A/N: Okay, I'm back... I just had to focus on A Fight to Remember for a little while, now I'm back. There's a little bit of spoilers from Season 11 ep 1 in this chapter. Also I've updated Growing Pains if any one is interested.
Owen hated paperwork. He stared at the budget reports until it blurred into itself before shoving it away. Rubbing his eyes, he decided to go for a walk, maybe find Webber and ask him a couple questions. Although he'd been Chief for a couple years now he still appreciated Webber's advice. He sighed and stood up, taking a folder with him. Webber was probably in the attendings lounge. As he stepped around his desk, someone knocked on the door. He looked up sharply to see a small form in the doorway. Amelia.
"Chief Hunt?" she asked, taking a few steps in. She balanced a cup of coffee and a few papers under her arm.
"Dr. Shepherd." Owen acknowledged, faintly smiling. He hoped she was here to apply for the Head of Neuro position. "How was the commute?" He joked.
Amelia chuckled, "Traffic was pretty light, except for a bit of a jam at the elevators."
"Oh, yeah, it's always backed up over there." He parried, glad Amelia had a sense of humour. Then he cleared his throat, "What can I do for you?"
Amelia took a deep breath and handed him the paper, "Um... my application, for Head of Neuro."
He took the paper, briefly glancing at it before placing it on his desk. "Great, I'll take a look at it this afternoon."
Amelia nodded. "Thanks... Oh, and this," she handed him the coffee.
"This isn't a bribe is it?" he asked, cocking his head slightly. '
Amelia's lips twitched slightly. "It's just coffee."
"Right. Coffee." He smiled.
"Coffee."
They stood awkwardly for a half a minute before his pager beeped. Incoming trauma on the helipad, "I'll keep you posted. Gotta go."
xxx
Alex stepped on the elevator and nodded to April and Jackson, "Hey," he said. Then he noticed April's tense expression. "Everything okay? Is it the baby?" he asked.
April shook her head and crossed her arms. Jackson just sighed.
"Well?" He prompted. When they refused to speak to him he pushed the stop button. "What's going on? Is it something to do to Mer? What did she say to you?"
"It's nothing," Jackson said ,rubbing April's back. "It's fine."
"No I don't think so, I just passed her in the hallway, she looked..." Pissed? Sad? He didn't know.
"She just snapped at me," April said, "But it's okay, I guess she's allowed to snap. She warned me and I- I pushed, I shouldn't have pushed. I just wanted to know what was going on. She's been avoiding me ever since she found out I was pregnant. It was stupid."
"Crap." Alex said, realizing what was happening. "I told her to get an early appointment with an OB/GYN this morning... just to- you know," he shrugged, hoping that April would catch his drift. "It probably wasn't good news."
April put a hand over her mouth, "You mean... she wants to try again?"
"I don't know..." Alex sighed. "She wants to be a mom." He reached over and depressed the elevator stop button. "We never had this conversation, got it?" Mer would kill him. But they needed to know so there wouldn't be any more accidental rub-it-in's to set her off today.
"We get it." Jackson said, gripping April's hand. April nodded in agreement.
The elevator stopped at his floor and Alex nodded. "Uh, good luck with your appointment." He managed to say before exiting.
He headed to a file room to pull some old medical files from some of his old cases. His Africa patients. One of them was returning due to complications to her shunt. What was the name again? Zola. Right.
xxx
Cristina tried to pry her eyes open. She tried to move, but her body just wouldn't move. Stupid jet lag. But she had to get up, there was too much she had to prepare herself for. She took a few deep inhales, flooding her lungs with oxygen.
After a minute or two, she sat up and stretched. The problem with the Swiss is that their beds were just too comfortable. The light on her phone flashed indicating she had a message. She picked it up to check what she'd missed.
Two missed calls from Meredith, no message. Another call from Alex, he left a message this time. Something about that bothered her. Setting the phone on speaker, she replayed the message while she popped open her suitcase.
