Title: Breathe
Authors: Sara And Lizzie
Rating: T for language, mild sex
Disclaimer: It would be nice to own grey's anatomy, sadly all we own are a lot of high priced shoes and handbags, and both seasons on dvd.
Summary: A month or so after Meredith's near death experience, tragedy strikes Seattle Grace again in the form of a robbery gone wrong. A hostage situation takes place in the OR. Nine lives hang in the balance as they wait to live, die, or just get blown up.
Author's Note: We needed another suspense drama. Angst is good. Weddings are good. Fun is good. But nothing beats a good, old fashioned hostage crisis. You guys are always supportive and awesome, so we're counting on many reviews to make us feel good.
Meredith and Derek strolled hand in hand into Seattle Grace. Despite all of Cristina's horror, they were happy. It had something to do with the near death experience from a month and a half ago. Facing your own death sort of has a way of strengthening your bond with the guy you loved. It was morning, and the hand that wasn't attached held coffee. They looked at each other as they walked in, chatting causing everyone in their path who knew them to roll their eyes.
Meredith wrinkled her nose as they waited for the elevator. "It's so quiet in here today." She said. Derek gave her a look. She rolled her eyes. "Sorry. It's less busy than it was yesterday, Mr. Superstitious."
"Don't say quiet." He said, smiling. He looked around. It was less busy, compared to the other four days this week when there had been a research convention. The lab next to one of the OR's was completely filled with the end works of the high caliber researchers who had taken over the hospital. "The merry band of researchers have left the building."
Meredith smirked at him. "Was that supposed to be witty, Dr. Shepherd?"
"I see you laughing Mer." He said, pulling her into the elevator. He pushed her gently up against a wall and kissed her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. When they finally broke apart, she touched a hand to her swollen lips.
"Cause you haven't done that in about two hours." She murmured, referring to the sex they'd had that morning. "Must you always get me all hot and bothered at work?" she asked. He smiled, nodded and kissed her again. The elevator door opened and Addison walked in.
"Well, that is a visual I like to start my morning with." She said dryly. Meredith and Derek broke apart sheepishly, and Addison watched as Derek laced his fingers through hers again. Addison cleared her throat. "It's quiet around here today." She said to break the silence, and to shake the feeling that they would still be making out like teenagers if she hadn't gotten into the car.
Meredith smirked at Derek who turned his eyes to Addison. "Seriously?" he asked. "You want to say quiet?" Addison rolled her eyes.
"Don't be so superstitious Derek. It's bad juju."
The doors opened again, and Mark stepped on, giving Addison a smoldering look. "Juju." He said, pleasantly. "I sort of miss juju. Sucks that someone has to die for juju. Someone died already? Is that why it's so quiet in here?" Derek rolled his eyes and gave in.
"Fine." He said. "It's dead quiet." He winced as the words left his mouth. Meredith smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. The elevator opened and Derek and Meredith flashed smiles at Addison and Mark and exited. Mark looked at Addison.
"Forty three days." He said proudly. Addison smiled in spite of herself and walked off the elevator with him.
The day was normal. Despite all of Derek's fears that hell would break use because of the word quiet, the hospital was just quiet. No emergencies, no interns in need of rescue. Even his intern wasn't in need of rescue, which was a foreign, but welcome concept to him. Meredith had surprised him since that moment her heart had started beating again. She was living now, really living.
He was needed on a consult, and he had a lot of post op patients to check on, but other than that, there was nothing. The board was quiet. Bailey and the chief were in surgery. He looked around and spotted Izzie and George talking quickly and animatedly about something. Derek frowned, and wished he could say something. He practically lived with Izzie; it would be nice if he could talk to them. Meredith, Alex and Cristina joined them, as did Burke, so he wandered over. Addison strolled up to them and hand them all envelopes, and it didn't surprise Derek to see Mark right behind her.
He made his way over to them, and out of habit, placed his hand on Meredith's chest, the left side. She covered his hand with hers. "It's still beating Derek." She said, half amused, half serious. He nodded and intertwined their fingers briefly, before letting go. He knew her heart was beating; she was standing, talking, of course it was. But he liked to feel it.
