I thought of this chapter during a wedding toady. Probably should have been paying attention to the happy couple, but my mind wanders. Please review, comment, give advice, ideas, etc.

Calliope Iphegenia Torres had heard a lot of crazy things.

Callie didn't believe what she heard.

Jane Doe was supposed to be dead? Like,dead dead? What the hell?

Mark seemed to be reading her thoughts.

"What the hell?" He looked thoroughly confused, obviously thinking that his ears were deceiving him. As Callie looked around, she noticed that all the other doctors were just as confused as her. Derek's eyes were huge and Teddy's mouth was ajar.

"That girl told me that her name was Natalie. If so, she matches the description of a girl who went missing a year ago. After months of searching, we gave up and assumed she was dead." because Kendall tried to explain the best she could, her face was sullen and tired. Her voice was strained. "I guess we may have assumed too soon."

Callie was still having trouble wrapping her head around that. So, Jane Doe was really this Natalie girl who disappeared for no reason a year ago? And all of the sudden she's back? What? Just, what?

The only person who seemed to have understood Kendall's words was Derek. He was nodding slowly, digesting the information. His eyes were fleeting back and forth, as if he was doing a mental puzzle.

Mark still looked baffled and April was just staring into space. She seemed oblivious to everything around. She was in her own world, not listening to those around her.

"Well, at least now we know who she is." Derek had a fake smile. "We should contact her family. I am sure they will be thrilled that their daughter is alive and, not well, but alive none the less." Callie nodded. At least this girl now had a family to be with her during this hard time.

"But, that's the problem." Kendall brought the mood down again. "We know her name, but that's almost all we know. The reason I know who she is is because she was left at a firehouse when she was a day old. She's been in the foster care system all her life. She has no family."

Well that sucks. Callie thought.

For a moment there had been a glimmer of hope of a happy ending for this girl. She could have had a family, but all those dreams were doused, like a flame underwater. Any hopes that they had for this girl having a good life and recovery, went out the window.

"She's an orphan?" Owen was the first to speak.

"Yes. 16 different foster homes by the age of 10." Kendall nodded. "This girl has been through hell."

"And now she gets to go through more." Everyone turned to Arizona as she said the last line. "And, she gets to go through it with only one leg."

Oh crap! Callie thought. She had to take this girl's leg, this innocent girl's leg.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't have better news. I have an early appointment that I can't be late for." Kendall said, her voice full of sorrow. "I will come back later and I will try and find out everything I can about this girl." She nodded her head to each of the doctors and left.

Nobody knew what to do.

April began to cry again. Callie felt bad for her. April obviously felt responsible for this girl's injuries, and now she felt worse. Callie wanted to comfort her, she liked Kepner, but she didn't know what to say. None of them did.

Finally, the awkward silence was broken by Owen.

"Well, unfortunately, we know what we have to do now. Her BP and heart rat are stable, so..." He eyed Callie with a knowing expression.

"No. Now?" Callie didn't want to do it. "Can't we wait?"

"Yes, now." Owen told her sternly. His fierce gaze seemed to see into her soul. "The longer we wait, the leg will get infected. The infection will spread, and she may die. Do you want this girl to die Torres?"

Callie couldn't argue with that. She wanted this girl to live. But that was exactly why she didn't want to amputate the leg. She didn't want to mess up and hurt this girl even further, or even worse, kill her.

"Fine. I'll schedule an OR, but," she added quickly "I need to sleep." Everyone immediately looked at the clock. It was 4 am, and none of them had slept at all that night. Everyone quickly agreed, nobody wanted Callie to cut into this girl with no sleep.

"Alright, now somebody has to tell Jane D..I mean Natalie." Owen said with a somber expression. He looked around, trying to find a volunteer.

"I'll do it." Derek offered. Nobody objected. Callie wondered why he offered, but she didn't say anything. Maybe Derek just had nothing else to do. She didn't know.

