Meredith liked working the night shift. After midnight, the hustle and bustle on the patient floors died down. Most of the patients were sleeping and the ORs were quiet, usually filled with ER cases or the surgeries that had run long.
But it was quieter, almost peaceful.
Meredith spent most of her time catching up on charts, getting discharge paperwork done and filtering in and out of the ER when she was needed. Every hour or so, a surgical case might come in that she would operate on, but she was also thankful for the extra time to finish up her paper work or conduct research for her patients or even practice procedures.
Pierce was on the night shift that night too.
They were sitting together in one of the research labs, doing paperwork and talking intermittently as they charted.
Pierce was usually the first to speak, "So where's Derek tonight? On the night shift too? I'd expect he'd have to pick up some slack with Amelia not working for now…"
Meredith shook her head, not looking up from her chart, "Actually, no. He left earlier tonight to take his sisters out to dinner."
Pierce looked up, "Oh, yea, Derek's sisters are in town. I think I saw them earlier outside Amelia's room…how'd she take it? I know she's had some problems with her sisters before…"
Meredith took in a breath, "Not well." She said with a sigh, "Her sisters are kind of…they're kind of horrible." She smirked a little bit, "Nancy, his older sister is cordial and I think she'd be okay, but his younger sister Kathleen, she's so judgmental and the two of them together are really…too much."
"Bet you're happy to have this night shift then."
Meredith nodded, rolling her eyes, "You have no idea." She said with a small smile, "Oh, I meant to ask earlier…how has Owen been holding up?" She asked.
Pierce scribbled something on her chart and then looked up, "Um, he's been pretty stable since the surgery. His respirations are good, he has even breath sounds and it looks like Kepner repaired the internal damage. He's been pretty sedated. We woke him up once to check his brain function and he responded well, a little bit slower than we'd hoped, but Derek seems to think when we tone down the sedation and he wakes up on his own, he'll be okay."
Meredith nodded, "Good." She responded.
Before Pierce could say anything else, her phone beeped. She pulled it out of her pocket, "Speak of the devil...Edwards just paged. Owen is awake." She grabbed her charts and stood up.
Meredith stood too, "Mine if I come? I want to see how he's doing."
"Not at all." Pierce replied, "Let's go."
They walked up the stairs to the ICU. When they got to Owen's room, Edwards was already inside, performing a neural exam on him. He was awake, talking and looked to be pretty responsive.
He looked over at the door when Pierce and Meredith entered.
"Dr. Hunt." Pierce greeted, walking to his bedside, "How are you feeling?"
Owen gave a small shrug, "I feel alright." He said with a small smile, "I can finally breathe and…move, it feels really good." He said, sounding relieved.
Piece nodded with a smile, "Good, well, we were able to repair most of your injuries. Your hip might cause you some pain going forward, but Torres said she expects a full recovery." She reported.
Edwards finished her neural exam, giving a positive nod to Meredith and Pierce. And then she moved on to checking the reflexes in his right leg, which may have suffered damage due to the hip dislocation.
Meanwhile, Pierce listened to his breathing and checking his abdomen. "Everything looks good, Hunt. Your recovery seems to be going really well."
Meredith moved past Edwards to stand at the other side of Owen's bed.
Owen looked over at her, "Meredith." He greeted.
"Hey, Owen. I'm not on your case. I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing." She smiled down at him.
Owen nodded, "Well, according to Dr. Pierce, I'm doing pretty well." His smile faded, "How's Amelia?" He asked her, knowing that she was Meredith's patient. He read her expression carefully.
Meredith had been expecting him to ask about her, "Amelia's surgery went smoothly. She had some damage to her liver that we're monitoring now, but we don't expect any complications." She told him, "Robbins told me she's been asking about you too…" She smiled.
Owen didn't reply. His gaze dropped to his hands.
"Owen?" Meredith asked, "Are you okay?"
He shook his head, taking in a breath, "Yea, it's just…we were arguing in the car. I picked a fight and we were arguing and it was raining and I was paying attention, but… maybe if we hadn't been yelling I might have been able to swerve out of the way…" He said, "And none of this would have happened."
Meredith shook her head, "This wasn't your fault." She told him, "The road was wet. The guy in the other car couldn't stop, that's what he told us. It's no one's fault." She tried, but he didn't look convinced, "Amelia doesn't blame you, Owen, I know that."
He sighed and looked up, "Maybe she doesn't…but I do."
"Accidents happen." Pierce chimed in, "And blaming yourself for something random is just going to make the experience even more painful for the both of you." She paused, "Let yourself off the hook…"
Owen took in a deep breath, "You're right." He said with a nod.
