Blood On My Hands

Regulus blinks, shaking his head, “You don’t love me.” 

“I do.”

“You barely know me, James. You’re not in love with me.” Regulus’ hands are at his side, listlessly. 

James runs his hands through his hair, clearly stressed out, “Who are you to tell me how I feel, Regulus? I love you.” He repeats again, for good measure. 

Regulus pinches the bridge of his nose, “Why?” 

It comes out shallow and raw, like his voice is giving out. 

Regulus regrets it immediately. He doesn’t even want to know. Before James can even speak, he holds a finger up, “Even if-” if what? If he loved him too? If he wanted to stay? “I already told my mother I would go.” 

“Who cares?”

“She’s my mother, James.”

He sighs, “Let me talk to her.”

“Absolutely not.” He laughs at the utter stupidity of that idea. “That would be like throwing you to the wolves.”

“I’m not afraid of her more than I am afraid of losing you.” James reasons with him, “I won’t tell her about us I’ll just tell her that you show great talent in neuro and should stay.”

“That would piss her off more, she knows I’m doing general surgery.” Regulus scoffs, “I’m not neuro.”

“You could be.”

“I won’t.” Regulus says, getting the conversation back on track, “And besides-”

The door swings open so fast Regulus thinks he almost had a heart attack. A very pretty red-haired girl comes in between them and hugs James.

Regulus cannot—why is everyone always hugging James? 

James is likable, sure, but this is the second time it’s happened and Regulus is starting to wonder if it’s going to be a weekly occurrence. 

He rolls his eyes and leaves. 

“James, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” She gasps, “How have you been?” 

“Ah,” James hugs her back, releasing to see Regulus has already fled. He’s not surprised. He’s a slippery one. “Lils, you’re timing could not have been worse with that, but hi! Eh, what are you doing here?”

“Well, Dumbledore called me.” She shrugs, still wearing a pair of brown trousers and a red sweater. “Told me he’s making a dream team for a hospital.” 

Lily is an OB/GYN and the best fetal surgeon in the country. James shouldn’t be surprised Dumbledore recruited her too. 

“You look really good, honestly.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear, “Thanks, you as well. I like the facial hair, it makes you look a lot older.”

James touches his face, “Sirius is here too.” 

Sirius officiated James and Lily’s marriage, they got hitched in James’ parents backyard, almost nine years ago. 

It was a college romance they thought would last forever. 

It did not. 

And James? He was crushed, at the time, but he knew it wasn’t working. 

That it wouldn’t work, ever. 

So he dated around, as much as it killed him. He’s not very good at casual and that seemed like all anybody wanted nowadays. So he stopped dating, stopped trying, and that led him to take a job in Seattle. 

And he met Regulus and nothing else really mattered. 

James touches his heart, “I’m so sorry, I have to go talk to—I’ll make this up to you, Lily. Take you out to celebrate?” 

“Alright,” she nods, albeit a little lost, “see you around, Jamie!”

He goes to the intern locker room first, and Regulus isn’t there. 

James almost forgot Orion is getting discharged today, checking the watch on his wrist. 

He goes there, seeing Sirius sitting next to the bed, staring. 

The nurse looks at James, “Should I go in or wait?” 

“Give us a minute, please.” He tells her, arm on her shoulder.

That's when he notices Regulus is on the other side of the room, leaning against the wall. 

He doesn’t enter the room, wanting to give them their time. 

He just keeps everyone else out. 

〚*〛

Despite everything Regulus thought of his brother, he’s sitting in the room and holding their fathers hand. 

He’s sleeping, which isn’t a shock, it’s sort of late. The nursing home called to push back the pickup. 

“You’re here.” Regulus says, leaning against the back wall. 

Sirius shrugs, wiping his nose, “He isn’t mad at me.”

When there isn’t anybody else in the room, just the two brothers, Regulus feels obligated to tell him the truth. Especially one that Sirius should know. 

“He asked for you all the time. Used to get us confused.” He explains, his eyes glued to the ground, “It was your leaving that amplified this and all he wanted was you.” 

He laughs at the irony of it all, like some sort of cruel joke. 

Like Sirius is both the poison and the remedy. 

Sirius swallows hard, “If I’d known, Regulus-” 

“I know.” He nods, “But that doesn’t change anything.”

“It wasn’t you or Papa, it was just Ma—Walburga.” He can’t seem to look at Regulus either, “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Regulus knows exactly how that feels. When he doesn’t speak, Sirius takes it upon himself to talk again. 