"Okay. Everybody truly and sleep. We don't want to hurt anyone because of our stupidity." Owen shooed everyone away, and after everyone had left, he whispered to Derek. "I don't know why you want to talk to her, but please, try and make her feel safe. Something tells me that it wasn't an accident that she was hit." The ginger walked away.

Callie lagged behind, watching all this unfold. She was going to sleep, but she needed a minute to compose herself. She watched Derek push open the glass door to Natalie's room. He was breathing slowly, trying to calm himself. Natalie was still awake, but this time, she wasn't looking away. She was staring right at Derek. Callie walked up to the window to watch.

Derek sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hey Natalie." He smiled at her. She looked like she wanted to smile, but when she moved, all she managed to do was grimace. "I have some news for you."

"Let me guess." She said with a hint of amusement. "You have to amputate my leg?"

Derek just stood there opening and closing his mouth. Callie couldn't blame him. How had this girl known they were going to amputate her leg?

"I heard you guys talking." She explained. "You weren't exactly quiet." She giggled.

"Well that just got a whole lot easier." Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Callie laughed at his relieved expression. "But I have a question for you." He said in a serious tone.

Natalie nodded.

"Why were you outside during the blizzard?"

The girl got a very serious expression on her face.

She swallowed and told her story.

"I have been in foster homes my home life. I bounced around every few months. It was horrible. My foster parents were mean and didn't care about me. Nobody cared about me. So, I decided that I was done with it. In the middle of the night, I snuck out. I took 500 dollars from my foster mom's purse. Then, I just ran. I've been sleeping all throughout the city. In alleys, on benches, or, outside of bars."

"It just so happened that tonight, I was sleeping outside of the bar across from here. I was only a few feet from April. I saw the truck coming." She had begun to cry. "I knew that if I did nothing, she would get hit. And, in a split second I thought, what do you have to live for? That's when I realized, I have nothing to live for. I pushed April out of the way because I wanted to die. I wanted to die."

Tears were streaming down her face.

"So you can amputate my leg. It's just one other thing that I got taken away from me."

Now Derek was crying as he looked away from the girl. He finally noticed Callie staring at them through the window. He gave her a look that said 'Oh my God!' Callie nodded back, her eyes full of tears.

Derek turned back to the girl, and wiped his face with his sleeve. He laid a hand on her non injured shoulder. He gave her a watery smile.

"That's...that's..." He started.

"Stupid, dumb, idiotic, pathetic, weak?" Natalie had stopped crying and was now offering him ideas.

"Brave." Derek told her sternly. "Taking charge of your life and saving someone else's? That's bravery!" Natalie smiled and touched his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you. That is one of the nicest things I've heard in a while." She smiled. "Except for maybe the drunk tough who gave me $100 because he said I looked like his sister." She added quickly.

Derek burst out laughing, so did Callie and Natalie. They all just stayed their, laughing.

"But seriously," Derek calmed down. "We do have to take your leg."

"It's okay. I understand. I'll learn to live with it." Natalie composed herself, and just from the way she was talking, Callie knew that she was telling the truth. Derek seemed to believe her to, because he stopped asking her.

"Well, will be performing your surgery." He pointed at Callie and She waved at at Natalie. Natalie nodded her head in acknowledgement. "If you have any questions, ask us, or one of the nurses." Natalie nodded again.

"Alright Dr. Shepard. I'm ok." Natalie shook his ha d off her shoulder. "You can go now. I'm tired." Derek nodded and got up. He tussled her hair and walked out, but before he left, he turned around to her.

"Natalie." She looked at him. "You can call me Derek."

"Alright, Derek." She smiled as he walked out.

Derek closed the door and walked over to Callie.

"Her story was..wow. I can't believe it." Callie said to him as he leaned against the window.

"I have a hard time comprehending it to. I mean, running away for your own good, living on the streets? It's not a life that anyone should have to live." He gave her a very serious look. "You better get some sleep Torres." He said. "I like this kid, and I want to make sure that've do everything we can do for her,"

He gave her a tired smile and walked off down the hallway.

Callie smiled and turned towards the on-call room. She wanted to be well rested, because she wanted to help this kid.

No matter what.