DEREK POV

'Time stops when you're in the O.R. You step up to the table you evaluate the patient you pick up a scalpel. And then you go into a bubble.

It's just you and your surgery, and nothing else matters, not time, not pain, not exhaustion nothing.'

It was mine and Merediths first day back at work. I had just dropped the kids off at Day Care. Zola was just about to start school. Ellis was now a month old. Meredith came in early we had been home for 2 weeks. Everyone was very welcoming, understanding my decision and allowing me back to work. All except Amelia. She still hadn't come over. Everyone says us leaving nearly broke her. Owen caught her with a bag of oxy. I did feel terrible but I needed to heal and I couldn't in front of her now being the head of neuro. I was looking at the OR board trying to find Amelia. After all she was now in charge of me.

"Hey. Just finished my Laparoscopic Colon Resection" Meredith came up to me smiling.

"Did I miss it?" She giggled

"No, you're good." I smirked looking back at the board.

[Cellphone chimes]

"Wow. That was fast" She said smiling

"What was fast?"

We put Zola's name on the list for Bright Water Waldorf School and she's got in!" She said excitedly

"Really?" I asked

"Yes" she said happily

"Why do people constantly feel the need to kill their arteries?" Maggie sighed joining us.

"Are they here yet? Oh, did I miss it? Tell me I didn't miss it." Callie ran to us.

"Nope." Meredith said

"I almost forgot. I can't wait to see the beads of sweat on their freaked-out little faces." Callie sighed in pleasure

"Oh, man. Did I miss it?" Alex said coming over to us "Nope." I said still looking at bored. Amelia was just finishing a corpectomy

"I want to see someone crap actually crap." He grumbled. Making Meredith chuckle

"Seen it, smelled it. Not as fun as you'd think." Callie said honestly.

"It's happening! The baby chicks and ducks are here!" Arizona said running excitedly past us.

It happens in real life, too.

"Derek." Meredith called

"Meredith" I replied still looking at the bored l. Thinking.

"You coming" she smiled holding her hand out for me. I happily obliged

"Each of you today comes here hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors.

The five years you spend here as surgical residents will be the best and worst of your lives. They will..." Richard said being interrupted by one of them. "You have a question?" He asked.

"Yes. Why?" She asked

"Uh, you raised your hand." Richard sighed

"No, I'm sorry. I mean why will these be the best and worst years of our lives?" She explained

"Uh, I I was getting to that." He said

"Sorry." She mumbled and retreated back in between the others.

"Um, where was I? Oh, right. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition." He continued. I listened and looked to all us in the viewing room. They were my competition but they were also my family who were all reciting every word Richard was saying.

"Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play that's up to you." He finished

"They look stupid." Alex grumbled

I chuckled "They look like babies."

"Were we ever that young?" Meredith questioned

"They're so well rested." Ben smiles

"And stupid." Alex finished

"And eager, like puppies." Meredith chimed in.

"No, not like puppies." Arizona laughed

"Chicks and ducks." Arizona and Maggie giggles

"When did we start calling them that?" I asked them "You and Meredith have been gone for a year." Alex smirked

"Left to their own devices, they would drown. And take the patients down with them." Arizona explained

"God help us all." Callie looked down. We all chuckled. I looked behind me and Amelia was at the door way. I looked right at me and she looked straight forward. How do I solve this.

——————————————————————————

RICHARD POV

I had just finished giving my speech to the new interns. I had no hope. This lot looked like they were going to be a handful. This last year had been hard. Seriously hard. I found out I had a daughter. We had a strange relationship. Meredith and Derek went missing. Catherine and I fell out. Catherine then proposed and now today I am getting married.

"They look good." Stephanie butted in standing next to me at the door of the interns locker room. I looked at her.

"Pretty good." She gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"Some of them. I mean, for chicks and ducks." She sighed. Again I looked at her

"I'll at least get some good ones, right? You'll make sure I get some good ones? Yeah. You're gonna hook me up." She chuckled hopefully

[Lockers open, close] "Uh, listen up." I mumbled louder enough for them all to turn their heads. Like she said 'chicks and ducks'.

"This is Dr.Edwards. Some of you are lucky enough to be under her supervision. Listen closely to everything she says. Observe. Learn. She has the power to mold you into fine surgeons." I explained to them.

"Thank you, Dr.Webber." She said smiling.

"Oh, and congratulations, sir.Dr.Webber's getting married this afternoon." She continued

"Yeh" I mumbled

"Congratulations." Most of the interns said

"Thank thank you. Uh, now, um Who's got Dr.

Edwards?" I said changing the subject. This caused some hands to rise. Stephanie's face fell.

"I did not hook you up." I chuckled.

———————————————————————————

STEPHANIE POV

"All right. I have three rules. One listen to the nurses. Respect the nurses. Do whatever the nurses say. You may think you know more than the nurses.

You do not. Two. Your life is now all about me. Not about you or your boyfriend Your fight with your sister - Or your nasty little rash down there.

So, when we are focused on me, we are learning to be surgical gods. When we are focused on you, we're working at a gas station. Three no complaining. You complain and you are out. Got it? You." I said letting my interns follow me round the hospital. Explaining the rules before pointing out one of the interns. The blonde male.

"Rules. Repeat." I asked

"Listen to nurses, worship you, complain and die." He said stuttering

"Good. Let's go." I said off to start the day.

