A/N: Thanks Patsy and Mandyg67 for always being there! I was going to continue on right from the cliffhanger of last chap, but decided to work on some of the loose ends of the others first.
Here we go!
Enjoy!
Owen watched Farouk slowly come to life, bit by bit. First the fingers twitched, then he sighed, and finally opened his eyes with a soft moan. Nathan leaned in, "Hey buddy... it's me, Nathan."
Farouk gazed at him for a long moment, confusion plastered on his face, "Nate?"
Nathan's big hand covered the top of Farouk's head. "Yeah, it's me."
"Megan... where?" he rasped through chapped lips. Owen filled a paper cup with water and handed it to Nathan.
"We don't know... they're still looking for her," he said. Gently, he pushed the bed up a little and urged Farouk to take a sip.
"I'm sorry," Farouk coughed. He drank the water greedily and wiped his lips.
"Sorry? There's nothing to be sorry for."
Owen took the cup back and filled it up again, ready to offer it. Despite the IV in his arm, fluids would do the boy wonders.
"She's gone," said Farouk sadly. "I saw her... and then she was gone."
Nathan stroked his hair. "They're gonna find her, mate," he reasured. He offered the cup again, and the water was gone in an instant. "It's alright," Nathan continued, "Not your fault. Listen kid, I gotta surprise for you, okay?"
"A surprise?" he squeaked.
"Somebody came a long way to see you." He cocked his head at Owen, who stepped into Farouk's field of vision.
"Hey," Owen smiled down at Farouk. He'd been a doctor for many years, spent nearly half his life in the army as a surgeon, he'd seen so many shocking and amazing things... but this... seeing this boy... a boy who needed him, a boy that could be his to raise... was something he had never imagined.
Farouk scrutinized him intently, "You look familiar," he said. "Uncle Owen?" He asked suddenly.
"Yeah, it's me," he said. Instantly, his heart pounded, his teeth chattered, and he got goosebumps. Shock and amazement pumped through his veins. His eyes teared up, "I'm your uncle Owen."
"It's nice to meet you," Farouk said politely before his eyelids drooped and he fell asleep. Owen let out a sigh, stroking Farouk's I.V covered hand as he slept.
"You okay?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah," Owen said. "I really hope they find Megan." He couldn't do this alone. Raise him. Not without Megan. Not on his own. And he missed her. Like really, crazily missed his sister. Especially now that he was here, and his walls were coming down.
Nathan stood up, stretched, and checked Farouk's vitals before signing the chart. "Me too," he said, "me too."
BOOM! The ground shook. He could feel it vibrate underneath his boots. BOOM-BOOM! "They're shelling?" Owen asked. Why? It could only mean one thing, they were being attacked.
"That's not good. Really not good. C'mon." Nathan and Owen jogged out of the patient tent and ran to the command center for an update.
"What's going on?," Owen grabbed the arm of a passing Sargent, swinging him around to face him.
"One of our platoons was caught in an ambush just outside the strip." The sargent yelled over the din. A helicopter blasted over them, and Owen ducked under the sudden wind "There's a skirmish breaking out and they're not backing down, sir. We've been ordered to attack."
"Attack where? How far?" Owen asked.
"Just ten miles away sir," the man nodded, before he pulled away to run towards a Jeep and two other men.
"Owen," Nathan called, "There'll be wounded. I'm gonna need your help."
Another shell volleyed over their heads. Owen looked around, searching, "Let's go hop in the field ambulance," he said. There was no time to waste. They had lives to save.
Nathan looked at him, eyes and mouth open wide. This was it. Into the breach!."Right."
xxx
Maggie waited alone with April. It hadn't been long, but it just felt that way, due to the circumstances. Her pager buzzed again, and she glanced at it. It was Webber, but non-urgent. She sighed. She couldn't leave just yet. Not till Arizona came and confirmed what she'd seen on the ultrasound.
"It's bad, isn't it?" April said.
