Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

Chapter 81 ~ Underestimated!

ATHENA

"We can't treat you. Our hospital is full, and if I get you the bill, I bet you won't be able to afford it." Annie says, and I have to stop everything I'm doing to ensure I heard her right.

Annie is PGY-4, so she is a pain in the ass but she is good at what she does and is my senior, so you can only imagine what I have to deal with.

"Dr. Please! My father is dying and we won't have enough time to make it to another hospital!" A young girl who doesn't look to be over twenty cries as she begs her to admit her father.

"All this begging is time you're wasting!" Annie snaps, her arms crossed, annoyance etched into every line of her face.

I slam the patient chart shut and whirl around.

"Excuse me?" My voice slices through the halls of the ER like a scalpel.

Annie turns to me with that smug little smile she always wears when she thinks she's untouchable.

"This isn't charity, Dawson. We have protocols and capacity limits—”

"No." I step forward, fire burning in my chest. "What we have is a responsibility. A dying man is on a stretcher, and you're debating with his daughter over cost?"

The girl's eyes flicker between us, wide and tearful, clutching her father's hand like he's the last thread holding her together.

"Do you even hear yourself?" I continue, my voice low but sharp. "What you just said wasn't medical. It was inhumane."

Annie's face is red in anger. "You just got to Second year, and you think you're already senior? Tell me, Dawson, will you operate on this patient yourself? And if he dies, will you take responsibility?"

I look around, noticing everyone has stopped for a moment to Stare at me, and suddenly I'm feeling like I'm a specimen in a microscope being studied.

I take a breath, leveling my gaze at Annie. "Yes," I say clearly. "If that's what it takes, I will."

There's a ripple of murmurs behind me.

I just made it to second year, and I'm still a long shot from doing what I'm about to do. If I make a mistake, this man could die. But if I let him go, he will die too. The only difference is that I have a higher chance to save him.

Annie laughs under her breath. "You're out of your depth, Dawson. That's not bravery. It's arrogance."

"No," I reply calmly, stepping closer, "what's arrogant is thinking we get to play gatekeepers to who deserves a chance to live."

I turn to the nurse at the station, "Page Dr. Lucero. Tell him I need a consult and fast. And prep Bay 3. This man is going in."

half a second, then nods, her hands

warns, her voice lower now, full of

fast my insides are turning. "So either help, or get

she doesn't say another word. She

trembling breath as the gurney begins to move again. Her eyes meet mine, wet

you... Thank you

a soft nod and push down the knot tightening in my chest. There's

Bay 3, Dr. Lucero bursts in, taking one look at the vitals and then at

"I did."

studies me for a second, then

you a second

Doc."

is in my throat as I wait for him to lash out on me and call

harsh

second and looks like he wants to say

sighs,

got guts now. Don't freeze up

won't," I reply, stepping up beside

is crashing,"

a ruptured abdominal aneurysm," Lucero mutters, already assessing. "We're going to have to go

Me?

pulse spikes. This is far beyond anything I've done hands-on

"Yes, doctor."

he barks. "We don't have

in, the adrenaline washing over

But at what cost?

on, Athena. You won't

myself as I

OR, Dr. Lucero's voice rings out clear and

pressure steady. Good-now clamp. No, closer to

for a heartbeat, but I steady them and

The weight of the

don't look away. I don't

adrenaline working, but I'm not as nervous as I

is controlled," he announces. "Nice call, Dawson.

breathe until the final stitch is in place and vitals