A/N: Thanks everyone, especially smiley714, a Calzona fan who took a chance on this and was pleasantly surprised. I am still working on my other stories, they are just a little harder to break through… so for now…
Enjoy!
"You son of a bitch!" Owen's fist collided so hard with Riggs jaw he heard his knuckles crack. Riggs, his former best friend, his sister's ex-fiance, was knocked clear off his feet. Good thing too, or he'd deck him again. "You let her go! Why the hell did you let her go?"
"Ah fuck!" Nathan writhed on the ground. Smart man, staying so far away from his fist. "Owen, what the hell?"
"What did you do? What did you do Nathan? I swear to God…" Anger twisted his gut. Adrenaline throbbed through his veins… Owen felt so out of control.
Nathan got to his knees, rubbing his jaw and wincing. "I didn't do anything, I swear. I ran after her… tried to go with her, but it was too late."
Clenching his fists, Owen stepped back while Riggs pulled himself up. He couldn't look at the man who cheated on his sister, so he turned his back to him and started to walk away. This was a waste of energy.
But Nathan spoke, "There's this orphan kid that hangs around here, Farouk. Meg's crazy about him, thinks of him as her own son. But he got in trouble with the locals, they thought he was a collaborator. Megan went to find him. I told her not to go, I told her I'd go… but it was too late, she got on the chopper… and then... I'm sorry Owen. I'm sorry.
He managed a nod at his friend. He couldn't offer anything more.
xxx
That night, Owen didn't sleep. Battle noises from far away plagued his psyche as he hoped and prayed his sister was alright.
When morning dawned, Owen waited in front of HQ for Major Michaels, well before 0900. But when a chopper thundered on the nearby landing strip, a flurry of activity got his attention. Was that a gurney they were unloading?
Heart pounding, Owen ran to the strip. A familiar figure shot in front of him. "Nathan!" Owen grabbed his shoulder.
"It's Farouk!" Nathan's hair fell in front of his eyes as they trotted to the strip. "They found him, but it's not good. I gotta go."
Owen slowed down and watched him spurt ahead. His heart dropped at the news. Was it bad that he wanted the boy to be his sister instead?
xxx
Amelia, Meredith, and Deluca made progressed erratically through the chaotic streets of Seattle. They were still a ways away, but Amelia could see the front arch of Shepherd Grace in the distance. A few more blocks. She glanced at Meredith, wondering if she should tell her what she'd talked about with the judge this morning…
"Stop. Stop!" Meredith ordered suddenly.
"What?" Amelia panted.
"It's Anna, look."
Amelia looked down. Anna was noticeably paler, blue tinging her lips. Meredith pulled the blanket away to feel for a pulse. "She's going into hypovolemic shock," she said, "Dammit! She needs blood!"
"We're almost there," Amelia nodded to the hospital in the distance. She was out of breath, but she'd do anything… Anything to save a life. She tugged on the gurney, willing it forward. No one was going to be lost today, Amelia determined.
Especially these two little girls.
"Deluca, I need an IV tube," Meredith demanded.
"What?" Amelia asked, but Meredith pulled up her shirtsleeve. "Meredith, what are you doing?"
"We're the same blood type, Anna and I." Meredith said.
"How do you know?"
"I saw her chart and remembered because we were the same."
"A directed blood transfusion, that's…" Deluca started, incredulous as he pulled out the necessary equipment.
Meredith set up a short line with a wide bore IV "Deluca, I need you to put this line in my radial artery. Amelia, start a central line with this end, we have to get it as close to her heart as possible. Let's go," she gestured.
Amelia hesitated for a second in disbelief, but seeing the desperation in Meredith, she did as directed, carefully eyeing the girl's anatomy for the superior vena cava just below her collar bone. The transfusion wouldn't last long, as the blood would clot. But they should be at the hospital by then. She taped the line securely in place. "Good to go, Mere." Sure enough, bright red arterial blood pulsed through the clear line.
"Okay," Meredith nodded, "Let's keep going."
xxx
"I won't be of any help to you here," Mark said, eyeing the broken streets. "I'm gonna see if I can get to the hospital, at least I can patch people up there." He leaned on his crutches, surveying the scene.
"Are you sure Mark?" Carolyn asked. "Did you want me to go with you?"
"I'll go," Lexie said. "The hospital is going to need a neurosurgeon, I should head there too."
"Alright," Callie said. "Carolyn and I will try and figure out where we're most needed." She too, looked around. "Over there, there's a stuck fire truck, let's go talk to those guys, maybe we can listen in on the radio."
