Grey's Anatomy - No Time To Die

Out of My Head

"Love you."
"Love you too." Lexie said with a smile before closing the door.
Meredith looked in her rearview mirror as she drove off, she saw that her daughter was procrastinating to go inside. A little later she arrived at the hospital and before Meredith could change into her scrubs she was paged to the ER

Upon entering the ER Meredith noticed that there were two interns standing by a patient's bed. Assuming they were the ones that paged her she walked over to them. She grabbed the chart from one of the interns and took a quick look.
"Copper, present."
"A 36-year-old male—"
"—claiming there is a worm living inside his head." the other intern interrupted.
Meredith looked at the patient, who had way too big of a smile on his face for someone who was in the ER.
"I want in on getting that worm out of his head so, I would start with making a head CT."
"Why waist our time, we should get that thing out as soon as possible."
"Seriously? You cannot go in blindly—"
"—god knows the damage that worm has caused already. We need to get it out before it causes even more damage." the other intern interrupted.
"That is the exact reason why we need to make that CT—"
"—stop it!" Meredith snapped.
"Johnson, get that head CT—"
"—and Copper, you're off my service." Meredith said before walking off.

Later that day Meredith ran into her husband.
"Derek—" Meredith said as she approached him.
"—Lexie asked if you could let her know if your surgery takes longer."
Derek gave her a confused look.
"I thought you'd pick her up."
"No—"
"—I told you, I have a surgery planned."
"So have I."
Meredith sighted.
"Dr. Grey—"
"—I have the results of the head CT." Johnson added.
"And?" Meredith said as she grabbed the scans out of the intern's hands.
"Uh—"
"—they look clear to me."
For once the intern was right, the scans looked totally normal.
"May I?"
Meredith nodded, giving the scans to her husband. He stood there in the middle of the hallway, staring at the scans, for quite a while.
"Can I see this patient?"
Meredith gave him a confused look.
"Why, he is my patient."
"I'm a neurosurgeon."
"General surgery is more than just the abdomen."
Derek turned to the intern.
"Johnson, what would you do?"
"I'd take a consult from Dr. Shepherd."
"Fine, let's go see that patient." Meredith said.

The three of them went back down to the ER and the places was packed.
"Hello—"
Derek looked at the chart.
"—Mr. McCarthy, I'm Dr. Shepherd and I'll be looking at your head—"
Derek approached the patient and started with checking his pupils, as he usually did.
"—when did you start experiencing pain?"
"I don't feel any pain—"
"—but there is this worm living inside my head and I'd like to get it out."
"For how long has that thing been inside of your head?"
"A few years—"
"—but recently we have been getting in quite a few arguments and I'd like for him to go."
Derek looked at Meredith, before turning back to the patient.
"We'll be back shortly."
The patient waved as they walked away. Meredith already knew what Derek was about to say so she beat him to it.
"Get him to the psychiatric floor."
The intern nodded before walking off.
"Did you even talk to the guy?"
Meredith looked at him and before Derek could put another word in, he got paged.
"Dam it!"
"Don't forget to pick up Lexie!" Meredith said as Derek walked off.

A little later Meredith was paged to the ER once again.
"You paged me."
Meredith looked at the patient, it was Mr. McCarthy.
"Johnson, can I talk to you."
The intern nodded and followed Meredith a few feet away from the patient. Meredith closed the curtain before turning to the intern.
"Didn't I tell you to send him to our psychiatric floor—"
"—Dr. Grey."
Meredith gave the intern a look before continuing.
"There is nothing in his head, it is all in his head. This man is not a surgical patient—"
"—Dr. Grey."
"What is it!" Meredith snapped.
"The psychiatric floor is closed off, because one of the patients has gone missing."
"Then get a psychiatric to him, he cannot stay in the ER. We need that bed."
The intern was staring at Meredith.
"What are you waiting for, go!"
The intern nodded before running out of the ER.

"Dr. Grey—"
Meredith turned to the nurse.
"—we need a consult in bed 5. The patient is complaining of abdominal pain and—"
Meredith noticed that both Owen and April entered the ER.
"Can I have your attention!"
The room turned quiet, and all eyes were on the two of them. Owen cleared his throat before speaking.
"There is a big incoming emergency, and we'll need the ER prepped—"
"—so please discharge or admit as many patients as you can. All non-emergent cases will be taken by another nearby hospital." April added.
"Dr. Grey?" the nurse said.
Meredith nodded before following the nurse. She was about to examine the patient when Owen walked over to her.
"Dr. Grey, a word."
"I can't, I'm with a patient—"
"—it wasn't a request." Owen interrupted.
Meredith looked at him and by the look on his face she could tell something was wrong. She immediately took of her gloves, throwing them in the trash before following him. Not a single word was said on their way over to the nearest conference room.
"You cannot be in the ER today." Owen said as he closed the door behind him.
"You can't do that—"
"—you're going to need all the help you can get once that big emergency of yours comes in."
"It's a high school shooting."
"I'm fine. Besides, Derek lived and so did the rest of us."
Owen looked Meredith directly into her eyes.
"The victims are from Bellevue high school."
Meredith sat down at the table, taking a deep breath. She was staring at Owen, waiting for him to say something.
"We don't know—"
Owen took a deep breath.
"—all we know is that there is a shooter at Bellevue high school and that your daughter could be injured—"
"—or dead." Meredith added.

Owen sat down next to Meredith. He was about to say something when her phone rang. She was staring straight ahead taking a few deep breaths before reaching for her phone.
"Oh god—"
Meredith took another look at her phone, just to make sure.
"—it's Lexie."
"Someone is using her phone to inform me that she is dead." Meredith added.
Owen grabbed her hand.
"What if it is your daughter—"
"—who wants to let you know that she is just fine."
Meredith nodded before finally picking up the phone. When she heard her daughters voice a tear ran down her face.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine—"
"— it's Rylan, she got shot and I can't stop the bleeding."
"You have to apply pressure on the wound."
Meredith put her phone on speaker before putting it down on the table.
"I know that—"
"—it's not working, and she already lost a lot of blood." Lexie added with a shaking voice.
Meredith could hear a gunshot. Owen looked at her before muting the phone.
"What are you doing? I have to help her."
"She is still inside the school. You have to tell her to get out of there." Owen said.
Meredith shook her head.
"And leave her friend to die? —"
"—she already lost one of her friends and I don't think she can lose another."
Owen nodded.
"Fine, but we have to get them out of there as soon as possible—"
Meredith unmuted her phone.
"Lexie—"
"—where did Rylan get shot?" Meredith said carefully.
"Her abdomen, I think the bullet damaged her aorta."
Meredith looked at Owen.
"It would explain why she hasn't been able to control the bleeding."
Meredith nodded. They both knew the bleeding had to be controlled as soon as possible, to prevent Rylan from bleeding out.
"Everything is going to be fine; we are going to walk you through it."
They were staring at the phone, waiting for Lexie to respond.
"Lexie—"
"—are you still there?"
The silence was broken by another gunshot, this time they could hear it loud and clear. The sound took Meredith back to the moment her husband got shot. She could feel Owen's arm around her body. Holding her tight, just like Christina did all those years ago. Meredith could feel the tears run down her face, as she was staring at her phone.

"Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I'll miss you, until we meet again."