A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your support! Special thanks to Isabella! Muito apreciado! Don't worry, your favorite couple is in good hands! Onward!
In the surgical waiting room, Jackson could only be patient for so long. But in the aftershock of the earthquake, his patience had flown out the window along with his pride apparently, as both he and his mother in law Karen were clutching each other under a table.
"Oh dear," Karen cried, "Oh dear Jesus!"
"It's okay," he replied automatically, patting her back. "It's going to be okay," he said even though his surgeon brain was already leaping through every possible scenario that could happen in the OR during an earthquake, and it terrified him. His wife and his unborn child were in danger, and there was absolutely nothing he could do.
"Yes, Jackson," Karen replied, pulling back to palm his cheeks in a gesture that was perhaps too motherly. "You are absolutely right. It is going to be okay," her intense gaze was almost frightening.
What could he say to that? "Uh…"
"You know what I do in situations like this?"
"Um…"
"Pray. Pray like hell."
She pulled his hand to her lap and began to pray.
Xxx
"Retractor please," Arizona called. "Pierce… do you see it?"
Maggie's position over Kepner's body gave her a good angle to peer around the retractor and Arizona's fingers. The light from her headlamp illuminated the soft tissue of the uterus as she began to look for the debris. "Yeah. I see it, hang on." Maggie maneuvered her tiny forceps to the piece of debris that fell in. "It's so small… okay, got it." She dumped it into the basin.
"Antibiotic flush," Arizona ordered, "Hurry." The scrub nurse used a mini hose to squirt inside while Arizona began prepping the baby to go back into the womb.
But… there was still time. She could still make the cut and remove the tumor.
"Robbins, I could still-,"
Beep-beep. Beep-beep. April's monitors beeped, indicating a rise in blood pressure.
"I'm sorry, Pierce, but with all the risks for April, I just can't take this chance," she replied intensely.
Maggie wanted to disagree. It felt like they'd done all of this for nothing then. But the numbers didn't lie, April's sats were dropping, as were her baby's. It wasn't worth the risk, "I understand," she sighed. Hopefully the tumor wouldn't grow. There was still a good chance that she could do the surgery after the baby was born. Carefully, they finished irrigating, then Arizona lowered the baby back into April's uterus.
"3-oh Prolene," Arizona called, as she began to close up the uterus. "This sucks," she said, voicing the same disappointment and frustration Maggie felt.
"Yeah," Maggie agreed.
"Dr. Herman? Are you still with us?"
Silence.
"Dr. Herman?" Arizona looked up, a flash of concern in her eyes.
"She's unconscious ma'am," came a scrub nurse's response.
"Dammit!" she swore as she continued stitching. "Okay, can someone call neuro? Let's get her on a gurney."
"Dr. Robbins, what's going on?" Maggie asked. Something was going on between these two that she was unaware of and she didn't like being on the outside looking in.
"Nothing, it's fine."
"No it's not," did she have to point out that the world-class surgeon passed out in the OR with an open patient on the table?
Arizona glanced at her and seemed to sense her displeasure. "Dr. Herman has a brain tumor. I'm sorry, I didn't know it was this bad."
What? "She has a brain tumor?" Maggie could hardly comprehend it, "And you let her scrub in?"
"Pierce, if you haven't noticed, I am the one with the scalpel here." Arizona defended, "Suture," the nurse handed her the instrument.
"But you knew," Maggie insisted.
"She told me it was under control."
"Well obviously it's not."
"Obviously. Look-,"
"-doctors," one of the nurses interrupted.
"What?" Maggie and Arizona spoke at once.
"The phones are down, we can't page anyone."
"Ugh," Arizona sighed, "alright, someone find Dr. Shepherd…"
"Shepherd?" Maggie asked. Amelia? After what she did, how could anyone trust her?
"She said there might be a way to take the tumor out," Arizona said, as she began to close on April.
