Page 22 of Time for You

There generally weren’t any real “slow” shifts in the ER, but some were slower than others.

Friday and Saturday nights tended to be a zoo, while midmorning during the week could be a little calmer.

Some days, it was even calm enough for Daphne to sit down while eating her lunch, provided she didn’t plan to be seated for more than fifteen minutes.

On one such morning, just a few days after her talk with Henry, Daphne found herself able to sit down and eat the sandwich he’d packed her—he had moved to elaborate sandwiches featuring a curry-mayo sauce combination that were, quite frankly, the best thing she’d ever eaten—and even have enough time to check her phone.

None of her shifts had been as bad as the one that night, but it still felt like there was something unfinished hanging over her.

On a whim, she typed “how to change residencies” into her search bar, but the first post that came up was just information on how to get into a residency, which wasn’t helpful, and anyway, even if she did leave her program, she had no idea what she’d want in a different one.

She had liked her peds rotation well enough, but she couldn’t handle the sadness of sick kids day in and day out.

She liked the variety of the ER, the way she never quite knew what was coming; she just wanted more time, too.

The next hit was a message board post from someone who had considered switching out of Emergency Medicine, and Daphne’s pulse started to race as she clicked the link.

But the post itself was just the person saying they had thought they hated Emergency Medicine but discovered that, actually, it was just a rough adjustment period and they learned to love it and didn’t switch out after all.

Daphne’s heart sank just as Vibol walked in. “What are you looking up?” he asked, dropping into the chair next to her.

“Nothing,” she said, far too hastily. It felt like cheating, even considering switching programs. Their program director, Dr. Gupta, would be so disappointed, and Daphne couldn’t bear disappointing her like that.

She knew people switched—sometimes just to a different program to be closer to a spouse or family, sometimes because they weren’t going to cut it in a super competitive field.

Sometimes people switched because they hadn’t matched into their first-choice field and the second-choice program wasn’t a good fit.

But this was what Daphne had always wanted.

She was in her first-choice program in her first-choice field, and leaving—no, she didn’t want to.

It was nice of Henry to be there for her when she needed him, but leaving her program wasn’t the right way to fix things.

Daphne had already gotten better at things since she started, so eventually—eventually—she’d fall in love with the job.

“How’s Michelle?” Daphne said, sugar sweet.

Vibol narrowed his eyes. “She’s good.”

“How good?”

“None-of-your-damn-business good.”

Daphne grinned, but before she could respond, Hannah stuck her head into the lounge.

“We’re about to get a bus accident. City bus versus a pickup.

Everyone survived, but some are banged up.

EMTs say there’s nothing life threatening, but there were a bunch of high schoolers on the bus when it got hit, so it’ll be a lot of freaked-out parents. ”

Vibol looked longingly at the sandwich he’d just pulled out—also a Henry-made specialty—and tossed it back into the fridge. “Guess we’re back at it now.”

“How are you doing, Mariana?” Daphne said, pulling back the curtain to a bed.

On the bed was a teenage girl—fifteen, according to the chart—with an ashen cast to her olive skin.

As Hannah had predicted, the ER had been a flurry of activity since the first ambulance arrived, and she’d seen Mariana almost an hour ago, ordering an X-ray and some painkillers for what was almost certainly a broken tibia.

“Better, Dr. Griffin,” she said quietly.

“Have you gotten a hold of your mom?”

Mariana nodded. “She had to talk to her boss, but he finally agreed to let her leave early.”

“Then I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” Daphne pulled up the report from Radiology and nodded to herself. “Looks like you do have a fractured tibia, so you’ll need a cast. But it doesn’t need to be reset, which is really, really good news for you.”

Mariana nodded again, but tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes.

“What’s wrong? Are you still in pain?” Daphne asked. Mariana shook her head rapidly, the tears coming faster now.

Daphne had about ten more patients to see, but she grabbed the stool and sat down next to Mariana’s bed.

“Hey there, it’s okay,” she said gently.

Mariana started reaching out, grasping at thin air, and Daphne let her take her hand.

“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” she murmured.

