Dr. Audrey Lim entered the St. Bonaventure emergency room. It had been a sleepless night; between all of the destruction from the earthquake, the long hours at the brewery and the OR, and the fact that her best friend was dying, she had gotten only 90 minutes of sleep.

As she drove to work, she tried to push the thought that Neil was dead from her mind. If it had been up to her, she would have offered him the option of a second surgery, but Glassman had overruled her, stating that he would be diabetic, on an ostomy bag, and waiting for a liver transplant, "Since when is all of that worse than being dead?" she thought angrily to herself, "I mean, what the actual fuck was that, Aaron?!" Did Dr. Glassman not understand how important Neil was to her? Never mind the fact that he was her ex-boyfriend whom she still had feelings for, but he was also her best friend, the man whom had been there for her since their residency days. Best friends didn't just let their friends die! They did everything they possibly could to save them. If it hadn't been for the fact that she had a meeting that morning, she would have gone to the brewery with Glassman and Melendez. She would have been there as soon as Neil was hurt. She would have forced him to go get checked out instead of performing that surgery on site. She would have found the perforated bowel in time. He would be alive.

When she arrived at work, she changed into scrubs before going to the ER. A lump formed in her throat, knowing that the room Neil had been in had probably been cleared by now. An official autopsy would have to be performed, and then, they could start making funeral arrangements. She figured it would be her job to notify his parents and sister; no doubt Gabi would be devastated. Then, there was the funeral; she had no clue how to arrange a Catholic funeral mass, but she felt she owed it to Neil to give him that much, since deep down, his faith was important to him. Then, there was the hiring of a new cardiothoracic surgeon. Dammit, she didn't want a new cardiothoracic surgeon. She wanted Neil! Her Neil! The man whom was supposed to still be alive that way, when she changed her mind, they could get back together and live a life together drinking whiskey. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid to think that the Chief of Surgery position was more important than Neil. And it had taken his death to make her realize what was important in life. This feeling was even more heartbreaking than her divorce.

When she arrived at the emergency room, she noticed Claire walk into the room where she assumed Neil's body still was. She stayed outside to allow the young resident to say her goodbye. Audrey wasn't stupid or unobservant; she knew how close Neil and Claire were, and yes, she knew the young woman had a massive crush on him. But that didn't matter now: Neil was dead. He couldn't be with either one of them. Claire came out of the room with tears in her eyes. Lim figured there was no use being petty; they both were grieving. A few tears escaped Lim's eyes as she wrapped her arms around Claire. And that was when Claire whispered two words the Chief thought she'd never hear, "He's alive."

"What?" asked Lim in shock, pulling out of Claire's embrace, "How?"

"I don't know, but when I went into the room, Dr. Melendez was still breathing and he's still hooked up to monitors."

Lim didn't answer Claire, instead, walking past her into Melendez's room. Sure enough, Melendez was alive; asleep, but alive. More tears fell, but this time, they were for a different reason. She slowly walked over to his bedside and took his hand, "Neil," she whispered to herself.

Melendez stirred upon hearing noise. He turned to face her and smiled, "Audrey."

Lim smiled and laughed, "Oh Neil," she gently hugged him, but then the thought suddenly hit her, "You bastard, how DID you make it through the night?"

"I don't know," Melendez admitted, "I've been in and out of consciousness, so what I remember is sporadic. I remember Claire being in here hating on my tattoo. She left and I fell asleep, figuring that was the end of everything. I barely remember Murphy coming in, and I took a really spaced out ride somewhere before they brought me back here. You'll have to ask Shaun."

Lim nodded, "Do you know where he is?"

"Nope," answered Melendez.

"That's okay, I'll ask Dr. Glassman," said Lim.

She left the room and went straight to Glassman's office. She quietly knocked and he gruffly answered, "Come in," Lim entered the room and Glassman looked up from his computer, "Dr. Lim."

"Dr. Glassman," she greeted, "I'm going to get straight to the point. How did Neil survive?"

