Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy isn't mine. Sorry if you were hoping for something different this time.
A/N: Yes, I know. I'm a bad author. Has taken much to long for me to update. My internet was glitchy and then it got sort of fixed and I had to work and then go Christmas shopping for a whole day. An ENTIRE day. And it sucked. Cuz I hate shopping. Really hate shopping. But what can you do? So here you go. One chapter of each fic to make up for not posting.
It's the End of the World
"I'm not going today," Meredith told Mark the moment her eyes had opened. "I'm not."
Mark stared down at her. "Why? Are you sick?"
"No." Meredith said in a short tone. "I'm just not going."
Mark knew that tone and that look. She wasn't going to be budged if she could help it. He nodded. "Okay. I'll tell Bailey you're not feeling well." He stroked a gentle hand over her hair and went to take a shower. Telling her she could stay home eased a tightness in his gut that he hadn't noticed until it was gone.
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Maybe he should have told Izzie and George to leave her alone, he thought as he stepped out of the bathroom to see Cristina standing on their bed shouting at Meredith to get her ass up and get to work.
"Mark said I could stay home," Meredith whined.
"I don't care what McSteamy said," Cristina disagreed. "Move, move, move!" She nudged Meredith in the hip with her foot none too gently. "Work. Surgeries! Saving lives!"
Meredith slipped out of the bed with a glare at Cristina. She turned to Mark and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you there," she muttered. "And next time tell them all I have some infectious disease or something."
Mark nodded silently and pulled her to his chest. For some reason he felt dread pooling in his stomach. The insane thought that this would be the last time he ever held her passed through his mind. He pushed it away quickly. "I love you," he whispered.
"Love you too," she grunted back.
"Watch out for her," Mark instructed Cristina after Meredith had headed for the door. "Something's wrong."
Cristina rolled her eyes but nodded anyway.
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"You all right?" Derek asked her as she stared at the door to the E.R.
She turned her head to look at him. The world seemed to be underwater. She couldn't quite grasp onto anything. "I have a feeling," she told him slowly.
"Oh," he nodded and she knew he didn't get it. Mark had understood without her telling him even that much. "I get those," Derek continued.
Maybe he had understood. "Yeah?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"And?" She asked.
"If you wait long enough, it passes." He didn't get it. She wasn't surprised. She left him standing there to go find out what she was supposed to be doing.
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The five of them had been directed to the E.R. until their newest resident showed up. This would be the third one in the two weeks since Bailey had been gone. They all missed her like they'd never thought they would. The other residents were sloppy, boring, and far too easy to get around. It was no fun doing things they weren't supposed to if their resident was too afraid to take them to task for it.
Once in the E.R. they were sent out to wait for an incoming ambulance. Izzie and Alex were squabbling while George and Cristina continued the discussion on who their new resident might be. Meredith trailed behind them trying to concentrate on the job and shake off the feeling that she was going to die today. It was far too persistent and left her feeling as though she was walking through fog.
"Can we get back to the point?" Cristina broke up Alex and Izzie's bickering.
"You had a point?" George asked jokingly.
"Yeah," Cristina said curtly. "Which surgeon are we gonna have to suck up to today?"
"That," came a familiar voice that had them all spinning to face it in shock. "Would be me."
"Dr. Bailey," Cristina breathed out in mixed pleasure and confusion.
Bailey ignored her and fixed them with her evil eye. "I've been gone two weeks—TWO weeks and you ran off two residents? I've got people phoning me at home, screamin', tellin' me my interns are Rosemary's babies. Nobody wants you. Do you think I have time for this?" She ranted loudly. "I am pregnant! I'm supposed to be on bed rest. I'm supposed to be growin' a human being!" She waved her hands at her distended stomach. "I'm supposed to be calm. Do I look calm to you? Did I raise you fools to be pariahs?"
George pushed past Izzie and Meredith with a strange look on his face. Silence fell over the group and George leaned over and drew Bailey into his arms. He laid his head on her shoulder like he was a little child. "You're back." He whispered in a broken voice.
She struggled futilely in his hold. "I'm not back," she protested but all of them could see the pleasure hiding behind the irritation in her eyes.
"You're not?" George muffled voice was confused.
Bailey hit his back, hard. "Get off me," she ordered.
George squeezed her one more time and then let go. He turned around and looked at the others with a bright, impish smile. The bleats of an ambulance caught all of their attention.
"Yang, Karev, Grey, stay here and wait for the incoming case." Bailey ordered. She felt a bit uncomfortable now. They were all staring at her like she was a rock star or had come back from the dead just for them or something. And they were all nodding at her like bobble head dolls. "O'Malley, page Addison Shepherd." He scurried off like he always did when she barked an order at him. "Stevens, get a wheelchair."
"A wheelchair?" Izzie asked confused.
"A wheelchair," Bailey enunciated. Izzie ran off to fetch it.
George came running back up behind her. "What should I tell Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd?" He asked quickly.
"What did I say?" She asked them when they only continued to nod zombie-like at her. She suppressed a smile when Cristina, Alex and Meredith hustled towards the ambulance.
"Dr. Bailey?" George asked.
Bailey turned around and glared at him. "What?"
George gulped. "What do you want me to tell Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd when she answers her page?"
Izzie wheeled the chair beside them as there was a splash on the ground and Bailey and George both looked down. "Tell her my contractions are ten minutes apart and my water just broke all over your shoes."
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Mark watched the hustle and bustle of the E.R. closely. Meredith seemed to have shaken off the strange mood she had been in earlier with the arrival of the ambulance. Or at least that's what he thought until he caught a glimpse of her eyes as she ran past him to book an O.R. They were still a bit dazed and uncertain.
But she was doing her job and she was doing it just as well as she did every other day so he left her be. He would follow her as much as possible but he'd let her do her job. She needed to work. Maybe the feeling would go away.
The dread didn't leave the pit of his stomach no matter how much he tried to believe that she'd be fine.
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"How are you doing over there?" Meredith asked the paramedic, Hannah, as one of the nurses helped her into a pair of gloves.
"My hand's getting numb," Hannah shifted restlessly. "And I gotta tell you, this whole insides are 'bloody and squishy' thing is so not good for my gag reflex." She paused and took a deep breath. "But I'm good. Is this okay? Me being in here like this?"
Meredith stood next to her for a moment trying to look as comforting as possible with only her eyes visible behind her mask. "Once Dr. Burke scrubs in, he'll have you remove your hand," Meredith explained gently. "And then you can go and we'll fix Mr. Carlson."
"Good," Hannah sighed in relief. "Cause I know how much medicine I know and it's just enough to never be allowed in an O.R. It's my second week as a paramedic. I got out of school about a month ago."
Meredith knew that the girl was chattering because she was frightened. "I haven't been doing this that long either," she tried to reassure her.
"Talk about on the job training, hunh?" Hannah chuckled.
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Mark stood at the gallery window watching her again. Something was off about this surgery. About the patient. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though. He really didn't have a good feeling about this day. He'd tried to ignore it. But the dread wouldn't leave him.
He could tell that Meredith was chattering with the paramedic. So Angel was okay but still there was something off. Something wrong. He just wished he knew what it was so that he could fix it before Angel got hurt or worse.
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He continued to stand at the gallery window. He knew that there was work he should be doing but he couldn't bring himself to leave this small room.
Burke was there now. The paramedic would soon be able to take her hand from the man's chest cavity. Somehow Mark thought he'd feel a lot better when they were finished with this one surgery.
Burke placed himself between Meredith and paramedic and held his hand out for the scalpel. Mark, suddenly cold, sat in one of the chairs and wrapped his arms around his chest. Burke put the scalpel to the man's flesh and stopped. He turned his head to the door. Mark frowned and got up, pressing against the window to try and see what was happening.
Burke handed off the scalpel, had one of the nurses unhook his lights and stepped away from the table. Mark growled. He couldn't see who was at the door. He hated not knowing what was happening below.
Everyone was watching the door. The paramedic straightened and looked to be talking to either Burke or whomever had interrupted. The anesthesiologist eyes widened and he craned his neck up before slumping back. Meredith left the girl's side and disappeared to the door.
Mark set off at a run from the gallery. He had to see her. He had to know what the Hell was going on.
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"Meredith!" He yelled out when he saw her hurrying away from the nurse's desk. "Mer! Angel! Wait up."
Meredith whirled around to face him. "Mark," she said in relief. "I was going to come looking for you after I tell Burke what the…" she stopped and looked around carefully. There was no one close enough to overhear if she spoke quietly. Unwilling to take any chances she pulled his head down so that his ear was at her mouth. "There's a bomb in Mr. Carlson." She whispered so quietly that he barely heard her.
Mark whipped his head up and stared down at her. "What did you just say?" He asked harshly.
She stubbornly wouldn't repeat it until he leaned down and stared straight into her eyes. "A bomb, Mark."
"You're joking," he breathed out. She shook her head. "Okay. Go. Go outside and I'll come find you. Now," he ordered.
Tears lined her eyes. "I can't. I have to go tell Burke something. I have to."
Mark put a hand on either side of her face and nodded. He could see the stubbornness and the need to do the task she'd been given in her green eyes. "Okay, Angel. Okay. Go. Tell him. Do what you need to do and then come to me. Got it? In the lobby, at the desk. Come to me."
She nodded, her eyes wide but not scared. "Got it."
Unable to help himself he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. In response she parted her own and swept her tongue over the seam of his lips. For a few precious moments their tongues tangled and danced and then he set her away from him. "Go, Angel. Hurry."
With a last sweet kiss to his cheek and a softly murmured 'I love you' she fled down the hallway and back towards the O.R. and the bomb resting inside a man's chest.
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She stood in the crowd outside the O.R. waiting. Alex was fuming. So mad at Hannah for putting her hand inside a man's chest, but Meredith thought she could understand. Hannah was a paramedic. She had signed her life over to saving other people. Nothing mattered more in that one moment than keeping the person before them alive. Meredith knew that even Alex would have done the same. She knew she wouldn't have hesitated.
The O.R. door finally opened and Burke exited. "What do we do now?" Meredith shot out before the door had even closed behind him.
Burked frowned at her but he wasn't angry only worried and a bit afraid. "I go back in and wait for the bomb squad." He glanced in the O.R. for a second to check on Hannah. "You leave. You all leave." He ordered.
The gathered doctors and nurses started to slowly walk away. Meredith felt frozen in place. She knew she should go. Should walk away with the others and leave Dr. Burke, Hannah, Dr. Milton and Mr. Carlson to their fates. But she couldn't get her feet to move. Burke would need help when they removed the bomb to keep Mr. Carlson alive. He couldn't operate by himself. And he was Cristina's boyfriend. Meredith had to help him.
"Mer, you comin'?" Alex asked her after a few seconds of her simply staring at Burke. She turned now to stare at him and his heart broke at the look in her eyes. "Mer?" There was a slight shake of her head. "You want-?" Now her head shook violently. She was not going to let him stay.
"Find the others," she said in a steady voice. "And tell them…tell them I have to help. I have to. And that I love them, just in case."
Alex scowled. "There better not be any just in case, Mer. Seriously." He glared hard at her and then turned and strode off down the hall to the elevator.
Meredith sighed and turned back to Burke. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him soberly. "You need a surgical team," she said calmly. Some of the rest of the team stood behind her, waiting for her to convince Burke for them. They weren't leaving any of them alone to possibly die.
"All I need is Dr. Milton to keep him under," Burke disagreed already knowing that protesting was useless with this woman. At least today it was. He saw the look in her eyes. Knew that she was determined to save the patient and keep the rest of them as safe as she could. Still he had to try. "I can do the rest myself."
Meredith sighed and uncrossed her arms. She didn't say anything she simply stared at him. Burke shivered, she wasn't going to budge.
"Fine." He finally gave in. "But you wait by the elevator. I don't want anyone in here that doesn't need to be in this O.R. When the bomb squad arrives we'll take it from there. Until then, Milton and I are doing this alone. Now, go." Meredith and the others started off down the hallway to the elevators. "Grey," Burke called out and she turned back to him. "You know he's going to kill you for this, don't you?"
