Hey guys, this is a story I have been working on for a while. I have been posting chapters on Tumblr, but I figured it was time to post on here as well. Hope you enjoy.

Widow. Teddy Altman hated that word. But despite her aversion to it, over the years she had let it define her. It was easy to be the widow. She never had to explain away her sorrow. Prospective dates fled at the mention of it. And that's what she wanted, wasn't it? Ever since Henry died she had been living in a haze. She moved to Germany and never looked back. Not having to spend every night it the apartment they shared helped, but sleeping alone had never gotten easier. She threw herself into work and tried to put her husband out of her mind. She kept her head down, didn't make friends, she poured herself into work. And that had worked for a while, for years actually. She made herself numb to the emotions. She prevented herself from feeling the powerful loss that was always there, on the edge of her subconscious. Not only had she lost her job on that rainy day in Seattle, but when she made the decision to leave, she lost everything. Her last connection to Henry, her home, her friends. Friends. That part hurt the most, almost as much as losing Henry, because she made the decision to leave them. Of course they tried to keep in touch. At the beginning Arizona called every week, and Callie would send videos of her daughter, letting Teddy see how the little girl was growing. Even Owen, who was never good at communicating would send emails. He let her know what was going on with his life, how Cristina left, how he met someone else, how they were married now. He seemed happy. But all those emails and phone calls from her friends went unanswered. Teddy couldn't face the fact that they were all happy and moving on with their lives. They all took the curve balls life threw at them with grace and moved on stronger than ever. Teddy couldn't admit to her friends that she had not. She had spent so much time shutting people out, running from her past, that she forgot what it felt like to have someone there for her. That was until the day her past caught up to her.

It was just a normal day at the hospital. Well as normal as her days get. She came into work, smiled politely at her coworkers, but didn't stop to chat. That's how you make connections, a thing Teddy had avoided ever since she came to work here over five years ago. She could name every person in the hospital, but if she was ever asked any details about their lives she would have to admit she'd never really talked to anyone long enough to get to know them. She stopped in at the doctor's lounge before rounds to grab a cup of coffee and was surprised to hear rushed conversations happening all over the room. It was obvious something big had happened. She walked up beside Patrick James, a neurosurgeon she knew. He had started around the same time as her and was probably the one person she had even had small conversations with. She hadn't shared much about her life, but he had talked her ear off about his on more than one occasion. In fact, she had been dodging his dinner invitations for over a year now.

"What's going on?" Teddy asked Patrick curiously. "I haven't seen it this buzzing since that time they ousted the plastics chief with no warning."

"We have a new patient," he replied meeting her eyes.

He seemed shaken and she didn't understand why. "We are a hospital, we get new patients daily. Is this a particularly gruesome case or something?"

"Not gruesome per say," he replied. "They found a woman, in Afghanistan. She's been missing for 10 years, she was presumed dead. No one knows where she's been this whole time, they just found her in the basement of an abandoned house after a raid."

Patrick continued talking, but Teddy didn't hear anymore. When he noticed he'd lost her he waived his hand in front of her face. "Teddy, earth to Teddy. Are you even listening to me?"

"What is her name?"

"What?" Patrick replied confused.

"Her name, what is it?" Teddy questioned more forcefully.

"Oh, umm I don't remember. Megan something… Megan Hall? Megan Holmes? Megan Hope?-"

"Hunt?" Teddy interrupted, trying to take a deep breath. "Was it Megan Hunt?"

"Hey, yeah, I think that's what it was."

Teddy's face went white and she started breathing heavily. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but this could be it. Her old friend, her best friend's sister.

"Teddy? Teddy? Altman! Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I'm about to," Teddy replied.

"Wait, did you know her?"

"If she is in fact Megan Hunt, then yes I did. We served together overseas. Her brother served with us as well. I also worked with him in Seattle, he is- well was my best friend," Teddy admitted, unable to meet Patrick's eyes.

