Before I get on with writing this chapter, I want to thank everyone for being patient with chapter updates. I'm so glad people are enjoying the story and engaging with it. I realize it's been awhile since I last updated the fic, and it's because between being busy with school, I've also been really sick and have recently been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, making it hard to type on my laptop. As I recover from my sickness, deal with the carpal tunnel, and also head into finals season in university, I'm going to let you all know now that chapter updates over the next few weeks will be very limited. I only expect to release one or maybe 2 more chapters in the next few weeks, but I will see based on how life is working out for me in the moment. I appreciate everyone's patience with the story and that everyone is so eager for updates. As for plot, I do plan on incorporating some elements from season 17 into the fic, but the pandemic and many major plotlines will not be storylines that appear in the fic. I want to provide escapism with the fic, and I feel that incorporating the pandemic would take away from it just a little. Okay, with that all being said, onto chapter 9.
Besides maybe her bed, Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital was Meredith's favourite place in the world. As much as that place had taken from her and as often as she'd grieved there, so many more amazing gifts had been given to her, and she'd done her fair share of celebrating both big and small wins there. Now she had another new happiness to tack onto her list of amazing things that she found at Grey-Sloan; Cormac Hayes. Word at that hospital spread like wildfire, so by lunch time nearly half the staff knew that she and Hayes were officially an item – but they'd totally been expecting it to happen for months, so no one was really all that surprised.
Meredith sat the attending's lounge table, fixing her hair and talking to Jo. Jo was exuberant – she'd just pulled off an insane surgery and was riding the high from it. Meredith listened intently, she hadn't spent much time with Jo in awhile and it was nice to catch up with her friend. "How are you doing? With the whole Alex situation?" Meredith asked Jo. It'd been about 2 months since Alex had left them, and she knew that Jo had a really rough time dealing with it for the first few weeks. "I was so angry for a really long time. I couldn't understand why he'd leave so inexplicably. I still wish he'd have given me the respect of calling me or telling me in person. But I think I've gotten through that anger, and now I don't know. Part of me wants to get out there again, but I also don't know if I want to commit to anyone or anything for a little while." Jo rested her elbow on the table, and her head in palm.
"Who says you have to commit to anyone or anything?" Meredith smirked at Jo. "You can still get back into the playing field without jumping into anything major." She laughed at Jo who had looked confused at first, then realized what she was insinuating and made a disgusted face at her. "Oh, god Meredith, seriously?" Meredith raised her eyebrows at Jo, smirking. "Do things at your own pace, but don't be scared to play the field a little bit. You don't have anything to lose." Meredith laughed and winked at Jo. Right as Meredith went to stand up, she received a 911 page from Hayes to the ER. She smiled at her phone, which Jo took notice to quite quickly. "Duty calls." Meredith said as she turned to Jo, smiling. "Oh yeah, what kind of duty?" Jo smirked at Meredith who was now slightly flustered and laughing. "Work duty, Wilson." To which she spun on her heel and quickly made her way to the ER.
"Hey," Meredith said softly as she walked up behind Hayes, placing her hand on his back. He was stressed out, but relieved when he heard Meredith's voice and felt her touch. "I got your page, is everything okay? What do we have?" Hayes turned to face Meredith. "5-year-old girl, internal bleeding and several major bruises on her abdomen. Her organs are in all the wrong places. It's a mess, Grey. We did some tests, I got her stabilized and she's being prepped for surgery right now, but I don't know how long she'll stay stable. I was hoping you'd join me in the OR. It looks like it might be a long surgery and I'd appreciate the help and the company." "Of course." Meredith smiled at her boyfriend. It still felt so odd, having those labels on themselves. Hayes handed Meredith the girl's chart, and they quickly made their way over to the OR.
The two surgeons quickly scrubbed in as the young girl became unstable again. They walked into the OR, got gowned and gloved, and began to open the little girl's abdomen, unprepared for just how much of a mess it was. Hayes and Meredith were practically silent for the first 2 hours, as they worked together to control the bleeding. Once they got the bleeding stabilized, their conversation picked up and they worked to put the young girl's organs back into their correct place.
"What the hell happened that led to this? I mean, it's pretty clear that someone did this to her, but why? Who could be so heartless and cruel?" Meredith shook her head. Hayes' gaze met Meredith's and he shot her an empathetic look. "I don't know – I've seen too many young children come in so bruised and beat up over the years from parents or family members. They come in scared of absolutely every adult around them. It's gut wrenching to try and help them when they can't tell if you're someone safe or someone who's going to hurt them again." Hayes told her, to which Meredith scoffed. "It's just wrong. It's so, so wrong. When Derek and I were choosing babysitters for Bailey and Zola, we had a list of correct or decent answers for each question we asked, and if they didn't answer all of them suitably, they were off the table. I'm glad he did that, now that I look back on it. We found people I trust with our kids. I don't know if I'd ever forgive myself if they got hurt by someone I chose to put them with." She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath in and shaking her head again. "I can't even imagine what this little girl was feeling when she came in." She finished. Hayes adjusted the light so he and Meredith could get a better look at what they were dealing with. Meredith peered into the girl's abdomen and froze. Hayes did the same and looked up at Meredith when he saw what she had. "Grey…" His voice trailed off. The girl had a massive hole in her heart. "Page cardio, right now!" Meredith yelled. When the hole was uncovered, she began to de-compensate. Hayes took over looking after the heart, and Meredith worked quickly to get better visualization for cardio.
