This will be a short story, although as it is just getting good so close to the end, I'm sure it'll leave many of you wanting more. I will try to write some bonus chapters, but I don't have the time to make it into a full length story, and I'm sorry to disappoint people. This story was only ever meant to be a short, and I trust you all can write a happily ever after for the couples in my comments section; and I look forward to reading those.

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Beep. Beep.

"Your pager, Ana." The bartender pointed as he nudged the girl sipping on a drink that he was certain that he didn't provide.

"Fuck." She spat out under her breath. "I should go."

"I don't think it's a good idea. You're drunk."

Downing her drink, she slammed it back onto the bar as if to challenge the bartender who had witnessed her alcohol intake all night long, she wobbled down the stool and dragged her feet out into the chilly air.

"I think I'm too drunk to work." She walked into the hospital, changed into her scrubs and whispered in Kate's ears. Although, she was pretty sure everyone around her heard it.

"Keep it down, Ana. Do you want Bentley to find out?" Kate said in a hushed tone, closer to whispering that what Ana had attempted.

"Where is Bentley anyway?"

"Whoa." Kate exclaimed as Dr. Bentley walked in donning a fancy coat that she effectively passed off to José to hang up, and some heels that they'd never imagine her in.

"It was my fucking wedding anniversary, but stupid assholes decided tonight will be a good night to crash their fucking cars into each other." She huffed, taking off her heels and changing into her hospital getup, she surveyed the room and her eyes narrowed on Ana.

"Hi, I'm too drunk to work. Can I go home?"

"I have to cut my damn anniversary short, if I'm not going home none of you are allowed to leave."

Ana leant against the cool lockers and watched the flurry around her. Dr. Bentley was assigning cases to everyone, and Kate instantly drooled after the amputated leg.

"You…" Dr. Bentley rounded back to her. "Stay out of the way and do not practice any medicine."

"I'm sorry, Ana." José approached her slowly. "I could've done better."

"Why?" She frowned, slightly confused by his apology.

"Why did you change your mind?" He asked, instead of answering her. He wasn't so apologetic as much as he was humiliated by her rejection half way into sex.

Ana bit her lips. She eagerly wanted to tell him how shit he was in bed, and how it should be insulting that she asked him how much longer he'd take, but even in her drunken state, she decided to be nice.

"I just don't want it anymore."

"You were trying to lead me on, weren't you?"

"No!"

"Then why did you agree to it in the first place?"

"I was just trying to be nice." She explained meekly, the last thing she wanted was for him to know that she was using him to get over her own issues.

"I was so humiliated, Ana."

"I'm sorry." She apologized, sincerely.

Although, she wasn't at fault here for changing her mind, he was certainly making her feel guilty about it. She was just too drunk to process anything.

"Haven't you been assigned a case?"

"I'm invisible."

"Can we just look past this. I liked it when you were my friend."

"Sure, Ana." He nodded, and walked off to chase after Dr. Bentley. She wasn't going to linger on that subject any longer anyway. If she was sober, she'd probably notice the ingenuine tone, and she probably would've cared.

Before José could catch up to her, she turned around to glare at Ana who started to wander off.

"Ana!" She called, hurrying over worried that she'd cause trouble. "Come with me, and keep your hands to yourself. Sober yourself up where I can keep an eye on you." She ordered, spinning on her heels and brushing straight past José and heading into the ER.

Ana followed behind her, the other interns ran past her to catch up with their own attendings and residents.

"Go get yourself a banana bag." Dr. Bentley demanded, shooing Ana onto a bed and closed the curtains.

Ana snuck out from the other side, and wandered into the supply closet in search for a banana bag.

…

Grace couldn't be happier to finally get up and leave for the hospital. After a grueling hour of her children sobbing at her, and accusing her of different names out of anger and hurt. She got another page, demanding her presence as the Chief of Surgery.

Christian wasn't any help in the situation as he was the one who forced her into the corner to tell the story that she wanted to remain buried. She knew that one day, it would come out, and it wasn't exactly a secret in the hospital as most of the senior staff were aware of this. She just didn't want this to affect how her children viewed her.