———————————————————————————

OWEN POV

"Hunt." Arizona called to me whilst I walked down the stairs with Amelia. She seemed to be doing okay. But I didn't know what today was going to be like since Derek and Meredith have returned.

"How much longer is Richard gonna be interim chief? Because I want to expand my department, and he has kind of a different approach to the budget.

- So when are you coming back?" She kind of giggled but showed the serious side of it.

"Uh, I'm not. The board's gonna appoint a new chief." I said honestly. It was time. I spent 5 years being chief.

"We are? When?" Arizona said shocked

"Why?" Amelia spoke up

"Yeah, why?" Arizona questioned

"Because uh I've been chief long enough. And It's time for something else." I said smiling and walking off.

———————————————————————————

JACKSON POV

"Jackson. Jackson!" My mother shouted to get my attention. I was busy watching TV.

"This is uh you are just making a mess. What are you doing? She laughed

"Oh. Do you want some?" I said referencing to my pastry I was eating.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to be here. Really, I'm fine." She said whilst getting her done.

"I am supporting you. I'm your maid of honor.

April said the job of the maid of honor support the bride.Keep her company. So I'm supportin'. I'm keeping you company. You know, Meredith also said that the maid of honor drives the getaway car if you want to make a run for it. So, you know, you want to make a run for it, I'm standing by. Ready to go. Just give me a holler. Until then, we're up on L.A. by 4." I mumbled between eating my pastry.

"I thought April would be with you when you came over. Is everything okay?" She asked concerned getting up to see me.

"Yeah. Fine." I said mumbling. I wasn't too sure.

"Mm.Well. I know it's a challenge. The woman that came back from the combat zone is not the same girl that left here. April has changed. It would be understandable if that created problems." She said not believing me.

"Jackson." She said trying to get my attention which was in the soccer.

[Cellphone chimes, vibrates] "Is that Richard?Tell me that he's here. Tell me he's here, finally. I told him not to go to that hospital today." She asked me whilst I looked at my phone. It wasn't Richard. It was a news notification about a major crash.

"We interrupt this program - to bring you late-breaking news" a woman said on the tv.

"It's not Richard." I said

"What's wrong?" My mom asked me panicking.

——————————————————————————

DEREK POV

"You know how many incoming?" Callie asked me. I nodded no.

"We don't even know what happened. But it is big.

I guess we're probably not making it out of here in time for that wedding." She continued walking up to get a gown.

"You did a lobectomy on a dirt road?" I heard Jo gasp speaking to April.

"Well, we had to. The nearest medical center was 150 miles away." April answered

"Hey, does anybody know what happened?" I asked tying my gown up.

"Not a clue." Owen replied.

"So, was it just a 24/7 adrenaline rush?" Jo continued her talk with April which confused me.

"What was a 24/7 adrenaline rush?" I asked

"The desert." April replied whilst we all walked towards the ambulance bay.

"No. You get desensitized pretty fast." April said now directing it back to Jo's question.

"There's another group leaving in two weeks if you're interested." Owen said to Jo.

"You're not living in a tent." Alex argues

"I grew up in a car." Jo defended

"That had doors." Alex hit back

"We should both go." Jo said seriously.

"I'm definitely not living in a tent." Alex grumbled

"Okay. Here we go." I said referring to the ambulance now pulling in.

[Horn honks] [Brakes squeal]

"What have you got?" Owen said rushing to the doors.

"Mid-60s female with crush injuries. Massive blood loss at the scene. We've done chest compressions for 28 minutes." The paramedic said pulling out a woman. She was gone.

[Radio chatter] "Shocked times three. He had two rounds of epi and vaso." The other paramedic said pulling out another one. I listened

[Monitor flatlining] "There are four more ambulances behind us. Every last one of them's got nothing but D.O.A.s." He mumbled.

"What's going on?" Meredith said running out with Bailey.

"Why aren't the ambulances unloading?" Bailey questioned.

"Because they aren't ambulances. These are freakin' hearses. All the patients are dead." I said looking at them.

"What the hell happened out there?" Alex said to me walking off back into the pit.

We had all returned back into the pit. We had no casualties. All DOA's. Just like Alex said. What the hell happened?

"A tunnel on 99 collapsed during rush hour.

The north entrance completely caved in, trapping nearly 20 vehicles under the rubble." Owen said

"Do we know how many victims?" I asked

"They're trying to get people out as fast as they can.

But for now, we're just waiting for them to find someone with a pulse." He said.

"How many dead?" April asked.

"13 fatalities so far" Owen replied

[All groan]

"God." I heard Amelia say, who just joined us.

"Coming through! - We got a live one!" A Ben shouted. Wait when did Ben get here.

"Clear a path!" Meredith shouted directing them.

"Scott Henry. 17 years old. Penetrating trauma to the abdomen. He arrested as soon as we took him off the rig." Ben explained whilst giving him compressions.

"Let's get him into trauma one, and page Karev!" Owen shouted

"I know everyone wants to help, but back up. Give them room to work." Amelia shouted at all the nurses and doctors gathering.

"We got one alive." I whispered to April

"There could be more." Maggie joined

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." April said walking off to help.

"Three rigs pulling in now with more right behind them. They don't know how many, but they'll bring as much as we can handle." Meredith shouted at us. She was on the phone.

"We've got live ones coming in, people, and we want them to stay that way. We need surgical trays by each trauma bed, and reserve "O" neg on standby!" Owen shouted running towards the bay.

"There's always more." I whispered before running of in the same direction.

