It's The End Of The World
Regulus is having a bad day. He knows that this is going to be a bad one until the moment he falls asleep tonight.
Barty is looking at Evan, “I know you’re mad at me and I’m sorry or whatever but something is wrong with Regulus and I don’t know what to do.”
Evan rolls his eyes, walking with Barty towards the master bedroom.
“He says he’s not going to work.” Barty explains, the two of them looking at Regulus’ body, folded in his blankets as he rolls to the other side of the room, not wanting to face his friends.
“You have to go to work, you’re an intern, Regulus.” Evan reminds him.
Barty focuses on the one thing he’s been looking forward to for months, “And you are supposed to be cleared today.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m staying home.” He sighs.
Everyday Regulus is the first one at the hospital. Even when he couldn’t perform surgery, he was always there.
And on the day he can be cleared, he doesn’t want to go?
Something is seriously, seriously wrong.
“Uh, Reggie,” Barty sits on the side of his bed, “we are your best friends, if something is wrong, you can talk to us, you know that right?”
“Maybe,” Evan smiles, eating cereal from the box, “there’ll be a horrible accident near the hospital. Cut a bunch of people open on your first day back. How fun would that be?”
“I don’t care about the surgeries!” Regulus throws a pillow at Barty, who happened to be closer. “Leave me the fuck alone.”
“Alright,” Barty stands up, throwing the pillow back, “I will call your brother over here.”
“Why don’t you just call James?” Evan suggests, “Do you want us to call James?”
Regulus mumbles from the pillow, “Well, James dumped me last night.”
Barty and Evan almost snap their necks trying to look at each other.
“Oh, Regulus, I’m so sorry.” Evan says, nervously.
Regulus is cranky enough in his usual state, he is a little terrified to see how Regulus is when the breakup fully hits him.
Barty is not sorry, “You’ve still got to go to work.”
Dorcas walks in, “What are you guys doing?”
“Regulus doesn’t want to go to the hospital.” Evan answers.
Dorcas rolls her eyes, “Get up, Regulus.”
He doesn’t move, unsurprisingly.
“I’m staying in bed and feeling like I might die. Just leave me alone.” He squeezes his eyes shut.
Dorcas scoffs, they don’t have time for this. She yanks the covers back, “Everybody has problems, Regulus, now get your ass out of bed and get to work. Now!”
Regulus sits up, flipping her off when he walks to the bathroom.
When Dorcas passes by the other boys, she looks them up and down, “You two are useless.”
“Thanks, Dorcas.” Evan grins.
She takes a handful of cereal from his box and goes downstairs.
〚*〛
Longbottom sends Regulus to the pit to get cleared by Sirius, then if he is cleared, he’s supposed to stay in the pit to work.
Sirius is X-Raying his hand when he finally asks, “So, you and James?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He stiffs, “You’re clearing me, right?”
“Any pain?”
“No.”
Only in his heart.
“Twitching? Soreness? Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“As long as your scans are clear, you are good to work.” His brother tells him, going to get the films, “I’ll be back, okay?”
Regulus wonders if James saw Sirius last night, after it all went down.
Part of Regulus wonders if this would be easier if Sirius hated their relationship, but he didn’t. He actually liked the fact that they were together.
So, you know.
Regulus is staring at the wall, “I have a bad feeling about today, Sirius.”
“A feeling?”
“I don’t know, I just—I feel like something is happening.”
“Well, something is.” He smiles, “Your scans look good and you’re definitely cleared. You want to work with me today, we have an incoming on the way.”
“Okay.” He shrugs, pretending to be nonchalant. Sirius doesn't have to know his resident ordered him to be here anyways.
“But you need to come to my house for dinner tonight. You’ve never been and just so you know, if you say no, I’ll unclear you.” Sirius decides, tucking a loose strand behind his ear.
Sirius thinks inviting his little brother to dinner will somehow fix all of their issues. He lets him believe it.
“Fine.”
The two of them get gowned up quickly, making their way to the ambulance bay.
They hear it before they see it.
The woman in the ambulance is screaming. So loud. She’s not even the patient.
The actual patient, however, the paramedic has her hand in his body cavity.
Her hand on his heart.
