Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

forty one

"You're a very lucky woman," Maya told Mallie a few hours later, helping her sit up in her hospital bed. "Minor concussion, no burns, no broken bones. Just a lot of bruising and swelling," Maya said.

Mallie looked up from the clamp around her finger.

"When Dean saw the fire... He grabbed me. Shielded me. He took the explosion to protect me, and he died from it. He died because of-" Mallie whispered.

"He did not die because of you," Maya said firmly, sitting on the side of the bed and cupping Mallie's cheeks. "He did not die because of you. He died to protect his sister, because that's exactly the kind of brother Dean was to you. This is not your fault, and this is not like Chance and Phoenix. Do not blame yourself for things that are out of your control," Maya said.

Mallie nodded, letting Maya wipe her tears.

"You have a nasty cut here," Maya pointed at a cut Bailey had stitched across Mallie's forehead. "It might scar," she said softly.

"What's one more scar at this point?" Mallie mumbled.

"Amelia's landed in Seattle. Ben went to pick her up. Vic's awake, too. She's doing okay. They've told her about Miller. Travis is sitting with her," Maya said.

"Thank you. For staying," Mallie said.

"Of course. Carina's waiting downstairs to bring Amelia up when she gets here. And, uh, Andy went to pick Pru up from daycare," Maya said.

Mallie stared at her for a few seconds before realisation flashed across her face.

"Oh, fuck," she whispered.

She quickly spammed the nurse's button on the remote at the side of the bed.

"I need to get dressed and get the twins and I need to call Amelia and tell her that... And Pru... Oh my god, her dad died," Mallie whispered.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Maya said quickly, grabbing the remote and moving it. "They're okay with you going home tonight when Amelia gets here. Andy only just left. Amelia will be here before Andy and Pru. She's going to discharge you, you're going to get the twins, and then you get to see Pru," Maya said.

Mallie nodded, leaning back against the pillows.

The door opened and Carina stepped in, Amelia just behind her with Bailey behind her.

"Baby," Amelia slipped through the people, Maya moving quickly so Amelia could take her seat on the side of Mallie's bed and hug her tightly.

Mallie wrapped her arms around Amelia's waist, burying her face in her neck as she started to cry. She cried for Dean, the brother who died to protect her. She cried for Pru, her goddaughter she and her wife would now be raising because her dad died. She cried for herself and Amelia, mourning the life they once had because nothing was going to be the same for them ever again.

They had three kids now, three kids who all had a common theme of dead biological parents. Amelia and Mallie were all they had left in this terrifying world to keep them safe, and Mallie knew only how easily families could be torn apart by grief. She just prayed that her family wouldn't go through that again.

She couldn't do that again. Not after her childhood, and not after coming so far after Chance, Phoenix, her mom and Saffie's deaths. She couldn't.

"It's okay, baby. I got you. We're going to be okay. I've got you, now," Amelia whispered, kissing Mallie's forehead three times. "You're okay," Amelia whispered.

Mallie stood in the lobby of Grey Sloan an hour later, feeling exhausted but not in pain because of the pain medication she was now prescribed to take for her two weeks off work to recover from the explosion and to get to grips with their new family of five.