Maggie pressed her lips together...
April sighed. "It is bad. You're not saying anything, so... it's bad."
"Can we talk about something else?"
"Like what?"
"Like, the weather. No, that's stupid. There was an earthquake. That was a disaster..."
"Wait, the earthquake! Who was manning trauma?"
"Well, Webber and Bailey were for a little while, then they got pulled into surgeries... so I think... Brooks."
"Brooks? Oh my god," April exclaimed.
"Actually, she handled it remarkably well."
"She did?"
"Yeah, here," she handed her the tablet, tapping on the trauma intake site.
"What?" April poured over the info. "Wow, twenty -seven patients admitted in an hour, and fourteen treated and released in that same time frame, that's unheard of."
"That girl always surprises me."
Just then the door opened and Arizona walked in, "Sorry I'm late guys, I was just checking on Sofia."
"Is she alright?" April asked.
"She's fine... perfect." Arizona smiled. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked. Maggie stepped up and pulled the machine over. "I just took these scans, can you look them over? Do you see what I see?" she said, pointing with her mouse.
"What? I don't see... where?"
"Exactly."
"Hang on," Arizona said, grabbing the gel. "I'm going do this again, sorry,"
"It's all right," Maggie said with understanding. She herself was flummoxed. Did she miss something somehow? She didn't think she had but...
"Wait," April said, "Can we just wait for Jackson?"
Maggie sighed, she just wanted to get to the bottom of this. But April was the patient, and she would need all the support she could get.
Arizona manuevered the machine back over to April and put on her gloves. Ready and waiting. Suddenly the door burst open. "Mommy!" Noah burst in. "Daddy's here! He's gonna kiss it all better!"
"Wha-" April clutched her belly in shock at the boy as he climbed the bed.
"Whoa, careful bud. Mommy's got stitches, she's gonna be sore down there okay?" Jackson said, coming in hot on the heels of his energetic son.
"You gots sitches?" He lifted his mother's gown with his casted arm, unabashedly touching her belly. "Like Anna... she gots sitches too! I saw on TV she gots a zipper." Noah poked carefully at April's bandage. "Is there a zipper? Izzat how the baby comes out?"
Jackson swiftly scooped up his son. "Noah, you have to be quiet okay? Mommy and the baby need their rest."
"You gonna kiss it better?" Noah asked.
"Are you going to sit still and be quiet?"
"Okay. But I hafta watch, daddy. Can I watch?"
Jackson smiled. "Here, lay down beside mommy, right here. You can hold her hand."
"Jackson-" April started.
"April," Jackson sat on the bed and took her hand. "I'm sorry. I was scared, and I ran, and I shouldn't have. I left you alone, and you didn't deserve that. So... I'm sorry. I promise not to do that again."
"Jackson, I'm scared."
"I know. Me too. Let's just do this together." Then he nodded at Noah. "C'mon," he said, "Let's kiss it better."
He leaned over and kissed April's belly just under the belly-button, and Noah copied him, sweetly patting her stomach."There. All better," he said.
"Okay, let's get this started," Arizona squirted the clear gel on April's stomach and carefully removed the bandage.
Maggie watched as Arizona spread the gel. She watched Arizona scrutinize the screen. She watched every movement, registered every beep, hum and whoosh of the machine. Everything Arizona did, Maggie knew she had done exactly the same, so...
"There, you see it?" she whispered to Arizona.
"I don't... I don't see anything." Arizona frowned, manuevering the wand to a different angle.
"Exactly," Maggie said.
"But..." Arizona shook her head. "Did you get the blood results back?"
"Yup. They're negative."
"Negative?"
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
"The tests came back negative."
"Yes."
"Excuse me," April interrupted, "What's going on? What's negative?"
"Um..." Maggie glanced at Arizona, who nodded. "April... your baby's tumor has... disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"I don't know what to say," she said. "It was there this morning, when I did the echo, you remember?"
"Yeah, like an hour before surgery," she confirmed.