“A broken leg sucks, but the cast won’t be on for too long. ”

“It’s—not that.” Her patient hiccuped.

“Are you on a team? Is this going to mess up your season?” Daphne guessed. She wished she knew more about Mariana, so she could make her feel better without taking random stabs in the dark at what might be wrong.

“No, I’m just a nerd,” Mariana said with a watery chuckle. “A broken leg won’t stop me from being a Mathlete.”

Daphne smiled encouragingly. “That’s the spirit. It’s going to be okay, I promise,” she said, and squeezed her hand.

“I know, I’m just—it was so scary, and I feel—stupid. Nobody died, I’m fine, and I’m still so freaked out, and it’s just so stupid.”

“Being scared? Honey, you were in an accident that hurt a lot of people. That is scary. It would be weirder if you weren’t freaked out, honestly.”

That earned her another weak chuckle. “How long will the cast be on?”

“Six to eight weeks.”

Mariana sniffed and sighed at the same time. “So I’ll have it during prom, then.”

“You’ve got a date already? Aren’t you a sophomore?”

A blush started at Mariana’s hairline. “My friend Grace said they wanted to go with me. But they haven’t like, officially asked or anything, just mentioned it when we were hanging out last week.”

“Well, if Grace is a good friend, they won’t care if you’ve got a cast.”

“I know, it just—”

“Sucks,” Daphne finished. “And it does, you’re right about that. But you could like, decorate the cast or something. Make it match your dress?”

“Mariana?” a voice called.

Mariana pushed herself up. “Mama?”

Daphne pulled back the curtain so Mariana’s mother could make her way over. She teared up at the sight of her daughter, rushing over to wrap her in a tight hug. Daphne couldn’t hear what she was saying, but both mother and daughter were sobbing, and she stepped back to give them some space.

After a few minutes Mariana’s mother, Thea, straightened and wiped her cheeks dry. “Thank you for taking care of my baby,” she said. “She says she broke her leg?”

Daphne ran Thea through what she’d told Mariana—the fracture, the cast, and the recovery. “It won’t be fun, but within a few months, Mariana will be back to normal, I promise,” she said. “The break isn’t too bad, and with some physical therapy once the cast is off, she’ll see no lasting effects.”

“Thank you,” Thea said again.

Daphne wanted to stay and keep talking, but she caught the eye of Dr. Gupta, who was talking to a teenage boy and a man who appeared to be his grandfather, and knew she’d lingered too long already.

There were other patients to see, and with the orders in for Mariana’s cast, there wasn’t anything else she needed to do.

Daphne went to see her next patient—another bus rider, but this one a middle-aged woman with a sprained wrist—and shoved her wistfulness down.

An hour later, she walked past Vibol, who was hurrying out of his patient’s bay, frowning at his phone.

“Hey, do you ever wish you had more time with people?”

He stopped reading his texts and looked at her, puzzled. “Like, in life?”

“No, I mean here. Don’t you hate how rushed we are?”

“That’s why we went into this, right? So we could patch people up and send them on to someone else? Of course I don’t mind—it’s what I like about it. I drop in, fix them, and then fly off like I’m Superman or some shit.”

That wasn’t how Daphne had felt after leaving Mariana, though. She’d felt like she was leaving with her job half done, and she didn’t feel the euphoria she expected to, even when she’d done what she needed to at the best of her ability.

She chewed her lip, debating if it was worth telling Vibol how she felt, but he held up his phone. “You saw this, right?”

“No, what?” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket, realizing she’d missed nearly a dozen texts in the wild crush of bus patients. “What’s happening?”

“Find the one from Ellie.”

Daphne scrolled down, and her stomach jolted so hard she could have sworn it literally, physically moved.

ER Doc Group Chat

Ellie Levine

Fuck I misread the chart; Henry’s portal opens Tonight not next week, and by tonight I mean Soon

I’m getting him ready and we’re going now, I’m so sorry he can’t say goodbye to anyone but it’s this or waiting until the solstice, which is months away

Henry says “farewell”

Henry was leaving, and Daphne wasn’t even going to get to say goodbye.