Medical Center
Operating Room 3
"Put on your goggles."
As soon as Dr. Burke said it, everyone in the room got the hint.
The news about Alex, the Patient Zero of the hospital's aphrodisiac poison scandal, was no secret around here. If something went wrong during treatment—like blood spraying—it could get into your eyes and infect you.
Thankfully, it wasn't AIDS, so they didn't need full-body protective gear. That would've taken too much time anyway. Goggles and a mask to cover the face? Good enough.
Time wasn't on their side.
Adam had already been treating patients, so he was geared up with gloves and the usual stuff. When he lifted Alex onto the stretcher, he'd been extra careful. No issues there. Still, the second he stepped into the OR, he had a nurse slap goggles and a mask on him.
Seeing Adam suited up like that, Dr. Burke immediately remembered Alex's special case—the aphrodisiac poison patient. Normally, they'd just wear masks for surgery.
Once everyone was ready and they got a look at Alex's wounds, they couldn't help but exchange glances.
"Call Plastics," Dr. Burke told a nurse.
With injuries like that, Plastic Surgery would definitely need to step in later to clean things up.
With so many attending surgeons in the room, the procedure went smoothly.
"Who did this to him?" Dr. Burke asked, eyeing Alex's wound again, unable to hold back.
"Probably some soldier husband of a female patient Alex slept with," Adam summed up casually.
"No wonder," Dr. Shepherd chimed in. "The guy's aim was dead-on."
"He said it was 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' Nothing personal against Alex," Adam added, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"…"
The room went silent.
Because the shooter had really followed through.
Whoever wronged him got payback—every single shot landed right on Alex's "brothers." And afterward, he'd stomped on them for good measure.
One look, and you knew it was over. Completely wrecked.
"Did they catch the guy?" Dr. Burke asked, frowning.
He was the acting Chief of Surgery right now, and Alex was an intern in his department. For someone gunning for the permanent Chief spot, having this kind of mess pop up the second he took over wasn't exactly a good sign.
"They probably did," Adam replied while assisting Burke with the surgery. "After those six shots at Alex, there weren't any more gunshots. The guy didn't seem like he was planning to resist."
Thinking back to how the shooter told him to "clean up the mess," Adam added, "He was eerily calm."
"That's not calm," Dr. Shepherd said, glancing at the wound again, his tone heavy. "That's terrifying."
Normally, when someone pulls a trigger, they're aiming to kill. If that were the case here, death would've come quick. But this guy? He held back from killing. His aim was insanely precise, and the fact that he showed up at the hospital made Adam wonder if he didn't want Alex to die.
If he'd wanted Alex dead, he could've stalked him, taken him out somewhere quiet with no cameras, staged it, and walked away. With the cops' track record and the military's influence, it'd probably get buried.
But he didn't.
He risked getting caught instead.
Sure, there was the thrill of public revenge, but Adam's gut told him something else—based on the shooter's cold, calculated style, he didn't want Alex to die fast.
Wounds this bad? Anywhere outside a hospital, Alex would've been a goner—no chance of making it to the ER. Inside the hospital, though, he had a shot at surviving.
So why go through all that just to keep Alex alive?
Because living like this would be a million times worse than dying quick.
"Life worse than death" fit the bill perfectly.
When the plastic surgeon arrived, the team handed things over. But honestly, with damage this severe, Plastics didn't have much to work with.
It was gone. All of it.
Only option? Full removal.
Surgery wrapped up, and Adam stepped out of the OR, heading straight to scrub down head to toe.
"Oh my God!"
"That's insane."
The hospital buzzed with freaked-out exclamations.
Empathy's human nature, after all. Whether Alex deserved it or not, he was a doctor—one of their own. Even colleagues who couldn't stand him felt a little queasy about the whole thing.
"Adam, you okay?"
Bianca came over, her voice full of concern. She'd moved out of Adam's place because she couldn't deal with him anymore, but her feelings for him still ran deep—way deeper than his for her, at least. Hearing he'd been at the shooting? She freaked.
"I'm fine," Adam said with a smile and a shake of his head.
Liz and the others crowded around too.
"How's Alex?"
"He's… well, alive," Adam said. "But he's done for."
"That's too much," Liz snapped, her face flushed with anger. "No matter what Alex did, this is way too brutal."
"But I heard Alex stole the guy's wife first," George countered.
"It takes two to tango," Meredith shot back. "Alex didn't force her. She came onto him. Yeah, he messed up, but this? This is over the line."
"Exactly," Liz said, getting more worked up. "The guy's been stationed overseas forever. If his marriage fell apart, that's on him too. Who leaves their wife alone that long?"
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Adam cut in. "Maybe it's not just about the cheating."
Westerners tend to shrug off affairs pretty easily. You don't risk prison over something like that unless it's the last straw. Because when you're locked up, you're the one who loses—your gorgeous wife isn't gonna sit around pining for you.
"What do you mean?"
Christina, always the cool-headed one, caught on quick. "You think Alex passed the aphrodisiac poison to the wife?"
"Could be," Adam said. "Picture this: A soldier, gone for months overseas, comes home early to surprise his beloved wife. Things heat up, she's all over him, and then he spots these weird red marks. He's seen enough to know exactly what they mean…"
The war god returns, finds his wife "in the doghouse," and loses it—cue the poor pup whimpering.
"No wonder he went that hard," Christina said, shaking her head.
Liz and Meredith just stared, stunned.
In Hollywood blockbusters, those homecoming scenes are always heartwarming—quick, easy ways to sell the audience on a couple's bond in under two hours. Family and friends don't cut it for that kind of moment. It's unmistakable.
Unless it's rated R, of course.
But that's exactly why Adam's twist hit them so hard.
"I fought tooth and nail to come back, and this is what I get?"
Talk about tragic.