Alex Karev walked through the hospital looking for the chief as he furiously drank a cup of coffee. He had just finished the gruelling Hickson case and wanted to let Bailey know. She had received the case when the mother had first come in and had reluctantly handed it over to Alex even though he was the Peds attending. All morning Bailey had been looking over his shoulder, snapping unwanted, unneeded, unappreciated advice at him like he was her idiot intern again. Stifling a yawn, Alex struggled to stay awake, he felt like he was dead on his feet. Granted, he didn't have to do much in the surgery, Arizona took care of everything, but he had been working all night.

After Jo kicked him out, he spent a long time leaning the back of his head against the loft door. He stayed there until he heard Jo's hysterical crying calm down into soft heart wrenching sobs and then they ceased all together. The image of De Luca and Jo burnt red in his mind, but listening to Jo cry just left him with a feeling of emptiness and deep regret. He never wanted to be the cause of her tears. He didn't know where to go. He didn't even know if he had a home anymore. He thought about going back to Meredith's, but the thought of lying in bed and falling asleep peacefully seemed ridiculous. He found himself driving to the hospital, which was the only place he thought could take his mind of things.

He drank the last drops of coffee and threw the cup into a bin as he walked past. He allowed himself a small smile. Alex was grateful that Arizona managed to keep the baby safely inside the mother; he seriously doubted whether the baby would've survived if it had to be delivered. I couldn't deal with a dead baby right now, he thought grimacing. He let his mind drift back to the conversation he had in surgery with De Luca.

'I didn't sleep with her!' rang De Luca's voice in his head, and his beat up face was fresh in Alex's mind.

Alex closed his eyes and tried to get the picture of him on top of Jo out of his head. De Luca wasn't the type of person to sleep with someone else's girlfriend, Alex knew that. He believed him. The feeling like his heart was being ripped out of his chest had eased. However, the feeling of guilt had firmly taken its place. It was like the more he tried to be grown up and mature, the more stupid things he did to ruin everything. Sometimes he wished he could be more like Meredith, she was able to put up this cold, impenetrable exterior and it seemed like she felt nothing. Alex wanted that. Sometimes he just wanted to be able to feel nothing, because feeling something hurt too much. It just hurt him too damn much.

His eyes automatically locked on to anyone he saw. He couldn't help that he was checking the faces of everyone he walked past, keeping an eye out for her. He didn't know if he wanted to find Jo and talk to her, or just avoid her.

What he wanted, more than anything, was a quiet life with no drama. He's had enough of drama, of crazy parents with knifes, of plane crashes and shootings, of crazy girlfriends and people dying. It was exhausting. So what if Jo didn't want to get married, that didn't mean they couldn't have their happily ever after. Since when did a stupid piece of paper mean so much to him that he was ready to throw away his happiness and throw away the most important person in his life. He had to find her and set things right, he had to fix this mess.

Alex walked across the bridge and went to knock on the chief's door when he saw that it was open.

He heard low talking inside and stuck his head in to see Bailey speaking to Ben, who was wearing resident scrubs. This brought a smile to Alex's face, Ben was an exceptional Anaesthesiologist, but he made an even better surgeon. He was just about to congratulate him on his come back, when he heard the end of their conversation.

'I think Meredith Grey is missing,' he heard Bailey choke out.

The world seemed to slow, and it took a moment for the full impact of those worlds to hit Alex. Then it felt like the air was suddenly sucked from his lungs.

'Meredith is missing?' he asked furiously.

Bailey's face fell when she saw Alex standing in the doorway, her eyes became wide and her mouth was agape.

'What do you mean she's missing Bailey?' Alex asked in a low dangerous voice. It's not true. It can't be true. You heard Bailey wrong, he pleaded in his head. It's a misunderstanding. Bailey is just going to laugh it off and say you misheard. Meredith is fine. Meredith has to be fine.

'Karev!' Bailey said rushing towards him and he saw how puffy her eyes were. Panic was beginning to set in.

'Where is she?' Alex yelled, daring her to say the words. When you tell a patient's family that their loved one has died, you had to say it in a way that makes for no other interpretation and Alex needed that now.

'I don't know,' Bailey said, meeting his eyes while hers were filled with tears.

Alex turned on his heel and walked away. He didn't know where he was going but he had to find her. Where could she be? He heard Bailey rushing behind him and he pulled out his phone and dialled Meredith's number.

'She missed her first surgery and then her second. Nobody has seen her since this morning,' Bailey said concerned, coming up beside him.

'Maybe something happened to the kids?' Alex asked.