“I don’t want you to go to Boston.”

“Why? So you can torture me some more.” His eyebrows crease, “I’m not going to be here because it’s going to get messed up anyways so I’m leaving.”

“You’re such a joke.” Sirius shakes his head, finally pulling it up to look at his brother. 

“Excuse me?”

“You bitch to me about leaving you and look what you’re doing to me right now!” Sirius lets go of his fathers hand. 

Regulus unfolds his arms, “Leaving you insinuates that we have any sort of relationship in the first place. Have you forgotten you’ve been M.I.A for the last ten years?”

“I’m here right now.”

He says it like it means something. Like disappearing earlier doesn’t matter because he showed back up again. 

“You left and it ruined everything.” Regulus points, “Don’t compare that to this. I needed you.”

Sirius doesn’t even register that before he snipes back, “James needs you. You’re going to do what I did to you to him?”

“He has you, doesn’t he?” Regulus says, “I’m sure you’ll pick each other back up.”

Sirius scoffs, “You’re so fucking bitter.”

“And you’re not? I tell you I’m leaving and you are more worried about James than anybody else.”

“If Walburga hurts you again it’s your fault.” He tells Regulus, “It’s your decision and you are going to reap exactly what you sow.”

Regulus looks him up and down, “I-”

Turns out Sirius isn’t done, “And of course I’m worried about James. He’s a good person and for whatever reason, he seems to like you.”

“I'm never going to be good enough for you, am I?”

“You’re exactly what I thought you’d be like after staying in that house.” Sirius nods, “I’m trying to protect my best friend.”

“There was a time where you would do anything to protect me, Sirius.”

He leans back in his chair, “Probably because you never fucking learn.”

Regulus can’t do this anymore, he pushes off the wall and goes to the door. “You know what, you can sign the papers for Papa, I’m leaving.”

“Like always, huh?”

〚*〛

Evan is sitting alone at the bar when Barty comes up to him, “You know the ginger over there, beside Mckinnon?”

The blonde nods, taking a quick glance, “Mhm.”

“Lily Evans. She’s a new fetal surgeon.” Barty explains, taking a sip of his beer, “And not only that, ex-wife of James Potter.”

“You’re fucking joking.” Evan laughs, covering his mouth, “Regulus is going to lose it.”

“I know,” Barty wipes his mouth, “we’ve been getting lots of new faces lately.”

“More mentors to choose from,” Evan looks at the bright side. 

Barty turns back to him, staring as Evan is facing the bar, “You got one in mind?”

“I don’t know, neuro is cool?” He shrugs, “Bit boring. You?”

“Oh, I’m taking plastics all the way to the bank.” He smirks, “Trust me on that.”

Evan rolls his eyes, smiling. 

Barty stares at him until he eventually asks, “You said earlier that you couldn’t go home because it was too religious. What was that about?”

Evan shrugs it off, “It was nothing.”

“You can tell me.” 

“Just, home isn’t my favorite place.” He says, ordering another drink, “That’s all.”

“It’s okay, me neither.”

Evan laughs, “You know I used to model?” 

“You look like a model.”

“When my parents found out, they were so mad that I wasn’t being modest enough.” He sighs, “They’re very strict.”

“My dad was strict when he was home, which was almost never.” Barty says, making Evan feel better by telling him something personal. “He was a politician and so it was usually just me and Ma and I’ll never forget the look on his face when I told him I didn’t want to be a mayor or something.”

“Surgeons are way better.” Evan licks his lips, “I could not even imagine you wearing a suit and tie to cut ribbons and shit.”

Barry snorts, “You don’t think I can clean up nice?”

He looks him up and down, “I live with you, Barty, the nicest thing I’ve ever seen you wear, other than scrubs, was sweatpants.”

“Well, it’s not like I could imagine you walking around in a fucking church robe.”

“Well, I have before.”

Barty looks oddly intrigued, “Pictures or it didn’t happen.”

Evan shakes his head, “No.”

“Please.”

“You wanna go home?” He blurts out, “I’m exhausted.”

“Fine.”

Barty came here to find a new sleepover partner, but leaving with Evan is by no means a bad thing. 

In fact, it’s one of the better outcomes of the night. 

They walk down the hallway until the two of them get to their bedroom doors, “Night.”

“Night, Ev.”

〚*〛

Sirius is running in the middle of the night. His dog is with him on the trail of their neighborhood. 

