The poet Octavio Paz once wrote, "The Mexican is familiar with death. Jokes about it. Caresses it. Sleeps with it. Celebrates it." I can relate. But in a hospital, death isn't celebrated. It's avoided at all costs. And when it comes, it's clinical, almost routine. But still, with all that practice, even surgeons are surprised by death. Especially when it happens to the ones we love.
Bailey entered her living room ready to leave for work and saw that her son Tuck was busy decorating a skull. He turned to his mother.
"It's called day of the death, Tuck explained. Tyler said it's like a Mexican Halloween, but's he is wrong.
Baliey entered her kitchen and grabbed her healthy beverage and then walked back to the living room.
"It's like the one day of the year where the people who you love that died come back to be with you," Tuck said. "Not like zombies, more like spirits, but not ghosts. Angels I don't know."
Tuck was talking about the altars he and his classmates were going to make in homeroom, Bailey grabbed a big red folder of the table and saw that it was Ben's death benefit and looking at it made Bailey worried.
Meredith was sitting at her table drinking her coffee and going over some papers, Zola and Sofia sneaked up behind her.
"Hola!
"You guys look so beautiful... and scary," Meredith said.
"It's not supposed to be scary," Zola said.
"t's Dia De Los Muertos. We're doing a parade at school," Sofia said.
"So cool!" Meredith said. "Now let me take a picture of you two."
Meredith grabbed her phone and took a picture of the two girls and after that she grabbed her son and other daughter and they left the house to go to school.
Jenna stood at the nurse's station drinking her coffee, Jo came sighing.
"Everything okay?
"My husband is a grump, Jo said.
"He's the Chief, doesn't seem like an easy..., Jenna began, but stopped talking when she saw a man walking down the hall. Oh no. Jenna hid under the desk
"What are you doing? Jo asked.
"I'm hiding, Jenna said.
Jo leaned over to nurse's station; Why?
Jenna carefully peaked over the nurse station and pointed a man who was all dressed in black; See that man over there?
"You mean the one dressed all in black? Jo asked.
"Yeah, that's my ex-boyfriend Curt, Jenna explained.
"He is? You dated a goth?" Jo asked.
"There is nothing wrong with goth," Jenna said. "I used to be goth."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but thanks to Curt, I got over my goth phase," Jenna said hide again
"He's gone you can stop hiding now," Jo said seeing that Jenna's ex-boyfriend was gone.
Jenna carefully came back up and checked to see if Curt was really gone; "Thank goodness for that."
"Why did you guys break up?" Jo asked.
"It's complicated, But it started with him wanting to have sex with me in a public place," Jenna said.
"That's not weird, I've done that before," Jo admitted with no problem.
"He wanted to do it at the cemetery," Jenna said.
"If you're into that, it's okay, I guess, Jo said with an awkward feeling.
"On his grandfather's grave," Jenna said.
"Yikes."
"I know and I'm pretty open minded, I had sex in a coffin," Jenna said.
"Really? Jo asked.
"Yeah," Jenna said.
"You didn't do it on his grandfather's grave, did you?" Jo asked.
"No, of course not," Jenna said.
"You broke up with him after that, right?" Jo asked.
"That went a little hard and then I did some things I wasn't really proud of," Jenna said.
"What kind of things?"
"Well, one time we went out to eat at a restaurant and I ate a lot of garlic bread," Jenna told Jo.
"Because he thinks he's a vampire and can't stand garlic," Jo joked.
"Goths aren't vampires."
"Wait you have a gluten allergy, then you can't eat garlic bread, right?"
"Exactly," Jenna said.
"Were you really that desperate?" Jo asked.
"Yes, I was," Jenna said.
"So how did it finally end between you two?" Jo asked.
"The day I left for medical school and I never really said where I was going, so after we had sex, I snuck out without leaving a message" Jenna said.
"Whoa."
"I know, I'm a bitch," Jenna said.
"Do you think he knows that you work here now?" Jo asked.
"I hope not, but I really hope not to run into him," Jenna said, her pager went off. "I have to go now, If you see him…"
"I'll let you know," Jo said.
"Thank you, she said. Jenna looked around and she didn't saw Curt anywhere and went to her consult.
Arizona and Amelia stood at the reception desk, Arizona showed Amelia the pictures the Meredith had taken of Zola and Sofia.
"Don't they look cute?" Arizona asked.
"They look super cute," Amelia said.
"Yes, I'll send the pictures to Callie she'll like them," Arizona said. "And I've to thank Meredith for letting Sofia sleep over."
Alex headed to the two doctors with mask in front of his face and men in hazmat suits walking behind him; "You two have to come with me."
"Why?" Amelia asked.
"You patient Jane Hendrix," Alex said.
"Yeah, she came in with headaches and back pains," Amelia said. "We're still waiting for her results."
"Has something happened to her?" Arizona asked.
"I got the results back. She has the anthrax virus," Alex said.
