I have been thinking about writing this story for a while, and now I guess I'm ready to. I think it's mostly set in third season, except George and Callie aren't together. I hope you enjoy this story, I'm really excited to see how it's going to do. Leave a review and let me know if it has a chance!

What the World Needs

He sat by himself on the floor, waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone to tell him something. Everything had been so crazy, so unreal these past few days. He just wanted it to be over. He wanted to just turn back time and make it all right again.

"George?"

He looked up. He stared for a moment, then slowly stood up. Someone came up from behind him.

"George?" Meredith said quickly. "What happened?"

he did not look at her. He was too busy looking somewhere else.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Four months earlier

"George."

He turned around. Izzie was standing behind him with and unsure look on her face.

"What's up?"

She looked at him for several moments. She seemed to be trying to say something, but was finding it hard to.

"Izzie? What is it?"

"I'm-" She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

He stared at her. It took him a minute for him to understand what she said.

"You're pregnant?" he repeated.

She nodded. She was waiting to see if this was good or bad. The shocked look on his face could go either way.

And then he smiled. She smiled back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

" I know everything's been crazy around here, and a lot has happened in not a lot of time. There were many risks with the current situation."

"What are you saying?" Meredith asked, looking panicked.

George did not say anything. He was waiting to see if it was good or bad. It could go either way.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One week ago

The weather was pleasant when they all arrived at work, which was unusual for Seattle. They all saw it as a sign; maybe this would be a good day. It was nice to have an actual good day every once in a while.

"I tell you," Meredith said to Derek as the entered the hospital. "Today just feels so right for some reason."

"Really?" he asked. "And how is it right?"

"I don't know, it just is," she said dismissively. "So do you have any good surgeries scheduled for today?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," he said with a smile. "Would you like to scrub in?"

"I would," she said, smiling back.

"Alright then. I guess I'll see you later."

"I guess I will."

They went separate ways. Meredith went to find Cristina instead.

"I hate this weather," was Cristina's hello. "It's too sunny. Too unordinary."

"I think it's great."

"Yeah, well you would."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

George and Izzie entered the room. They were in conversation about the baby, as they often were. They always found something to talk about.

"I'd really love if it was a girl," Izzie was saying. "Can you imagine all that pink cuteness?"

"Yeah, I think a boy would be nice to," George said. "But it doesn't matter."

She smiled. "I know. But I'd still like it to be a girl."

"I tell you, it's going to be a boy."

"Why don't you just find out already?" Cristina said exasperatedly; she was more than fed up with the baby talk. "Then you'll have one less think to bother us with."

They both looked at her.

"We don't want to know," Izzie said. "And this isn't about you anyway."

"Yeah, whatever," Cristina said sourly, and left the room.

"Maybe you should just- keep it quiet, around her," Meredith said. "You're driving her crazy."

They didn't seem to care very much, but they dropped the subject anyway.

"We should get going," George said instead, and the rest of them left after Cristina.

Alex tracked down Addison in the hallway. He'd wanted to scrub into one of her surgeries, but for some reason never got a chance.

"Dr. Montgomery," he called after her, as she tried to walk past him. "Wait a second."

She turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"I've been trying to find you," he said. "I'd really like to scrub in today. Do you have anything planned?"

"I, uh, don't know," she said awkwardly. "I'll let you know."

"What's your problem?" he said as she walked away.

"No problem," she said without looking back at him. He stared after her for a moment, then went on his way.

"I wish they'd just shut up already," Cristina was saying to Burke in the ER. "I mean, it's been like four months. You'd think they'd run out of things to talk about."

"They're happy," Burke said. "Just let them be."

She looked at him. The day wasn't going to go great, she knew that. No matter what Meredith said. The ER was already filling up, but with nothing surgical for her to care about.

"All these people seem to have the same thing," Burke observed, looking around the room. "Something must be going around."

"Yeah, whatever, there's nothing we can do," she said. "A nice car crash would be so much better."

He looked at her and shook his head. "There's plenty you can do," he said.

"Fine," she said, and walked away. She went up to a man who was sitting by himself, looking frightened.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Yang," she said unenthusiastically. "Can you tell me what's been bothering you?"

"I don't know," the man said uncomfortably. "I just feel horrible. I feel sick, and feverish. I've tried taking things to make it go away. And I get this cough," he added, as a woman not far away started coughing, as though he jinxed her.

"How long have you had these symptoms?"

"A couple days," the woman said to Burke, answering the same question Cristina asked her patient. "It keeps getting worse."

A few more people came in. the room was starting to fill quickly. He looked around again. They definitely all had the same thing.

He went to find the Chief, to see what he thought. He knocked on his office door, and went in after he heard permission.

"Chief," Burke said, coming in and shutting the door. "There's a lot of people down in the ER, and they all seem to have the same thing."

"Are they complaining of the same symptoms?" the Chief asked.

"Nausea, trouble breathing," Burke said, "feeling feverish, a few things."

"I've been feeling that way myself," the Chief said thoughtfully.

"You have?" Burke asked. "For how long?"

"Over a couple days," the chief said. "I'll go down to the ER with you. See what's going on."

And so they did. Burke had a sinking feeling that there was something bad, or at least highly contagious going around.

When they entered the ER he was sure. The room was now getting so full, they couldn't fit all the people in. and more were still coming.

"What's going on?" Burke asked Cristina as she came up to him.

"I don't know, but I think you were right," she said, and didn't seem bored anymore; she seemed slightly nervous, which was not really like her. "I think that there's something really wrong here."

He looked at her for a moment, then back at all the coughing, sick people.

Something was wrong.