Another gunshot rings, closer this time, and people start screaming. Two security guards try their best to keep the crowd under control, but to no avail.
"Listen up!" Meredith shouts, standing to her full height. Dressed in her Marine BDU, people instantly turn to her. "We don't know where the shooter is or what he's after, so we don't know how much time we have. Everyone needs to stay calm and find rooms without windows or with blinds you can close, and lockable doors." She lowers her voice once she has everyone's attention. "We can't be loud, stay organized, and move to safer places. Let's go."
Multiple more gunshots travel through the air, and Derek stands by in awe, watching as she walks into the middle of the room and directs the staff and patients away. She's moving rapidly, but also organized, keeping everything under control. Within a minute, the main floor is almost empty and she turns back to Derek.
"What the hell are you doing? Get somewhere safe!" She walks over to him, just in time to hear two more loud bangs. She doesn't have to look to know how close that was, so, on instinct, she throws herself at Derek taking him down with her behind the nurse's station.
Their bodies hit the floor with a thud, knocking the wind out of Derek and causing searing hot pain to spread to Meredith. She stifles a gasp in reaction to the feeling and bites her lip.
"Wha-" Derek tries to protest, but Meredith places a hand over his mouth. They both have to be quiet and stay behind the cover of the desk if they want to remain undetected.
Derek burns with a mix of emotions. This is definitely not how he pictured the first time Meredith would be on top of him.
Pain is throbbing through Meredith's core, but she moves off of Derek, oblivious to his embarrassment, and beckons him under the desk. Her entire focus is on the situation at hand. She holds her ground, ignoring the pain as she risks looking out over the desk.
The bodies of both security guards are on the ground. One only a few feet from her. A tall, angry-looking man stands in the middle of the room, looking around, a Beretta 92 clutched in his hands. He moved across the lobby, checking all the doors.
"Do the security guards have guns?" Meredith whispers urgently, ducking back under the cover next to Derek.
"What are you going to do?" His eyes go wide.
"Answer the question." She hisses. Derek nods, and a plan immediately comes together in Meredith's head. "Stay here and don't move. Wait for me."
"Meredith!"
She peeks up again, her heart pounding when he sees how close the shooter is getting to patient rooms. The doors don't lock on those.
Making a split-second decision, she army crawls around the desk towards the security guard body. The shooter is facing away from her, so she moves quickly. The pain in her back is getting stronger by the moment.
When she reaches the body, she moves quickly, knowing she doesn't have any time to spare. There's no pulse, so she goes for the 9mm strapped into its holster on the side of the body.
She hauls herself to her feet once the gun is securely in her possession. She checks the magazine, which makes a clicking noise and causes the shooter to whirl around and face her. He points his gun at her, and she raises hers as well.
The mag is full.
She switches the safety off.
"You really don't want to do that." Meredith's voice is calm and firm, making unwavering eye contact with the shooter.
Derek watches in horror. As soon as that man turned around the surgeon recognized him as Gary Clark, his husband of one of his old patients.
"Who are you? Put your gun down or-or I'll shoot!" Mr. Clark demands, but Meredith doesn't flinch.
"Colonel Meredith Grey, United States Marine Corps. If I were you, I'd put your gun down."
Obvious fear flashes through the eyes of the shooter, but he doesn't move either. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I didn't mean to shoot all those people."
"I'm sure you didn't, but now you have to put the gun down, okay?"
"I'm just here for Dr. Shepherd. He's the only one I want."
Derek's heart stops in his chest and he freezes to his spot, icy cold realization flooding over him. Gery Clark's wife had died under Derek's care.
It's his fault.
Meredith is just as shocked but doesn't show it. "Dr. Shepherd?"
"He murdered my wife." Mr. Clark growls.
"So that gives you the right to shoot him?"
"An eye for an eye," he shrugs, lowering his weapon slightly. "What kind of hospital is this, anyway? It's not safe here. Someone had to protect people from doctors like him. He doesn't get to be God!"
"I understand how you're feeling, I really do." Meredith inches towards him, never taking her aim off him or her eyes off his own gun. "But people don't become doctors to be God. They become doctors to save lives. Dr. Shepherd is a human being who makes mistakes, he's flawed. We all are." She pauses, and he lowers the gun more.
"You want somebody to pay for what happened, but I can tell you it won't make you feel any better. This is just a mistake for you, you're a good man. I can see it in your eyes." As much as she disagrees with what she's saying, her words do exactly as she intended, and Mr. Clark lowers his gun all the way, dropping his gaze.
"Slowly put the gun on the ground and kick it towards me," Meredith orders calmly, stepping slightly closer. Her aim is still trained steadily in front of her on the shooter.
The elevator dings and heavy footsteps echo through the empty lobby.
In that second, Mr. Clark meets Meredith's gaze, angry. He raises the gun again, pointing it directly at her chest. Without hesitation, she pulls the trigger on her own 9mm, and one loud shot sounds, followed by another, and another.
