Had I known How to Save a Life

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Chapter 67
*Meredith POV*

People have many sides; the good, the bad, and the ugly. As doctors when we operate, we see the part of them not very many people see. We see the bad and the ugly. We see the part that makes them human and imperfect, sustainable to injury. Outside the OR, we're all trying to show the good. But the bad part and the ugly has a damn good way of catching up to us.

It's been several weeks since Alex & Jo's crash and they both got to leave today. It's going to be a while till Alex can operate again because of his arm. Jo can come back to work in 2-3 weeks but she has to take it easy cause of the fracture.

I'm about to finish prepping my patient. His name is Michael, he's 25, he has a kidney disease and we're doing a transplant. I walk into the room, he's talking to who I assume is his girlfriend.

"You don't have to stay, you know? I mean transplants can be long, you probably have better things to do." He tells her.

"Have you met me? I go to school, I go to work, and I see you. Don't worry, I literally have nothing better to do." She laughs and tells him.

He's probably trying to push her away cause he doesn't want her to see him after all weak from surgery. He doesn't want her to see the ugly.

I tell her it's time she has to go to the waiting room, and we begin to take him to the OR.

*Alex POV*

We're finally home after being in the hospital for so long. This was all my fault. We shouldn't have gone to Iowa in the first place. It was such a stupid idea. My crazy mom got paranoid about Jo, which was why he left so early. We weren't going to leave till the morning, but I didn't want to be there anymore.

"Jo" I say.

"Alex, whatcha doin?" She asks. And she has this beautiful smile and those big brown eyes.

"I was wondering if we could talk...about what happened when we were in Iowa." I say nervous but I don't know.

"Oh okay, what do you want to talk about?" She asks.

"You know, about how my mom went crazy and how I blew up at them. I'm just sorry I brought you into that mess. You're literally the first girl I've ever introduced to her. I'm sorry because it turned into a disaster and then we got in the crash." I tell her.

"Shit happens, Alex. You had the best intention for us going there. And it just didn't work out the way we wanted it to. Your mom might not be the best mom but she tried, with all the things that were wrong with her she tried. And you turned fine. Hell, my mom left me at a fire station, I don't even remember what they said her name was." She tells me.

"I know, I just don't like that side of my life. I don't usually show it to people. But I finally did. And then this happened." I say, still unhappy with the current chain of events going on in my life.

"I love you, Alex. I love every piece of you. I love the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love the parts of you that you think are messed cause they made you who you are. They made you the love of my life and the best daddy." She tells me with a bright smile.

*Meredith POV*

The kidney finally gets here, and we begins to remove the diseased one. There's a little bit of extra blood, "Suction," I ask. Nothing too terribly out of the the blue.

We get started on the big part of the transplant, putting in the new organ. Hoping, praying, that the body will accept it.

It used to make me wonder as a kid what made the body reject a new organ when it's in dire need of a new one. But it's not all that complicated when you think about it, in a sense of people.

When we need help and we know we need help and we know that we can get help; we don't always ask for it. We might want it, but we don't ask for it.

We remove the clamps and stare at the new kidney inside of Michael. Waiting for it to pink up. Praying that it will pink up, that his body will accept it.

Nothing is happening...and we begin to look at the clock.

I give it a little poke and almost like magic, the new organ turns pink.

We finish and close, I go to talk to his girlfriend...hopefully she didn't leave like he wanted her too.

I find her in the waiting room, she's very eager to find out. "So everything went better than we could've imagined. Michael's body accepted the new kidney so that's a good sign. We won't know everything until he wakes up however, but the signs are good." I inform her.

She's through the moon happy, she gives me a really big hug. "Thank you, Dr. Grey, so much."

I take her to go see him and he finally lightened up and I guess appreciated her staying.

I go to the Attendings Lounge and rest, Maggie is in there, "How's Karev and Wilson doing?" She asks.

"They finally went home today, they'll be begging to come back to work any day now." I laugh.

Derek comes in...with Zola behind him. "Derek...what's going on? Why isn't she in school?" I whisper.

"See, what had happened was...um Zola why don't you tell momma what you did." Derek says.

"We were racing during recess and I beat some of the boys and they said I was cheating," She says.

"Did you do anything when they called you a cheater Zo?"

"And so I asked them to prove it, and then they made fun of my friends who were slow. So I did the right thing, and punched him in the lip." She tells me.

"That's my niece!" Amelia says happily.

I give her a look and she quickly says, "But punching people in the lip doesn't solve anything."

"It made him stop though." Zola says.

I stand up and whisper in Derek's ear, "I don't know whether to punish her or be proud of her?"

I decide to tell Zola, "You can't punch somebody in the lip because they're being mean. It may have seemed like the right thing to do, but punching people isn't okay. Even if you really want to."

"But it worked, how else am I supposed to stop them?" She asks so innocently.

"Well...you prove them wrong. You teach your friends to run as fast as you can. And then you show them that you just can't help it if you're good." I finish. That sounds like sane parenting advice.

I get a 911 page to the ER, "I gotta go now, Zo. No more fighting!! I love you you sweet pea." I say. And I head off to the ER.

There is good in all of us. There is bad in all of us. And there is also, ugly in all of us. Whether we like it or not. It's who we are. Sometimes it's the ugly things about us that show the most. That show where we've been and what we've done to become the good side that we broadcast to the world.

Author Note:

Okay I promise the story is going to get more interesting. It's a little boring ATM but don't worry I got some ideas that are about to hit the ground running. Hope you all are having a great summer (school starts in a little over a month for me, kill me now). Anyway, I love you all!! Thank you very much for your support.

-Erin :)