Code Blue | Grey's Anatomy // Book 2 // COMPLETED

19 | Interviews

As we walked into Holly's room, she looked up at us. "Hey." Meredith smiled, "How are you feeling? That was a pretty big deal."

"Not really." Holly disagreed.

"I don't know." Meredith said, "Braving that cafeteria line is pretty major, even for those of us who haven't been-"

"Kept in a basement for twelve years?" Holly asked

Meredith shook her head, "For those of us who haven't been through what you've been through."

Holly sighed, "Why do you do that, talk around it? The therapist and my parents and...what I've been through is being...kicked and raped and slapped and starved. And I mean, I get it, but...it was my life. And I didn't get to talk to him about my life with my parents, and now I don't get to talk to anyone about him."

"But you can talk about him," Meredith told her.

Holly scoffed, "No, I can't. No, you'll-you'll think...you won't get it."

"Try us." I dared.

Holly took a breath, "He wasn't only bad. Sometimes he was okay. He'd let me go upstairs and...we'd watch stuff together...movies. And it was like it was normal. When I came back here, I turned on the T.V., and there was this...movie on that we watched together. And I started to miss him. And I know that's bad, and I must be sick. And don't tell the shrink that I said anything, 'cause she...she's gonna ask me how I feel about it. And I don't know. All I know is, is...I should be happy that I'm here and not there. But sometimes I'm not."

"That's okay." Meredith assured her, "However you feel is okay."

That night, Holly's monitors started to beep like crazy. As Cristina entered the room to prep her for the O.R., Meredith and I talked to her parents. "The C.T. showed a leak in her celiac artery graft, so we have to take her into the O.R. right away." Meredith explained, "I-I think you should go in and say goodbye to her before we take her to surgery."

Kathleen shook her head, "No. No, you go do that. Help her. Please."

"Kathleen, this is very serious," I told her.

"She doesn't trust us like she trusts you." Kathleen spoke, "Take care of her, please."

"She's crashing." Cristina called as the beeping increased, "I need a chest tray. Let's get some gloves."

Rushing into the room, Meredith and I stood by the bed. "Coming through," Bailey announced.

"She arrested." Cristina said, "I need to crack her chest. Someone, uh, page Altman."

Holly's parents watched as we got ready to crack her chest right there in the room. Getting gloved, we got ready to start. "Scalpel," Cristina ordered as they covered Holly in surgery sheets and poured the disinfectant into her chest.
"Rib spreaders," Cristina said as she made the first cut.

"I need some suction," I said.

"Let's get those blinds," Meredith instructed so Holly's parents didn't have to watch any more.

════(A few days later)════

"Patient is eighteen-year-old female Holly Wheeler." Owen started as we gathered in the board room, "Dr. Altman?"

Teddy nodded, "I got the page from Dr. Yang at 22:18, and then met her and Dr. Bailey in the O.R. where we discovered that the previous graft had become infected. While we tried to interpose another graft away from the infection, she arrested several times on the table. We had to restart internal cardiac massage, give her an intracardiac epi, and fortunately, we were able to resuscitate her. Dr. Bailey was then able to repair the graft and other than some initial touch and go in the C.C.U., she has been stable ever since."

"Your recommendation?" Owen asked.

"Patient is healthy and ready to go home." Teddy approved.

Owen nodded, "Neuro?"

"Signed off." Derek agreed.

"Ortho?"

Callie smiled, "We're good.'

"Plastics?"

"Send her home." Mark declared.

"And general?"

Bailey took deep breaths as she tried not to cry. "Dr. Bailey?" Owen asked, concerned. Derek pushed a box of tissues over to Bailey and she smiled. "Dr. Bailey signs off," Derek said for her.

Owen exhaled, "Great. Well, Holly will continue her therapy with Dr. Fincher, but as far as surgery is concerned, she's set to go home. Thank you, everyone, and especially, a thank you to Dr. Grey."