Only people who hate themselves run ten miles, and it must be really bad for him to be completing that task in the dead of night. 

He stops in the park, all but crumbling onto the grass. Padfoot is panting besides him, trying to lick Sirius’ face. 

“Stop it, stop it.” He pushes him back, petting him. 

When things get bad, the only person he wants to call is James. And he shouldn’t, he doesn’t need to because James is probably trying to convince Regulus to stay and every time Sirius gets involved, it’s like he pushes him farther. 

He’s not trying to be like that. The mean older brother. 

But it’s like he can’t help himself. 

When Regulus didn’t leave when he graduated, Sirius understood it as his brother picking their parents over him. 

So all those times he made things worse for himself, protected his little brother at the risk of his own safety, it was for nothing. 

And the letter. 

Don’t even get Sirius started on the letter. 

〚*〛

Regulus is in the kitchen of his house, closing the fridge door and deciding that skipping dinner is probably a safer choice for the amount of unsureness in his stomach. 

There is a knock at the door, Dorcas answers it before Regulus has a chance to flee to his bedroom. 

“Hi, James. Regulus is in the kitchen.” 

He debates slamming his head against the table to avoid this but figures James would end up being his doctor anyways, so it’s no use. 

Dorcas retreats upstairs, James immediately speaking before Regulus starts to yell. 

“I’m sorry, I had no idea she was coming today and-” 

“Who was that?” 

“My ex.” 

Regulus laughs, shortly, “You’re begging me to stay while she is showing up and hugging you?” 

James rubs his eyes, “Will you just hear me out? I feel like everything is moving so fast and I just need to explain, Regulus, please.” 

He sits down at the table, nodding to the seat across him. “Explain it to me.” 

“Lily is my ex but there is absolutely nothing there. We got married when we were eighteen and it was quick and fun and even though it didn’t work out, I learned a lot from it and we stayed friends. She’s a fetal surgeon and was only there to speak to Dumbledore. It was horrible timing, as things usually seem to be with us.” 

“That’s it?” 

“I have zero romantic interest in her, Reg, I swear on it.” 

Regulus stares at him, waiting to find words to say when his phone rings. 

It’s his mother. 

He told her to call. 

Regulus holds the phone up to his ear, “Maman.” 

“Regulus,” she speaks back, her voice powerful enough that James can hear it from where he is sitting. “I’m going to speak to Dumbledore about the best way to transfer.” 

Regulus covers his eyes with the palm of his hand, “Maman, what if I just do my residency there instead? I’ve thought about it and I don’t know if it would be a good idea to switch in the middle of intern year. What if they make me repeat it?” 

“No need, I will figure it out. Why don’t you start packing up?” 

“Maman-” 

“Don’t talk back to me, Regulus, don’t forget I’m all you have left.” Regulus bites his lip, James moving to the seat beside him quietly, his hand running up and down his back as he tries to comfort him. 

“Of course, I’ll start now.” He stands up, moving away from James' touch. 

He waits for Walburga to hang up the phone, as he trudges up the stairs towards his room. James follows, concerned. 

Regulus’ hands cover his face, mumbling, “What did I do? What did I do?”

“Hey, Regulus, Regulus, look at me!” James touches him. “Reg?” 

“You should go,” he breathes out, “I need you to go.” 

“Stop it, stop it. I’m right here, okay? I’m right here.” James tries to get him to slow down, Regulus fighting him, trying to make him leave. 

His hands shove James backwards, “There’s no point anymore, okay? It’s over, this whole thing is over!” 

“It doesn’t have to be,” James puts his hand on Regulus’ heart, “I’ll fix this.” 

He wants to keep yelling but he’s started to cry. He hasn’t cried in front of anyone in fifteen years, and the last person was Sirius. “You can’t fix this, James! Get that in your head, I ruined it, again.” 

James places Regulus’ hand on his heart, the two of them connected. 

“You didn’t ruin anything because I’m not letting you go. Alright? I’m never going to let you go, Reg.” 

His breathing starts to slow and when James moves his hand from where it was holding Regulus’ hand against his chest, it falls completely, returning to the younger boy's side. James steps forwards and shoves Regulus into a hug, one hand around his body, keeping them glued together as the other is on the back of his head as Regulus buries his face in his shoulder. 

James has never seen Regulus so worked up before, surely there have been moments, but never like this. 

He holds the pieces of him together, he would do it for the rest of his life if he could. 