It might all be too late now.

She hurried through the ER, peeking through the blinds at each station checking in on different doctors. She walked to Dr. Bentley, asking how things were.

"You don't look well, Dr. Trevelyan."

"I'm more than happy to be here, trust me. You'll want the extra help."

"Ow!" Came behind a curtain not far from them. Grace reached out to peel it open and revealed Ana, who was too concentrated on stabbing herself with a needle.

"I'm trying to keep an eye on her. She's probably regretting her last shooter now."

"What happened?"

"Tequila." Dr. Bentley replied with an eye roll.

"Ow!" Ana flinched again, backing away from the needle while smacking herself on the head for yet another unsuccessful attempt.

"I told her to sober up before practicing any medicine." Dr. Bentley added and returned to her patient.

Just as Grace approached her to give her a hand, the young intern slid off the bed that she was perching on and the needle fell from her hands. Grace rushed to her side to help her up, but her eyes were closed and her body was limp.

"I'll get someone to get her home." Grace decided much to Dr. Bentley's dismay, but she wasn't going to argue with her boss. She paused from her patient and watched Grace pick up her phone to call someone.

"Get her back once she's sobered up, we need all the hands here." Dr. Bentley requested. Ana was, after all, her intern and she had the right to decide what they should be doing even though Grace was the Chief.

Grace made no attempt to corroborate her request.

"I know you have a soft spot for that kid, being Ray's daughter and whatnot, but Dr. Trevelyan, with all due respect, she's still got a job to do."

"I know what I'm doing, but thanks for your concern."

…

Ana was drifting in and out of consciousness as her head rolled between her shoulders. The one person that Christian actually wanted to talk to tonight was passed out, and now everyone was asking him about his helicopter crash.

He already told the investigators all he knew, and gotten all the praises about his pilot skills. He just wanted answers from everyone.

The police and his security team about the reason behind this engine failure, and Ana about who the fuck she slept with last night.

But no, no one had any answers for him.

The most he could do was corner his poor mother into spilling her guts to her children about the one secret that she would like to take to the grave.

He felt horrible for doing that. It didn't give him the semblance of control that he thought he would regain, because that was an answer from someone, but obviously it wasn't the one he was after.

He hated how hurt she appeared as she stood up to answer the pager for the third time, and how relieved she seemed when she was finally leaving because the hospital couldn't wait any longer.

He wanted to tell Ana all about this, and wanted to tell her how sorry he felt for pushing Grace like that. He wanted to show her his regret, as if he was apologizing to Grace.

Yet, she wasn't even awake.

He carried her into the car, being wise enough to ask one of his security team to drive him.

He was hoping to see her waiting for him in his penthouse after he arrived from the exhausting trip, and he was hoping to either fuck her brains out or to talk to her about their stressful day.

He didn't get to the meeting, and his client was more than accommodating and said they were willing to make the trip up. The accident put him in a slightly better light, but still, he somehow couldn't care less about that.

"Just keep an eye on her." Was what Grace ordered before walking off. She didn't look him in the eyes, nor did she even acknowledge his existence, she merely passed Ana over to him and left.

He knew he hurt her, and he knew his behavior was more than despicable.

"I was hoping you'd be there." He sighed once he carried her into his home and placed her onto his bed. It reminded him the handful of times that she stayed overnight with him. Not all of these nights resulted in sex but she'd leave his toothbrush wet most of these mornings, and he'd rarely see her when he got up.

He had to go through the security tape to find out how early she left, and she wasn't even sneaking out. She just walked out as if she didn't have a good night's sleep. The only time they woke up together was after the Coping Together ball, and he thought she might finally start to trust him a little more.

Then Vanessa showed up.

"I'm being told to stay with you and to keep an eye on you all night, so that's what I'm going to do." He told her, brushing her hair away from her face and laid her on her side, close to the edge of the bed in case she puked.

He asked Gail to bring his lap top in and apologized for waking her up so late. She was a bit teary eyed, and emphasized that it was no trouble, especially after what he'd just been through.