"Oh, my god!"
"And you two have been in contact with her a long time. We need to start decontamination, blood work and quarantine right away," Alex said, he gestured to the men in the hazmat suits to come over. "Go with these guys."
"Okay," Arizona said, as she and Amelia were being escorted away towards the decontamination showers.
Arizona and Amelia were in quarantine after taking showers and drawing blood, they saw Alex walking toward the door and they walked up to him.
"Okay you are now officially in quarantine," Alex said. And you know the symptoms of anthrax?
"Yes, we're doctors, so of course we know the symptoms," Amelia said.
"As soon as symptoms start noticing you press that button there," Alex said pointing to the big orange button. "Only press that button for that if you have the symptoms and for no other reason."
"Got it," Arizona said.
"There are plenty of bottles of water, it's important that you stay hydrated," Alex said and then he walked away.
Arizona and Amelia sat down, sighing irritably, "How long do you think we need stay here?"
"No idea, I hope they have the results soon and then they are negative," Arizona said.
"Me too," Amelia said.
Arizona grabbed a bottle of water for herself and grabbed one for Amelia as well; "Water?" She asked, Amelia nodded her head and Arizona tossed her a bottle. "Well let's stay hydrated." Arizona sat back down on the floor and started drinking water.
Jackson and Kyle were in CT looking at the scans taken of their patient; "Yes I was so afraid of that, Kyle sighed. If I want to remove the tumor I have to split open almost his whole face."
"And there really is not another option, is there?"
"I wish there was," Kyle said. "Maybe I should send the CT scans to Dr. Koracick, see what he says."
"He'll come up with the same thing we did," Jackson said. "To remove the tumor, you have to split his face open, But that's what I'm here for, I can make his face look good as new."
"And you're sure about that? Kyle asked.
"I'm sure," Jackson said.
"All right, let's fill him in on our plan," Kyle said, he and Jackson got up and left the CT room.
Baliey and Qadri entered the patient room, and the patient was busy talking to her friend, while she was taking notes.
"No organ music, okay? I want the deli platter from the good deli, and everyone should wear black. Don't listen to my brother, who says you're all gonna wear white. In fact, kick him out if he wears white. I want Sicilian-widow-level mourning.
"Can you smack some sense into her?" The woman asked. "Hi. Denise. Best friend."
"Hi, Denise," Bailey said. "Uh, Roberta, you know we brought you in here because we have a liver for you. It's on its way as we speak."
"I know. I've been burned before. This time I'm prepared, Roberta said.
"She wants me to cry, but I'm not giving her the satisfaction, Denise said.
"Go ahead," Bailey said.
"Roberta Gibbs, 45 years old, was born with Wilson's disease, has received multiple chelation treatments, and had a TIPS procedure last year. She is scheduled for a liver transplant."
"Which I probably won't get," Roberta said.
"Would you stop?" Denise asked, getting frustrated by her friend.
"Dr. Bailey. UNOS is on the phone," one of the nurse said as he entered the room
"See?" Roberta said.
"They're probably calling to say the liver's ready," Bailey said.
"No. I know that look. That's the "the liver got diverted" look," Roberta said.
"I'm sorry," the nurse said and he left the room again.
"Okay, uh, none of this comedy roast, "sing a funny song" crap. I want a proper funeral, where everybody's crying."
DeLuca entered the patients room, the little girl was lying in her bed, she was surrounded by her family who were singing.
"Hello, Medina family," DeLuca said. "Are we having a party?"
"It's Dia De Los Muertos. It's a very important day for us, but they all wanted to be here for my daughter."
"So, we built our own ofrenda. I hope it's okay."
"Of course."
Hello, hello," Meredith said as she and Alex entered the room.
"Hey."
"Who's this?"
"I'm Dr. Grey," Meredith said.
"Dr. Grey is here to help us today," Alex said.
"You're the chief. You can't take out a gallbladder by yourself? Asked one of the family members.
"I can, but, uh, Flor needs more than a simple gallbladder removal," Alex said.
"After studying her scans, we've determined that Flor has a choledochal cyst in her biliary system," Meredith explained.
"A cyst?" The father asked.
"But don't worry. It's benign," DeLuca said.
"A cyst? Where? In her belly?' The mother said, the lift up her daughter's gown and touched her belly. "Let me see."
"Mami. Stop."
"The cyst is in her common bile duct and it does need to come out as soon as possible because it can lead to the growth of cancerous cells," Meredith said.
"But we're gonna take that out and reduce that risk to zero," Alex said
"We do a procedure called a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy," Meredith said.
"Did you just make that up?" Flor asked.
"It's a procedure where we attach a piece of your intestine to your biliary tract," Alex explained.
"Can everyone please stop talking about my biliary tract?" Flor asked.
"I'm sorry. We're almost done," Meredith said.
"Is my baby gonna be okay?" Laura asked.
"Yes. She is. It's a longer surgery than we originally planned, but we're gonna take good care of her," Alex said.
