"He's got a massive bleed. Probably a subdural hematoma," Frankie announced as she checked their patient's pupils. There had been an ambush not far off from their base, resulting in a huge influx of patients.

"Prep him for an emergency craniotomy," Meredith ordered. She held her hands up for a scrub nurse to slide gloves onto. Once she was sterile, she immediately dove into the surgery beside Frankie.

Once their John Doe was in position, Meredith held her hand out for a drill. She began drilling burr holes to relieve the pressure caused by the bleed. Frankie stood by her side, eyes glued to the monitor.

"SATS are dropping. He's tachycardic," she said as the monitors began to go off with more urgency.

"Dammit." Meredith abandoned the drill in exchange for a scalpel. "I'm going in blind."

Frankie looked at her with concern. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Meredith snapped.

"Grey." Frankie reached out and wrapped her hand around her forearm. Appalled, Meredith jerked away.

"What are you doing? I'm operating!" Looking down, she realized that her scrubs where Frankie had grabbed her were stained dark red. She glanced back up in horror.

"It's ok. Its not your fault." Frankie assured her. Her face was growing paler by the moment. Looking down at the solider on the table, she realized it was not in fact a John Doe, as she had previously thought. The head of long, dark brown hair was too familiar.

Frantic, Meredith made the first cut. "You have to let me operate. You have to let me do something."

"Dr. Grey, you are in no condition to even be standing." This time it wasn't Frankie holding her back, but one of the orderlies from the recovery ward. Meredith was sweating. Her hair stuck to the sides of her face and the sheets clung to her damp, exposed skin.

"Let me go!" Meredith shouted, attempting to squirm away.

"You are critically injured, Dr. Grey. You just had two major surgeries-"

Meredith bolted upright, whacking her head on something hard. Looking around wildly, she found her bearings and discovered that she was on the bottom bunk in an on call room at Seattle Grace.

She leaned back, placing her hand over her chest and breathing heavily. The bed springs squeaked as the person on the top bunk shifted.

"Mere?" Alex's head dangled over the side of the bunk. "What the hell?"

"What are you doing in here?" Meredith asked, still slightly disoriented.

"I'm on your service. We're meeting Mr. Kingsley in pre op in…" he consulted the watch on his wrist. "25 minutes."

"Shit," Meredith swore and hoisted herself onto her feet. Alex jumped down onto the floor beside her.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Meredith nodded. "Fine, Alex. Lets go." she brushed past him into the hall, waiting for him to follow.

[]

AN: Sorry if this seems to be moving too quickly; I'm going to release small amounts of information throughout the story, and it will come full circle at the end.

Also, to anyone upset about Meredith being unable to get pregnant...don't worry. I have an idea, one that I haven't seen before, and I think you will all like it

Please review!