The loud blaring of monitors causes Meredith to sit up sharply from where she was, dozing on a couch in Olivia's ICU room. After years of being a surgeon and middle-of-the-night 911 pages, she's wide awake and alert in an instant.
Lindsey jolts up from her seat, a look of shock on her face as her bloodshot eyes widen in horror. Meredith is on her feet by the side of the bed, eyes glued to the monitor connected to Olivia's bed.
"Stats are dropping! Can I get some help here?" She shouts, moving to check Olivia's fresh surgical scar on her leg. Maggie had gone to get coffee, and Derek is now standing next to Lindsey, staring at Meredith with his jaw hanging open, terrified. Nurses rush in quickly, taking in the scene and moving to assist Meredith.
"Help her! Help her, please!" The blonde begs, her voice cracking.
Before Meredith can respond, the monitor flatlines. Slamming a hand on the code button, without thinking she begins chest compressions. Over the intercom, the code blue is announced to the whole floor and the crash team comes bursting in through the doors, followed quickly by Callie.
"What the hell happened?" The ortho surgeon demands, moving to Olivia's leg. She inhales sharply when she sees it. "Compartment syndrome, the femoral repair didn't hold."
"She's in V-Fib! Paddles!" Meredith commands, glancing at the monitors as paddles are placed into her hands by a nurse.
"Meredith, we need to relieve the pressure from her leg!" Callie argues.
"It's not going to matter if she has a leg if she's dead!"
"We're not going to get her back with her leg in this condition!"
"Meredith, shock her. If we don't get her back after one Callie will relieve the pressure and we'll try again." Cristina's voice effectively ends the argument from the doorway where she stands, having just arrived. They don't have time to be yelling at each other right now. The other doctors snap into action.
"Charge to two hundred. Clear!" The shock jolts through Olivia's body. The room is silent, thick with a mix of horror and anticipation. All eyes are glued to the monitors.
"No change. Scalpel!" Callie holds her arm out and a nurse places the instrument into her gloved, expert hand. The Latina quickly reopens Olivia's surgical incision, and blood comes flooding out, all over the floor and her shoes.
"Oh my god," Lindsey has to turn away, her stomach rolling. Derek shields her, turning his gaze away as well. Blood doesn't sit well with him, especially when it's pouring like a waterfall from his agent. Cristina instantly shows them out of the room and Lindsey quickly empties the little contents of her stomach into the nearest trash can.
"Charge again!" Meredith demands as soon as Callie gives the okay. "Clear!"
No change.
"Charge to three hundred!" Meredith orders again, tears in her eyes, voice breaking.
Flatline.
Meredith goes to continue compressions as Callie holds pressure on the leg, but when there's no change after a minute, the room seems to still.
"No! No, we're not giving up! We're not going to let her die! Olivia has to live! She's stronger than this she-" Meredith is cut off as Cristina moves her away from Olivia's body, the hollow sound of a flatline fills the room, and tears flow steadily from Meredith. Callie steps forward, glancing at her watch.
"Time of death, 5:17 AM."
A scream rips from Lindsey's throat, echoing throughout the floor, and she collapses onto the ground, viciously sobbing as Cristina pulls Meredith from the room, still crying as well.
"Meredith!" A voice faintly calls her from somewhere. "Meredith!"
Meredith jerks up from the couch, gasping for breath. Her heart is pounding as she takes in the room she's sitting in. Derek is standing over her, looking concerned. She gets up, aware of the dried tears down her cheeks, and she recognizes Olivia's ICU room. The blonde studies the monitors connected to Olivia, who is lying in the bed as she was hours ago, struggling to believe that they really are stable.
"Meredith, you had a nightmare. You okay?" Derek's voice cuts her thoughts. Lindsey is sitting next to Olivia's bed, her eyes tired and concerned as she looks at Meredith. Maggie is also sleeping in another chair across the room.
"W-what...I..she..." Meredith stutters, trying to make sense of what's happening.
"Olivia's okay. A doctor came in a few minutes ago and said her stats are going up." Lindsey says softly.
"She's alive? And doing better?" Meredith questions. The dream had been so real.
"Yes."
Meredith relaxes, collapsing back into the couch she was just sleeping on and Derek sits next to her. She leans against his larger, warm body as she focuses on her breathing, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal.
"Want to talk about it?" He offers after a few minutes.
"No. No, I-I don't even want to think about it. What time is it?" She wipes her cheeks, trying to get rid of the tear residue.
"Just after 5:00. You've been asleep a long time. Figured you'd need the rest after everything that happened yesterday and last night."
"I-I need to take the Zoloft or I'm gonna..." She trails off, gesturing toward her chest, where her breathing is still uneven and her heart still rapid.
"Do you have it?"
"No, it's at my house. Um, Dr. Wyatt will have some," she remembers, turning to leave the room.
"Let me come with you." Derek offers, standing and moving to her side. "You'll be okay?" He asks Lindsey, who's watching quietly from her seat next to the bed, her hand interlaced with her girlfriend's limp one.
"Yes, go."
Meredith nods and hesitantly takes Derek's hand in hers. As soon as she makes contact, he smiles and squeezes hers in return. She pulls him through the halls, she glances back a few times, making eye contact. When she looks at him, despite being on the brink of a panic attack, the warm feeling she hasn't felt in months returns, for once, bringing back good memories from before she was abducted.
She reaches Dr. Wyatt's office and leaves Derek outside as she goes in. The therapist has her belongings with her, about to leave. "Meredith? Are you okay?"
"I um, I have to take Zoloft now, and uh, mine's at home. I-I thought you'd have some," she stutters, her brain still not working clearly.
