Hell's Angel

Chapter 42

Meredith comes charging at Alex and I like a raging bull "so they're probably gonna fire me." She tells me fiancée in a low voice "are you happy?" Alex scoffs and everyone else looks up hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Come on, they're not gonna.." Alex starts, pulling a face but Meredith very calmly cuts him off "I want the rest of your crap out of my house by the end of the day." before walking off. Cristina comes over to us as I ask Alex "what the hell was that?" but before he can answer everyone's pagers start beeping violently.

"A 757 went down in the Sound." Chief Webber tells us as he stands in front of the crowd of doctors and other medical staff with Owen standing slightly behind him. "We are looking at about 200 injured passengers. We're the designated crisis centre. Families will be instructed to come here to find their loved ones. We are activating Surge Protocol. Dr Hunt is gonna be running the show. It's gonna be chaotic. You need to listen carefully, you need to stay focused, do not contribute to the panic. Get to your stations."

Everyone jumps into action at that. Lucy, Arizona and Stark appear by my side "alright people, lets get to work." I say and we head for the ER.

-

Owen and I stand around a radio listening to the news, waiting for the first flood of patients to come in. "Officials say it's too early to speculate on the cause of the crash." The news anchor says "but here's what we do know. The flight originated this morning in Baltimore carrying 183 passengers and 18 crew memebers..." Lexie comes strolling in, arms swinging casually.

"Still nobody?" She asks looking around at the empty ER "the families are going crazy. What is taking so long?" Mark doesn't even look up from his phone where he is also watching the news. "Fishing 200 people out of the water is slow business." He muses, then he looks up and raises his phone "you want to play angry birds?"

Owen scratches the back of his head "they'll do triage at the waterfront. Takes time." He then turns to me and says a little lower "actually, with it taking this long, there's gonna be a lot of hypothermia. Kepner!" The red haired woman leaps off of the bed she is lounging on. "Yeah. Warm blankets, heated lamps and heated IV fluids. Got it." She lists before disappearing to get those things. I look over the the head of trauma and ask "you post chief resident yet?"and Owen shakes his head.

"No not yet." Mark snorts and goes back to playing angry birds on the phone in his hands "what's the hold up?" He questions. Callie sighs and pushes her chair so she comes into view, her face glued to a magazine "the suspense ain't killing me." She says cutting into our conversation "it's gonna be Grey." I lean on the table trying to appear casual. I argue "Karev made a great play for it. A plane full of orphans? That's pretty impressive."

Callie looks up and studies Hunt's face "he's already decided." She reads from him "you don't have to lobby for your boy." I poke my tongue out at her and she smiles in return. Jackson then comes strolling in, "I need more sedatives." He explains "the people we're transferring are starting to freak out." He digs around for something and I watch as Mark stands up and stalks towards him.

I don't have a chance to eavesdrop on their conversation as Cristina appears close to us. "I need to talk to you." She says looking up her boyfriend and they leave silently.

It's been hours since we heard about the plane crash and no one has turned up. We all know what that means. Except Kepner as she turns to us after what has been peaceful silence "maybe I should put some IV fluids in the heater? Warm them up?" I rub my forehead and wince slightly at the hope in her voice. "No." Owen answers, finally back from speaking to Cristina. April looks over at us "but if people have been in the Water for that long, they'll be..." I sigh and cut her off gently "April." she tries to continue but Mark cuts her off, rougher than the rest of us. "No one is coming." He tells the resident calmly "if it's taken this long, nobody survived." April just looks in shock, unsure what to say.

-

We are all gathered again in front of Richard who has his hands on his hips and looks like he has aged another 7 years. "Emergency services has begun identifying bodied." He says glumly "they've given us a list. The airline reps are on their way, we've got social workers here, and more coming. It's a long list. Each of you have families to inform." WE are all given a piece of paper with different names on it. Andrew, the guy Teddy is seeing says "so please be outside the cafeteria in exactly one hour. You'll call one family at a time, and you'll be assigned a room to take them too and deliver the news. It's gonna be a long day.

We all disperse and I move next to Alex, I sigh and rub my forehead again "this is really gonna suck." I muse and Alex snorts while clutching his paper tightly. He looks down at me and says "perks of being a surgeon right?" I nod. We watch Hunt go over to the cork board and pin something up. The residents all go over and it sees that April has been made. Alex looks pissed off and disappears to find Hunt.

I go over to April and squeeze her arm, giving her a warm smile "well done April." I say and she smiles back. She pulls me into a big catching me off guard "thank you Andy." She says and I feel bad for her, the other people in her class must not be treating her nicely if this is her reaction to a small act of kindness. I hug her back and reply "you deserve it."

-

Telling these families that their loved ones are dead sucks. Seeing them break down crying, sucks. Watching as they blame themselves, then others and then crying again, sucks. This is the only part of my job I hate. Having to tell families that their loved ones are never coming home. "Andy we need you!" Owen says racing past me "there is a survivor." My heart rate picks up and I race after him.

"Sarah Gordon." I say once we have the patient and are rushing through the hospital "GCS at six, head injury and multiple contusions to mid torso. Systolic 70s in the field." Mark frowns as we move her from the stretcher to the bed. "Unaccompanied minor?" He asks and I am handed a chart "yeah, she was flying alone." They get her onto the bed and I order "ok, I need X-ray in here. We need to shoot a C-spine, chest....." Then everyone starts talking over one another and it is like Callie all over again.

Hunt sucks in a breath "folks, we have eyes." Derek looks down at the little girl and starts speaking calmly "Sarah, I'm doctor Shepherd. You see all these people around you? They're doctors. You ever seen this many doctors before? Don't worry we're all here to take care of you, ok?" She just gives us all a blank stare unable to speak because of the oxygen mask.

We take her straight up to the OR and I pray that this little girl pulls through.

-

"You ready to go?" Alex asks appearing in the door way of the attendings lounge. I close my locker and turn to face him. I sigh and push my bag up my shoulder "can we get my ring tomorrow?" I ask. Alex nods and I walk towards him, he takes my hand in his and leads me down the hall. "Sure." He answers, I clutch onto him closely as though afraid he might disappear. "Today has made me feel really crappy." Alex kisses me gently before resting our foreheads together. For a split second I feel peace.