Had I known How to Save a Life

Out of the Woods

Chapter 66
*Meredith POV*

We can only do so much in a surgery to put a person back together again. There's these moments after surgery when we just have to wait. We have to wait to see if there's any deficits or if what we were trying to do caused more damage that. We have to wait and see for them to come out of the woods.

It's been a few hours since both Alex and Jo got out of surgery. Neither have woken up yet. I wait in Alex's room for a little bit and I also wait in Jo's.

Everyone who's off their shift hasn't left yet. No ones left and from the way the hallways looks, it doesn't look like anyone is planning on leaving anytime soon.

"He should be awake by now right?" I ask Derek.

"He went through a lot in the surgery, his body needs time to heal, needs time to get out of the woods. When he does wake up I want to do a neuro check though." He says.

"How'd Jo's surgery go?" I ask.

"She should've regained full mobility and should be awake anytime soon," He tells me.

I go and sit in Alex's room. Waiting for him to wake up, wait for him to make a noise or a sound or a something.

I stand up, about to go check on Jo, when I hear a cough. "Alex! You're awake!" I say.

"Who's...who's Alex? Where am I? What happened to me?" He asks a million questions....he doesn't remember me. He doesn't remember him. There must've been too much lack of oxygen getting to his brain and caused him deficits.

He looks so confused and my whole body is shaking. He probably doesn't remember Jo or the baby or that he's a doctor.

"You, you're Alex." I say in a very broken defeated voice.

"No? No I'm not." He says.

I sit down and bury my face in my hands...he doesn't remember a damn thing. Suddenly he bursts into laughter.

"Mer, I'm messing with you!" He says loudly.

My jaw drops. And I'm pissed. "You're messing with me? That's what this is? This is funny to you? Alex you all but died in that OR! I had to called time of death, but it's funny for you to joke and play like you don't remember anything." I rant to him.

"Mer, okay you're right. I'm sorry. But seriously, how's Jo doing...how's the baby?" He asks me with a shaky voice.

"They're both fine. Derek repaired Jo's spine so she should've regained full mobility, and because of you nothing even touched the baby." I tell him with a smile.

"Is she up yet?" He asks.

"I'm not sure, I'll go check, I'll be right back." I tell him.

*Jo's POV*

He's dead. No bodies telling me anything about anything. That means they're waiting to tell me he's dead. Or that I have to pull the plug or to ask me about organ donation. But he's dead.

I overheard these nurses talking, about how Grey wouldn't stop trying to restart his heart but she had to call it...she had to call time of death at 10:44 AM.

My palms are sweaty and it's getting harder to breathe, my heart is pounding. The monitors start going crazy.

Meredith rushes into the room, seeing me having a full blown panic attack.

"Jo! Listen you have to calm down, okay? It's not good for you, it's certainly not good for the baby." Meredith tells me. I'm still hysterically crying.

Arizona runs in too, "They paged me what's going on?"

"She's having a panic attack," Meredith tells her.

"Jo you need to stay calm. Your body and the baby can't take all that stress" Arizona, just like Meredith, tells me.

"Alex is—" Meredith begins but I cut her off.

"Dead. Alex is dead, I know." I say and start crying more. "He's never going to get to meet her."

"Jo, Alex is very much alive." Meredith says. "He asked me to see if you're up yet." She finishes.

"What? What are you talking about? I heard some nurses talking outside about how he crashed you and you had to call it." I say wiping tears from my eyes.

"He crashed and we did call it, but he came back. And honestly there's no medical explanation why he did, he just did." She says.

"So he's like okay? He's better now?" I ask.

"Well he's still in the woods, but he's getting better." She tells me.

"When can I see him?" I ask her. That's all I want to do. I just want to see him and hug him and yeah. I just want him.

"Soon. But not yet." She tells me.

Derek comes in to do an examine on my mobility. "Can you wiggle yours toes for me?" He asks. For the first time in my whole life it occurred to me, what if they didn't move?

Derek lifts the end of the blanket, he smiles and says "Perfect, now in a few days, I want you to start walking around the halls just the keep your strength without hurting your spine."

*Meredith POV*

I check on some other patients even though it's my off day. And I then I head back to see Alex...only problem is he isn't there.

I go by the nurses station, "Where is Alex Karev, I didn't order any scans and he's not in his bed."

None of them know. But I know exactly where he might be. I peek by Jo's room and see him there in a wheel chair right by her bed. She's sleeping probably doesn't even know he's there.

I stare from the nurses station by her room and I watch her surprise to seem him right there when she wakes up. As much as I think Alex should be resting, he's not the type of guy that would wait to get better. He's the type that claws his way out of the woods.

I leave without interrupting them, but I had back to Alex's room to wait for him to get back. Like 10 minutes later I get bored of waiting so I stand up to leave but as I'm walking out he's getting wheeled back in by Edwards.

"Ah so that's how you snuck out" I laugh.

"In my defense it was his idea and he told me Jo would really like it," She says.

"Carry on Edwards" I tell her.

"You know that's risky being that your wound can still get infected." I tell Alex.

"Well, Mer, sometimes people are worth getting infections for." Alex says to me, that's probably the most romantic thing I've ever heard him say.

What does determine when you're better after a trauma? Maybe it's not the lab results or scans that give you back your clean bill of health. Maybe it's just how far you're willing to go to get what you want; how far you're willing to get out of the woods.

Author note:

Hey sorry this is a day late, I got a little caught up. I hope you all had a safe but fun 4th of July!! I know a lot of y'all were super shocked towards the end of the last chapter (trust me I was too). When I start writing, I usually have a little plan in my head but nothing planned out. I just get on a roll and don't stop. This chapter was kinda eh idk feel like it could've been better. Thank you all so much for your support and your eagerness to read my story. ❤️❤️

-Erin (: