A/N - No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. There are Grey's characters in this chapter. I wasn't going to use any Grey's characters because I hadn't watched the show, but after binge watching six seasons in a week, you could say I'm hooked.
The Best Medicine
Chapter Two:
The Hardest Thing
"Hey," Olivia managed to stutter, taking a deep breath and trying to muster a smile as she looked over her shoulder. The man was a walking sex symbol. She had spent all day trying to ignore his good looks, but now … Now that they were in a bar and his son's life didn't depend on her, she had nothing to distract herself from him. She tried shaking her head - she wasn't ready to look at a guy that way and he was her patient's father.
"Mind if I buy you a drink?" His blue eyes sparkled and she bit her lip, nodding her head at his suggestion. It was an awful decision, but her mind was too fuzzy to make good decisions. She twisted in her seat, watching as he sauntered to the bar, talking to Mark and returning with a martini and glass of beer. He set her drink before her and took the empty seat beside her.
"Well this is awkward," Harvey announced after several long, quiet minutes of the two he shared the table with casting awkward glances at one another.
"Fitz, this is Dr. Adams. He's our attending oncologist."
"Don't put this on me, Pope. You two can be awkward without me," Harvey shrugged, standing from the table, "Nice to meet you, Fitz."
"He seems like a…"
"Jerk. He's a jerk sometimes. But we were interns together and we became family." Fitz laughed, sipping his beer.
"I tried finding you after Teddy's surgery."
"I had a family issue arise and had to leave."
"You're married?"
"No," Olivia shook her head, gulping her own drink.
"Good," Fitz smiled into his mug, "Then what I'm about to ask you won't be uncomfortable."
"Oh?" She winked, removing the cocktail stick and nibbling on the olives stuck on it.
"Would you like to get coffee with me some time?"
"Why?" She tilted her head to the side, scrunching her face at the burning taste of alcohol that had seeped into her olive.
"Because you saved my son's life," he gave her a cheeky grin, "And you're beautiful. Obviously intelligent."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Damn it," Olivia muttered, reaching for her purse and pulling her pager from it.
"You need to go save lives."
"Sorry." Olivia stood from her chair, swinging her purse over her shoulder. She grabbed for the back of her chair as she stumbled standing.
"You aren't planning on operating, are you?" Fitz reached a hand toward her, grabbing her wrist and trying to help steady her.
"No," she giggled, pulling her arm away from him and turning toward the exit. Slowly, she made her way to the bar's entrance, stumbling along the way.
/
"Where have you been?" Maiya rushed to Olivia, grabbing her arm and yanking the other woman toward the doors to the ER.
"At the bar," Olivia hiccoughed, watching as Maiya snapped a pair of gloves onto her hands, "What happened?"
"Multi-car pile up. Multiple fatalities and many traumas. Are you sober?"
"Not even close," Olivia covered her mouth with her hand, a small burp escaping her lips. Maiya sighed, scratching her head.
"Go find a banana bag. Maybe that will sober you up - and don't touch a patient until you've been cleared by me or Bailey," she added almost as an afterthought. Shaking her head, she really was going to have to have an intervention because Olivia was supposed to be the levelheaded one, she headed toward the bay to await the first of many ambulances.
Olivia sulked off in the direction of the storage room to retrieve a banana bag. Kicking off her heels after stumbling for the umpteenth time, she made a grab for the shorter, stout woman passing by. She giggled when the other woman wrapped her arms around her, preventing her from tumbling to the floor and guided her toward a gurney. Collapsing on the hard surface, she fell back, her arms outstretched and hair covering the pillow.
"Pope, what the hell is wrong with you?" Miranda Bailey demanded, narrowing her eyes at the woman.
"Want to know a secret?" Olivia whispered, pushing herself up slowly and grinning at the other woman. Bailey rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips and watching the doctor before her, "I'm a little drunk."
"I can see that, Pope. Why are you here?"
"I got a page. Maiya said to find a banana bag."
