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

29 | Change

Arizona stared at us as we dragged Mark's body over to where she was. We had put Mark on a sheet so he would slide easier, but he was still a large man and none of us has a lot of strength or energy left. "Mark?" Arizona looked down. "What happened?"

"Tamponade." Cristina breathed. "Ellie did a pericardiocentesis."

"Oh, my God." Arizona gasped.

Meredith nodded. "He's holding on for now."

"Where's Lexie?" Arizona asked, but no one felt like answering that question again. "Where's Lexie?"

"Lexie's dead," Mark grumbled, his voice quiet and scratchy.

"So we should get a fire started." Meredith changed the subject, hoping we could all just stop talking about Lexie for a little while.

Cristina reached into her pocket. "Oh, I've got-I've got the matches. We have five left."

"Make it big so they see," Meredith told Derek as he took the matches and went off to start a fire.

"What happened to the four hours, Jerry?" Arizona cried.

I groaned as I sat down, my leg thanking me for the much-needed break. "It's been more than four hours."

"Shh. Listen." Jerry hushed us.

"What does that mean?" Arizona questioned. "I mean, does that mean that they're not coming for us? I mean, you said four hours. You said four hours tops."

"CH-CHOPPER!" Jerry yelled as the sound of a helicopter started to get louder.

"Oh my, God. It's a helicopter!" Cristina looked up to the sky.

"HELP!" everyone started to yell. 

"GET THE FLARE GUN!" Jerry frantically yelled. 

Meredith grabbed the flare gun and aimed it directly above us, but it wouldn't fire. "Why isn't it working?" she panicked, pulling the trigger over and over again, but to no avail. 

"Shoot it again!" Cristina told her. "Shoot it again!"

"Give it to me." Derek grabbed the gun from Meredith and tried to shoot it himself, but it just wasn't working.

Standing up, I threw my arms in the air to scream for help. However, as my arms went up, my side stretched and a piercing wave of pain shot through my entire body. Instead of screaming for help, I screamed in agony as I fell to the ground and passed out, finally succumbing to my body's desperate need to shut down temporarily and try to heal itself. 

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When my eyes finally fluttered open again, it was dark outside. I looked around and everyone was still there, just sitting around a fire as if we were on a nice weekend camping trip or something. Someone had pulled me so I was leaning against a tree, so with a slow, quiet groan, I adjusted myself. "Hey, she's awake." Cristina turned to me. "Why the heck didn't you tell us about the giant freakin' gash on your side?"

"I didn't think it was the most important thing to worry about." I licked my dry lips and I answered. "You know, with Lexie dying and Mark tamponading, my cuts weren't the biggest deal. I dealt with the one on my leg, but I kinda forgot about the other one."

Derek looked at me. "Yeah, well, you lost a lot of blood. We stitched up your side the best we could with safety pins and then wrapped some cloth around your waist. How are you feeling?"

My eyes fought to stay open. "Cold, tired, weak."

"Hey, they don't know where we are," Jerry spoke up from his seat inside the plane. "They don't know where we are. It's because the transmitter's probably been damaged in the crash. If the transmitter's damaged..."

"We could be here for days." Derek finished.

"Yeah." Jerry sighed.

Meredith pulled the large coat tighter around her body. "Zola."

"Owen has got to have figured out we're missing." Cristina tried to stay hopeful. "I know he sent someone."

While the four of us sat around the pathetic excuse for a fire, trying and failing to stay warm, Arizona sat in the opening of the destroyed cockpit with Mark's head in her lap. She watched him like a hawk, observing his chest as it slowly rose and fell. 

"I shoulda said it earlier..." Mark spoke softly. "That I loved her. I shoulda said it earlier."

Arizona took a breath. "She...she knew. I think she knew."

"She didn't know." Mark shook his head ever-so-slightly. "She didn't know."

"Mark...Mark, hold on." Arizona begged him as his breathing became more uneven. "Okay, I need you...I need you to hold on."

"You'll be okay." Mark's voice was very airy now and his eyes were drooping. "You don't need me. You take care of our girls."

"No. Shut up." Arizona refused. "Shut up. Do you hear me? Shut up."

Mark's eyes continued to flutter open and closed. "Lexie's waiting for me. I'll be okay."

"No!" Arizona rose her voice. "Mark Sloan, no! Hey! No! No. Sofia's waiting for you, and Callie is waiting for you, and I am waiting for you. We're gonna go home together, okay?"

"Okay." Mark exhaled as he decided to stay in the world of the living with us, at least for a little while longer. 

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"I'm hungry." Cristina groaned as the night drew on. Her, Derek, Meredith, and I were all leaning on a rock, wearing our big coats and covered in blankets. We still weren't warm, but at least we could say it wasn't for a lack of trying.

"Think of something else," Meredith told her.

Cristina sighed as she tried to think of anything else. "I'm hungry," she repeated. 

"I have a stick of gum," Meredith remembered.

"I don't want gum. I want food."

Just then, our fire went out. "Shoot." I coughed and grabbed for the matchbox. "Great. We have one match left."

Looking over, Meredith had closed her eyes. "Hey." Cristina poked her. "No sleeping. You have to stay awake."

"Okay." Meredith agreed.

Cristina looked over to Derek whose eyes had been closed for a while now. "Derek. Derek. You, too. I want everyone conscious!"

"Mer, light the match." I held the box out to her. "Careful. It's our last one."

Taking the box from me, Meredith lit the match, but it blew out instantly. Accepting defeat, she reached into her pocket, pulled out the piece of gum, and split it between her, Cristina, and I. Putting the segment of gum into my mouth, I pulled the blanket around my body once more as I tried desperately to get warm.

This crash was going to change our lives.