Medical Center, Delivery Room
Despite the doctors' repeated warnings, the pregnant woman stubbornly stuck to her natural birth plan. Now, facing a difficult labor and half-dead from exhaustion, she'd come full circle back to a C-section.
But there was no prep time. It was an emergency—too late for general anesthesia, so they went with a local.
Adam grabbed the C-section tray as fast as he could.
"She's starting to seize!"
"4 mg of sedative!"
"Alright, I'm starting!"
Dr. Montgomery took the scalpel. Despite the less-than-ideal conditions—risking infection and potential complications for the mother—she sliced into the woman's abdomen.
A 5-minute countdown loomed over everyone's heads.
Adam and the team didn't want this baby to miss their first breath just because of their mom's stubbornness.
"Ready to deliver! Wow, he's huge!"
Montgomery, a top-tier neonatal specialist, safely extracted the baby at lightning speed.
The infant was bigger than average.
"Umbilical clamp!"
She cradled the baby, giving him a puff with a tiny air bag, but there was no response. Even after clamping the umbilical cord he'd shared with his mom, still nothing.
"He's not breathing! Adam, take the mother!" Montgomery's face darkened as she snipped the cord with scissors and shouted.
"Got it."
Adam nodded calmly and took over the mother's surgery.
Montgomery, far more experienced in neonatal emergencies, carried the lifeless baby to the side for resuscitation.
"Should I step in?" Mark Sloan said, stepping forward to take Adam's place.
As a top attending, he wasn't about to back down—and it was a chance to smooth things over with his lover, who wasn't thrilled about his sudden arrival at the medical center.
"No need," Montgomery barked, mid-rescue. "Adam's got this! He knows this surgery better! We'll talk stitching later!"
"…"
Mark Sloan's face turned black as coal.
Him—a top plastic surgeon, earning twice what neurosurgery brings in, sitting at the pinnacle of the doctor paycheck pyramid—getting dissed?
And in a head-to-head with an intern, no less, shot down by his equally elite lover.
So he's just a glorified seamstress now?!
It'd been ages since he last felt the sting of the medical hierarchy looking down on plastic surgeons.
In that moment, he suddenly got how his ex-best-friend Derek Shepherd felt when he caught him messing around with Addison.
Back then, Mark didn't care. He was the one stabbing backs, and morals? Pfft, who needs 'em?
They were all buddies—keeping it in the circle, spicing things up. Fight a little, make up, and it's all good!
But now, in the one area he took the most pride in, getting jabbed like this by a fellow top-tier doc—his lover, no less—hit him hard. Pain and rage bubbled up.
Is this what betrayal tastes like? Green and bitter?
Mark stood there, dazed.
But Adam and Montgomery didn't have time for his pity party.
Montgomery was busy saving the breathless baby, while Adam faced a new crisis: the mother started hemorrhaging from an artery after all that chaos.
Mark's eyes flickered. Let's see if this intern's got what it takes.
A life-or-death situation like this? Even he'd be scrambling—and he wasn't exactly a pro at saving lives.
But to his disappointment, Adam stayed cool as ice, directing the nurses like a pro. He stabilized her fast, gave Montgomery a quick heads-up, and wheeled the mom to the OR.
The delivery room couldn't handle this anymore.
Meanwhile, Montgomery revived the baby, popped him into an incubator, and sent him straight to the neonatal ICU for monitoring.
"You did it," Mark said, stepping up to congratulate her.
"Stay away from me!" Montgomery snapped, brushing past him. She headed to the frantic husband, explained everything, reassured him a few times, then rushed to the OR.
Her patient wasn't out of the woods yet.
Mark showing up unannounced at the medical center had thrown her off her game—stripped her of her usual confidence and decisiveness. They'd nearly lost both mother and child, and she was mortified.
Adam's scolding echoed in her head.
She was Addison Montgomery, MD—a top neonatal attending. That was her pride, her identity.
And what was she doing now?
Getting lost in this soap-opera nonsense, nearly throwing it all away!
Her jerk of a lover, Mark, swore he loved her most, and for a while, she'd fallen hard.
Then he turned around and cheated on her—blatantly—with other women.
That's why, after a few months, she'd come back to her husband, ready to start over.
She'd genuinely wanted to make it work with Derek. Compared to Mark, even her cold, distant husband seemed worth it.
But now, with Derek cheating with Meredith, that ship had sailed.
The latest novels drop first on 69 Book Bar!
Today's case shook her to her core.
She wasn't some desperate nobody—why was she drowning in this mess with these two men, losing herself and shattering her pride?
Right then, she decided: she was done with the two most important men from her past. Time for a fresh start!
Operating Room
"Adam, how's it going?" Montgomery asked as she stepped in.
"Don't worry, she's completely stable now," Adam replied, mid-surgery.
Montgomery let out a relieved breath, stepping up as first assist to help Adam save the mother.
As they wrapped up:
"Should we call Sloan in?" Adam teased. "Time for stitching!"
"What for? You've got this," Montgomery chuckled. "I know your suturing's just as good as his—no need for him!"
"Alright, I'll stitch her up then," Adam said with a grin, not denying it, and finished the job.
Outside the OR, Montgomery and Adam delivered the good news to the husband, who thanked them endlessly before they said goodbye.
"That was way too close today," Montgomery sighed, leaning against the wall by the elevator. "Thanks, Adam!"
"No problem," Adam quipped. "As long as you don't hold it against me for challenging your attending authority."
"What authority? My drama's probably the talk of the hospital by now," she said with a bitter smile. "You were right, Adam. I shouldn't be tangled up in this love-life garbage. I don't care what the other doctors or nurses think of me, but I can't stop caring about my patients' lives! This was a hell of a wake-up call. Without you, that mom and baby might've died."
"Learn from it," Adam said with a sigh.
He knew better than she did—it wasn't a "might've." Without his quick save, they would've died.
The system's +0.01+0.005 reward made that crystal clear.
And why'd it happen?
The mom's stubbornness was 50% of it, sure—but Montgomery's emotional slip-up was the other 50%!
An attending has to be confident and decisive, making patients with zero medical knowledge trust their expertise—not letting them cling to dumb luck or reckless whims.
The elevator dinged.
Adam and Montgomery stepped in.
"What's this?" Adam asked, surprised, as she hit the button for B1—the morgue.
"Gonna do some reflecting down there," she said with a small smile.
Adam grinned back.
He saw the seriousness in her eyes and got it.
If he hadn't stepped in with perfect timing and a bit of luck, the mom and baby would likely be lying in the morgue right now.
They'd dodged that bullet, but she still wanted to go down there, face the bodies, and think hard about what'd happen if she kept spiraling like this.
She was serious about changing.