Living up to Family
First 48 Hours – Ch 5
Hermione
Hermione was having a good morning. She got up at a reasonable hour, had a quick call with Ron, got a jog in and a solid breakfast before she needed to head to her lab at Seattle Grace. She was grateful for Harry and Chief Webber for being able to get her a position as a lead researcher at the hospital. She was slowly making headway in combing magical and muggle techniques that could potentially fix her parents memory problems. Certainly, quicker now she had a lab to work out of instead of her kitchen table back in Maryland.
She was just about to grab her car keys, when her phone started blowing up and she read the texts all coming from Harry.
Hermione, I need you like right now.
Okay really not right now, about to go into surgery.
Didn't come home last night, met a girl.
I think she's the one.
Problem 1 – We barely know each other but somehow just clicked? How is that even possible?
Problem 2 – She may or may not be an intern at Seattle Grace.
Problem 3 – I'm currently hiding away texting you this instead of talking to her.
HELP ME!
S.O.S!
911!
Meet me for lunch today! I need your sage advice, because let's face it, you know everything.
I'll buy.
Hermione couldn't help but burst out laughing. She hadn't seen Harry like this since Ginny years ago. She remembered a time when Harry had serious girl troubles between Cho Chang and Ginny and that was before university where he somehow grew out of that awkward phase. Whoever this girl was that pushed him to regress back into the helpless teen must really be something special. Maybe she was a witch and gave Harry a love potion? Hermione quickly shook that out of her mind. The magical population of the USA practically lives either on the East Coast near New York or in Los Angeles with smaller communities throughout the country.
She quickly texted him back.
I'll be there. You better be buying lover boy.
She then quickly texted Ron.
Harry fell for a girl not 20 mins into his new job on his first day! He sent me a wall of text's in panic. Shes an Intern and he is her Attending!
Ron was quick to respond back to Hermione.
Save those texts, I need to read them and memorize it when I come visit this weekend. George has been wanting to get back at Harry for the prank he pulled last Christmas. I also promise not to tell Ginny. According to Mum, Ginny's been obsessively trying to hunt Harry down, but she can only hold her back for so long.
Hermione responded.
Your sister needs to move on. They were over and Harry needs someone who doesn't fawn over him like she does. But I'll talk to you later tonight love! I'm going to go to work and meeting Harry for lunch later!
Meredith
Not even 20 minutes into the program and Meredith knew she royally messed up. She didn't realize under her tequila haze that the man she slept with last night was THE DR. POTTER-BLACK. One of the youngest winners of the Harper Avery Award and most importantly of all HER ATTENDING. She couldn't get to that now as she quickly averted her gaze and solely focused on the space of the wall past Dr. Webber's head, not daring to look back up at the gallery.
After the Chief's speech, she met her resident Dr. Miranda Bailey aka "The Nazi". Meredith tried to listen into the rules but was mildly distracted when Harry walked past heading towards the Pit. Her first client was a teenage girl who had been suffering from seizures. The routine check ups didn't show anything that could possibly be the cause of the seizures.
So, she decided to talk to her fellow intern Cristina Yang. They got along fast and decided to talk to about the case over lunch. Though getting to their lunch time was hard, her patient, Katie Bryce, kept asking for nurses to page Meredith because she was bored. At that point Meredith gave Katie a tongue lashing. "The emergency call button, Katie, is not a toy for you to use at your whim. I have actual sick patients I have to attend to. This is a hospital!"
Katie was silent and kept her head down and muttered "I can't sleep, my head feels all full."
"That's called thinking, go with it," snapped Meredith as she walked out of the room.
Meredith made her way to the cafeteria and grabbed a ham sandwich and an apple. As she turned away from the checkout line, she caught sight of Harry and a frizzy haired but beautiful brunette in what looked like in an intimate conversation. They were laughing at each other. Meredith quickly turned away and made it to tunnel where the other interns on her team normally sat. Right now it was just Cristina sitting on the bed with some textbooks.
"Someone is in a grumpy mood." Noticed Cristina.
Meredith didn't respond to Cristina. But Cristina, ever so curious kept prodding Meredith in the shoulder. "Tell me, tell me, tell me…" she kept saying in a monotone voice.
