Who would like to present?"
Erica Hahn's voice cut cleanly through the room, sharp and expectant as always.
Almost every intern and resident raised their hand at once.
Alex included.
Aria stood beside Lexie, arms loosely folded, watching the competition unfold with mild amusement. Some things never changed — everyone scrambling for approval, for attention, for a moment to prove themselves.
Alex was already speaking before Hahn had even fully chosen him.
"Kyra Marshall," he began confidently. "History of end-stage cardiomyopathy and COPD. Now awaiting a heart transplant, but her antibody levels were so elevated she's at high risk of rejecting any donor heart."
Hahn handed him the chart with a small nod.
"So how did we counteract that?" she asked, looking between the group — her gaze briefly flicking to both Grey sisters.
"We've been giving her high levels of chemotherapy to suppress her immune system," Lexie answered quickly.
Hahn pointed at her. "Good."
Aria pulled a face beside her — subtle, but enough that Lexie caught it and gave her a small, sheepish smile in return.
"And what precautions have we taken to ensure she's not exposed to infection?" Hahn continued. Then, sharply — "Yang. Am I boring you?"
Cristina blinked, clearly somewhere else entirely.
Aria frowned slightly, watching her.
"Because if you'd rather spend the day in the morgue," Hahn continued, voice cutting, "I have about fifty cadaver hearts that need harvesting for my research."
Cristina didn't even hesitate. "I would love to go to the morgue. Thank you."
That made Aria's brows knit together.
Something wasn't right.
But before she could question it—
"Let Yang be an example," Hahn said briskly. "There is no shame in grunt work. Now, let's meet our mom in a plastic bubble."
⸻
Kyra Marshall was young.
Too young.
And terrified.
The isolation room was stark and clinical, the plastic barrier surrounding her making everything feel colder somehow — like she wasn't just sick, but separated from the world entirely.
Aria stood slightly back as Hahn spoke to her, watching the patient's eyes — wide, overwhelmed, exhausted from fighting a body that refused to cooperate.
"You're doing everything right," Hahn told her, calm but firm. "We just need to keep you safe until we find a match."
Kyra nodded, but her lip trembled slightly.
Aria felt that familiar pull in her chest.
Empathy.
The kind that made this job harder, not easier.
She forced herself to stay professional.
But she didn't stop watching.
⸻
Later, Aria stepped out into the hallway, handing off a file to a nurse when Mark Sloan appeared beside her like he always did — uninvited and entirely too comfortable.
YOU ARE READING
Shooting Stars
Fanfiction"But he's Evil Spawn." "Don't you think I know that. I didn't wake up one day and suddenly decide I was going to be in love with Alex Karev." Being the daughter of a world renowned surgeon was never destined to be easy. The first born of the Grey tw...