———————————————————————————

RICHARDS POV

"Uh." I said seeing my soon to be wife walking down the hallway towards me. We were supposed to be getting married today and now we have multiple casualties. That have crashed the OR.

"I I know. Look, I am sorry. I was on my way to the hotel, but we crashed the O.R. floor. It was too big just to..." I said defensive

"I'm not here to haul you out of here. I'm here to help. I'm looking for a pair of scrubs." She smiled

This woman was amazing. "This is reason number 537 why you and I are made for one another." I said smiling and kissing her.

"Surgery is sexy, honey." She giggled

"Mmm." I agreed

"It's hot." She said

"Yes, it is." I agreed again chuckling

"And tonight, on our wedding night Mm-hmm? Dr.

Webber, I'm gonna show you just how hot a morning surgery can make me." She said. God I loved this woman.

[Clears throat] "There are people dying." Bailey interrupted. Shoot forgot she was there..

"You are so uptight for a best man." Catherine said to Bailey smiling before walking off.

I turned around to see a smug Bailey.

"Now, don't worry. You're not off the hook." I said

"Good. I've never been anybody's best man before." She smiled.

"You know they're appointing a new chief soon. I'm recommending you." I said honestly. So proud of how far she's come. Even though she's never been chief. She was always the one in charge. She scared everyone. She didn't look to happy about it though

"Unless you don't want it." I said honestly.

"No, j I've just heard you say this once before. About the board seat. But then I find out it'd been given to Alex Karev. You're like the chief who cried wolf." She chuckled.

"Who's on the board now, you or Karev?" I asked smugly knowing the answer before walking off.

———————————————————————————

MEREDITH POV

"Heel, ducklings! Heel!" I heard Stephenie shout which made me giggle watching her interns gaily to a stop. We were waiting for the next rig to arrive.

[Sirens wailing, horns honking]

"34 year-old pregnant female with prolonged extrication from a crushed vehicle." Nicole said before being interrupted by someone coming out the rig.

"Her name is Joan Paulson. She's 40 weeks pregnant and in active labor. BP's 100 over 60. She's been complaining of severe neck pain - and an obvious fracture of her right arm." A man asked

"And who are you?" My husband said confused running out joining us.

"I'm Andrew." He said

We all looked confused.

"Sorry. I was on my way into work. I saw the collapse. I stopped to help." He explained

"We've got to go back! We've got to go back!" The injured woman said

"Well, we've got it from here, sir." I said to him

"I'm a doctor. Actually a surgeon. Her contractions are five minutes apart. Her husband's still trapped in the car." He said.

"Let's page O.B." I shouted pushing the gurney to the pit.

"You've got to get Keith out! Please, you've got to go back and get him out!" She cried

"Hey, don't you worry, okay, Joan? Just need to focus on keeping - you and your baby healthy."

"All right, thank you." She cried in pain.

DEREKS POV

"That was urban search and rescue. They have a victim they can't extract. They need us to send a team." I heard Richard say to Owen coming of the phone.

"Who's on the field rotation list?" Owen asked

"Uh, we've got Pierce, Shepherd, Kepner, and Shepherd" Webber mumbled

"No, Shepherd hasn't been cleared yet, sir." Bailey butted in

"I'll sub in for him." Owen said ignoring that I was standing in ear proximity checking a patient.

"And leave everything going on here? It's a mass casualty." Richard argued

"Shepherd!" Webber called.

"You need me?" I asked

"We're sending a team on-site. You've been cleared. Go get ready." He said to me. I smiled and went off to get ready. I could hear Bailey disagreeing.

———————————————————————————

JO POV

"Oh! Ow! Careful!" I shouted running into two teenagers who needed a good wash. They were covered in dirt.

"We're looking for our friend!" The boy said. "Are you a doctor?" The girl asked

"One at a time." I said raiding my hands

"His name's Scott. He's 17." The boy explained

"Uh, he was in the backseat when this huge piece of cement came down and he was really messed up.

They took him away in an ambulance. We just got here. We're not even from Seattle." The girl panicked

"Okay. Uh, where are your parents?" I said looking at them. They could be much older than 17 as there friend.

"Back home." The boy said. Helpful. Where?

"In Missoula. They didn't come with us. Our parents let us do stuff. We don't get in much trouble." The girl explained

"We're - Dorks. We're supposed to be touring U.W.

right now." The boy said

"Wilson! We could use some more hands on our kid in trauma one." Owen shouted catching my attention.

"Is he talking about Scott?- He's not gonna die, right?" The girl said hopeful

"Is that Scott?" I said walking into the bay away from the kids. I turned back around towards the two teenagers.

"V-fib. Push an amp of epi." Karev shouted. The machines beating

"Charge to 150. Paddles!" He continued.

"Wilson, get in here and help bag!" Jackson shouted causing me to return back into the bay readyvti bag.

"Clear!" Karev shouted holding the paddles letting them shock him. Ignoring the fact them two kids were probably, more than likely watching there friend try and die.

———————————————————————————

MEREDITH POV

"Fetal monitor is on." I said calmly to Jane.

"O.B. is coming." Stephanie said to me

"And we should get ortho to take a look at her arm and her neck." I said looking over at her injuries

"On it! - Right away! I will!" She said paging ortho.

"My baby. Is my baby okay?" Jane cried

"Baby's looking just fine, Joan. Heart rate's right on target." The mysterious surgeon said to Jane. His name was Andrew.

