-and take two fingers and sweep the back of your mom's throat, like a...like a scooping motion. She might have something blocking her airway. Let's see if you can get it."

"O-okay. Okay." Ruby replied, "There's nothing. What now?"

"Try a Heimlich." Amelia said, "Give a hard push on your mom's-"

"Belly?" Ruby asked, "I've seen it on TV. How hard do I...?"

Owen leaned down closer to the phone. "As hard as you can."

There was a pause before we heard Ruby grunting, telling us that she was trying it. "Nothing happened." she finally spoke again, "Nothing...nothing came out. Her...her breathing's getting worse."

"Try opening the airway another way." I suggested, "I-I need you to put your hand under your mom's chin and very gently lift it up."

"No, wait, stop." Amelia cut in, "You'll-you'll paralyze her."

Owen and I looked to Amelia, both of us a little confused. "H-hello?" Ruby called out, "What should I do? H-hello?"

"Kepner told me about the little girl." Webber joined us a few minutes later, "What can I do? What? Can I help?"

"We are trying to get an airway." Owen filled him in.

"By risking paralysis." Amelia added.

I sighed, "I think paralyzed and alive is better than dead with respiratory arrest. Do you have a better idea?"

"H-hello?" Ruby spoke, "Are you still there?"

"Ruby." Amelia paused for a second, "Go ahead. Lift her chin and pull it forward...gently."

"O-okay." Ruby replied.

Owen nodded, "Okay, now put the phone on your mom's chest, okay? And let me listen."

A few seconds later the sound of heavy breathing came through the phone line. "The stridor's gone." Owen noted, "She opened th airway, but..."

"She still could be in distress." Webber finished.

Amelia huffed, "It's something else."

"Ruby, put your head on your mom's chest on the left side and listen." Owen instructed.

"I don't hear anything." Ruby told us after completing the task, "What am I listening for?"

"Breathing." I answered, "Do you hear her breathing?"

Ruby was quiet for a little bit. "No."

"Owen." Amelia sighed.

"Okay, okay, um, okay, Ruby, now put your ear on the right side and listen." Owen said, "Anything? Ruby?"

There was a long pause and it seemed like the phone might have died. "She-she's breathing!" Ruby finally replied and we all exhaled, "I-I hear it!"

"Okay, could be a tension pneumo." Amelia commented.

"Ruby, um, now just push the phone into your mom's chest, r-right where you were just listening." Owen instructed, "Just push the phone in and move it."

As Ruby did as we asked, we heard some crackling followed by some more heavy breathing. "That's sub-Q air." Amelia identified it, "Do you hear that? She's gonna need-"

Owen nodded, "She's gonna need to release the trapped air with a chest tube or something. It's-it's the only way or her mom's gonna suffocate."

Webber looked to him. "Oh, you mean...you're gonna ask her to."

"Okay. Ruby, I'm gonna ask you to try something." Owen said as he got up and got some supplies for a drawer, "It's gonna be fine, and I'm gonna walk you through it, step by step, okay?"

"O-okay, but can you tell me fast?" Ruby asked, "The phone keeps beeping. I-I think it's running out of battery."

Everyone froze. If that phone died she had no way to call us again and no one knew where she was. If we lost the call, her mother was going to die.

"Ruby, do you guys have straws in the kitchen?" Owen asked, trying to be as quick as possible.

"No."

"A pen, maybe?" Webber suggested, "A ballpoint pen."

Just then, April, who had offered to take over trying to get the ambulance to the cabin, walked over. "Anything?" I asked her.

April shook her head, "Not yet. Lines are down because of the earthquake. They're trying to triangulate from the cell towers. How's the mom?"

Amelia made a face and April instantly knew. "Wait! Wait." Ruby spoke again, "We got milkshakes on the way here. Got a straw!"

"Great." Owen sighed, "Now, we're gonna need you to get a..."

"What?" I turned to him when he stopped talking.

"I don't want to ask her to do this." Owen whispered before looking back to the phone, "Ruby, we're gonna...we're gonna need you to get a knife. Not a big one, but a sharp...y-you were making s'mores? Are the skewers there?"

