Stitches of Survival

Dark Was the Night

Chapter Sixteen: Dark Was the Night

*~*~*~*

"So I was thinking," Mark told me as he and I stood in the elevator at work together.

"That's never good." I teased him.

"Shut up," he rolled his eyes. "No, seriously, I was thinking that you, Joel, and I should get away some time. Maybe take a little family vacation? Just the three of us?"

"That sounds great." I nodded as the elevator dinged, the doors sliding open on my floor to reveal Lexie and Jackson standing in front of us.

"Going up?" Mark asked as I stepped off the elevator.

"Nope." Lexie shook her head, going to walk away.

"Yeah, you are." Jackson stopped her.

"Ooh, Avery. Today's the day." Mark grinned at my brother, looking like a kid in candy store. "You, me, cross-facial nerve graft. You pumped? I'm pumped."

"All right." Jackson nodded as Lexie stepped onto the elevator with Mark.

"Get pumped." Mark told him.

"Getting pumped." Jackson assured him as the elevator doors closed.

"Okay, what crawled up your ass this morning?" I raised a brow at my brother as he and I walked down the hall together.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied through his teeth.

"Bullshit." I swore. "You look like you're ready to punch someone, more specifically, Mark. Then Lexie's been avoiding me for over a week now. What is going on with you two? Did you get in a fight or something?"

"Beth, this really isn't any of your business." He shook his head.

"Jackson-" I tried to get through to him.

"Bethany, enough." He snapped, hurrying down the hall in the opposite direction that I had been headed.

"Watley, who are you with today?" Bailey asked as she walked up to me, Meredith trailing behind her.

"Uh, Robbins, why?" I asked.

"Not anymore, you're with me now. Come on." She led Meredith and I both down the hall. "When I say this is a very important patient, I mean, she is very important to me. I do not like it, but I have a very full schedule today, and you two will have to be my proxies. No one touches this patients but you two. One of you will run every test I ask for. You will report every result back to me personally. This woman has lost a husband and a son in this hospital. I will not have another O'Malley lost under this roof."

"O'Malley?" I could feel my eyes widen at the name, it having been a while since I last heard it.

"George's mother is our VIP?" Meredith asked, seeming to be just as surprised as I was. Bailey didn't say a word as she led us into a room, finding none other than Ms. O'Malley laying in the hospital bed.

"Meredith Grey. Bethany Watley." Ms. O'Malley smiled at us.

"As promised." Bailey nodded.

"It's been so long." Ms. O'Malley shook her head. "Oh, you come over here and give me a hug."

*~*~*~*

"It says here you've had surgery three weeks ago at Seattle Pres for a gallbladder removal?" Meredith looked over Ms. O'Malley's chart.

"I've gone back there a couple of times, and they always tell me I'm find and send me back home." Ms. O'Malley told us.

"Uh, bring me a twenty-gauge just in case, and benzoin." Bailey told the nurse. "And, you know, it's freezing in here. Have someone take a look at that thermostat."