"I'll find it. You stay put." Walking away, Bailey shook her head and tried to keep the amused grin from spreading across her face. She was used to the attendings doing some crazy things, but showing up drunk was a new one even for her. It wasn't something she ever expected from Olivia, either. She was always the professional, coolheaded attending.
Olivia plopped down on her back again as Bailey's footsteps receded and stared up at the ceiling. She tried to block out the sounds of the buzzing ER. Groaning, she threw an arm across her face and hoped that there wouldn't be a need for the pediatric surgeon tonight. If there was, they were all screwed.
"Give me an arm, Pope." Miranda's cool voice woke her from her musings and she flung an arm to her side, groaning when she hit the metal of the gurney.
"Try not to break a hand in the process." She didn't know why, but she started giggling at that reprimand from Miranda. The no-nonsense look she received didn't help with her giggles.
"Ouch!" Miranda smirked at Olivia's cry of pain and reached for the surgical tape she had brought with herself, securing the IV in place.
"Now lay there until this is gone and you feel more like yourself." Olivia sighed, covering her eyes again and allowing them to slowly slide shut.
"Wake up, Barbie." Olivia groaned, sitting up and rapidly blinking her eyes. She narrowed her gaze in Mark's direction.
"What do you want, Sloan?"
"I heard that you're drunk." She shook her head, turning her attention to the IV bag and wondering how long she had fallen asleep - the bag was empty. Gripping the needle in her arm, she slowly pulled it out and stood from the gurney, holding her hand over the small hole to stop the bleeding.
"And now I'm going. Not so good talking to you, Mark." Olivia sauntered off, stopping at a cart for a few seconds to find some gauze and tape before asking around for Maiya. When she finally found the blonde, ordering some interns about, Olivia was quick to be cleared for work. She had wasted enough of her night laying around.
/
"You need a shower." Olivia and Addison raised their heads at Harvey's voice, their eyes red with lack of sleep, and glared in the man's direction.
"How the hell did you not get paged last night?" Addison wondered, rubbing her temples as she spoke.
"Oncologists aren't helpful in trauma situations," Olivia groaned, allowing her head to fall back to the table as Harvey began pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"And you used to pick on me for choosing oncology. At least I got to sleep in my nice, comfy bed last night." Harvey raised his coffee cup in a mock salute before carrying it out of the tiny room.
"Asshole," Addison muttered, following Olivia's lead and letting her head drop back to the table.
"I have to go discharge my patient," Olivia sighed.
"Are you going home after?"
"No. I'm going to work through it. I'll probably get some breakfast, though." Olivia stood from her seat and exited the room. She sniffed her scrub top on the way to the elevator, making a face at the sweaty smell that wafted to her nose from the dark blue material. She needed to shower and change at some point. Going in and out of surgery throughout the night had left little time for her to freshen up and once the last surgery was over, she hadn't felt like doing anything other than crashing for a couple hours in the on-call room.
Yawning, she stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor, humming a tune to herself as the elevator slowly dropped. She rubbed at her eyes, not caring that she was probably smudging what was left of her mascara - it could be fixed after she discharged Teddy. Swiping the small granules of mascara from under her eyes, she stepped off the elevator and took a left toward the nurse's station where she quickly retrieved Teddy's paperwork. Cradling the file, she squeaked down the hall to the last room on the right.
Frowning at the sound of slightly raised voices from inside the room, Olivia quickly knocked and turned the doorknob. Entering the room, her attention was drawn to the tall brunette standing by the window, her arms crossed over her ample breasts and a frown marring her otherwise beautiful features. Olivia allowed a small smile to play across her face and tried not to snort in derision - of course he was married.
"How are you feeling today, Teddy?" Olivia asked in the most cheerful voice she could muster, edging toward the bed and placing the file on the bedside table. Pulling her stethoscope from her lab coat pocket, she placed the earpieces in her ears and the chest piece under Teddy's gown and on his chest.
"Breathe in for me," she instructed, waiting a moment and continuing, "And breathe out." Removing the stethoscope and replacing it in her pocket, she moved back to the table and made a few notes in Teddy's chart.
"Did I do good?" The little boy questioned, watching Olivia with wide eyes.