They stay like that for a long time. 

〚*〛

James gets paged in the middle of the night, which is great. He has to clip an aneurysm at two in the morning, debating on driving back to Regulus’ house to see him. 

He doesn’t, because he ends up being paged to the pit not even thirty minutes after he sat in the attending lounge. 

“What’s happened?” He asks, stifling a yawn. 

Sirius shouts, “M.V.C. pileup. We’ve got at least five more coming in.” 

James takes the first one, checking the pupils before sighing, “Monitor closely for the next six hours, call me for any updates, but I believe she’s brain dead.” 

Most of them are. 

He hates starting a day with death. 

But at least now he can go find Dumbledore. He’s sitting in his office, reviewing some paperwork. 

“Chief, can I come in?” He knocks, lingering at the door. 

“James, good morning,” he nods, “do you need something?” 

He sits in front of the Chief, “I was hoping to talk to you about something.” 

“Look,” he takes his glasses off and folds them up, “if this is about Lily Evans then I assure you-” 

“No, no, of course not, Sir, Lily and I are friends. I wanted to talk to you about Regulus Black.” 

“Regulus Black, the intern?” He tilts his head up, intrigued. 

James dips his head down for a moment before bringing it back up, “Yes.” 

“What is it?” 

“His mother wants to transfer him to Boston General, to work with him. I am asking you—I’m begging you to keep him here. He’s going to learn so much better with a broad area, not under his mother who will only teach him of her specialty. He’s a fantastic intern and without getting into it, their family is complicated-” 

“I know they are complicated, isn’t that why he attacked his brother in my waiting room last month?” Albus snorts, James isn’t sure if he is being serious or not.

“Right, yes,” he swallows, “but I need you to keep him here, he shows potential in every single type of surgery. You could teach him and he could be your next big surgeon. You know he has it in him.” 

Dumbledore looks across, “What will you do if I let him go?” 

“I’d quit.” He says, the words flying out of his mouth. “I don’t want to be at a hospital that doesn’t cherish talent.” 

“This has nothing to do with the fact he is your best friend’s brother?” 

James shrugs, “I’m begging you, Albus. I just saved your life, please do this for me.” 

Albus relents, “If I do this, you don’t make any more demands and I don’t owe you anything for saving my life.” 

“Absolutely.” 

“Get out of my office, Potter, I’ve got some calls to make.” 

He says thank you all the way out of the room. The first person he finds is Sirius. 

James fixed it. 

〚*〛

Regulus wakes up to a handwritten note stuck to the alarm clock, 

Got paged in, let me know when you get to the hospital and I’ll buy you breakfast. 

Love, James 

He doesn’t need to face James after last night, he’s too embarrassed to do that. 

In fact, he doesn’t see any of his friends until they are at the hospital. 

Barty and Evan pull him to the side just before rounds, “Whatever you do, Regulus, do not get assigned to a case today.” 

“What?” He makes a face. 

“Why not?” 

“Just don’t, okay?” Barty tells them, rejoining the group as Macdonald escorts them to the first room of the day. 

So when Macdonald asks them a question, meaning if they get it right they are stuck on the case, not Regulus, not Barty, and definitely not Evan, even attempting to speak up. 

Mulciber does. 

He gets the case and eventually, Macdonald watches the three of them scurry off to the pit, not caring about yelling at them until they actually do something wrong. Besides, she needs to introduce herself to the new surgeon on staff, Lily Evans. 

“What is going on?” Regulus asks, in the middle of the two as they walk down the stairs. 

“We found a case!” Evan skips. 

He looks at both of them, “You stole a case?” 

“Borrowed it,” Barty corrects him, “from psych. This thing is totally unprecedented.” 

“And we found it!” 

“Stole it.” Regulus huffs, hands in his pockets. 

“Okay, found, stole, hijacked, whatever. Regulus, behind this door is the coolest medical mystery I have ever seen. Now, you can either walk away guilt free. . . or you can walk through this door, possibly lose your place in this program and lead to spending the rest of your life serving fries in bad clothing?” 

“Way to convince him,” Evan elbows the other, “are you in or not?” 

He’s leaving anyways, “I’m in.” 

They push through the door, moving the curtain, “Mr. Herman!” Evan greets him. 

“Oh, call me Shane.” He says, back to them, “I just need to use the restroom. Seems like I’ve got to go every thirty seconds.” A joke.

