At the Medical Center, in the Lecture Hall
Adam and Alice Grey were up on stage, going back and forth with questions and answers, totally calm and smooth, like they'd done it a million times.
The less experienced folks in the crowd got lost pretty fast, but they were still blown away—like, "I don't get it, but it's awesome!" Some people who love imagining themselves in the spotlight even started feeling pretty good about it, thinking, "Man, I'm amazing…"
The experts in the room could keep up, and they were seriously impressed by how easily Adam was chatting with Dr. Grey. It wasn't just Adam asking questions and Dr. Grey answering—it was a real two-way conversation. After Adam threw out a question, Dr. Grey would dig into the details, basically flipping it back and quizzing him.
A lot of those details? If the audience had to answer, they'd need a minute to think it over. But Adam? He was firing off answers without even blinking. People started wondering, "Did he rehearse this or what?"
"Unbelievable," Dr. Shepert blurted out from the back row. "For an intern to pull this off? That's insane."
"It's not that simple," Dr. Burke said, his eyes locked on the stage.
"Huh?" Dr. Shepert looked confused. "Of course it's not simple. The way they're talking now, it's way beyond just one classic surgery. Like, why do this step this way? Is there a better option? What if something weird happens—how do you handle it? And then, how does that change the rest of the surgery? It's this web of possibilities that covers almost every scenario for that type of operation. You've got to know how to deal with most cases to run a surgery solo and be a legit attending. That's what we spend years training interns and residents for. So, Duncan—an intern with less than three months under his belt—doing this five or seven years ahead of schedule? No way that's simple."
"That's not what I mean," Dr. Burke cut in, finally peeling his eyes off the stage to glance at Dr. Shepert. "The stuff he's bringing up—those expansions beyond this surgery, and the detailed answers he's giving? That's real data."
"Duncan's got a photographic memory," Dr. Shepert said with a casual smile. "If he puts in the work to prep ahead of time, of course the data's real. We all know he's not just gifted—he busts his ass."
"You're not a cardiothoracic surgeon, so you wouldn't catch it," Dr. Burke said, shaking his head. "One of the scenarios he mentioned? It's only happened once in medicine, and I'm the one who did that heart surgery."
"So what?" Dr. Shepert didn't follow. "That just means Duncan's research is rock-solid."
"Sure," Dr. Burke nodded. "But this kind of 'solid' is beyond normal thinking. That heart surgery was on a little girl. The one we're talking about now is a middle-aged man. Can you just take the details from a little girl's surgery and slap them onto a middle-aged guy?"
"No way," Dr. Shepert shook his head. "Gender, age, development, health—everything's different. The surgical details wouldn't match up. Take an easy example: why are top anesthesiologists so badass? Because they tweak the dose for every single patient, keeping them in the right state for the surgeon and avoiding disasters. Same deal for other docs—meds, surgeries, whatever—you've got to adjust for each person's body. A little girl and a middle-aged man? Totally different."
"Exactly," Dr. Burke sighed. "The data Duncan pulled from that little girl's heart surgery, when he applied it to this middle-aged guy? It's completely changed. And here's the wild part: when I think it over, those changes he made? They're probably dead-on. You get it?"
"Whoa," Dr. Shepert sucked in a breath. "No way. You sure?"
"Not 100%," Dr. Burke admitted, shaking his head. "If this guy doesn't get that surgery, who knows what'd happen? But with all my years of experience, my gut says Duncan's numbers are right."
"How's that even possible?" Dr. Shepert was floored. "You don't even know for sure, and there's no way Duncan could dig up that data just by studying. You positive there's only been that one case? Maybe he saw some new surgery record somewhere, with another middle-aged guy?"
"You questioning my skills?" Dr. Burke's face went cold. "If something big changed in neurosurgery, would you miss it?"
"No, no," Dr. Shepert backtracked, pausing. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just crazy. What if Duncan's just guessing?"
"Maybe," Dr. Burke said, his expression softening a bit. He muttered, "Guess or not, we'll find out if we ask him."
With that, he raised his hand and called out, "Hold on a sec."
Up on stage, Alice Grey shot an annoyed glance his way, but when she saw it was Dr. Burke, she eased up and cracked a small smile.
Down in the audience, George whispered something to Meredith, and she instantly thought, Oh crap. According to George, Dr. Grey had once mixed up Dr. Burke with Richard, the chief of surgery. And Meredith? She knew exactly what was up between Richard and her mom—she'd read those medical notes.
"Dr. Burke?" Adam looked over, cool as ever.
There were cameras rolling, by the way. If Adam wasn't so against it, he might've slapped on some blush like a TV star to look good on screen. He didn't go that far, but before stepping up, he'd had the camera crew's makeup artist fix him up a bit and drop some tips on how to look sharp for the lens.
Tonight was his shot to make waves in the medical world, and he had to nail his image. Most handsome, coolest, most professional—no question! He even daydreamed about adding some background music, turning it into a straight-up movie scene. Yup, he was dead serious about that. Not to release it or anything, but to show Peggy tomorrow with some tunes slapped on—proof he's no ordinary guy. Then he'd mail a copy to Juno and the crew, partly so they could learn, partly so they'd have ammo to tease him. No way he'd hide something this big from his best friends. It'd come up on their next call for sure—roasting each other's just how good friends roll.
"Dr. Duncan…" Dr. Burke finally asked his question.
The whole room jolted. Holy crap! There's more to this? Big shots really see things differently. Then every single person turned to Adam, waiting for his answer.