Meredith gave a sad smile. "Yeah. But he'll understand in the end."
Burke gave her a nod and she went back to the elevator.
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Mark ignored the pager beeping on his waist as he stood in the lobby of the surgical wing waiting for Meredith. He knew it was the order to evacuate. He couldn't yet though. He had to wait for Meredith.
He watched the people scurrying around him. He saw the police and the bomb squad arrive with a sigh of relief. Angel should be here any moment.
"Mark," he heard a quiet voice say from beside him. He'd been so busy searching for Meredith that he hadn't noticed Alex come up to him. "I…" Alex winced and looked like he was trying to form words that didn't want to be said.
"She stayed," Mark breathed out. "She stayed up there to help with the patient." He didn't need to see Alex's nod to know it was the truth. "I'm going to fucking strangle her," Mark whispered and rubbed at his forehead with one hand. "Seriously this time."
Alex gave him a halfhearted smirk. "This time?" He asked.
Mark let out a chuckle. "Someday remind me to tell you all about the adventures of Death and Die, yeah?" Alex nodded. "They still on the O.R. floor?" Alex nodded again. "Then I'll see you later, Alex. I have a girlfriend to go yell at."
Alex sighed as Mark entered the elevator and then headed off to find the rest of their friends.
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Meredith looked up quickly when the elevator dinged. The bomb squad was a welcome sight but not the one she really wanted.
"Are you the surgical team," the dark haired man that seemed to be leading asked without pause.
"Yes," Meredith answered just as quickly.
"Dylan Young, bomb squad," he introduced himself. He didn't give her a chance to do the same but turned to his team and began barking out orders. "Spread out, check the area, and then we'll secure the patient." He turned back to Meredith. "Where are they?"
"Dr. Burke has them in there," she motioned down the hall.
"And the rest of this floor has been evacuated?"
Meredith nodded. "It has, yes."
Dylan caught her eyes with his own. "All right," he nodded once, firmly. "You stay here. Nobody moves unless I say so." He took one last look into her eyes to try and convey comfort and warning and then made his way down the hall.
Suddenly one of the other members of the bomb squad called out. "We've got people over here!"
Dylan turned back around with a furious frown in Meredith's direction. "I thought you said the floor had been evacuated," he accused.
"I thought it had," Meredith protested. "That's what I was told."
They heard the arguing voices before they saw the people doing the arguing. "This is a sterile area. You can't come in!" Cristina's angry voice filled the hallway.
"Cristina!" Meredith called out shocked and suddenly afraid.
"Seriously! Back up!" Cristina yelled at the bomb squad guy.
The guy started to grab Cristina to move her out of the way. "Oh no no!" Meredith yelled. "Sh-she will hurt him." He backed off.
Cristina stayed in front of the door and stared at Meredith confused. "What's going on?" She demanded.
"Bomb in a body cavity," Meredith told her instantly but quietly and seriously.
Cristina blinked and looked at the bomb squad guys for an instant before moving to stand by Meredith. "Man," there was disappointment in her voice. "All I got is Bailey's husband's open brain."
"What procedure?" Meredith asked.
"Craniotomy with Shepherd." Cristina answered.
Meredith had an instant of hilarity inside her own head. The light in Cristina's eyes said she'd had the same. They were standing on a floor with a bomb that could go off at any time and they were jealous of each other's surgeries. Well, they decided as though they shared one brain between them, they were surgical interns. And surgery junkies. Hooked on the scalpel. And this surreal moment just proved it.
"Wait." The rest of Cristina's statement finally penetrated. "Shepherd's got Bailey's husband on the table?"
"Excuse me," Dylan tried to interrupt them.
"Bailey's having a baby, right now!" Meredith said quickly not even hearing Dylan.
Cristina was asking about the bomb while Meredith was talking. A loud "EXCUSE ME!" stopped them both midsentence. "Stop talking," Dylan ordered them.
Meredith and Cristina shared a put out look. "Jeez," they both mouthed and then turned back to Dylan.