"Dr. Edwards, is it true that the fetus can be compromised if the patient is in the supine position?" One of the interns asked. Which caused Stephanie to wince.

"The fetus is compromised?" Jane screamed panicking.

"Out." I screamed at them.

"I'm sorry, did you mean..." the girl asked before Stephanie interrupted

"Out! This is not question time. All of you, just go to radiology. Check on the reads. I will call you if I need you." Stephanie said raising her voice

"Where is radiology?" Another one asked

"Scram!" Both Stephanie and I shouted. They quickly exited the room.

"The contractions started this morning. The doctor said we could take our time, but I wanted to leave.

I made Keith take the stupid tunnel! He wanted to take the bridge, but I said the tunnel was faster.

I'm constantly telling him what to do." She moaned in pain.

"How long have you two been married, Joan?" I asked trying to keep her attention on something else whilst we wait for Ortho and O.B. From what it looks like this was not a General case.

"We're not married. We met each other nine months and three days ago. I barely knew him.

It's crazy what you find out about a person when you get knocked up on the first date. We're gonna get married next week." She said shocking us.

"Please tell me we're getting married next week." She cried looking at Stephanie, myself and Andrew.

———————————————————————————

DEREK POV

[Monitor beeps] [Siren wailing] [Horn honks] [Brakes squeal] [Man speaking indistinctly]

What I prepared myself was not what I am actually looking at. This was mayhem. The entire end of the bridge had collapsed into the tunnel. There was people screaming and crying. Sirens blaring. Helicopters landing. Smoke. Everything you could think of!

"You the surgeons from Grey-Sloan?" A first responder came up to us looking drained.

"We are. Where's the patient?" April replied putting gloves on

"This way." He mumbled directing us to a car that was crushed by all the debris.

"What's his name?" I asked him. Looking around I could see over 20 body bags of loved ones. This was terrible

"Keith Gardner" the guy replied to me

"Car's been crushed by debris. We got his wife out, but..." he continued standing near the car.

"Oh, my God." I heard Amelia whispered

"He's in there? - He's alive?" Maggie asked shocked

"Barely." The guy answered

This was crazy. Looking at the car now you could see the whole roof had collapsed in due to the debris. This had caused the whole front seats to be flattened. There was no way he was going to live.

"Hey, Keith. My name is Derek. We're gonna get you out of there, okay?" I said to him calmly

"That'd be great." He whispered

"How do we even start?" Amelia said directing to me. This was the first time she had spoken to me directly. "We just do." I said flatly

——————————————————————————

"The door's coming off!" One of the firefighters said. Allowing us to fully examine him.

"I need some more lap pads in here." April shouted

"You got it, Doc. Here you go." A EMT said

"Keith, can you follow my light with your eyes?" I asked him.

"My fiancee, Joan, she was with me. Is she okay?" He asked worried

"We saw her arrive at the hospital. She's alive." Amelia said

"Okay. Good. She made it there. She's alive." He mumbled relieved.

"I need some packing!" April screamed

"Do you know w we're having a a baby?" He coughed

"Keith, we're trying to listen to your breathing. Stop talking, please." Maggie asked him.

He was soon coughing blood.

"It's hard to hear breath sounds out here, but he could have a collapsed lung." Maggie said

"How's his abdomen?" I asked

"Lot of blood, from what I can see." April mumbled

"Keith, I'm just gonna check your torso, okay?" She asked him.

"He's impaled in two places." I said. This didn't shock me. We knew this would be bad.

"It's pretty bad, huh?" Keith agreed calmly.

"It's pretty bad. But I've seen worse." April said

[Indistinct conversations] [Man shouts indistinctly]

——————————————————————————

CALLIE POV

"Oh, God, there's another one!" Jane shouted

"Okay. Keep breathing. Nice and slow." Arizona said

"Edwards, nice job reducing the wrist." I said impressed

"Uh, actually Dr. Deluca did that in the field." She said.

"Dr. who?" I asked confused

"Me. Hi. Dr.Deluca." Someone interrupted walking in.

"He was at the scene." Stephanie explained

"Paramedics ran out of splints, - so that's actually my tie." He continued.

"Was your tie. Sorry." I said smiling. Showing him half of his toe covered in blood.

"Eh, it's not a problem. It was my favorite one, though." He chuckled

"Oh, God!" Jane screamed again. Another contraction

"All right. Three centimeters dilated." Arizona stayed.

"Look, she has a fracture at c5-6." Stephanie said speaking to me. Showing me her scans

"What's a c5-6?" Jane asked worried

"Joan, you fractured a bone in your neck, but it is stable for now, so we will fix it after you deliver, okay?" I explained to her

"Keep her in the collar until her labs come back, then we'll get her upstairs so she can deliver, - and repair the fracture." I continued

"Got it." Stephanie said

"Have them page me when her contractions - become more frequent, okay?" Arizona said directing to Dr Deluca.

"All right." He said

"Thank you so much for your help." She called.

"It was my pleasure." He called back.

———————————————————————————

JACKSON POV

"He's losing blood faster than we can put it in him.

We should get him upstairs. We need to open his chest." I said whilst doing compressions

"Glove me." Owen said

"Crack his chest and then what? That still might not buy us enough time to get to the O.R. and fix his injuries." Alex said seriously.

"Then we stop time." Owen said jumping to the point.

"How?" Jo asked

"Put him on bypass, drain out all of his blood and replace it with cold saline, and then we operate." Owen said.

