flatline [m.s]

clxxxviii.

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in the earliest days of medicine, we're going back thousands of years, doctors spoke of healing as a reunion.
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"oh, hey," lia smiles, with a slightly furrowed brow when she walks out of her bedroom to find jackson in the kitchen with darci and lily.

"hey, thanks again for letting me crash here," jackson nods.

"it's fine," lia assures as she walks over to give darci and lily a kiss. "we have a guest room for a reason, right?"

"can daddy take me to school?" darci looks up at lia as she takes a bite of some toast.

"oh, i don't know, baby," lia strokes darci's hair, and darci frowns. "daddy's busy, and it's mommy's day to take you a lil."

"pwease?" darci pouts, and lia sighs, turning to jackson.

"i can them. honestly, it's fine, lia," jackson assures.

"yay," darci squeals.

"but you have to get your shoes on, 'cause we have to leave now so mommy can get ready for work," jackson tells darci, and she quickly slides down from her chair and runs to grab her shoes.

"she does not put her shoes on like that for me," lia laughs.

"oh, she doesn't for me when she's at my house," jackson chuckles.

"ready, daddy," darci runs back over to them.

"okay, let's go then," jackson says, picking lily up from her high chair. "say bye to mommy."

"bye, mommy," darci waves.

"bye, darci," lia smiles. "thank you so much, again, jackson."

"i'll see you at the hospital," jackson nods as he leaves the house.

lia then returns to her bedroom so that she can get changed for work. once she's dressed and has done her hair, she heads back to the kitchen to tidy up. as she is doing so, she hears a knock at the door.

"did you forget-" lia cuts herself off when she opens the door to find mark standing there.

- - -
when we close a patient, connect severed tendons, repair a liver, we're just reuniting the tissue. restoring what was there before the illness.
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"you're mad at me," mark frowns as he follows lia around the house as she gets her things ready for work, but she doesn't say anything. "i'm sorry, but i can explain."

"mark, i honestly don't have time for this," lia sighs.

"please, just let me explain," mark pleads.

"i said i don't have time," lia snaps. "stay here or go back to la. i don't care. i have to go to work."

"lia-" mark begins to interject, but he cuts himself off when lia walks out of the house, and slams the door behind her.

- - -
ideally, it's a happy reunion, but things get tricky when we fail to make the right connection, or worse, when we reunite two things that were best kept apart.
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