"Meredith!" Derek erupts from his hiding place, after hearing the shots, unable to just stay hidden and let it play out.
Meredith turns to face him, her lips pressed into a thin, faint smile that doesn't reach her eyes. Relief crashes over Derek and he shifts his gaze past her, where Gary Clark lay on the ground, blood pooling around him.
Police and SWAT officers fill the room, and both surgeons realize at the same time that they were the source of the other noises. Of course, two seconds too late.
Derek steps closer to Meredith, watching as she keeps her gun in front of her, trained on Mr. Clark on the ground. Meredith doesn't move the barrel of the weapon away from the man as she walking to him and kicks the gun away from his hand, sending it sailing across the floor. Only then does she squat down and press two fingers to the side of his neck to check for a pulse. She stands up and shakes her head.
Meredith glances at the body, a dark red circular stain growing just off to the left of the center of the chest. She'd hit him right in the heart.
She looks away now, biting her lip and shaking her head, clearing memories of her soldier patients overseas with similar injuries.
"Hey! Who are you?" A SWAT guy yells, and it takes Meredith a second to realize they're talking to her. She slips the safety back on and puts the gun into the back of her pants, not entirely sure that the threat is completely neutralized. Derek stays about in his spot in front of the desk, utterly confused as to why all the law enforcement guns are pointed at her.
"I'm Colonel Dr. Meredith Grey with the United States Marine Corps." She gestures towards her uniform with her right hand. As soon as her left arm moves, Derek catches sight of a crimson stain growing and staining the mix of green colors that make up her jacket.
"That man-" she points to the body of Mr. Clark, "-was the shooter. It was self-defense. Access the security footage if you feel the need. I'll answer your questions, give a statement, whatever."
Derek closes the space between them in an instant, covering her bleeding arm with one of his hands.
"You've been shot." His voice is panicked.
"I'm fine." Her voice is oddly flat.
"He shot you!"
"I've been shot before, Derek. I'm lucky this is just a flesh wound, it doesn't hurt close to as bad as literally any of my other injures."
"You need stitches." He ignores her words, pulling away torn fabric for him to study the gash. She's right, it's only a flesh wound, but it's deep and bleeding profusely.
"Just staple it or something and let me talk to the police. I don't have time to sit around and wait for delicate sutures."
"Meredith, please." He brings his eyes to hers, and they lock contact.
She sighs. "You know what, there are butterfly bandages right there. I'll wear those for now and once this mess is taken care of you can suture me to your hearts' content."
Without waiting for a response, Meredith pulls towards the nurse's station desk, wiping away some of the blood with a couple of tissues from a box also on the desk, then placing the butterfly bandages on her cut. She now turns back and approaches the man who seems to be in charge of the law enforcement, breaking into a deep conversation.
Derek stares after her, shocked that she literally just put a bandaid over a bullet hole.
The elevator dings again, drawing everyone's attention to the second set of doors. The one the police came out of is still there, but as soon as Meredith sees what's inside the second one, her heart drops.
"Alex!" She sprints across the open lobby into the elevator without hesitation, dropping to her knees. Alex Karev lay pale and unconscious on the ground surrounded by a growing pool of blood. Meredith instantly moves to straddle him, using her body weight to help apply pressure to the source of the bleeding she found within seconds. Just one of many field tricks she learned during deployment.
Her arm throbs slightly, and the pain from her midsection is nearly unbearable, but she focuses on her best friend, and soon she feels Derek next to her.
"Seattle Presbyterian is the next closest hospital right?" She demands without looking up.
"Yes, there are ambulances outside bringing our patients and other injured personnel there now. What can I do?" Derek crouches next to her, checking Alex's pupils snd taking his pulse.
"Get me into a damn OR." She demands. Without another word to the police officers, the elevator doors close again and they begin to move down to the main floor.
"He's alive, but barely," Derek says, unsure of what to do at that moment. She seems to have it under control.
The elevator doors open again on the main floor and there are police and paramedics everywhere.
"Get me a gurney over here!" Meredith yells, instantly drawing attention to her and Derek. Somehow, her mind is clear. She knows it's adrenaline, she's all too familiar with the numbing and false sense of confidence it can create. She just shot a man in the chest. It's all going to go back and hit her as soon as it wears off.
But right now she gets on top of the gurney Alex has been loaded on to, Derek at the side. She holds pressure steady, but doesn't know what kind of damage there is on the inside.
"Where's Teddy?" She demands.
"Teddy?"
"Where the hell is Major Altman?" She asks Derek with such loud volume and such superiority it scares him a bit.
"Dr. Altman? The cardio surgeon?" A paramedic asks as they're loaded into an ambulance and begun to speed off through the city.
"Yes, her." Meredith replies to the paramedic, then glances at Derek, "Start a-"
"Central line. I got it." Derek finishes for Meredith, working diligently.
"Dr. Altman rode to Seattle Pres about twenty minutes ago with one of the first victims we got out. She should be there already." The paramedic informs them.
