Hello readers! This is my first time venturing into the Grey's Anatomy section of fanfiction. I am primarily a Marvel fanfiction writer, specifically focusing on the ship Clintasha because they are just beautiful. However in the past six months or so I have rapidly been binging Grey's Anatomy. I love the show so much and have absolutely fallen in love with the character Teddy Altman, especially with her relationship with Henry. Naturally, with this ship, it's been like six seasons and I'm still feeling all the feels. So I have decided to jot down some of my feels and share them with y'all.

This fic will be mostly a collection of two shots. For each two shot, one part of it will be a moment that takes place prior to Henry's untimely death. The other will be a moment which parallels or references this prior moment but showing how the memories of said moment affect Teddy now that Henry is gone. Some chapters / stories will only be before, and some vice versa and only about a moment after he's gone. Nonetheless there will be feels all around.

To those who don't know my prior writing, I can be a little dark, depressing, etc. in my themes. If that is not your cup of tea, just read the Part 1 chapters. I'm not exactly going to hold back with the feels on Part 2 chapters - so just fair warning. Sometimes I get hate for how sad my writing is.

Hope you enjoy this first part of this first two shot. I am open to ANY IDEAS or REQUESTS if anyone has them. I feel like Teddy, and Teddy and Henry together specifically, are underrepresented in the fandom sometimes. I hope you all enjoy, please let me know your thoughts!

Cardinal:

1. [adjective] . of prime importance, principal

2. [noun] a new world song bird, a red crested finch

Across many cultures, sightings of a cardinal (bird) are universally representative of a loved one who has passed. A visit from a cardinal, is said to be, a visitor from heaven. The cardinal is a spiritual messenger - the hinge of a door opening between heaven and earth. Deceased loved ones are said to take the form of a cardinal to visit you in times you need them, when you miss them most - or in times of celebration. Or, simply as a reminder that they are still with you, and always will be. When spotting a cardinal, a bird that is strikingly hard to ignore, think of what or who is on your mind when the bird arrived. Cardinal sightings are said to bring closure, peace, and comfort. ⠀

Bring You Home [ part 1 ]

The sound of the EKG and the various other machines that monitored his vitals all that he had expected to hear over the next couple hours. Or maybe the sounds of hustling residents and busy nurses right outside his room was expected. But the last thing he expected to hear was the sound of his wife waking him up from a sleep he wasn't exactly in that deeply to begin with.

"Hey," Teddy said softly, almost inaudibly as if afraid to wake him and yet she also knew she had to, and so her gentle voice was accompanied by a light touch of her hand on his shoulder.

At her soft touch, his green eyes opened with exhaustion and yet a small smile despite the discomfort he was in.

"Always like waking up to a pleasant surprise." He said in between trying to adjust his eyes to the lights being turned on in the room.

"Yeah, getting sick or the nurses and residents poking and prodding you?" She asked with a slight laugh, as with her hand still on his shoulder her thumb moved gently as a gesture of ease and comfort.

"Oh the residents, God they are the worst" Henry said jokingly, mimicking how Teddy would always complain about the residents at home.

"They're not all that bad with patients. They just can get lazy on the scut work that I actually need them for," She said justifying her frustration, but Henry only continued through a smile,

"Ah well, put them to work charting everything that's wrong with me and they'll be up all night."

His voice was jovial, and Teddy could only shake her head with a small smile at his sarcasm as she placed a soft kiss to his forehead.

"We'll get you better," she said, always the one of the two to remind him of her firm hope.

"Have you eaten?" She asked, as she grabbed his chart at the end of the bed and began to read through it.

"Haven't been able to keep anything down." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah the antibiotics for your post op infection are probably causing that." She said objectively as her eyes fell firmly on the notes of how much he was being given of the medication, before she forced herself to close his charts and go over to focus on him.

"Antibiotics can be hard on your body, but, you need to eat. So-" Teddy said as she leaned down and picked up a paper bag which she had brought in.

"I ran down to the cafeteria to get you some of this, it's the kind you like right, the potato one?" She asked, as she pulled up a tray for him to eat on and placed the cup of soup which she brought.

He smiled brightly through his eyes up at her, gratitude for the simple things she did for him evident. He knew she didn't have much time for this, seeing as she was still in her scrubs and even her scrub cap was still on, and yet in between her crazy schedule she managed to care for him even if it didn't have to be her job.

"Yeah it's my favorite, they only have it on Mondays." He added, knowing the cafeteria well due to the fact that he spent quite a large amount of time in the hospital.

"See, I did remember that! Hopefully that sounds good, because you gotta eat something," she said, lovingly and yet sternly protective - as always. But Henry could never complain about that. She tried to be professional and subtle in her genuine concern for him, but it always managed to infiltrate into the forefront of everything she did.

