A/N: I started this story back in summer, when Addison was still married to Derek, Burke wasn't shot, and George's father wasn't dead. I'm now picking it up and have changed some stuff to fit the current timeline, but it is still largely in AU.
Multiple Deaths
We witness life, we witness death, day in, day out. But mostly, life outnumbers death. In our first year, they taught us to distance ourselves from the patient before we cry our eyes out. In our second year, we learn to break the news of death in a blink of an eye. What they never taught us is how to deal with deaths of people we know—close or distant.
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Ch. 1
"I'm fine."
Before Cristina got a chance to show her rare moment of camaraderie concern, Meredith muttered what everyone would want to hear but not believe in.
"She's too far gone. It's better this way."
"Right. I wouldn't have cared if my own mother died." Immediately Cristina caught herself saying the wrong thing.
While both Cristina and Meredith did not get along with the woman they called mother, Meredith's love for Ellis Grey was deeper than many would have thought.
"I'm sorry, Mer."
"Don't. It's over."
Cristina shrugged as her friend walked off. First it was George's father and now Meredith's mom.
Her body was still, but inside Cristina shuddered at those five dreadful letters—d-e-a-t-h.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Everyone at Seattle Grace knew it was a time of mourning. Izzie was slowing getting over with her fallen fiancé; George was recovering from losing his dad at an alarmingly quick pace. But when Ellis Grey fell, everyone fell with her.
Except Meredith. The intern who was upset merely by the fact that she was wearing the same pair of shoes as a rape victim was the same intern who stuck her hand into the bomb guy's chest. This very intern who weak as a falling leaf was the same intern who did not shed a single tear—very much unlike George.
The only person who actually couldn't stop pounding his heart and being teary-eyed was Richard Webber. He knew she was losing the battle, he knew she would never be his, but the fact that she was gone forever struck him hard. He wanted to hold her fragile body again and tell her how he never forgot her and her aggressively gentle embrace from behind. Yet, as the Chief, as a married man, and as Meredith's boss, he couldn't.
Life was full of irony. Just when he thought he could retire and rekindle his love for Adele, the only true love in his life decided to play a final trick on him by leaving him for one final time.
"Richard, I need to get this signed." The vulnerability in Richard's eyes made Preston Burke feel uneasy.
"Preston, you knew it, didn't you?" Without looking up from the papers, Richard asked in a quiet voice.
Preston was much better than his girlfriend at consoling others, but talking to his boss about Ellis Grey would be a taboo. Placing one hand on his hip and another scratching his forehead, Preston tried to come up with an intelligent reply. "You loved her."
"I did, and I probably still do."
Preston nodded, recalling how Richard begged him to get a biopsy of Ellis the day Cristina collapsed in the OR.