"So, Dr. DeLuca will take her upstairs and prep her for surgery. We're gonna repeat her LFTs," Meredith said.
"Okay."
"It's very nice to meet all of you," Meredith said.
"Thank you, Doctor," the father said.
Webber stood in the door opening of the patient room, Meredith headed out of the room; "Can we talk?" Meredith nodded her head and she and Webber went to the attending's lounge and sat down.
"Is everything okay?" Meredith asked.
"When's the last time you spoke to your dad?" He asked.
"Thatcher? Uh, when Lexie died, I guess, Yeah," Meredith said. "Why?"
"Um... He's sick, Meredith," Webber said.
"His liver? Is he drinking again?" Meredith asked.
"No, he's still sober. I heard from an A.A. friend this morning. Thatcher has acute myeloid leukemia. He's in hospice, Meredith. He has only a few weeks to live, Webber said, he looked at Meredith who didn't react, she was just staring at him. "Meredith?"
"Huh? Yes?"
"Did you hear what I said?" Webber asked.
"Yes. Thatcher is dying. I got it. Thank you, Meredith said, she got up and left the attending's lounge.
Jackson and Kyle were in their patient's room explaining the surgery plan.
"You want to split my face open?" The patient asked.
"William it's the only way I can get the whole tumor out of you, if you don't do it, the tumor will kill you," Kyle explained.
"So I have a choice of either dying from this tumor or having a disfigured face for the rest of my life?"
"Your face al not become disfigured William, I can make your face look good, Jackson said. "When I'm done with you no one will ever think that your face is split open."
"Dr. Avery is one of the best Plastic Surgeons in Seattle, you can trust him to do a good job," Kyle said.
William turned to Jackson; You can really make it look like nothing happened to my face?"
"Yup," Jackson nodded.
"And you can take the whole tumor out of me?" William asked.
"I can take the tumor out," Kyle said.
"Then consent to surgery, remove the tumor," William said.
"All right. Let's get you into an O.R. as soon as possible, Kyle said. See you, William. Kyle and Jackson left William's room and were going to schedule an O.R.
April and Link were in the pit attending a little boy who had a strap on.
"He and his little friend were trying to climb the fence, which he knows he's not supposed to do."
"I'm sorry," the boy said.
"I climbed my share of fences when I was a kid, too," Link said, he took a closer look at JJ's arm. "Can I see this? Now, uh, can you feel this?" JJ nodded his head. "Wiggle your fingers for me, J.J."
JJ started wiggling his fingers and that hurt him a bit. "Hmm."
"My guess is a humerus fracture," April said.
"Nice work Dr. Kepner, Link said. "We're gonna get you an X-ray, okay, bud?"
"Take him up to radiology," April said to some interns.
"Am I gonna get to wear a cast?" JJ asked. "Hunter wore a cast last year, and everyone drew funny pictures on it."
"I'll even let you pick the color," Link said
"Yes!" JJ cheered.
"Poor Roberta. Three livers in one year?" That's bad luck," Qadri said.
"Sometimes that's how the dice land," Bailey said, she looked into a patient room and saw Parker putting a cover over him and walked into the room. "What the hell? Parker? Ned Billings?! We resected his bowel yesterday. He was fine! What happened?"
"He coded. Webber thinks he threw a clot. I'm sorry," Parker said.
"I'll call his son," Qadri said.
"Man, he was an organ donor, too," Bailey said.
"Well, that's not an option now," Qadri said.
"And he was a blood match for Roberta," Bailey said.
"Salt in the wound."
"That's it. T... Wait. Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Hold on!" Bailey said, stopping the gurney that had the body bag on it. "Parker, how long ago did Dr. Webber call time of death?"
"Uh, seven minutes."
"Perfect. Five-minute rule," Bailey said, putting the cover off of him. "Hey, Ned." Bailey started giving Ned cpr.
"Dr. Bailey, what are you doing? He's dead!"
"We need to reperfuse the liver," Bailey said. "Let's get, uh, cannulas and get an ECMO machine set up in an O.R.
"His heart stopped. His organs are useless."
"Yeah. Bag him, please."
"Wow. Is she losing it?" Parker asked. "Do we need to call someone?"
"My God, Dr. Bailey, his liver is as dead as he is!" Qadri said.
"And we are gonna bring it back to life! Parker, get a reperfusion machine. I've been reading these case studies out of Europe, but I've never done one myself.
"Done what? Zombie medicine?!" Qadri asked.
"No, we get him on ECMO, then use a normothermic perfusion system for the liver. We can save it, and we can give it to Roberta," Bailey said. "Now, help me."
"So, what... you're saying that warm perfusion will bring the liver back to life?" Qadri asked.
"Like a corroded penny dipped in acid. They've done it multiple times. In humans! Take over."
"Thank God!" Qadri said, she walked over to Ned's body and started giving him cpr.
"Parker, get the reperfusion machine!"
