What happens now

CHAPTER XVIII

Arizona

I was woken up by my pager. I turned over, my eyes still closed and stretched out my hand on the other side of the bed. The bed felt cold and untouched. Confused, I opened my eyes and saw an empty bed, and no Callie. I got up, fixed the bed and checked the bathroom so see if she was there. And just as I guessed, she wasn't in there.
I then figured that she probably didn't sleep, considering how stubborn yet dedicated she is. I slowly opened the bedroom door and I noticed her lay down on the floor and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. I rolled my eyes and rubbed at them all the while saying,

"I know you're awake Calliope."
"Hmmmm?" She  pretended to yawn and stretch.
"I told you to get some sleep and yet you didn't."
"I'm sorry. I just got so engrossed into this case. And luckily, I did discover a few things."
"Ohhh do tell." I walked to her and sat on the floor.
"He needs another test."
"But Callie, his mom's insurance can't cover that."
"I'll cover it."
"You don't have to do that. We could make this pro bono."
"Okay let's try that."

She had her hand on her head, probably having a headache.
"You should've slept. You look like crap." I said while pushing away a few strands of her hair out of her face.
"I'll nap at the hospital when I'm free."
"Okay. For the mean time, how about we clean up this mess?"
"Right."

We cleaned up the living room and soon enough it was spotless. Everything was placed accordingly and looked nice, just the way it was before we wrecked the whole place up.
Callie sat on the couch, her eyes closed and massaged her temples. I went into the kitchen to start breakfast.
"Callie you good with toast?" I asked from the kitchen.
"As long as it's edible I'm good!" She yelled back.
I popped the bread into the toaster and made coffee. All of a sudden, Callie was now sitting on the stool, her head on the marble counter.
I ruffled her hair and placed a kiss on it.
"You good baby?" I said while walking around the counter to sit beside her.
"No. I feel like crap." She mumbled.
"How about we stay in today? I'll call someone in the hospital." I suggested.
That made her sit up, her face a mix of exhaustion and confusion.
"What about the kid? He's always in pain right? What if her goes back into the E.R.?"
"Okay we are coming in, but you have to promise me to at least take a nap? And by promise me, meaning you do it this time."
"Okay. I'll take naps. But can you please pass me Advil. My head is about to crack." She put her head on the counter again, groaning in pain.
I got her the Advil and a glass of water.
"Here you go baby. Drink up."
She looked at the things on my hand with a smile on her face.
"What's got you smiling now?" I asked.
"Seems like yesterday I was drunk and I woke up to this. Advil and water." 
"Hmmm. Drink up."
She tossed the pill in her mouth and drank water along with it. 

The toast was now ready and so was the coffee. I fed Callie and got her into the shower to relieve some of the pain she was feeling. When she was done, I got into the shower next to freshen up.
We left the apartment, with Callie feeling much better, and with tons of folders in our hands. Luckily, Mark got in the elevator with us, so he helped us bring the folders in.
"You know we have boxes in the hospital right? You could've put them in a box, which is the easiest option." He said
"Why didn't we think of that?" I said , turning my head side ways to look at Callie.
"Cause we left in a hurry. "

The elevator reached the bottom floor and the three of us walked to the hospital. Mark helped us get it to an empty room and we all headed to the attending's lounge for a quick change.
Callie and I went back into the room and discussed her findings.

"So I figured that what if he needed a more specific test, one that a regular MRI can't do justice on."
"So we get a 3D MRI?" 
"Yup."
"What if it doesn't show anything again?"
"Let's just hope it does."

In the middle of our conversation, I was being paged to the E.R.
"I'm guessing it's Andy."
"I'll go with you." 

We got to the E.R. and just as expected, it was Andy.

"He was complaining of pain again. He couldn't sleep. We couldn't sleep anymore. Please just please do something." Andy's mom pleaded.
"We'll do everything that we can. Right now we need to take him in for another test."
"Another test?" 
"Yes. You see, the MRI and X-ray showed nothing. We are hoping that once we get this test, we might figure out what's causing him so much pain."
"Just do whatever you need to do."

We ordered a 3D MRI. Suddenly, the Chief burst into the room, fuming.
"Is it true that you both ordered a 3D MRI, for a kid that's constantly in pain?"
"Yes. You see chief, he's been in and out of the E.R. and nothing showed up in both X-ray and MRI. We thought--" I was cut of by the Chief.
"You thought? Who are you expecting to pay for this test? The hospital? We are not doing charity here Dr. Robbins."
"I understand that Chief but--" Now it was Callie's turn to be cut off.
"Send the kid home. Discharge the patient. Do it. Now!"

We told the resident that was with Andy to stop what he was doing, and to send Andy home.
"What are we gonna do now?" I sighed into my hands.
"We are gonna do the test." 
"Didn't you hear what the Chief just said?"
"I'll handle it. I'll pay for it."
"I'll split it with you."

Against the Chief's orders, we continued with the test. Thankfully enough, Andy wasn't discharged yet. 
The scans came and we both scrambled to look at it.

"Dammit! Callie, still nothing."
"There's gotta be something wrong with him." Callie said, her eyes still on the scans.
"Wait. What if he's got a tethered spinal cord?"
"That could be one, but that happens rarely."
"Well he does feel pain whenever he stretches."
"Let's get a Neuro consult."

We paged Derek and several moments later, we were now discussing the possibilities.
"Does he have any history of spina bifida?"
"No. But like we said, it hurts when he stretches." Callie said.
"What I mean is, what if he doesn't need another MRI but instead needs a more specific CT myelogram?"
"Okay. Let's order one."
"Well um, you see we can't"
"Why not?"
"We weren't even supposed to do a 3D MRI, but we did, against the Chief's wishes. We're afraid that we might lose our jobs."
"I'll take care of it. Come on."

We did the test and turns out he does have a tethered spinal cord. We got Andy into the O.R. and Derek gave me the honors of sniping the thread, detaching it from the cord.
"Congratulations Dr. Robbins and Dr. Torres. This kid now owes his life to both of you."
The O.R. people as well as Derek applauded us and I can't help but beam proudly at my girlfriend behind my mask.

The surgery was done and I pulled Callie into a hug.
"We did it! We finally put Andy out of his misery."
Callie picked me up and swung me around in place.
"We sure did sunshine. Now him and his mother get to sleep peacefully, and it's all because of you."
"And you too. Now how about we take that nap now Calliope?"
"Right. The adrenaline just pumped me that I forgot I didn't get any sleep last night."

We got into an on-call room and Callie snuggled into me as she slept. I ran my fingers through her hair, and might I say she relaxed more when I did it. I stayed with her until she woke up and we headed down for a late lunch.

Our shift ended and Derek invited us for drinks, to celebrate his grant for an Alzheimer's clinical trial.

"Let's toast. To Derek and his genius neurosurgeon brain!" Mark raised his glassed.
"TO DEREK." We clinked our glasses and drank.

We noticed Bailey drinking away and mumbling to herself, with tears in her eyes.

"Hey Bailey? You okay there?" I held her hand.
"Me? I'm fine. Never been better."
"No seriously, you can be honest with us." Callie said reassuringly.  
"Tuck's giving me an ultimatum."
"HE WHAT?" Teddy, Callie and I yelled.
"He want's me to cut my shifts."
"He can't do that. Don't let him to that to you Miranda." Derek said. 
"I know, but I don't wanna lose this family."
"If truly loves you, he won't have to let you choose." Callie said.
"You know what, enough of this drama. We are here to celebrate, not cry about my problems. COME ON PEOPLE! LET'S DRINK!"
We looked at her sympathetically and just drank along with the night.

We managed to get our drunk asses home to the apartment, thanks to Teddy and Mark. And the moment we got into Callie's apartment, we kicked off our shoes and went straight to bed, silently praying that we don't get massive headaches in the morning.