"Oh shit Altman I'm sorry. Look I know this is probably hard, but you should get in there. They need to confirm it's her. You know before they notify her family."

"Right," Teddy replied, but she made no move to leave.

"I could come with you if you want, into the room. You know, for moral support." Patrick said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Um thanks Patrick," she said shrugging off his hand. "I think this is something I need to do alone." God this guy was relentless.

She exited the doctor's lounge and stopped at the nurses station to find out which room Megan had been assigned. After she got over her initial shock she realized it was strange she hadn't already been paged when Megan arrived. As chief of surgery she would usually be the first to be called on something this major. But maybe the case wasn't surgical. That could be it. The nurses had informed her that Megan had come in unconscious, and had yet to wake up. She was severely dehydrated and malnourished so she was on fluids and they were monitoring her. Maybe Megan's injuries weren't that major. However the thought she didn't want to consider was that it could be likely that the majority of Megan's injuries weren't physical, but instead psychological.

Teddy had to stop that line of thinking. It would do her no good to worry until she had actually seen Megan. She followed the familiar hallway until she was outside of the room she was told was Megan's. She knocked on the door lightly before entering. There were a few nurses in the room fiddling with wires and tubes. Teddy was also surprised to see her boss, the chief of the hospital, Matthew Lehman standing at the foot of the bed.

"Chief Altman," he greeted her as she entered. "Were you paged? I wasn't aware this case was surgical."

"Oh no I wasn't paged," Teddy said clearing her throat. How did she explain this? "It's just, I spoke to some of the other doctors. The hospital is buzzing about this woman. I just had to ask, is this woman Megan Hunt?"

"We believe so," the chief replied, confusion crossing her face. "Do you know Megan Hunt?"

"I did. Or well, I guess I do. It's so complicated. We thought Megan was dead. For ten years, we have been going on with our lives, and she was alive this whole time. God what is Owen going to say?"

"Owen?" Chief Lehman asked.

"Megan's brother, Owen Hunt. He is a friend of mine, he was the Chief of Surgery at the hospital I worked at in Seattle. Has he been informed yet?"

"No, we have not called the family yet. We wanted to be sure it is in fact Megan before we make the call." He sighed taking in Teddy's shocked expression. This wasn't going to be easy. "Chief Altman. Teddy. You knew Megan Hunt, would you be able to identify her?"

Teddy nodded solemnly, she knew he would ask this. "Yes sir, I can."

She took a step towards the bed, taking in the form under the covers for the first time. The first thing she noticed was the red hair. It wasn't as bright as it used to be, and not nearly as lush. But it was red, just like Megan. She took another step forward, finally letting her eyes rest on the woman's face. It was very hollow, and coloured with bruises and cuts, but she was certain. The woman in front of her was Megan Hunt. Teddy let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Megan was alive. All this time in captivity and somehow she made it out. They let her down. They stopped looking and moved along with their lives, all the while Megan was suffering. She felt a pang in her heart, that was the way she had felt when Henry died. Though their circumstances were different, she had felt abandoned. She wished her friends had stayed sad like her, hadn't moved on. Much like she now wished they hadn't given up on Megan, that they had continued looking. Teddy felt tears in the back of her eyes threatening to escape.

She turned towards her boss and nodded. That was all she could muster, tears had already begun pouring down her face. He nodded back, understanding her message. He motioned for the nurses to follow him, and they exited leaving Teddy alone with Megan.

She pulled up a chair and sat beside her friend. Though Megan was bruised and beaten, she looked so peaceful. Teddy stroked her hair, taking in the familiar sight, glad that something on her friend was relatively unharmed. She let the tears fall freely, happy to be alone. The blonde laid her head down beside her friend's own red hair and sobbed into the pillow.