"Yes It sounds amazing, don't worry." He said glancing up at her as he immediately began to eat his dinner.

Relieved he was eating, but remembering the kiss she gave him on his forehead, she walked back over to him and placed a hand under his hospital gown and on his back, and then on his forehead. Her touches were gentle, but her expression as she registered what she felt hardened, as she couldn't hide her frustration as she said,

"Damnit. Your fever's back."

The anger in her voice was clear as she almost violently grabbed his charts to see if the fever was even mentioned. Mumbling a disapproving 'Damn Interns' under her breath, Henry almost scoffed a soft laugh as he said,

"Keep up that stress and you're going to make yourself sick. Which is no fun, trust me, I know from experience."

Flipping the charts closed as she looked over at him, she couldn't help but smile as his words alleviated the tension she felt. Setting the charts down to focus actually on her husband instead of dwelling on the numbers and notes, she noticed the soup she brought him was only half eaten, and so asked with a raise of a brow as she sat on the edge of his bed.

"Am I going to have to spoon feed, or are you going to finish that on your own?"

"Ooh, spoon feeding is very old married couple-ish. I'm not in a nursing home just yet." He teased as he took the spoon and proceeded to eat.

Teddy shook her head with a delighted smile, and said casually despite the context of the situation, "Well keep up not eating and you will be."

"At least I'll be the hottest guy there. You'll have to worry about all the cougars staring me down." He joked, and Teddy only held back a laugh at his terribly placed jokes. And yet she loved them anyways.

She slipped her bird covered scrub cap off her head, and tucked it into the pockets of her scrubs before moving to casually sit criss crossed on the bed with him. But as she tried to relax and settle down to enjoy the short break in her work with him, she couldn't help but notice the small tremor in his hand as he ate.

"You're cold?" She asked very softly, as she placed a thin hand over his and felt the goosebumps on his wrist.

"Just a lil, Hospital is drafty" he said, downplaying as always.

But her worrisome eyes which rested on his pale form weren't convinced, as she slipped off the side of the bed, grabbing a thermometer to actually see how feverish he was. Running the thermometer sensor over his head, she bit back a frown at the thermometer reading over 103 degrees.

"That bad huh?" He asked with an exhale, although always optimistic, his voice was laced with exhaustion. And that made Teddy's heart only yearn in more worry for him.

Giving him a sad smile as she set down the thermometer, she nodded and said softly, "Finish up, then I'll call a nurse to give you something to bring that down."

"Alright, but you should go get changed, get something to eat too. Because don't tell me you didn't just get out of surgery, and a long one at that by how tired you are." He said, though hardly as demanding in his protective nature as Teddy was towards him, he sweetly looked after her too.

"Don't worry about me Henry, I'm fin-" she began, but he shook his head and cut her off, as lovingly as possible.

"Well, just because I'm the one with all the issues doesn't mean I don't have a right to look after you too." He said with the smallest of smiles as he let his hand that was covered in IVs and bore his medical alert band, take her's with a supportive rub of his thumb over her palm.

"You are so stubborn." She said, pretending to be annoyed, but she couldn't help but smile and hold his hand tighter.

"I know, I'm just awful. Worst patient ever." He said back to her.

"You really are." She said, but she couldn't mean it. Instead she grasped his hand, which she could still feel the tremble from his chills, harder. Stepping closer to his bed she put a hand on his shoulder, and rubber it softly, as she said with a lowered gaze.

"Wish I could just take you home tonight."

"You should go home." He said honestly, his voice not even lacing with his usual jovial nature. But his soft bright green eyes wide in worry.

"I'm not going anywhere, and besides isn't Yang going to be-" but he was suddenly interrupted by a series of violent and hoarse coughs, which lasted a good thirty second. The exertion of the constant violent coughs made him grasp his chest in pain, and Teddy, while knowing such coughing fits were natural given his infection, rubbed his back and tried her best to subdue the look of pain she had in her face for him. She hated seeing him sick, weak, and in pain. He was strong and she knew it, but as he forcefully coughed for minutes on end, the sound of just how sick he was made her stomach twist. She continued to softly rub his back, even patting it to try and help him get up whatever he was trying to hack up.

It was as the fit finally came to an end, that Henry fell back against the hospital bed and closed his eyes tight to hide the fact that they were watering from the pain in his chest. Teddy slid her hand off his back, but not without one more soft rub and saying in a hushed and calm voice, "Shhh it's okay."

She moved quickly but calmly to recline his bed back to bring him a little ease in not having to sit up straight. His face relaxed just a little in gratitude, but he was still too out of breath to say anything. As usual when these sort of coughing spills happened, he struggled to inhale rapidly to bring on air.

