Black
"Against All Odds" is still being written, but I was inspired to crank this out after tonight's episode… What I see happening next week.
"The girl, the one holding the bomb, who is she?" Derek asked Burke and Cristina as they quietly entered the room.
The two of them exchanged looks. Cristina cleared her throat. "She was a paramedic." She began softly. "She was?" Derek asked, a confused expression contorting his face.
"Now, um, now she's…. She's Meredith." Cristina finished, her voice barely above a whisper.
He stopped moving. His blood ran cold, his entire body froze. He tried to swallow but he had nothing to swallow. He drew in a sharp breath finally. "What happened?" He questioned softly, as he slowly moved his hand back towards Bailey's husband.
"The paramedic-Hannah, was losing control of herself, she was threatening to pull her hand out. And as far as we can gather, Meredith worked her hand into James and took hold of the ammunition just as Hannah let go." Burke replied.
Derek was quiet for several long moments. "Cristina, please wait outside." Derek commanded quietly. For once, she listened and backed out of the room. "Preston." He said. "Derek." Burke replied. "Listen to me very closely. The woman that I care about more than life itself is two rooms down, alone, with her hand inside a man, trying to save his life. If she moves a fraction of an inch in the wrong direction, she could die. And I can't do anything about that because I have a man on this table who will die if I don't finish this, not to mention his wife is about to give birth. You want us to be close? You're going to have to help me out." Derek finished.
"Derek, it's too risky to hand a surgery like this over in the middle of the procedure." Burke said. "I'm not suggesting that. What I'm suggesting is that you send Cristina over to OR 4 and you are going to call that OR. Have Cristina connect a handsfree headset to the phone in 4 and you connect one to the phone in here" Derek responded calmly. "Derek, you're in the middle of an operation-" Burke started. "What would you do if it were you standing here and Cristina in that room with that bomb?" Derek questioned. "Your wife-" He tried again. "This has nothing to do with her. This is about the woman I love sacrificing her life fore a patient before I tell her how I feel. Do this for me. Do it because you would do it for Cristina." He said, his eyes meeting Burke's over the table.
Burke was silent and unmoving for several seconds before he turned and went to the door. He motioned for the man in charge of the squad to come to him. "Look, if I send her down there to 4 with you, will you let her answer the phone when I call and put it to Meredith's ear? This surgeon in here needs to speak with her." Burke told him as he gestured first to Cristina, then to Derek.
The man hedged. "Are you married? Burke asked. The man nodded. "OK, well, that ma in there is in love with the woman holding the bomb. Her talking to the man she loves on the phone, for what could be the last time, isn't going to detonate that bomb. You and I know that. All that is required of her is that she not move. She doesn't have to move to talk on the phone." Burke finished. The man was silent, then nodded finally.
He nodded to Cristina, who came to him instantly. "I need you to go over to 4 and wait for me to call. Once I do, position the phone so Meredith can hold it between her shoulder and head, and get out." He instructed. Wordlessly Cristina walked down the hall to 4 with the bomb squad in toe.
Quietly she entered the room. Meredith sat on a swivel bar stool, her right hand inside the patient, her left, squeezing the bag keeping him alive. She looked up at her friend. Before she could even question why Cristina was there and why the bomb squad was at the door, the phone rang. Cristina picked it up, connected a handsfree set to it and walked it over to Meredith. "It's for you." She said quietly, positioning the piece on her head.
"Hello?" She asked quietly, cautiously. "Hi." Him. "Has everyone cleared the room over there?" He asked. "Yes." She replied softly. "Ok Mere, it's just you and me. You have to listen to me now Ok? You can't take off that headset without moving your hands, so just listen, OK?" He told her. "OK." She said, sighing softly. There was a long silence.
"My entire body went numb when I found out you were over there. My entire life flashed before my eyes and it scared me because you weren't in it. You weren't in it because I lost you. And that scared the Hell out of me. More than anything in this entire world has scared me. What you're doing is incredible. You are not only saving a man's life, you're saving all our lives by doing what you are. You saved that girl… You are an incredible woman." He told her. "Derek, please don't. You're making me cry and I can't move or do anything to stop them." She whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
He swallowed, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill over. "I'm not trying to hurt you Meredith. I'm trying to explain things to you." He said. "What, what could you possibly have to explain that you haven't already forced down my throat?" She asked, pain evident in her voice.
"I was a coward. I took the easy way out. Staying with her meant that I didn't have to start all over again. It meant that I didn't have to explain to everyone I know that I'm dating an intern who's 7 years younger than me. It meant that I didn't have to hide you from every bigwig in the hospital." He explained. She sniffled and whispered "Sounds like you gained a lot with your decision." He sighed softly. "I thought so too, but, actually I didn't gain a thing except a wife who overcompensates for every little action. In the end, I actually lost." He went on.
"What exactly did you lose?" She questioned, closing her eyes to the situation and closing her heart to the pain. "You. I lost you. And I knew that when I made my choice, but at the time, I didn't realize what you were, what you are." He replied.
"And what am I Derek?" She asked, bracing herself for whatever heart wrenching pain he was about to bring forth. "The woman I love. The woman I'm made to grow old with. The love of my life. My soul's recognition of it's counterpoint." He finished.
She smiled a little. "I always did love that line." She said softly. "I can hear you smiling." He told her. "It's hard no to when you're being quoted to from "Wedding Crashers". Although, I'll admit, it's a pretty good way of describing it." She replied with a sigh.
"I know it's cheesy and from a dumb movie, but it fits." He said. "Yeah, it does, but what does this all mean? Derek, I'm sitting in here holding a bomb and you're operating on Bailey's husband." She said. "It means that I need you in my life. I knew that earlier, but I needed to recognize it. And I do now." He responded. "And Addison?" She asked.
"I don't know, I guess I'll have to figure it out." He said after a moment. "No Derek, that's not good enough. You can't sit here and be the last person I talk to and not have a more pat answer than that. I won't accept that. Her or me. Plain and simple. But this time, I'm not sitting in a bar drowning my pain in tequila. This time I'm sitting over here in an OR holding hundreds of lives in my hands, including yours and Bailey's husbands, not to even mention my own. So you're going to have to do a little better than 'I don't know' Derek. You're just going to have to." She finished.
He sighed. "I-" He started just as he heard the bomb squad on her end of the phone. "Derek, they're…. They're going to remove the ammunition." She said, fear now taking over her voice. His heart quickened, his pulse was racing. "Meredith? Meredith! I love you. I choose you! Meredith?" He called into the set. He heard muffled noises. "Oh God…" He whispered to himself. Did she hear me!
I hope you liked it!