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

78 | Play Ball

Carl's surgery turned out to be a success, despite the little bump in the road, everything was fine now. Once Carl woke up, his wife had arrived and he had every single one of his fingers thanks to Callie.

"The fingers..." Carl looked down at his hand, which was tightly held together by a cast and metal rods, "they're all there."

"I had to build you a new skeletal framework," Callie told him, "jerry-rigged some, uh, wire through these bolts here, but, um...yeah, saved your hand."

Carl smiled wide, "Will it work?"

"It should." Callie replied, "There'll be some follow-up surgery and physical therapy, a lot of physical therapy, but you should regain full mobility."

"I..." Carl was speechless, "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Callie smiled as she stood and we headed for the door. "See?" Carl looked up at his wife, "I told you she was an artist."

The next day was a complete turn around as I was not dressed in my usual scrubs and white coat, but a bright blue softball uniform; and instead of a hospital, I was standing in a packed cage at a baseball field. Everyone from my place of work cheered as Derek stepped up to the batter's plate.

Derek swung the bat a few times before giving a small nod, signaling he was ready. The pitcher from Seattle Presbyterian threw the ball and Derek hit it hard, sending the small object flying high through the sky. "YEAH!" we all cheered as Derek dropped the bat and ran for his life.

Although, the cheering was cut short when a field man caught the ball. "Aww." we all sighed as Derek took off his helmet and threw it. "All right. All right." Owen, our coach, turned to us, "All right, Karev, you're on second. Let's get out there and get it back. We can do it."

"We are down eight-nothing." Meredith huffed as we walked out onto the field.

"We're screwed." Alex shouted, "He should just call it now."

Cristina nodded, "The new Chief's got something to prove."

As I made my way out to right field, I took a deep breath as the other team cheered for their batter. I watched as Teddy brushed the dust away with her feet and got ready to pitch. Teddy wound up and threw it underhand, nowhere near the batter's plate.

"Mm." Cristina took a sip of the flask that Meredith had brought, "Off-pump quintuple CABG. Do you have a pen?"

"What are you doing?" Meredith asked as she took the flask back.

Cristina sighed, "I'm making a list. Teddy told me to make a bucket list of surgeries. I keep the faith, Mer. Who thought that would pay off?"

Just then the sound of a bat hitting the ball rung out and everyone started to yell and rush around. "It's not paying off for me." Meredith took a sip as we watched everyone scramble around, "My faith is currently out of the office. Maybe I cured diabetes, though."

"Your mom would've been proud," Cristina told her before bursting out into laughter.

"No, she wouldn't." Meredith chuckled as I cracked a smile.

The three of us high-fived, "Probably not."

People groaned as Teddy threw another terrible pitch. Then, the sound of a hit again. "Oh, my God! It's coming here." Cristina shouted.

"I got it." Meredith jumped up and down.

"Get it! Get it!" I cheered.

Then, out of nowhere, Bailey ran up and caught the ball. "Hey, ball hog." Cristina huffed.

"I had that," Meredith said as Bailey threw the ball back to the diamond.

"Oh, did you?" Bailey turned to us, "Or were you gonna let it fall to the ground again?"

Meredith fixed her hat, "What is your problem with me?"

"I beg your pardon?" Bailey asked.

"I don't want on your stupid trial." Meredith told her, "I just need to get it out of my head."

Cristina and I rushed to stop Meredith, "Uh, no, Mer-"

"Are you drunk?" Bailey asked.

Cristina nodded, "She is. We are."

I backed off, "They are. Not me."

"So, what is your problem?" Meredith asked again.

Bailey stepped closer, "What is my problem? All right, I'll tell you my problem. My problem is you. Everywhere I look, you're all in my trial, coming in my lab, opening my doors..."

"Time-out!" we heard Dr. Webber call as I noticed everyone staring at us, "I got this, Hunt."

"You are reckless and irresponsible." Bailey continued.

"But it was between me and the Chief and my husband, so mind your own damn business." Meredith shouted back, "You are not the boss of me."

Bailey threw her arms up in the air, "Oh, thank God for that."

Right then, Dr. Webber walked over, "Will-"

"We're lucky to even be able to have a trial after you-" Bailey went on.

"Shut up! The both of you." Dr. Webber shouted and turned to Bailey, "Now you...you have a lot of nerve, rubbing Meredith's nose in her mistakes when you can't fix your own. Your trial is failing. Like it or not, you need her." he then turned to Meredith, "And you, even your mom, the great Ellis Grey, made a mistake. You fixed hers. Now fix your own. Get out of those ridiculous pink scrubs and get back to the work you were born to do. Now the two of you are gonna figure out a way to work together, but you're not gonna do it on this field. You'll do it Monday morning in the lab. Is that clear?"

"Yes." Meredith and Bailey both nodded.

"Play ball!" Dr. Webber turned back to the crowd of people waiting for us to finish.

Everyone cheered as they made their way back to their positions. "We're playing ball. Playing ball." Cristina said, a little awkwardly after that whole thing.

Teddy pitched again, and the Chief from Seattle Pres hit a home run. The opposing team cheered as he ran the bases. The four of us watched as they switched out Teddy for Lexie. "All right, time out!" Owen called and we all gathered, "Bring it in. Huddle up."

Once everyone was together, Owen started, "All right. I...I just want to say how proud I am of all of you. You are an incredible team."

"Now who's drunk?" Cristina leaned down next to Bailey.

"Get off," Bailey warned.

"I've watched you work together, uh, solve problems together." Owen continued, "I watched you teach each other and learn from each other. You...step up when you need to. And you...you do more than anyone asks you to do. You're the finest team I've ever been a part of."

"Oh, my God." Mark smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked as Owen chuckled.

"That's really sad," Alex added.

Mark nodded, "Beautiful."

"You don't think we actually have a shot at winning this," Callie said.

Owen turned to her, "What, this? This? No, no, no, we're screwed. You are all horrible at softball. But as doctors, you're pretty great, and I'm proud just to get to lead you, and you're all here, so I just...I just wanted to tell you. But now...now we're going down. So what do you say we go down fighting?"

"Yes!" we all shouted and we put our hands together.

"One, two, three." Owen cheered and on three we threw our hands up, "Go, team!"

"All right. Come on, guys." April shouted from the cage.

"Let's go, Lexie!" Derek clapped.

Once everyone was back in position, Lexie threw her first pitch. "Oh, no arm! No arm." Mark's girlfriend from the other team yelled, "This is your relief pitcher? Hey, my grandma's not busy. She can pitch better than that!"

I could tell Lexie had had enough, but what she did next confirmed it. Angrily, Lexie turned and threw the ball right at Mark's girlfriend. "Oh, right in the boob!" Callie winced as everyone started to shout. "What? I thought she was stealing second." Lexie made up an excuse as everyone ran in.

"For the love of God!" the other team's coach ran over, "She's a surgeon, Hunt. That could have been her hand. I'm calling it."

"Whoa." Owen turned to him, "So...okay. So, you're-you're...you forfeit?"

The coach took his hat off, "No, we killed you. Game over."

"You forfeit." Owen said as the coach walked away, "That was a forfeit."

I smiled as I heard Cristina start to laugh hysterically behind me. I gave Lexie a pat on the back, "That bitch deserved it. Nice one!"

Once the sun had set and the other team had gone home, we sat on old wooden bleachers and drank. Turns out, pretty much everyone brought booze. "Well, thank you guys for, uh, letting me be your ringer." Henry said, "Although, I didn't really ring much. It was more like a thunk, but..."

Everyone chuckled. "All right, will you take me home?" Teddy asked.

"I will take you home." Henry and Teddy stood up.

"Well, come on." Arizona looked to Callie, "We've got Mark as a sitter, so...I'm taking you home."

"His girlfriend's gonna be okay, right?" Lexie asked.

Callie nodded, "Ah, it's her boob. She's in good hands."

Sighing, I leaned back on the bleacher I was sitting on. "Are you gonna tell me what that was about or what?" I heard Jackson ask.

"Yeah, I thought she was stealing second," Lexie replied.

"No, you didn't." Jackson stood up and left.

Looking around, I realized that people were starting to leave. "Shh." April giggled, "I think I hear my heart singing. Can you hear that? Listen"

"Are you drunk?" Bailey asked, but only got laughing in return, "Yeah, I'll give you a ride home. Be in the lab before rounds."

"I will," Meredith said as Bailey and April took off.

"Good job, Chief." Dr. Webber stood up to leave as well, "You made it through four innings. Two more than any team I've ever fielded."

"Can I do a heterotopic transplant?" Cristina asked.

Owen looked down at her, "Tonight? No."

"Good call." Cristina nodded as they took off, "You're a good Chief."

Alex held out the flask to Derek. "I'm fine." Derek refused, "You are, too."

"That was a massacre." Alex sighed.

Meredith laughed, "I don't think we did that bad."

"Oh, yeah." Derek checked his phone.

"Where were you yesterday?" Meredith asked Alex.

Alex shrugged, "I was, uh, doing stuff."

"Why do you look so sad?" she asked more questions, "Don't be so sad. Look."

"I just got a message from Janet." Derek said, "I guess the judge got in touch with her. He's looking at Zola's files. We're gonna get a court date."

Meredith smiled, "We're getting a hearing? We have a hearing."

With that, they took off as well. "How drunk are you?" I turned to Alex.

He looked to me, "Not enough, why?"

"Wanna give me a ride home?" I asked.

Alex took one last swig from the flask just as the lights to the field shut off, "Sure, let's go."