"Uh, yes, ma'am," Parker said.
Jo saw Jenna walking through the lobby and she kept looking around.
"He's not here you know," jo said.
"Thank God," Jenna said, as she walked over to Jo.
"He's probably gone by now," Jo said.
"Yeah, I mean what were the chances of him being here for me," Jenna jokingly said.
"Jenna."
Jenna recognized that voice all too well and wasn't happy. "Why?" She asked, she turned around and face her ex-boyfriend." Curt."
"You still recognize me?" He said.
"Sure you haven't changed that much since we last saw each other," Jenna said.
"Yeah, well I almost didn't recognize you, but I'll always recognize your hair, I'll never forget that smell," Curt said.
"What-what are you doing here?"
"I was here to visit an old buddy of mine here," Curt said. "So you work here, now?"
"Yeah, I..," Jenna began, she grabbed her pager to fake a page. "Oh, what a drag. I'm getting paged. I gotta go. Jenna got away as fast as possible."
"I've to go too now," Jo said, she walked away and caught up with Jenna down the hallway.
"That's more painful than when I had them tattoo my…," Jenna began
"Tattoo your what?" Jo asked. "Where is your tattoo?"
"You never going to know that," Jenna said.
Bailey, Qadri and Parker were in the O.R removing Ned's liver from him.
"How did Ned's family take it?" Qadri asked.
"Sad, but happy some good might come out of his death, Bailey said. Okay, Parker, I need you to prime the inflow and outflow lines.
"Qadri, you know what to do? Bailey asked and Qadri nodded her head. "Good."
Qadir removed the liver and handed it to Bailey and sh took it to machine and put it in.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"All systems go, Parker said and turned the machine on.
"This is so stressful," Qadri said.
"But good stress, pure. No "will my husband come home tonight?" stress, no red-tape stress, just "can we save a life or not?" stress," Baliey said.
"The three doctors stared at the machine and fluid was coming in the bag.
"Oh, my God, it worked!" Qadri cheered.
"It's alive. It's alive! Bailey cheered, mimicking like she was dropping a mic. "Yeah!"
Qadri was back in Roberta's room telling her to good news. "It's functioning. It's a viable liver," Qadri told her.
"You fish it out of the garbage or something?" Roberta asked. "What did UNOS say?"
"As long as the organ procurement center approves it, then we're good to go. It's... It's a directed donation," Qadri said.
"Don't forget... the good deli," Roberta said to her friend.
"Roberta, we have a liver. It's yours," Qadri said.
"As long as the organ procurement center approves it." I don't like my odds, Roberta said.
"I'm sorry about her. She's obsessed with death," Denise said.
"Mm, because I'm dying," Roberta said.
"Stop it! Stop talking like that. You know, some of us actually want you to live," Denise said.
"Trust me, I want me to live, too. I'm just preparing for the reality that I probably won't," Roberta said.
"Well, you don't have to prepare me. I will handle it," Denise said.
"You're not the only one who has to be prepared, Denise. I'm the one who's dying," Roberta said.
"You're not dying!" Denise yelled.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Qadri. I appreciate that you think you have a liver for me, and I hope that you are right, but I have lived with this condition my entire life. I have prepared to die young... ish. And now that I'm close to that death and statistically unlikely to experience some magical, stardust liver miracle, I just want to make sure that the people I love are given the chance to grieve me."
"That's not your job to worry about," Denise said.
"It is, D. When my father died, I wanted to throw myself on his casket and weep. But instead, I wrote jokes for his eulogy to make his friends feel better and then spent years crying at dog-food commercials because all of that grief was still in me, and it needed a place to go, Roberta said, she took her friend's hand and her voice was breaking a little. You deserve...to throw yourself on my casket and weep...if you want to."
"Good speech, but this doctor's waiting to see if you want her trash liver," Denise joked, she and Roberta burst out into laughter.
"Yes, please," Roberta said.
"Yes," Qadri cheered.
"But if it doesn't work…," Roberta began.
"No organ music. String quartet," Denise said.
DeLuca entered Flor's room again. "Okay. Hello, everyone."
"Hola."
"Okay, kiddo, time to take you up," DeLuca said.
"You're gonna be in my surgery?" Flor sked.
"Mm-hmm. Dr. Grey and Dr. Karev and I are gonna be there the whole time," DeLuca said.
"So, you're gonna see inside my belly?" Flor asked.
"Yes, but we're gonna fix you right up."
"Mom...," Flor began and her mother told her not to get worried in Spanish.
"I'm sorry. Do you not want me there?" DeLuca asked.
Flor's mother said something to her in Spanish again, DeLuca looked around at the family.
"You know what, Flor? I got a whole bunch of work I need to do today, and Dr. Grey and Dr. Karev. I'm their student," DeLuca said. "And I don't want them getting distracted trying to teach me while you're on the table. I want them focused. So, if it's okay with you, I'm gonna sit this one out, okay?"