Sirius helps the girl out.
“John Carlson, age forty-six. Paramedics found him unconscious and bleeding. Mechanisms of injury are unknown. But he has a large, sucking chest wound.”
Sirius yells to page Marlene.
The wife won’t stop wailing.
It's high-pitched and squeaky.
It’s making Regulus’ ears ring.
“We need to get him intubated.” Sirius says, looking at the girl, “And you?”
“I’m Hannah. Hannah Davies.” Her eyes are so wide, she barely looks twenty.
Sirius nods, “Okay, Hannah. Why do you have your hand inside my patient?”
“He was bleeding, the only thing that could stop him was my hand. I tried gauze and pressure but it was no use.” She explains to them, “Can I take it out now?”
“No.” Sirius decides, “Prep him for the O.R., Black, Hannah, you’re coming with. Somebody tell Mckinnon to go straight there, I’m going to deal with the other patients.”
Regulus is glad to get away from his brother a bit. Every time Sirius looks at him, he swears there is a twinge of anger in his eyes, pity too.
As if Regulus was the one who broke things off.
It’s not fair.
He can almost guarantee that he isn't looking at James this way.
Dorcas is now with Sirius, both of them attempting to get the wife’s screaming under control so they can figure out what caused this whole mess in the first place.
If she had known Regulus would get to go to the O.R. on his first day back, she would have let him stay in bed.
She looks at Sirius, “She’s been going on for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, this has got to be some kind of record.”
Sirius holds a finger to his ear, trying to drown out some of the sound.
Emmeline Vance, a nurse, looks at Sirius, “We’ve got another incoming, M.V.C.. Definite intrusion to the car, severe head and body injuries.”
Sirius steps away, “Shut her up, Meadowes.”
“Mrs. Carlson?” She shouts over the noise, “Are you injured?”
Didn’t work.
She puts her hands on her hips, annoyed, “Look, I need you to try and calm down. Mrs. Carlson?” Dorcas repeats, “Can you hear me?”
In a fit of rage, Dorcas gets up in her face and screams right back.
Mrs. Carlson goes silent.
Dorcas cannot believe that it worked, “Good, okay, now can you tell me exactly what happened to your husband?”
While the screaming may have stopped, she is beginning to sob.
Mary Macdonald is walking through the pit, making her way to the entrance. Dorcas has to do a double-take to make sure that’s really her.
“Dr. Macdonald?” She blinks, “What are you doing here?”
“Meadowes, page Lily Evans.”
Dorcas nods, the sobbing wife still latched to her side, “What should I tell her?”
“Tell her I”m going into labor.”
〚*〛
Lily rolls Mary into a birthing suite. Evan is by the door, “Hi, Dr. Evans, I heard Dr. Macdonald was in there.”
“Yes.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s six centimeters dilated, 50% effaced, and refusing all pain meds, which I think is silly but. . . I’m not the one in labor, so.” Evans sighs, updating the chart and putting it back in the nurses’ station.
Mary stands up and walks out the door, a robe around her gown. “What are you doing out here?”
“Hi, Dr. Macdonald. I was wondering if you needed anything, I heard you were in labor and I thought I could come check on you.”
“Rosier, shouldn’t you be learning something?”
“Um. . .”
She huffs, “Look, a baby boy the size of a bowling ball is working his way out of my body, you cannot get anything for that. The only thing I need is my boyfriend who should have been here by now and he’s not.”
Evan takes out his little notebook, “Write his number down.” He points to the paper, “I’ll track him down for you.”
She does, handing it back to Evan, “Then go away, I need some privacy. You interns stress me out.”
Mary slams the door on them.
〚*〛
Sirius is cleaning up the wound on his face, listening to the drowsy words from the patient, “Is my girlfriend here?”
“Was she in the accident with you?” Sirius questions him.
“She should be here—she’s here.” He mumbles.
James pulls the glove on and steps in, “What do we have?”
Sirius gives him the details, “Tucker Jones, age thirty, lost control of his car, flipped. Chest contusion, left-side compressed skull fracture, and a temporal epidural hematoma.”
The phone from his personal belongings bag starts to ring. He can only focus on that.