Regulus looks at Barty, whispering, “It’s just a guy.” 

“Wait for it.” 

Mr. Herman continues talking, “I sure am glad to be off that psych floor.” 

“What’s so special?” 

Evan rolls his eyes, “Patience, Regulus.”

The patient stands up, a hand on his back as if to brace himself, “I’m not nuts, I’m just pregnant.” 

Regulus’ eyes drop to his stomach, which does look—well, very pregnant. 

They gossip about it for a minute before Mr. Herman returns from the bathroom, Evan and Regulus assist him as he gets back into bed. 

“I’m fine, I just have a huge belly. My doctor kept telling me I was gaining weight with my wife, who’s due on the thirtieth.” He tells them. 

Barty looks at Regulus, “The admitting intern shipped him straight to psych, barely did a physical.” 

They press on his abdomen, “It’s not fluid.” Evan looks at them. 

“I’ve been able to feel it getting bigger and bigger. . . growing in my—well in me.” They lock eyes with each other, Barty and Evan. “I know there is something in there. I do. I can prove it.” 

Evan stole the chart for them, Barty distracting the nurse with his. . . sex appeal. Regulus laughs at the fact that actually worked. 

〚*〛

Mckinnon is taking her patient’s vitals as Meadowes watches from behind her, “This is an extensive operation even for an open heart veteran like yourself.” 

“My room was bigger last time, more sun in here. Alan, this water is warm and I need more ice.” She hands it to her husband, who is off his feet to fix it for her. 

“We’ll be sending you to the O.R. later today, alright?”

“Yes,” she says, drinking through the straw of her better water now, “I’ve been through it too many times to not understand the risks.” She stiffs. “Open the blinds, Alan, this room is depressing.” 

He does that quickly too. 

“I’ll check back on you a little later,” Marlene smiles, closing the chart before heading out of the room. “Take her for her thallium scan and pick up her x-rays on the way.” Marlene tells Dorcas. 

Dorcas is focused on the tattoos of her fingers, the red nail polish that seems to have been chipped. “Thank you for letting me assist you today.” 

“You’re my girl, Meadowes, you show the most promise in cardio.” 

In a panic from the comment, Dorcas tries to make a joke, “Why would you be with someone that makes you that unhappy?” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I mean, well, nothing. I’ll go get her scans. I’m your girl. Not like. . . I’ll leave now.” 

Marlene waits for her to turn around before she smiles, fond of her stumbling. 

〚*〛

“The urine sample is the last thing we need, Mr. Herman,” Evan explains. 

Barty is talking to his wife when Regulus walks back in, “This is Tina, Shane’s wife.” 

Evan is trying to fill in the missing holes in his chart, “Can you tell me what precipitated the psychotic episode that got you admitted to the hospital?” 

“It wasn’t an episode, okay? I’m not psychotic, I’m just pregnant.” Shane assures them. “I can prove to everyone I’m not crazy.” 

Dr. Lovegood, a psych guy, comes barging in after seeing them through the tiny window in the door, “That is my patient!” 

“Uh-oh.” Evan mumbles. 

Regulus watches Mr. Herman stick a pregnancy test in the urine sample

Barty steps up, “Well, he’s ours now. And if you would like to fight me for it, I guarantee you I will win.” 

Macdonald comes in, awake enough to start pointing at them, “What is going on here?” 

Barty holds up a finger, not so brave now, “Dr. Macdonald, just one moment. Please, look at his abdomen.” He pulls Mr. Herman’s shirt upwards. 

Dr. Lovegood looks at Dr. Macdonald, “It’s a hysterical pregnancy in a male. It’s a psych case and it’s mine.” 

“I am not hysterical!” Mr. Herman shouts at him. 

“There is clearly a mass in here, his belly is distended, Dr. Macdonald.” Barty points out. “Surgical.” 

“Guys,” Regulus mumbles, unbelieving himself. 

“Psych.” Lovegood snaps back. 

“Surgical.” 

“Psych.” 

Macdonald rolls her eyes, shutting the door behind her, “You two are doctors, act like it.” 

“Guys.” Regulus picks it up. 

“Surgical.” 

“Psych.” 

“Hey!” Regulus shouts, gaining their attention finally, “This pregnancy test is positive.” 

Macdonald’s eyebrows raise, “Well, he’s definitely a surgical patient now.” She ushers Dr. Lovegood out, beginning her own exam, “Do not think for a moment I condone stealing patients, you three, but that being said, nicely done.” 