Bailey shook her head and responded, 'I rang the school and the day care, the kids are fine and they haven't seen Meredith since she dropped them off.'

Alex put the phone to his ear and waited for Meredith to answer.

From behind them, Meredith's shrill ring tone rang out, and Alex felt a moment of relief. They spun around expecting to see Meredith walking towards them, but instead they saw Meredith's phone sitting on the desk of the nurse's station.

Bailey picked up Meredith's phone while Alex asked a nurse desperately, 'Who left this phone here?'

The nurse ignored Alex as she continued to type on a computer and flicked busily through papers.

'Who left this phone here?' Bailey demanded.

The nurse looked up and was surprised to see the chief of surgery, she studied the phone briefly and almost tripped over her words as she said, 'Oh the cleaner just dropped that in, he said he found it behind the hospital where the general waste is disposed.'

She had barely finished her sentence before Alex turned and fled through the hospital and with each step he took the more worried he became. Bailey followed him and yelled at anyone who got in his or her way.

He found himself standing in the alleyway; it was dark and deserted with Meredith nowhere to be seen. His eyes were fixated on a trail of dried blood. It was a short trail, only going about 10 metres and then it abruptly stopped. Alex felt like his world was spinning. This couldn't be real. What had happened to her? It looked like someone had taken her. Who had taken her? Where had they taken her?

Bailey saw what he was looking at and whimpered. She put a hand on Alex's shoulder, but he quickly shrugged her off. He felt like his world was collapsing. He had lost Meredith once before when she disappeared after Derek died and he didn't know if he could go through that again. His phone was still in his hand and he yelled as he chucked it at the wall where it shattered. He wiped a tear that threatened to fall from his eye and straightened up.

'Call the police,' was all he said.

There wasn't enough time to have a breakdown; there were things that needed to be done. Alex turned his back and his footsteps echoed loudly as he left Bailey in the alley and walked away.


'What the hell happened to this kid?' Amelia asked as she stuck needles into an exposed brain.

The OR was crowded with surgical staff. Amelia's eyes were focused but she could hear Maggie and Riggs talking softly about the best way to approach the procedure. There was chaos after Ronny had come screaming into the Emergency Room. Owen and Riggs had rushed out to the car park while Maggie took Ronny aside, and spoke quietly to him. Then Riggs had come back with a boy who had serious injuries resulting in being run over. The boy was around nineteen years old and Riggs referred to him as Jacob.

'His brother, Ronny, is the patient who was going to get the heart transplant this morning,' Maggie said, picking up a scalpel and working furiously. 'Ronny accidentally ran over Jacob with a car in the parking lot. Ronny wanted to go home but Jacob was arguing and trying to make him stay. So Ronny hopped in the car and drove, but he accidentally ran over his brother.'

'He ran over his brother?' Amelia said sharing a stunned look with Riggs. 'Where is Ronny?'

'He's in the waiting room,' Maggie answered. 'I said I would give him an update as soon as I had one.'

They worked in silence for a while, concentrating on saving the patient's life with only the monitor's breaking the quietness.

'You know she jumped me, it wasn't the other way around,' Riggs said suddenly causing Maggie and Amelia to look up at him surprised.

'What are you talking about?' Maggie asked with wide eyes.

'Me sleeping with Meredith,' He said, not catching the look Maggie and Amelia shared. The needle Amelia had just picked up almost snapped in half she was clenching it so hard.

'You slept with Meredith!' Amelia demanded, her eyes were alight and staring shocked at Riggs. She couldn't believe what she had heard, she couldn't believe that Meredith would lie to them like this. They were supposed to be sisters.

'Yeah. That's why you scheduled all your surgeries with me today isn't it,' he asked Maggie. 'I'm the bad guy who slept with your emotionally fragile sister.'

Maggie's eyes were glued firmly to the patient; she took a while to answer his question and Amelia knew it was because she was trying really hard not to cry.

'You got me,' Maggie managed a forced laugh. The audible crack in her voice almost broke Amelia's heart.

'I can assure you,' Riggs continued, apparently not feeling the sudden iciness of the room. 'That she was the one that jumped me. You don't have to be looking over her shoulder or holding her hand all the time. Meredith is strong, she's tough, you know, and she can definitely handle herself.'

'I can't believe this,' Amelia exclaimed. Anger had boiled up inside her; she just didn't understand Meredith Grey. It always seemed like they were getting somewhere, that they were moving forward and really starting to become an important part of each others lives. And then something always came up, something always happened that would have them yelling at each other, exclaiming how much they hate each other and how they would never be sisters. Right now, Amelia would be more than happy if she never saw Meredith again.

