A/N: Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it. Here's chapter two!
He had failed her. The moment George's heart stopped beating, Derek knew he had failed Meredith. She had faith in him, and then…
His face was wet with tears as he looked at her, laying in the fetal position in the darkly lit on-call room. Her body shook with her sobs and he felt useless. If only they had all tried harder. If only they were all better surgeons. If only he had practiced more. If only she hadn't had confidence in him. His mind raced as he ran back through the day. George was dead. Although he had never been particularly close to O'Malley, he knew that Meredith had been. He had been there for her even before Derek was. It seemed as though the last twenty-four hours had taken their lives from normal to upside down. Just yesterday, he had woken up with her in his arms. Made her breakfast, gone into the hospital with her hand in hand. And now she lay weeping next to him as chaos was everywhere.
That's when it hit him. They had to save Stevens. It wasn't an option. She had to live. She had to wake up. He stood suddenly and began to pace around the room before coming back, kissing Meredith on the forehead and running out the door.
He saw his target almost immediately. Cristina Yang leaned against the wall across from the nurse's station staring off into space. Her face was absolutely expressionless. Stone-like. He approached her cautiously.
"She needs you." He told her, and she looked over at him. "Meredith. She needs you. I can't be there with her, but you can. Please…" She stared at him for a moment before nodding silently. "On-call room four."
She left without a single word to him. As soon as he saw her enter the room where Meredith was, he rushed into Izzie's room. Alex sat in a small chair in the corner, his head in his hands. Chief Webber stood at the foot of her bed, and Doctor Bailey to Izzie's left, shaking her head slowly back and forth. Lexie looked bewildered standing in the corner with her arms around herself. Derek took in his surroundings slowly before speaking.
"Anything?" He asked. Richard looked up at him with tired eyes.
"Not yet. Heart rate and BP have been stable for the last several hours, but,"
"But she's not conscious." Derek finished before Richard could. He just nodded and Derek sighed, stepping closer to the bed as though his presence would be of any help. He felt so extraordinarily useless as he stood with them silently willing her to wake up. 'You have to live.' He thought to himself. 'Please Stevens…just wake up."
Meredith didn't look up when she heard the door open. She heard footsteps as someone walked across the room, and the bed shifted as they sat next to her. She rolled onto her back and looked up to see Cristina staring straight ahead.
"Is Izzie…?" She couldn't finish her sentence. Cristina shook her head, not bothering to avert her gaze from the wall in front of her.
"Nothing yet. Just…nothing." Meredith felt sadness beginning to overwhelm her again but she did her best to fight the tears.
"And George…" Cristina looked down at her.
"He's dead." Even though Meredith had known this fact, the words slammed into her like a train.
"Cristina…" Meredith didn't know what to say or do. Her friend looked at her before silently laying down next to her. Meredith but her arms around Cristina and they laid silently.
She felt sadness overcome her again and she couldn't hold back the tears any more. She cried quietly for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only minutes. She took a deep breath as Cristina began to speak.
"This is bull shit." She said angrily, "Why won't Bailey let us do anything? So what if we're their…her…friends? It's not like we're going to go home and live our lives and pretend that none of this is happening. So why the hell can't we at least put our skills to work and try to help?"
They both leapt when the door flew open and a young nurse ran in, scanning the room for them. The looked up at her expectantly.
"It's…it's your friend. Ms. Stevens. You'll want to be out here." She said before hurrying back out as quickly as she had entered. Meredith and Cristina bumped into each other as they both frantically hopped out of the uncomfortable bunk and rushed to the door.
When they opened it, they let the chaos back in. In the bright hallways, people were rushing in every direction. Izzie's room was full to the brim with doctors and nurses. The women hurried over, trying to get through the crowd when they heard the chief's voice.
"Stevens! Stevens, can you hear me?" The next sound released a flood of relief within them.
"Yes. Please…shh…my head hurts." Answered a feeble voice.
"Izzie!" Cried Meredith, pushing her way to the front of the commotion and throwing her arms around her friend's shoulders. Izzie patted her weakly on the back.
"Hi…" She whispered, her eyelids drooping. Alex was at her other side rubbing her arm soothingly, tears rolling down his cheeks. She reached over and wiped them away, then kissed her finger and pressed it to his lips. He stood and leaned over her, placing a soft kiss carefully onto her lips.
Meredith looked around the room and spotted Derek in the back, standing aside while the room began to empty of emergency personnel. She made her way to him quietly and he opened his arms for her, pulling her tightly against his chest. She laid her head against him and let out a deep sigh. He rubbed her back lightly then brought his fingers to her chin and tipped her face upwards towards him, leaning in for a chaste kiss. She kissed him back and turned in his arms so that she was facing the rest of the room. Izzie sat in her bed looking at Alex as he stroked her hair and spoke softly to her while Cristina stood at the end of the bed studying Izzie's chart as though it held the answers to life's every question. Meredith pulled away from Derek and walked over to her best friend, softly placing her hands on the chart and returning it to its spot on the end of the bed. Cristina looked at her with tears in her eyes.
"She's alive." Meredith whispered. Cristina began to cry and Meredith reached out to hold her. Izzie looked over from her spot in bed, frowning.
"Hey, don't cry! Everything's ok, I'm alright." She smiled faintly before scanning the room, looking puzzled. "Hey, where's George?"
A/N: Please review! : )