"Can you do that?" Someone pokes there head round. It was Meredith.

"No, he can't." Jackson said

"That's way too risky." Alex continued

"We put him in suspended animation, cooling him from inside out his brain, his heart, his organs. That buys us an hour or two." Owen explained getting ready to start.

"Hunt!" Jackson yelled

"Ten blade." Owen said seriously. Getting ready to cut into the boys chest.

———————————————————————————

RICHARD POV

"How's it going out there?" Catherine asked me

"Um, they're coming in faster than we can treat them." I replied

"Mm." she mumbled

"Um, listen, Catherine I I I hate to say this, but, you know, under the circumstances, do you think we should postpone the wedding?" I said honestly

"I already did. My assistant is notifying our guests as we speak." She said shocking me

"Oh. You're sure you don't mind?" I asked her

"Of course I mind. But we both know where we need to be." She said kissing me before I was interrupted.

"Hey, uh, Chief. Uh, we need you." Ben said seriously

"You can't just say "suspended animation" like it's a real thing. It's science fiction." Jackson said arguing with Owen who had his hands in a boys body cavativity.

"It's called emergency preservation and resuscitation. Trauma programs have been discussing it for years. It's a way to save patients who can't make it to an O.R." He explained

"Yeah, a risky way, an irresponsible way.

'Cause the safe option is to keep transfusing him and race him upstairs." Jackson argued.

"How do you do it?" Alex asked considering it

"Well, we cannulate the aorta, drain out his blood, infuse cold saline, then drop his core temp to 50 degrees." Owen said explaining

"You put him in hibernation?" Alex asked shocked

"You replace his entire blood volume with ice water." Ben said just as shocked.

"You're gonna do what to him?" A young girl asked

"Get her out of here." Alex said to Jo.

"So you induce hypothermia." I said to Owen. Trying to get some understanding on this disagreements

"Hold on. We're not gonna consciously kill a kid over something you discuss over beers with your trauma buddies." Jackson said seriously

"Kid's gonna die anyway. At least this way we can try to bring him back. I say do it." Alex interrupted.

"No. It's way too experimental. And we would need Pierce. She's at the site." Jackson said

"This is not a cardio procedure." Owen shouted

"It is if you can't get his heart beating again! What are you gonna do if you can't get him back after bypass? What then? That's why we don't do things like this on a whim." Jackson shouted back

"This is not a whim. This is a Hail Mary." Owen said annoyed

"On a child? The patient is a minor. We don't have consent. By the time you find the parents, it'll be too late." My fiancé butted in.

"I agree with Jackson. It's a no, Hunt." She continued

"We're wasting time having this conversation." She said walking off.

[Rapid beeping continues]

"Okay. We only need two physicians to give consent.

Karev?" Owen said seriously

"Really? That's how you want to play this?" Jackson asked.

"Webber? Chief?" Owen looked at me

"Just do it." I said

"I need a cannula!" I heard Owen shout.

"Too many people have died today. We're not adding this kid to the list." I said seriously to Jackson.

———————————————————————————

AMELIA

"How's his airway?" I asked

"His sats are okay." Maggie said

"There's definitely blood in his chest on the left side.

"April, can you get the packing in?"

"I'm trying. I can't really reach it from this angle." She called

"Uh, I need some more trauma pads and cellulose polymer, please." She asked

"What's going on?" I asked

"Whenever I press on the wound, blood is flowing out of his abdomen. The metal is tamponading it, but it's not going to last very long." April replied to me

[Coughs]

"And he needs surgery soon." I said realising

"If he doesn't suffocate on his blood first. I got to get a chest tube in here." Maggie said

"Do you have access?" Amelia asked Maggie

"No. Maybe. We have to get him out of there." She said

"What about from the other side of the car? I could be your other hand?" I asked. Kneeling down to Keiths level.

"Do you really think that you can get me out of here?" He asked me

"I have to. You said it yourself you're having a baby." I smiled at him.

"Do you have kids?" He asked

"I have three." I replied

"Wow, three. One is freaking me out. We did it backwards, though, you know? Y you meet someone, you, uh, fall in love, get married, have a kid it gets bigger, right? Joan and I, we we did this huge thing first. "We're, uh, having a baby. Nice to meet you." We're still getting to know each other, learning all these little things. It's good stuff. She, uh sleeps with her socks on. We like we like watching tennis. But not playing. She likes techno. Would have been a deal-breaker, but we got this big, huge baby thing coming, so..." He explained before being interrupted by pain.

[Groans] [Breathing shakily]

"I really I I really love all her little things. It's like I'm home. She's like my home. I should really tell her that." He whispered.

Meredith was my home. But also Amelia somehow. I knew I needed to apologise.

"Right?" He asked us to agree before he coughed up even more blood.

———————————————————————————

MEREDITH POV

"What is in your mouth?" I shouted bumping into a intern. Stephanie's intern.

"A brie tart. With prosciutto." He mumbled.

"Brie? Brie!" I cried

"Um, there are patients here that had chunks of cement fall on them during their morning commute.

But, please, have some brie. While carrying lab samples.That's nasty. What's the matter with you" I screamed at him.

"Oh." He mumbled realising he was in trouble

"Where'd you get this?" Bailey said popping around taking something from his plate and eating it. He looked towards a conference room where laughter and chatter was coming from.

"What the..." both Bailey and I said looking into the conference room. What we saw was a full on banquet. Most of the hospital staff was tucking into.