"Well, the reflexes in your leg look good, Dr. Hunt. It doesn't look like the hip dislocation has caused any nerve damage." Edwards gave him a small nod before walking out of the room.
Meredith smiled a little bit, "Yea, in other news, two of Derek and Amelia's sisters are in town to visit and I wouldn't be surprised if they came to visit you sometime soon." She said with a smirk, "Derek told them that you and Amelia were involved…"
Owen gulped, "Oh god, Amelia's told me a few stories about her sisters…" He trailed off, "From what I've heard they're…"
Meredith nodded, "I've heard the stories too." She smiled a little bit, "And that's why I wouldn't put it past them to pay you a visit at some point." Her phone beeped and she reached into her pocket to check it.
Owen laughed lightly, "Great…" He said sarcastically.
"You could always pretend to be asleep." Pierce joked lightly as she quickly scribbled down some of his progress on his chart.
Meredith looked down at her phone.
Room 314 – 911
Room 314.
That was Amelia's room.
Meredith's face paled.
Owen smirked, "Yea that's always an option." He sighed, "I mean, I'm going to have to meet them eventually. They're Amelia's family…I might just have to bite my tongue and charm them." He smiled.
Pierce chuckled, "Oh, so you're going to turn the charm on?"
"I have to go." Meredith said suddenly, voice uneven. She glanced at Owen and then at Pierce before rushing out of the room. She started running once she was out of their view, but as she threw the doorway open to the stairs, she heard someone else come in behind her.
"Mer, is it Amelia?" It was Pierce.
Meredith didn't stop running as she made her way down the stairs to the other patient floors, "Yea, 911." She called up to her as she made it to another door, pushed it open and continued running towards Amelia's room.
When she got there, Wilson was already there waiting.
Meredith looked at the heart rate monitor which was beeping quickly. She observed that Amelia's heart rate was much too elevated, along with her respiratory rate while her blood pressure was dangerously low. She looked down at Amelia, who was sweating profusely and breathing heavily into an oxygen mask, eyes wide.
"Her temperature is 103." Wilson reported, "Elevated heart rate, low BP. I thought it was sepsis so I pushed antibiotics, but there hasn't been any improvement yet." She reported to Meredith.
Meredith nodded slowly, "Did you check the incision site?" She asked, but before Wilson could reply, she lifted Amelia's gown and exposed her stomach. The tissue surrounding the site of the wound that they'd stitched up was a deep red and the stitches themselves were yellowing.
"I hadn't gotten to it yet…" Wilson trailed off as she saw the wound.
"Who checked on her earlier?!" Meredith asked, shaking her head, "The wound is infected, probably because of the damage to her liver." She looked at Wilson, "You were right about the sepsis, but it's much more progressed. Probably early septic shock…" She said, "Call the OR, tell them we're coming up, we need to remove this infected tissue."
Wilson rushed out the door.
"And get me the intern that rounded on her!"
Meredith looked down at Amelia, who looked terrified. She took her hand as one of the nurses helped her roll her bed out of the room, "You're gonna be okay." She reassured.
On the way to the OR, they turned around a corner and saw Derek and his two sisters walking down the hall. When they looked up and saw their younger sister gasping for air under an oxygen mask, their eyes widened.
Derek rushed up to Meredith, matching her pace as she rolled the bed down the hall, "What happened?" He asked, his sisters both looking at her too for an explanation.
Meredith didn't slow down, "Septic shock. The wound we stitched up got infected. I'm taking her to the OR to remove the infected tissue. I paged Bailey and I have Wilson to assist too." She reported to them, "We're gonna take good care of her."
They approached the OR doors.
"Amelia." Derek took his sister's hand, "Meredith's gonna take good care of you…and I'm gonna be waiting for you when you're done, okay? You're gonna be fine."
Nancy was on the other side of her bed. She touched her sister's arm too, "We're so sorry." She glanced at Katie, "We're so sorry for everything. We love you and we never meant to hurt you and…we can't lose you, okay?"
Katie nodded, "Yea, we're overbearing and annoying and everything, but we do care about you. I promise we do." She told her.
Amelia pulled off her oxygen mask and she reached out to take her sister Nancy's hand, "I…know..." She said softly with a nod, gripping her sister's hand tightly.
"Don't you worry, okay?" Nancy glanced up at Derek, "You're in good hands."
Amelia nodded, but still looked scared. She held her siblings hands until they reached the OR doors and they were forced to let go.
Meredith gave Derek a nod before wheeling Amelia away and then into an OR where they prepped her for surgery. Just as they were putting her under and Meredith was going to leave and scrub in, Amelia grabbed her arm.
"Don't kill me, alright?" Amelia said with a weak laugh.