"You did great," she grinned.
"Great," The woman by the window sneered, "Can you please send a doctor in here to discharge my son?"
"Mellie," Fitz sighed, throwing an apologetic look in Olivia's direction. Olivia; however, had no intention of allowing Fitz to continue his line of thought. Instead, she stepped toward Mellie, holding a hand in her direction.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself, Mrs Grant," looking pointedly at her outstretched hand, she tried not to smirk as Mellie quickly grasped and released her hand, "Olivia Pope. I am the senior attending pediatric surgeon and the one who saved your son's life after you decided that cold medication was a viable remedy for appendicitis."
It was a cheap shot and she knew it, but everything about the woman had rubbed her the wrong way. She took small satisfaction in the fact that the only response Mellie could muster was:
"It's Ms Roberts. We're divorced."
Turning her attention back to the chart before her, Olivia made a few more notes before adding her signature and closing the grey binder. Turning her attention to Fitz and noticing for the first time the teenage boy and girl hovering behind him, Olivia spoke: "You're good to go. I'll need to see Teddy in a couple weeks to remove his stitches and check his incision.
I'm going to go grab a wheelchair for you, Teddy." Olivia patted his leg before leaving the room.
/
"Why didn't you tell me our son was in the hospital?" Mellie demanded, following Fitz into the hallway. Fitz sighed, his shoulders dropping. He had hoped to get a couple words with Olivia, but Mellie had thrown a wrench in the plan. Turning on his heel, he glared at the woman before him.
"I tried calling you multiple times. I even left a message with your secretary. You refused to speak."
"You never told me our son was in the hospital."
"Because you wouldn't let me! You were too busy. I even told you it was urgent, but that didn't matter. You put your campaign before our children once again." Fire burned in Fitz's eyes and his fingernails dug into the palms of his hands as he clenched his fists. She had always put her career before their children.
"Don't be surprised when I ask for your visitation to be limited to once a month," he whispered before turning around and stomping back into his son's room. He waited in the room with his children, silently seething. When Olivia entered the room minutes later with a wheelchair, he was surprised that Mellie still had not returned. She wasn't used to anyone standing up to her, but running was not exactly her motif.
"Ready, Teddy?" Olivia asked. Fitz turned at the sound of giggling behind him. Karen gave him an apologetic glance before stating:
"Sorry. It was just funny that it rhymed." Olivia threw an amused grin in Karen's direction as she helped Teddy from his bed and to the wheelchair. Standing behind the chair, she put her hands on the handles and began pushing the chair toward the door.
"Do you want me to do that?" Fitz asked, trailing behind her with Karen and Jerry.
"A doctor or nurse has to - hospital policy," Olivia shrugged, continuing down the hall. Her pager went off as they stepped into the elevator. Sighing, Olivia reached for the buzzing electronic and glanced at the message displayed on the screen.
"Another surgery?" Fitz questioned.
"Potentially," Olivia shrugged, pushing Teddy off the elevator as it opened its doors to the first floor. At the entrance to the hospital, Olivia handed the wheelchair off to Fitz and made to head back toward the elevator before he stopped her.
"Here's my number," he winked, slipping a small piece of paper into her hand. She allowed a small smile and nod before walking away.
/
"What do we have?" Olivia questioned, pulling gloves onto her hands as she entered the ER.
"Ten-year-old female. Head lacerations, broken arm, fractured leg, and possible internal bleeding," one of the paramedics rattled as he handed a clipboard to Olivia. Glancing at the paperwork, she barked commands at the interns standing nearby:
"Get her to an exam room, Dr. Spalding." The younger man nodded, quickly pushing the gurney down the hall.
"Lexie, please page Dr. Torres. George, where the hell is Yang?" Olivia glanced behind her to the two interns following her at a brisk pace.
"Cristina is with Hahn."
"Kiss ass," Olivia mumbled under her breath, "And she didn't think it was important to assign her interns a task? Or to, maybe, teach them something?"
George opened his mouth, but quickly slammed it shut. Olivia shook her head - he wasn't going to say anything about his friend and she knew that.