"Oh, hey. I heard Catherine Avery had all the food from the wedding sent here, you know, for the staff, and I have two minutes. How many sliders do you think I could eat in two minutes?" Arizona said coming up to us.

"Is that pesto?" I asked. I loved pesto.

"Do you think that Catherine's gonna help pick the new chief? I mean, why wouldn't Hunt just do it?" Arizona said mumbling

"I don't..." Bailey said

"um God, it would save us so much trouble. The 12-page resumes and the phone calls and the polite vetting and Who would want to be chief? Would you?" Arizona said eating a slider

"I well, I had Are you asking?" Bailey mumbled

"Hunt should just do it, right?" Arizona finished. "Oh." Bailey said taken back. She wants to be chief. She'd be a good chief. Though it's like she been a in official chief for the entire time I've worked here.

"Those crab cakes look really good." I said walking off away to the food.

———————————————————————————

RICHARD POV

"I said no." Catherine shouted walking into the scrub room she was referring to the procedure I had allowed Hunt to do.

"I know what you said." I grumbled

"If anything goes wrong in that O.R. it jeopardizes our entire surgical program." She said seriously. This was true.

"It could be the boy's only hope." I said.

"I don't need you to defend the technique to me, Richard. I need you to follow orders." She said shocking me.

"Orders?" I asked.

"I'm an owner in this hospital." She said

"I am, too." I argued back

"But I'm also the chief. It's my call." I said explaining myself

"You mean interim chief." She said smugly. This angered me. I had no words except to walk. So I walked past her out of the scrub room.

"That boy had no chance. We're giving him one. I don't feel bad about that." I said shouting whilst walking out.

———————————————————————————

DEREK POV

[Sirens wailing]

"We can't tell where Keith ends and the door begins.

If we use the jaws of life to get him out, it'll rip him to shreds. He'll bleed to death in seconds." April said explaining to us.

"What about trying an ex-lap?" I said. I know neuro is my specialty but I still had experience with these situations. Remember the ferry boat crash.

"Then we can try to separate" I continued

"We're not sterile. There's no blood bank. This is not a controlled environment." Amelia said snapping back.

"I know. I know." I whispered

"We could put a balloon catheter into his aorta. It could buy us some time." Maggie said.

"If we were closer to the hospital, I would say maybe, but we're 25 minutes out. He'll never make it." I said

"Okay, what if..." Maggie said before being interrupted by April.

"He's a black tag, guys. We can't do anything else for him." April said seriously taking of her gloves and looking at all of us huddled in a circle.

"Then I'm calling it." A guy interrupted. He was the firefighter on this case.

"We're gonna cut him out.Maybe we'll get lucky." He said walking towards the scene.

"You should go." April said seriously.

"No, we can stay and help" I shouted back

"I'll stay. You go save people that you can save. I'll do what I can for him." She said walking off towards the scene.

"Okay, Keith. We're gonna cut you out of there now, all right?" I heard her say to him kneeling down.

———————————————————————————

AMELIA POV

"Maybe if we..." Maggie said hopeful, we were now getting out of the ambulance outside Greys. Meredith and Richard net us.

"It wouldn't have worked." Derek said

"Yeah.No" Maggie said

"It was right call." He said speaking to Maggie.

"Yeh, it was the only way" Meredith came up to them and agreed. We had kept them all in the loop incase we somehow had gotten him out. Like they can speak. Where had they been for the past year. Hiding.

"Huh." I grumbled

"What?" Meredith snapped back looking at me in the eyes.

——————————————————————————-

STEPHANIE POV

"What'd I do?" An intern whispered. I had walked in on my stupid interns taking of a patients neck brace which ultimately could paralyse her which will happen if we don't correct it quick enough.

"Wiggle your toes for me, Joan." I said calmly trying to hold her head in place and still.

"I can't. I can't feel anything not even my contractions." She cried

"What did you do?" The girl intern whispered to the boy.

"Am I paralyzed?" Joan cried

"We're working very, very hard to prevent that, but I need you to stay calm." I said to her.

"Can I do something?" Andrew said to me. I could not believe he was an intern.

"You can go stand over there with the interns, intern." I shouted at him.

"What the hell happened in here?" Callie said rushing in with Arizona.

"She dislocated her fracture at c56. I'm decompressing." I replied to her.

"Okay." She said.

"Baby's got decels." Arizona stayed looking at her monitor.

All right

"How the hell did she dislocate?" Callie shouted annoyed.

"Uh, she was having trouble breathing. I I I thought it was the collar." The boy intern answered.

"Get out!" I shouted still holding Joan's neck.

"Okay.I need to get this baby out of here. Let's get her up to the O.R." Arizona said honestly.

"All of you out now." I shouted louder referring to the interns.

———————————————————————————

DEREK POV

"There was a mass casualty today. They needed us back here at the hospital." Meredith explained to Amelia.

"I know, but maybe there was still something - that we could've" Amelia said to her.

"We did everything we can do." I said said butting in.

"Why are you second-guessing?" I said to her. You could tell she was angry which is why I jumped in before she started taking it out in Meredith.

"I'm just saying that maybe..." she said before i interrupted her

"I was willing to try an ex-lap." I said seriously.

"Oh, my God, would you shut up about the stupid ex-lap? That is not the point!" She shouted at both myself and Meredith. Meredith wasn't even there. This had to now be about something else.

