now or never.

     ‘ you can act mcdreamy all you want, i’m still mad at you. ‘

     ‘ hate to break it to you . . . but if you’re here to kill me, you’re too late. i’m already kind of dead inside. ‘

     ‘ if you want to go at it again, all you have to do is ask. my on-call room is your on-call room. ‘

     ‘ so nothing out of the usual? dude, she always comes over. there’s no difference today out of any other frickin’ day. ‘

     this wasn’t him. he wasn’t the guy who freezes up in the most important moments. he was the guy who took charge and tried to push the other residents out of the way to get the best cases.       first day back in the o.r., finally cleared for surgery. he knows he’s been acting like he’s fine, all good, but he’s sure his clearance was a joke and switching his specialty path to trauma? well, that was somehow even funnier.      hands curl in to tight fists at his sides as he sees the patient. female. early twenties. hit and run victim. it doesn’t really send chills down his spine until he actually hears the cause of her being in the er. all hands on deck was what the residents were told, but he hadn’t been as prepared for that as originally planned. ‘ bolton, call up to━ bolton━ !! ‘ hunt tries to get his attention but he’s lost.        the woman tries to say something and her words are the only thing that floods his ears. all else is like a ringing sensation, a hum to the void in his mind. ‘ i can’t━ i can’t feel my legs. ‘ head snaps up towards the patient, a look of terror on his face. tears fog his vision as his eyes lock with hers and it hits him like a ton of bricks.      ‘ i can’t believe you, sharpay ! actually, no━ what’s worse is i can. find your own way home, i’m done. i’m honestly just done. ‘ it’s not like it was his own fault it happened, it wasn’t. he was paying attention in all the right places. he just hadn’t expected a speeding car to come out of basically nowhere in the parking lot. it’s all too fast for him. it’s not until he hears the sound of sharpay’s voice repeatedly screaming his name that he’s alert over what happened. ‘ i can’t━ i can’t f-feel my legs. ‘       ‘ ━━━━━ bolton !! ‘ he had a team━ a family━ who had his back. who did everything they could to make sure he got his life back in every way possible. she had that very same team. he just wasn’t sure he could be a part of it. ‘ i can’t━ i’m sorry, i can’t. ‘