Teddy was startled awake when a nurse entered Megan's room. She must cried herself to sleep there. Oh god that is embarrassing. She lifted her head and glanced at the clock. 5 pm, that meant it would be morning in Seattle. That meant about now soldiers would be showing up at Owen's house to inform him. She hoped he wasn't alone when he found out. She should call him, she knew she should, but the idea of it terrified her. What if the soldiers weren't there yet and she had to be the one to tell him. She knew that information would be better coming from a friend, but she just couldn't bare to be the one to tell him.

Every time she thought about being the one to tell Owen, she thought about Cristina informing her that Henry was dead. She remembered that scene, how she didn't believe her at first, how Cristina had to talk her through it. It would go down similarly with Owen, only this time Teddy would be giving a life instead of losing one. And the selfish part of her; that was still mad at Owen for firing her, or for telling her Henry's surgery went fine, that part of her didn't want to give him good news.

She waited by Megan's bedside for over two hours, until she was sure Owen would have been informed by now, and then she picked up her phone. It rang four times and then clicked to the answering machine. She left a message. "Owen, it's Teddy. I'm sure by now you've heard. Please call me back. Decisions need to be made. We are in the process of transferring her to Madigan, we need to know what you want done when she arrives." Simple, but that was all she could get out. Over the next few hours she alternated between sitting with Megan and checking up on her own patients. She also tried to call Owen a few more times, to no avail.

Hours later, as it was getting very very late, Teddy was stopped at the nurses station filling in a chart. She could hear the nurse talking to someone on the phone, but paid no attention to it until she heard her own name.

"Chief Altman," the nurse said when Teddy looked up. "There is a woman here on the phone, she was asking about our patient Megan Hunt, and then she asked for you by name."

"Is it Evelyn, her mother?" Teddy replied. God she did not want to be the one to explain this to Owen's mother.

"No, I don't believe that's what she said her name was. She sounded younger."

Teddy motioned for the nurse to hand her the phone. "Teddy Altman," she answered.

"Hey, Doctor Altman. This is Amelia Shepherd from Grey Sloan Memorial. I-uh-I work with Owen Hunt," the woman stuttered out.

Amelia Shepherd. That name sounded familiar. Shepherd? Maybe she was a sister of Derek's? Yes that must be why she knows the name. Teddy must have meet her when she was visiting her brother.

"Has Owen been told?" Teddy answered.

"Yes."

"Has he told Evelyn yet?"

"No."

"Can you put him on the phone?" Teddy asked, unsure what she would actually say to Owen.

"One sec," the woman replied. After a brief pause she came back on. "He won't."

"What can I do for you?"

"I-I'm calling about his sister."

"Megan is in good hands here," Teddy replied, unsure why she was having to convey this information to a coworker and not Owen himself.

"Okay, uh yeah, we just need to confirm-"

"It's Megan, I saw her. I tried to call him, there are plans he needs to make. She is being transferred to Madigan Army Hospital. They need to know what their orders are when she arrives."

"Right," the woman answered.

"Does he want to meet her there?"

"No," the woman replied, sounding like she was thinking a plan up. "Could we transfer her here as soon as she touches down?"

"To Grey-Solan?"

"Yes, to Grey-Solan."

"Yes, I can arrange that."

"Thank you so much," the woman replied, and with a click she was gone.

Things moved very quickly after that conversation. Megan was prepared to be transferred, and Teddy found herself being ordered to accompany her. Her superiors seemed worried that Megan could regain consciousness during the flight, and thought having a familiar face may help to calm her. Teddy was happy to be accompanying her friend, so she could keep an eye on her, and be kept up to date on her progress, but she was not excited to be returning to Seattle.

She held Megan's hand for the duration of the exceedingly long flight, praying she would wake up, but also praying she didn't wake up while they were on this plane. When she felt the wheels hit the ground she let out a sigh of relief. Doctors rushed to meet the plane, sweeping the gurney off with them. Teddy stood up quickly ready to follow. But she stopped when she saw who awaited her on the tarmac, Owen was there, an unknown brunette by his side. She had not prepared herself for this. She didn't think she would have to see him so soon.