Chasing the Stars || Amelia Shepherd

chapter three

amelia's pov

"ok, thank you for telling us," i praised.

with that, meredith began to prep the suture kit on the bed, next to where me and evelyn are sitting. once she'd finished, she looked at me, signalling that i needed to get evelyn to give her an arm.

"hey ev, can you stretch your arm out for me?" i ask her.

she very slowly extended a shaking right arm towards meredith.

"good girl. meredith's going to clean first then suture okay?" i felt a small nod. i gave meredith the all clear, and she began to clean up evelyn's arm.

she winced as the anaesthetic went in but apart from that made no movement or sound at all.

after her right arm was fully cleaned and bandaged, meredith tapped it twice very lightly and evelyn switched arms, giving meredith her left wrist to tend to.

once meredith was finished, she tapped evelyn's arm lightly again to tell her she was finished.

evelyn retracted her arm and held it close to herself as meredith gathered up the remnants of the suture kit, throwing them into the waste bin in the corner. evelyn flinched at this and buried her face into my shoulder.

meredith instantly realised what she did but before she could say anything i interrupted her.

"hey mer, go and tell bailey dr. grayson and i are taking a two week leave of absence effective immediately. oh and get dr. parker to cover my service for the day."

she glanced over at me surprised, but one look at my pained face told her everything she needed to know. i was going to help evelyn. 

i rummaged in my pocket, pulled out the on-call room key and handed it to her. she nodded and silently left the room, locking the door behind her.

evelyn's pov

right after dr. grey left the room, i immediately broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably in amelia's arms. that was so fucking embarrassing. god i wish i'd just run out of the hospital and transferred internship programs. 

the only thing that kept me from booking it out of that room right then and there was amelia. she sat cross-legged on the bed, holding me in her lap and stroking my hair. she was gently rocking me back and forth, holding my head to her chest.

i didn't really pay attention to how touch-starved i was until now. this made me feel more loved than i'd ever felt in my entire life. just being held by someone.

once i had finally finished crying, we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until she spoke.

"i think you should get some sleep, you look exhausted," amelia pointed out.

she was right. the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body for the past twenty minutes was now gone, leaving me completely drained of energy.

i opened my mouth but was too anxious to speak, so i closed it again. i didn't know how to talk to her after she had seen me like that, so i just nodded. how on earth was i ever going to talk to her the same after this?

in response to my nod she shuffled further onto the bed and laid down. i climbed out of her lap and lay next to her, facing away from her. 

the exhaustion caught up to me pretty quickly and the next thing i knew i was slipping into unconsciousness.

amelia's pov:

it had been about an hour and a half since evelyn had fallen asleep. she was snoring softly, occasionally shifting positions before becoming still again. 

i was busy thinking about the next steps in helping evelyn recover. she was definitely staying with me for at least a few days and was in need of a physical exam. on top of that she needed to see a therapist or possibly be admitted to the hospital for a while depending on the severity of her mental state. 

for my part in this i was going to need to lock away all sharps and medications in my apartment to ensure the girl's safety. 

as for today, she desperately needs an exam but i think she's had enough right now. she needs a shower, something to eat, and some more sleep.

just then, evelyn began to whimper and twitch in her sleep. she curled up into the fetal position and was begging for some unseen person to 'stop'. 

i gently rested my hand on her shoulder but i had to shake her a few times before she jolted awake, breathing heavily. 

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a/n - for the purpose of this story amelia has her own apartment and is not living in meredith's house, though she still visits regularly.

thanks so much for reading and comment suggestions!

- oliver :)