Meredith had a very weak will at this point and she really needed someone to talk to. So she quickly muttered under her breath "Isleptwithdrpotterblacklastnight."
"You slept with Dr. Potter-Black last night? HOW?"
"We met at Joes Bar. We only exchanged first names and we talked just a little bit. The tequila got to me and I was feeling a bit lonely. And he's got these magical emerald green eyes that just suck you right in and…"
"Slow down there. So, you hooked up with before you knew? I don't see a problem with that. Unless he knew or you were hoping to see him again?"
"I don't think he knew; he was kind of surprised to see me during this morning's meetings. He was standing in the gallery and we locked eyes for a brief moment and he looked quite shocked as well."
"So... that really doesn't answer my second question. Did you plan on finding McMagical again at Joes?"
"Yea kind of? I normally don't go for round 2 or even consider possibly dating most guys long term. But when we met things just worked? Normally I feel all dark and twisty inside and last night with him was all warm and fuzzy you know?"
"Nope, dark and twisty as you say, is also my constant state. Don't recall a warm and fuzzy moment in my life.
"I don't recall warm and fuzzy since ever, but last night was just that. I don't need this right now, I just started as an intern here. He's an Attending. I could lose my spot in the program if I follow thru with this?"
"Aren't there papers you can just sign with HR that let's everyone know?"
"Those papers are for legal ramifications, not for social and office ramifications!"
"So what, if you like him, you like him. Who cares?"
At this point, Meredith's pager beeps and it's a 911 call for Katie. She quickly hightails it out of the tunnel and makes it to the OR room and in there are nurses trying to get a handle on Katie's massive seizure. Time slowed down for Meredith, she stumbled calling for the right meds and proper procedures. But as she was getting handle on the situation, Katie flatlined. One of nurses yelled out "Dr. Potter-Black, we need you in here! The intern just froze up on a code blue!".
Meredith watches as Dr. Potter-Black rushes in and starts dictating what he needed to be done. His precise call outs and directions was quite spellbinding, like he could predict everything that could happen before it happened. He grabbed the paddles and immediately charged them. It took him 2 tries before Katie was back in a normal heart rhythm. Meredith paused as she watched him place his hand on Katie's shoulder and she could have sworn that a light glow appeared, but as soon as she did a double take, Dr. Potter was staring her down.
"I won't say what every other doctor would say regarding your inaction. But freeze like that again and someone's life will be forfeit." He said evenly. "Next time, I hope you will do better."
He then stepped out of the room and everyone in the room left out a collective sigh. "He really knows how to put ice in your veins. Only a few seasoned attendings could handle that as cool as he did" said one the nurses.
Meredith then proceeded to give up instructions and went to find the parents. They obviously were not happy that she was not nearby to catch the issue. After a scolding by Katie's parents, Meredith went to the library to do some research on Katie's condition.
Harry
(During lunch)
Harry met Hermione in the atrium and gave one of his oldest friends a hug. "Thanks for the help. I have absolutely no clue what happened."
"As long as you are paying for lunch, I'll find your clues for you." Replied Hermione.
They walked to the cafeteria, making small talk and mostly avoiding the big subject that Harry was dying to talk about. He grabbed himself a light lunch, knowing his afternoon will be packed full of surgeries. However, when he looked a Hermione's plate, she had a cheeseburger, a double helping of fries and large scoop of mac and cheese. "I think your eating habits are starting to become like Ron's," he smirked.
She playfully swats his shoulder "Don't dare say that to woman again, and no I am not eating like Ron, I have to skip dinner today and finish processing a batch of data from my most recent trial."
Harry laughs. Suppose somethings will never change. Not the first time Hermione skips a meal trying to do more homework and won't be the last. He grabs his ham and turkey sandwich and starts chowing down. "Alright, so here's what happened. Last night the Intern Social was a bit suffocating so I left early and went to Joe's Bar. Met a girl there and we hit it off. I could have sworn a felt a bond forming. Between the stress of the night and sudden bond, I stupidly made a decision to sleep with her. It was fantastic Hermione, I haven't felt this kind of feeling since the early days of Ginny and that was a small ember compared to the inferno that this girl."
"Does this girl have a name Harry? You can't just avoid telling me her name," said Hermione.
"Yea she does, Meredith. Her name is Meredith Grey."
"Wait Meredith Grey? As in the daughter of Ellis Grey? 2 time winner of the Harper Avery winner? I've read all about her moth…." Rambled Hermione.
Harry coughed to signal to Hermione that she was about to ramble on. "Yep…didn't find out who she actually was until after the morning meeting, had to discrete poke around to find out her full name"
"Wow the Potter luck strikes again."
"That is not a real thing Hermione," said an exasperated Harry.
"It definitely is, otherwise how do you explain all these things always happening to you?"
"That's not the point Hermione, the point is, I slept with one of our interns. Do you understand how bad this looks if it got out? She could lose her position in the surgical program here, I could get fired, I…"
At this point Hermione also coughs to let Harry know that he started rambling as well. "Well, it's not like you knew before hand right? And lets say you really do like her and maybe want to pursue a relationship with the daughter of Ellis Grey, there are forms you can sign and I'm sure Dr. Webber wont mind as long as you remain impartial to her education as a surgeon. I have a feeling Dr. Webber knows more than he lets on. Just stop freaking out and roll with it."
Harry looked shocked at what came out of Hermione's mouth. His stringent, rules worshipping, authority loving, best friend suggested to bend the rules for once. "Uhh this was not the advice I was looking for?" he questioned.
"No, it probably wasn't. But Harry you have to understand, you've been unhappy and nearly clinically depressed for quite a while now and I haven't seen you this happy since 5th year when Cho Chang asked you to Hogsmeade. So maybe for once, you do something for your self Harry. Be selfish and follow your heart."
Harry thought on this for a moment before Hermione woke him from his thoughts. "Is that her? I think she saw you."
He whipped around and saw the Meredith quickly walk away. He wolfed down the last of his food but not before Hermione swiped his apple into her lab coat. "My extra fee for actual advice."
Harry just glared at Hermione before speed walking in the general direction of Meredith. His thoughts were every where and the advice from Hermione, once again, made sense. He did deserve some happiness now. He worked hard to get where he was, he had survived a violent psychopathic Dark Lord, he dealt with all the lemons thrown his way up until now. Maybe it was time for him to make some lemonade. Though his thoughts were momentarily cut short when he was walking past a room and was pulled into a code blue. He saw Meredith standing there, not moving while her patient was fighting for her life. He immediately clamped down on his occlumency shields and pushed aside any thoughts not pertaining to medicine as he effortless directed the flow of the procedure. When after the patient's 2nd paddle was not enough, Harry waved off the nurses for a 3rd shock. He gently pushed a trickle of raw magical energy into the patient's heart to get it to start beating again. He hoped it was discrete and no one noticed.
As soon as the patient's vitals stabilized, he reigned himself in. He didn't like to yell as an educator and found it was counter intuitive, honestly the opposite of Professor Snape's teaching method. He steeled himself in a quiet and even voice. "I won't say what every other doctor would say regarding your inaction. But freeze like that again and someone's life will be forfeit," and next time, I hope you will do better."
Harry quickly left the room afterwards and rested a bit on the stairs. Sitting there was Dr. Sheppard. "Rough one?" said Dr. Sheppard.
"Dr. Grey almost lost a patient, she froze during a code blue," Harry replied.
"Most interns do on their first day, let alone a code blue. Hopefully Dr. Grey takes something away from it. Otherwise, we wouldn't be very good teachers."
With that Dr. Sheppard climbed the stairs heading towards the OR. In a few moments Harry also went up the stairs. He had a few surgeries to go before his shift was over and he needed the quiet time to think.
Meredith
She was a complete mess in the supply closet. Instead of a screaming and yelling reprimand like she expected, she was given a calm and collected scolding. Something she was not used. Harry was kind even in the face of her mistake and he just knew that this experience will always be in the back of her mind. Something she noticed today from the rumor and gossip mill of the hospital. Dr. Potter-Black was always like this. Calm, cool and collected and everything he did was simply enchanting. They had a car accident come in this morning and he was able to get the flow of a normally hectic emergency room, under his control. He personally was able to save a little girl whose lung had collapsed and is expecting a full recovery. Unfortunately, he couldn't save the little girl's father who came into the hospital nearly brain dead. But he did have a very grateful mother come in to find out her little girl was taken care of.
Meredith wiped away her tears and went to go see Katie again. Katie wasn't awake but because of her thrashing during the seizure, Meredith spotted a very bruised ankle. She hypothesized that the fall could have caused an aneurysm to burst and she ran to Cristina to verify if the research could hold up.
They quickly verified the diagnosis and went to find an attending. However, the only person she could find was Dr. Potter-Black.
"Ummm Dr. Potter-Black, I was going over Katie's file and I believe the cause of her seizures could possibly be a ruptured aneurysm. She has a massive bruise on her ankle and it looks a few days old. It matches the timeline of when her seizures first started," explained Meredith.
"Diagnosis is solid, Dr. Grey. Dr. Yang book an OR immediately. Dr. Grey you are scrubbing in with me."
Cristina was indignant at this "Wait, just because she slept with you, she gets a surgery? How is that fair?" she exclaimed.
"Dr. Yang…." said Harry, his voice suddenly cold. "Dr. Grey was able to provide the proper diagnosis here. While you were able to verify the diagnosis, that was all you were able to do. Did you even bother to check in on the patient or did you just hole up in the library looking for answer in a book instead of the patient?"
Cristina had no response.
"Next time you say I am favoriting someone, please keep in mind that this is a teaching hospital. Dr. Grey had the answer, so she gets to assist as a reward."
"But she almost killed the patient!"
"At least she was in the room Dr. Yang!" exclaimed Harry.
Cristina after hearing this was sufficiently cowed. She knew that this wasn't favoritism, she thought she would get her answer in the library instead of working the patient. "Dr. Grey and Dr. Potter-Black, I take back what I said and apologize for my callousness. I wont question you again sir."
Harry and Meredith just nodded before Harry spoke up. "While I am in surgery, I need you to run some post-ops and check in on my patients, lets work on your bedside manners Dr. Yang."
With a quick nod, Cristina went to the nurses station and grabbed the respective charts. Meredith then followed Harry and scrubbed into OR 3. They were able to create an open bypass that brought back circulation in the leg.
"Dr. Grey, would you like to close?" said Harry after the long surgery.
"Of course Dr. Potter-Black," she replied.
Harry was about to walk away but turned around "Oh and Dr. Grey?"
"Yes?"
"Great job."
"Thank you, sir"
Meredith slightly flushed a bit from the praise but quickly pushed it aside as she began the movements to close the wound.
After the surgery, she finally reached the end of her shift. After a quick shower and change of clothes she went to the elevator. As soon as she got to the elevator, she saw that Harry was there. They both quickly got into the elevator, not looking at each other. Harry was the one to break the silence "You did good today, you made a mistake but you learned from it. You should be proud of yourself."
"Yes sir, I am," she replied.
"About the other night. I truly didn't know that you were starting here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have done what I did. But I also don't regret any of it. Those few hours we got was probably one of the happier moments of my life in the last few years and I am glad I was able to share it with you. If you give me the chance, I'd like to truly get to know you on a few real dates. If this is something we both want, then we can make it work," explained Harry.
With that the elevator doors opened and Harry made his way out, quickly looking back and making eye contact with her. She gave him the faintest of smiles and she knew she was deep in it. Meredith walked over to Joes and sits at her normal spot with the other interns. Cristina was still ignoring her for the time being. Meredith could tell that Cristina didn't like to be spoken down to like that. Later in the night Dr. Sheppard came and said hello them and tried to make an ever so slight pass on Meredith. While Pre-Harry Meredith would have been okay with it, current Meredith could only think about what Harry had told her. Maybe a real date wasn't such a bad idea?
A/N – I am not a medical guy and I had to do some quick google research to find better terms. Hopefully this chapter works for everyone. Again constructive reviews welcome!