"Wait, she's Dr. Herman's doctor?" Even scarier. Amelia allowed Herman to operate?
"Not exactly," Arizona huffed.
"Robbins, what is going on? Dr. Shepherd can't be trusted after what she did to Meredith…"
"I was wondering about that. What did happen between them?"
Maggie hesitated. Tension between the two had been thick, but Meredith hadn't really spoken about it, and Amelia remained silent too. "… I can't really say." It wasn't her story to tell.
"Well," Arizona said, "I can't really say much about Herman and her tumor. Except Dr. Shepherd was going to consult."
Consult? So she didn't know then. Maggie sighed. Arizona was starting to get cranky with her, and she wasn't needed anymore. "I'll go find Amelia," she obliged.
"Okay, thanks."
xxx
Callie had been given a safety helmet, goggles and gloves as she went with the firefighters into the ruined building. She followed them as they cleared the first floor, and then moved to the second.
"Hey!" A rough voice called. "Hey over here! We need your help!"
"Let's go," the lead nodded, and everyone followed until they came to some piled up debris in the hallway.
"I need your help quick, she's stuck!" the man said.
Why did he sound so familiar? Through the dust and debris, the team cleared a path through the hallway until they came to the end. Callie saw the rough outline of a body partially covered by debris. Off to the right, covered by a jacket was another body. But it had been left behind. The person had died.
"Callie?" A familiar voice called out.
"Alex? Alex, what the hell?"
"Callie, thank God, you gotta help me. It's Jo. She's got internal bleeding, but we can't get her leg free."
"Oh my God, okay, I'm coming." She, along with another firefighter approached the debris pile, where it looked like the ceiling fell in. Most of Jo had been uncovered, but a large pipe lay over her right leg, covered by more ceiling. Alex was busy holding pressure on Jo's abdomen. Another man was trying to free her leg, but it was difficult.
A firefighter named Cruz came over with a pick axe tool and wedged it under the pipe. Using it as a lever, the team managed to raise the pipe high enough for Callie to slide Jo's leg through. With some effort, they moved it up enough for Callie to push it away. t "Thank God for tiny ankles," she said, "but there's definitely a break here."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Alex said. "I need gauze, lots of it."
Callie looked up. Jo was bleeding profusely through her abdomen, covering Alex's hands and shirt with sticky redness. "Let's get a backboard and a stretcher. Move people!" she demanded. They couldn't let one of their own die.
Quickly Jo was bandaged up and strapped into the stretcher. Callie and the other man, Pruitt, carried her down while Alex strode beside her, holding pressure.
"There's an ambulance just pulling up," the fireman said by the door said, "We've cleared a stretch of road right to Shepherd-Grace."
"Awesome," Callie said. She turned to Alex, "Are you okay?"
"Jo," his lips quirked upward, "Said something about marrying me. Right before she passed out. Can you believe it?"
Callie looked at Jo's broken form, "she's crazy about you Alex."
"Yeah," he said in a broken voice.
"Hey," she pulled her friend into a quick hug. "You got this. You can do this. Jo's gonna make it, okay?" This is what they did, this is who they were… spouses of survivors. They were the strength. She passed on all that she had to Alex. It was gonna be okay.
"Hey," the driver called, "You coming?"
She looked back at the building. There were still some people in need of Medical attention. "No, but he is." She stepped back and nodded at him before turning back to the damaged apartment building. Still, as she jogged back, throwing her helmet on, her heart panged with thoughts of her wife and daughter.
xxx
It had taken Carolyn a few minutes and several distractions before she could make her way to the little girl. But she found her alone, getting shade from under a tree. "Hello dear." Now that she was closer, she was certain it was Zola. She matched the picture Meredith kept on her mantle nearly perfectly. Shyly, the girl watched her approach, her fist wrapped around the unopened granola bar as she regarded Carolyn.
