𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘, greys anatomy

catastrophe and the cure.

chapter one.
catastrophe and the cure.

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

night one. eleven years old.
Charlotte jacobs was used to being on her own for long periods of time. one might say this could become quite lonely, but charlotte would have to disagree. she never felt lonely when she was by herself. alone, sure, but never lonely. in fact, charlotte had grown to prefer being on her own. by herself, she never had to worry about being let down or disappointed. she was trustworthy—others, not so much. it was this mindset that contributed to charlottes wariness upon being approached by a concerned stranger.

"hey, kid," a man calls out to the young girl curled up on a park bench. "you alright?"

when charlotte doesn't respond, too busy pretending to be asleep, the man reaches out to gently tap her on the shoulder. having constantly been in fight or flight mode her entire life, charlotte jolts upright, pulling a wooden baseball bat out of her backpack in one swift move.

"woah, woah!" the stranger backs up, holding his palms out. "not gonna hurt you. just wanted to make sure you were good."

charlotte stays quiet, glaring daggers at the man in front of her as she silently wills him to leave her alone.

her powers are futile. "hey, you alone out here?" the man crouches down to get on charlottes level, leaning forward slightly as he notices the bruises littering the girls face. "woah, kid, what happened?"

charlotte only grips her bat tighter. this was surely a trap.

"what's your name?" when the man realizes the child in front of him wasn't going to introduce herself anytime soon, he decides to go first. "i'm alex karev. you can just call me alex." he waits a beat for the girl to respond, to no avail. "hey, i'm a pediatric doctor at grey sloan, right around the corner. why don't you come with me, get checked out? then i'll call your parents for you."

charlotte balks, raising the bat ever so slightly. she shakes her head rapidly, parting her lips to harshly but quietly growl, "no!"

alex holds his palms up once again. "okay, okay. no parents." he points to his own eye. "but we gotta get that eye of yours checked out, okay? looks pretty nasty."

charlotte warily glances around. she knew the hospital alex spoke of wasn't even half a block away from the park she had spent the night in, but wasn't too keen about the idea of going off alone with the man. charlotte had yet to meet a single man who hasn't hurt her in all of her eleven years.

just as the girl is about to shake her head, a bubbly brunette jogs over to the pair. she places her hands upon the man's shoulders, asking "who's this?"