Meredith, Maggie, and Meredith's kids walked in the front door after a long day at the hospital. Amelia had already been home for a couple of hours. The kids quickly scampered off to the play room.
"Amelia, we're home!" Meredith called up the stairs.
At that moment, Meredith and Maggie heard a single loud blast, followed by the shattering of glass only milliseconds later. They glanced at each other before sprinting up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
The two sisters ran down the hall at full speed, finally stopping at Amelia's door, only to find her unconscious in a pool of blood. Meredith ran to Amelia's side while Maggie ran to the window, fumbling with her phone in the process. She looked out the window to see if anyone was trying to get away, but everything was dead silent.
Meredith looked up to see Maggie talking to the 911 dispatcher.
"Hello, my name is Maggie Pierce, we live at 613 Harper Lane on Queen Anne Hill. My sister was just shot."
Meredith froze at the word "shot." She had heard it too many times in her life. She had heard it with Derek, and now she was hearing it with Amelia. 'What is the deal with the Shepherd family getting shot?' She thought to herself.
Meredith leaned down to Amelia. "If you think it is okay to die right now, you are very sadly mistaken. It is not okay!" She whispered. "You will stay alive, or so help me Amelia Shepherd, I will find a way to kill you twice. Your idiot brother already left us, and if you decide to join him right now, you will deeply regret that decision!" She hissed.
"Here, Maggie, hand me that blanket over there!" Meredith said, glancing at the blanket on the chair in the corner. Maggie quickly handed her the blanket before kneeling down on the other side of Amelia. Meredith removed her blood-covered hands from the gunshot wound on Amelia's chest, and pressed the blanket firmly over it to try and control the bleeding. After a few seconds of miserable silence, they heard sirens quickly approaching.
Maggie ran downstairs to open the door while Meredith stayed with Amelia. The paramedics ran up the stairs, closely followed by Maggie.
"Pulse is weak and threading." The first paramedic said.
"Let's get her on the gurney." The second said.
"Maggie, the kids." Meredith said. "You go with her, and I'll get the kids and meet you at the hospital."
Maggie nodded and followed the paramedics back out of the room.
Just as Meredith turned around to gather her children and head to the hospital, she heard a small voice in the doorway.
"Mommy, What happened to Auntie Amy?" Asked Zola.
"Oh honey," Meredith said running to hug her daughter. "Auntie Amy just got a little ouchy, and she just has to go to the hospital to get it fixed. So let's get your brother and sister and go meet Auntie Amy and Auntie Maggie there. Okay?" Meredith smiled. Zola nodded.
Meredith quickly gathered up her three children and herded them into her Mercedes fast as she could. The drive to the hospital felt longer than it usually did, even though traffic was better than it usually was.
When they finally arrived at the hospital after what Meredith could have sworn was an eternity of driving, she quickly dropped Bailey, Zola, and Ellis off at the daycare before changing into her scrubs at the speed of light and running full-speed down to the ER. She quickly checked the board, not seeing Amelia's name. Meredith ran to the OR board, not knowing whether or not she wanted to see Amelia's name there either. But she didn't have time to make that choice because as she arrived at the board, she saw A. Shepherd. And not on its usual Surgeon side of the board. Meredith checked the OR number and quickly ran to OR 3. She burst into the gallery just in time to hear the dull, hollow noise of the heart rate monitor flatlining.
Everything around Meredith seemed to shatter away. It was just her, her now-dead sister, the sound of the flatline only confirming her worst fears. Meredith the breath stop in her throat, and she could feel herself stop blinking, and she could have sworn she could feel her own heart stop beating. But then, a beep. And more beeps. To Meredith, it was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. She then felt her eyes close and her body fall to the floor.
"Meredith! Meredith!" Meredith heard a voice swim into her head. She could see the voice was coming from Maggie as she slowly opened her eyes.
"There you are!" Maggie smiled.
"Where was I?" Meredith asked. Then she remembered. Amelia. "Wh-where's Amelia?"
"She's right there." Maggie said pointing to the bed to the right of Meredith.
Meredith turned her head, and indeed, Amelia was in the bed, still asleep, right next her. It was at that moment that Meredith realized Amelia was not the only one in a hospital bed.
"What happened?" Meredith asked. "I know Amelia was shot, and then I got to the hospital and found the OR. But after that, what happened?"
"Well, when you arrived in the gallery, you got there just as… as Amelia flatlined. And then you had a heart attack just as they got Amelia's heart beating again." Maggie said sadly.
"Oh." Meredith said. "Is she okay?" Meredith asked, turning her head to face Amelia again.
"She will be fine. Right now, you're both in the ICU, if you didn't already notice that."
"Oh, yeah." Meredith said.
Then that sound again. The sound of the heart rate monitor beeping erratically, warning it was only seconds from making the same dull, hollow noise as before.
Meredith closed her eyes tightly as Maggie ran to help get Amelia's heart beating again. Meredith heard her the beat of her own heart pickup and she knew she had to relax so everyone could stay focused on Amelia, 'But how could someone relax right now?' Meredith asked herself.
Then she heard the sound. The dull, hollow sound. The literal sound of death. Meredith tried to tune out, but she couldn't do it in time, because she heard Bailey say "Time of death:18:2…" but she was cut off by Meredith screaming "NO! TRY AGAIN! TRY AGAIN!" The doctors looked at each other before trying once more to restart Amelia's heart. Then she heard it. Meredith heard a single beep. Then another. And another. They kept coming. They didn't stop. Meredith let out the breath she knew she had been holding.
Without thinking, Meredith slowly pulled herself out of bed, and quickly made her way over to Amelia's bed, ready to punch anyone who stood in her way. Luckily for them, no one got in her way. Meredith settled down on the bed, putting her arms around Amelia.
"Thank you for not dying. Because if you had, I would have killed you." Meredith whispered in Amelia's ear.
Meanwhile, Sniper sighed. It was the first time one had ever lived.