'Amelia,' Maggie warned, looking at her with glistening eyes. 'Not now.'

'No,' Amelia said. 'No, let's talk about this now. Now is the perfect time.'

'Amelia, stop.' Maggie said in such a harsh voice, that Amelia almost took a step back.

'Okay, then.' Amelia said reluctantly. She cared about Maggie dearly, they weren't even real sisters, but she was more family than Meredith would ever be.

Riggs looked between the woman, confused by their sudden hostility, he opened his mouth to say something, but Amelia spoke first, 'He's gone.'

'What?' Maggie questioned, confused.

'The patient, he's brain dead,' Amelia said putting down her tools.

'No,' Maggie said disbelieving. 'No, that can't be.'

'Maggie, his head got run over by a car. What was I supposed to do? There's no brain activity. There's nothing left,' Amelia said saddened, she took off her facemask and walked away from the table. 'I'll inform the brother.'

'Dammit!' Maggie exclaimed. 'Wait Amelia! I'll tell the brother.'

'What do you want me to do?' asked Riggs.

Maggie turned back to him but didn't meet his eye, 'Harvest the heart. It looks like Ronny is going to get that transplant after all.'

Amelia was waiting for Maggie outside, and quickly said 'I'm sorry Maggie; I swear I had no idea about any of it. Oh, I can't wait to hear what Meredith has to say about it.'

'Amelia I don't want to talk about this,' Maggie sighed. Amelia grabbed Maggie's arm and stopped her in her tracks so that the two doctors were blocking the corridor and people had to squish past them to get around. They received a lot of dirty looks.

'You always defend Meredith,' Amelia said exasperatedly. She didn't understand everybody's obsession with her. 'Everyone always defends the sad widow. She could murder someone, and everyone would be there coddling her and treating her like the victim.'

Maggie turned to Amelia, 'Amelia we aren't talking about this anymore, okay. We aren't doing this because I'm embarrassed and I feel like I'm exposed. Never have I felt like a bigger idiot. I thought I had a family here in Seattle, but the family I grew up in didn't keep secrets from each other. I'm not used to all the lies and betrayal.'

Amelia's face fell slightly as she couldn't help but feel a little hurt; after all, she hadn't been keeping secrets from Maggie.

'I will deal with it later because right now I have to inform Ronny that his brother is dead and he'll be receiving his heart,' Maggie finished. She went to walk away, but was immediately met by a solemn looking Alex.

'Alex? What's wrong?' Maggie asked, seeing the look on his face.

Amelia's heart sank, she knew that look, and it was a look of pity and guilt and worry. It was the look of someone who was about to bring someone else's world crashing down around them. She gave that look to patients all the time. It was the look that Owen had on his face when he told her that Derek had died. Amelia braced herself for what was going to come and asked in a strained voice, 'What happened?'

'Meredith is missing,' Alex said and was met by a stunned silence so he continued. 'I think she was kidnapped.'

'Oh my God,' Maggie exclaimed, putting her hands over her face.

Amelia closed her eyes and leant her head against the wall. Why was her life plagued with so much darkness?


'What happened to you?' Meredith asked. She was watching Gareth who sat in the corner with a gun aimed at her chest. He was casually chewing on a toothpick like this was his usual Thursday afternoon, which made him look even more menacing. The other guy, with the sunglasses who Gareth called Adrian, sat in the opposite corner unmoving as though he were carved of stone, with his gun aimed steady at Wilson.

Wilson had her hands in the patient working furiously to stop the bleeding, but she was struggling with the dim lighting. Meredith hadn't touched him yet. They had laid out a few 'essentials' on the table for Meredith and Wilson to use as surgical equipment, which was generally whatever they could find around the cabin. There were two steak knives, a rusty pair of scissors, some cotton, a needle and a few straws. This guy had no chance of survival, Meredith thought.

'I lost my job and then my house,' he said loathingly at Meredith, his voice was quiet but filled the room easily. 'And finally my family left me.'

The men seemed content to just watch them at the moment; they needed Meredith and Wilson to save Toby's life, which meant that they couldn't kill them, yet. They were valuable alive, and wouldn't be any use to them dead. This thought gave Meredith courage and cleared her head, allowing her to feel slightly more at ease.

The only way they would survive this encounter is if they play to their strengths. Owen or Riggs would probably use some kind of army battle technique to over power them and Alex would pummel their heads until they were bleeding on the floor. Wilson could probably give them a good thrashing, after all she had put that OB guy in the hospital with severe brain injuries, but she could never overpower two of them. No, Meredith had to play with her strengths. She was a doctor, there had to be a logical thought-out way to get out of here. And the only way she would be able to come up with one would be to firstly fish for information. She needed to know what she was dealing with.

