flatline [m.s]

cxxv.

- - -
there's a reason the punchline to so many doctor jokes starts with 'i've got good news, and bad news.'
- - -

lia is stood frosting a cake at the kitchen table in jackson's house whilst darci sits beside her in her high chair. jackson walks over to the table, holding a bowl of cereal and takes a seat. there is also a random girl in the kitchen, looking through the fridge.

"oh, damn it," lia groans. "i screwed it up."

"'gag darci', really?" jackson furrows his brow, examining lia's work.

"those aren't g's," lia shakes her head. "those are y's for 'yay'. 'yay darci'."

"see, a normal person would've just written 'happy birthday'," jackson teases.

"well, i couldn't fit all those letters on the cake," lia shrugs.

"okay, who used up the last of my deodorant?" maggie asks as she enters the kitchen, holding up the empty bottle.

"oh, that might have been me," the girl, hillary, admits. "sorry. kinda had a workout last night."

maggie then looks to jackson with a disapproving look.

"not mine," jackson shakes his head and lia laughs quietly.

"coffee," alex groans as he walks in and over to the coffee machine.

"fresh out, chief," jackson holds up his mug, before bringing it to his lips.

"wait. n- no," maggie shakes her head. "that's impossible. i just bought some three days ago."

"you're out of o.j, too," hillary adds.

"hey, you're still here?" alex greets hillary, unenthusiastically.

"oh, yeah. i was on my way out, and then i saw these cheeks," hillary tells him, walking over to darci and putting her hands out to touch her face.

"oh! we don't touch the baby because we don't know where those hands have been," lia forces a smile as she talks in a baby voice, picking darci up from her high chair before hillary can touch her.

"alex does," maggie laughs.

"okay, so, um, i have a meeting, so i'm off," lia announces. "party is at eight. don't be late."

lia puts darci back in her highchair so that jackson can take her to daycare when he goes into work. she then leaves the kitchen to head to her meeting.

■ ■ ■

"morning, dr. webber," a nurse greets richard as he walks into the hospital, looking extremely cheerful.

"morning," richard nods. he then looks over to the elevator where he sees bailey stood waiting. "dr. bailey."

"congratulations, sir," bailey greets him as he approaches her. "big day today."

"yes, it is, but- but i don't want everybody making a big deal out of it," richard unconvincingly insists.

"we won't," bailey assures.

"good," richard nods. "i- i- i mean, you'll- you'll do something?"

"yes," bailey rolls her eyes.

"i- i mean, it is my ten thousandth surgery," richard reminds her. "that's a lot of surgeries."

"i've reserved the main conference room. there will be a photographer from the hospital newsletter. the cake is your favourite- red velvet and cream cheese," bailey tells him. "it is huge- the size of four cakes. there will be several speeches from admiring colleagues and a toast with sparkling cider. we will also have a banner that says 'congratulations, dr. webber on your ten thousandth surgery!!!' there will be three exclamation points after the word 'surgery'. we also have confetti. happy now?"

"yes," richard frowns as the elevator doors slide open. "oh, e- except for the confetti. might get in the cake."

■ ■ ■

jackson's house has been decorated in banners and balloons all ready for darci's first birthday party and is already filled with guests. lia carries darci into the living room, stopping to speak to alex.

"happy birthday," alex gently squeezes darci's arm.

"hey," lia smiles before continuing to walks through the living room so she can speak to other guests.

"hey, girl," april says in a baby voice as she coos over darci.

"look who just didn't wake up, huh?" jackson chuckles. "look at you. you look so beautiful. look at that. ohh."

lia notices her father sat alone across the room. she then walks away from jackson, and over to richard.

"you made it," lia smiles and richard stands to greet her.

"of course. i wouldn't miss my granddaughter's birthday party," richard nods as he picks up a gift bag from the floor. "and this is for the guest of honour. how are you doing, little miss darci? you look very pretty for your birthday. yes, you do."

- - -
often, the bad news is so bad, when something good comes along, we tend to go a little overboard. every cloud has a silver lining. but it's still a cloud.
- - -

lia is stood over darci's birthday cake, holding a knife, in jackson's kitchen. mark is watching her as he holds darci.

"she'll forgive us, right?" lia looks up to mark.

"well, she won't remember anything," mark points out.

"a picture, right?" lia suggests.

"yeah, picture. yes," mark nods, pulling his phone out of his pocket. he walks round the counter to lia and holds his phone up as darci babbles. "here we go. here we go. yeah. happy birthday."

"perfect," lia smiles at the picture before going back to the cake and scraping darci's name off it so it just reads 'yay'.

- - -
a cloud can mean a shower, or a storm. so, you take your good days where you get them.
- - -

lia carries darci's birthday cake out of the kitchen, with a single candle lit. mark walks beside her, carrying darci.

"okay," mark whispers, placing his hand on lia's lower back. "it looks great."

they both then head into the living room, where everyone's eyes turn to them. instead of singing the traditional 'happy birthday', lia takes the cake over to where richard is sat.

"happy ten thousandth, dad," lia smiles, placing the cake down on the coffee table in front of him.

"oh, for me? no," richard shakes his head.

"come on," mark encourages. "it's- it's not every day you get to celebrate ten thousand surgeries."

richard blows out the candle, and the room erupts with applause and the guests cheering to congratulate richard.

- - -
you try to stay positive. you try to remember that even in the bad news, there's good news for someone.
- - -