Growing Pains

6

New York, December 2000

Olivia stared at her Mother's gravestone... She felt empty. She was now seeking justice for victims of sexual and heinous crimes everyday. But now she couldn't bring news of justice to her mother.

She wondered when it happened, when it slipped. When her mother finally beat the last shred of care Olivia had for her. It had been gradual, she knew. Small drops every day, and she never even noticed until now. "I'm sorry," She said. "I could've- I should've done more..." Yes, she mourned the loss of a life, but today she grieved the loss of feeling. She bent and traced her mother's name on the gravestone. After a moment, she pushed herself up and sighed heavily. It was time to go to work. If she couldn't save her mother from falling down some stairs, perhaps she could help a victim and prevent people from becoming like her mother.

Olivia brushed past the uniformed officers in the hallway and walked into the Squad room on the way to her locker.

"Liv, what are you doing here?" Captain Cragen asked.

"What does it look like? I'm working." She opened her locker and grabbed her badge, clipping it on her belt.

"Your Mother just died."

Olivia blinked slowly. That was five days ago. It was done. She was done mourning. "I'm fine Captain, I just want to work today."

"Fine, but I'm giving you an easy case,"

"What? Captain, I-"

"If you want to work today, you'll take this... Everyone else is busy."

Olivia huffed, "What is it?"

Cragen handed her a manila folder. "Missing Person. She has Alzheimers."

Olivia glanced at the file, barely looking at it, "Can't the uni's handle this?"

"We have a few on the ground, but there was a gunfight downtown and an officer was shot on fifth avenue, so they're pulling everybody."

"Fine," She sighed.

"Good. Let me know how it goes."

xxx

Olivia pulled up to the brownstone, the apparent address of the woman. A moving truck was parked in front, and the door to the house was open. Before getting out, she looked at the file again.

Dr. Ellis Grey

DOB: October 4 1952

Hair Color: Brown, shoulder length

Eyes: Grey or Green

Height: 5'7''

Skin Color: Caucasian

Paperclipped to the page was a head shot of the woman, and Olivia was sure she'd seen this face before. Sighing, she got up and marched to the door. She knocked loudly. "Hello? NYPD," she called out. Hesitating, she took a few small steps in.

"One minute!" Someone called back. Olivia heard some shuffling and scuffing. Suddenly a hispanic woman stepped out, "I already spoke to the cops."

"I understand that, but I want to hear it again, I'm offering a fresh perspective to the case. Tell me about Dr. Grey. Who are you, what's your relationship to her?"

The woman huffed. "I'm her maid, and I look out for her when she's here."

"When she's here?"

"She's mostly in Boston, but she kept this place when she had work up here. Not that it matters anymore. She's selling the place and staying with her daughter in Boston."

"Her daughter?"

"Meredith. I called her and left a message, I think she's already on the plane here."

"Okay, so did you know that Ellis was diagnosed with Alzheimers?"

The maid sighed, "I just found out a month ago. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"Anywhere you think she might be?"

The maid shook her head. "She just ran out. We were getting ready to move when she said she had a surgery."

"A surgery?"

"Yeah the police said that they would check all the hospitals..."

Olivia now had an inkling of where she could start. "Okay... when Meredith gets here, have her call me. Stay here in case Ellis comes back." Olivia handed the maid her card and headed out the door.

She sat in her car and pulled up the location of the nearest hospital. As she did, someone knocked on the window of her car. "Mikey?" she asked, looking at the familiar face.

"Yeah... what are you doin' here Liv?"

"I'm working on this case."

"The crazy lady?"

"Yeah, I think she went to Bellvue, wanna come?"

"Sounds like fun."

Olivia unlocked the door and let her old rookie partner in. Except he wasn't a rookie anymore. They rode in comfortable silence. Finally Mikey spoke up. "Bellvue... I think that's where they took that cop that got shot."

"Oh..."

"There was a couple other guys shot too. Gonna be a full house in there."

"Well hopefully we can find her."

"Ellis Grey... sounds familiar."

"Remember that night, four years ago, you were a fresh faced newbie... I had to go to my mother's apartment?"

"Yeah..."

"Remember that girl who came with us?"

"Yeah."

"Ellis is her mom."

"Oh."

Olivia had made the connection when the maid had mentioned Meredith's name. She remembered the young girl performing CPR on her mother, she remembered the small crumpled form leaning against her when Olivia hugged her before she got on the plane to Boston. And she resolved right there that she would take care of Ellis today. Today, she would find her and keep her safe for Meredith.

They pulled up to the Emergency entrance at Bellvue. Ambulances and Police cars were all around. The chaos on fifth avenue had gone from the streets to the hospital. She quickly parked in a discreet location and jogged into the building, a picture of Ellis in hand. Mikey came behind her. "What's the plan?" He asked. She handed him the picture, "Get someone to make a few dozen photocopies and hand them out. Let the officers here know too. If they're waiting for their friend to get out of surgery, maybe they can help. I'll check with the chief of staff and security."

"Got it," Mikey said, taking another look at the picture.

"And Mikey, she used to be a doctor, she might still think she is."

He nodded and ran in ahead of her.

Olivia went immediately to the front desk and had the head of security paged. As she was waiting, she scanned the orderly chaos of a busy ER. As she did so, she saw a familiar flash of auburn hair.

"I need you to lie down sir, I believe you may have some internal bleeding. Can someone get me an ultrasound?"

Upon hearing the voice, Olivia walked closer to the bed that the patient was lying on. Dr. Grey was palpating his abdomen. Suddenly a nurse appeared.

"Where's my ultrasound?" Ellis asked sharply.

"Um.. Ma'am?" The nurse asked. "You're not staff here... you're not suppposed to be diagnosing this man."

"What? How dare you? Do you know who I am? Call the Chief. But this man needs an ultrasound before he loses too much blood."

Olivia took this moment to step in. "Dr. Grey?"

xxx

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