"What a scary day it must be for you," Carolyn stepped closer, speaking softly. "But it's all right now. It's going to be all right. Would you like to come with me?" she crouched down to the girl's level and smiled. "It's okay dear, my name is Carolyn, what's your name?"
Zola peered at her wide-eyed, like a scared puppy. Noting the candy bar in her hands, Carolyn drew attention to it with a point, "I have more of those. Would you like another candy bar? Maybe some juice?"
Zola fidgeted, thinking, while Carolyn waited despite her aching knees. Finally, Zola nodded.
"That-a-girl, come on dear, let's get you safe." Taking her hand, Carolyn led Zola back to the station she'd set up near the apartment building. As they walked up, an ambulance roared beside them. Paramedics hopped out and attended to a woman on a stretcher that Callie and two other men had just brought out of the building.
Callie hugged the man and spoke to him briefly before jogging back to the apartment. Then the man stepped up to the ambulance, "We need to get to Shepherd-Grace," he hollered. "I'm coming with her."
"You're going to the hospital?" Carolyn spoke up as she hurried over. Wait… the man… wasn't he Meredith's friend?
"Yeah," he replied, "Whoa, is that Zola?" he asked.
"You know her?" How did he know her?
"Yeah, I uh… she…" he swallowed. "Get in. We'll take you to see Mere. Come on, we gotta go."
xxx
Maggie ran down the hallway to the pit thinking that if Amelia was anywhere, that would be the first place. She hadn't been able to reach her cell. As she turned the corner, she nearly knocked Dr. Edwards over. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, "have you seen Dr. Shepherd?" She asked.
"Shepherd?" Stephanie replied, getting her balance back. "I haven't… but she sent me this crazy email about a massive tumor… I didn't get a chance to look it over yet."
"Okay," Maggie nodded. "Well, make your way to OR 2 and talk to Arizona," she said, "and start reading that email, you might just get your chance now."
Continuing on, Maggie asked everyone she ran into. Finally, she was directed to Radiology. Seeing Amelia at the desk of the CT room she strode in, "There you are, we have to talk."
Amelia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Maggie…"
"Not about that. About Dr. Herman."
"Herman?"
"Yeah. Herman and her giant brain tumor! She passed out during Arizona's surgery!"
Amelia looked shocked, "Crap," she said.
"Crap indeed," Maggie agreed as she looked through the glass to the CT scanner. "Hey is that-," a little body with long dark hair caught her eye.
"Sofia? Yeah," Amelia sighed, "got a nasty bump on the head. Just a couple more minutes though, and I'll confirm any further damage. Can Dr. Herman wait or is it emergent?"
"It can wait for now. She's probably being checked out by Edwards."
"Maggie…"
"What?"
"I um… I know you still hate me for what I did. I understand. I don't think I'll be here much longer, and I just wanted to say… For a little while, I had a friend. I ruined that, I know, but… It was an honor working with you."
Maggie bit her tongue. On behalf of Meredith, she had a lot of angry words for Amelia. But nothing productive would come of it now, lives were at stake. "Thank you," she said instead.
"Hey," Mark hobbled in, "how's the scan looking?"
"It's coming up right now," Amelia said.
He pushed past Maggie to look over Amelia's shoulder. After a few seconds, he released a sigh.
"Close call," Amelia said. "No bleeds, no major swelling. Sofia won't need surgery, but she'll need to be monitored for twenty-four hours."
"Right," Mark nodded. "Thanks. Thank you, Amelia."
She shook her head, "I didn't do anything."
"You got her here, you kept her safe."
"I…I'll get her a room in pedes and assign an intern to watch her. I've got to go, I have a consult." Nodding at Maggie, she left. Maggie started to follow-
"Pierce," Mark said.
She knew what he was going to say but stopped anyway. "You're going to defend her now?"
He cleared his throat. "Look, I know you're hurting for Mere, and you have every right to be angry. But life is short. I've been shot at, I've fallen from the sky, I almost died in a car accident. Today, I almost lost my daughter. And…" he shook his head, "Amelia was there. I'm grateful. I can't hold a grudge anymore. Just… give it some thought, okay?"
