‹ Prequel: Precaution
Status: In Progress
Warning
Could Be Anything
The pressure of the ten blade against my fingers, the feeling of the edge piercing the skin, the coolness of the blood sticking to my gloved hands—I felt everything, completely and totally conscience of absolutely every sensation in the operating room.
My fingers gently probed along the aorta, the scarlet blood staining my white gloves as I pressed against the damaged and torn organ. I moved my left hand out of the body cavity, and felt the metal Statinsky clamp press into my palm. Expertly, I pried it open and pushed it inside the body. Lap pads absorbed the bleeding, allowing me to pull both my hands out and suture the wound. I felt the hustle around me, but I didn’t notice anybody else in that operating room. No scrub nurses, no attending, no fellow residents. It was just me and a scalpel.
--
My eyes flew open, the sunshine in my hospital room blinding me momentarily. I was still hazy and not even sure what had been going on, but a voice registered in my mind and through the fog.
“Dr. Anderson.” It was Novikova. Was I late for rounds? Why was I in a gown? I looked over to the side of my room where Sidney was slouched against the wall. He had been sleeping too and his hoodie was rumpled. I turned my eyes back to Novikova, who was standing next to my bed with my chart in her hands. “Good to see you up and about. You had some complications with your appendicitis.” naturally, I thought.
I pulled the cover of my bed down to look at the bandaged surgical site. Sidney had gotten up and out of his chair at this point to stand on the other side of my bed. Novikova put her hands above the bandage and pressed down slightly, and I knew it was to check whether or not the swelling and inflammation had reduced. I had done it dozens of times.
“Did I have to go back to surgery?” I asked, turning from Sid to Novikova. “How long was I even out?”
“No, we did a simple out patient re-suturing and gave you some drugs for the pain. You were only out another 26 hours our so, average time.” She answered and I nodded.
“Intra-abdominal abscess?” I asked and Novikova shook her head.
“No, just a simple infection. You’re still on antibiotics and once you’re out of here, you shouldn’t be coming anywhere near the hospital for at least another week and a half.” She gave me a stern look. “—for both work and other reasons.” She said, leaving my chart near my bed before fully absorbing her statement.
“Wait, does that mean I’m being discharged?” I asked, and the door to my room pulled open showing Lucy and Marc wade in with coffee’s in their hands.
“Yes, if and only if you have someone to stay with and if you can promise me you’ll be in bed resting. Not looking up surgeries, not studying, not catching up on charts, not having interns email you scans of tumors. In fact, you shouldn’t even be thinking about tumors. Because knowing you like the rest of my damn fool interns, you will tear your sutures or stress the infection and get a fever and I’ll be the one cleaning up your damn mess.” Marc and Lucy were, at this point, quietly sitting and staring in fear. Novikova spun around to look at the two of them and Sidney. “Which one of you is taking her home?”
“I am.” Sidney said, raising his hand slightly. Lucy snorted into her coffee and stood up from her chair.
“Ha, no. That’ll be us.” Lucy said, standing up and giving Sid a pat on the shoulder. “No offense there because I like you, but you can understand why my trust in you has wavered a little bit in the passed year.”
“No offense, Luce, because I like you, but you’re pregnant. And you need to be taking care of yourself.” I looked back at Novikova and frowned. “My apartment is fine, I can walk around and if I keep a few boxes of Lucky Charms next to my bed, I can feed myself and everything.”
“I thought you said Lucy was the one who ate in bed?” Sid asked with a smile and Novikova shook her head.
“Do you want me to get mad? Do I look like the kind of person to give orders for them to be argued? Pick one of these people to take care of you for a week and a half, and I’ll discharge you. Otherwise you’ll be here. With me.”
“Sidney can have custody, I guess.” Lucy said reluctantly, staring me down almost as effectively as my former resident.
“Great. You’ll be out in a half hour.” Novikova said before spinning on her heel, grabbing my chart before I could, and walking out the door.
--
I got out of Sidney’s car a little slowly, and he was at my side in a moments notice.
“Really, you can just drop me off at my apartment.” I said, turning to face him. He rolled his eyes and nodded, putting his hand on the small of my back and giving me a push forward to the door.
“Uh huh. Yeah, I’ll do that.” He replied, herding me towards his house. He unlocked the door, and soon it was just the two of us in his big empty house. Sid set down his keys in a small glass bowl and walked into the kitchen, where I followed like a sad little puppy.
“Tea?” he asked and I nodded, leaning against the counter. My side hurt like hell but I didn’t want to stand here and throw back Vicodin, especially when I knew that taking the drug will make me feel better—but it may slow down my recovery time and I needed to get back to work. I needed to get my hands on that tumor.
I bit my lip and tried to focus on Sidney, trying to put the pain away. His eyes suddenly focused on me
“Violet, are you okay?” he asked and I fought every urge not to roll my eyes. This guy was worse than my mother. “I’ve seen that look a thousand times from guys on the bench. They get hit by a puck in the face and suck it up to play. “
I shook my head and threw him a light smile. Or what, I thought was a smile but turned out to be more of a wince. He put the kettle on the burner and took hold of me with one swift movement.
