The Starting Line

Chapter 24

"Did you meet with George last night?"

Eleanora looked up from the chart she was flipping through and gave him a sad smile. "Yeah, I knew you were going to stay at your house, so I just..." she let out a deep sigh, Alex rubbing her back soothingly. "He needed someone, Alex. He was scared and now-"

"His dad has kidney failure, yeah, I heard. That sucks." he interrupted. She nodded, stepping away from the counter to hug her boyfriend tightly for a moment.

"I love you." She whispered, looking at him. He placed a kiss on her lips, giving her a half-hearted smile.

"You too." Eleanora removed her arms when she heard his pager beep, he checked it. "I have to go, honey."

Turning around and running away, Eleanora returned to the chart. She didn't realize that Alex hadn't technically told her that he loved her, of course. She had no reason to worry, so her brain didn't notice.

However, she noticed George walking aimlessly towards the hallway. She frowned, leaving her chart with a nurse as she walked towards him.

"Georgie?"

He looked at her, and then his eyes strayed to Dr. Bailey and the Chief, and he approached them. He stood back a little, almost as if he refused to be near them. Eleanora followed him, her eyes full of concern.

"Why did you do it?" His voice was loud but not yet a scream. Eleanora moved her eyes from his to the two in front of her, her nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Dr. O'Malley," the Chief begins, but George cuts him off.

"Why did you do it once you saw the cancer had spread?" Everything clicked in Eleanora's mind at that moment, Mr. O'Malley's inexplicable coma and organ failure. They took out too much in surgery. But why?

"He asked you, right? He asked you to do it no matter what?"

Eleanora's voice was soft as she took a step closer to her friend, but she didn't touch him. "Georgie..."

"We have to honor the wishes of our patients." The Chief told him. George scoffed, then directed his anger and disbelief at Dr. Bailey. Bailey looked like she was going to be sick, like the fact that she had to lie to George would kill her.

He probably did, Eleanora thought. She knew how much she loved and cared for the residents, all six of them, and that she would never want something like that to happen to any of them.

"You said you'd be honest with me. He could have lived for weeks or months, w-we could have had months with him! My mom, I could have had months with him!"

"He wanted the chance to fight the cancer, George." The Chief said, looking at him with slight guilt. "It was his choice."

Eleanora took a step back as George yelled at the Chief, her eyes widening. "He didn't know any better! You knew better! You shouldn't have done it."

The Chief and Dr. Bailey looked at him in surprise. Eleanora stepped next to him, intertwining their fingers and grabbing his arm.

"George," she said softly, pulling him gently. "Let's go, okay?"

George's voice cracked, beginning to walk with Eleanora but aiming his words at the two surgeons in front of him. "You shouldn't have done it."

Eleanora led him out of sight of everyone watching, closing the door to an empty room behind her. She looked at him with a worried voice.

"Georgie..."

He collapsed then, practically falling into her arms. She hugged him, rocking them from side to side and hushing him in silence for what seemed like hours, the two best friends trying to make sense of what life really meant when they were in each other's arms.