two ghosts [m.sloan]

6 - attachments

"YOU DIDN'T PICK HER DID YOU?" Matilda asked Derek quietly as he looked at the X-ray scans of the two patents impaled by the pole. Derek opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it "I know that look Der." she said softly with a sad tone in her voice. Derek was about to speak again but Meredith walked into the room along with, Burke, Bailey and George causing them to stop their conversation for the time being. 

"Is that going straight through her spine?" George asked and Bailey nodded. 

"Yep, T8's completely crushed."

"What happened?" Derek looked over to Meredith, meaning to ask Matilda but he was a little too loud.

"Uh... Tequila." Meredith responded awkwardly, still unsure of whether Derek picked her or Addison.

"She's fine we're keeping an eye on her," Bailey spoke to the attending, looking at Matilda and Meredith and back to Bailey. When her resident was looking at her, Matilda gave her a look that nobody else would understand but her and she knew who Derek had chosen.

As the surgeons continued discussing ways to separate the patients from the pole without both of them bleeding out, they concluded that pulling Bonnie out gave them the best chance to save Tom and give him a better chance of survival. 

Derek and Matilda were giving the two patients a neuro exam. "Can you feel that Miss Krasnoff?" Derek asked and Bonnie smiled at him. 

"You're a cute doctor and cute doctors get to call me Bonnie." She said softly and the three other people in the room chuckled lightly. 

"Okay, Bonnie." Derek smiled.

"How 'bout you Tom, can you feel anything?" Matilda asked as she rolled a tool onto the man's foot. He shook his head and Matilda looked over to Derek who looked a little disappointed. "Okay, why don't you try wiggling your toes." She said and as the man wiggled his toes the doctors smiled lightly. 

"Are they moving?" 

"Yes. That's great Tom."

"How about mine? Are they moving?" Bonnie asked excitedly and the doctors looked down to see her still feet. Matilda's heart ached for the woman.

"Yes. Yes, they are Bonnie." Derek said and Bonnie had a wide smile on her face while Matilda smiled at the blonde woman. The Shepherd doctor then looked at the intern next to him who gave the surgeon an assuring look.

"I can see the looks you're giving each other so if you have something to say please tell us." 

"Okay, Bonnie. In order to operate on Mr Maynard, we will have to separate the two of you. in order to do that, we will have to move you back off the pole." Derek began.

"Can't you just pull us both off the pole?" Tom asked.

"If we do that, both of you would start bleeding quickly. So quick that both of you would bleed out. Right now the pole is plugging the wounds." Matilda answered.

"Once the pole is removed, the organs will shift. And there is a great deal of damage."

"So, if you move me I'll die?" Bonnie asked with tears in her eyes and Matilda looked around the room to see every surgeon looking at the two patients. Not ready to answer her.

"We are going to do everything we can to save the both of you Bonnie," Matilda spoke up and grabbed bonnies hand while all surgeons looked at her.

"No. If anybody has to go, it should be me. All you have to do is move me instead."

"No, Mr Maynard. Your injuries are less extensive. If we pull the pole from you as we operate around it, we have a better chance at repairing the damages." 

"This is not right. It's not fair." Tom protested.

"Tom, no matter what happens it will never be fair," Bonnie said softly, "Is... Is Danny here yet?"

"The storm has caused delays at the airport," George said as he walked into the room from the doorway.

"We could wait..."

"No, No it's better this way. No hard goodbye right?" Bonnie let out a small chuckle.

The OR was prepped and the surgeons were all scrubbing in. Apart from the running water, the room was silent. Nobody knew what to say. Dr Burke, Derek and Matilda walked into the OR first.

"This is Dr Adams, he's our anaesthesiologist. When you are both ready, he's going to put you to sleep." Derek walked up to the two patients.

"So it won't hurt?"

"You won't feel a thing."

Bonnie and Derek talked a little while longer and Matilda looked over to see Meredith talking to Dr Bailey. The blonde began to scrub in as Dererk finished talking to Bonnie and walked back into the scrub room.

Matilda didn't need to lipread to know how the conversation went. The look of realisation on her friend's face said it all. 

Suddenly, Bonnie began to crash and all the surgeons rushed to help the patients. The Operation swiftly and carefully began. Matilda helped Burke, Shepherd and Meredith with helping Bonnie but there wasn't much they could do. Tom began to crash as well and since there was nothing they could do to save Bonnie, Matilda, Derek and Preston moved to go help Tom.

"W-What are you doing!? We can't just Abandon her!"

"Meredith..."

"Tilly... Please you know we can help her."

"Dr Grey we need to over here," Bailey ordered.

"No! We can't just leave her. We have an obligation..."

Matilda looked to the surgeons around her before looking back at Meredith. "I'll help her." She said softly as she swapped gloves again and went to help her friend.

What she didn't notice was Bailey following her, "Dr Grey we have to let her go. There was never anything we could do... Time of Death 3:49" she said as she walked away and returned to the surgery.

The two stood there for a moment, just staring at the girl on the table but Matilda eventually grabbed Meredith's arm and lightly pulled her away from Bonnie.

The two friends walked out into the scrub room and they both took off their face masks and gloves. "Mer, there was nothing we could do."

"I know... There was nothing we could do. It was impossible. It was impossible and he picked her. Derek picked Addison." Meredith admitted to her friend.

"I know and I'm so sorry Mer." 

"I'm going to go do some charts, wanna come?"

"Sure let's go." 

After the Surgery was over Meredith and Matilda sat in the locker room. Matilda was sipping her coffee in between yawns and Meredith was staring at the wall. Alex, Cristina, George and Izzie joined them after a while and Matilda placed her head on Alex's shoulder as they all waited for DR Bailey to come to assign them for their next cases.