7.07

Helena and Mark walked into the hospital, smiles on their faces as the girl sipped on her coffee. Her other hand was interlocked with Mark's, swinging them in her characteristic way.

"But we're not telling everyone yet, right?" The man asked, making Helena nod.

"Well, yeah. Not yet because I have to tell my family first and I don't wanna do that because then my mother will try to kill you." She explained, nonchalantly.

"K-kill me?" Mark choked on his coffee, the the couple stepping into an empty elevator.

"I mean, you know how overprotective she can be. She like you but, still, she always said I should finish residency first. So, yeah, kill you." Helena giggled. "But, anyway, I've already told Meredith so you can tell Derek. I'm also telling Cristina but she's good with secrets, so it's not a problem. And I want to tell Lexie but I can't cause she can't keep the rambling in control. So you can only tell Derek."

As they got off of the elevator, however, the couple froze in front of a TV, a small crowd around it as they heard the news.

"There had been a major Seattle area shooting. We have reports that a gunman has opened fire on students and faculty." The news anchor spoke, Helena taking her hand to her mouth at the news.

At what they heard, the couple's hearts sank. Helena was starting to feel the same terror that she had felt that day gripping at her guts, a tear rolling down her eyes as her lip trembled. As for Mark, he recognized the same sinking feeling of when he though he'd lost his wife coming back.

Mark pressed her a little tighter to his side, Helena extending her hand to grab Lexie's, who sobbed beside her. This was gonna be a tough day.

——

At the ambulance bay, Mark and Helena stood next to each other, finding comfort in the feeling of their touching sides, as Owen spoke.

"There are 15 ambulances on the way, maybe more to come. The first one is three minutes out."

As he finished, the doctors outside of the ER were eerily quiet, the sounds of the trauma gowns ruffling and Lexie and April's occasional sniffles being heard.

"People..." The Chief started. "People, our own trauma is fresh and we are gonna have feeling today, there is no shame in that. What I wanna say is, what we went through six months ago they are going through right now. Which makes them our brothers and sisters. Which makes them fellow travelers. Which makes them our own. So to the very best of our ability we are gonna do our work first and we are gonna have our feelings later."

At a small, upset noise that Lexie let out, Mark and Helena turned around, along with Owen.

"Grey?" The ginger asked.

"I'm fine." She sniffled, trying to compose herself. "I'm fine!"

"Go to the pit, make sure we're stacked and call the blood bank." Mark instructed.

"I'm fine." She whispered.

"Call the blood bank, Lex." Helena spoke up, her voice soft as Webber and April took the first ambulance, behind them. "Tell them to give us all the O negative they can."

At that, the girl nodded as she left, making Mark turn to his wife, whispering in her ear. "Do you need to go, too? If you're stressed it can't be good for the baby..."

"I'm ok, honey. I'm ok." She nodded, the second ambulance arriving as Meredith and Derek took it's patient.

Moving to the new ambulance, the paramedic informed Helena. "Fifteen year old, Kelly Keck. GSW to the leg and abdomen. Abdomen is rigid, systolic 75, last pulse 147."

"F-fifteen?" Helena asked as she read through her chart. These were supposed to be college students, not teenagers.

"Yeah." The paramedic confirmed. "Look what being a genius gets you."

At that, Helena swallowed hard before she instructed, rolling the girl into the ER. "Clear trauma three and page Stark!"

The girl was just fifteen, already in college. Just like her.

——

In surgery with Stark, Helena worked on the girl's leg, as she informed. "This artery is in pieces. Vascular clamp, please."

"Here you go." The scrub nurse handed it to her.

"Your best move is to amputate that leg, you got no more time to waste there." The man told his resident.

"I'm sorry, w-what?" Helena questioned, furrowing her brows. From where she stood, it seemed to be perfectly viable.

Glancing up to the gallery, she saw Arizona entered it, the woman having come back from Africa that morning. The resident was aware of the fact, since she had found the blond outside of Callie's apartment in the morning, the attending trying to her girlfriend back.

"The artery is blown, the femur is shattered!" Stark told her, as if it were obvious, his voice crass.

"Well, Dr. Torres could fix that, sir." The small girl shared. "Wouldn't we be able to save the leg then?"

"I'm more concerned about the life than the leg, Camp. I'm sure her parents will be too." He rolled his eyes.

"This kid is , Dr. Stark! I'm sorry, but you have a perfectly salvageable leg here. O-or do you think it's not? Because if that's not the case, you can't just cut off a viable leg! " She argued, looking up from her work, the frustration she felt towards the man rising. Softening her voice, she corrected, once more. "And it's Campos."

"What I can't do is spend any more time arguing with you." He answered drily. "Prep the damn leg, Camp."

Helena scoffed in disbelief as she saw her attending reach for the bone saw, her jaw clenching in anger. She knew how it was like to have a visible reminder of a traumatic day, and hers was easily widen, unlike an amputated leg. Besides, her own little brother had lost his at age nine and she knew how life changing and traumatizing it had been. This was a kid, a vulnerable kid whose life was in her hands. She couldn't simply stand back and watch Stark amputate her limb because he couldn't be bothered to try and save it.