"And I went in to remove it... but due to the earthquake I never got to cut into the- your baby..." she continued... "And then..." she shrugged. "The blood tests came back normal, and the scan is clear. The tumor is gone."
"Gone?" Jackson asked. "Like...Poof?"
"Poof. Gone." Arizona confirmed, printing the scan.
"Let me see," Jackson got up to look. Arizona showed the scan from the morning beside the one she just printed. Tumor. No tumor.
"That's impossible," Jackson wiped his eyes, stared at it again. "April...I how? The two stared at each other, blinking, sighing.
April stared at her stomach. "It's gone..." she repeated, "Jackson, He answered my prayer. It's a miracle."
"A miracle...yeah," Jackson repeated, swaying slightly.
"Jackson?"
"Daddy, it worked! We kissed it better!" Noah exclaimed happily.
Nobody saw it coming. The blood rushed from Jackson's face and he pitched backward, falling between the bed and the rolling nightstand.
"Oh my God! Jackson!" April cried, "Jackson!"
"Oh dear!" Arizona called, "Maggie! Help me get him up!"
"Jackson, are you okay?" Maggie bent down, reaching to check his head.
He blinked slowly, touched his head. "I…"
"Jackson?"
"I… think I'll just stay down here for a sec." He said.
"Does anything hurt? Did you break anything?" Maggie asked.
"I'm okay… I just… haven't eaten… so…"
"You didn't eat?" April scolded.
"Yeah…" he trailed off, staring at the ceiling.
"Jack- Oh!" April grabbed her belly. "The baby just punched me. I have to pee, I really have to pee."
"I'll help you," Arizona offered. "Maggie, do you want to go and grab him something from the vending machine?"
"Okay, sure," she smiled. She checked her pager again. Webber was paging her to ped's and she didn't know why. "Are we good here? I'm being paged."
"We're good," Arizona called from the bathroom. "More than good, I think."
Maggie nodded and headed down the hall to the vending machine, going over and over in her mind the miracle she just witnessed, and wondering if it was a once in a lifetime thing, or if there were more miracles to be had.
xxx
Callie stared at her daughter. Sofia had grown up so fast. She'd been born a preemie, and had fought against all odds to survive. Now she was four years old going on forty, it seemed. She was so tuned in to everything around her, that sometimes Callie had to remind herself to keep her work at work.
"Mommy," Sofia opened her eyes. "You're here," she said.
"I'm here, baby."
"I missed you."
"Well, I missed you too, and I am so, so, happy you're okay."
Sofia grabbed her mom's cheeks. "I'm glad you're okay too. Papi said you were outside, helping people."
"Yeah, I was." Callie said.
"They was hurted?"
Callie thought of Jo, and a few other victims she'd pulled out of the rubble. "Yeah, but they're okay now, everybody's ok."
"Good," Sofia said.
Callie stroked her hair, mentally making a note to find a brush for her later, and Sofia seemed to fall asleep. Callie rested in the chair, her body as close to Sofia's as possible.
"Mommy, what's divorce mean?"
"What? Where did you hear that?"
"Some kids at school. They said that their mommy and daddy fight too much, they're gonna get divorce." Sofia scrunched her nose at the word.
"Well," Callie said, "A divorce means that a mommy and a daddy live in separate houses. Maybe a little ways away."
"They don't sleep in the same bed anymore?"
"No they sleep in their own beds."
"But why? They don't like each other anymore?"
"Something like that," Callie answered.
"Like when I take a break from Noah cause he gets crazy?"
"Yeah, kinda like that, but a divorce… a divorce is permanent."
"Permanent?"
"It means, kinda forever."
Sofia absorbed this all and sighed heavily.
"Sweetie, are you worried that Mami and I are going to divorce?"
"You fight a lot. You fight, and you don't even say stuff to each other… you just stare…. Like this:" Sofia furrowed her brow and frowned angrily. "Mami says you fight cuz you wanna be happy, but that doesn't make sense. How does fighting make you happy?"
Callie just wanted to cry. She wanted to cry and crush her daughter to her and kiss her all over. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you ever learned that from us. We haven't been very good parents, have we?
"You're trying," she said.
"Well, we're going to try harder," Callie said. "Okay?"
"Okay." She closed her eyes.
Callie wiped her own eyes and sighed. They hadn't noticed… she hadn't noticed how much of this her daughter picked up. They were hurting her. And for what?
"Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie."
"When I… when I hitted my head I thought I was gonna sleep forever… and I was scared cause I didn't see you or Mami or Papi. If you get a divorce… I won't be able to see you, and it's scary."
"Well, you know what?" Callie smiled, "You saw us all today, baby. We're all here for you and we love you so, so much!" She kissed her daughter. "But now, you have to turn off your cute little brain, and go to sleep."
"Okay."
Callie pulled the blanket over her daughter's shoulder. "Love you chica," she said.
"Love you Mama."
She got up and dimmed the lights and then sat back down. Her phone was dead, but Arizona would be by soon, she figured. They needed to talk.
xxx
The sun shone brightly as Meredith pushed the swing. "Higher! Higher, Mama!" Zola called, laughing. She kicked her bare feet. "I wanna touch the clouds!"
"Okay!" She pushed Zola harder, her palm against her warm back.
"No, I'm gonna touch the cowds first!" Anna shouted, swinging beside her. "Daddy, push me higher!"
"All right, are you ready?" Derek called from beside her. He pulled Anna's swing back as far as it would go. "Under duck!" He shouted, running underneath the swing to give it more power.
Meredith was suddenly in front of them, watching as they flew. The girls laughed as they soared through the clouds, and Meredith was happy for them, but… a little scared. "Derek, I…"
"It's okay," he cupped her cheeks and kissed her squarely on the lips. "You can do this," he reassured.
Zola and Anna were coming toward her. Meredith bent her knees and crouched, bracing herself.
Suddenly they were in her arms. Solid, warm, giggling girls, hugging and kissing her as she fell to the ground and they climbed on top of her.
If this was a dream… she better not wake up.
xxx
Maggie hustled to the room Richard kept paging her to. She was confused, she was not aware of any ped's cardiac patients. What could this possibly be about? Then she saw Carolyn and Janet, and really started to panic. Had something happened to Zola? Or Meredith?
"What? What is it?" she asked, almost running now.
"Shh," Carolyn put a finger to her lips and pointed to the door.
Maggie stepped into the room and stopped. "Oh my God," she said, seeing the wonderful sight before her. Meredith, sleeping peacefully, wrapped in two little kids.
"Is she- did she get custody?"
"Maggie, come here," Richard said, holding up a piece of paper.
"What is it?"
"Look." He handed it to her and waited. Maggie stared, trying to make sense of the lines and circles. "A DNA test? But-" she saw the name at the top left. Meredith grey. And on the right was another name, Anna Forrester.
Wait. The patient's name was Anna Forrester. Then why was she next to- "Anna's a Mitochondrial match to Meredith? I don't understand."
"Anna is Meredith's biological child," Richard said. "There was a hideous mess at one of the worst hospitals in the county. But now… they've been reunited." He grinned. "To top it off, Meredith's been granted temporary custody of Zola."
"Really?" Maggie sputtered. Wow. When there were miracles, there really were miracles at Shepherd Grace.
"But it's gonna be a lot when she wakes up. A lot to process, a lot to prepare for. I've cleared both your schedules the next couple of days. I need you to just be there for her… okay?"
Maggie stared at her sister. The one that barfed on her, called her a liar, snapped at her. The one that guarded her heart so carefully… because it had been broken so many times, that sister…
Would finally be whole. She clutched the paper and sat beside the hospital bed, guarding her sister and her new nieces as they slept.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! Next chapter is a little dark, as we go back in time. But all will be good!