'Start at the beginning,' Meredith pressed. 'How did you get to the point where you're on the run from the police and your brother is laying unconscious and bleeding on the table?'

Gareth's barking laugh filled the room, and he brandished his gun around, 'Look at this Adrian. Meredith Grey has been taken as our hostage and has a gun pointed at her. She's mere inches away from death and yet she still thinks she's in a position to be making orders.'

Adrian didn't find this amusing in the slightest; he just looked rather bored like he had somewhere more important to be.

'Okay,' Gareth sneered. 'I'll humour you for a moment, Dr. Grey. After all you'll be dead soon. Let's see. Well you know the beginning of this story, although it's more of a tragedy isn't it. I came to you all weak and pathetic, almost pleading for you to just take my life and let me pass through the pearly gates then and there. You should've done that Dr. Grey. A lot more people would still be alive if you had.'

He smiled at that thought, his yellow decaying teeth making an appearance. Wilson shifted uncomfortably, and glanced at Meredith, her eyes fluttering slightly. Meredith realised for the first time just how much blood had leaked from her head wound and made a mental note to check that out the first chance she got.

'You informed me that I was in liver failure, and my kind brother was the first to put his hand up and offer me some of his. We were all so happy that he was a 'perfect match' and you took us both into surgery. You told me the surgery had been a success, but a few day's later my body rejected the liver.'

Meredith nodded, she knew all this already but didn't want to interrupt him, because she doubted whether he would be inclined to continue.

'The second liver you promised me, you said it was a miracle. It was a miracle to have found another liver so quickly after losing the first, that's what you said. I could barely talk in bed at this point, hell I could barely open my eyes. But you took me in and opened me up, and then you butchered the organ. And then there was a third liver, and finally you managed to do your damn job. You got this one right. You patched me up and then sent me on my way. You thought you were God, you thought that you had worked a miracle and saved my life. But you made my life infinitely worse. Do you know how much money three surgeries cost, as well as the hospital care and medication. That's only some of the bills I received in the mail. I had to declare bankruptcy!'

Gareth's eyes were staring at Meredith's but they were unseeing. He was lost in his memories and his grip on the gun had loosened and was now resting on his knee.

'My family left me. I was depressed and couldn't provide for them. And after a man loses everything…well I guess he has nothing left to lose,' He chuckled softly at his own genius. He gestured towards Adrian and continued, 'Adrian is an old friend. So I rang him up and he offered me a job. He has been kind to Toby and I, he has looked after us. This morning, we were double-crossed by someone I had considered a dear friend and were intercepted by the police. Some crazy stuff went down, shots were fired and Toby got hit.'

'Wait!' Meredith said, realisation dawning upon her face. 'Wait. I heard something on the radio this morning. You were the people who were shooting at the cops? It was you. There were innocent people around. There was children!'

He looked back up at Meredith and smiled again, 'You have no idea of the things I have seen. Of the things I have done.' There was a long drawn out pause, which made the air feel like it was crackling with electricity. 'Of the things I will do.'

A look of horror passed across Meredith's face before she could stop it, and she quickly swallowed her fear down. But he had seen it. The laughter began as a soft rumble in his chest, before turning into a bellow as it came to the surface. He doubled over and cackled uncontrollably, his body shaking but his eyes remained cold and focused on Meredith. Her instincts screamed at her to take a step backwards, to put as much distance between her and his insanity as she could, but she stood her ground. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing just how terrified she was.

She risked a glance at Wilson, whose hands were shaking uncontrollably, but she was doing her best to steady them and continued working on the patient. There were silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Meredith felt a twinge of guilt. Wilson had been kidnapped because of her and she wasn't supposed to be here. What had Gareth called her? The spare? If they were going to kill someone, it would be Wilson first. Meredith had to figure out a way to get her out of here. Not to mention Alex would be pretty darn upset with her if Meredith somehow got out of this mess but Wilson didn't.

Meredith weighed her options. She didn't have many. She could throw a knife at Gareth, but that would only end with them dead. Even if she could manage to hurt Gareth, Adrian wouldn't even hesitate to fire his gun. No the only way to stay alive right now was to co-operate. She had to wait for the right moment and get them both out of here. Alive. That meant she had to save Toby's life.

Meredith looked at Wilson, her eyes fierce with determination and said, 'Wilson, hand me that knife.'