Precaution

Observing surgery was long and tedious, but I was mesmerized. I was lost in some magical, surreal trance as I watched Savard suture up this mans heart, literally repairing it’s break. The science and the craft of surgery had me breathless as I stood there in the operating room, only watching, but for the first time ever feeling alive. My heart pulsed and my blood surged, all the gears in my body were connecting.

I lost track of time and it wasn’t until Pierce burst into the OR to ask for a consult that I remembered about the hockey players. Luckily, only an hour or so had passed by and we only had three more rooms to hit. I reluctantly left the room and scrubbed out, swinging by the locker room to change into a pair of fresh scrubs. Blood had smeared on my other pair and I while I wasn’t an expert in pediatric medicine, I was fairly certain approaching the children with blood smeared clothes wasn’t good bedside manner.

I popped into the hall, finding the group of players strung out in the waiting rooms, talking to some patients’ families as they waited on their kids in surgery. I smiled, admitting that this was just a little bit cute. Jordan was the first to notice me as I waded in the waiting room.

“Violet!” He sprang up from his seat and I noticed all their eyes move up to meet me, except one pair. Sidney was kneeling on one side of a coffee table, playing cards with a little girl. She slapped a playing card down and shouted “WAR” with the determination of a thirty year old. The group watched the game, picking sides and taking fake bets. Only Kris had faith in his captain, everyone else was willing to bet on the little girl in a mickey mouse shirt.

“I win!” She shouted and clapped her hands, scooping up her cards. We high fived and Marc took the time to properly taunt Kris while Sidney approached us. “Ready to go?” He asked, looking at me. I just reached over and rubbed the back of my neck, looking down while my face flushed. I turned around so that he wouldn’t see me, moving into another room. “Yup.”

The day went fantastically well and fairly soon, the Penguins shuffled out of the last childs room. We crammed back into the elevator, telling jokes and laughing. It wasn’t nearly as tense now, but I still had to fight off the urge to just burst out in laughter. This day was most definitely not what I expected it to be. I wasn’t splitting open brains like Hollary or watching Savard sew hearts. I was in Peds, spending time with hockey players of all people.

They filed out of the elevator and this time, I was last. But as soon as I stepped off, my pager cried out. But it wasn’t alone. I followed the sound to across the atrium over to where Novikova was standing, the rest of the interns approaching her.

“I’ll be right back.” I said pointing to my resident before sprinting away. I stopped next to Lexie who was pulling her arms back in a stretch. She watched a four appy gone wrong and I secretly envied her. She didn’t babysit jocks and kids, she got to be a surgeon. “What’s going on?” I whispered and she just shrugged as we all waited for the resident to address us.

“Apparently, we have second round interns.” Novikova was clearly annoyed, her accent going from barely noticeable to full on motherland. “So that means you scrum get to go home. Holly and Shepherd—“ she directed her blue stare towards Olivia and Colin, the two of them exchanging glances with one another. “Don’t do anything stupid. You’re on call so keep your pagers on. The rest of you, go. I’ll see you here at seven thirty tomorrow morning for rounds. Be late and you’re wiping snotty noses in the clinic for the rest of the day.”

I grinned, but Kat looked disappointed. “I’m going to see if I can switch with Olivia. The best trauma’s roll in at night, when everyone’s stupid and drunk.” She lept off and I moved back towards the group.

“Sorry.” I began, looking at them with renewed excitement. “I’ve just got great luck today. My 48 hour shift was reduced to twelve. “

Marc clasped his hands in excitement and threw his arm around my shoulder. “You know what this means?” I shook my head and Max grinned.

“This means we all should go out for drinks. We don’t have a game for another two days and we only have an afternoon practice tomorrow. And you—“ Max said, looking at me with some look of mischief. “You are a new found friend. It’ll be like a welcome to Pittsburgh sort of deal. You don’t know anybody out here and I happen to know everybody.”

“You do not.” Jordan interjected, shaking his head. “Nobody likes you, they all avoid you on the streets. “ He said before darting away, expecting Max’s retaliation attempt.

“I can’t.” I said with a frown, a little disappointed. “As great as that sounds, there’s no way I can drink. I have to be up for rounds early tomorrow. “ I say, taking off my lab coat and folding it across my arms.

“Why don’t we all go out to dinner then? I’m not going to lie, I’m hungry.” Sidney said out of the blue, coming up from the back of the group to interject.

“Perfect!” Marc said. “Go get your crap and we’ll see you down here in five minutes.

I turned around, hearing my sneakers screech the waxed floor of the hospital as I turned towards the elevator. Inside, I was alone and had a second to gather my thoughts. I was going out to dinner now with complete strangers, who were hockey players and I was just going along with it. Some change.