"Sounds exciting," Carolyn nodded. "Reminds me of my Navy days."
Callie nodded. "Well, I was in the national guard. I lived for these moments."
"Better than wine?" Joked the older woman.
"Oh, definitely." Callie strode purposefully through the parked cars. Traffic had started again, slowly, as the aftershocks finished and cars carefully ambled along. "Hey!" she called the lead on the fire truck. "Where you headed? I'm a doctor, she's a nurse!"
"An apartment a couple miles from here suffered major structural damage. Lots of families! We're on our way there! Hop in!" The firefighter said.
"Awesome!" Callie grinned. She turned to help Carolyn into the front cab of the truck, and fire truck eased into the now moving traffic. Flashing its lights and blaring the siren, they began to cut through to their destination.
xxx
Owen stood silently over the now empty landing strip. The chopper had since left, no other wounded had been brought in, and he had no news of Megan.
"Major Hunt." An authoritarian voice beckoned. He turned to see Major Michaels approaching him in a dessert camo uniform. "You know why Dr. Riggs has a shiner the size of a half dollar on his cheek?"
"Yes sir." Owen answered, more of a reflex than anything.
"Mm hmm," Michaels replied. "Come with me to my office, Owen, we have some things to discuss."
Owen followed Michaels to HQ, through the double doors, the sparse waiting room, and the saluting receptionist into the Major's office, where he was invited to sit down.
"Let me fill you in," Michaels picked up a metal coffee tin and poured a cup, offering it to him. Owen shook his head. He had no appetite or desire for anything to eat or drink right now. "Early this morning, about 0430, a bomb went off in the village where we last saw your sister. As of now, she's still MIA. We haven't found any remains or any kind of evidence she was there. I have half the company searching as we speak. We did find Farouk Shami, however."
Owen blinked at that. "Nathan said… Megan and Farouk were close?" he asked.
"Farouk kind of grew up with us here at the base. Your sister is close to the boy. He's ten. Nice kid. Sometimes he helps translate for us, though not in any sort of official capacity. It's his village that was bombed last night. But Owen… since your sister is MIA, there is something I do have to tell you."
"Sir?"
"Megan recently updated her living will. She listed you as Farouk's guardian, should anything happen to her."
"What?"
"Megan was working with Syrian officials to adopt Farouk as her own. She hoped you might be able to take over the process for her."
Stunned, Owen sat back in his chair, hands on his knees. Megan had never told him any of this before.
"She never told you," Michaels observed.
"No… I… um don't know what to say."
"Well, think it over." The Major said, standing up. "I've got half the company looking for her right now. We're doing everything we can."
"I want to go look for her, sir."
"I can't allow that, Major Hunt. You're too close and you don't know the area."
"I just… I need to do something."
"You want to do something to help your sister? Be there for the boy."
xxx
Owen stood outside the M.A.S.H tent, lost.
"Hey," Nathan greeted, removing his red scrub cap. "It was touch and go, but he's stable now."
Owen nodded. He regarded Nathan, gesturing at the shiner on his cheek, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… sorry."
"I'm sorry too," said Nathan. "I didn't fight for her. For us… For Farouk," he sighed. "C'mon, I'll take you to him."
Owen followed numbly, following Nathan to the recovery area. The boy was covered in bandages, but he could see the smooth olive skin and mop of dark hair sticking out over his forehead bandage. He imagined how much Megan would have adored him, how she would've cared about him. He imagined her teaching him baseball and card games, or nagging him to eat breakfast… He imagined his sister doing all these things for Farouk, and then he imagined himself doing it too. It surprised him how easy it was.
Owen pulled up a stool and sat down.
"Meg would have our asses if she was here," Nathan said quietly behind him.
"Oh, totally chew us out." Owen wrapped his big hand around Farouk's. How could it be so small?
"He better live or we're dead."
"Yeah," he squeezed the boy's hand. You better live.
xxx
Meredith felt light-headed from the exertion and the blood loss her body was dealing with, but she pushed through. They were in the hospital parking lot, only a hundred feet from the pit.
"Mere, you okay?" Amelia asked.
She swallowed and nodded. "When we get there, Anna needs surgery immediately. We've already assessed her injuries, so she'll just need fluids, an ultrasound… and-," Nausea clenched her gut and she forced her mouth closed.
"Don't worry, we got this," Amelia said. "Sofia's conscious. I'm pretty sure she just suffered a nasty concussion. A CT scan will confirm everything."
"I want my mommy," Sofia said.
"I know sweetie, I know," Amelia said. "Don't worry, we're at the hospital now, everything's going to be fine.
