𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘, greys anatomy

a diagnosis.

ch 16. a diagnosis.

Amelia awakes to the sound of her phone
receiving a text message from link. as she reads the message, a knock sounds briefly on her bedroom door.

"thought the baby might be hungry," charlotte enters with a tray of food, "even if you aren't."

charlotte sets the tray down on amelia's nightstand. "you sure i can't send a doctor to check in on you? like an OB?"

"no," amelia shakes her head, "thank you though."

charlotte takes a seat on the bed. "amelia."

"charlie." amelia sighs. "pretty recently you were going through something, and you hid in the loft. and you rejected food, and company. and we wanted to bury you in love all day everyday, but you locked the door and we grudgingly respected your desire for privacy."

"and then you sent meredith over to get me committed to psych." charlotte remarks blandly. she takes one look at amelia, sighing. "fine, eat the toast and i'll spare you the comfort." the teen hands the plate of food to amelia, who takes a rather reluctant bite out of the toast.

Charlotte bursts back into amelia's bedroom door, this time bearing a two mugs: one containing coffee, the other hot chocolate. "hi again!"

"charlie, why aren't you at school?" the surgeon questions suspiciously.

"sick." charlotte shrugs, dramatically fake coughing with an obvious smirk.

"mhm." amelia is unconvinced. "i thought we had a deal."

"yeah..." charlotte sets the two mugs down on a nearby dresser. "i'm backing out of our deal."

the teen sits on the edge of amelia's bed and begins untying her shoe laces. "see, i wanted the space because i grew up alone and i'm more used to solving my problems by myself."

charlotte rises from the bed and retrieves the two mugs, "but you, you grew up in a wolf pack, and wolves only retreat from the pack when they are going off alone to die. so, yeah. i'm backing out of our deal."

not waiting for a response, charlotte climbs into the covers beside amelia, handing the older woman the cup of coffee. "the only way i've ever seen you get yourself out of a really deep spiral is to spiral out loud until you land on something that is healthier than whatever is happening inside your head."

"for someone who grew up alone, you are an excellent little sister." amelia compliments tearily.

of course charlotte thought of the older doctors she had grown up around for the past three years as family, but she had never heard any of them refer to her as their family out loud. disguising her own teary eyes, charlotte takes a sip of her hot chocolate.

Amelia sits on her bed beside charlie, talking about her baby. "so...he's healthy. that feels like a miracle. and he's already the size of a cabbage, which means that i am further along than i thought. so...the baby might be owen's, not links."

charlotte sits upright. "might be or is?"

"might be. i don't know," amelia admits. "there wasn't a ton of time between the break up and the hook up. link and i are really good together. like, almost painfully good. you know, it felt like that thing that we both earned in this life. it was accidental and it was perfect, and now it's not."