Glassman sighed, stood, and closed the door Lim left open. He sat down again and said, "Shaun came back from the brewery and I told him that his mentor was dying. Well, you know Shaun, he looked over every CT scan, every MRI, every lab test, the results of the surgery…you name it, he looked at it. Well, he came to me and told me he had figured out a way to resect the rest of the damaged bowel without compromising Neil's entire large intestine. And you know Shaun, once he's focused on something or someone, he won't give up until he is successful. I agreed to trust him. Miraculously, Shaun's idea worked and Neil has enough bowel left that he won't need an ostomy bag. We have to wait a few days before we can test him for diabetes. But, there is one thing that's certain. Neil will need a liver transplant."

Of course, Lim was thrilled that Shaun was able to save Melendez. She would probably hug him as tightly as she could the next time she saw him, much to his probable dismay. But a liver transplant? She asked, "Did you get him listed?"

"We did," answered Glassman, "But we should also contact family members to talk about living donation. Does he have any in the San Jose area?"

"His sister, but she isn't able to give proper consent to donate. His parents live in the area, but they're both in their sixties, out of the age range for a living donor. The rest of his family members are in either Texas or Mexico. I don't know how fast they could get here."

Glassman sighed and said, "Neil needs a liver in a week or two or else we'll be back to square one."

Lim sighed and scrubbed her hand over her face, "Does Neil know about the need for a transplant?"

"Yes, I discussed it with him. But I don't know how much he remembers. He's been pretty weak and drugged," said Glassman.

"Yeah, he mentioned that to me," said Lim.

"Oh, you already saw him?" asked Glassman surprised.

"When I came in this morning. He told me to talk to you because his memories were foggy," responded Lim.

"They probably still are. Ischemic bowel and septic shock are no joke. He still has tons of antibiotics being pumped into him," said Glassman.

Lim nodded and turned to leave, "Well, sir, thank you for explaining everything to me. I have to go to the ICU and check on all of the earthquake victims. You know everything that's involved with mass causality protocol."

"That I do," said Glassman.

Lim left and found herself to be busy for most of the day. Before she went to the locker room to change, she found Melendez's room, though he had been moved to a room in the ICU. She knocked on the door and he turned to face her, "Hey," she smiled and entered the room, "I'm getting ready to leave, but I wanted to check on you one more time."

"Now you know how I felt when you had the virus," he joked.

Of course, Neil would be a smartass, so Lim knew that was his way of telling her not to worry, "I know, but I can't help but worry. You're supposed to be dead right now."

"I know, but I'm not," he grabbed her hand to comfort her.

Lim looked at their entwined hands, "Glassman said Murphy figured out a way to save you."

"Of course he did," Melendez recalled, "He is the boy genius, after all."

Lim laughed softly, but then gained a somber look, "Glassman also said you need a liver transplant."

Melendez nodded and said, "But they already have me listed."

"I know," said Lim, "Just worried a donor liver won't be found in time."

Melendez didn't say anything, because he knew there was a possibility one wouldn't, "We have to be optimistic."

A few tears formed in Lim's eyes and she said, "It's just really hard right now," they stayed silent a few moments longer before she said, "I promise I'll come by tomorrow," she went to kiss him, but then stopped herself, so she settled for kissing his forehead, "Goodnight, Neil."

"Goodnight, Audrey."

Lim arrived home and reheated some leftovers before she went upstairs to change for bed. She looked on top of her dresser and found the picture of her and Neil during their residency years, back in the days when she regularly wore glasses and comic book t-shirts. She knew she wouldn't get much sleep tonight, much like last night. There was a part of her worried Neil would flat line and they wouldn't be able to revive him. But she was also concerned about the surgery he would have to undergo very soon or else he would die.

Lim looked through her t-shirt drawer and found one of Melendez's San Antonio Spurs shirts. He had allowed her to keep it, or maybe he had just forgotten about it after the break-up; either way, he had never asked for it back. She hadn't washed it; she couldn't bear to rid the shirt of Melendez's familiar and comforting scent. She took the shirt and crawled into bed with it before turning out the light. She knew she had an important thing to discuss with Glassman and Neil tomorrow, and she had to be as prepared as possible for the upcoming ordeal she was about to face.