"No. No, the point is that maybe we should have stayed. Maybe we didn't try everything we possibly could have to save him" Maggie said trying to calm the situation down.

"You were all there. You all saw that car. I saw it in the news" Meredith said.

"And there's a difference between knowing when you can realistically save someone and when it's time to walk away." I said.

"And when is that, Derek? When is that point? When do you look at a horrible, sad situation and decide that you are ready to run away from it? I'm curious.

I'm curious how you make those decisions you specifically. How how do you look around and decide that? When do you decide that you should leave?" Amelia shouted directing it at me. This was about us leaving.

"Dr.Shepherd" a intern called.

"Yes!" Amelia and I both shouted.

"Dr.Edwards says she needs you in trauma two right away." Directing it at me.

"I'm Dr. Shepherd." Amelia said louder to get him to look at her instead.

"Oh, sorry." He apologised

"Dr.Edwards says she needs you right away." He continued.

"I'm going, you need to cool the hell down" I said directing at Amelia walking past her.

———————————————————————————

MEREDITH POV

[Door opens]

"I'm sorry about butting in about that patient. I wasn't there" I said to Amelia who had just walked into the supply cupboard I was getting things from. Derek and her just had a major disagreement.

"He had no chance. Even if he does survive it's a miracle. He'll need so much rehab" I continued.

"What. Just like Derek had?" She snapped. I knew it. Why the hell was she bringing this up. Does she not know how hard then 9 months were. Did she not get my voice message? She was the only one I had tried to contact but she didn't answer.

"And you're mad at me for going away, - and I am sorry about that." I said honestly.

"That's not..." she said trying to change the subject.

"I mean, He couldn't breathe. He was a mess. He couldn't exist around this place" I said.

"You know, I looked around at that house, and my kids, our kids I couldn't breathe knowing that this might of been the last time I would see that house. I didn't want to go" I cried.

"You didn't call me." She said. I did try and call her. I left a voice message.

"You know what! I did call you and you didn't answer. I left a voice message too!" I shouted.

"He needed time." I said calmly.

"I am a neurosurgeon. I could have took care of him." She cried.

"And you didn't call me." She continued. Did she not just hear me.

"Amelia" I said going to say it again.

"Who contacted you first?The police? The paramedics? How far away was the hospital? How long were you sitting there waiting for them to tell you if he was alive or dead? How many hours later was it before I was even informed? How many chances did you have when you could have called me? Why didn't you call me?" She cried.

"There wasn't anything you could've done. His injuries were so bad. We knew that he was okay. They fixed his brain bleed. Neuro-wise, he was okay. Nothing was going to fix him other than more surgeries on his legs. He had to learn to walk again. He had forgotten half of his life, each day he got parts of bits back. He remembered you though. He did not want you to see him like that" I said finally telling someone how bad it was for us. After the transfer he got worse for a few weeks. Then he somehow got better. It was a miracle.

"You don't know that. You don't know." She cried.

"Yes, I do." I said honestly.

"What if I could've helped him? What if Callie could of helped him? What if I had a chance? I pull off miracles for a living." She said referring to the amnesia.

"I have proven that I can reverse the impossible. I should have been there. If I had seen him or treated him" she said but I interrupted her

"It was too late. By the time we got to the rehab centre. I pleaded with Derek to call you or someone. He didn't want to. He cried. He actually cried telling me not too. They he got worse. He lost half his memory. That was when I considered calling you again. I was this close, but they told me his brain was absolutely fine. No bleed. Nothing. I even had a look. It was due to him having to experience a trauma." I explained hoping she would understand.

"How could you do it? How could you let him leave without letting me know? I didn't get to see him.

I didn't get to tell him goodbye." She said her voice breaking.

"I thought you would've at least given me the courtesy and the respect when my own brother was on his death bead"

[Sniffles] [Breathes sharply] I didn't know till November if he was alive or dead. If you were alive or dead. I didn't get to say him goodbye because of you. You should of ignore him. You should of called me" she cried but before I could say she was right. And I did try. She walked out of the door closing the door behind her. But Derek was standing right outside holding something small. She pushed right past him.

"Damn it!" I cried bursting into tears. Falling to the floor dropping everything I had in my hands on the floor.

[Crying] [Sniffles] [Breathing deeply] [Sniffling] [Clipboard clatters] [Breathes deeply]

"Hey." Derek whispered sitting down towards me.

"Guess who wanted to see mommy?" He said smiling. I looked towards him and Ellis was in his arms. She was still so tiny. Only at a month old. Bailey grew so quickly.

I took her from his arms and snuggled her into me. This made me cry even more. Why couldn't she except just like everyone else. This was not my decision. Derek put his arms around my crying body.

"I'm sorry Meredith. I caused this" He whispered into me.

"I'll fix this" He said getting up to find some tissues which he did, he then passed towards me.

———————————————————————————

RICHARD POV

"Sorry about the wedding." Bailey came up to me. I was looking at the banquet that Catherine had layer out for the staff. Most of the interns had eaten it.

At this moment it didn't look like there was a wedding. The boy had survived and she was still annoyed about that.

"Oh, no. It was the right idea to cancel." I said to her glumly.

"Postpone you mean." She asked looking at me confused of my choice of words.

"The odds aren't in my favor, Miranda.You know, I've tried this before.And failed. Twice.

Well, it always comes between choosing between the woman and the work. And when pressed, I..." I said explaining to my friend.

"You choose the work." She said getting what I was explaining.

