Paradise-Grey's Anatomy AU Book 8

Chapter Nine

"I had a terrible day. We say it all the time. A fight with the boss, the stomach flu, traffic. That's what we describe as terrible, when nothing terrible is happening. These are the things we beg for, a root canal, an IRS audit, coffee spilled on our clothes. When the really terrible things happen, we start begging a god we don't believe in to bring back the little horrors and take away this. It seems quaint now, doesn't it? The flood in the kitchen, the poison oak, the fight that leaves you shaking with rage? Would it have helped, if we could see what else was coming? Would we have known that those were the best moments of our lives?"

"dark was the night and cold the ground"

Arizona got off the phone at the nurses station when she saw Jackson and Kelly coming over. "Hey, Avery, Ripa", she called. "We got a kid with half his face torn off by a dog, so can you get Sloan and meet me outside?" "Yeah", they replied.

"And, hey, see if Shepherd's still here, 'cause we may need him"

"Ok"

They walked off.

Cristina, Lucy, Meredith, Alex, Holly and Aurora were still at the bar, drinking and laughing. Meredith's phone rang and she looked at it. "It's Janet", she said and went away to answer it. "Can you, uh, pay for my, uh, thing?" Alex's pager went off. "Gotta run", he said. "Yeah, I have a flight to catch in the morning", Holly said and Alex hugged her.

"Call me when you land"

"I will"

She left the bar. "Would you pay for mine?" Alex asked Lucy. "No. I'm leaving. I'm going back to the hospital", she replied. He looked to Cristina and Aurora. "You're kidding, right? I paid for your burger", Aurora pointed out. "I'm going to the skills lab", Crisitina added. "Oh, come on", Alex said.

"She has a social worker on the phone. You can fish 20 bucks out of your pocket"

The three women left as he placed coins on the table.

Crisitina and Lucy found Meredith sitting on a gurney in the hallway of the hospital. "What did Janet say?" Lucy asked her. "Meredith?" Cristina said when she didn't answer. "We're not getting her back", Meredith said. "What do you mean? What...what exactly did she say?" Lucy said.

"That we're not getting her back"

"She said that?" Cristina said.

"She said that the court, cancelled our hearing date. And when they do that, it means either one of two things... That they looked at our file and they love us and they're giving her to us, in which case they call Janet and they tell her that, or that they hate us and they're giving her to another family. And she didn't get the "They love us" call"

"Well, maybe they didn't get around to it", Lucy suggested.

"She said we should move on. That's what she said. You want to know her exact words, were "I think it's time that you and Derek start thinking about moving on"

"Oh, my God", Cristina whispered. "Oh, God. How can they do this?" They sat down on either side of her and she sighed. "You can cry", Lucy said. "I don't wanna cry", Meredith replied.

"I know"

"I'm never gonna see her again"

They hugged her. "Ok. Stop. I don't wanna cry", she said and they moved away from her.

Derek was on a computer in one of the office rooms when Lucy walked in. "Meredith is in the ER", she said.

"Look at this. Scalpels from the 1860s. I want to get them for Meredith"

"She needs to talk to you"

"Oh, can you distract her? It's on eBay, and I got 25 minutes left on the auction"