"Yeah. It's okay with me," Flor said.
"You got this," DeLuca said giving Flor an high five, he left the room again, he looked at the family and saw the praying for Flor.
April and Link were in the CT room waiting for the results. April sat behind the computer, while Link said on the couch eating some chips.
"Do you have to do that now?" April asked.
"I'm hungry," Link said.
"Clean your hands when you're done," April said. I don't want you to touch his with your cheesy hands."
"Do you have OCD or something?" Link asked.
April didn't like what Link just said and was about to say something to him, but the computer dinged, Link got up and walked over to the screen and April opened up the results.
"Wait. Is that a mass?" She asked.
Arizona and Amelia were still in quarantine, not knowing any results yet. Amelia paced back and forth and stared at the clock; "We've been here for 2 hours now."
"It feels longer," Arizona said.
"I know right, Amelia said. What will happen to our clothes do you think?"
"Probably they will burn them, just to be safe," Arizona guessed.
"Damn there's 20 dollars in my pocket of my jacket, so it's going to be lost now," Amelia said, she turned to Arizona who looked like she was a bit in pain. "Are you okay?"
"My leg."
Amelia walked over to Arizona and knelt beside her; "What exactly is wrong?"
"It's like my leg isn't quite right," Arizona said.
"May I? Amelia asked, Arizona nodded with her head, Amelia rolled up Arizona's scrub pants and took a look at the look.
"I didn't really have time put it on right," Arizona said.
"Would you like me to help you fix your leg?" Amelia asked.
Amelia nodded her head and removed Arizona's prosthetic leg and removed the bandage, she massaged Arizona's leg a little and carefully put the bandage back on and placed Arizona's leg properly again.
"Is that better?"
"Yes," Arizona said. Amelia stood up and took one of the pillows and placed it under Arizona's leg. "Thank you."
"No problem," Amelia said as she sat down across from Arizona. "Want to do something to pass the time."
"What do you have in mind?" Arizona asked.
"Truth or dare?" Amelia suggested.
"All right", Arizona said. "You ask first."
"Okay," Amelia said. "Truth or Dare?"
While the nurse were preparing Flor, Meredith and DeLuca were in the scrub room talking.
"And she doesn't want me to see inside her belly," DeLuca said.
"Well, you can't blame the girl," Meredith said.
"That's sweet. Still, I'm a little bummed. It's a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy, DeLuca said.
"There'll be lots of chances for lots of cool surgeries with little girls who aren't in love with you," Meredith said. "Unless... Do they all fall in love with you?"
"I was really looking forward to working with you, Dr. Grey," DeLuca said.
"Well, there will be lots of chances for that, too, Meredith said. I got to go check on our girl. She grabbed a mask and walked into the O.R.
Link and April were in JJ's room telling him and his mom about the results.
"Well, it's definitely a humerus fracture," Link said.
"Okay, so, how long does he have to be in a cast?" His mother asked.
"Um, unfortunately... we also found a mass," Link said. "We don't know for sure what it is yet..."
"A mass?"
"We think it's what weakened the bone, causing the break," April said
"We just need to do a quick biopsy," Link said.
"A biopsy? Does that mean cancer? The mother asked. Oh, my God. I cannot believe this is happening. Oh, no."
"Mom, come on," JJ said.
"Hey, J.J., what's your mom's name?" Link asked.
"Michelle."
"Michelle, look at me," Link said. "Take a breath. All right?"
"Okay."
"There's good news here. The good news is the break brought you in early, so we can figure out what it is and make a plan," Link said.
"I won't climb fences again, Mom. I promise," JJ said.
"It's okay, baby," Michelle said.
Webber watched from the gallery as Meredith and Alex were doing Flor's surgery.
"We're almost 75% finished with this anastomosis," Meredith said.
"Looks good," Alex said. "Even without Loverboy's help."
"He was just doing what the patient asked him to do," Meredith said.
"Yeah. If I backed out of every case where some kid fell in love with me..."
"Don't finish that sentence, Evilspawn," Meredith said.
"I heard about Thatcher, Alex began. "Take some time if you need it, go see him, say goodbye, as much time as you need. You're friends with the chief now."
"Well, I don't know that I want to see him," Meredith said.
"Okay, so, he wasn't father of the year to you, but still..."
"Didn't your dad disappear on you?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah. But I got to say goodbye to him before he died," Alex said.
"And did that make the birthday no-shows and the crying mom on the holidays go away?" Did having five minutes with him after a lifetime of nothing make you feel better? She asked.
"Suction," Alex said.
"I opened the door for him. I gave him a piece of my liver. I opened the door for him to get to know me. He did not walk through it. The only time we ever spent together was when Lexie forced us to be together. And then when she died, he completely disappeared. So, I don't really need to grieve him because he's been a ghost for years."
"You know, our entire career exists to prevent people from dying. They give out awards for it. And here's Flor's family celebrating death," Alex said.
