Moonlit Craters

Untitled Part 27

The rest of Stella and Keith's limited time together had flown by. Before she knew it, Stella found herself in the hospital locker room.

"Stella! You're not early today?" the second-year fellow, Lakisha Wilson joked as Stella put her purse away.

"Yeah, yeah. Rare sight, I know." She put on her white coat and fixed her hair.

"When was the last time you started with us?" Danielle Gutierrez, a third-year resident, asked, joining in.

"Next thing you know, she'll join us for happy hour!" Matt the intern interjected. He frowned as a thought came to mind. "You still joining running club in the morning?"

"Yep," Stella replied as she reapplied her pale pink lipstick. Keith's goodbye kiss had messed it up, not that she had too many complaints about that.

"Wait, you'll join us for happy hour?" Lakisha chimed; her perky voice raised with shock.

Stella rolled her eyes at her coworker. "Like that'll ever happen." The bar most hospital staff frequented reeked of rum, beer, and vomit. These days she actively avoided anywhere like that. "I expect to see you all on the floor in five," she shouted over their laughter, heading out to the sound of groans. Sometimes, being chief fellow had its perks.

Alex nodded at her from the nurse's station, a small smile on her face. Stella nodded in return and ducked back into the office to check her patient list for the night. They still, technically, weren't her patients. She wasn't the one giving consults during the day, but it was her responsibility to make sure that they made it through another night. If something happened, if their vitals crashed, it was hers to fix.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary tonight. There were a handful of pre and post-op oncology patients who had most certainly seen better days, an infant with a traumatic brain injury, and a teen with a gunshot wound. It was looking like it would be a normal night, provided that nothing new came in through the ER.

She twirled a strand of hair – that had somehow escaped the braid – around a finger as Stella read their charts more in-depth. She took notes of who's bloodwork needed to come back and when the results of the MRI were due. As it was, it looked like she was facing an average night. Closing her eyes, she felt the sheer boredom of the night surround her. What she wouldn't give for something more interesting than what sat in front of her!

"Montgomery! There you are!" Lisa sat down and swiveled to face her.

Stella sat up, her spine cracking as it shifted into alignment. "What's up, doc?" she asked, a small smile at her joke.

Having heard it countless times before, Lisa ignored it. "There's a patient coming up any minute from the ER for you. It's challenging."

She stopped fiddling with her hair. Years of experience taught her that if Lisa came to talk to her about a patient prior to arrival, it was difficult someway or another. "What is it?" Stella fought to keep the smile off of her face; letting Lisa see the depths of her insanity wasn't something she let happen often.

"His name is Xavier Jones. His aunt called an ambulance for him since he wasn't acting like she thought he should be. Tests show signs of severe shaken baby syndrome with extensive damage to all parts of his brain stem. He's in DHS custody; his aunt and a few other relatives have been cleared to stay with him. We're waiting for the court to send us a DNR*."

Stella nodded her understanding and watched as the older woman left. She pulled Xavier's chart, giving the CT scan a quick lookover. The coma that Xavier had fallen into was likely one of the few things that kept the hospital from filling with his screams – the amount of pressure from all of the bleeding would have been excruciating. Of course, that also meant that he would have had the ability to cry and that too had been taken from him.