Never Forgotten

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Heart = broken.

"I understand, Hughes," Ross said and closed the back doors and then rushed to the driver's side, turning on the sirens and rushing down the streets towards the hospital. Ross decided to call ahead and tell them that she had a firefighter being rushed in with a gunshot wound. She shook her head. She doesn't know how she missed it. They all heard the gunshot ring out. Her eyebrows knotted together. Adrenaline. Ross thought. Andy was so busy helping Jamal, trying to calm him that she probably didn't even feel the bullet until after. Just when I thought Andy Herrera couldn't impress me more, she goes and does this. Ross thought to herself, shaking her head. Andy didn't deserve this and just hoped she would make it through this alive. 19 couldn't lose anyone else.

When they make it to the hospital, they are met by a few nurses who rush Andy into a room.

"I'm sorry but I need you to wait in the waiting room." A nurse told Ross and Vic and they were going to fight when the nurse spoke again. "I can't work on your friend if I'm worrying about what you're seeing."

Vic let a couple more tears fall but nodded. Ross led Vic to the waiting room and sat her down. Vic remembered the last time she was here. It was the hours leading up to Ripley's death. Vic remembering her fiancé's death brought on a whole new set of tears. Vic leaned forward onto her knees and put her head in her hands. She faintly felt a hand rubbing her back and knew it was Chief Ross. She was thankful to have someone there with her so she wasn't going through this alone but she just wanted Andy. She just wanted this to not be happening. She wanted her best friend to be okay. She and Andy had gotten so much closer this year. She had really connected with Andy when they talked about how they had both gotten pregnant and had to go through abortions. Just thinking about how honest that conversation was, the dinner they had with Michelle at Dean's boathouse, made her sob and she felt Ross pulling her into a hug. It was an unnatural soft gesture from the chief but at this moment Vic was thankful and just clung onto Ross. Ross was holding Vic and worry was oozing off of her. She just needed a doctor to come out and tell them that Andy was going to be okay.

It was half an hour later when Ross saw Doctor Grey coming towards them. Vic sniffled and looked up when Ross shook her and told Vic a doctor was there. When Meredith got closer to them Vic noticed her expression. She knew that expression. She had that expression when Meredith had to tell Andy about Pruitt's cancer and Vic felt her heart drop. No no no no no no. please god no. Vic chanted in her head. This couldn't be happening.

Meredith looked at Ross and then Vic and when she saw the recognition on her face she knew that Vic knew she didn't have good news.

"Dr. Grey please just tell us," Vic asked the blond doctor and Meredith nodded.

"Andy had a bullet wound as you know." Meredith watched Ross and Vic nod. "The bullet did a lot of damage. Fragments riped through multiple organs and collapsed one of her lungs" Meredith ran a hand through her hair. "We did everything we could..."

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When Meredith and Maggie walked into the ER the last thing they expected to see was Andy Herrera with a bullet wound in her chest. They looked at each other and started ordering the nurses to give Andy the right drugs and then rushed Andy to an elevator, down to an ER.

Right as Meredith was set to put a mask over Andy's mouth, Andy's eyes opened, blinking, trying to adjust to the lighting.

"Mer." Andy rasped out when she saw her friend.

"Hey, Herrera," Meredith smiled sadly. "I need you to hang on for me, okay? My kids can't lose their favourite babysitter." Meredith said, emotions starting to bubble up but knowing better than to let them affect her when she needed to focus on trying to save her friend.

Andy tried to give her a small smile. "I'm sorry, Mer."

"No. No. You're going to be okay. You hear me, Herrera? You have so many people that love you and have lost too much already. You need to stay alive." Meredith told her, grabbing her hand.

"I need you to tell Vic how sorry I am." Andy coughed, more blood coming out of her mouth. Meredith stopped her, knowing she needed to get on with the surgery.

"Andy, stop it." Meredith told her firmly. "You're going to be okay. You hear..." Meredith got cut off.

"We both know I'm not going to make it through this, Mer." Andy said, life starting to fade out of her eyes, breaking Meredith's heart. Andy looked right in Meredith's eyes and after a pause she continued. "Vic keeps losing people and I am so sorry she's going to have to add me to the list of people lost." Andy lets a few tears fall from her eyes.

"Andy.." Meredith tried to stop her. "We need to get started.." Meredith was looking at her vitals and noticed how they kept dropping.

"We both know I'm not going to make it through this." Andy told her, stumbling over her words, starting to slur. "Tell Maya and Carina that they'll be great parents. Tell Jack that I am so sorry I'm leaving him and that he should try to let his bio family in. He'll need everyone he can get." Andy closed her eyes and coughed, this time it went on for several seconds.

"Andy, please let us try to save you. You can tell everyone what you have to say when you wake up." Meredith tried to reason with her but Andy just shook her head.

"Tell Ross to let Maya be captain at 19 again. She never deserved to be demoted just for saving a kid." A few tears from Andy's eyes but she continued to look at Meredith. "I...I need y..you..t-to tel...tell ev-everyone that-that i'm so-sorry fo-for leav-ing them." Andy started to wheeze and Meredith picked up the mask. "I'm just so sorry, Mer" Andy said, eyes starting to close and Meredith put the mask over her face and looked to the nurses and surgeons around her.

"I'm sure you know that this woman needs to be saved. She can not leave this world before her time." Meredith told them, looking around the room. Making eye contact with Maggie and Hunt, who had come in a couple minutes ago. they got to work.

It was too late. There was nothing they could do. They started to work on getting the bullet fragments out of Andy's chest but they were everywhere. There was one inbeated in her liver, multiple fragments had found their way into her lungs, the reason she was probably coughing up blood, the collapsed lung. Meredith swallowed back her tears when working but when she saw all the damage at once she knew this was an impossible save. Meredith looked at Maggie, dropped the bullet fragment she found into a tin where the other fragments were, took off her gloves, walked away from the table and let the tears fall when she heard the monitor flatline.

Time of death: 11:36 pm