“Someone answer, it’s my girlfriend. Please answer.” He begs them.
Sirius has a nurse hold it up to his ear, watching as Mr. Jones starts to seize. James gets him on his side as quickly as possible, listening to the other end of the call.
“Hello?”
“Is this Tucker?”
“This is Sirius Black, who is this?” Sirius says through the commotion of the room.
There’s a pause, “Sirius? This is Evan Rosier, what are you doing with Tucker’s phone?”
“He’s my patient, Rosier, what are you doing?”
“This is Mary’s phone, she’s going into labor.”
He connects the dots.
Tucker is Mary Macdonald’s boyfriend.
Before he can tell James, they’re taking him to the O.R. to try and save his life.
〚*〛
Regulus is looking at the paramedic who’s hand is still stuck in the body cavity.
They are in the O.R., about to begin surgery.
“How are you doing?” Regulus asks, looking at Hannah.
She looks nervous, “You know, my hands are kind of going numb.”
Mckinnon made Regulus triple-assure her that he was fine to do surgery.
“Once Dr. McKinnon scrubs in,” Regulus tells her, “She’ll have you remove your hand. Then you can go and we will fix Mr. Carlson.”
“Good,” she nods, “I don’t know enough medicine to be in an O.R., it’s only my second week.”
No wonder the girl is freaking out.
〚*〛
James is scrubbing with Sirius to his left when Lily comes next to him, “Evan Rosier just told me you two are about to operate on Mary’s boyfriend.”
Sirius nods, James confused, “Tucker is Mary’s boyfriend?”
“Mhm.” Sirius ties a surgical mask to his face, “He got into a car crash trying to get to the hospital for the birth.”
Lily looks at them, “What am I supposed to tell Mary?”
Sirius stands up, “Nothing. Wait and see how bad the damage is.”
“Alright.” Lily steps out.
James is taking a deep breath, Sirius watching him carefully.
“We are going to save his life, okay? I’ll be with you the whole time.” He promises his best friend.
James nods, “We have to.”
〚*〛
They get Mrs. Carlson into a gown, the blood splattering her clothing now tucked into a plastic bag.
Dorcas looks at the nurse, “She’s fine, acute anxiety reaction. Give her two Diazepam to calm her down.”
“Is she in shock?”
Dorcas mumbles, “Just look at her.”
She clearly is. Mrs. Carlson is staring straight ahead, her jaw dropped open.
Dorcas returns to her side, “Can you tell us exactly what happened, Mrs. Carlson?”
She turns his hands into fists, “You tell my husband when I get my hands on him, he’s a dead man. Scaring me like that.”
“Exactly how was your husband injured?” Dorcas asks.
“Mindy? Mindy, are you here?” Someone from behind the curtain is yelling.
Mindy, also known as Mrs. Carlson, shouts, “I’m over here, you moron.”
“How’s John doing?” The man asks, dressed head to toe in some old fashioned green war gear. His name is Pat.
Mrs. Carlson is curt with him, “He’s bleeding all over the place. That’s how he’s doing.” She’s begun to really yell now, “The girl in the ambulance put her hand inside of him!”
The man throws his hands in the air, “What are you yelling at me for?”
“Because! You and John are like idiots. Playing like eight year olds.”
Dorcas looks at the nurse. Why all the drama? Can’t she just tell Dorcas what happened, would that really be so hard?
“Excuse me, um-” Dorcas starts, being cut off.
“We don’t play, Mindy, we reenact.”
“You play.” She huffs. “You put on your costumes, you build your stupid toys, and you play!”
“No, we reenact.” He points, arms crossed.
Mrs. Carlson puts her hands in her hair, “Nobody reenacts World War ||, you moron!”
Dorcas decides she’s not getting information from Mrs. Carlson, so she asks the other man, “Again, exactly what happened?”
Of course, now Mrs. Carlson finally wants to tell them, “You wanna know what happened? What happened is my husband and his moron best friend-”
“Could you stop calling me a moron?” Pat rolls his eyes.
She doesn’t, continuing, “Moron best friend, decided to build some kind of big gun.”
“You mean an exact replica of the finest allied antitank weapon of World War ||. The M893 Bazooka.” He recalls, astonishingly proud of himself and John.