Addison handed him an envelope. "Having a gala?" he asked her, feeling the heavy paper and looking at the fancy script. She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I am, actually. In my hotel room." He continued to look at her questioningly. She sighed. "Richard asked me to give these to you. Hospital charity thing. Black tie. Next month. Attendance is not optional."
A collective groan rose from the interns. George started talking. "Last year at this time, we had to go to a prom." He lamented. "Now it's a real live charity thing."
"George…." Meredith said lowly.
"At least things have changed since then. Maybe this one won't be so…"
"George!" Meredith said again. He looked around the group of them and blushed.
"Oh." He said flatly. Meredith snuck a glance at Addison. It was painfully obvious to anyone that Derek and Addison were not together, but Meredith and Derek were. But since the day she saw Addison crying in the closet, they hadn't mentioned prom, or the cheating or anything that wasn't neutral, really. She had too much respect for Addison to throw it in her face like that. "Sorry." George said sheepishly.
"It's okay." Addison said to him. She looked at Meredith and Derek. "It's okay." The silence was excruciating. Meredith wracked her brain for something to say.
"Cristina, I'm gonna need to borrow a dress." She blurted out, cursing herself for not getting off the subject of this year's prom. Cristina rolled her eyes.
"Why don't you just go buy one?" she asked.
Meredith's eye widened. "I don't know stuff about dresses!" she protested. Addison smiled in spite of herself and found she was directing her gaze to Meredith once again.
"I have one that would good on you." She said quietly. "It's emerald. It would bring out your eyes." Meredith stared at her. "I mean, you don't have to, but you can try it on, if you want."
Meredith cleared her throat. "Okay. Um, thank you, Addison."
"You're welcome."
Seven o'clock rolled around, and everyone was talking about going to Joe's, but Callie was on a mission. She couldn't seem to find her scrub cap anywhere. She might have left it in the OR yesterday. She trudged through the hall way and walked straight to the OR where she'd been in surgery. It was set away from the other operating rooms, and it had new windows, since it had gotten blown up last year. She sighed and walked inside, looking down at the floor.
Before she could see any tell tale scrap of blue fabric, she felt something jam into her back. Something cold and hard. She stood up straight and someone clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Hello, there, doll face." Said a tall, brown haired man. He waved a gun in her face and repositioned it at her temple. "Easy way or hard way, what's it going to be?"
Callie was too shocked to respond. "Well, you're not struggling or attempting to knee me in the groin, so I'll assume you've chosen the easy way. Smart girl. Now I see you have a pager attached to your waistband. I'd like you to page a few friends. We need some company."
Numbly, Callie shook her head. "No?" The man asked, taking the safety switch off of the gun. Callie swallowed hard and reached for her pager. She sent out the pages and one by one, George, Addison, Mark, Derek, Meredith, Alex, Izzie, Cristina and Burke arrived. They all gathered outside the OR. It was locked from the outside.
Burke frowned and reached forward to unlock it, pushing the door open and going inside. They filed inside after him. "Callie, what is it?" George asked, going to her. The door slammed shut behind Meredith and locked. She spun around to see half a dozen or so masked figures carrying guns outside.
There was a noise from inside the room as a man stepped out of the shadows and raised a walkie talkie to his lips. "Go." He said into it. He brandished a gun. "All of you, on the floor."
Alex pulled Izzie down next to him, as Meredith and Derek slid against a wall next to Mark and Addison. Cristina and Burke sat together, as well as George and Callie. The brown haired guy looked around. "Well this is cute." He said. "But I'm afraid all of these couples won't work." His eyes landed on Izzie. "You. Boyfriend?" he asked, pointing the gun at Alex. Izzie shook her head numbly. "Interesting." Izzie turned huge, terrified eyes to George, and the man followed her gaze. "Fine. He'll choose."
"What?" George squeaked.
The man laughed. "Blondie over her obviously means something to you, but this helpful young lady is obviously your wife, judging by the rings. One of them gets to leave, which really increases her odds of getting out of here alive. So who's it going to be?"