Chapter Four: How to Save a Life

The days wore on and still no one could diagnose Natalie's mysterious form of cancer. On Thursday morning, Addison desperately went to the Chief. As soon as he closed the door to his office, a tear slid down her cheek. The Chief invited her to sit and Addison obliged.

"What is it now?" He asked calmly, handing her a tissue.

"It's been almost a week since the surgery, Richard. What do I tell her? What do I tell Derek? I'm letting them all down…"-She wiped the tears away-"I'm supposed to be the best and I can't even give my niece a diagnosis. I need help."

The Chief placed his hand on hers. "You are the best, Addie, but maybe this is out of your control." He reached for the phone on his desk and started dialing.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calling a friend of mine, James Holden. He's a doctor at Harvard who specializes in cancer research."

Addison stared at him, astonished. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."-He motioned for her to be quiet-"Hello, Jim? It's Richard Webber. How are you?...Good, good. Listen, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me out with a case. It's my head of Neuro and my head of Neonatal's niece. She's 16 and has some mysterious form of cancer…You will? Great! I'll send you everything later today…Thanks again. We really appreciate it…I'll talk to you soon…Bye." Richard hung up the phone and looked at Addison triumphantly.

"Seriously!"

He smiled at her. "I'll come down and talk to her family."

"Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to us, to me." She gave him a hug and rushed out of the office.

As she rounded the corner, she narrowly missed colliding with her ex-husband.

"Derek! Sorry!"

"Careful," He said, sidestepping her, "Why are you so bright and shiny?"

"The Chief talked to a friend of his at Harvard who specializes in cancer research, and he said he would help out with Natalie's case!"

"Seriously? That's great Addison! Is Natalie here now?"

"No, she has an appointment at 9:30."

"Oh, okay. I'll try to stop by," He promised as his paged beeped, "See you later."

"Bye!" She called as he ran off.

At 9:30, Addison met the interns and Bailey outside room 3054. They followed her inside and Bailey looked at Meredith expectantly.

"Grey?"

"Natalie Giambattista, 16. In for a post-op checkup after having tumors removed from her ovaries," Meredith replied.

"Right," Addison said, turning toward her patient, "Today, we're going to make sure you're healing good and do a CT to check on the cancer, okay?"-Natalie nodded-"Great. We'll be back soon."

Out in the hall, Bailey addressed the interns.

"Stevens, Shepard. Yang, pit. O'Malley, you're with Burke. Grey and Karev, you're on Natalie's case today."

Moments later, Alex and Meredith were back in 3054.

"Seriously?" Natalie said when she saw Alex, "What did you do that you're always with Aunt Addie? 'Cause I doubt you're going into Neonatal."

Meredith laughed and Alex shot his fellow intern a glare. "Dr. Bailey assigned me to your Aunt."

"Oh, I see, so you're only taking care of me because you have to, and it has nothing to do with the fact that you think Aunt Addie is hot."

He glared at Meredith again. "What did you tell her?"

The girls cracked up. "I didn't say anything, Alex. She just tricked you into saying that!"

"It's so obvious anyway," Natalie added, "No one had to tell me. I've seen the way you look at her."

Alex quickly looked from one girl to the other, his face turning red, and quickly changed the subject. "So, um, are you having any pain?"

"Well…"

"She's having trouble breathing," Catherine told them, "And she coughs a lot."

Meredith made a note on the chart. "Okay, we'll check on that. How's your stomach?"

"It hurts," Natalie sighed, "Still."

"Alright, we're going to do some tests and then Addison will talk to you when we have the results." Natalie and her mother nodded.

A few hours later, Addison entered the room to find Natalie alone, listening to her iPod. She pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. Natalie took off her headphones and grinned.

"How's it going?"

Natalie shrugged. "It's going…So, Aunt Addie, what do you think of Dr. Karev?"

"I think he's too old for you."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Duh. I mean, what do you think of him?"

"I think he's a good doctor. Why?"

She smirked. "Let's just say a little bird told me he thinks you're hot."