"They're not celebrating death. They're celebrating the dead. And inviting them to come back for a visit," Meredith explained.
"Maybe they didn't see them before they died," Alex said.
"Oh, you are not as clever as you think you are," Meredith said.
Jo and Jenna were having coffee and heard a low voice calling Jenna's name. "Jenna."
"Why me? Jenna sighed, she turned around and once again face her ex-boyfriend. "Curt
"I've a confession to make," Curt said.
"Oh good lord, please don't," Jenna said softly.
"There's no friend of mine lying here, I found out you work here and I had to see you after all these years," Curt said.
"Stalker," Jo mouthed.
Jenna nodded her head in agreement with Jo, she turned to Curt and was about to say something and saw that he was holding his chest. "Curt?" She asked, suddenly Curt felt on the ground and lay there unconscious. "Oh my God, Curt."
"We need a gurney here and an oxygen tank," Jo said,
"And an AED. Curt, I gotta unbutton your shirt. Okay," Jenna said, she started to unbutton Curt shirt and then she saw the giant tattoo of herself on his chest with a the text Jenna my Gothic Goddess written on it. "Oh."
"Oh wow!"
Even though Jenna was a bit disturb because of Curt's tattoo, she went to give Curt a heart massage and Jo put the oxygen mask on Curt.
"Come on Curt," she said.
"He's starting to come around," Jo said.
"Let's help him," Jenna said, she and Jo each grabbed an arm and help Curt onto the gurney.
Arizona and Amelia were still in quarantine and still playing Truth or Dare.
"Okay it's my turn again, so bring it," Amelia said.
"Okay, Amelia, what do you choose? Truth or Dare?" Arizona asked.
"Truth."
"What is something that nobody knows about you, not even Meredith or Owen?" Arizona asked.
"You still remember Carina's study?" Amelia asked.
"Her orgasm study? Of course I remember that one."
"The only reason I was involved in that was because I had a little crush on her," Amelia confessed.
"Wait, what? You're into women too?" Arizona asked.
"Yeah, actually that's something no one knows about me, I'm Bi," Amelia said. "But I can say now that almost no one knows now, You know now."
"And you don't want people to know about his?" Arizona asked.
"It is more I think that I have not found another woman to whom I am attracted, Amelia told her. I liked Carina very much, but I know she had no interest in me, because she was interested in you.
"It didn't work out between us," Arizona said.
"So maybe I still have a chance with her," Amelia said in a jokingly way.
"Maybe," Arizona said.
"Truth or Dare?" Amelia asked. Arizona was paying much attention anymore. "Arizona."
"What?"
"It's your turn again, so what do you choose?" Amelia asked.
It took a while for Arizona to say something, eventually she chose Dare and the two went back to Truth or Dare.
Jackson and Kyle were in the OR doing the surgery, they had split his face in two and Kyle was about to remove the tumor.
"Oh, you can do this Kyle, you can do this,' Kyle said to himself.
"Are you okay? Are you sure you can do this?" Jackson said.
"I've removed a tumor solo before, Dr. Koracick was by my side, but he let me do everything, Kyle said. And usually he would start making stupid jokes."
"Really?"
"Yeah, or he'll say something really inappropriate," Kyle said.
"I bet he wants to know if you're getting some action," Jackson said.
"How do you know?" Kyle asked.
"Because my mentor also asked me such questions," Jackson said. "And believe me I wasn't always happy about it, especially when he asked the question in front of everyone in the OR."
"Did your mentor ever try to set you up with anyone?" Kyle asked. "Because Dr. Koracick did that to me often enough."
"He did try at times," Jackson said.
"And yet I can't imagine a better mentor," Dr. Koracick always a bit much, but he's been a good mentor to me.
"My mentor was good too," Jackson said.
"Where is your mentor now?" Kyle asked.
"He died a few years ago," Jackson said as his voice was breaking a little.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kyle asked.
"You didn't know it," Jackson said. "And I still have the memories of him."
"And today with the Day of the Dead, maybe you can do something with that or something," Kyle said.
"Yeah," Jackson said. "Are you ready to get that tumor out now?"
"Yep," Kyle said. "Let's do this."
Meredith and Alex entered Flor's room, where the family was waiting.
"Doctor's here."
"She's doing great. She's in the PACU," Meredith said.
"Oh, thank God," the mother said. "Can we see her?"
"Yeah, of course. I'll take you," Alex said.
The whole family expect for the grandmother followed Alex to see Flor. Meredith walked over to the grandmother.
"May I?"
"Oh, of course," said the grandmother.
"Who are all these people?" Meredith asked.
"That is my husband, Oscar, Laura's father. And this is Johnny, my son, and that is my mamá, Lupita, and my sister," Luisa.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't be. They are here with us now," the grandmother said, she grabbed one of the marigolds and gave it to Meredith. "And this is for you."
"Oh, marigolds are beautiful," Meredith said.
