No Time | Grey's Anatomy // Book 1 // COMPLETED |

58 | One Point

 Once Sonya had officially quit the trial, we had an open spot. I, of course, thought that we would pick somebody from the list; but Derek, on the other hand, had other plans. Turns out that Chief Webber's wife, Adele, had been coming into the hospital a lot lately for mysterious injuries and stories that didn't match up. Derek, Meredith, and even the Chief himself by now thought that she had Alzheimer's. So she was going to fill the spot in the trial.

"What did you do for Thanksgiving last year?" Meredith asked as she pressed record for the camera on the laptop.

Adele thought for a moment, "Mm. Nothing. Uh, Richard and I stayed home, ordered in Chinese, and it was lovely."

Chief Webber (or Richard), who was sitting behind his wife, nodded; telling us that Adele's story was true. Meredith wrote something down, "Okay. Starting at one-hundred, count backward by seven."

Adele nodded, "One-hundred, ninety-three, eighty-six..."

After the test was done and we had the results, we sat down with Adele and the Chief again. "You needed to score a twenty-six or below to meet the criteria of the trial." Derek explained, "You were above that."

Adele smiled. "Well, what is it?" Chief Webber asked.
"It's not important-" Derek started.

"Derek." Chief Webber ordered.

Derek sighed, "It's twenty-seven."

"One point?" Chief Webber asked, "You're going to deny her this because of one point?"

"I'm so sorry," Derek told him.

Adele sat back in her chair, "Sorry? No. It's good. It means I passed. I-I'm not sick. I told you, Richard."

"That's not what it means." the Chief told his wife, "You have Alzheimer's. It just hasn't progressed enough to get into the trial."

"But Derek said I passed." Adele said, "I passed. Meredith...I'm okay, right?"

Meredith sighed, "When I asked you to repeat the three words back to me, you said pool instead of spoon. I asked you to identify my stethoscope. It took you a while to find the word. And I asked you where you took your honeymoon, and you said Hawaii. But you were here because the Chief was a medical student, and he had to work."

Adele shrugged, "Oh. You're just a Resident. What do you know? What the hell do any of you know? You work in a hospital all day around sick people and disease. You're obsessed. That's what this is. So I got a few answers wrong. That's all? It's normal to forget things at my age. I..." she turned to the Chief as she began to cry, "You can never remember where you parked the car whenever we go to the movies, and they're not saying that you have...it's not fair. I finally...it's...we're finally happy...you and me...loving each other the way we should have all these years. And now? It's not fair! Don't look at me like that...like-like I'm damaged goods. I-I'm still me. I'm still here. I'm still me. I...maybe-maybe I won't be here much longer, but I'm right here, baby. I'm right here. You do...I'm so scared. Richard."

As the Chief leaned in and hugged his wife, he whispered to her, "I'm here, baby."

"Help me. Please. I'm so scared." Adele sobbed as she leaned into her husband, "You can help me. Please. Please. Please."

As Derek, Meredith, and I sat on the other side of the table, I could tell that we were all thinking about what was to come. Whether you were married like the Chief and Adele or Derek and Meredith; or single like me. Nobody knew what the future held. Maybe someday I would get Alzheimer's...or maybe I will live to ninety-five without a single sick bone in my body.

Once I got back to the house that evening, I threw my stuff to the side and entered the living room where April was watching From Here To Eternity on the television with a big bowl of popcorn. Taking a handful of the food, I sat down beside her. "Oh, Lexie and Jackson were making out there," she warned me.

Signing, I threw some of the popcorn into my mouth, "If I wrote off sitting everywhere that they have made out or had sex in or on, I might have one spot on the floor to sit in the hallway."

"True." April nodded as she passed the bowl to me and I grabbed another large handful.

"No Stark?" I asked.

April shook her head, "Nope."