Chapter 7

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In some surgeon's minds, life is an endless loop. Every time a new day starts, they're all at the hospital, every time a day ends, they're all at the hospital ; the point of being surgeon. If you're there everyday, all day, you have very little time to do anytime. You have to rush. Sometimes, people rush too much.

"Alex Karev, 41, MVC pile up, possible internal injuries, rib fractures, hypertensive, 146 over 92, semi stable compared to the next."

Jo froze as she watched her rekindled love being pushed into the middle of Trauma Room 1 and hooked up to EKG's and IV drips. As quickly as Alex came in, there followed 2 gurneys holding twins. Alexis and Eli.

"Alexis Karev, 7, backseat of MVC accident, open femur fracture and broken ribs, suspected she had her legs on the seat and they broke her ribs in impact. 2 more coming in."

2. 2 more. Eli and Eve. Numbness shot through Jo's body, leaving her paralysed. Why do the worst things happen to the best people.

"Eli Karev, 7, front seat of MVC, seat belt bruise but no signs of any other injuries, stats good."

The next EMT came through the door, in no rush. "Jane Doe-"

"E- Eve, her name is Evelyn. She's 2 years and has a heart arrhythmia." Jo cut him off.

"She's okay. Just a small head lac from the glass shatter in the front." Jackson took her into a patient bed to sew her head up.

Meredith lightly grabbed the arm of one of the interns treating Eli. "Where's the person that hit them?"

"Dead on scene."

Meredith and Jo looked at each other, not knowing the pain of hearing them words as a patient's family member and not a doctor, even though they didn't know them.

"Admit them all and take Alex and Alexis up for surgery. Page Ortho, General and you're going to need Neuro for afterwards, and someone get Arizona Robbins down here." Hunt came shouting out of the room, grabbing the attention of all interns, nurses and trauma surgeons. This wasn't just any patient.

2 gurneys shot out of the Trauma Rooms, vitals stable but the two patients didn't look in the best shape. How was it that less then 48 hours earlier, that was Jo on the gurney. She didn't need surgery and wasn't in as bad of shape but she was still in that position.

"Hey, why did I get called down? My patients are getting frustrated with delays of surgery and I was just about to start prepping." Even though she sounded mad, Arizona still came into the ER with a smile on her face.

"Car crash." Jo didn't even turn her head to look at her friend. She stared blankly into the Trauma Room that Alex was wheeled in and out of in what felt like seconds, reliving the moment of when they brought him in.

"And I was paged, why?"

"It was Alex in the car. With all 3 of his kids." She finally turned her head, falling out of the trance, expression still blank.

There was a high risk Alex wouldn't make it out of surgery, but there's always a risk. They say that to every patient, ever time they ask. There's always a risk of not waking up.

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"Wilson, get out of there now!"

Words came from Hunt's mouth, over the intercom, in through one ear and out through the other. Jo wasn't moving. She was going to stand in the gallery for how ever long Alex's surgery took. She stared into the room where he was lying there, open on the table ; no family member should ever watch that. She thought she could handle it. She didn't want to be in that room, but her leaving him now would be like when he left her and she didn't want that pain for him, even when he's unconscious.

"Go get her out of there now, Schmitt." Hunt whispered, but even the most silent of noises were picked up over the intercom.

Jo could hear the door shutting by Levi, and the return of the clang of surgical instruments being used, but she ignored all of it. The whole time she watched his stats to see any change. She was aware of his heart arrhythmia so she didn't take it into too much account, even when the anaesthesiologist did.

"Jo?" Quiet, comforting sounding words came from Schmitt's mouth but Jo ignored his existence completely, in that moment.

Jo could hear tuning foot steps coming up the stairs, and into the gallery. She recognised them foot steps. She heard them everyday.

"Jo, come on. You can't be in here. We have to go."

It was Meredith. But Jo carried on to ignore her until one certain sound caught her attention. Babbles from her daughter. Jo's head spun, to see Eve on Meredith's side, playing and tugging on her hair.

In silence, Jo walked out, took her from Meredith's hand lightly, and walked back to the same spot, in the same position, to stare at the same monitor like she had been doing for the 30 minutes.

"Jo. Come on. You shouldn't see this." Meredith touched her hand lightly, sending shockwaves through Jo's body. She didn't want to be held. She didn't want comfort. She didn't want to have her friends there. She didn't want anyone except Alex.

Jo walked out of the door, down the stairs and into the OR.

"Wilson, out! Now!" Hunt was no impressed. She knew the rules.

"He's got a heart arrhythmia. I don't care who you call but get someone here to watch it as you guys have made it very clear that I'm not allowed to."

And with that information out in the open, she walked out of the door, silent as a mouse and into the attending's lounge. Hours went by and no one came to talk to her. No one dared to. She just sat there, holding her baby as tightly as possible, minding her head due to the stitches.

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"Jo."

"Are they okay?"

"Yeah. Come with me."

After Everything That Happened. [Alex Karev + Jo Wilson ]Where stories live. Discover now