Dorcas waits for Mrs. Carlson to begin yelling, which she does right on schedule, “And they put on their stupid costumes, they go out into the backyard, and they try to shoot the damn thing!”
“I’m the gunner, John is the loader.” He explains. “We followed the specifications exactly. You should see it. It’s a 60 millimeter, 1 ½ pound rocket, I mean, it’s a beauty.”
“It didn’t work.” Mrs. Carlson gestures, “So, like an idiot,my husband has to go and stand in front of his big gun to see what went wrong. That’s when the stupid toy starts working.”
Dorcas looks at the nurse, connecting the dots.
“Stop calling it a toy, Mindy.”
Dorcas shuts her up before she talks again, “Woah, stop. He shot himself with a bazooka?”
“Yeah?” She nods.
“He shot himself with a bazooka?” Dorcas repeats herself, this time asking Pat.
Mrs. Carlson adds, “Like I said, morons, the pair of them.”
“Was there an explosion?” Dorcas asks the man.
“Huh?”
“Was there an explosion?”
“No, why?”
Dorcas’ jaw drops, taking off sprinting. She doesn’t have time to wait for the elevator, going straight up the stairs.
“Oh, crap.” The man says, looking at his best friend’s wife. She doesn’t understand at all, begging for him to explain, Dorcas is long gone.
All she can think about is that the bomb will go off and Marlene is in there.
She’s never ran so fast in her life.
In the O.R. Marlene is telling everyone that they are going to do a thoracotomy, then Hannah will pull her hand out. Regulus will clamp the bleeder as soon as they get more exposure.
“Are we ready?”
Collective yeses around the room.
She takes the scalpel from the scrub nurse, preparing to make the first cut.
〚*〛
Mary calls him again, going to voicemail.
“Tucker Jones. You better be lying in the street somewhere dead, mister, when I get my hands on you. Tucker, get your ass to the hospital-” she breathes through another contraction, “I am having your baby here!”
She hangs up.
〚*〛
Marlene flinches when Dorcas slams through the door, “Dr. Mckinnon.”
She pauses and looks up.
“I need to speak with you.” She demands.
Marlene looks around, “I’m in the middle of surgery, Meadowes,” she eyes her, “I’m a little busy.”
“Mckinnon,” she gasps, “you need to talk to me.”
Marlene can feel the tension in the air, handing the scalpel back to the scrub nurse as she walks around the patient table and towards the door, directly in front of Dorcas.
“Dorcas, what is it?” She whispers, “Why are you interrupting me in my O.R.?”
Dorcas is staring at her girlfriend, “Was it through and through?”
“What?”
“Did it go all the way through? The wound on John Carlson.” She asks.
She shakes her head, “Just an entry, no exit. Why?”
Regulus has no idea what is going on, watching Dr. Mckinnon and Dorcas chat it up, both of them looking concerned.
He knows something is going wrong.
He felt the same this morning.
He feels it now.
Dorcas stays in her spot while Dr. Mckinnon turns around, her eyes finding the paramedic.
“Hannah?”
“Yes, Dr. Mckinnon?” She answers.
Her words are calculated, “What do you feel inside of Mr. Carlson? What is your hand touching?”
Her words are quieter through the mask, “What do you mean?”
“Is your hand touching anything hard?”
Regulus’ eyebrows furrow, not able to guess what is happening, which annoys him. He’s never behind, always one or two steps ahead.
Not now.
Now, he has absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on.
“Like metal?”
“Um. . .” she drops her head down as if that would help at all, “I don’t know.”
Marlene shakes it off, “Just tell me what you feel, Hannah.”
Regulus blurts out, “What’s going on, Dr. Mckinnon?”
She ignores him. “Hannah?”
“My fingertips are touching something kinda hard.” Her tone insinuates that it’s a question. That she’s unsure. But then she snaps her head back up and nods, “Yeah, yeah, definitely.”
“My God.” The anesthesiologist sighs.
“Dr. Milton.” Mckinnon warns.
“What?” Hannah’s eyes water, “What’s wrong?”
Dr. Mckinnon shakes her head, “Hannah, I don’t want you to move—not your hand, not your body, not an inch.”