He shooed them both away and Meredith went back to stand by the elevator again while Cristina went back into her O.R.
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"Meredith," he called to her before the doors to the elevator were open enough for him to even attempt to exit. They finally finished opening and she was falling into him. He held her to his chest and stepped to the side of the elevator. "You are in so much trouble, Angel," he informed her.
She nodded against his chest and let a small smile flit around her lips. "Yeah, I figured." She admitted.
He didn't yell at her like he'd planned to do. He just held her. He knew damn well why she'd stayed. "You and your damned saving people thing," he whispered.
She let out a quiet giggle. "You and your damned Harry Potter obsession."
"You tell anyone and I will kill you. They'll never find the body." He chuckled back.
"Promise." She drew in a deep breath of his scent and pulled her head up. "You should go," she told him. "You don't have to be here."
He glared down at her upturned face. "Shut up, Angel." She smiled, shrugged and buried herself back in his chest. He finally looked up from her to take in the activity around them and spotted a familiar figure down the hall. "Cris!" He yelled. "Get over here, now!"
Cristina's eyes widened when she spotted him and she hurried over. "Does Mer—never mind," Meredith obviously knew exactly where her boyfriend was.
Mark unwrapped one arm from around Meredith and held it open for Cristina. "Come here," he said evenly.
Cristina looked slightly longingly at the offered comfort and then shook her head. "I don't hug, Sloan."
"And I don't care," he nearly snarled. "Get over here now!"
Cristina started and then scurried to his side to bury herself next to Meredith in his strong arms. "But I'm only doing this because you're my boss," she told him huffily.
"Okay."
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None of them were sure how long they stood like that. Time didn't seem to matter very much anymore. Mark nodded to Burke when he saw him down the hall and Burke had nodded back with a small smile. It wasn't long before the other man came to them.
"We need to check the films and plan out how we're going to do this," he told Mark quietly. "Would you like to assist or will you stay here and keep an eye on our girls?" He didn't really want to pull Mark from Meredith and Cristina but an extra pair of eyes was always helpful.
"He'll go with you," they said at the same time, peeling themselves from Mark's chest and pushing out of his arms.
"You'll need all the help you can get," Cristina said.
"And Mark has a good eye for details," Meredith chimed in.
"The bosses have spoken, Preston," Mark grinned. "Looks like we get to have a boy's night."
Burke let a small smile loose and the two men walked away down the hall to look at the films.
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Meredith and Cristina leaned against the window watching Mark and Burke discuss plans with Dylan. "So how are they gonna remove that ammo without killing Hannah and James?" Meredith wondered aloud. A movement down the hall pulled Cristina from her side and Meredith turned her head to look. "Cristina? The bomb squad guy said you're supposed to stay away from there."
Cristina ignored her and moved closer to the O.R. door. "Is it me or is Hannah shaking?" She craned her head to see better in through the window.
Meredith joined her. "Is she squeezing that Ambu bag by herself?"
"Where is Dr. Milton?" Cristina asked angrily.
Meredith reached forward and slowly opened the door. "Hannah," she said quietly but firmly. The dark haired girl looked over with wide, frightened brown eyes. "Where's the anesthesiologist?"
"He, um…" the girl told them slowly and then let out a sigh. "He left. He didn't want to die." Her eyes closed and her face crumbled.
"Hannah," Meredith said again.
The girl didn't seem to hear her. She drew in a shuddering breath and tilted her chin up. "I think I'm gonna take my hand out now." She looked over to the door and nodded shakily.
"Hannah," Meredith said yet again. "Get Mark," she hissed to Cristina as Hannah let go of the ambu bag.
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Mark crossed his arms over his chest as they continued to make plans. The bomb squad guy was irritating him. Dylan Young was abrasive and pessimistic. He was only seeing the worst outcome and Mark had no desire to think about things that way. Everything would work out. It had to.
"Hey, somebody!" Cristina's voice, though muffled by space and doors seemed overly loud and terrified. "Help! We need help in here!"
Mark and Burke bolted from the room before the bomb squad guys had a chance to process the call for help. They burst through the O.R. doors and stopped abruptly, Dylan nearly crashing into their backs.