Meredith tried to laugh, "I'm not going to kill you." She promised, holding Amelia's hand as the anesthesiologist started to put her under. Once her hand relaxed and her eyes closed, Meredith let go and walked out to scrub in.
Wilson was already scrubbing in when she walked into the scrub room. As Meredith turned the faucet on, Wilson spoke, "I found the intern who had checked on Dr. Shepherd. He said that he checked the incision site and wrote down in the chart that it was warm and tender, but it didn't not seem severe. It must have progressed severely just in the past few hours when she was sleeping…"
Meredith nodded slowly, looking into the OR.
"Dr. Grey." Wilson tried and when she didn't reply, she repeated it, "Dr. Grey, are you alright?" She asked, observing Meredith's demeanor.
Meredith took in a deep breath, "I'm operating on Derek's little sister. I'm operating on the girl, who, before I came along, was the most important girl in his life. I'm supposed to save her. I'm supposed to be the surgeon that saves her and avoids all the pain and heartbreak that would come if she died. I'm supposed to be perfect."
Wilson gulped.
"And I can be…" Meredith continued, "Perfect. I can be perfect. I've done surgeries like this before and I've saved patients like her before. I can be perfect here and save her, but…my hands won't stop shaking."
She looked over at Wilson, "Why can't I get my hands to stop shaking?"
Wilson stopped scrubbing and walked over to Meredith. She grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her away from the sink and turned her around so that she couldn't see into the OR.
"Wilson." She protested half-heartedly.
But she didn't stop, "I know you don't like me very much, but right now, I am your right hand man. We're in this together, okay? So pretend for one second that you actually like me so I can help you."
"I do like you." Meredith said softly.
"Shut up." Wilson said harshly as she grabbed Meredith's shaking hands in hers, "Now, listen to me. Close your eyes."
Meredith looked skeptic.
"Just do it already." Wilson ordered and Meredith, taken aback by her demands, closed her eyes, "Okay, now, this is not Derek's little sister. This is not Amelia Shepherd. This is a random patient from the ER. This is a 60 year old woman with a hopeful husband in the waiting room, a 35 year old woman who just got promoted to a partner at her law firm, it is a 15 year old girl who wanted to try out for the swim team in a few months…" She listed, "With every patient, there's going to be risks and pressure, but your hands don't shake then and why don't they?"
Meredith took in a deep breath, "Because we're confident."
Wilson nodded, gripping her hands tightly, "Because we're confident, because we're prepared…because we have a job to do. It's no different now. We have a job to do, Dr. Grey." She let go of her hands.
They weren't shaking anymore.
Meredith opened her eyes and stared at Wilson for a few moments before nodding, "Let's get it done." She said shortly before turning back to the sink, scrubbing her hands clean and entering the OR.
Wilson followed shortly afterwards and they began the surgery. About 10 minutes in, Bailey joined them for an extra set of hands while Derek and his two sisters watched from the gallery.
A few floors up in the ICU, Pierce was checking on Owen one more time. His vitals looks stable again, which was a good sign. He was getting stronger and recovering from the surgery well. She spoke a few polite words to him and then turned to leave.
"It was Amelia, wasn't it?" He asked suddenly when she was in the doorway.
Pierce stopped.
Owen went on, "When Meredith got paged and ran out and then you followed her…it was Amelia." He said it firmly, not questioningly, "What happened?"
Pierce took in a breath and turned around, re-entering the room and walking over to his bedside, "Meredith was paged to Amelia's room, yes, it was a 911." She watched Owen's face pale, "When she got there, she and Wilson discovered that Amelia had gone into septic shock. She's in surgery now. They're trying to remove the infected tissue. It's been a few hours and I haven't gotten any other updates."
Owen closed his eyes, shaking his head, "Damn it." He breathed. He opened his eyes a few moments later, a tear sliding down his cheek as he did. He looked up at Pierce, "You know…you never think you're not gonna get another chance to talk to someone."
"Owen…"
Owen didn't hear her, "You never think you're not going to have more time. So you stall, you fight or you wait to say what you want to say and then…all of a sudden you run out of time and you never said it…I'm sorry, I want to be with you, you're my best friend, you're beautiful, I love you…I can't live without you."
Pierce tried to keep herself from tearing up.
"I never told her that." Owen said, shaking his head, "I never told her and no matter how much you say that she knows, she doesn't. She doesn't know and god, now she never will." She ran his hands through his hair.
Pierce took his hand, "It's not over yet." She said firmly, "You will get a chance to tell her that. You will." She promised.
Owen wiped the tears from his face and looked over at her, wanting her to be right, but knowing that the most toxic thing for him to do right now was get his hopes up.