"Is this your scheduled dose? You're not just taking it because-"
"Yes, it is. It's actually past, I-I usually take it around 4:00."
Dr. Wyatt nods after studying her for a minute, making sure Meredith's not lying, and moves to retrieve a bottle, placing a pill in the surgeon's hand, which she immediately takes dry. "Grounding, remember?" The therapist reminds softly. "Channel your senses, stay in the present."
Meredith nods and walks out of the office by Dr. Wyatt's side. Derek is leaning against the wall and straightens to take her in. "Better?"
"I will be," Meredith says softly, taking Dr. Wyatt's advice and stopping against the wall to try and regain control of her body and mind. After about ten minutes, she starts to feel calmer and opens her eyes again. Dr. Wyatt is gone, but Derek still stands next to her, quietly giving her however much time she needs. "Let's get back."
Derek gives her a warm smile, and they slowly move through the halls of the hospital that Meredith knows by heart. Derek just follows her lead, not having any idea where he's going. She suddenly halts in a lobby area and glances at the agent next to her. "Coffee?"
"Yes." He replies without hesitation, and they get in line at the nearest cart. "You should get something to eat, too."
Meredith nods, and soon enough two coffees and a muffin are handed to them. The surgeon nibbles at the muffin while Derek practically chugs the coffee. They make their way back to the ICU room in silence, hoping and praying that Olivia will wake up.
Four days pass without any major changes. Lindsey hasn't left the hospital, spending almost all of her time at her girlfriend's side; sleeping on a cot next to her bed, taking all her meals, and showering at Grey-Sloan. Jake was discharged and the entire FBI team had been rotating in and out of Olivia's room. Meredith split her time between her home, Dr. Wyatt's office, and Olivia's room.
In the past four days, the team had found out what they could about the men who attacked the house that night. Matthew Trahkcol had been the ringleader. Turns out, he has psychopathic tendencies that became stronger with William's influence. The other two men were some long-lost members of his extended family. The boys barely spent any time together, it's unknown how they got wrapped up in the Scarlet Killer scheme. What the FBI does know, is that only one of them is still alive, and he'll be in jail for a long time.
What seems to be the only good thing is that Olivia's oxygen requirements are decreasing. She's breathing more on her own, and if she keeps improving they should be able to take her off the ventilator she's been plugged into the past few days. Very slowly, she's improving. Nothing major, so it's still unsure if she'll wake up or not, there's always the possibility that she'll have a major setback and crash.
As the hours pass, everyone is quickly losing hope.
That is, until on the afternoon of the fifth day since the invasion, Callie comes into the ICU room, bouncing on her feet with a huge smile on her face. Lindsey perks up as soon as she notices the doctor, and the only other person present in the room at the moment is Meredith.
"We're going to take her off the vent," Callie announces, as Cristina walks into the room after her. Meredith stands from her seat, a smile bursting out across her face, mimicking Lindsey's.
"Really?"
"Really." Cristina moves to the head of the bed. "She's been breathing mostly on her own today anyway, so we're just going to see how she does without the extra support of the vent. If anything goes wrong, we're putting her right back on."
The cardio surgeon speaks as she works, turning off the machine and disconnecting it from Olivia. In a few minutes, the tube is out of the agent's throat, and Cristina has a stethoscope pressed to her chest. Callie stands beside her, while Meredith and Lindsey watch from the side, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
"Looks like she's holding steady." Cristina gives them a big, genuine smile, watching as the two blonde women light up and embrace each other. This is a great sign, but looking at her brain activity levels, which haven't changed over the past few days, Cristina doesn't want to get her hopes up too high.
"Call Derek," Lindsey tells Meredith. "Give him the good news and tell him to call the rest of the team."
"A-Are you sure I should do it? I mean-"
"Yes, Meredith. You do it. He'll love to hear it from you." Lindsey hands the surgeon her phone, and Meredith smiles, stepping out of the room to dial the number she has memorized. When Meredith is gone, Lindsey returns her attention back to the two doctors. "Does this mean she's more likely to wake up?"
"It's a great sign, but I don't-" Cristina starts.
"Oh my God, Yang, look." Callie cuts off her fellow surgeon, her eyes widening in shock as she stands in front of one of Olivia's many monitors.
"What?" Lindsey panics. "What is it?"
Cristina moves to Callie's side, disbelief crashing over her. "No, this is...is this right? This is a miracle. This shouldn't be possible, I..." The cardio surgeon trails off in awe.
"Her brain activity is through the roof," Callie explains. "There's no reason it should be moving this high this soon after taking her off the vent."
"So, it's good?"
"It's great. I mean, from the looks of all this," Cristina pauses, stepping back to read over each monitor. "She should wake up. It should only be a matter of time."
Lindsey's face breaks into an even larger smile, laughing in relief. "Go tell Meredith!" She prompts Cristina, who nods and leaves the room to find her person.
"This is crazy. I don't get how this is possible," Callie shakes her head slightly. "She's gonna wake up soon. I can feel it."
"Wait, like, how soon? B-Because I think she's waking up...now."
A/N: IM SORRY! IM CRUEL, I KNOW! I wanted to kill Olivia, I really did. It almost happened, too. I cried so hard writing that first scene and originally had it planned to be real. Then, I couldn't continue writing and realized I literally did not have it in me to kill off Olivia Prenton. Seriously, this chapter sat half-unfinished for almost a week because I couldn't figure out where to go after she died. So, I made it a dream. (pulled a Shonda on ya) It's almost embarrassing how much I love her, and I hope you love her too. I seriously can't get enough of her and Lindsey. Tell me what you think- is she getting too much focus or are you enjoying it?