Everything was going to be fine, Meredith reminded herself too. It had to be or else she wouldn't know how to live with herself anymore.
"Daddy!" Sofia shrieked.
Daddy? Meredith lifted her head. Right in front of them, a pick-up truck pulled up with Mark and Lexie in the back. What? Lexie hopped out first, and turned to help Mark out. But there wasn't time to slow down. "We have to get her inside, now!" Meredith unstrapped Anna, preparing to pick her up herself.
"Whoa," Deluca said. "It's alright, I'm here, I can take her. Just a second." He cut the IV line and capped it off before scooping up the girl.
Meredith led the way, fighting through throngs of people and bursting through the ER doors. "We need an OR, stat!"
It was Dr. Blake that greeted her. "What do we have?" she asked.
"She needs an OR!" Meredith gritted. "She's in hypovolemic shock," Quickly she rattled off the pertinent details to Anna's condition as Deluca set her on a gurney.
"Trauma one is open," Blake said, directing them to the room
Meredith started setting up lines and leads, "We'll need an ultrasound, a bolus of fluids-," but she was pushed aside.
"Meredith, I'm here, we've got this." Richard appeared beside her, stethoscope in hand.
"She lost about a liter of blood-,"
"Meredith!" Richard grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake. "It's okay, it's all right. We're gonna take good care of Anna."
"It's… she's just a little girl." Meredith said, clutching Richard's trauma gown, "She's-," everything spun and whirled, Richard's concerned expression phased in and out of focus, and then everything went black.
xxx
The fire truck pulled up to the broken apartment building. Although still standing, heavy cracks indicated significant damage inside. Several groups of people huddled outside, watching, waiting.
Carolyn followed the firemen out. Behind them were an ambulance and the paramedics. "I'm going to ask the neighbors for blankets and water," she told Callie. "I can assess minor injuries as I go."
"Sounds good," she said. "I'm going in. There are reports of people stuck inside."
Carolyn squeezed her hand. "You'll take care, won't you?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Callie assured. "Here, take this," she handed her a walkie-talkie. "We'll keep in touch."
Taking the radio, Carolyn set about on her mission. There were plenty of people offering to help, she merely directed them where they needed to go, and asked for supplies. Near the building, she set up a station with blankets, water, and food donated by neighbors. She bent down to pick up a bottle of water when something caught her eye. A little brown hand darted out of a granola bar box.
Carolyn turned around, and met the serious gaze of a little black girl. But it wasn't just any child. It was one she recognized. Zola.
xxx
Penny began to prepare Anna for surgery. Quickly, she washed and sanitized the girl's arms, up to her elbow, where an IV line would be inserted. But wait, what was that? Dirt? No, a birthmark, about the size of a quarter. Interesting.
But as she continued scrubbing, Penny realized something. "Oh my God!" She whispered. "Oh my God…" She'd seen that mark before. Four years ago. At Dillard:
"Baby's out. Dr. Blake, take her."
The young intern took the newborn in her arms. Despite the steroids injected, she wasn't breathing. She lay her on a small table and rubbed her chest, stimulating the lungs. "C'mon baby girl… breathe. Just breathe." The moment seemed to go on forever. Then there was a gurgle. Her chest expanded with a sharp intake of breath, and a fierce cry escaped her lips.
"Good girl, good…" Penny quickly did the measurements, and wrapped a bracelet around her tiny wrist, noting a dark quarter-sized birthmark on her forearm. "Your mom's gonna need you."
"Dr. Blake!" Her attending called over shrieking monitors.
"I got her Penny," her colleague said, taking the baby.
"Okay," Penny turned back to the mother.
"Dr. Blake?" Dr. Webber asked. Penny found herself in the scrub room, staring blankly through the window to the OR.
"Sir," Penny shook her head, forcing herself to snap out of it.
"Are you all right?"
"I am sir, how's Meri- uh Dr. Grey?" she asked as she began scrubbing.
"Exhausted, dehydrated. Resting now. Are you ready?"
"Yes sir," Penny replied, shaking the water off her hands.
"Good." Dr. Webber backed into the OR.
Penny followed, letting the nurses gown and glove her before taking her position next to Webber. "Dr. Webber, you and Dr. Grey um… know each other well right?"
His eyebrows furrowed over his surgical mask. "Yes…" he said.
"I um… I don't know how to say this… so um… I'm just going to say it. I think… I think that Anna is Meredith's daughter."
A/N: And the pieces are falling into place! Thank you for your patience readers! Are you liking this crazy story? Leave a review!