Here's a Grey's Anatomy fic! Hope you guys enjoy it, there's a chilling end! Leave me a fav/follow/review!
"What a day." Meredith puffed as she slumped her head against the wall. Christina thrust a coffee into her hands and she took it gratefully.
"Tell me about it," her best friend rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her own coffee, "I mean, Bailey has me slammed with surgeries all afternoon."
"Weber wants me to take on a pro-bono later, but I don't know if I've got it in me."
"Then don't take it," Christina shrugged.
"I could already imagine his face and the years he'll hold against me if I don't," Meredith shook her head, "I have to, I just wish something interesting came along. It's as if the city's been dead the last few weeks."
"You want an emergency situation to occur? Where hundreds are affected by carnage and destruction?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm," Christina smirked, "you sound more and more like me everyday."
Meredith jumped when her pager beeped. She fished it out of her pocket and gave it a quick glance, "Sorry, got to go. Arizona's paging me."
"Peds?"
"Yeah, I guess. Consult," she chugged the rest of her coffee, "See ya!"
"Bye," Yang lifted her cup in the air in a cheer as Meredith rushed out.
"You paged?" Meredith walked into a room in the pediatrics wing. She hadn't been down this way often, and she saw Arizona standing by a bed with a young girl laying in it. She had long dark hair and very, very pale complexion. Her bones jutted out of her paper thin skin and her eyes were weighed down by heavy, purple bags. She smiled weakly as Meredith walked in.
"Dr. Grey," she dipped her head, "thanks for coming. This," she gestured to the young girl, "is Angela."
"Hi," Angela gave a small wave.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Grey," Meredith smiled then turned back to Arizona, "what's the issue?"
"Well, Angela here was diagnosed with Menetrier Disease in 2013 and although we prescribed medicine as treatment, her condition was quite severe-"
"And she contacted gastric cancer," Meredith sighed sadly. This young girl barely 16 years old already had horrible medical scares, "can I see the file?"
Arizona handed her the medical file, trying to keep up a smile as Meredith took it. She opened it with careful fingers and examined the forms.
"In 2014 she was previously diagnosed with stage two gastric cancer, but now it's relapsed I presume?" Arizona nodded in confirmation.
"Tumor right in the lining there," Meredith pointed with her index finger at the scan, "Wow, a pretty big one. I can try to remove it through surgery."
"Are you sure?"
Meredith felt taken aback. She looked up at Arizona with a hard glare. Was she questioning her skill? When she met her eyes, they looked fearful.
"Angela," Meredith put on a big smile and looked down at the young girl, "we're just gonna go talk outside, okay? You're doing great, I'll have the nurses bring you some juice."
"Okay, no problem," Angela nodded and watched as both doctors retreated outside.
Meredith heard Arizona sigh as she turned on her.
"What the heck was that? You don't think I can do it?"
"No, no it's not that," Arizona conceded, "it's just-her family is complicated."
"They all are."
"But this one's different." "How?" "She has a twin sister."
"What?"
"Her twin sister, Nancy. She doesn't know Angela's cancer's returned, and it's not stage two anymore but stage three. Last time, Dr. Weber performed the surgery, and we lost her on the table twice. I don't know if the family will be up for it."
"Gastric cancer is serious, and the symptoms are brutal. I've got to do the surgery, it's better than leaving her no chance sitting in that bed."
Arizona shifted her stance, still unsure.
"Arizona," Meredith said carefully, "she will surely die if I leave her on that hospital bed."
"Okay, okay," she dipped her head, "I'll go talk to the family."
"Great," Dr. Grey beamed, "please have one of the interns fetch me some fresh scans."
"Got it, and thank you, Meredith," Arizona departed, leaving her friend to walk back to her own familiar hospital wing.
"What was the consult?"
At lunch that day, Meredith, Alex, Christina, and Jackson sat at the table eating their own meals. Meredith was thinking about her new gastric cancer patient all day and what the whole deal was with the twin. Why didn't she know? It's her twin, shouldn't she know?
"Mer," Christina elbowed her lightly.
"Huh?" she looked up, about to take a bite of her salad and lost in deep thought. She didn't hear Alex's question, "What did you say?"
"What was the consult?" Alex repeated with a smile.
"Gastric cancer patient," she picked at her greens with her fork, "working with Arizona on this one. 16 year old girl with a big, fat tumor stuck right in her stomach lining."
"Are her chances good?" Jackson's electric blue eyes stared her down.
"I can handle it," she nodded, "she'll be fine."
"Unless you mess up," Alex smirked devilishly.
"Hey," Christina elbowed him playfully, "bet you a sandwich that she removes the tumor endoscopically."
"You're on," he laughed, shaking her hand.
"Don't let me down, Mer," Christina gave her a stern look, "you know how much I like those sandwiches."
"I've got it, trust me," she laughed along and Jackson smiled warmly.