"Yes. Got one." Ruby answered before she realized what she was going to have to do. "Oh, God. You want me to stick this into her, don't you?"

I shifted my weight. "Ruby, you can do this. You can. It's gonna help your mom, okay? We just need you to find the...second intercostal." I looked to the others, "I don't know how to explain that to her."

"Wait, wait, wait." Webber stepped up, "Um...Ruby. Okay, um, touch your mom's left collarbone, the one that looks like a wing, coming out from her neck. Now walk your fingers down from it. Two steps. You got it?"

"Okay." Ruby breathed, "One. Two."

"Stop." we all told her.

"Now slide your finger right underneath that rib." Amelia directed, "And with your other hand, right above that finger, push the skewer in about an inch."

Ruby gasped. "I can't do that."

"Ruby, yes you can." Owen encouraged her.

"What if we're wrong?" Amelia whispered.

"I'm not wrong." Owen told her, "Ruby, you can do this."

I pulled some hair away from my face. "She could puncture her heart."

"She won't." Owen glared at us, "Ruby, right now."

"Oh, God." Ruby breathed out.

"Ruby, push hard." Owen told her, "Push hard. Push hard. Right now."

"Aah!" Ruby screamed, "Oh, my God! Oh! There's blood! She-she's bleeding."

Owen nodded, "It's okay. Now take the...take the straw and put it over the skewer into the hole that you just made and push hard."

"She's breathing a lot!" Ruby said and we all sighed in relief.

"You did it," I told her.

"Wait. Wait." Ruby's voice went from happy to worried again, "She stopped. Her lips are going blue again."

Amelia thought for a moment. "Ruby, put your fingers on the right side of her neck, right by her throat. Do you feel a pulse?"

"No."

"Okay." Owen huffed, "Ruby, I need you to get on top of your mom and put your hands on her chest and push hard right now. Okay, I'm gonna teach you how to do CPR."

We stayed on the phone for a while, teaching Ruby how to do CPR to the beat of Stayin' Alive and encouraging her when she got tired, but eventually, her phone died and the call was lost. April told us that they were sending a helicopter out, but there was no say on how long it would take.

"They'll find her." Owen said as he moved his hands around nervously, "She'll call. They'll find her."

Webber nodded, "Yeah, she could be on her way in right now."

"Unless she's alone in a cabin with her dead mother." Owen huffed.

"She'll call." I told him.

"Anything?" April asked as she walked over, but when no one spoke, she understood what the answer was.

The five of us sat around waiting for what seemed like ages. No one spoke or even made a sound. We just waited. However, when the phone finally rung again, Owen jumped up to answer it.

It was the paramedics letting us know that they had just landed on the helicopter pad with Ruby and her mother. Rushing up, Amelia, Owen, and I went up to meet them.

As the elevator doors opened to the helicopter pad, we ran out to the gurney. "Forty-four year old female." the paramedic told us, "Vitals stable, tension pneumo relieved by a needle thoracostomy."

"Is she okay?" Owen asked.

"Trauma from the fall." the paramedic answered, "Her pupils are fully responsive. GCS of eight."

Amelia walked off with the gurney and the paramedics as Owen and I turned to the helicopter. A little girl with brown hair and a pink sweater covered in blood looked to us as the wind blew hard. "Ruby?" Owen asked.

Running over, Ruby jumped into Owen's arms. "My phone died, but I kept singing till they came, just like you said."

"I know." Owen smiled, "You did great. You were perfect. You're okay."

As the night went on, Owen and I watched Ruby as her mom was in surgery. A few more hours later and Amelia shared the good news that Ruby's mother was going to be just fine, which was a relief to Owen and me as well.

"That was incredible." I smiled as Owen and I walked into an on-call room, "It was like performing surgery over the phone. But then it was a little girl. I mean, Ruby is some badass. I don't think I could've cut into my mom when I was her age."

Owen nodded as he took his white coat off and laid it down on the bed. "It was a good day." he smiled as he walked over and kissed me.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, the kiss continued. Owen's hands made their way up my body until they were cupping my face. Pulling back, we stared into each other's eyes before he picked me up and walked over to one of the beds.

Looks like this good day was going to have a happy ending.