"Yeah. You'd think I'd learn at some point." I said honestly.

"Sounds like you have. You just need to be okay with it." She said hopefully.

"But with Catherine and me, it's already been a problem, and it's still gonna be a problem.

I'm not sure I want to go down the road if it's gonna go nowhere." I said sadly patting her on the back and walking out.

———————————————————————————

ARIZONA POV

"Carefully." I said pushing Joan's bed into the elevator. She had a reaction out in. So we could deliver the baby. I had called one of the shepherds. Derek came but was payed as Ellis was fussy. So Nelson took over for him.

"Carefully." I said again making sure no one will knock the wall.

"Okay. All right. You're doing great, Joan. Deep breaths." Callie said pushing the bed with me.

[Gasps]

"What is it? Talk to us, Joan." I said panicking.

"I feel something. In my fingers." She cried. This relieved us. It was working.

"Okay. Good. That means the traction's working." Callie said happily.

"And in my toes! Oh, thank God. I can I can feel my legs again." Joan said trying to laugh.

"Oh, my oh, my God! Oh, my God. I can feel everything." She chuckled.

"Oh, my God!" She then screamed. This was not a good scream.

"She's having a contraction." I said to Callie.

"All right, Joan. Joan I know it hurts, but you have to keep still, okay?" I said explaining everything to her. "We need to prevent your neck from dislocating again." Callie said to her. Whilst myself and Stephanie grab hold of her body to keep her movement minimal.

———————————————————————————

OWEN POV

"You were right today. I was taking a big risk." I said to Jackson whilst walking out of the young boys room.

"You were lucky today. Really lucky." Jackson said

"I understand." I replied back.

"Is Kepner back yet from the tunnel?" I asked changing the subject.

"I don't know. I don't know much about her lately.

She's different since she came back from her training with you. And I'm glad that she found something that makes her this happy, I guess. But it's weird. We're just not on the same page anymore. Ever, it seems." Jackson explained. I knew what he was meaning.

"It happens more than you think. You go away, you come back. The world has shifted. Things that made sense once don't anymore. You heard that I'm resigning as chief? Give her time. That's all you can do." I said to Jackson, hoping he would somehow understand.

———————————————————————————

JO POV

"That's the face you're gonna make? The kid's alive." I said to Alex walking with him. He was in a fowl mood.

"I don't want to have this fight." He grumbled

"What fight?" I asked

"This fight. This "I told you so" fight. This thing where this insane surgery works, and then you get back on this army thing, and then I tell you you're not going, and then you get pissed." He said.

"You're gonna tell me what I can and can't do? You do that, I'm gonna be more than pissed." I said honestly. Seriously I hadn't even thought about that all day. To me it was barley happening. It was just a consideration.

"You know what? Screw it.You want to go, then go." Alex said.

"What's your problem? It sounded interesting.

And for a minute, I thought it could be something that we'd do together why not?" I said asking him to explain.

"I have worked really freaking hard to get to where I'm at right now. I have finally found my place, and it's at this hospital doing this job with these people.

Last year was crap. And now Mer is i i is home, and I finally feel like things are back. I don't need to go anywhere. I don't want to. I've put roots down here.

I've never put roots down anywhere. I'm not walking away, not from this. If you want to go, then go. I can't stop you. It's your life. Do what you want. Go join the freaking army." He said to me being serious before walking away.

———————————————————————————

ARIZONA POV

"You're almost there, Joan." Callie said. We were still in the elevator.

[Groaning]

"Uh, hey, guys Okay. She's crowning." I said she was only six centimeters. Last time I checked.

"I need to need to push one more time." Joan groaned

"This baby's coming now." I stated

"Edwards, hold her steady." Callie shouted. Holding onto her body.

[Elevator bell dings]

"Occupied! Occupied!" We all shouted at the doctors wanting to get into the elevator.

"Okay.You're doing great, Joan. One more big push and that should do it, okay?" I said to Joan.

"I can't I can't do this. I can't. He's supposed to be here with me, with us, and he's gone!" She cried

"Joan, we know it hurts, but we need you to keep going, okay?" Callie said reassuring her.

"The head's out!" I said pulling the baby out gently with my hands.

"This wasn't part of the plan." She cried

"Joan, you did great." I said wrapping the baby up and cutting the cord.

"Keith was supposed to cut the cord." She cried.

[Crying]

"He was supposed to hear the first cry." She wouldn't stop crying.

"Hold your baby. Everything is fine. Mom, say hello to your son." I said bringing him her to her in this small elevator. The amount of things these elevators have seen is pretty scary.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be. It's not part of the plan. Keith should be here." She said smiling at her son.

———————————————————————————

DEREK POV

"Mom, I have to go. I have, um uh G goodbye." Maggie said rushing out. She sounded stressed.

"E.R." Meredith asked her.

"Yep." She said relies cold.

"I thought we'd seen the last of it." I said.

"You okay?" She asked Maggie.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She said now focusing on the trauma we had all been paged too. Amelia now was joining us.

[Sirens wailing]

We walked out. What we saw was April on a tow truck with the car we had seen on the accident this morning.

"I stopped them from trying to extract him. I couldn't watch him bleed out. You were right you said if he were closer to the hospital, he might have a chance. So let's give him a chance." She said jumping down showing us she was serious.

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Thank you all so much for all the great reviews on this story. I'm hoping of doing on every few days or a week. It really depends on my schedule. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Xo