"I'm going to work next to you, and maybe I'll talk to you a bit." He mumbled and climbed into bed.

He fired up his lap top but his eyes still kept averting toward her.

"What happened?" He muttered under his breath, thinking out loud as he brushed his hand down her arm.

He thought he'd be angry at her. If this was any of his subs, or frankly even Vanessa, he'd demand an answer from them. He would've made Taylor pull out all the stops just to find out their whereabouts. However, something told him she was already trusting him enough that if he did what the old him would do, she'd never see him more than a fuck buddy.

He wasn't sure what exactly it was that he wanted from her, but he certainly didn't want to burn the bridge before he'd crossed it.

"I know we didn't get a chance to talk, and I got your text. I'd disagree with you, virgins aren't all crap. I've told you about Vanessa, and I thought it wasn't all bad."

A smile hang over his lips. The memories of their conversation flooded back into his head.

"I know you're going to say it's different for various reasons, and maybe you're going to accuse me of being more sentimental than you again."

He snorted at that. It was definitely the first time anyone had called him emotional, ever. Most people thought he was dead inside, but they just hadn't met Ana.

"Perhaps they're all true, I just thought it was because you were with the wrong person. Or maybe it was the wrong timing." He pursed his lips, really trying to get the image of her with someone else out of his head.

"I can't say I'm happy to hear that you've slept with someone, and call me all the names in the book, but I think we have it the best. And dare I say, you realized that after you slept with that virgin. You wouldn't have texted me otherwise."

Chuckling, he suddenly realized what he was doing. He threw his head back, and a small smile lingered. He couldn't believe he was here, sat in the dark with a passed out Ana in his bed, and he was talking to her.

"I told Vanessa we can't be together anymore, because I don't feel the same way about her as I did before. She thought I moved on with you. I don't think she's completely wrong, but I don't think she understands that we're not romantics."

He peered at her, and his heart settled a little as she stirred a bit. She was still alive. He almost wanted to put his hand over her chest just to make sure she was still breathing.

"I don't know why you do this to yourself, Ana. Your dad isn't the best in the world, and I don't think he treats you well enough. I feel like a hypocrite saying this, but don't go down the self-destruction path."

Her breathing slowed once more as he continuously ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion, and he kept on mumbling things to her that he was pretty sure she wouldn't hear or remember.

…

Grace reluctantly asked Kate to suture up the wound and hurried out of the OR. She knew how tight she was with Ana, and she knew she had a slight problem with her. Kate was professional, but Grace could still feel the slight hostility at points.

She was after all, still an intern.

Although, it wasn't beyond her knowledge that Ana and Kate had illegally performed an autopsy just to practice their skills.

"What's going on that you had to page me out of the OR?"

She approached the crowd that was slowly dissipating, and revealed a bed that was being rolled in. On it sat an older gentleman.

"Grace!" He exclaimed, and Grace smiled politely.

"Ray," she walked forward to the bed and followed it into the private room reserved for the surgeon. Allowing him to touch her hand that was on the railing, she nodded at all the companions who came over to pay their respects.

"I've not seen you in decades."

"I'm doing well, Ray. How have you been?"

"Does Vivian still work here?"

"Vivian passed away a few months ago. Breast cancer."

"That's a shame. She's the best damn scrub nurse there is."

"Your daughter is doing pretty well in becoming a surgeon."

"I'm surprised she stuck around for so long."

Grace sighed, her attention was caught by the care home nurse.

"You have some rest, Ray." She patted him on the hand and followed the nurse out.

"Is Ana around?" She asked once they stepped out of the room.

"I just sent her home. She's just done a 30-hour shift," Grace lied with a straight face, grimacing with sympathy at the end for the added effect. "What's wrong with Ray?"

"Alzheimer's." The nurse sighed. "He had an episode of delusion today, and I thought it's best to bring him in for a check up just in case. It almost seemed like a stroke or a heart attack."

"That's probably best. How has he been doing?"

