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Half an hour after the altercation with Harrison and Derek, the attendings and doctors were paged into the conference room. They all started to pile in, as Skye and Danika walked in last, heading to the front. They all sat in chairs, some leaning against the wall while Danika addressed them.
“So, I know you are all aware of the altercation we had half an hour ago regarding two interns and Skye. Due to this, we have brought everyone together to decide if we will be firing these two interns or if we should give them a chance.” Danika paused, as all the doctors nodded, and she continued, “Did anyone see or hear about what happened?”
All the doctors nodded, as Irene addressed the room full of doctors. “Did we check in with the patient to see if their symptoms are the ones that the intern told you?”
Danika nodded, “It was, indeed a domestic violence case, and the drip had a nerve block for the pain of her two broken ribs. So, anyone want to start?”
Irene steps up, as she addresses the whole room, the doctors turning to look at her. “I heard the commotion between both interns before the fight began. Derek did indeed insult Harrison.”
TC quickly cut in, turning to look at Irene, “I’m sorry, but who are you?” he stopped, not letting her answer as he commented on her opinion, “I think we should give the kid a chance. I’ve done this before and this has happened at the hospital before. He defended a friend and co-worker and fixed a problem with a patient a nurse couldn’t. He should stay.”
“I’m the OB/GYN in charge,” Irene said as Skye cut in.
“She’s cool, TC, don’t worry.”
He only nodded, as Z spoke up, “Irene’s right. We did hear the commotion, and even though it could’ve been for a good reason, we can’t let that slide here. We have rules for a reason. I think Harrison should go.”
Drew stopped her, “Wait, what about the other intern, Derek? The one who started with the comments?”
“I think we should give him a chance. He was the victim, after all.” Z said, as Drew angrily chuckled under his breath, shaking his head.
“That’s unacceptable. We can’t let some mediocre intern who couldn’t do something as easy as a simple stitch on a patient or even place an IV correctly stay, while one of our top interns leaves the hospital,” he argued, as a couple of other doctors pitched in.
“Harrison should be given another chance and Derek should know that simple things like placing an IV correctly, doing a full workup on a patient, or even correcting a stitching could determine his status as a doctor. He should know that for a simple mistake, there will be consequences.” TC explains.
“Okay, wait a minute,” Irene interrupts the group, “Look, we all know this wasn’t okay at any point in time, but we can’t blame Harrison. Do you all remember when Danika and Skye got into a fight with some other interns during their first year? Because it sure looks like we’ve been here before.”
Topher, Drew, and TC looked at Danika and Skye, confusion on their faces, as both doctors shared a look.
“I knew Danika was one for getting into trouble but I didn’t picture you as an agitator, Skye,” TC chuckled, as Danika glared at him before looking at Seb.
Skye tried to divert the attention from her friend, as she started reminiscing. “Well basically when we were interns, one of our fellow co-workers had been given the chance to be in surgery after he stole an answer from me.”
*beginning of flashback*
“That son of a bitch is going to get away with it, isn’t he?” Danika scoffed as Skye shrugged, heading to pick up some labs. “It’s not fair! You have to say something. That was supposed to be your surgery, Skye”
“How about we just let him be?” Skye said as she grabbed the labs, before turning around and encountering the ‘son of a bitch’.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Miss Know it all. Grabbing labs, I see?”
“What do you want, Ian?” Skye asked with a monotone voice.
“Well, I’m off to my surgery with Doctor Lancaster. So I just wanted to let you know that your patient will be taken care of,” he said, as he gave her a petulant smile.
“I doubt he will be in really good hands if the doctor in that OR had to steal an answer to get it,” Skye said, as Ian only scoffed.
“Oh please, we both know the reason you didn’t get that surgery is because the attending was so busy looking for your boobs that he couldn’t hear what you were saying. Besides, no one in their right mind would ever let you do anything more than hold a retractor.” Ian claimed as Skye clenched her jaw and balled her fist in anger.
“Back of moron, everyone knows about what happened last time you were in charge of a patient,” Danika cut it.
“Now you need your girlfriend to defend you, how cute,” Ian said as his girlfriend, another fellow intern, joined the conversation.
“Everything okay, honey?” she asked, arm wrapped around his bicep, as both Danika and Skye glared at her.
“Yeah babe, don’t worry about it.”
“Your boyfriend stole the surgery from under my friend, that’s what happening honey,” Danika said, as Lisa only scoffed, a smirk on her face.
“You two are just jealous that we’re better than you. Look at this sad little pair,” as she turned to her boyfriend and then Skye, “No boy wants a girl who can’t even look the proper age, and that hair is a disaster,” walking over to Skye as she pulled on a strand, her hands coming up to push her away. “Oh look, she fights back, how fun,” she said, using a patronizing tone.
Skye’s fist was starting to move up when Ian stepped closer to her, making their height difference clearer.