“Come on, you should go take a nap or something. Watch TV, whatever. Don’t you have pain meds?” He asked, grabbing my bag.
“Yeah but in the New England Journal of Medicine last month, there was an article about how pain medication increases the recovery time in post-op patients and I—“
“--found them. I’ll bring you tea and all your fun pills, that you will take or else I’ll call Lucy.” He said, leading me to his room. The t-shirt I wore before going to the hospital was still on the floor. “Seriously, Vi. Take it easy or else I really will call Lucy and you know she’s got a mild case of psychosis, so she’ll probably drag you off to their house and tie you to the bed for a week. “ he said with a grin as I crawled into bed, pulling the covers up. He tossed me the t-shirt and turned around one last time. “Take a nap, I’ll order take out and by the time you wake up, you’ll be drugged up and hungry.” He said and walked out of the room, leaving me
--
“Uh Vi?” I heard Sidney’s voice break through and wake me up from my nap.
“Food?” I asked groggily, opening my eyes just wide enough to catch the worry on his face.
“Um no. Not exactly—“
“God, it’s absolutely miserable in here. Don’t you employ a maid, or an interior decorator for that matter? I’m not sure which is worse, the dust on the mantel or your lack of design.” And that familiar voice I recognized not to be the take out boy, or Lucy, or really anybody favorable at all.
“Mother?” I shot up in bed, staring wide-eyed at Sidney and trying to ignore the pain from my side that my too-quick movement brought on. He mouthed “I’m sorry” and in another second, I was overwhelmed by a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and Hermes. “What are you doing here?”
“Your boss called me. That Russian woman, I can’t remember her name for the life of me.” She said, staring down at her perfectly lacquered nails and shifting her Chanel lambskin on her shoulder. She turned her hawk stare back at me and blinked. “Well, aren’t you going to give me a proper greeting?”
“I’d love to, but I’m bedridden. I just had surgery and I don’t want to tear my sutures.”
“It is so typical of you to do this, Violet. I mean honestly. If you would move back to Seattle, I wouldn’t have to fly all the way across the country when you inevitably do something stupid.” She snapped back, drawing closer to my bed.
“Okay, I got appendicitis. I can’t really control that. And seriously, what are you doing here? I’m fine.”
“Yes I can see that. Recovering in some hockey players house.” She turned her attention to Sidney for a moment, regarding him with a cool disdain.
“Sidney, his name is Sidney. You’ve met him before, mom.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Charmed, I’m sure.” She replied to my statement, before a doorbell interrupted the three of us. She turned her head towards the sound and I shook my head rapidly at Sid, begging him not to leave. But he just gave me an apologetic shrug, said “excuse me”, and walked out.
Leaving me alone with my mother.
My fingers gently probed along the aorta, the scarlet blood staining my white gloves as I pressed against the damaged and torn organ. I moved my left hand out of the body cavity, and felt the metal Statinsky clamp press into my palm. Expertly, I pried it open and pushed it inside the body. Lap pads absorbed the bleeding, allowing me to pull both my hands out and suture the wound. I felt the hustle around me, but I didn’t notice anybody else in that operating room. No scrub nurses, no attending, no fellow residents. It was just me and a scalpel.
--
My eyes flew open, the sunshine in my hospital room blinding me momentarily. I was still hazy and not even sure what had been going on, but a voice registered in my mind and through the fog.
“Dr. Anderson.” It was Novikova. Was I late for rounds? Why was I in a gown? I looked over to the side of my room where Sidney was slouched against the wall. He had been sleeping too and his hoodie was rumpled. I turned my eyes back to Novikova, who was standing next to my bed with my chart in her hands. “Good to see you up and about. You had some complications with your appendicitis.” naturally, I thought.
I pulled the cover of my bed down to look at the bandaged surgical site. Sidney had gotten up and out of his chair at this point to stand on the other side of my bed. Novikova put her hands above the bandage and pressed down slightly, and I knew it was to check whether or not the swelling and inflammation had reduced. I had done it dozens of times.
“Did I have to go back to surgery?” I asked, turning from Sid to Novikova. “How long was I even out?”
“No, we did a simple out patient re-suturing and gave you some drugs for the pain. You were only out another 26 hours our so, average time.” She answered and I nodded.
“Intra-abdominal abscess?” I asked and Novikova shook her head.
“No, just a simple infection. You’re still on antibiotics and once you’re out of here, you shouldn’t be coming anywhere near the hospital for at least another week and a half.” She gave me a stern look. “—for both work and other reasons.” She said, leaving my chart near my bed before fully absorbing her statement.
“Wait, does that mean I’m being discharged?” I asked, and the door to my room pulled open showing Lucy and Marc wade in with coffee’s in their hands.
“Yes, if and only if you have someone to stay with and if you can promise me you’ll be in bed resting. Not looking up surgeries, not studying, not catching up on charts, not having interns email you scans of tumors. In fact, you shouldn’t even be thinking about tumors. Because knowing you like the rest of my damn fool interns, you will tear your sutures or stress the infection and get a fever and I’ll be the one cleaning up your damn mess.” Marc and Lucy were, at this point, quietly sitting and staring in fear. Novikova spun around to look at the two of them and Sidney. “Which one of you is taking her home?”
