Grey's Anatomy - No Time To Die

The Truth Untold

"The truth will always come out, so you might as well be honest from the start—"

Meredith went down to the ER; she was paged for a consult.
"They went into the second trauma room." a nurse said as she walked by.
Meredith nodded before walking over to that specific room. When she opened the door, she gave the other doctors a confused look.
"Is that—"
"—a tire, yes." April added.
Meredith remained standing in the doorway for a few seconds, trying to wrap her head around the situation.
"Could you take a look?" April said, handing her the chart.
Meredith nodded before opening it. She quickly scanned his chart. There were a few things that stood out to her: shortness of breath, abdominal cramps, and dizziness.
"I have to examine his abdomen."
Meredith handed the chart back to April and went to get some gloves on.
"Alright Mr.—"
"—Hamilton." the patient added.
Meredith gave him a smile.
"Mr. Hamilton, I'm going to examen your abdomen."
He nodded, before laying his head back down. Meredith took a few more steps towards him and she immediately noticed the extent of his problem. The skin around the tire was red and possibly infected, suggesting that the tire had been there for a while. Meredith turned to the patient.
"I'm sorry, this might hurt."
Meredith tried to get her fingers underneath the tire, but it was way too tight around his skin. She stepped back as Mr. Hamilton was moaning in pain.
"There is no way—"
Meredith sighted.
"—I cannot examen his abdomen."
Meredith turned to April.
"We have to get him up for a CT-scan."
April nodded.
"I'll ask one of the interns."
Meredith shook her head.
"No, I'll do it—"
"—let them prep an OR, I think we'll be going straight in for surgery once the scans come up."
Meredith took a few more steps towards April, making sure that Mr. Hamilton couldn't hear her.
"He waisted precious time by not coming in earlier. We have to act fast if we want him to to have even the slightest chance of survival."
April nodded.
"Let's give him that change."

Meredith was sitting in the radiology room, waiting for her patients scans to come up, when all the sudden Dr. Torres entered the room with Lexie. Meredith gave them a confused look before standing up and walking towards the door.
"Grey—"
"—why is there a patient in the CT-scan?"
"He came into the ER this morning—"
Lexie looked at the man, that was lying inside of the CT-scan.
"—is there a tire around his waist?" Lexie interrupted.
Meredith nodded.
"Men are stupid—"
"—that's why I became a lesbian."
They all laughed. Dr. Torres grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and turned Lexie around.
"Page me when you're done."
Meredith nodded.
"Wait—"
"—can I stay?"
They both turned to Lexie giving her a confused look.
"I have nothing else to do, please! I want to see what happens to him."
According to Meredith Lexie had never really shown any interest in the medical field, apart from the medical toys she had as a kid. Derek and Meredith had already accepted the fact that their daughter probably wouldn't be going to med school. So, for Lexie to show interest was quite a surprise.
"Fine, but don't tell anyone."
Lexie smiled.
"Not a word."

Once the scans were up both Meredith and Dr. Torres gasped. Even Lexie seemed to understand what they meant. His abdomen had grown a custom to the tire, into the inner lining.
"He has been living with that thing around his waist for years." Meredith said.
Dr. Torres took a closer look at the scans.
"Why do you think he came to the hospital now?"
Meredith shook her head.
"Maybe he has finally gotten to his senses."
"What is that?" Lexie said, pointing at a darker spot on the scans.
"He is bleeding internally—"
"—I have to operate on him right away."
Meredith grabbed her phone before standing up.
"I'm calling maintenance, they might know how to get that thing off of him."

A little later Meredith was standing by the OR table. The only thing sticking out from under the drapes was the tire.
"So, we just take the tire off?"
Meredith shook her head.
"You cannot cut into his abdomen, trying to get that tire off."
They all turned towards the scans.
"That thing is skintight—"
"—there is no way." Another man from maintenance added.
Meredith sighed, that's what she was afraid of.
"That tire is the one thing preventing him from bleeding out—"
"—however, we have to take it off if we want to operate on his abdomen."
The room turned quiet for a little while.
"Dr. Grey—"
"—what do we do?" April said.
Meredith shook her head.
"It doesn't matter, he'll die either way. He was already a dead man coming into the hospital."
"So, we just take the tire off?" the man from maintenance asked again.
Meredith turned to April.
"Dr. Kepner, what do you think?"
April took a deep breath.
"Just do it, we'll try our best to repair the damage afterwards."
The maintenance workers nodded and made their way over to Mr. Hamilton. As soon as the tire was removed from his abdomen he started bleeding profusely. The pressure of the tire had been keeping him alive, as Meredith suspected. They did everything they could, trying to save his life. When there was nothing more than they could do they called it.
"Time of death—"
Meredith looked over at the clock.
"—14.28."
Meredith took of her mask and left the OR.

Meredith was on her way to inform his family when she saw Lexie in the hallway.
"There you are."
"How is Tire Guy?"
Meredith gave her a confused look.
"Tire Guy, seriously?"
Lexie nodded. Meredith wanted to tell her that everything was okay. But, it wasn't and it wouldn't be and there was no point in lying about it.
"He bled out as soon as we removed the tire—"
"—he was a dead man coming into the hospital."

"I have good news—"
"—the results from your CT look good and you get to come home." Derek said as he approached them.
Lexie gasped.
"Are you serious!"
Derek nodded.
"I thought Torres said that it was still too early?" Meredith said, giving him a confused look.
Derek cleared his throat.
"For her physical therapy, yes."
Derek turned to Lexie.
"Let's go home!"
Derek grabbed the handles of Lexie's wheelchair.
"Dr. Grey—"
Meredith turned around.
"—Mr. Hamilton's family is asking for you." a nurse said.
Meredith nodded before turning back, she wanted to add something, but Derek and Lexie had already made their way over to the end of the hallway. 

Meredith had just informed Mr. Hamilton's family and was on her way back to Lexie's room when she saw Dr. Torres at the end of the hallway. Meredith felt the need to hear her professional opinion, her husband's words just weren't enough.
"Dr. Torres—"
Meredith walked towards the end of the hallway.
"—Dr. Torres!"
Dr. Torres turned around.
"You bellowed, Dr. Grey."
Meredith gave her an awkward smile.
"How were Lexie's scans?"
Dr. Torres gave Meredith a confused look.
"Didn't Derek tell you?"
Meredith took a second before shaking her head.
"I should be scrubbing in for a surgery right now—"
"—just talk to your husband."
Meredith gave her a confused look.
"Why won't you just answer my question?"
"Why won't you just ask your husband." Dr. Torres said before walking off.
Meredith took a deep breath, she had forgiven Derek for not picking Lexie up the day of the shooting, but for some reason she still couldn't trust him like she used to. Trust is like glass, once broken it will never be the same.

A little later Meredith was standing in the hallway. She was looking into Lexie's room, through the window. Meredith's head was telling her to confront Derek about Lexie's sudden discharge because, something just wasn't right, and the way Dr. Torres was acting didn't work in his favor. However, her heart was telling her to give him the benefit of the doubt. They had both decided to move on and be there for Lexie, as a team. Meredith took a deep breath before walking over to the door. She remained standing in the doorway for a little while, looking at her family. Derek was helping Lexie pack her things. They both seemed happy. Meredith hadn't seen a smile on her daughter's face in weeks. Lexie seemed so excited to finally go home, how could she ruin that for her? Derek turned to Meredith.
"Everything okay?"
Meredith took a deep breath. Nothing in this world will ever hurt more than when your heart and your mind are in two different places.

"—the truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself."