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

59 | All-Nighter

"Okay, this is only a dry-run, and it's the first of many," Callie explained as a few of us gathered around the body in the skills lab. "Won't be perfect, but once we start, I don't want to stop until we get to the other side. Agreed?"

I looked around the table at Callie, Bailey, Meredith, Jo, and Jackson. We all nodded, ready to start the experimental procedure that Callie had invented.

"Let's go," Jackson announced as Meredith reached for the scalpel.

I took a deep breath as the first cut was made. The first of many.

A few days ago Owen had gotten a call from a military hospital about a thirty-five-year-old male patient with an osteosarcoma of the left pelvis, lumbar spine, and sacrum. Usually, it would be approached with aggressive chemoradiation that would give him a few years to live, at most; but Callie thought that there had to be something better.

To make things simple, we were removing the bad leg and repositioning the remaining leg in the middle of the man's body. Kind of like a mermaid, if you think about it.

Once our first trial run was complete, we all stepped back from the body and stared at it. "What did we just do?" Jackson exhaled, a smirk on his face.

"A miracle," Callie answered.

The surgery had taken us almost the entire day due to how many times we had to step back and think about better and faster ways to do something, so once we were done, it was already dark outside.

"It's a solid plan, Torres," Bailey said as we headed for the exit, normal clothes on and ready to get some sleep. "You should be proud."

Callie nodded. "I am. But we still have a few days left, so I'd like to run through it twice tomorrow, see if we can get our time down."

"Right. But first, sleep." Meredith reminded her, as we were all exhausted.

Jackson yawned. "Yeah, all the sleep I can carry."

"Folks, hang on. We have a problem." Owen ran up to us. My heart started beating a little faster as he looked right at me for a second. We still hadn't spoken...about anything, actually. We worked side by side, slept side by side, but talking about anything that wasn't medical related was a no go.

"Colonel Miller just called from Bauer Medical." Owen continued, "Our patient just took a fall and has fractured his pelvis."

Callie looked up from her phone and gasped. "What?"

"Our timeline has changed. His fractured pelvis has compromised blood flow to the leg we need to salvage. Our window's closing. If we wait, there won't be anything left to use in the reconstruction."

"Okay, well, when do they want to do it?" I asked.

"Tonight."

Meredith stared at him, trying to tell if he was actually serious. "I would've liked another run-through."

"Okay, when...when can he come?" Jackson questioned.

"He's not." Owen shook his head, "After the fall, the patient's not stable enough to move. We have to go to him."

Jackson groaned. "It's an away game."

"It's an away game," Owen repeated.

With that, we changed back into our scrubs and started heading out towards the large hospital van that would take us to our patient at Bauer Medical.

"Now, listen, about Bauer." Owen explained to Bailey, but I overheard, "Military hospitals are a mix of civilian and military doctors with a very strict idea about hierarchy."

Bailey nodded. "Okay, Hunt, I get it. These are your people. We'll do you proud."

As Callie headed for the van, Penny grabbed her arm. "Take me with you."

"I thought you didn't want me messing in your career." Callie chuckled.

"Maybe just this once. This surgery's gonna be amazing."

"Sorry, Blake. No special treatment." Bailey turned to the two of them, "Same thing I tell my husband."

Feeling someone grab my arm, I turned towards Owen. "I'll see you when you get back. Be safe."

"I'm only getting into a van." I smirked, "I think I'll be okay."

Without thinking, I gave him a quick peck on the lips before hopping inside the van. It was kind of habit by now to kiss him, which I guessed was a good thing, considering no contact at all would probably ruin our relationship.

After sliding the van door shut behind me, the driver stepped on the gas pedal and we took off. "Um, you know Curt Morgan? The neuro-ophthalmologist?" Bailey turned to Meredith as we drove.

Meredith nodded, "I do, yeah. He's a nice guy."

"He is a nice guy." Bailey smiled, "And he was asking about you."

Meredith sighed. "Bailey."

"I'm just saying he was asking."

"Who was asking about what?" Callie spoke up from the back row.

Jo, who was in the passenger seat, spun her body around. "Oh, uh, Curt Morgan was asking about Dr. Grey."

"Oh, Curt. Yeah, he's great." Jackson joined the conversation as well, "We play ball with him on Wednesday nights.

"Okay, what about we stop talking about Curt Morgan and focus on what we have to do?" Meredith huffed, desperately trying to change the topic.

Callie chuckled. "Or we could talk about the fact that he's tall and handsome, divorced, funny, doesn't have kids... handsome."

"You said handsome twice," I told her.

"That wasn't an accident."

After a while of driving, we finally arrived at the hospital where our patient was. Grabbing our supplies, we walked up the steps and through the doors which were guarded by men in uniform. "Hey, remember, we're guests here." Bailey told us, "Hunt wants us on our best behavior."

Callie adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "I've spent a lot of time working with the military. If we're respectful and do our jobs, we won't ruffle any feathers."

"Dr. Bailey." an older gentleman greeted us as he walked over with a woman by his side. Both of them in white lab coats.

Bailey returned the greeting with a handshake. "Colonel Miller. So nice to finally put a face with the voice."

"Likewise." he agreed and motioned to the woman by his side, "This is Captain Vaughn. She's here to help make sure you have everything you-"

"Colonel, what the hell?" a man in regular clothes stormed towards us.