“What are you going to do dopey?” he said as both girls lost it.
Danika’s hand connected with Ian’s nose first. He stumbled backward as his girlfriend tried to pull on Danika’s hair. Skye caught her arm and twisted it away but her other hand came directly at her face, scratching it. Danika was now repeatedly punching Ian, straddling his waist as she muttered a sentence under her breath that only he could hear.
“No one calls my friend one of the seven dwarves but me,” she said between punches.
As this happened Lisa and Skye were about to hit a wall when two attendings swooped in to break up the fight.
*end of flashback*
Everyone in the room stared at Skye as she told the tale.
“So you fought some intern because he stole your surgery?” someone asked.
“First of all he was a crappy doctor and he would’ve killed that patient,” Danika stated.
“In the end, we explained the whole situation and the hospital decided to keep us. Besides the guy and his girlfriend were both let go after they were questioned about the case and didn’t know how to answer, and they almost let another patient die to due performing CPR with the wrong form,” Skye clarified.
The doctors pondered over the new information, some whispering about the two doctors and giving them disapproving looks.
“Anyway, we should let the interns state their case.” Seb cut in.
“He’s right, we should hear both sides,” Danika agreed.
“Of course, you think he’s right,” TC muttered under his breath.
“I’m sorry, do you have a problem?” Seb addressed him.
“On the contrary, bring the boys in. Let’s see what they have to say.” TC used a challenging tone building up the tension.
“Alright boys, let’s leave the measuring contest for later and concentrate on what really matters,” Irene cut in.
The interns were notified. Each one of them waited outside the conference room for their turn to tell their version of the mishap of the night. Derek got to step in first. He had changed his bloody scrubs for a spare and was not holding anything near his nose anymore. His perfect hair seemed to be unaffected by the altercation and his dazzling smile greeted the doctors inside the room. As he recounted the events of the night he couldn’t help but try to charm his way out of the mess. He claimed to be a perfect nurse on duty and a concerned doctor who felt his patient needed a shoulder to cry on. The doctors questioned his technique, and his knowledge of the case and after an hour of expressing how supposedly sorry he was that he helped cause a scene, he was let out of the room. The doctors left inside conversed, some of them buying his act, others still open to hearing what the other intern had to say.
Harrison waited sitting next to Tom, tapping his foot, telling his friend exactly what had happened. He lost control of himself. He was aware of the gravity of this situation. The whole incident could end his career.
“There’s something you’re not telling me, mate,” Tom insisted. “This has something to do with Allison, doesn’t it?”
Tom was always able to hit the nail on the head when it came to Harrison. Allison, his girlfriend from college had broken up with him after rumors of her screwing a faculty member had started going around. It had destroyed Harrison. Not only because he loved her but because she confirmed the rumors to him and used them as a way to leave him. He had become ‘dull’, ‘boring’, and ‘childish’, which is how she justified her cheating on him. What he hated the most was other students insisting that she was only after academic benefits and him being a target of jokes around campus.
“Are you sleeping with Dr. Rojas?” Harrison blurted out.
“Don’t try to change the subject, I haven’t gotten laid since we started working here,” Tom answered sternly. “Besides I don’t think she would let me.”
“Sleep with her?” Harrison looked at him.
“No, get laid,” they both chuckled. “I’m her right-hand man, I need to stay sharp.”
“I don’t know man,” Harrison sighed. “It’s just that when that dumbass said that it was like going back to being ‘the guy whose girlfriend slept her way to the top’ and that just got to me.”
“And now that dumbass is in there smiling his way out of trouble,” Tom completed. “You’ll get your turn to tell the truth,” he patted his friend’s back.
“I just hope they believe the right person,” the door opened and Derek walked out rubbing his face in exasperation. Danika’s popped up from the side of the door.
“Osterfield, you’re up,” she looked between the pair of friends. “McDreamy go get the other pretty one and check on my post-op patients.”
“Yes sir,” he said without giving it much thought. “I mean ma’am,” he cringed once more. “I mean, Dr. Rojas”
“Just go.” she said as he whispered an ‘okay’ and left. “Ready?”
Harrison took a deep breath and nodded. As he entered the room he sensed some tension between certain doctors which could go against him if the wrong people decided to take his side. He took a seat and began answering questions. Everything fast-forwarded in his mind. He would instantly forget the question when he was done with his answer. He even had a hard time processing what words were coming out of his mouth. He didn’t know if he was giving the right answers or whether the doctors understood what he was saying. He shut down completely.
“Thank you for your statement, Mr. Osterfield,” a doctor he didn’t know escorted him outside of the room, and just like that his fate was in the hands of a dozen doctors.
The first one to break the silence was Drew.
“I think we have enough information to make a decision,” everyone nodded. “Stand on the right if you think Derek should stay and Harrison should go,” people shuffled around the room “Stand on the left if you think Harrison should stay and Derek should go.” Once more the crowd moved around. Drew counted people on each side. “Looks like it’s a tie,” he said and looked at Danika, who hadn’t taken a side yet.