"What do we have" Maggie said as she bust open the OR door. Meredith whipped her head around to look at her sister. "5-year-old girl, massive internal trauma, we just found a giant hole in her heart. Mags, it's not good. Go scrub and get in here." Maggie nodded and quickly made her way into the scrub room. A few minutes later, she entered the OR, and was put into a gown and gloves. "Alright, let me see." Maggie got up to the OR table and stood beside Meredith. The young girl was still in distress and they couldn't get her to stabilize, no matter what they tried.
For hours, Maggie, Hayes, and Meredith worked together to save the little girl's life. Unfortunately, the world was cruel and unjust, and the small child didn't make it through surgery. Meredith's heart weighed heavy as she called time of death, thinking about her own girls and how their patient should have had her whole life ahead of her. Meredith could feel her eyes stinging as she scrubbed out, and the tears welling up as Hayes and Maggie explained to the girl's mother that she hadn't made it through surgery. Meredith spaced out as the deafening cries from the mother infiltrated her headspace. She looked up to notice that the girl's father hardly reacted to the news that they were breaking. It infuriated Meredith to think that he had hurt that little girl and ended her life. She turned away from the adults and stormed off, furious.
She sat in an on-call room, having just gotten off the phone with the police station. She let them know the situation, and the lack of a reaction from the father. They told her that they'd do an investigation, and when she hung up, Meredith sat on the bed, her heart feeling like it could drop out from her chest, trying to take a deep breath. It was no use, the tears started flowing and she couldn't get them to stop. The kind of cry you could only bring up from another mom with young daughters. A knock on the door caught Meredith off guard and she wiped the tears from her eyes. She sniffled and responded to the knock, "Just a minute" to which the door immediately opened, revealing that Hayes was the one on the other side. He saw her tear stained eyes to which he immediately closed the door and went to her, sitting down beside her on the side of the bed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and she stared into space, but her body automatically placed itself into his embrace, and without thinking she rested her head down on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his torso. The couple sat in silence – Hayes didn't have to ask Meredith what the issue was. He knew that all she was thinking about was her daughters. Hayes placed a small kiss on Meredith's forehead. "Do you have any other surgeries this afternoon?" He asked after many minutes of complete silence. "Uh, just one. In about an hour and a half." She responded, looking up at him. "Well, I'll tell you what. You go do what you do best, save a life, and then when you're done your surgery, I'll drive you home and get you back to your kids. Okay?" Meredith nodded and felt a tear slip down her cheek, which Hayes wiped away with his thumb. Meredith let out a deep breath, and she shot him a tiny smile. He smiled back at her and kissed her softly, then wrapped his arms all the way around her waist, pulling her in tightly.
The end of Meredith's day came quickly, and as she finished doing some final paperwork, Hayes knocked on her office door. "Hey" she smiled brightly at him. "I'm happy to see your smile again." Hayes smirked. "I'm almost ready to head home. Thank you, by the way, for earlier." Meredith said as she stood up, and she kissed him lightly. "You're welcome. I'll always be around if you need some support." Meredith laughed slightly and hugged her boyfriend. "Yeah, but I'm always glad to have you around. On the good and the bad days. Oh, how's your arm and your chest feeling?" Meredith said, referring to the crash he'd been in that resulted in some whiplash and bruising. "I barely notice it now." He responded, and she smiled at him, running her hand up and down his bicep. The two broke apart from their hug and Meredith grabbed her purse. "I'm going to go get changed out of these scrubs, do you mind waiting here?" "Yeah, no problem." Meredith smiled and turned away from Hayes, walking out of her office, now just ready to get home and be with her kids.
20 minutes later, Hayes was pulling into Meredith's driveway. "Thanks for the ride." Meredith smiled at him. "Any time, go hug those babies." Hayes told her. Meredith leaned into Hayes and kissed him, then pulled back and told him, "I think I'm going to tell them about us soon. I don't know when, exactly. But I want you to be there when I do." Hayes nodded back at Meredith. "Me too. I don't know how my lads will react to finding out that I'm dating again – I hope they'll take it well." Meredith shot Hayes a half-smile. "We can cross that bridge when it comes down to it." She grabbed his hand. "Alright, I'm serious, go see your kids. I'll talk to you later tonight, and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow." They smiled at each other, and Meredith let go of Hayes' hand. Finally she exited the car, the two waved goodbye to each other, and Meredith went inside to spoil her children and give them her undivided attention after her crazy day.