Maggie didn't really want to, honestly, but she nodded. "I have to go," she said.
xxx
Amid the beeping of the monitors in the ambulance, Alex clutched Jo's hand. The medics had stabilized her for the most part, though he was still worried about her lowered blood pressure and blood loss. He couldn't lose her.
"She's your girlfriend?" Carolyn asked as the ambulance rocked.
"Yeah." But she was more than that too. They both knew. "I can't lose her…" he said. "I-I love her."
"I know it's scary."
Alex nodded. "I just… I didn't think I needed her. But now, it's …" the thought of losing Jo was like a gut punch that took his breath away. He was feeling dizzy from the thought of it already.
The ambulance bounced and he glanced up. Zola clutched onto Carolyn, afraid. "Zola… is she okay?" he asked. She'd once been his patient. She'd almost been family. Maybe she could still be.
"She's fine," said Carolyn. Children are resilient."
"I know." The monitors beeped, the medic quickly changed an IV and grabbed some more gauze, Alex helped keep pressure. "How much longer?" he asked the driver.
"Three minutes out," he said.
"C'mon Jo," he said, as he kissed her cool hand.
Cheers of celebration echoed in the background, but Alex tuned it all out for the woman at the bar. He approached quickly, catching the familiar scent of her lilac shampoo. His hand lightly grazed her shoulders, but before she could turn to him, he kissed her on the side of her mouth.
Jo faced him, surprised.
"See," Alex grabbed the chair beside her, "I could get in trouble for that, and I don't want to."
Miffed, Jo ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at him.
Alex slammed down the crumpled paper contract he'd been carrying all day. He'd had enough, and all he wanted was to kiss his girlfriend and not fear the consequences. But she was afraid of papers and rules and signatures…
How could he convince her?
"This isn't a promise of anything," he started. "You want a promise? I can promise you this… you can't count on me. Cause stuff happens, you know? Houses burn, cars crash, people get sick. One of us could die tomorrow. I promise you, you cannot count on anything."
He glanced back at the document Meredith had HR make for him. The stupid piece of paper. "This makes it so… I can kiss you whenever I want to. I don't want the stupid running around and hiding. I want to kiss you when I want to kiss you!" he exclaimed. But Jo had already given in, reaching for the pen and paper and scrawling her loopy signature on it.
He was pulled into her. Into her scent and the heat of her breath on his lips, her soft hands on his stubble. Into her valley, her being. Finally! Relieved from the crazy tension, every touch of her skin on his seemed more and more meaningful. Significant.
He really was in love.
He was crazy for her. And he intended to soak up every moment, because truly and honestly?
Life was too fucking short.
The ambulance bounced and jostled, and all he could do was hold her. "Jo," he said. "I don't have any regrets. I love you. I love every part of you. You get me… like no one else does, not even Mere. I mean, we stole a freaking hotel room that one time, remember? Like who could pull that off? You showed up at my house on Halloween as freaking tinkerbell. You're not like anyone I ever met.
"I waited for you." Alex squeezed again, feeling the tears in his eyes. "I'm gonna keep waiting till you wake up. Cause there's something I didn't tell you. I got a ring. I know, it's stupid. But the day we found our place you were so happy. I was so happy.
"I just thought, why not? So, you're gonna get through this because you're Hobo Jo Wilson and you're tough as nails. When you wake up… I'm gonna ask you a loaded question, and you better be coherent enough to answer okay? I love you. Keep fighting." Alex sighed. "She better make it," he said to Carolyn.
"Indeed," she replied, raising an eyebrow.
xxx
Carolyn and Zola carefully climbed down from the ambulance as Jo was wheeled into trauma. As expected, the hospital was busy and full of people. She had to find Meredith. Clutching the little girl's hand she made her way to the main desk. Behind it was a board with patient and doctor names. She tried to find Meredith's.
