Russian Roulette

A nurse took my temperature and I had a high fever and I had severe pain under the left side of my rib cage so Dr. Hunter admitted me.

“How sure are that you’re not pregnant?” Elias asks me.

“Like 70% sure,” I reply.

“So there is a chance! Wow with your looks and Malkin’s athletic ability that kid will be blessed,” Elias states.

“Dr. Chase and Dr. Dixon can you take Dr. Eriksson to get a CT scan please,” Dr. Hunter asks them. I get in the wheelchair and they wheel me to get my scan.

“It’s my spleen,” I tell them.

“How do you know?” Matt asks.

“Because my mono is back and the symptoms fit,” I reply. They do the scan and sure enough my spleen is ruptured. They wheel me back to my room and I call Geno and tell him I’m in the hospital.

“So there are no O.R.’s open right now so we’re going to have to wait,” Dr. Hunter tells me.

“I’m literally bleeding internally and I still have to wait?” I ask him. He nods and I shake my head. The anaesthesiologist comes in and gives me a dose of anaesthesia. I feel the effects immediately and I start to giggle.

“Well that didn’t take long,” Elias says smiling.

“You guys are all very attractive. I’ve thought about sleeping with all of you at one point,” I say smiling. Matt’s trying not to laugh but Elias is killing himself laughing.

“Can I just say how great it is to sleep with an athlete? Their stamina is incredible, they can just go and go and go and go,” I say while rocking back and forth. Geno finally shows up and I squeal excitedly.

“It’s my Russian bear!” I say excitedly. He looks at Matt confused and Matt explains the situation.

“Babe will you still love me with one less organ?” I ask him.

“Da. I not have tonsils,” he says smiling

“You can’t kiss me because I have mono. I have mono because I was a slut in high school,” I tell him. Elias snorts loudly and Matt shakes his head. The general surgery attending comes in and he smiles.

“Dr. Eriksson nice to see you again. Looks like we’ll be doing a splenectomy today. I know you probably know the procedure but we’ll go through it anyway,” Dr. Wilson tells me. He goes through the procedure and I sit there and try not to laugh.

“Okay the O.R. is ready,” Dr. Hunter informs everyone. Geno leans down and kisses me softly.

“Geno I want a cat,” I tell him urgently.

“What?”

“A cat. Promise me we’ll get one.”

“I promise.” They wheel me to the E.R. where an anaesthesiologist puts a mask on my face.

“Count backwards from 10,” he tells me.

“10, 9, 8...” and then everything went black.

I wake up and Geno is sitting in the chair by my bed.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“4:00,” he responds.

“Geno you’re going to be late for your game!”

“I not go.”

“Zhenya I’m fine. Look at me. Go please. I won’t be happy unless you’re on the ice.

“Fine but I’m back after game.” He kisses me and then leaves. I get up and drag my IV with me to Lyla’s floor. I enter her room and she’s on her bed reading a book.

“What happened to you?” she asks.

“Got my spleen taken out,” I say smiling.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah I’m great. What about you, are you okay?” I ask her.

“I guess. I go home tomorrow.”

“Are you excited?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like I’ve been in this bubble here and once I leave the hospital I’ll be forced to face everything and start living my life without Derek. I’ll miss talking to you.”

“If you ever need me you know where to find me,” I say smiling.

“There you are, you’re supposed to be resting,” Matt says irritated.

“Well looks like I gotta go. It was nice meeting you Lyla. Remember you got a second chance so make the most out of it.”

“Bye Quinn,” she says smiling. Matt walks me back to my room where Elias is waiting in a chair.

“Don’t you guys have somewhere else to be?” I ask them.

“Hunter cleared our schedules for the day,” Matt replies.

“Well that was nice of him.” We watch the game in my room and they leave briefly to check on another patient. It’s the third period and I watch Geno score on the power play. I get excited but then I feel a sharp pain in my chest. I try taking a deep breath but I can’t breathe properly. I press the call button and the nurse comes running in.

“Page Dixon and Chase,” I choke out. She runs back and I grab the oxygen mask from behind my bed. Matt and Elias come running in and the look panicked.

“I can’t breathe,” I manage to get out. Matt gets his stethoscope and listens to my chest.

“Her lung collapsed,” he tells Elias. They take me to radiology to confirm their diagnosis. They get the scan and take my back to my room. Elias gets the chest tube tray ready and Matt lifts up my arm and drapes the area. He counts my ribs until he finds the correct intercostal space and injects a local anaesthetic. He then uses a scalpel and makes a small incision before inserting the chest tube. After several minutes of intense pressure and severe pain, Matt finally got the chest tube in and my breathing stabilized. He put a clear bandage over the tube and fixed my hospital gown.

“That fucking sucked. I’m not a huge fan of you right now,” I tell Matt.

“That’s totally fair. I hear chest tubes are one of the worst procedure’s to get. Remember when we were interns and that guy was screaming during his so we had to knock him out?” Matt asks smiling.

“Yeah. Good times,” I reply. The pain medication was finally kicking in so I leaned my head back against my pillow. I close my eyes for a minute until I hear Geno say hi to the guys. I open my eyes and see my tall Russian boyfriend in a suit.

“What happened?” he asked, staring wide-eyed at the tube sticking out of my chest.

“My lung collapsed, no big deal,” I say casually. His eyes go from shocked to angry fast.

“Вы сказали, что все было в порядке!(You said you were fine!)” he says angrily.

“Zhenya I was. It just happened but I’m okay now I promise,” I say holding his hand. Matt and Elias awkwardly leave the room and Geno still looks angry.

“Come here,” I say while patting the spot beside me on the bed.

“I worry. I not lose you,” he says sadly.

“You’re not going to lose me,” I reassure him.

“я люблю тебя Quinn. (I love you)”

“я люблю тебя Zhenya, (I love you too,)” I say quietly. He turns to look at me and kisses me softly.

Notes

Enjoy!