“I am.” Sidney said, raising his hand slightly. Lucy snorted into her coffee and stood up from her chair.
“Ha, no. That’ll be us.” Lucy said, standing up and giving Sid a pat on the shoulder. “No offense there because I like you, but you can understand why my trust in you has wavered a little bit in the passed year.”
“No offense, Luce, because I like you, but you’re pregnant. And you need to be taking care of yourself.” I looked back at Novikova and frowned. “My apartment is fine, I can walk around and if I keep a few boxes of Lucky Charms next to my bed, I can feed myself and everything.”
“I thought you said Lucy was the one who ate in bed?” Sid asked with a smile and Novikova shook her head.
“Do you want me to get mad? Do I look like the kind of person to give orders for them to be argued? Pick one of these people to take care of you for a week and a half, and I’ll discharge you. Otherwise you’ll be here. With me.”
“Sidney can have custody, I guess.” Lucy said reluctantly, staring me down almost as effectively as my former resident.
“Great. You’ll be out in a half hour.” Novikova said before spinning on her heel, grabbing my chart before I could, and walking out the door.
--
I got out of Sidney’s car a little slowly, and he was at my side in a moments notice.
“Really, you can just drop me off at my apartment.” I said, turning to face him. He rolled his eyes and nodded, putting his hand on the small of my back and giving me a push forward to the door.
“Uh huh. Yeah, I’ll do that.” He replied, herding me towards his house. He unlocked the door, and soon it was just the two of us in his big empty house. Sid set down his keys in a small glass bowl and walked into the kitchen, where I followed like a sad little puppy.
“Tea?” he asked and I nodded, leaning against the counter. My side hurt like hell but I didn’t want to stand here and throw back Vicodin, especially when I knew that taking the drug will make me feel better—but it may slow down my recovery time and I needed to get back to work. I needed to get my hands on that tumor.
I bit my lip and tried to focus on Sidney, trying to put the pain away. His eyes suddenly focused on me
“Violet, are you okay?” he asked and I fought every urge not to roll my eyes. This guy was worse than my mother. “I’ve seen that look a thousand times from guys on the bench. They get hit by a puck in the face and suck it up to play. “
I shook my head and threw him a light smile. Or what, I thought was a smile but turned out to be more of a wince. He put the kettle on the burner and took hold of me with one swift movement.
“Come on, you should go take a nap or something. Watch TV, whatever. Don’t you have pain meds?” He asked, grabbing my bag.
“Yeah but in the New England Journal of Medicine last month, there was an article about how pain medication increases the recovery time in post-op patients and I—“
“--found them. I’ll bring you tea and all your fun pills, that you will take or else I’ll call Lucy.” He said, leading me to his room. The t-shirt I wore before going to the hospital was still on the floor. “Seriously, Vi. Take it easy or else I really will call Lucy and you know she’s got a mild case of psychosis, so she’ll probably drag you off to their house and tie you to the bed for a week. “ he said with a grin as I crawled into bed, pulling the covers up. He tossed me the t-shirt and turned around one last time. “Take a nap, I’ll order take out and by the time you wake up, you’ll be drugged up and hungry.” He said and walked out of the room, leaving me
--
“Uh Vi?” I heard Sidney’s voice break through and wake me up from my nap.
“Food?” I asked groggily, opening my eyes just wide enough to catch the worry on his face.
“Um no. Not exactly—“
“God, it’s absolutely miserable in here. Don’t you employ a maid, or an interior decorator for that matter? I’m not sure which is worse, the dust on the mantel or your lack of design.” And that familiar voice I recognized not to be the take out boy, or Lucy, or really anybody favorable at all.
“Mother?” I shot up in bed, staring wide-eyed at Sidney and trying to ignore the pain from my side that my too-quick movement brought on. He mouthed “I’m sorry” and in another second, I was overwhelmed by a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and Hermes. “What are you doing here?”
“Your boss called me. That Russian woman, I can’t remember her name for the life of me.” She said, staring down at her perfectly lacquered nails and shifting her Chanel lambskin on her shoulder. She turned her hawk stare back at me and blinked. “Well, aren’t you going to give me a proper greeting?”
“I’d love to, but I’m bedridden. I just had surgery and I don’t want to tear my sutures.”
“It is so typical of you to do this, Violet. I mean honestly. If you would move back to Seattle, I wouldn’t have to fly all the way across the country when you inevitably do something stupid.” She snapped back, drawing closer to my bed.
“Okay, I got appendicitis. I can’t really control that. And seriously, what are you doing here? I’m fine.”
“Yes I can see that. Recovering in some hockey players house.” She turned her attention to Sidney for a moment, regarding him with a cool disdain.
“Sidney, his name is Sidney. You’ve met him before, mom.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Charmed, I’m sure.” She replied to my statement, before a doorbell interrupted the three of us. She turned her head towards the sound and I shook my head rapidly at Sid, begging him not to leave. But he just gave me an apologetic shrug, said “excuse me”, and walked out.
Leaving me alone with my mother.
♠ ♠ ♠
Could Be Anything -- The Eames Era