"Can I help you?" A young resident approached.
"I'm looking for Meredith Grey," Carolyn said, smiling slightly as she noted the name on the badge. "Dr. Brooks, if you could just… point me in the general direction?"
"Um… well," Dr. Brooks stalled, obviously unsure if she should allow this stranger access to her mentor. "How do you know Dr. Grey?"
"I'm her late husband's mother."
"Oh." Brooks turned pale.
"I understand, you are just protecting your teacher. But as I'm sure you know, she doesn't need protecting. What she does need, I believe, is to see this little girl," she turned so Zola was in view. Zola quickly hid back behind Carolyn's legs. "If you have children, you'll understand. Do you have children, Dr. Brooks?"
"I…uh- no sir. Ma'am. I once had a corgi… but I don't think that's the same thing?"
"Where is Dr. Grey?" Carolyn prodded. This girl certainly knew. She was smarter than she let on. "Dr. Brooks?"
"You know, I just saw her down the hall actually," said the resident, giving in to Carolyn's stark gaze.
"Thank you."
It didn't take her long to find Meredith. She was indeed down the hall. Right in the hall on a gurney to be precise. For a split second, Carolyn thought she was injured, but closer inspection revealed no injuries. Meredith was fast asleep. Carolyn sighed, gathered her strength and picked up Zola. She maneuvered herself onto the foot of the gurney, with Zola on her lap. "Do you remember this lady?" she asked the shy girl.
Zola stared thoughtfully, a finger to her lips.
"She wants to be your mommy," Carolyn said. "She missed you very much. Did you miss her?"
To her surprise, Zola nodded. She put a hand on Meredith's shoe. "Sleeping?" she asked.
"Yes. I imagine it's been a busy day for her. She's a doctor. She saves people. It's hard work."
Zola continued watching intently as she slept. Though Meredith was covered by a blanket, Carolyn noticed dried blood on her arms and sneakers. Her pallor seemed off a little too. It must have been an incredible day for the young doctor already.
Closing her eyes, she fell back in time nearly thirty years ago, when police arrived at her door. When she found her only son and her youngest daughter wrapped in a blanket. Droplets of blood had marred Derek's new sneakers then, too. Her heart squeezed, and she sucked in a breath. No one should be alone during a trauma. Asleep or not.
Carolyn decided to go for it. She shook Meredith's leg. Nothing happened. She tried again. "Meredith, wake up."
"What-who?" Meredith flailed, nearly falling off the gurney.
"Woah," Carolyn reached to steady her. "Easy."
Wiping sleepy eyes, Meredith's gaze landed on Carolyn. "Oh," she said simply. "Hi." There were questions in her expression, but she seemed too exhausted to ask them.
"There's someone here to see you," Carolyn eased off the gurney so Meredith could see Zola. So they could see each other.
Meredith saw Zola and was stunned. "Carolyn-," she said, gesturing to the little girl. "What? Where-?"
Carolyn shrugged, "She found me. I found you. That's all that matters."
Meredith swallowed and reached for the girl. "Zola," she sniffed, "I was so worried about you."
For a split second, Zola hesitated, taking in this person again before she crawled on the gurney and climbed into Meredith's embrace. "Mommy," she cried into her shoulder.
"Oh, I-I-" Meredith shook her head, speechless. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "You're okay. It's okay." Her arms wrapped tighter around the tiny girl and she dug her fingers through Zola's hair.
Carolyn too, was moved as she rubbed Zola's back and picked up the fallen blanket. She wrapped the two kindred spirits and sat back on the gurney, hugging them. Quietly she sent a thank you to her angel in heaven for making things right.
A/N: Thank you! Please drop me a note and review! Would muchly appreciate it! And, just an FYI... it may be a while before I update this or any other story. I need some time... too much stuff going on. But I will finish this!