"Hey, it's me. Mer tried to call you a couple times but you probably have jet lag or something. Look, she's lonely, she misses you. Lexie's going to that brainiac thing in DC so... Anyway, I don't know- I'm new to this Person stuff. She cried all over me last night. She wants... Mer wants a kid, Yang, and... I don't know what to do about that... anyway, can you call her? Or me? When you get a minute?
Cristina swallowed. She really didn't know how to help her friend from here. But... at least, it wasn't like before, at least Meredith wanted something for herself. She didn't want to die, not like before.
Four years ago:
Cristina burst through the door, slamming it shut loudly behind her. She was just too excited to be quiet today. And she wanted to celebrate with her Person,"Mer! Mer- you'll never guess-" She dashed through the house, looking for her. The living room was empty, she passed through it quickly, stopping for only the briefest moment to notice the sonogram picture on the coffee table. She swallowed. Maybe she could cheer Mer up with surgery details.
She pushed through the entrance to the kitchen, happy to see her friend up and about, sitting at the kitchen table, her crutches leaning against a chair. "Mer, I did a solo surgery-" she started, but there was something wrong with the picture before her.
Meredith stared past her, her gaze blank and... dead. Her hand was covering something, and beside her was a bottle of tequila, more than a third of it gone.
"Mer," Cristina started, "You shouldn't be drinking alcohol, you're still on pain medication..."
The only response was the sound of her breathing. Cristina slowed her approach, no sudden movements. "Mer? What are you doing with that knife?"
Meredith's gaze slid to the sharp utensil under her fingertips. She swallowed and moved her mouth but made no sound.
Cristina looked around the kitchen. There was nothing around to indicate that she needed the knife for anything. There was nothing cooking, no food around that required chopping or slicing. She could only assume the worst. Cristina leaned over and slid it out of Meredith's weak grasp.
"Meredith?" Cristina asked again. She knew Mer was struggling, she didn't think it was this bad. Anger and frustration boiled through her. She should have stayed home today. Meredith shouldn't have been left alone. "Meredith! Snap out of it! What the hell were you doing? You weren't- you can't-"
"Derek is dead," Meredith whispered. "Derek is dead and my baby is dead. Why am I still here? Why Cristina?"
"I -..." Cristina moved toward her friend, wanting to offer something, but she had no answer for her.
Meredith stood up suddenly, too suddenly. She swayed and fell back on her chair with a grunt, causing the bottle of tequila to tip over, it's contents spilling onto her socked feet. A soft whimper escaped her lips. "What's the point? What's the- I can't- I can't..." she slurred.
Cristina wrapped Meredith's small broken frame in a tight hug and they collapsed on the floor.
"I'm here." Was all she could say.
"It's not enough..." Meredith sighed, pulling from her grasp. "How are you fine? How are you okay?" She asked angrily.
"I'm not... Mer, I'm not okay." She still had flashbacks sometimes. She still jumped when there was loud noises. She still had nightmares. If it wasn't for Owen... she didn't know where she would be. But Meredith didn't have Derek, and she lost a lot more than she had. "I'm taking you to the hospital," she declared.
"What? No..."
But Cristina wouldn't give up on her Person. And right know Meredith needed someone who knew what the hell to do with the broken mess on the kitchen floor. It surprisingly took very little effort to drag Meredith out the door and into the car to the hospital.
Cristina pushed the memory down and took a moment to consider what to say to her friend, and to Alex. Finally, a distant memory came to mind and decided to call Evil Spawn. "Okay... here's what you do..."
xxx
The chopper rolled in with a thunderous roar, while the wind blew with furious might. Maggie's hair whipped around her face as she made her way with Owen to the middle of the Helipad.
"What do we got?" She asked.
"Multi trauma, hikers found him in the woods."
They waited with the gurney while the chopper struggled to land in the wind. When it finally settled, they ran over, pulling the gurney with them. The paramedics transfered him in from the helicopter, calling out his vitals.
