Malpractice

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Dr. Amelia Reeves' hand shook as she made the first cut. Sweat dripped down her forehead, almost falling onto the patient. She blinked hard, trying to see straight.

"You okay there, Dr. Reeves?" asked the anesthesiologist, voice all muffled behind his mask.

Amelia just nodded. Didn't trust herself to talk. It was so bright in the OR, it hurt her eyes. And those monitors beeping were giving her a headache. She knew she should never have come here. But what else could she do?

As she kept going, last night came flooding back. Fighting with her ex, getting those damn custody papers, drinking way too much wine to numb it all. She had hardly slept a wink and now here she was doing brain surgery with shaky hands and the worst hangover ever.

“BP’s dropping,” said the anesthesiologist sounding worried.

Amelia's heart started racing. She'd messed up – hit an artery maybe? Everything was a red blur. "Suction," she barked, buying time to think.

The nurse looked at the resident, all worried. "Should we get someone else in here, Dr. Reeves?"

"No," Amelia snapped. "I've got it." She totally didn't have it. Oh God, she was so screwed.

Hours later, Amelia was in the parking lot, barely standing. The surgery had gone to hell. The patient – she couldn't even remember his name – was in a coma. Best case, he'd wake up pretty messed up. Worst case... she didn't want to think about it.

Her phone buzzed. Text from the ex: "Where are you? Zoe's been waiting an hour."

Amelia felt sick. She'd forgotten her own kid. How could she forget Zoe?

She fumbled for her keys, crying. She knew she shouldn't drive. But what choice did she have?

The next several weeks were a blur. Amelia worked like mad, taking any surgery she could to keep her mind off the lawsuit that she knew was coming. She barely saw Zoe, leaving her sister to do most of the mom stuff.

There had been one night when everything fell apart for good. Amelia sat at her kitchen table drowning in coffee cups and paperwork when her phone rang. Unknown number.

"Dr. Reeves?" a shaky voice said when she answered. "I'm Sarah Brennan. Jason Brennan's wife. The guy you operated on a few weeks back."

Amelia couldn't breathe. She wanted to hang up and run. Instead, she managed a quiet, "Yeah?"

"I need to talk to you," Sarah said, sounding like she might cry. "Not about lawsuits or anything. Just... person to person. Can we meet?"

Everything in Amelia screamed to say no. But something in Sarah's voice – it was like looking in a mirror – made her pause. "Okay," she heard herself say. "Tomorrow at 7, coffee shop by the hospital."

Amelia got there early the next morning, feeling sick. She hadn't slept, torn between dreading this and desperately needing... something. Forgiveness maybe? She didn't know.

Sarah walked in at 7:05, looking as rough as Amelia felt. Sarah and him just stared at each other for a minute before she decided to sit down.

“I don’t even know why I came.” Sarah said while toying with her coffee cup. "I just... I had to see you. To get it, you know?"

Amelia took a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, knowing it wasn't enough. "I screwed up so bad. I shouldn't have been in that OR. I was... I was a mess that day."

Sarah's eyes got big. "You mean...?"

"I'd been drinking the night before," Amelia blurted out. "Going through a divorce, custody crap... I thought I could handle it. I was so wrong."

She waited for Sarah to explode. Instead, Sarah grabbed her hand. "Thank you," she said softly. "For being honest."

Amelia almost started crying. "Why aren't you mad? You should be trying to get me fired or worse."

Sarah gave her a sad little smile. "Maybe I should. But... Jason and I had a big fight that morning. He drove off all pissed. That's how he ended up in that wreck. So I kinda feel like it's my fault too."

They just sat there for a while, both feeling guilty as hell.

"So what now?" Amelia finally asked.

Sarah sighed. "I don't know. But I do know this – ruining your career won't fix Jason. It won't make anything better."

"But I deserve—"

"You deserve a chance to make it right," Sarah cut her off. "To learn from this and be a better doctor. One who can help other people, other families."

Amelia just stared at her. "How can you be so... nice about this?"

"Because I have to be," Sarah said. "For Jason, for me. And maybe... for you too."

As they kept talking, something changed in Amelia. The guilt was still there, but it turned into something else – a need to live up to Sarah's kindness, to be the doctor she should've been all along.

Weeks turned into months. Amelia turned herself in to the medical board, took whatever punishment they gave her. She went to rehab, dealt with all the crap that led to that day in the OR. Most importantly, she fixed things with Zoe, learning how to actually be there as a mom.

And through it all, Sarah Brennan stuck around. What started as two messed-up strangers turned into a friendship neither of them expected but both really needed.

A year after that awful surgery, Amelia stood outside Jason Brennan's hospital room. He'd woken up two months ago, starting the long road to recovery. Sarah was next to her, holding her hand.

"You ready?" Sarah asked.

Amelia took a deep breath. "Nope," she admitted. "But I gotta do this."

They went in together. Jason looked up from his wheelchair, his eyes getting big when he saw her.

"Dr. Reeves," he said, talking slow but clear. "Been waiting to meet you."

Amelia braced herself for him to lose it. Instead, Jason smiled – kinda crooked, but real.

"Sarah told me everything," he said. "About that day, about... after. I wanted to say thanks."

"Thanks?" Amelia repeated, confused as hell. "But I..."

"You owned up to your mistake," Jason said. "You're trying to fix it. That's... that's all any of us can do, right?"

Amelia started crying as she nodded. "I promise," she said, all choked up, "I'll spend the rest of my career making the most of this second chance."