Addison's face turned pink. "I see. And who was this little bird? Was it a nurse?"

"Actually, he accidently admitted it earlier when he and Meredith were here. We kinda ganged up on him…So, do you like him?"

"That is a very personal question," she said, flustered, "and as your doctor I refuse to answer."

"You do like him, don't you!" Natalie grinned, excitedly, "So, are you gonna make a move? Are you gonna ask him out?"

"No!" Her Aunt said and quickly changed the subject, "What were you listening to?"

"I was listening to 'All You Need is Love," She said laughing at the look on her Aunt's face, "Just kidding, but I really was listening to the Beatles. See my iPod? My friends Kristin and Lauren gave it to me on Sunday."

"That was nice of them."

"Yeah…So, why are you in here? Did my test results come back yet?

Addison nodded. "Meredith's getting them as we speak. We're just waiting for your mom and Dr. Karev and Dr. Webber."

"Who?"

"Dr. Webber is the Chief of Surgery. He has something to tell you and your mom."

"Is it bad? Do I need another surgery?"

"No, it's good. No more surgeries for the moment."

"Oh, okay. That's good, I guess."

"Dr. Webber taught Derek, Mark and I when we were interns. Actually, come to think about it, so did Meredith's mom, Ellis Grey."

"Really?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"That's cool. Were you guys good interns?"

"Nah, we were so immature. Actually, let me rephrase that, Mark and Derek were immature."

"Let me guess, you were an angel and always obeyed the rules."

"As a matter of fact, yes, I was."

"Ha!"-The girls turned to see Derek leaning against the doorway-"That depends on what a normal person would consider angelic behavior."

"What are you talking about, Derek? Go away."

"Aunt Addie?"-Natalie turned to her uncle-"What did she do?"

"At the hospital Christmas party, our first year, Addie spiked the punch."

"Mark dared me!" Addison protested as Natalie and Derek laughed.

"So? You still did it. And you got the Chief drunk!"

Before Addison could come up with a comeback, Meredith appeared in the doorway. "Um, Dr. Montgomery?"

Addison stood up. "What is it, Grey?"

"I have Natalie's labs."

"Good. Where's Karev? And the Chief?"

Alex went to find Mrs. Giambattista and the Chief is on his way."

"Good."

"Hey, uh guys? Why do I feel like this isn't going to be good news?" Natalie asked.

"It's okay, Nat. You're fine," Addison reassured her.

"If you say so. And you still owe me an honest answer to my question before."

"Which question was that?"

"You know, about Dr-"

Addison rolled her eyes. "Not gonna happen Nat."

"We'll see…"

At that moment, Alex and Catherine entered the room. The group chatted while they waited for the Chief, who arrived a few minutes later.

The Chief greeted Natalie and her mother and shook each of their hands. "Hello, I'm Dr. Webber. I'm the Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace. I know that you're concerned about the lack of diagnosis of Natalie's form of cancer. I would just like to reassure you that we are doing everything we can. This morning, I spoke with a colleague of mine who specializes in cancer research at Harvard. He has graciously agreed to take on Natalie's case."

Natalie gaped. "Harvard? Seriously?"

The Chief smiled kindly at her. "Yes, young lady, everyone is fully committed to helping you fight and beat this."

"Great, let's do it then."

Richard laughed. "The tests show that the cancer may have began in her abdomen and spread to her ovaries. The goal is to prevent it from spreading further, and to catch it quickly if it does. As soon as we locate the origin, Natalie should start Radiation and Chemotherapy."

Natalie wrinkled her nose. "Okay…"

The Chief outlined the rest of his treatment plan and left Natalie to be discharged.

Author's Note: I have to admit, I was a little disapointed at the lack of reviews for Chapter 3. I only got one. My wonderful readers will have to work on that.

So, when Kristin told me that Natalie had cancer, one of the things she mentioned was that a doctor at Harvard was helping out with her case. I know hardly anything about his or her involvement butI thought it was awesome so I included it in the story.

Reviews are always appreciated!