"Thirty-eight year old male-"
"BP is stable but low-"
Maggie took a second to gather her self together before she looked at the terrified and confused patient, "We got you. It's gonna be okay."
"Lily..." the man said weakly.
"Grey!" Owen called out and Maggie looked over to see a blonde doctor running up from the elevator.
Maggie studied the other woman as Owen rattled off the patients stats again. Was this Meredith Grey? Ellis' daughter? Her sister? She looked familiar, and then she realized that it was the same sad woman she saw at the bar yesterday. Her focus snapped again to the patient as they got him from the the elevator and into the trauma bay.
"Let's get an IV started..." Meredith said as she began her examination. "Edwards!" she snapped to one of the hovering residents, "Check out his foot."
"Oh, God," Edwards said, pulling on the bandages.
Maggie swallowed, she just had to make sure that this was Meredith Grey. "So... "You're from Boston?" She asked Meredith.
Meredith looked up, "Uh, I moved there when I was five."
"Oh, I'm from Boston too," she said with relief.
Meredith didn't respond as she jabbed her stethoscope over the patient's chest. "His pulse is through the roof... order an EKG stat!"
Maggie finished setting up leads and monitors. She wanted to make a good impression with Dr. Grey. She checked his monitors, "He needs to get an echo," she said, as she was worried about an underlying cardiac issue.
"My family! Where..." The patient grabbed Meredith's hand and pulled it from his midsection as she was attempting an ultrasound, "Lily my daughter, she's six... we were- I left them with the car... I can't"
"Sir, please... it's okay, we'll find your family, but you need to stay still. Edwards up his sedation, start a fluid BOLUS and a dopamine drip."
"Dr. Grey-" Maggie started, she was worried about his potassium levels. It could interfere with his heart rythmn. "We need to get an echo- I can get a team ready,"
But Meredith was already shaking her head as she stared at the ultrasound. "There's perinephric fluid build up, we need to take him to CT now."
Maggie was done trying to get along with Meredith now, she had to fight for the patient. And it was very possible that he could code on the table. "But he could-" She started.
"What's your name?" Meredith demanded, her tone harsh.
"Dr. Pierce, Maggie." She stated, barely containing the bite of anger in her voice. How did Meredith not know her name yet? Did she even know she was the Cardio Chief?
"Dr. Pierce, he's circling the drain," Meredith barked. "There could be an abcess, the echo is gonna have to wait. Owen and I need to take him for a CT." And with that they were wheeling him back to the elevator to take him to radiology.
"Dammit!" Maggie cursed to herself in the empty trauma room. So much for trying to make a good impression.
xxx
Alex sighed and hung up the phone after his conversation with Cristina. He had to admit, it was a good idea and made sense for Meredith. He made a mental note to page her later.
"Hey," An overcheerful voice called as he looked up from his paperwork. It was Arizona.
"Hey," he replied.
"So, I'm going to be working on this fellowship with Dr. Hernan..."
"Yeah, I heard."
"So..." She slid over to the desk and leaned against it.
"What now?" He snarked. She was going to dump more work on him wasn't she?
"You're kinda gonna have to be me now,"
"Do I get a pay raise?"
"Um, no."
"Crap."
"Well I guess it just means I'll owe you one."
"Whatever." He tapped his pen on the table.
"And..." Arizona trailed off. "I was wondering about one of your Africa patients. Remember that little girl with Spina Bifida that Weller operated on?"
"Yeah, hang on," he dug through the stack of folders. "Zola. She's coming back for more surgery. She'll be here in a couple days."
Arizona took the folder and flipped through it. "God she's just a few months older than Sofia."
"Why the interest?"
"Callie and I are thinking about adopting her."
Alex leaned back in his chair and nodded slowly. Man, what was going around in the water these days? Babies, babies babies. Everybody wanted babies...
He rubbed his forehead and yawned. He was so tired.
Just then, there was a knock on the doorframe and he looked up.
"We need to talk," Jo said, crossing her arms.
Crap. Now what?