The wheezing and heaving of her husband was enough to make the surgeon resort to matters that weren't exactly necessary - and could cost the unnecessary hospital money - but she knew it would bring him just slight ease and that was enough to make her decision a no brainer.

She turned connected an oxygen tank to a mask, and very slowly so not to startle him as he tried to recover, raised the mask with incoming oxygen to his head. Not even wanting to bother to put the oxygen mask band around his head, her thin hand simply held it up to him, so he could more readily breathe.

"It's okay, just breathe." She said as he finally opened his eyes and locked onto her's.

Wanting to be in the slightest bit independent, he raised a hand to try and hold the mask for himself. But she softly shook her head, and said lightly,

"I got it, just breathe."

He couldn't argue with her, physically or emotionally, and so simply laid back calmly and closed his eyes to focus on breathing. As his chest began to rise a little less rapidly, and his breaths became longer and more steady, Teddy could finally exhale, and say in a voice hardly above a whisper, tender with care and love,

"You're okay. You're okay."

While the oxygen was a relief to the pain of not being able to breathe temporarily, her words were equally as relieving to his mind, in drawing himself away from how miserable being sick felt, and holding onto her sweet words which gave him strength.

With one hand she continued to hold up the mask, and the other she let her hand gently touch the top of his forehead. As she watched him slowly regain his breathing, she ran her hand through his brown hair, as she continued to say in a voice she could barely even hear over the whine of the oxygen tank.

"It's all alright. You're okay now, just breathe."

He nodded, able to respond now with the clarity of oxygen. And yet as her thin hand continued to stroke his brown hair, he succumbed to the comforting feeling of her touch, and relaxedly leaned back into the pillow of the bed peacefully.

It had been several hours later now, and Teddy had finally left Henry to finish her Post Ops, go get something to eat, and go home. Though Teddy had left strict orders for the nurse to help get his fever down, despite the medicine Henry continued to hold the thin hospital blankets close to him, desperately trying to stay warm as he continued to have prolonged chills. Altman had instructed Cristina to keep an eye on him for her, and although normally such a request would bring a more annoyed response from the resident, she was happy to do it for her teacher now. She had gone in several times to take his temperature, and though she hardly felt sympathetic to the usual sickly symptoms patients exhibited, she did feel sorry for Henry now. He was exhausted and trying to sleep, but unable to due to constant coughing but mostly from being cold.

"Do you want a little water?" Cristina asked him in a hushed voice as she took his temperature once again.

Shaking his head, as he leaned back hard against the hospital bed in discomfort, Cristina exhaled slowly as she pulled her stethoscope out and listened to his lungs. It wasn't necessary nor something Altman required of her, but she wanted to do it - cover all her bases.

"I'm going to write you a prescription for something to help with your congestion. I know your having a pretty bad reaction to the antibiotics, so I'll prescribe you something a little more milder. It'll help with your coughing, and hopefully you can get some sleep." Cristina spoke bluntly, but Henry would have smiled if he was so exhausted for she clearly cared.

"Thank you," He said, his words weak, and while Cristina knew it was because of the post op infection which would eventually get better, she couldn't help but feel a slight worry.

Once in the hallway she pulled out her phone and went to find Teddy's text, and wrote to her:

"Just checked on him. Still has a high fever and chills. Can't sleep. Writing him a prescription for a mild decongestant. You can pick it up at the pharmacy in the morning."

It was but just a few minutes later when Yang was sitting down to begin working on post op notes that her phone buzzed and she read the simple text message. "Thank you for looking after him. I'm coming back in, don't worry about rounds tonight. You can take the night off if you want."

Yang knew exactly what that meant, and while part of her next response was because she was a workaholic and didn't like 'nights off', apart of it also was subconsciously out of protection for her mentor.

"He's having a hard night. Stay with him. I'll cover evening rounds and swing in to tell you if there's complications."

There was a delay in Teddy's response, but eventually the next text that came in was simply, "Thank you."

It was around 1:30am in which Teddy slowly opened the door to Henry's room. He didn't realize it was her, but instead thought it was a nurse or even Yang. Lying away from the door as the small amount of light and noise that came from it was made it hard to sleep - not that he was getting any. Teddy was silent for a moment, as she closed the door behind her, turning the handle as she did so not to make a sound.

Her green eyes softened as even from the doorway she could see Henry shivering, as he tried to get warm under the two thin tan hospital blankets they provided him. Knowing him to be too stiff and moving too much to be asleep, and yet too exhausted to turn around to see who was there, Teddy sighed softly and couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt for him.

