A Fight to Remember

Rip off the Bandage Pt. 1

A/N: I wrote this story years ago, before the kids's characters were developed in the show.

This is on the same day as last chapter- only Meredith's POV.

Meredith

Feb 26 2034

As soon as I slammed the door, I regretted it. I let out a long breath and watched the vapour disappear in the cool morning air. Ellis. What was going on with her? Of all my kids, I just couldn't connect with her. I hated that I confronted her that way this morning. I could've just had a conversation with her, but that letter just surprised me. She was always so smart in school, smarter than Bailey in some ways- and always so determined, I thought. Until I found that letter in the trash when I was taking out the recycling. And I just reacted- and then she reacted. The two of us are like a violent chemical reaction sometimes. I walked to my car and threw my purse in the back. God, what was wrong with me?

I arrived at the hospital and walked to the elevator. Today was going to be a busy day. Alex already paged me for a consult and I knew I had a stack of paperwork on my desk that needed to be addressed. In the last three years since I took Chief of Surgery position, we had led this hospital to be the best teaching hospital in the U.S and on the forefront of innovation and research, but lately, I had been feeling the pressures of the job. It was becoming harder to focus on paperwork and I had been putting it off. That, combined with worry about my kids, especially Zola in Africa, I felt like I was slipping. Maybe it was menopause? I sighed, watching the elevator light -up the fifth floor. I just need to delegate more. Get stuff off my plate, maybe drop a few surgeries, or find someone who can handle finding research grants or do employee reviews. As I stepped out of the elevator, I made a note in my phone to review my options to delegate things.

I entered my office, plunked my purse down and reached for my white coat. I had to meet Alex for a consult. I checked the schedule for a resident and paged Dr. Peters as he was scheduled for general and I found him to be very reliable and thorough.

As I entered the Ped's Department, Dr. Peters met me at the patient's bedside, along with Dr. Karev.

"What do we have?"

Alex handed me the tablet. "I don't know, you tell me."

I looked at the scans, it wasn't anything I had seen before, but something didn't make sense. "There's no cirrohsis? No AFP markers?"

"No, but I'm sure there's a mass on his liver, I can't figure it out, what are we dealing with here? Because it looks like a heptocellular carcinoma, but there's none of the usual symptoms, plus he's only fifteen. "

"I've got a hunch," I said. "Peters, I'll need you to do a biopsy, I need to see what the cells look like on a microscopic level, and put a rush on it."

"Yes, Chief." Peters said as I handed the tablet to him.

"Okay, well I've got some paperwork to do... lunch later?" I asked Alex.

"Sure Mer," Alex said.

I headed back to my office, scooping my phone out of my pocket. I probably should take a minute to call Ellis, try and make things right. Still staring at the screen, I reached to open the door but my hand missed. I looked up just in time to crash into Dr. Torres. "Oh, Callie, sorry, I didn't see you."

"We were supposed to have a meeting about the new research grant for my new robotics lab. But I guess you were busy so-" There was a decidedly bitter tone in her voice.

Robotics. I racked my brain- we had discussed it before- but, "Oh right umm," I couldn't remember the acronym for it- "Look, I have time now," I stepped past her to invite her back into my office where she'd been obviously waiting.