"Dr. Pope, I paged Dr. Torres." The perky redhead announced, bounding to Olivia's side. Olivia tried not to grin at her enthusiasm. Meredith's younger sister had slowly warmed Olivia's heart and, at times, she had taken it upon herself to try and teach the girl. Cristina sure wasn't doing her any favors.
"George, tell Yang I'm stealing Grey for the day." Lexie couldn't hide the look of pure excitement that crossed her face. She hadn't been at the hospital long and already an attending had chosen her to assist without her resident assigning her. George sauntered down the hall, leaving Olivia to call to him one last time:
"O'Malley, book an OR while you're there!"
"What happened?" Lexie questioned as they rushed toward the exam room.
"A bus sideswiped the car she was in," Olivia read from the paperwork, shoving the door to the exam room open.
"She's going to need surgery on her leg," Callie Torres announced as Olivia and Lexie stepped into the room.
"You got x-rays already?"
"And a CT. Looks like her spleen ruptured."
"We'll be scrubbing in together, then."
/
"We did it," Callie exclaimed as she and Olivia were scrubbing out.
"And she didn't code once." Olivia roughly scrubbed the palms of her hands.
"So, did you get his number?" Callie wondered aloud.
"What?" Olivia turned a quizzical expression toward the other doctor.
"The walking sex god whose child you saved. He slipped you something when you discharged his son."
"Are you spying on me?" Olivia laughed, reaching for a paper towel and drying her hands.
"That's avoiding the question." Callie reached for a paper towel and dried her own hands, throwing the used paper into the trash bin.
"Yes, I got his number." Olivia headed toward the exit, tossing the door open and stepping out of the room with Callie hot on her heels.
"Someone is finally putting herself back out there."
"No, I'm not. It's just a number," Olivia insisted.
"Whatever you say," Callie sung as she headed in the opposite direction.
/
"I love you, princess," Olivia whispered, bending and brushing her lips gently across Bekah's forehead. Flipping the small nightlight on, she left the little girl's room and entered her kitchen. Popping a bag of popcorn, she poured herself a glass of wine and made her way to the sofa in the family room.
"For a doctor, you have some unhealthy habits," Laci observed, pressing play on the remote as Olivia plopped onto the soft material.
"Shut up." Olivia placed the bowl of freshly popped popcorn on the glass coffee table and her glass of wine beside that. She turned her attention to the horrible, cheesy horror movie Laci had picked, groaning when her phone rang.
"For the love of -" Laci exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and pausing the movie.
"Sorry," Olivia mumbled, reaching for her cellphone and looking at the name on the screen. She frowned at the sight of her mother's name. They had had an argument years ago, before she had married Jake, and their relationship had only deteriorated once she had gotten pregnant. Shaking her head, she answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Libby." The teary voice on the other end sounded relieved.
"Maya." Olivia's voice was cold, emotionless.
"Libby, please don't be like that."
"I'm sorry? You called my marriage a mistake, suggested I abort my daughter, and barred me from my father's funeral. Am I supposed to be grateful?" Olivia questioned, tilting her head to the side as she awaited her mother's response.
"Olivia!" Her mother's tone caused Olivia to sit up straight, a worried expression crossing her face. Her mother never called her by her full name. It was always her nickname.
"What?" She allowed the cold demeanor to fade and the slightest hint of worry to creep into her voice, softening the hardness of the question.
"I need your help." Olivia frowned at that admission.
"You need my help?" She repeated, unsure of the response she would get.
"I have a brain tumor."
"You have a brain tumor?"
"Are you going to repeat everything I say? Yes, I have a brain tumor. My doctor says there's nothing he can do and radiation wasn't effective."
"And I'm supposed to help you? I'm not a neurosurgeon or an oncologist."
"I know, but you work with the best." Olivia sighed, every gut feeling telling her to hang up on her mother, but the emotional tug of a parent, even an estranged one, slipping away forced to her to remain on the phone.
"You want me to see what they can do."
"Please. That's all I ask. I can have my doctor email you my scans."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I'll see what they can do." Maya released a shaky sigh, quickly clearing her throat.