She couldn't wait to get home, take off her shoes, and sit in front of the TV with Derek to watch a movie. Angela's surgery was scheduled for two days from now and one of the interns promised the new scans on her desk by the end of the day. After lunch, she had a few more patient follow ups and post ops, but it was nothing big. Derek promised her a drink at Joe's later tonight and her heart fluttered, she couldn't wait. The sky was beginning to darken, the skyscrapers reflecting the red-orange sunset as the day started winding down. She almost forgot Arizona's patient, until she rummaged through her inbox and saw the new scans. The young Angela crossed her mind again and the secrecy within the family. This didn't seem like the normal "don't ask, don't tell" where the family spared the children from the harsh news. This was her twin. Nancy and Angela grew up together, did everything together, how could they keep it a secret? She'd find that out later, maybe she'd stop by quickly before she signed off for the day and pay Angela a visit. "Hey, Angela," Meredith knocked on the door quietly as some kids on the pediatrics floor were asleep.
Although the room was dimly lit, Angela was still awake. She sat up slightly, her small, brittle arms pushing her body up as she smiled weakly at her, "Hello, Dr. Grey."
"How's it going, how are you feeling?"
"Good, is Dr. Robbins with you?"
"No, I think she went home for the day," Meredith smiled, "did the nurses take good care of you?"
"Yeah, they're nice."
"So I heard you have a twin sister, is that right?"
"Yeah," she laughed a little, "she should be coming any second now."
"That's awesome, who's older?"
"I am."
"By how much?"
"Two minutes."
"Wow, that's fast. Are you girls close?"
"I would say so," she nodded, "we both have the same interests in music, movies, careers, guys, and school. 16 years with the same person and I can't imagine not being with her now."
"Do you girls have the same friends?"
"Yeah, at school we have the same friend groups."
"Have you played any tricks on the teachers? Like switch seats or cheat on Twin Day at school or something?"
"Actually yeah." she chuckled, "for a weak in my pre-algebra class and another time in my P.E. class."
Meredith laughed, listening to Angela recount the story animatedly. It was nice to see her active a little, not just some pale, limp figure lying in the bed.
"Ang?"
Angela looked over Meredith's shoulder and smiled lightly, "Oh, hey, Nance. This is Dr. Grey, she's my surg-"
"I'm just helping out Dr. Robbins," Meredith concluded quickly.
She was slightly shocked. The girl standing in front of her was a stronger, fuller Angela with ten times more vitality than pale, frail, real Angela, "Dr. Grey, good to meet you, I was just chatting with you sister."
"Hi," Nancy extended her hand then side-stepped Meredith and stood by her sister's bedside. It was interesting to see both forms of Angela, a healthy and happy one and a sick, weak one. Her heart tore a bit, and she immediately regretted it. She couldn't get too attached to her patients, that never ended well.
Once you do the surgery, she'll be fine, it's okay.
She let the two girls alone to chat and quietly walked out. Meredith thought she saw Angela give her an urgent look before she stepped out.
"Joe, I'll take whatever's on the tap," Meredith sighed as she flopped her purse onto the counter. Immediately, her mood lifted with the smile she received from her husband.
Derek looked handsome as always, wearing a navy blue sweater and his arms crossed with a half empty bottle of beer next to him. "Hey," he smiled warmly at her.
"Hey," she responded, a bit out of breath, "gosh, sorry I'm late."
"Oh no problem, Joe was recounting a riveting story of how foreign beer revenue destroys its production and promotes domestic beer."
"Wow, I didn't mean to interrupt such a gripping conversation," she smirked, "how was your day, I barely saw you."
"I know," he huffed, taking a swig, "two aneurysm repairs, one tumor removal."
Meredith narrowed her eyes, "The patient didn't make it."
Derek paused his hand mid-air as he was about to bring the bottle to his lips again. He sighed after a moment and set it back down, running a hand through his black hair, "Yeah," he said in a raspy voice, "He didn't make it. 22 years old and had a tumor on his frontal lobe."
"I'm sorry," Meredith put a hand on his shoulder. Of all the years she had been seeing him, Meredith knew that Derek cared for each of his patients on a personal level. He took the time to get to know them and befriended them. Meredith learned it was easier to stay detached, but it just wasn't in Derek's nature to do that.
"It's fine," he cleared his throat, "but what about you?" he changed the subject quickly, his tone lifting slightly.
"Arizona asked for a consult today," she thanked Joe as he set her drink down, "gastric cancer, 16 year old with a twin."
"That should be interesting, you and Robbins haven't worked together in a while."
"Hmm, you're right," she nodded, "should be a simple snip and stitch. Tumor is in the lining."
"When's the surgery?"
"Two days from now, but get this. The family doesn't want her twin sister to know she has cancer."
"So? Maybe the just don't want to worry her."
"No, no, they're twins! Angela said her and Nancy were pretty close, nothing can be kept between them. I feel like there's something else."
"Either that or you've been reading too many Agatha Christie novels recently."
"Okay, okay," she grinned as he laughed, "you laugh now, Shepherd, but you'll see, there's some family secret I'll uncover and then I'll be the one laughing."
"Whatever you say, Sherlock," his warm laughter filled the bar as she playfully hit his shoulder.
They went home, arm in arm. She kissed Zola good night and cuddled up next to her husband in bed. As she felt herself drifting, her eyes traveled up to the post-it note above the headboard and she slept smiling.
I don't own any Grey's Anatomy characters or material.