"His daughter has been the only one to visit him since he came to our care home. The window of his lucidness is narrowing each day. He used to be able to remember Ana quite vividly, and now according to Ana, all he could remember was you and his scrub nurse."

"That's quite sad." Grace bowed her head upon hearing this. Carrick may have let go of the past, and forgiven her, but Grace was sure that neither of them had any ill wishes for Ray.

There were no excuses for what she did with Ray, and her betrayal to Carrick. She was beyond surprised and grateful that he was able to be the bigger person. Although, she did wonder how he had been. They had been friends for years, and hadn't seen each other in over three decades. Whether she'd get accused of having lingering feelings for him or not, she still thought their comradeship as colleagues and friends was something to remember.

"Let me just go give Ana a call."

"I've tried, but she's not picking up." The nurse said regretfully. "I was hoping she'd be here, he might not have very long left. It took a turn for the worse these past few days."

"Leave it to me," Grace consoled. "I'll see what I can do." She sent the nurse an appreciative smile and headed back to her office.

She picked up her phone debating who she should call first. Carrick or Ana.

She needed to tell Carrick about Ray's condition and her decision to visit him for a bit longer just to see an old friend. She still cared about him as a colleague, and he was an extremely good surgeon.

Though she didn't have to make that decision, because her phone rang and it was Christian.

"Mom, she hasn't moved in the past two hours." His voice came through panicked the moment the line connected.

"She's probably just passed out."

"No, Mom. I think she's… unconscious." He whispered the last word, there was a rare quiver in his voice and he had never been so scared his entire life.

"Is she breathing?"

"Yes. She just hasn't responded to anything. I couldn't wake her, Mom. If she's just passed out, surely she'd stir or something but she hasn't."

"Has she vomited?"

"No."

"How quickly can you get her in?" Grace shot up from her chair and began pacing the room, trying to instill calmness between them and keeping the worry out of her tone.

"I'm getting the keys now. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Drive safely." She warned him but she could tell the phone was away from his ears the second he announced his ETA.

She sighed. She knew Ana had a drinking problem when she saw her again on her first day as an intern, she had just always hoped that it wouldn't interfere with her internship. And she'd hoped that Ana would be able to keep herself in check.

She took out her phone and dialed Carrick's number. It was the middle of the night, but she was pretty sure he'd like to hear about it. She paced the length of the ER bay as she talked and waited for Christian.

…

Grace returned to check on Ray once she got Ana settled in. Christian was pushed aside the moment she was brought it, because Grace suspected she might be unconscious from alcohol poisoning.

Tubes were inserted and monitors were hooked up. Christian was finally able to approach her once the flurry of people left her bedside.

"You gave up." He sighed, carefully sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. "Mom said you might have alcohol poisoning, and Kate said you went to see your dad after your shift."

He watched the monitors record her vitals, he couldn't tell if any of it looked right or wrong, and if the monitors weren't beeping at a constant pace that he believed to be normal, he'd have no idea when to alert the doctors.

"You knew how much you could handle, but you gave up on yourself. Don't let your dad win, Ana."

He knew, instead of him pleading her to stay for him, her pain would serve as a much better motivation. He was finally seeing the mirror image of himself in her. The anger she held, and the self-loathing with the low self-esteem, he was all of that. It didn't help that he had a loving family, and it wasn't his therapist that motivated him not to give up. He knew it might be a twisted logic, but he wanted to prove to the people who tried to hurt him that he was unaffected by any of it.

Perhaps he may want to seek revenge if the opportunity ever presented itself, but that wasn't his motivation, and he knew if he was in that state and someone was pleading him to stay because they couldn't bare to lose him, he probably wouldn't fight very hard.

He wanted to tell Ana that he'd miss her, and he'd really like her to fight to open her eyes, but that wasn't going to work when someone had already decided that no one else really mattered.

"I'm not going to plead with you. I'm not going to beg you to live. I liked what we had before Vanessa showed up, and I want to go back to that."

He stood up and brushed the hair away from her face, avoiding all the tubes coming out of her.

He walked out of the hospital and sat in his car.

She flatlined.