Evan and Barty fist bump when she looks away. 

They have to page Dr. Evans to the room, who does one simple ultrasound before saying, “Well, Mr. Herman, you are not pregnant, I can promise you that.” 

He’s visibly relieved. 

“Then why did the stick turn blue?” He asks. 

“We are going to find that out,” Macdonald touches his arm, “Rosier, full workup, include tumor markers and get C.T. to make some room for us in line.” 

〚*〛

When Dorcas drops her patient off to get a scan done, they wait about a minute and a half for her to tell her husband exactly what to do and what not to do. 

He looks at Dorcas, “Politeness was never her strong suit,” he chuckles. 

“Well, you are a very patient person.” 

“I try to keep her calm,” he shrugs, “they didn’t think she’d survive the first surgery, let alone three more.” He has eyebags the size of footballs, “It’s a miracle she’s still alive. That’s what everyone says.” 

“And what do you say?” 

He hesitates, “It’s right there in the vows. In sickness and in health.” Dorcas nods, showing him the waiting room. 

She finally gets time for lunch, where they are sitting outside instead of in the basement because it’s the first sunny day in weeks. 

Good, she can finally yell at her friends. 

“You three had a pregnant guy and you didn’t tell me! What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

Barty rolls his eyes, the sassiest member of their group, “Look, Evan and I found him and I wasn’t going to tell Regulus but he needed a pick me up.” 

“No, I didn’t.” He makes a face, taking a bite out of his salad. 

“Oh, great,” Barty says, gesturing, “so, you’re off the case then?” 

“No, Bartemius.” 

He looks at Evan, “Evan agreed no more than three.” 

Dorcas hits him in the shoulder, “Evan! You were supposed to be on my team.” 

“Evan’s on my team.” Barty calls it. 

“How do I join Regulus’ team?” He snorts. 

“That’s a solo team.” Dorcas looks over at him. 

Barty winks, “He’s on James Potter’s team.” 

Regulus picks up the plastic knife and points it at him, “You want me to tell the whole cafeteria about your syphilis, Crouch? How many people will want to sleep with you then?” 

Barty raises his hands in mercy, “I concede.” 

The three of them are paged at the same time. “Scans must be up,” Regulus says, the first one out of his seat. 

Dorcas is paged a few moments later to take her patient back to her room. As she’s getting her into bed, she starts giving orders, “Make sure they take the tube right out of my throat after surgery and—are you trying to cut off my circulation?” 

Before Dorcas can reply, the husband, Alan, does, “She’s just doing her job.” 

“Excuse me?” 

Dorcas knows something is about to happen. 

“I said, she is just doing her job.” 

“Well,” she clears her throat, “I don’t really care whose job she is doing, she is squeezing my arm off.” 

“I apologize for that, ma’am.” 

“Are you just going to sit there, Alan?” 

He’s a burst of anger, “Shut up, Kim.” 

“Oh,” Dorcas says, not wanting to get in the middle of this. 

“Just shut up!” He stands up, pointing, “You complain to me, about me, around me all day-” 

Dorcas wants this to stop right now, “Look, maybe we should-” 

“-every day. A little silence would be nice.” He says through the lisp, “A few measly minutes of quiet.” 

“Mr. Griswold-” 

“Can’t you for once. . . just shut up!” He screams. 

Mrs. Griswold is panicking, her heart rate spiking as she cries in fear. 

“Page Mckinnon!” Dorcas says. 

Mckinnon is there almost immediately, “What’s happening?” 

“She had a Levine sign and her E.K.G. shows S.T. elevations.” Dorcas explains. 

“She’s having a heart attack.” She says, Mr. Griswold’s hands on his head, freaking out right now. “Give her four grams of Morphine, run ten mics of nitro a minute.” 

“Let’s get her into surgery, people.” Mckinnon says, looking at the team in front of her. 

Mr. Griswold is pacing now, “Oh, I did this. I did this to her.” He’s clearly guilty. 

In surgery, McKinnon is on her A-game. 

Dorcas is in charge of suctioning while Marlene is fixing the mechanical stabilizer.

“A perfect exposed partially numb beating heart.” Dorcas mumbles, “That’s amazing, it’s-”

“Code Red!” Marlene yells, her heart bursting into flames. 

What the fuck is happening? 

“Begin fire protocol!” 

Dorcas starts squirting water on the fire before Marlene just dumps it on. 

“Disconnect electrical leads, Dorcas.” She orders her. 

“Got it.”

“Any unnecessary personnel in this room, evacuate now.” She says, staying in front of her patient, “Shut down the O2. And begin manual respiration.”

Dorcas takes the ambu bag and begins breathing for Mrs. Griswold while Marlene attempts to control the bleeding. 

〚*〛

Macdonald is the one to diagnose it, Dumbledore by her side, “Large bi-lobed cystic lesion. . . a solid calcified structure.” 

“Is that a deformed mandible?” Albus’ eyes go wide. 

Macdonald walks back up to Mr. Herman, “Your labs show elevated H.C.G. levels which is what explains the false positive on the pregnancy test.” 

“This means the tumor is most likely malignant.” Dumbledore breaks the news. 

Mr. Herman looks at his wife, cautiously. 

Regulus is with them as they roll Mr. Herman into surgery. 

A successful surgery, at that. 

〚*〛

Dorcas is heading out of the scrub room after Marlene made probably the save of her entire career. 

Evan is standing waiting for her, “You okay? I heard.”

“She was on fire.” Dorcas mumbles. 

“Dorcas?” Evan says, trying to get her to focus on him again. 

“Meadowes, let’s go.” McKinnon interrupts, ignoring Rosier.

They are heading to talk to Mr. Griswold, bringing him into a private room. 

“While there is going to be an investigation, I assure you it is not as uncommon as it sounds. Your wife is going to be fine.” He has his hands over his face, unsure if they are tears of sadness or relief. “We expect she is going to make a full recovery.”

His tears turn to laughter. Hysterical, crazy, practically inane laughter. 

“So that’s it? Isn’t it?” He shakes his head, “Her heart caught on fire in the middle of her fifth open heart operation, and she survived!” Dorcas and Marlene don’t look away from him, unaware of how to react to this. “She’s like some. . . mythical monster. She’s never going to die!” 

And he’s actually upset about it. 

“Mr. Griswold,” Dr. McKinnon begins, “I know this an emotional time for you and um, if you’d like to wait-”

“Wait?” He stands up, “I’m not waiting any longer. You tell her. . . hell, you tell her that she will survive without me!” He erupts in chuckles, practically skipping out the door. 

Marlene and Dorcas look at one another, “So, should I tell his wife or should you?”

Marlene doesn’t answer, her professional face slipping until she begins to smile, noise falling out. 

Dorcas can’t hold it in anymore either, and they both sit there and laugh for a long moment. 

Marlene speaks first, “I want to thank you for helping me out in surgery today. It was a high pressure situation and you were on top of it.”

Dorcas nods, pulling her hair over her shoulder, “And hey, I’m sorry about before. Last month, I-”

“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” Marlene tells her, “Would you want to go get a drink with me tonight? It’s been a hell of a day.” 

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

In the locker room, Dorcas is the first one out. Evan, Regulus, and Barty are all still gossiping about the surgery. 

“You guys heading home?” Evan asks. 

“Going to stop and get food if you want.”

“I’ll go with you.” He says, looking at Regulus to see if he’s in too. 

He shakes his head, “I have to go speak to Dumbledore.”

He came up to Regulus as he was scrubbing out and said, Meet me in my office in a half hour. 

Surely, his mother has called. 

He had a good last day, at least. 

Barty looks concerned, “About what?”

He only shrugs, walking out the door, “Let you know later.”

Dumbledore is waiting for him. 

“Regulus, sit down.” 

He does, waiting to see what he will say. 

“Your mother called me.”

Not a shock.

“She wanted to know when you could leave for Boston. Is my program not suiting you well enough?”

“No, not at all. My mother is just a bit of a control freak, if you remember.” He tells him, his palms sweaty, “I was wondering if you could do anything to help me stay?”

He smiles, “You have a lot of potential, Regulus, I’m not shipping you off to your mother unless you are leaving on your own accord.”

“So, I’m not leaving?”

“No, Regulus, you aren’t, but she is extremely angry at the decision so I would expect the brunt of it on your side.” He warns him, “You have quite the influence on some of my attendings.”

“I do?” 

“James Potter was insistent that you complete your training here. Practically wagered his own job for you.” 

Oh. 

Of course he did. 

“I’ll be sure to thank him.” 

“Very well,” Dumbledore nods, “give my best to your father.”

“I will, Chief, thank you.” Regulus bites his tongue to keep himself from smiling so hard.