flatline [m.s]

cxxxix.

- - -
some of the world's top trauma specialists have proven that our brains may forget the traumas we survive, but our bodies, especially our nervous systems, always keep score.
- - -

maggie is sat at a table in joe's across from bradley, a resident at the hospital. from behind bradley, maggie can see lia watching her in disbelief from her seat, next to mark, at the bar.

"so... why the heart?" bradley asks maggie. "why biology's crown jewel?"

"you mean why did i go into cardio thoracics?" maggie raises her brow.

"come on. share. share with bradley," he smiles, and maggie briefly darts her eyes to lia who is staring with her mouth slightly agape.

"it was the headset with the magnifying glasses that tipped the scale for me," maggie jokes.

"and the woman has a sense of humour," bradley laughs, and lia gestures to him with wide eyes, as if to say, 'what the hell are you doing?' "i like that."

there is then a moment of silence between maggie and bradley as lia exhales deeply, shaking her head. this is then followed by the sound of bradley's pager ringing.

"oh. work stuff. um, as if you didn't know," bradley picks up his pager and stands from the table. "i'll just be a sec."

when bradley steps away from the table, lia places her drink down on the bar before walking over to maggie, followed by mark.

"is he dying? is that why?" lia asks with amusement as she takes bradley'a seat.

"oh, come on. grow up," maggie rolls her eyes. "he's nice. he asked me out."

"want me to fake a heart attack?" mark offers from where he's stood beside lia. "i do a great fake heart attack."

"here he comes," maggie tells them in a lowered voice.

"carry on," mark nods, pulling lia up from her seat, and back to their seats at the bar.

- - -
memories are stored in our shoulders, spines, stomach or hands, without us ever knowing. we assume a painful backache or shaky hand is something harmless, random, but it could be more.
- - -

"what do we got?" derek asks richard as he meets him in the ambulance bay, followed by bailey and callie.

"high school bus crash," richard reveals, pulling on a yellow trauma gown as another ambulance pulls into the bay. "bunch of kids just came in. we got more on the way."

"tricia hale, seventeen, vital signs stable," one of the paramedics announces as he opens the ambulance doors, and begins to lift the gurney out. "sustained a large facial laceration, trauma to the buttock area and an open fracture to the lower right leg."

"okay, trauma room two," richard nods, handing her chart to callie.

"it's still bleeding," tricia panics as she touches her face, noticing blood on her hand when she pulls it away. "my face is still bleeding."

"alright. we'll get to that in a minute, okay?" callie assures as she and the paramedics wheel her gurney towards the hospital.