flatline [m.s]

clx.

- - -
cancer is a biological bully, always picking a fight. and it'll sneak up on you. it'll wait until the body feels safe, until it feels healthy and strong.
- - -

lia furrows her brow as she walks towards the hospital through the ambulance bay, where there is a truck unloading multiple bags of sand, and owen is ordering around several workers.

"what is all this?" lia asks owen.

"weather report says a massive storm is coming," he explains. "hurricane force winds and heavy rain."

"you're kidding, right?" lia raises a brow. "another storm."

"they say this one's only about a day out, so we don't have as much time to prepare as we did for the last one," owen tells her.

"eh, could be worse," lia shrugs. "i could be in labor during yet another storm."

- - -
that's when cancer will move on in and get bigger and bigger. the body never even saw it coming because cancer is the master of surprises.
- - -

"what's goin' on?" deluca asks when a paramedic runs into the e.r, and places a tiny, bundled up baby down on one of the empty gurneys.

"premature newborn found in a trash can at turner prep school," the paramedic informs him. "the umbilical cord's still attached."

"you didn't start an i.v?" deluca furrows his brow. "he's dehydrated."

"we couldn't find a vein," the paramedic explains.

"i need to get an i.v access. get me an i.o needle. and i need a neonatal intubation kit," deluca orders kate, the nurse, who is stood watching, but she doesn't move. "olivia, go! move. now."

"deluca, how old's that baby?" kate asks him as he begins to pick the baby back up. "wait, wait, wait. what are you doing? he has to be admitted. you can't just take him."

"just page alivia webber!" deluca shouts, ignoring her. "page alivia webber. tell her to meet me in the nicu."

■ ■ ■

"deluca," lia greets when she enters the patient room of the nicu that deluca had begun treating the baby in.

"premature newborn male with petechiae," deluca tells her.

"what's his platelet count?" lia asks as she looks over the baby's chart.

"seventeen thousand."

"seventeen thousand?" lia looks up to him. "did you transfuse platelets?"

"yes, but it didn't help," deluca sighs.

"where's the mother?" lia's brow creases.

"i don't know," deluca shrugs his shoulders.

"dr. deluca... i'm not asking you where the mother is for my health," lia snaps slightly. "i expect you to use your brain. where is the mother?"

"i don't know!" deluca insists. "the baby was found in a trash can at a high school."

"they left him in a trash can," lia shakes her head.