“You’re scaring me, what’s going on?”
“Don’t be scared. Everything is going to be fine.” She says it without any emotion.
Regulus can see right through her.
“Dr. Black, can you. . . uh.” Regulus steps away from the table as well and makes his way over to her, “What is it?”
“I want you to walk out of this room, walk, do not run, go and tell the charge nurse. Tell her we have a Code Black.” Regulus’ heart speeds up. He memorized the codes when he was an intern.
He only questions because he does not believe it, “A Code Black?”
“Code Black.” Mckinnon stares at Hannah, unwavering, “Tell them I am sure, and then tell him to call the bomb squad.”
〚*〛
Everyone on the floor leaves, but Regulus steps back into the O.R., alone.
Dorcas won’t leave either.
“You need a surgical team.” Black says, he doesn’t care.
He's a lot of things, but he's not an idiot.
“I do not. I can do the rest myself.” Mckinnon decides, “Both of you leave.”
“I’m not going.” Dorcas stays.
“Me neither.”
“Fine,” Marlene huffs, “you two can wait by the elevator.”
They concede.
〚*〛
Mary is breathing rhythmically.
Evan is standing by the cracked door, watching Lily Evans try to help Mary through this.
“Eight minutes apart.” Evan looks at his watch.
“There is no shame in an epidural, Mary,” Lily reminds her, probably for the fifth time today, “we still have time.”
Mary won’t do it, “An epidural increases the possibility of a C-Section.”
“It also decreases pain, Mary, this is your first baby, a big baby, at that. And I’m telling you right now it is not going to be a short or easy labor.”
She waves her off, “I can handle a little pain. No problem.”
Evan is still leaning against the wall, carefully.
“And Rosier?” She tilts her head, “I thought you were going to find my boyfriend?”
He hesitates, “Well. . . I-I-”
“He’s not here.” Lily props her arm on the couch.
“Oh, he should be here by now.” Mary snaps.
“Okay, we’re going to go find him, right? Dr. Rosier?” Lily asks, standing up when her pager goes off.
The smile fades.
“What?” Mary notices it. “Lily?”
“Uh, it’s nothing. I’ll—I’ll be right back okay?”
〚*〛
James is trying to fix the skull fracture of the brain while Sirius is resetting the bones and stopping internal bleeding on Tucker.
Everybody’s pagers go off.
“Vance?” James asks, his eyes never leaving the brain, “Could you check that for me?”
She walks over, reading the pager.
Sirius looks to James, “How is he?”
“I’ve located the clot but I can’t quite find the source of the bleeding.” He says, “Will somebody go and tell Lily he’s in worse shape than I thought.”
A spare nurse steps out to do so.
Vance drops the pager on the counter, stepping back to James. She’s quick as she talks, “They want us to evacuate.”
“Evacuate?” Sirius turns, “Why?”
“I have no idea, your pager says Code Black, if that means anything?”
James and Sirius lock eyes with one another.
“You're sure?” James asks, “Positive it said that.”
Emmeline nods, “Yes.”
“Could be a drill, right?” He looks at Sirius. “Even if it’s not, we can’t evacuate. I have Tucker open on the table.”
Sirius is taking a deep breath, “It’s Mary’s boyfriend. We can’t leave him on the table.”
They’re in agreement.
“If anybody wants to go, they should go.” Sirius looks around, “Anybody want to evacuate?”
Nobody moves.
〚*〛
Evan and Lily are on the same quiet elevator together when he says, “I don’t like having to lie to Dr. Macdonald.”
“Now is not the time, Dr. Rosier.” She braces herself with a hand on the wall.
A nurse jumps onto the elevator just before the doors close, “Dr. Evans? Dr. Potter wanted me to tell you the bleed was more severe than he originally thought. It’s going to be a few more hours before he will have anything concrete to tell Dr. Macdonald.”
Lily rubs her mouth with her hand, “Thanks.”
〚*〛
The only people in the room are Dr. Milton, Dr. Mckinnon, and Hannah.
“So, I’m touching live. . . unexploded ammunition?” Her lip quivers.
“I’m afraid so.” Mckinnon answers.