Meredith lets out a breath, shifting her position as her abdomen and arm throb.
"Meredith, are you okay?" Derek glances up at her.
"Fine." She grits her teeth, then yells at the driver, "Can't you drive any faster?"
The ambulance speeds up noticeably, causing Meredith to sway when they take a turn. This is all too familiar, she feels like she's working in the back of a humvee in an active warzone. The bloody BDU she's wearing doesn't do much to help the flashback she can feel coming.
"Say something, Derek." She orders, weaker this time.
"What?"
"Say something! Anything! Just talk!"
"Okay, here, uh, this is the story of the first time I ever went fly fishing," he begins. Derek finishes his central line and continues to help in whatever way he can while studying her.
She's still sitting on top of Alex, holding pressure, her eyes closed and her breathing ragged.
Meredith focuses on the sound of his voice, pushing away all thoughts of her past seven years and focusing on the present. A flashback would be the worst possible thing right now.
"We're here." The driver announces as the ambulance skids to a halt, and the paramedics jump out to open the back door.
"Meredith, can you handle this?" Derek asks as they run inside.
She doesn't answer. "Did anyone call ahead and get me surgical privileges?"
"Yes, OR 3 is standing by." Someone answers.
"Where's Altman?"
"Finishing up in OR 1, I think." The same person answers.
"Meredith!" Derek says sharply and her green gaze snaps to him. Her eyes are clear and hold seemingly no fear, only calm. "Can you handle this?"
"Are you really asking me that?"
"I haven't cleared you to operate." He continues as they reach an elevator. Two nurses have replaced the paramedics and stand quietly near the two arguing surgeons. "You've just been shot, and you shot someone else. This is Alex Karev, you said yourself he's the only family you have."
"I'm going to operate whether you say I can or not, Derek."
"No one would hold it against you for stepping away." He continues to press on as they leave the elevator and run through the unfamiliar halls of Seattle Pres.
Meredith jumps off the gurney as the nurses wheel Alex into the OR. She enters the scrub room and peels off her BDU at record speed, grabbing a fresh set of scrubs from the stock and throwing them on. They don't fit well, but she doesn't care. Derek stands nearby, facing the wall to give her privacy, only turning to her when she starts scrubbing.
"He's one of us, Meredith. Let someone else take over." He tries again. Meredith turns and gives him a deadly look. "I understand you want to, at least let me-"
"No, Derek, you don't understand." Her stare is cold, voice firm, leaving Derek reeling.
"I'm a world-renown-"
"Don't you dare go there." She cuts him off. "In Afghanistan, this was my job. I fixed up our own people day after day. Men and women I consider my family would go out there, take bullets and shrapnel for their country and come to me so I could stitch them up. I did it. And then I sent them right back out there to do the same thing over and over again. There was no sleep, there were no breaks or time off. I operated in the worst of conditions. There was never a moment to let my guard down. This was my life. I can handle this, I need another surgeon who I know can too. You can't, so get me, Altman."
Meredith waits for a nod in confirmation from him before turning away and continuing to scrub. She knows she was harsh and pulled the military card on Derek, which he had not been expecting, but it's what she needed to do. The life of Alex Karev is in her hands and Derek's petty feelings aren't going to get in the way of that.
She's going to save him and she needs someone she can trust, someone who knows her moves before she makes them, someone who shares half a brain because they've worked together for so long. Teddy.
Derek gives in and leaves her in the scrub room, heading to OR 1 to find Teddy Altman. She's right, he hadn't considered the amount of experience she has in this kind of situation, but it doesn't mean he's any less worried.
"Major Altman!" He bursts into the scrub room for OR 1, finding Teddy rinsing off her hands.
"Derek?" She frowns. Hundreds of questions fly through her. Why is he here? Why is he calling her Major Altman? Where's Meredith?
But she keeps her mouth shut, waiting for him to explain. Time has taught her to act now, think later. With the urgency in his voice, she understands that might be most important right now.
"Meredith is in OR 3."
"She what?" Teddy's eyes widen, fear flooding through her.
"No, operating in OR 3. On Alex Karev. He was shot and she insisted that she operate, and then demanded you."
"Oh, good god." She dries her hands and makes a run with Derek back to OR 3.
Derek is panicked and standing next to a strangely collected Teddy, it makes him feel small.
Working so many years in trauma has taught Teddy the most important rule- stay calm. It comes naturally to her at this point. Only after the patient is saved does any military-trained doctor allow themselves a moment to breathe and take in what just happened.
Teddy throws a mask on and enters the scrub room to begin scrubbing again, in silence next to Meredith.
"Single GSW to the lower right chest, seems to have missed the lung but we won't know the full extent of the damage until we open him up," Meredith says as she steps away from the sink, shaking her hands off and stepping halfway through the sliding OR door. "I'll see you in there."
"Semper fi, Colonel."
Meredith stops in her tracks, finally making eye contact with her friend, a small smile on her face. "Oorah!"