"It is said that they help guide our ancestors' spirits back to us. The veil between our world and the spirit world is very thin. The marigolds, the photos, the mementos...they help guide them to us."
Bailey was standing outside Roberta's room and started at her phone, she had send several message to Ben, but no answer back. Qadri walked up to Bailey.
"Hey. You paged me?" She said.
"Yeah. I did. The organ procurement center called. Our directed organ donation has been approved," Bailey said.
"Are you serious?"
"I want you to book an O.R. and prep Roberta, Bailey said. Qadri nodded her head and went into Roberta's room.
April and Link were in JJ's room again after seeing the biopsy results and were about to share the news with the family.
"It looks like a telangiectatic subtype of osteosarcoma," April said.
"What does that even mean?" Michelle asked.
"It's a tumor that actually...," April began.
"Wait. So, it is cancer?" Michelle asked. "Oh, my God, no."
"Mom? "
"Michelle, it..."
"Oh, God, no, no, Michelle cried.
"Mom? Mom?
Why don't we step outside and talk about this? Link said, he walked over to Michelle and took her outside
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm a terrible mother. I..., Michelle said.
"No, you're not, but... ...what you are is... You're scared. And I'm telling you, you don't have to be, Link said.
"Oh, G... But you can't promise me that, okay?
I can't promise. But I did have this same tumor when I was a kid... same exact tumor. Mine was on my femur, and it was bigger. We caught it later than we caught J.J.'s. We treated it, and look at me. I'm here, Michelle. I'm alive.
"So, you had it? And you survived it?" Michelle asked.
"Unless I'm a ghost," Link said.
"He's gonna be so scared," Michelle said.
"Yeah, there's gonna be scary moments, for sure," Link said. "For me, the scariest part was seeing how sad my mom was all the time."
"Mm-hmm."
"And losing my hair, but that's 'cause... Look at this hair," Link said and Michelle couldn't help to laugh a little bit. "That's it. That's what J.J. needs to see, a little bit at least, every day."
"Okay."
"Okay? So, let it out and come back in when you're ready," Link said, Michelle nodded her head and she and Link went back inside. "So, after your surgery, we're gonna get you that cast. What are you thinking? Blue? Green? Pink?"
"Am I gonna lose my hair and be bald like my grandpa?" JJ asked.
"You might for a while, but it'll grow back," Link said.
"Won't I look weird?" JJ asked.
"I don't know," Link said, he grabbed a pair of scissors and started to cut some of his hear off, April gasped at it. "Does this look weird?" JJ started laughing and Link started to cut another piece of his hair. How about that? Weird?" Link handed JJ the scissors. "Here, you want to give it a try? Come on. Go ahead. Right there, buddy."
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! No, don't cut it. It's too beautiful," Michelle said and took the scissors away from JJ before he could cut Link's hair more. "Give me those."
Bailey and Qadri were in the O.R. doing the liver transplant for Roberta. Qadri just finished up doing the last stich and now they had to wait and then they heard whoosing sounds.
"Blood flow sounds good," Qadri said.
"And we have liftoff, people! This liver is fully functioning in this recipient," Bailey said.
"We did it! We really did," Qadri said.
Jenna was at the front desk filling out some forms for Curt.
"So I'm really okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, it was a cardiac arrhythmia," Jenna explained.
"That sounds really bad," Curt said.
"It can happen to anyone, it's irregularities in the heartbeat, even if it's too fast or too slow and since you have no history of heart problems you'll be fine," Jenna said.
Curt took Jenna's hand and looked at her; Jenna, you're still so amazing, I've never gotten over you," he said.
"Yes, that tattoo did make that clear," Jenna said.
"What you and I have is something so special, you don't come across that often, I mean I've been out with other women, but it never works, they don't understand why I think you're so special," Curt said.
"Curt...," Jenna began.
"I love you Jenna Wyatt, you've always been the only one for and always will be," Curt said.
Jo who was watching from a distance saw that Jenna say began to feel increasingly uncomfortable and walked over to her and Curt.
"She doesn't want you," she said to Curt. "And I can fully understand that."
"But," Curt began.
"I can see why all your dates would fail, if you keep talking about is your ex," Jo said and she pointed at Curt's chest. "And that tattoo is super but super creepy."
"Jenna do you think that too?" Curt asked.
Yes, Curt it will never work out between us and tattooing me on your chest is no good, Jenna said, she pointed to the door. I think it's better if you go now."
"Can I've your number?" Curt asked.
"No," Jenna said.
"Dude save yourself a bigger humiliation and just leave," Jo said.
Curt walked towards the exit and when he was gone Jenna breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you Jo," Jenna said.
"No problem," Jo said. "Did you really have sex in a coffin once?"
"It was more than once," Jenna said.
Jo looked at Jenna strangely, Before she could say anything she got a message, She grabbed her phone and laughed at the message.
"What's so funny?"