But approaching him as she set down the paper bag that had the prescription she got, that wasn't the only thing she brought with her though. Folded under her arms was a brown, tan, and blue plaid blanket. It was a soft throw over, one that Teddy knew as Henry's favorite as he would always take it from the end of the couch where it was usually folded, and use it when he was watching TV, on cold nights in bed, or even when he was working or reading it would be around his shoulders. Drastically warmer and softer than anything the hospital could provide, Teddy thought it would provide him some comfort. And especially after Cristina's text, she was simply determined to be able to help him feel more comfortable.

"Hey." She said, softly and barely above a whisper and yet he jerked upward. Obviously tired and a little out of sorts, her voice was clearly a surprise to him and he turned around very uncoordinatedly to see if it was actually her or he was just hallucinating.

She smiled but approached him quickly, taking a hand and rubbing his shoulder. Instantly at her soft touch he relaxed, too tired for words, he simply exhaled calmly from her presence and touch. He moved a hand to place it over the hand she laid on his shoulder, squeezing it hard for support.

"I know. It's been a terrible night," she said, as she held his hand back.

He didn't respond, but simply wheezed in a slow inhale.

But letting go of his hand, Teddy unfolded the blanket under her arms and draped it over him. Moving to tuck in the stray sides of it to trap in the heat around him, she moved quietly around the bed to make sure that every side of the blanket was covering him. It was as she worked quietly and dutifully, that Henry feeling almost instant relief in the sudden warmth, smiled weakly yet genuinely, as he said,

"I love you."

Teddy smiled softly, even sadly for she still wished all this pain away from him. And yet it was as she pulled the soft blanket up to his chest, her delicate hands folding back the edge, she smiled down upon him as she laid a hand softly on his cheek. Though she could feel him burning up under her touch, she also could see genuine relief in his eyes. Her thumb gently ran across his pale cheek, as she simply looked into his tired green eyes for a long moment before she said as she casted her gaze down gracefully,

"I wanted to take you home. But, since that wasn't a possibility tonight, I thought I'd try to bring Home to you. I know you love this old thing." She said with a lightness in her voice.

There was no pain in his eyes as he smiled back at her, saying in even a comfortingly optimistic and even witty tone. "Ah well, with my wife and my favorite old blanket here, that's all I need. I am home."

Though it was slightly laced with humor, which was encouraging to Teddy for she knew as long as Henry could hang onto that, that he would be okay, she also knew the statement had truth in it.

Teddy moved from simply standing beside him, to sitting up on the bed, and then positioning herself to lay down next to him, comfortably. She moved the humble brown blanket out from under her, to only remain tucked around him, but allowed herself to move under the other two thin hospital blankets.

He turned to look at her, eyes struggling to stay open, and each breath he took a painful wheeze. But Teddy didn't mind in one bit, not the wheezing, or the way she could feel him still shivering.

"Come here." She said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She moved to sit upward a little bit, so that as he leaned into her she could gently rest his head on her shoulder.

She rubbed his shoulders through the blankets, her movements very soft and slow, to be comforting and lulling.

She didn't know if it was the fact that she was laying next to him, and provided some warmth from her own body, or that she got him a warmer blanket, but eventually his shivering grew less violent and slowly stopped.

His wheezing became less heavy and loud, until all she felt was the comforting subtle warmth of his breath as he inhaled and exhaled.

With his head laying on her chest, his body close to her's, finally peacefully still and no longer cold with chills, she felt content in return. It didn't come instantly, but eventually, Henry was comfortable enough to fall deeply asleep.

And it was as he did, as she looked down at him as he rested easily, mouth just open slightly, his temperature even dropping suggesting the fever was finally breaking, she held him closer. He was deep in sleep and couldn't feel it, but she held him anyways. She ran a hand through his messy brown hair, kissed the top of his forehead, and placed a hand on his chest to feel his heart beating under her hand. Closing her eyes as she held his head close to her chest, she inhaled and readied herself to fall asleep beside him.

Yang eventually came in around 3:30 in the morning as she promised Teddy she would keep her updated. While the crack of the door opening and the light streaming in would usually be enough to wake the surgeon who was a light sleeper, she didn't stir now.

Instead Yang only felt slight reassurance for her mentor, as she saw her fast asleep, cuddled up next to her sick husband. For while Teddy usually didn't sleep deep, as much as Henry found enough comfort with her by his side, so did she find comfort in him. Yang slowly closed the door with a soft smile at how peaceful and content both looked, and could only feel glad that they could have this night.

Hope you enjoyed! Part Two will be up within a week, but again, it will be a rather sad chapter. After Part Two of this shot is up, I'll write a new two shot, and just continue that pattern. Please let me know any thoughts you had!