The scene before them could have been something out of Mark's nightmares and he knew it would feature in them for a long time to come. Cristina was gently pumping the ambu bag with wide, dark eyes that saw nothing. Meredith was standing next to the shaking paramedic with one arm around the girl's shoulders and the other hand holding the girl's arm steady inside the patient's chest.
"I think I'm just gonna take it out now, okay?" Hannah panted out. Tears streamed down her face.
"You made it almost to the finish line." Meredith was trying to calm her down. "You can do this," she encouraged.
Hannah shook her head wildly. "No, nono, I just wanna take it out and be done with it."
"Hannah," Burke said in a calm voice, though his eyes too were wide and wild. "It won't be much longer. Remember, you're keeping him from bleeding out."
"Just a few more minutes, Hannah," Mark tried when her head continued to shake. "You're almost there. You can do this. You need to keep Mr. Carlson alive, remember?"
"No!" Hannah moaned. "I am 22 years old. I should not even be in here. This is some kind of mistake." She cried out hysterically.
"She's panicking," Dylan said lowly. "We need to clear the room."
Meredith tightened her arm around the shaking girl and held her hand a bit more firmly. "I'm not leaving," she disagreed with an apologetic look at Mark.
"Grey, let's move," Burke ordered in a firm tone.
"Angel," Mark said in a quiet, intense voice. "Please."
"I'm not leaving her," she insisted. "She can do this. She'll be fine."
"You two need to get everyone out now," Dylan told them.
"She's my intern. I'm responsible for her." Burke argued.
"She won't leave," Mark said in a broken voice. "She can't. It's not in her to walk away from someone in need."
"No," Hannah sobbed. "It's gotta come out. It has to come out."
"We can do this," Meredith ignored everyone to focus on Hannah.
"Yang, go with Dylan," Burke ordered.
"You go with Dylan," Cristina shot back.
Mark watched them all and felt the dread that had been building all day come to the breaking point. He knew what was going to happen. Could see it with crystal clarity. "Angel," he whispered, knowing she wouldn't hear him. "Oh God."
They kept calling out reassurances to Hannah. She kept crying and insisting that her hand had to come out. Through it all Mark kept his eyes on Meredith. She looked up and there was a knowledge in her eyes that he answered with his own. An acceptance. A promise.
Hannah's hand slipped from Meredith's grasp and she pulled it out and ran for the door. Cristina, Burke and Dylan hit the floor. Meredith's eyes never left Mark's. He cracked from his frozen posture and ran to her. "Angel," he breathed.
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Cristina hit the floor with a thud and covered her head with her arms. She knew it wouldn't do much good but she couldn't help it. She knew she should have left the floor long ago. When Shepherd had told them all they could go because of the drill that wasn't one. But she couldn't.
At first it had been that she wasn't going to miss a good surgery for some stupid drill. Then, when she found out Meredith was still there, it had been physically impossible for her to leave. Meredith was her person. She had to stay. She had to be there for whatever happened. Because Meredith was her person.
She was irritated with Burke for trying to order her out. For not understanding that Meredith was her person in a way that no one else would ever be. She wondered briefly while she waited for the explosion if she would have left if Mark had asked her too. Possibly. Mark was Meredith's everything. And she was his. She fought back a touch of jealousy every time she saw them together but not much.
They included her. They wanted her. And it wasn't in a 'oh, you're my girl's best friend so you can come along too', it was an actual 'you're a cool person, can I be your friend too?' way.
Realizing that she had allowed herself to engage in a Meredith type ramble and that the explosion hadn't happened she slowly brought her arms away from her head and turned her eyes upwards. She had the sudden feeling that she knew exactly what she would find. Stupid, idiotic, foolish Meredith. She shook Burke's shoulder and stared up at her friend. "Meredith," she breathed. "Why?"
But Meredith only shook her head and leaned back into Mark's chest without moving her hand from Mr. Carlson's chest. "What did I do?" She whispered almost soundlessly.
Mark leaned his head down to her ear. "What you had to, Angel," he said just as quietly.