Colonel Miller looked to him and then back at us. "Dr. Bailey, this is Major Thorpe. He's Cars-"

"I'm Sergeant Carson's surgeon." the man interrupted, "And you are...the 'Dream Team'? You can't just make decisions for my patient."

"Uh, we're not here to step on toes, Doctor." Bailey tried to calm him down, seeing as he was clearly very angry about is being there.

"You're here to make my patient a guinea pig."

Jackson looked at the man. "How about we take a step back?"

"How about you take 10 steps back, through that door, because no one's touching my patient!"

Bailey took a deep breath. "Sir, I understand that you want what's best for your patient. Is the surgery new and risky? Yes, it is. But if it works-"

"Oh, it'll work." Callie cut in, "Major Thorpe, your chief asked for our help because he knows we're the best. Now, you called us the Dream Team, and that's exactly what we are. We are miracle workers. Now, the sooner you recognize that, the sooner we can get to the business of saving a life, which is all any of us are here to do, yourself included."

Colonel Miller smiled. "If you'll all follow me."

"I think you may have ruffled some feathers," I whispered to Callie as we started walking down the hall.

Bailey nodded, "'Miracle workers'? You think maybe you overdid that? We've practiced once, Torres...once."

Callie exhaled. "I might've gotten a little carried away.

"A little?" Jackson cocked a brow.

Meredith took a breath. "We're so screwed."

Colonel Miller lead us towards Brian, the patient's, room and we were given a few minutes to talk over the procedure with him, which was an extremely important step seeing how this was a very experimental surgery.

"And you understand the risks of the surgery that we're talking about?" Bailey looked to Brain, a man in his late thirties.

Thorpe nodded. "I've explained the risk in detail."

"Yeah, he won't shut up about the risk." Brain spoke, his voice quiet and raspy.

Callie smiled. "He's explained the benefits, too, I hope."

"And keep in mind, with some aggressive chemo and radiation, you've got a chance at a couple of good years." Thorpe pushed Brain not to have the surgery, that much was clear.

"And with our approach, you have a shot at a full life, many-"

"Brian, you're sick." Thorpe cut in, "I'm not convinced you can withstand this kind of surgery. You roll the dice on this one, we could lose you on the table tonight."

Brian was silent for a few moments, going over everything in his head, before turning to Callie. "Listen, I've spent five tours of duty, all around the world. I missed the births of both my girls. I have another one on the way. I want the life I've been missing. If you can give me that well, I'm all-in."

Walking out into the hall, we rejoined the Colonel, Jackson, and Jo. "Well?" Colonel Miller questioned

"We're a go," Bailey replied.

Turning to us, Thorpe shot a death glare our way. "Your work better be as good as your talk."

"Dr. Thorpe, we'll see you in the O.R." Callie told him, "Let's not waste any more time. We need to get to the O.R., and Dr. Avery needs to be shown where he can set up for the bone-graft harvest."

Meredith removed her jacket as everyone started getting ready. "We're really doing this?"

"It's gonna be great." Callie kept her eyes forward as we walked. I could tell she was hiding just how nervous she felt on the inside. My only hope was that as soon as we got into the O.R., she would be on her A-game.

After setting up and making sure everything was perfect, we gathered in the scrub room to wash up before the surgery. "I'm not feeling good about this, Torres." Bailey said as she ran her hands under the water, "Nothing like walking into a surgery where I'm not feeling good. You feeling good, Grey? Forrest?"

"We practiced it once." Meredith sighed, "We're about to pull an all-nighter. Sure. Feeling great."

I gulped. "We really could have used another one through."

"Everything's gonna be fine, you guys." Callie reassured us, "We just have to be squirrels about this."

Jackson, who was leaning against the doorframe, looked to Callie. "Couldn't have heard you correctly there."

Callie glanced towards him. "Oh, you know, squirrels...they store nuts for the winter, right? But they don't do it all at once. They do it one nut at a time. Everyone has their part to play, so everyone just needs to handle their own nut.
We do that, we get all the nuts."

"Makes sense." I turned off the tap and held my hands up above the contamination level.

Bailey huffed, "Does it, though?"

"All right, if we're doing this, let's not waste any more time." Thorpe walked in, scrubs and mask on.

"Yeah, uh, Thorpe, can you give us one minute?" Bailey told him, "I need to confer with my team."

As Thorpe left, Bailey closed her eyes and stood in silence. "Dr. Bailey, are we conferring?" Meredith asked.

"We're praying." Bailey answered, her eyes still shut, "Torres is right. We'll be fine if we each just do our part. Figure it doesn't hurt to ask God to do his."

As the room filled with silence again, the rest of us looked to each other, as we weren't exactly 'religious.' Praying was not something we did on the daily, or even monthly for that matter. We were surgeons...we believed in science.

"Callie, how long do we stand here doing this?" I asked.

"I don't know. How should I know?"

"You pray and stuff." Meredith told her, "I mean, what's she looking for? Some kind of sign or something."

Bailey shook her head. "If I was, I sure wouldn't hear it over the three of you."

The three of us apologized as Bailey finished up her praying. Once she did, we headed to the O.R., and just before we stepped through the doors, I did my own sort of praying. I prayed that the six of us would be able to get through this and that Brian would make it to the other side.

I prayed that my improv trauma skills would not fail me now.