Chapter 1

Let it Flow

She stood over the open body cavity as the perfusionist began the appropriate measures to take her patient off cardiac bypass. Maggie Pierce took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she watched the heart begin to turn pink and beat in that classic 'lub dub' rhythm that she loved so dearly. She smiled under her surgical mask and took another big inhale and exhale. She had been doing that a lot lately. She was feeling that she finally had the space to breathe. The last year of her life had been… well horrible. It started with a breakup and graduated to losing someone who had finally understood her fundamentally to being sued by her uncle and perhaps the worst of all of this: nearly losing the father figure she had grown to love deeply over the last few years. Maggie postulated that she wasn't immune to the series of unfortunate events that seemed to have plagued this hospital and its employees. She had evaded the dreadful luck, so she reckoned that now was her time. She took one more deep breath: In and out; because it finally felt like things were going to be okay; that she had weathered the storm and was silently hoping that Fate had finally dropped her weapons and had set Maggie free. After finishing her part of the surgery, she gleefully asked her resident Parker, to close. She scrubbed out, washed her hands, and headed to the attendings' lounge for a quick nap.

She entered the lounge and was greeted by both of her sisters…and Teddy who noticed her chipper demeanor.

"Well…you seem, dare I say it, happy," Amelia said. "Probably the happiest I have seen you in a while. Do we owe this display of beautiful, white teeth to a certain…Winston," she smiled mischievously.

Meredith finally popped in "Yeah, you have yet to tell us about this mystery guy, Mags. What are you hiding?"

Teddy then chimed in "Let's just say that Heart Happy Hour was fruitful."

All three sisters looked at the interloper with slight contempt. The trauma surgeon immediately read the room "Oh, this is a sister thing. I'll just be over here with my crossword puzzle."

"Number 17 across is 'Lea Salonga'," Maggie said apologetically. Teddy nodded her head to thank her and went back to her current task.

Maggie finally sat down on the sofa, her back facing the Trauma chief.

"Anyway…" Amelia segued. "Winston…"

Maggie told them all about Dr. Ndugu. How he was the breath of fresh air she desperately needed after such an arduous year. She told them that they'd had nearly everything in common; about how they both lost their mothers from cancer. She spoke about how he had always had a crush on her and how she basked in his worship of her surgical skills and her body. He was the ray of sunlight peeking in after the hurricane had passed. She spoke about how she'd never fallen for anyone this fast. How it seemed completely unlike her. She finally ended it with what she and Winston talked about.

"He wants me to move to Boston to be with him," she finally admitted. "Or he wants to move here."

Meredith and Amelia were a bit taken aback.

"So, are you going to do it? Just leave us for some guy you used to know?" Amelia asked accusingly.

Maggie had known that Amelia wouldn't take her potentially leaving. well. She was Amelia's person. She sensed Meredith understood what Amelia was struggling with. After all, she had to let Cristina go.

"No," she said after some hesitation. "Look, it happened very fast. Too fast. He may have swept me off of my feet but I wouldn't leave you, Meredith, or the kids. Not like this. Not for someone I barely know."

"Okay," Amelia said practically breathing a sigh of relief. "I mean this guy seems impulsive. More impulsive than Jackson and that's saying a lot. At least he waited a year into your relationship to ask you to move in"

"… besides I can't leave Richard. His recovery time is going to be prolonged due to his limited mobility and he refuses to even look at Catherine. I have to help him. Or at least try to push him and wife to reconcile," Maggie stated delicately.

Meredith finally said something "Look, Maggie, you should do what makes you happy. If it's moving to Boston to be with this Winston guy, then do it. We'll be sad and we'll cry, and we'll miss you like crazy, but your happiness should come first. You do that a lot, you know. Put our needs ahead of yours. Be selfish sometimes. And Richard has me, Bailey, Jackson, and a whole hospital supporting him. He'll be fine. Do what makes you happy."

Amelia was getting ready to retort what Meredith had said but at that moment Teddy's phone chimed "Needed in the pit. GSW. They are about 30 minutes out."

Maggie didn't see the terror on Teddy's face, but Meredith did. She knew this particular case was one of them and when Teddy didn't say who it was, she feared that it was someone close to one of her sisters.

"I'm headed to the Pit anyway. I need to check in with Owen about something. I'll walk down there with you," she said awkwardly. She excused herself and practically ran out of the lounge with Teddy.

"I wonder what the hell that was about," Amelia said.

Maggie shrugged and looked down at her phone avoiding Amelia's gaze. Amelia finally spoke.

"I love you, Maggie. You know that but I want what's best for you and I don't think some hot guy you just met and who seemingly wants to take you away from the people that love you is who you should be with, but I'll support you no matter what you choose."

"Thank you," Maggie smiled.

Maggie's cell chimed. "Parker. My patient is crashing. So much for that nap." She then was on her feet and out of the door.

After several tries, Maggie was able to stabilize the patient. She tasked Parker to run a series of tests on and demanded that he page her when he got the results back. She glided down the hospital's corridors checking on a few of her post-op patients and she could not help but think about her mother.

"Find a man who's worthy."

What if that was Winston? What if she had finally found the one? Her rational mind then kicked in. She didn't even know this man beyond that wide-eyed resident she secretly had a crush on all those years ago. There was just something about him that she could not shake. As a doctor, she was trained to follow her gut feelings. It could mean life or death for someone. She knew they were moving too fast, but this was something she needed to see through. She also needed to finally let go of Jackson. She was angry at him. Rightfully so. She had trusted him with her heart after he practically begged her to give it to him; after he wanted to give what they were developing a chance. She had her worries as there were so many complications, but she leaped off that cliff with him, and for a long while it was beautiful. Being with this man who loved her mind just as much as he loved her body she felt that anything was possible for them. She'd never hoped in a relationship before Jackson and she supposed that was something he made possible. Hope. She hoped that they'd be together forever if she could help it. Then suddenly it all changed, and it changed so quickly and the whiplash of it all had her enraged. She did not want to be angry anymore. She deserved peace. She supposed that she'd always love Jackson. She'd always care deeply for him, but it was time to move on. To move forward.

Her phone chimed again. This time she was paged to pit for a quick cardio consult. She gave her recommendations and told the nurse to run a CT of the elderly man's chest. She walked over to the nurse's station and pulled up the series of texts she had received the night before from Winston.

I miss you, Winston 14:44

I can't stop thinking about you, Winston 15:22

Have you thought about what I said? Winston 17:30

She'd thought about it and then some over the past few weeks. She couldn't move to Boston on a whim. That simply wasn't who she was. But she knew she wanted to try this thing with him. She wanted to see what it could become. She thought that maybe he could come out and see where she lived and worked. He could meet the people she loved and maybe see if he could pass the sister test. She knew Amelia would give him a hard time, but hopefully one day she'd accept him. She smiled as she typed up the invitation to spend a few days in Seattle with her. As she was getting ready to tap 'SEND' there was a ruckus of nurses, doctors, Teddy, Meredith, Bailey, and Ben in his PRT uniform covered in someone else's blood. Ben looked frightened. They were all rushing in with a man on a gurney bleeding profusely from his chest.

"GSW to the chest," she heard Bailey say frantically as Owen rushed toward them.

Then everything went quiet and suddenly she couldn't breathe.

She didn't even hear her phone hit the floor as the screen shattered into pieces. There he was laid on a gurney, blood rushing out of his beautiful frame. The color of his skin was ashen and practically blue. Jackson. Her Jackson. Barely breathing; clinging to life.

Fate wasn't done with her. In fact, she seemed to be unrelenting, Maggie thought as she ran to him.