"Thank you," Maya muttered, adding almost as an afterthought, "I love you."
Shaking her head, Olivia ended the call. She wasn't going to mutter those words to her mother. Not after the history they shared.
/
Olivia glanced up at the large, baby blue Victorian home. Inhaling deeply, she slowly walked toward the front door. She fidgeted with the ring on her finger, the tiny stone gleaming in the sunlight. Stepping on the small doorstep, she hid her hand in her pocket before knocking. Laura and Angela, her younger sisters, and her brother, Henry, still lived with their parents. She didn't want them to know before her mother and father. Knocking on the door, she grinned when Henry answered and threw his arms around her.
"Libby!" Releasing his older sister, Henry stood to the side and allowed her to enter her childhood home. Henry shut the door behind her before following her down the narrow hallway and to the airy kitchen in the back of the home. She greeted Angela and Laura. The two teens nodded coolly in her direction - there had always been tension between the three sisters. Olivia knew it was because their father compared every little achievement the twins had to her own. She almost pitied them.
Her mother and father stood at the other end of the kitchen. Her mom hadn't changed, but Eli…he was aging, painfully so, and had more white than the last time Olivia had seen him. It made her regret the choice to move to Seattle. It was too far from Maine. Taking another deep breath, she moved forward and engulfed her father in a loving hug.
"I'm engaged," she announced as she pulled away from her father, deciding that the best choice was to rip the band-aid away as fast as possible.
"Congratulations!" Henry grinned at her.
"Dad?" she asked, nervously watching her quiet father.
"He finally did it," Eli stated.
"What?"
"Jake asked for my permission, Liv. I'm happy for you. He's a good man." Olivia grinned brightly at her father's words and threw her arms around his neck in another crushing hug. The sparkle in her eyes dulled when she looked at her mother. Maya stood against the counter, a frown marring her face.
"Does anyone want pie?" Maya quickly asked, avoiding Olivia's questioning glance. Of course, the men answered enthusiastically.
"Why don't you guys go ahead to the dining room? I'll help mom," Olivia offered, trying to keep a smile on her face as her siblings and father left the room.
"Mom?" Olivia inquired once the room was clear, watching her mother pull the pie from the oven and reach for a pie-cutter.
"Libby, what's wrong?"
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I don't know what you mean, dear." Maya grasped the pie-cutter in her hand and moved toward the pie, making a clean, precise cut.
"You didn't comment when I said I'm engaged. What's wrong?" Olivia repeated, placing her hands on the counter and watching her mother intently.
"Nothing," her mother replied, curtly, turning toward a cabinet and pulling plates from the shelves.
"Something is wrong," Olivia insisted, causing Maya to sigh in anger.
"Jake isn't right for you, Libby." Maya placed the plates beside the pie and slowly twirled around to look at her daughter.
"What's wrong with Jake?"
"He isn't right for you," Maya repeated, eyeing Olivia.
"He's perfect."
"No, he isn't. He's wrong for you. I won't let you marry him."
Anger flashed in Olivia's eyes and her voice slowly rose with each syllable, "You refuse? Who are you to tell me who I can marry?"
"Your mother, young lady!" Maya's response came in the form of a shout, alerting the rest of the family to the argument in the kitchen.
"It's because he's white, isn't it?" Olivia tilted her head, her mouth falling open slowly.
"How dare you accuse me of being racist!"
"I don't believe it," Olivia muttered, fury marring her face, "You can't stomach the thought of your daughter marrying a white man."
"Maybe I can't." Olivia rolled her eyes at her mother's quick retort, snorting at the thought that her mother could even have those feelings.
"Then don't bother coming to my wedding," Olivia mumbled, turning her back to her mother.
"Fine."
"Fine?" Olivia questioned, bringing a hand up to rub at the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"I won't come. I refuse to see you marry that man." Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Olivia bolted from the kitchen. She refused to fall apart in front of her mother - a mother that she no longer knew. She was quick to hug her brother and father, mumbling goodbyes before leaving.