Page 16 of Dr. Stone

“Always,” I answered, my voice as hard and determined as his. “Let’s bring her back.”

The OR feltlike a battlefield after a fight. The tension that had held the room in suspense for the past five hours slowly unraveled, leaving a heavy, exhausted silence in its wake.

“Fuck,” I finally said, feeling like I could finally breathe again.

“No other word sums up that experience so well,” Jake said as he pulled off his gloves.

Both of us were covered in blood smears across our forearms, which was a blunt reminder of how close we came to losing Mrs. Alberta. But we didn’t. No fucking way were we going to lose that woman. We busted our fucking asses, and now, her new heart was in and beating strongly.

Jake’s eyes met mine, his jaw still tight, and his expression unwavering. “Finish up here and assist with transport to the ICU. I’m going to speak with the family.”

I nodded and glanced down at Ruth’s chest. Her incision site was a neat line of dark sutures, another trademark of Jake Mitchell’s perfectionist work.

“I’ve got it from here,” I said.

Jake eyed the monitors one more time. “Keep me posted,” he said, leaving the room to clean up.

After assisting with the transport to the ICU, where Ruth would be under constant monitoring by our staff, I was finally able to release the patient. What an excellent fucking day.

After my final check of the monitors, I smiled, ensuring she was tucked away nicely and on her way to recovery. Every patient had an important story and a damn good reason for us to bust our asses like we did today to keep them alive. Each one was different, and every one was special. Today we helped a young grandmother reclaim her dreams of living a full life, dancing with her granddaughter, and never looking back.

This was what I loved about my job and why I was thankful I’d pursued this field. It was hard to top the days when I could give someone a second chance at life. Thank God Jake and I were going out for drinks tonight—sometimes it took a few to calm down after adrenaline had been flooding my body all day like a broken dam.

“Nice work in there today, Stone,”Jake said after we were showered and changed into our regular clothes.

“Thanks, man,” I said, still on the adrenaline high from earlier.

“You’re going to need a drink, rookie,” he taunted, treating me like it was my first year on the job instead of my fifth. “And a change of subject to sleep tonight.”

“Rookie my ass,” I said with a laugh. “Just because I can’t contain my excitement about this shit doesn’t mean?—”

“Sure it does,” he chuckled. “And that’s how I know you suck in bed.”

I rolled my eyes. “My God, you can’t help yourself,” I shook my head as we walked out of the hospital. “I’m not saying a fucking word about Andie.”

“I’m just saying your excitement gets the best of you, and that’s why you can’t perform. Look at your excited ass right now after that surgery?”

“Yeah,afterthe fucking surgery,” I said as we crossed the bridge over to the doctor’s parking area, “not during it. You saw how focused and flawless I was and always am in that OR. It’s always afterwards that I can’t seem to come down so easily. And if we’re relating my performance in surgeries to how I am in bed, then it’s all the same. I’m probably even better in bed.”

Jake stopped as soon as we reached our cars, “Why the fuck aren’t you saying anything? I’m just curious why you’re suddenly a locked-up vault.”

I shrugged, “Maybe my days of bragging to you about my sex life are over?”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit.”

“No. There’s a reason.”

“She’s your wife’s employee, dude. I’m not going to let this fuel the gossip lines between everyone. You guys can talk all the shit you want about me and my past hook-ups, but this one I’m just not going to give you?—”

“Ah,” Jake said as if he had just discovered the miracle cure to some dreaded disease, “you’re protecting her.”

“Call it what you want. I’m not going?—”

“I had a feeling,” he started laughing. “Oh, you’re so fucked.”

“What are you talking about?”