Webber started to clap, and soon, everyone else joined in. "Okay, that's-that's enough." Owen smiled, "Let's get back to work."

══════════════════

"They're good parents, right?" Holly asked as she was about to leave, "I mean, they seem like good parents."

Meredith nodded, "They've been here every day since you came in, all day, just in case you wanted to see them. I have a daughter. And I know I would want to hold her and never let go. And they haven't done that. They have tried to give you space and just tried to understand what this must be like for you. Just give them a chance. Just talk to them the way you talk to me or Dr. Forrest."

"The car's all packed." Holly's father walked into the room with her mother, "We have everything?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so." Holly got up from the bed and sat in the wheelchair we had for her.

"We can't thank you enough," Kathleen told Meredith.

"Of course." Meredith smiled.

Frank picked up the stuffed animal that they had brought for Holly, "Oh, you don't want to leave this behind."

Holly looked at it, "Uh...yeah. Actually, I do. Um, I don't know. It just reminds me of everything that I-I missed out on. I'm sorry. I know that it-it means a lot to you guys, so-so we can take it if you-if you want, but-"

"No, it's fine." Holly's mother smiled, "We can leave it."

With that, Holly's dad grabbed onto the wheelchair and wheeled her out of the room. Kathleen followed close behind and I smiled. "Excellent work, Dr. Grey." I mocked Owen's Chief voice and Meredith chuckled.

══════════════════

"Be less you?" April asked as her, Cristina, Jackson, and I all sat at the airport bar, ready to fly out for more interviews, "How do you be less yourself?"

Cristina picked up the large book of whatever that April brought to every interview and threw it in the trash behind the bar, "There. Less you."

Looking up, Alex walked over in his suit and joined us. "What?" Alex asked when he realized we were staring.

"You put on your suit?" Cristina asked.

"I gotta be at Yale first thing in the morning." Alex took the jacket off and set it aside, "What if my flight gets delayed?"

"Or even worse, what if you go in there looking like a hobo in a wrinkled ass jacket?" Jackson picked up Alex's jacket, folded it, and put it inside Alex's bag.

"Where'd you learn that?" Alex asked.

"I'm an Avery." Jackson replied, "We know these things."

April scoffed as Meredith rounded the corner and walked over. "Hey." she greeted us, "So I rescheduled my interview at Brigham, and I leave in an hour."

"Cheers to that." Cristina picked up her glass.

April looked at the time, "Jackson, we gotta go."

"And we're out. Happy interviewing, losers." Jackson finished his drink and gave me a kiss on the head before taking off with April.

"Good luck!" I called after them.

"I should go, too." Alex set down his surprisingly already empty glass.

"Don't leave," Meredith told him.

Alex grabbed his stuff, "It's Yale. No way in hell I am missing that flight to hang out with you three drunks. Later."

"Don't choke." Cristina chuckled.

"Bartender. Three tequilas, please." Cristina ordered as Meredith sat down beside us.

"You know...this wouldn't be a totally bad bar to hang out in if we missed our fights." Cristina said at the bartender gave us our drinks, "Plenty of traveling salesmen to hit on."

"Well, our husbands would never know." Meredith agreed.

"And Jackson's already gone." I nodded.

Cristina smiled, "Cheers."

"Cheers." Meredith and I replied as we all drank our shots.

"Flight 1243 to J.F.K. is now boarding at gate nineteen." the intercom rang out through the airport.

Cristina took a breath and paid for her drinks, "Well...free flight to New York. I'd say wish me luck, but...I don't need it."

"Cristina." Meredith said as Cristina got up to go, "You really want to do this...leave?"

"We've been preparing for this for the past five years." Cristina answered, "Of course I want to leave. You should, too."

With that, Cristina walked off, leaving Meredith and me alone at the bar. "We seem to be together a lot lately." I commented, "What's up with that?"

Meredith shrugged, "Maybe we're just more like each other than we think."