Hannah looks at John Carlson, “He’s still out?”
“Yes,” Dr. Milton assures her.
“He’s not hooked up to the machine anymore?” Hannah points out.
Mckinnon takes this question, “I had Dr. Milton take him off of the ventilator. The flow of oxygen caused increased danger. The ambu bag is breathing for Mr. Carlson.”
It falls quiet for a moment, the only sound is the noise of the bag going in and out.
Mckinnon watches Hannah begin to cry, “What if I just take my hand out really quickly, Dr. Mckinnon?”
“We would have to ask the bomb squad when they arrive. But I’m guessing that would cause the ammo to shift and explode.”
“Oh.” She breathes out.
“Hannah?”
“Yeah?”
“Your hand is keeping Mr. Carlson from bleeding out. You’re keeping him alive.” Marlene tells her, hoping this will keep her calm.
“Right.” Her voice is shaky. “Right.”
“The bomb squad is coming.” Mckinnon reminds her.
“Okay.”
〚*〛
The only danger is to the surgical wing, as Dumbledore tells them. He’s shut down all the O.R. floors, to trauma, to everything.
Lily Evans finds him to ask more.
She is preparing for the worst, Rosier still following behind her.
“What happens if I need an O.R. to give Mary Macdonald a C-Section?” She asks, “That is a very real possibility, what am I to do?”
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, “as of ten minutes ago, all the operating rooms at Hogwarts Hospital are completely evacuated with the exception of Dr. Mckinnon and her team.”
“And Dr. Potter’s team.” Evan tells them, speaking out of turn.
“What?” Dumbledore steps in front of him, face to face. “What do you mean Dr. Potter’s team?”
“Well, they’re still in the O.R., we just got an update.” Evan looks at Lily, “They’re working on-”
Someone interrupts them to say, “Bomb squad’s arrived.”
Dumbledore pushes by Evan, “Excuse me.”
〚*〛
The bomb squad captain talks to Regulus first, as soon as they step out of the elevator. They look straight from a movie, decked out in black clothing.
“You the surgical team?”
“Yes,” Regulus nods, solemnly.
“Dylan Young, bomb squad.” He introduces himself, looking Regulus up and down. “Where is the patient?”
“Dr. Mckinnon has them in there.” Regulus points to O.R. one.
Dylan has his guys check the floor, “And the rest of this has been evacuated?”
“It has.”
“Alright,” his voice raises, “nobody moves unless I say so.” And he begins to walk down the hall.
One of his teammates shouted out, “We’ve got people over here!”
Dylan turns to Regulus, “I thought you said the floor had been evacuated?”
“I thought it had.” Regulus shrugs.
What kind of idiots don’t evacuate?
Well, besides himself and Dorcas.
〚*〛
Barty is leaning against the wall, watching the chaos from the top floor.
Evan sits down next to him, giving him one half of his sandwich, “You should eat something?”
They haven’t talked about last night.
“Regulus and Dorcas are on the floor with the bomb.” Barty says, “I can’t stomach this.”
“Eat it.” Evan pushes it back.
“They could blow up and die.” Barty says, morbidly, taking a hefty bite out of the sandwich.
Evan leans his head back, “Then I’d be stuck with you all the time.”
Barty does not laugh. “They’ll be fine, right?”
“They always are.” Evan stays positive, “I mean, we couldn’t even get Regulus out of bed this morning and now he was right. If we let him stay home, he would be moping around instead of face-to-face with a bomb right now.”
Barty feels useless.
〚*〛
Dylan Young is standing at the door, “Doctors, there is an explosive device in the O.R. next door, I need you to evacuate now.”
Both of them ignore his orders.
“Are you two listening to me?”
“If I step out now, that would be leaving him to die.” James says, not bothering to waste a second to look up at him.
Sirius is almost done with his work, “We are going to leave as soon as possible, but not a second before his life is saved.”
“Everyone can go,” James demands, “Sirius and I can take this.”
They leave this time.
Dylan Young holds the door open for them, then stares right at James, “You close him up. You do whatever it is you must do. But the Chief of Surgery has authorized me to tell you that you cannot stay here.”
