The Starting Line (Reupload)

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   Curled up under George's arm, Eleanora stared at the doors of the trauma room, without looking away. She was practically waiting, begging for someone to come out and tell her that Meredith was okay.

The doors opened and Eleanora straightened, her eyes landing on Addison. "Is she-"

"It's not good." Addison interrupted, not looking at either of them directly. Eleanora let out a sob in return, feeling George hold her tighter.

As if her and Eleanora's personalities had changed, Cristina began asking question after question. "Is she still cyanotic? What was her initial temperature? Why is it taking so long?"

Addison quickly became frustrated, yelling at the normally composed doctor. "Dr. Yang!"

The interns all stood still, Eleanora snuggling a little closer to George at the tone. She was never good at being yelled at, and she was horrible when she was conflicted or angry. To add that one of her best friends may be dead just a few meters away. She couldn't stand it at all.

"It's not good. They're doing everything they can. Maybe you should... prepare yourselves. I have to go; my Jane Doe is awake."

Addison started down the hallway, Alex following behind her. He looked at Eleanora as if he were checking that she would be fine without him, even if he hadn't been there to begin with.

Alex was usually able to calm her down no matter what, he was her safe place. But today, it was George. If anything, it seemed that having him hold her before only caused her more pain.

Maybe she felt like he wasn't completely her Alex anymore.

"I'm going with you!" He called out to Montgomery, letting his attention fall to Izzie for a moment. "Iz, will you let us know?"

Izzie just nodded; Alex gave Eleanora one last look before running after Addison. Eleanora sobbed, concentrating on the doors again.

"Prepare ourselves?" Cristina finally asked, her voice breaking as the realization of what Addison meant to hit her. "That's what we tell families before we call time of death."

"She's going to be fine." Izzie tried to reason, Cristina ignoring her. George glanced at Izzie, running his fingers through Eleanora's hair.

"Sometimes you're wrong." He said to Izzie quietly, Eleanora wincing at the words.

Cristina began to shake her head, backing away slowly. "No. Uh-huh, no!"

"Cristina-"

"I'm not doing this," Cristina screamed, her voice containing a dry, dark laugh. She turned completely on her heel and stormed off, Izzie and George calling after her.

Eleanora finally spoke again, her voice sounding desperate. "She's not coming back." They both focused on her and she sobbed. "Cristina, I mean her. She won't be back until Meredith gets better or... or they call..."

Izzie took a step towards the little girl, placing her hands on her arm. Eleanora's eyes moved from the doors to Izzie's face, her eyes hard.

"She's going to survive this," Izzie repeated. George felt Eleanora stiffen under her arms, and Eleanora quickly wrenched her arm from Izzie's grasp.

"Do not touch me." Eleanora hissed, taking the two by surprise. "I'm not stupid, Izzie. So don't...don't touch me."

Izzie took a little step back and George looked between the two of them, confused. When Izzie didn't respond, George hugged Eleanora and shushed her. He didn't even want to know what was going on between the two of them right now, but he knew he would find out soon.