Title: Breathe
Authors: Sara And Lizzie
Rating: T for language, mild sex
Disclaimer: It would be nice to own grey's anatomy, sadly all we own are a lot of high priced shoes and handbags, and both seasons on dvd.
Summary: A month or so after Meredith's near death experience, tragedy strikes Seattle Grace again in the form of a robbery gone wrong. A hostage situation takes place in the OR. Nine lives hang in the balance as they wait to live, die, or just get blown up.
Author's Note: Wow. The last time we updated this? Feels like years ago. This particular little story is giving us trouble. Because we have all these things we want to happen, right? But the execution of them is hard. Because we want it to be in character, believable, etc. So bear with us.
AND REVIEW.
I'm feeling like I might need to be near you.
"I should say that I'm sorry." Meredith blurted out, breaking the silence in the OR. Izzie had set her up for the one thing she didn't want to say. But she thought hard until she had transported herself back in time. Back to standing, virtually alone in the cold OR, with nothing but the hard metal of a bomb against her fingertips, desperate for one last chance to see Derek.
She forced herself to go back to those agonizing moments in the water, each movement stinging, aching, each gasping, sputtering breath causing a sharp pain around her ribs, each moment of blackness wishing he was there to hold on to. Those times she had eluded death.
She brought herself back to the present, to another situation that was ridiculous enough to be laughable if she wasn't living in it. This time, she decided, she was going to take the chance to say what needed to be said.
"I really should apologize. But if I only get one thing, it's that we're forever." Meredith said, looking at Derek. "This is big. This is it for me. The end of the line. And it's forever."
She cleared her throat. "I'm not good with this. And I know me and the near death whatever are getting a little melodramatic, but I swear, every time, all I could think of was you. I'm done looking, Derek. You're it." She had felt this way before. A frozen moment in time, shared only between the two of them. The OR, the bomb, the friends, the colleagues. They all faded away gently, until all Meredith could see was the person sitting next to her.
The look in Derek's eyes as he gazed down at her was the absolution she needed. Her past sins slipped away, and as she gazed back, so did his. Suddenly, in that moment, in that OR, it didn't matter that he hid a wife from her, or that she had lost the will to swim. All that mattered was that they made it out of that OR. Together.
Agent Wilson bit his lip and turned to Kidman. "How'd we miss this?" he exclaimed angrily.
"Fuck if I know." She replied bitterly. She owed this hospital for unscrambling her brain after that ferry crash. "Ry, what are we going to do?" she murmured, a moment of desperate vulnerability breaking through her usually hard exterior.
He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We need negotiators. Now. We need to talk to Montcalm and his people."
"Right. But what are we going to do?"
Ryan Wilson looked through the open blinds of the conference room and shook his head. "It's one of them Dianna." He said. "It's one of those scientists. The missing link is in that room."
She looked in at them, her eyes traveling from person to person, searching for the telltale sign. The roaming eyes. The shakiness. The sweaty palms. She didn't see any outwards signs of weakness or guilt, but give her fifteen minutes… "That's it." She said. "We take them all into custody until someone talks. Even if the one who tipped off Montcalm won't crack, there could be someone else who knows something. We interrogate them all, and one of them will crack."
With that, she turned on her heel and strode through the doors of the conference room. "You." She said, pointing to the nearest person. "Come with me. The rest of you can cooperate with Agent Kidman. You're all under house arrest until this matter clears itself."
"You can't do that!" Dr. Barbon snapped, rising to his full height. All six feet of him stared down Agent Wilson. At five feet and four inches, she should have been intimidated, but she rolled her eyes. "I know my rights." Said Barbon indignantly.
Wilson snorted. "You haven't read the news since 9/11, have you? I'm invoking an article of legislation that says yes, I can do whatever the hell I want."
She had finally said everything he had needed to hear. The forgiveness, the apology, the declaration of love. It was all there, and she had said it to him. Derek should have felt light and happy in this moment; this moment of finally knowing the worst was behind them. They were finally going to be okay.
But the euphoria was brief, nothing but a delicious burst soon clouded by their dire reality. Terror seized him again, this time accompanied by a burst of something primal. The need to protect Meredith. The need for them both to leave the OR safely. The need to experience the happy ever after.
"Fuck it." He heard; a mutter from down the wall of the OR. Cristina was fiddling with her hands, and looking like she was about to say something. "I want to get married." She blurted out.
"I want to marry you. But there will be times when you think I don't want to. You'll think I'm freaking out or backing out, but I won't. Actually, I'll probably freak out. But I'm not backing out. So don't give up on me, okay? I'll make it down the aisle."
Meredith smiled to herself. "Yang, if you have all those girly feelings, does that mean you also actually have a vagina?" Alex asked.
There was a moment of silence. Then Izzie snickered, and George started coughing a very loud and obvious cough. "I swear to fucking God, Alex. When we get out of here, I'm going to cut your balls off with a ten blade." Cristina snapped. Meredith burst out laughing.
"Why would you want to get anywhere near Alex's balls?" she asked incredulously. "No offense, Iz."
Izzie's shoulders were shaking with barely contained laughter as she held up a hand. Alex grinned devilishly. "Are you threatening my balls because I called yours a vagina?" he asked Cristina.
"Seriously?" she snapped. "I will drop my drawers if you need a visual, Evil Spawn."
Meredith, George and Izzie collapsed into another fit of laughter, and as Meredith threw her head back, a glint of light reflecting off the windows of the gallery caught her eye.
"That's it." She said slowly. "That's how we're getting out of here."