"It's..., " Jo began and then she turned to Jenna. "Do you feel like doing something together tonight?"
"Yeah," Jenna said.
Even though they were still in quarantine they were having a good time together and were laughing after something Amelia had told her.
"Are you serious? Did you really do that?" Arizona asked.
"Amelia kinked her head; "That's not leaving room, it stays between us."
"I will remain in this room, Arizona said.
Which do you choose?" Amelia began, she turned to Arizona and they stared into each other's eyes "Truth or Dare..."
They got closer and closer to each other's faces, their lips were about to touch, but then there was zipping sound and Arizona and Amelia pulled back and looked at the door and saw Alex standing in the doorway.
"You guys are okay, you don't have anthrax," Alex said.
"And Jane?" Amelia asked.
"She's stable now, luckily we got to it in time, so there is a good chance so is going to make it," Alex said.
"So we can go now?" Amelia asked.
"You're free to go, Alex said.
"Yes," Amelia said, she got up, she helped Arizona up and walked out the door as fast as she got.
Alex looked at Arizona, who had a confused expression; "Robbins is everything, okay?"
"Yes, yes...," she said. "I'm going to see Sofia." Arizona walked out of the room.
April was her kids from daycare, she walked toward the door to leave. Let me where, April turned around and saw Link arriving with his son and he opened the door for April. "Here you go"
"Thank you, April said, as she and Link left the daycare, she turned to Link. "It was really cool what you did for JJ."
"It's no problem, I know something like that can be very scary if you have to go through it," Link said.
"Good night, Dr. Lincoln," April said.
"Please just call me Link."
"All right then, Good night, Link," April said.
"Good night, April," Link said.
"After surgery, Jackson and Kyle were back in William's room whose entire face was in bandages.
"How are you feeling William?" Kyle asked.
"Still a little out of it," William said.
"That's understandable," Kyle said.
"Is tumor gone?" William asked.
"The operation was successful and your whole tumor is gone," Kyle said.
"And my face? Has it recovered?" William asked.
"We've started the first steps," Jackson said. "I could not operate immediately after the that Dr. Nolan had already operated, it will be too much for you."
"But my face is fixable right? You promised you would fix my face," William said.
Jackson walked up to William and put his hand on his shoulder; "I'm going to fix your face okay, just needs some time, But I promise you I'm going to fix your face."
"And how long will that take?" He asked.
"As I said you have to recover more from this surgery first and then I can make your face as good as new," Jackson said.
"I believe you Dr. Avery," William said.
"The nurse will check on you later," Jackson said as he got up.
"Now go get some more rest William, Kyle said. William nodded his head and lay back down. Jackson and Kyle left the room.
"You did a great job, I'm sure Koracick will be proud of you," Jackson said.
"Thanks."
Jackson looked at his watch; I've some work to do now, As I said good job Dr. Nolan. Jackson gave Kyle and high five and he walked towards elevators.
"The surgery was flawless. R.I.'s on ultrasound look promising. Bilirubin levels are decreasing. You have a fully functioning, healthy liver, Ms. Gibbs. So no funeral for you."
"Denise, honey, I wanted you to cry at my funeral," Roberta said.
"I know," Denise said.
"I'm gonna live," Roberta said.
"I told you!" Denise said.
"Thank you."
April had just put her children to bed and was sitting on her couch with a cup of tea in her hands, when her doorbell rang. April got up and walked toward the door and opened it. "Jackson."
"Can I come in?" he asked.
"Sure," April said, she took a step aside, Jackson entered April's house and April closed the door.
Jackson took out marigolds from behind his back and handed them to April; "These are for you," he said.
"Thank you," April said. "Would you like to sit?"
Jackson nodded his head and walked further into the house, he sat down on the couch and looked at the coffee table where there were two pictures, one of Reed, Charles, April and him at Mercy West's induction party when they started as interns and one of Samuel's sonogram. April sat down next to Jackson and placed the flowers next to the pictures.
"I miss them," April said.
"Me too," Jackson said. He took out his wallet and placed a photo of him and Mark on the table, April rested her head on his shoulders and the looked at the pictures.
Webber had gone to cementairy and put flowers on Ollie's grave and sat down in front of it.
"It's been hard. I can't say that it hasn't been. I haven't been going to my meetings. Different ways of moving on. Because it just reminds me that... that you're gone."
Meredith was finished for the day, she walked down the hallway and passed the ghosts of George, her dog, her mother, Lexie, Derek and Mark, she arrived at the elevator and pressed the button. She took the flower that she got from Flor's grandmother and put in her hair, the elevator arrived, she got in and once again saw the ghost of her loved once and this put a smile on her face.
Nex time: Catherine is in Los Angeles getting the new foundation ready and summons Meredith and Koracick to visit for a confidential consult. Meanwhile, one of the nurses is 28 weeks pregnant and collapses at the hospital while talking to Richard. And one of the interns gets the change to work with Jackon on a facial reconstrucion