“I’ll go inform them then,” she said as she stepped out.
Everyone started leaving the conference room and going back to their business. Skye went to get properly admitted on Seb’s request. Irene and Z went back to their consult in the pit. The night shift doctors went back to their patients and interns.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” TC told Drew and Topher.
They brushed it off and kept walking. TC jogged to catch up with Danika.
“Rojas!” he called out.
She pretended not to hear and kept walking. When he finally caught up with her she kept ignoring him. He grabbed her arm and she yanked it away.
“What?” she said, nostrils flared.
“I need to know that you’re going to do the right thing,” she scoffed.
“Yeah, like you care about these kids.” she kept walking.
“I do.” he stepped right in front of her.
“Give me a reason why I should listen to what you have to say.” she emphasized the word ‘you’.
“Don’t let the past get in the way of a kid’s whole future career.” he insisted. “You can’t be this petty.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” she tried to walk past him but failed.
“You want to hate me? Fine, go ahead! But don’t let the fact that it’s me defending that kid get in the way of his career. You know whose side I stood on. I didn’t just do it because I had to, I did it because I believe in him and what he can do. He will become a fine doctor someday but only if we provide him with the tools and education to do so.” he stepped aside. “You still have time to make up your mind.”
She gave him one last glance and made her way to the anxious interns. They both glanced up as they heard her steps.
“The decision hasn’t been made yet.” she cleared her throat, “While the deliberation continues you will not touch a single patient. You will file paperwork and try not to fuck things up even more. Understood?” they nodded. “Osterfield, you’re in Peds and Shaw you’re in Ortho.”
They scattered as she went looking for her best friend. She found herself next to Seb, looking at Skye getting a CT. She plummeted onto a chair and sighed.
“I thought you were in the plastics posse.” Seb chuckled.
“I was very close to specializing in neuro,” he said concentrating on the scans. “You decided yet?”
“She didn’t even hit her head,” Danika pointed out.
“Don’t change the subject,” he gave her a quick glance. She pointed at the intercom and mouthed the question ‘Is this on?’ to which Sebastian proceeded to shake his head. “Come on, tell me what’s really going on, why can’t you decide?”
“Stupid TC vouched for his candidate. He tried to give a very convincing speech.”
“The problem is…” he waited for her to finish.
“The problem is I still hate him for what he did to us, for what he did to you,” Seb looked at her and grabbed her hand.
“You already know what to decide, otherwise you wouldn’t be talking to me,” he pointed out. “You would be tossing a coin. You know he’s right on some level and you don’t want to face it.”
She looked away. He knew her like the back of his hand and she hated that. He knew how to push her buttons, what moved her, and what her thought process was like.
“Fine.” she didn’t really like saying he was right.
“I’m glad you think I’m right, now please go end those kids’ suffering.” he squeezed her hand and she nodded before walking out.
She headed to the Peds section, where she found Harrison at the nurse’s station, filling out paperwork for patients, signing the papers, and entering them into the database. At the sound of footsteps, he looked up, noticing Danika, as he stopped what he was working on.
“Osterfield, come with me.” she motioned for him to get up and he did, following her to a room in the same hall.
He was visibly nervous. Hands shaking, look weary as he made eye contact with Danika. She motioned for him to sit on a cot, as he did, wringing his hands together.
“Did you make a decision?” he asked her as she nodded.
“I did.”
She paused, Harrison, waiting for the answer to spill from her lips.
“I’m fired, aren’t I?” he didn’t wait for her to answer, as he stood, slightly shaking his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have spoken up, that was a bad idea. I’m an idiot for having stood up for Tom, fuck, no other hospital is going to hire me. I’ll clear my stuff out of my locker right now.” he mumbled as Danika stopped him.
Looking up, he made eye contact with her.
“Calm down.” she smiled, “It’s always been you, Osterfield. Derek left the hospital premises hours ago.”
“But.. you sent him to Ortho,” Harrison argued as she shook her head.
“Dr. Seb was waiting there to escort him out,” she said, sitting down on a cot as he sat opposite her. “It wasn’t tough having to make this decision. You vouched for yourself and made the right choice by fixing the patient’s mistakes. A nurse shouldn’t have a misplaced IV and a stitch, you were right. So don’t beat yourself up about it.” she sighed, “Just.. don’t beat others up because they insult your mates, please. I don’t want to have to go before the committee and explain the behavior of one of my interns.”
Harrison nodded, as he stood up alongside her, before bringing her into a hug. “Thank you.”
She smiled, squeezing him before letting go and giving his shoulder a playful punch. “Now, get out there. We still have two hours left.”
“Yes Dr. Rojas.” he smiled once more before leaving the room, as Danika sighed in relief.