James is quick, “The Chief of Surgery does not scare me.” He asks for suction, “What scares me is having to tell Mary Macdonald I killed her husband, and that is what would happen if I stop now. Bomb or no bomb. Now get out of my O.R..” James commands him.
Dylan Young lets the door shut.
When the door is shut, it’s just him, Sirius, and the anesthesiologist.
James takes a deep breath, trying to slow down his heartbeat.
Sirius looks up from him from his own workstation, “You’re alright, James, deep breathes.”
Sirius has spent years in warfare doing things like this.
James has not.
He tries to keep him calm.
And the fact that his personal life is so rocky doesn’t help one bit.
〚*〛
Mary is standing up, her hands on the bed as Lily walks in.
“I’m trying to get gravity to do me a favor.” She chuckles, sourly, “I need that last centimeter.”
“Good,” Lily says, distractedly, “that is good.”
“Dr. Evans?” Mary pauses, “Where exactly is my boyfriend?”
Lily looks at the ground, taking all of her strength to tell her this, “Mary, he’s in surgery.”
Evan watches the conversation from the window, the way Lily holds her up when Mary begins to crumble.
It makes his heart hurt, truly.
〚*〛
Mckinnon and Dylan Young are looking at the scans. Dorcas and some of the other bomb squad members stand behind them, waiting patiently.
“There is no telling how dangerous this is, we need more information.”
“Well,” Marlene adds, “the longer we wait, the greater of a chance Mr. Carlson will bleed out and die.”
Back in the room, Dr. Milton is standing with Hannah. The two of them alone with an unconscious Mr. Carlson.
“Pink mist.”
Hannah shudders, “Excuse me?”
“That’s what the bomb squad calls you when you blow up.” He blinks, “Pink mist. I read that somewhere. The bomb goes off and. . . anyone in range explodes into a billion pieces. You’re liquid, there’s nothing left. Just flecks of human flesh and blood. Pink mist. Sometimes they don’t even find a finger. One minute you’re a person. . . the next you’re, bloody rain, I guess.”
He’s scaring Hannah, looking her in the eyes for the first time since they’ve met.
“Here,” he hands her the ambu bag, “take this.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
The scared girl takes it, carefully.
“I want you to squeeze it in even beats, alright?” He watches her do it once, “No, not too fast. Not too fast.” Another time, “There you go.”
He begins to step backwards once Hannah has it under control.
“Dr. Milton?” Hannah looks at the door, where he’s standing.
“I’ve got kids,” is all he says before ditching her.
〚*〛
Chief Dumbledore is having a conversation with Mindy Carlson, who wants to know how long her husband can stay alive with live ammo inside of him.
Dumbeldore doesn't have an answer for that, “I don’t know, Mrs. Carlson.”
“But you’re going to try and save him, right?”
He rests his hand on his chin, “First, the bomb squad has to determine the best way to retrieve the device.”
“We have three kids.” She cries, “They need a father. He’s going to die.”
〚*〛
Evan steps in Dr. Macdonald’s room, surprised to see her gathering her things.
“What are you doing?”
“Rosier, find me my suitcase.” She sighs, refusing to make eye contact. “I need my suitcase because I’m going home.”
He’d think it was a joke if it weren't for the circumstance, “Dr. Macdonald, you’re having a baby?”
“No,” she points, “there is not going to be any baby born today. You hear me? I’m holding him in. I’ll have him tomorrow. Just not now, not like this.”
Her hair is falling from her head, the curls looser than normal.
Evan has never seen her cry before.
“No,” she groans, another contraction, “just no.” She leans over, “I’m going home. I need to go home right now.” Her voice lowers immensely, “I can’t do this all alone.”
〚*〛
Regulus is the only one standing outside of the room when he watches Dr. Milton passes him to get to the elevator.
He doesn’t have time for an explanation because Hannah is in there, shaking.
Regulus goes straight into the room.
“Hannah?” He says, gaining her attention.
“Dr. Milton left,” her voice catches, “he didn’t want to die.”
“Hannah.” Regulus forwards, trying to calm her down.
She is shaking her head, “I think I’m going to take my hand out now.” She nods.
In the room twenty-five feet away, Dylan and Marlene are still discussing the best course of action.
