Here it is! I finally finished this chapter. Sorry it has taken me so long, I found it hard to start this chapter right after the previous one then life got in the way. Thank you to jowwdii on ao3 for their comment, it reminded me that there are people who still want to read this story and motivated me to sit down and write.

I'm not sure how much you know about the covid present in Australia at the moment but the abbreviated version of what has happened is that the federal government has messed up the vaccine roll out, and until we have herd immunity we will continue to have outbreaks from overseas. What happened is that Melbourne, where i live, went into lockdown in june for a few weeks, then i travelled back to my parent's place in NSW (the next state over) for the holidays, then sydney started getting cases however the premier who has been very vocal about not going into lockdown waited too long, and now they are having 200 cases a day and have been the last weeks. So, victoria (the state where i live) decided to close the border to nsw. Luckily i was in qld (the state above nsw) celebrating a friend's birthday when the border closed so i was able to return home, however i wasnt able to return to my parent's and get my things or say goodbye. My dad was able to drive my suitcase up to the airport in qld and give it to me so i could fly home. Then, the place where i live wouldn't let me isolate there while i got a covid test since we have communal bathrooms so i had to organise to stay in a friend's guest room for two days. Then, the day before i moved back into the place i live, melbourne went back into lockdown because some idiots from sydney travelled down here despite being close contacts to a confirmed case, so the whole city went into lockdown and i had to move back into my accomodation before midnight that night. Anyways, pretty much the uncertainty has been anxiety inducing and i have not had the energy to write but i am back! I hope you enjoy this chapter. xx

Meredith wakes up the morning after their date with a smile on her face, lying in bed she relives the happiness of the night before and her smile grows, "bright and shiny" she says to herself with a laugh as she gets out of bed.

By the time she gets to work, the smile is well and truly wiped off her face. First it was Scout throwing his food at Meredith then Ellis spilling ketchup down her front meaning three changes of clothes all the while corralling four children through the morning on her own with Link working the night shift and Amelia and Maggie paged in the middle of the night, "perks of being chief of your department" she mutters wryly as she dresses Scout and tries to convince Ellis that she will be cold in a summer dress. It is late April with predicted temperatures of 10 degrees and an 80% chance of rain, unfortunately the four year old does not respond to logic so Meredith ends up letting her wear the dress and packs an alternative warm outfit in her bag for the inevitable.

Finally, she gets everyone to the door and in their shoes only 3 minutes late as Zola finds the permission slip she was meant to give her mom the week before. Quickly Meredith reads and signs, finding that she is meant to send along a shared snack for the field trip. She quickly searches the cupboards, finding a packed to corn chips and a container of unopened hummus which she quickly throws in a bag as the herds the children out the door, only 15 minutes late.

Unfortunately, by this point it is the school rush, leaving Meredith and the kids in traffic as she pulls towards the school, eventually she reaches the drop off point and quickly checks that Zola and Bailey have everything before sending them off to their classes.

By the time Meredith reaches the hospital she is 45 minutes behind schedule and barely in time for rounds. Quickly she brings Ellis and Scout up to the day care, handing them over to Claire with a kiss on the cheek before rushing down to her office to stow her bag, lamenting her lack of coffee as she reaches the general surgery ward to find her residents and interns gathered for rounds.

"Ok, let's get this started" Meredith says as she leads the way into room 5930 saying, "Mrs Thompson, I am Dr Grey and I am your general surgeon today" with a reassuring smile on her face. "Helm, present" she states, turning towards her residents.

"Martha Thompson, 63, here for persistent abdominal pain, scans show intestinal adhesions, possible treatments include lysis of adhesions" Helm says, looking between Meredith and the patient.

"Thank you Helm, please order a new set of scans, we want to know what to expect if we go in, adhesions can grow quickly. Now, Mrs Thompson, have you had any abdominal surgery in the past?" Meredith asks, sitting down beside the bed.

"Please call me Martha, dear, and yes, I had surgery five years ago to remove part of my liver for a living transplant for my grandson. He was suffering from acute liver failure, and I was a match" Martha says with a smile at the mention of her grandson. "You have any kids?" she asks Meredith. "Yes, three, between nine and four, I'm sure your family was overjoyed that you could donate your liver" "Yes, dear, speaking of my son, is the treatment for this adhesion thing dangerous? Should I be calling him and his family?"

"The most common and effective treatment for intestinal adhesions is a keyhole surgery where we go in and detach the adhesions of connective tissue which should reduce your pain. Depending on the scans you get today we will know whether the adhesions are still growing, and this will determine the urgency of the surgery. Like any surgery, there is a risk of complications however this is a surgery I have performed many times and compared to the surgery to remove your liver it is relatively low risk. That being said, there will be a recovery period and the greater your support system the easier this will be. You will need to stay with someone else for the first three weeks post op. I will give you some literature on the surgery and come back in the afternoon to check in with you, how does that sound?" Meredith asks, knowing that they will need to keep moving to get through rounds in a reasonable time.

"Thank you dear", Martha says with a smile, reaching up to squeeze Meredith's hand. "I look forward to hearing stories about you children" she adds with a cheeky smile.

The doctors continue through rounds, covering half the patients before all their pagers start beeping in unison "ok everyone, let's go to the pit, this is a mass casualty so the ER will be at capacity and full of medical staff and patients" Meredith says as the leads the way down. "You will follow the orders of the attendings, Dr Hunt will be leading the show. There will be patients in conditions ranging from critical to stable. Emergency crews will have triaged, you will check all patients coming into the hospital for any signs of life-threatening injuries missed by the crews in the chaos at the scene, including head trauma and internal bleeding. Patients will insist they are fine, advocating for the treatment of friends and family in visibly worse conditions, it is your job to make sure no one falls through the cracks. Now, the OR's will be filling up quickly, you will run supplies, examine patients and be everywhere at once, it will be overwhelming, it is your job to remain calm and collected and treat your patients. Am I understood?" Meredith says, turning back to look at her staff as she reaches the ER doors. "There will be time to process later, for now, we are the only hope for these patients" She says as she pushes through the doors into the chaos of the ER as the medical staff prepare for the onslaught of patients, donning PPE and making her way over to the other attendings as Owen begins briefing the staff.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. I will try to get the next chapter up in the next few weeks. Please let me know what you think! Your comments give me so much joy and motivation. xx