Off the Carousel

Until it's Gone

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Enjoy!

Grace pushed through the crowds of people at the hospital as she made her way to the ICU. She'd heard... she'd heard something happened to Sam and she just had to see him, make sure he was okay. Sam was her best friend's dad, and he was... a good man, a good doctor. She liked him... her mom liked him. So it only made sense for her to check on his well being. So Grace trudged through the small overwhelmed hospital hallways and into the ICU.

Nurses and hospital staff bustled around her as she searched for his room. Unnoticed, Grace walked carefully through, glancing quickly inside each room. Finally, she found him. Them.

The lights were dim, the room quiet. Amidst the beeping and the the flourescent lights of the monitors and the soft inhalation of the automatic blood pressure cuff, Sam lay, pale and limp, with a large bandage around his head. But his chest rose and fell on it's own. There was a steady beep-beep-beep of the monitor, and the numbers on the screen looked okay. Nick sat in the only chair in the room, asleep. One hand clutching his father's while he rested his head on the other, tucked under his cheek.

Grace sighed and walked around to the other side of the bed. Sam was okay. She picked up the other empty hand and stroked it, feeling comforted by the strong pulse under her fingertips. She wasn't sure how long she was there before she heard a noise and looked up. "Mom..." she breathed.

"Grace..." Her mom croaked as she dropped the chair she'd been carrying. "I-"

Grace rushed over to her mother, wrapping her in a big hug, not caring about her ribs right now. There was comfort in her mother's smell, in her softness, from the kiss she lay on the top of her head. Her mom was okay. Sam was okay. Everyone was okay.

But Grace was also giving comfort to her mother. This couldn't have been easy for her.

"He was-" Cassie burst, "Meredith-" she choked back a sob. "There was so much blood..."

"It's okay mom..." Grace held her tight and rubbed her back. "It's okay."

After a while, they released from their embrace, and Grace grabbed the chair and slid it over to the other side of Sam's bed. "You look tired, you should sit."

Her mom didn't protest, she slid into the chair easily and took Sam's hand. After a minute, she looked up, "Come here, sit on my lap." Grace squeezed to sit sideways on her mothers lap, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. A strange painful sense of deja vu burned her heart and she flinched. She'd been here before, like this, a few years ago... when-

"It's okay honey..." her mother stroked her hair. "I know it looks bad, but he's going to be okay."

"It just... being here- us, like this, reminds me of dad." Grace managed to say.

She felt her mother's chest hitch as her breath caught. "I know."

"Yeah." Grace leaned against Cassie. But Sam would be okay.

xxx

Red and blue flashed against the dark sky. People rushed around, harsh voices, arguments, groans of pain.

On the ground before her, Dr. Radford was seizing.

Meredith stared, but only for a moment. "Gloves!" She snapped to the surgical team behind her. Somehow, in the middle of a highway, they had set up an OR. She was gowned in surgical gear, and a mask covered her face.

She felt good, confident. She could do this, it was a simple procedure. She strode over to the draped table that Sam lay on.

"Surgical drill," she said, extending a hand. Bokhee handed over the instrument in a precise and graceful palmover. She nodded, stared at the patch in front of her, and turned the drill on.