Dylan stands with his arms behind his back, sighing, “When the hell are people going to learn?”
“It may not be as bad as it seems.” Marlene suggests.
Dylan laughs, “Her hand is holding that device steady.”
“Or maybe her hand is just simply in there with the ammo, we have no way of knowing.” She shrugs.
Dylan doesn’t believe a lick of it, “My guys talked to the friend and wife. The device is homemade, which means it is unstable and very unreliable. It could be a dud but we have no way of knowing. Also, there is the fact you have a surgeon in the O.R. next door, refusing to leave, and a nervous paramedics hand inside the body cavity.”
Marlene knows when to admit it, “Well, it’s definitely as bad as it seems.”
Dorcas turns around, looking to check on Regulus who should be just outside when she realizes he is not.
“Marlene.” She says, “Help.”
“What?”
Regulus is inside the room.
He’s not supposed to be.
Hannah is crying, hyperventilating, “I think I’m just going to take it out.”
Regulus has never been comforting, it’s not helping now either. “You’re fine, Hannah, you’re fine.” He tries to remember all the things James would say to him if he was freaking out, “It’s going to be okay, you can do this.”
“No,” she shakes her head, ponytail waving from side to side, “I just want to take my hand out and be done with it.”
Marlene and Dylan are at the door, not getting closer and freaking her out.
“Hannah, remember,” Marlene tells her, “you are keeping him from bleeding out.”
“No!” She shrieks, “I am twenty-two years old. I should not even be in here right now.”
Dylan is mumbling to Marlene, “She’s panicking. We need to clear the room.”
“I’m not leaving,” Regulus says, the only one standing close to Hannah at all.
Marlene is ordering him, “Black, let’s move. Now.”
Dylan ushers him to evacuate, “You need to get everyone out of here now, Dr. Mckinnon.”
Hannah’s hand is shaking so badly that Regulus places his own on top of the wound, trying to hold her steady.
“I cannot leave, he is my intern and I am responsible for him.” Marlene tells Dylan in regards to Regulus.
Sirius would kill him if she left him here, too.
Dorcas would as well.
“No,” Hannah cries, “it’s gotta come out. It has to come out.”
“Meadowes,” Marlene orders, her arm pushing her back, “go with Dylan.”
Dorcas is begging him to move, “Regulus, come on, let’s go.”
“You go.” Regulus snaps. “Hannah, look at me.”
Hannah won’t stop repeating herself, “No, it’s gotta come out.”
“Hannah.”
“No, no.”
“Hannah, you can do this.” Regulus assures her, “You are okay.”
Mckinnon is trying to get a grip on the situation, “Hannah, you need to calm down.”
“I can’t.” Tears are running down her face.
Dylan is mimicking a breathing motion, “Just relax, Hannah, everything is going to be fine.”
“No!” She squeezes her eyes shut.
“You’re fine.” Regulus tells her, over and over.
“It has to come out.”
Marlene is ordering her, “Keep it there a little while longer, Hannah.”
“I have to take it out! I have to! I have to!” Hannah freaks.
She rips her hand out of the body cavity.
Every single person hits the floor.
Every single person except for one.
Regulus.
Regulus is holding the ammo.
It was all instinct.
Hannah ran straight out of the room.
Dylan. Dorcas. Marlene. They are on the floor, covering themselves in case of an explosion.
Regulus is there, the ammo still as it’s curled around his fingertips.
It’s not even a second.
That’s all it takes.
Less than one second for himself to write certain death.
Dorcas is the first one to stand back up, her hand covering her mouth, “Regulus.” She whispers.
Regulus thinks he will wake up any second.
That this entire past day and a half was just one bad dream.
That any second, he’s going to open his eyes and roll over to see James waiting for him.
That never happens.
“What did I do?” He doesn’t mean to say it aloud, but the words slip out.
“Oh, God, Regulus.” Dorcas breathes in.
Marlene and Dylan are on their feet, Dylan ordering everyone, “Just stay right where you are.”
They are all frozen.
“Nobody moves,” he repeats, “stay exactly where you are.”
Regulus shakes his head, “What did I do?”
What did I do?
What did I do?
What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? What did I do?