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

30 | Recovering

After the crash, everything changed. Each and every single one of us was hospitalized and despite the time that had passed, we were still recovering. Most of us had been cleared for surgery, but things just weren't the same.

Mark was in a coma in the ICU and at five o'clock we were supposed to let him go. Mark's directive wrote that after thirty days of no sign of recovery, he was to be taken off of life support.

Derek's career had been jeopardized due to his wrist injury, and despite him being cleared for surgery for a few weeks now, he had yet to operate.

Arizona's leg had had to be amputated...so she was out for quite a while. No one had seen her in ages and Owen was forced to hire a new Peds attending.

Cristina had left as soon as she could for the Mayo Clinic, so she now lived in Minnesota, and we never really heard or spoke to her because she was too terrified to get on a plane to come visit us.

Owen had made quite a few cuts, like firing Teddy and not being able to hire April back. April had been forced to go back to her home town, and a lot of other surgeons had been laid off as well.

My leg and side had huge scars on them, but the healing had gone rather well. I had lost a lot of blood and was the last one besides Mark to be a patient instead of a doctor, but I was back on my feet now and dealing with my new found workload.

Jackson had stayed and Alex was due to leave for Hopkins any day. I, along with everyone else, wore dark blue scrubs. We were finally attendings, which meant we were in charge of this year's new batch of interns.

After the crash, everything had changed. 

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"Uh, the intern appy...you got your guy?" Owen and Webber walked up to Meredith and me.

"I have someone in mind," Meredith replied as she continued to write on the OR board.

Owen looked to her. "And you really want to do this today?"

Meredith nodded. "Especially today."

"Uh, Grey. Hey." Bailey walked over. "Um, I need you to take my three o'clock lap chole."

"Oh, I can't. I have the intern appy." Meredith informed her, which caused Bailey to huff.

"Grey, living up to your nickname." Webber smiled.

Meredith turned to him. "Nickname? I have a nickname?"

When Webber didn't answer, Meredith turned to Bailey. "Uh, they call you Medusa..." Bailey gave in. "The serpent haired monster who turns folks to stone. Hey, this is not a bad thing. You want to be the attending with the scary nickname. It keeps your residents in line. It strikes fear in their hearts. Take it from the Nazi, it's good to be feared." Bailey referred to her old nickname. 

"You retired the Nazi," Webber spoke up. "They call you something else now."

Bailey turned to him."They do?"

"They do." Webber nodded and took off.

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"You really doing the intern appy?" Alex asked as he sat down with us at lunch.

Meredith nodded, "Jealous?"

"He's too busy just doing the interns." Jackson smiled; his hair all puffy since he had grown it out. Things were complicated between the two of us...but when weren't they? I was pretty messed up after the crash, along with everyone else, and I didn't really speak to him. And although we never officially broke up, we weren't exactly dating. Besides, no one wants to date a work-o-holic with slight P.T.S.D. anyway.

"Are you gonna say goodbye to your fan club before you leave?" Meredith asked as Alex smirked.

"I've been saying goodbye all day." Alex took a bite of his food.

Jackson gave him a fist bump, "Nice."

"Gross." Meredith scoffed.

"They're gonna be sad to see me go." Alex said, "You may have to step up, Avery. Comfort them a little."

Jackson shook his head, "No sloppy seconds for me, thank you."

"Good choice." I bit into my apple.

"You're a surgical fellow. Might as well enjoy the perks." Alex reminded him, "Besides, you need to get laid. You haven't banged anybody since Ellie...or was it Lexie?"

Everyone stopped and looked up at him. "Sorry, Mer." Alex apologized.

"I-I have..." Jackson told him, "Banged people."

Meredith looked to me, "Wanna come with me to share the intern appy news with the interns?"

I stood up with her and nodded, "Sure."

Walking over to the table of frightened interns, I couldn't help but smile. That was all of us once, but now we were at the top...or pretty close at least. "Good afternoon, everyone." Meredith spoke as the interns avoided eye contact, "As you all probably already know, we have a tradition here. The honor of performing your first surgery is reserved for the intern who shows the most promise. Dr. Wilson."

A brown-haired girl spat her drink out when she heard her name. "Congratulations, you're scrubbing in," Meredith told her.

Walking away, I smiled, "Terrified interns always bring a smile to my face."

"Don't they?" Meredith agreed.

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"There's no way she pulls this off." one of the interns, Shane, said as I sat with them in the gallery to watch the intern appy.

"She might, as long as she doesn't look up at Medusa during the surgery." Stephanie, another intern disagreed.

Heather, yet another intern, chuckled, "Yeah, that face will calcify her."

"Do you think Medusa's always been Medusa?" Leah talked among her friends.

"Probably. I heard her mom was even worse." Shane said.

Looking down, I wondered how long it would take until they figured out that the intercom was on. "Yeah, but...that doesn't give her an excuse to act like a demon from the depths of hell itself." Heather joked.

All of the interns laughed, but shut up when Meredith looked up at them. "It's like she can hear us," Heather said.

"Yeah, that little red light..." Owen, who had just entered, pointed to the intercom, "means the intercom is on."

"Ohh.." a few people gasped.

Standing up, I turned to the interns, "Listen, you don't have to love the attendings or even like us, but you do have to put up with us as do everything we say for the next five years. And before you call my friend down there a demon, maybe you should ask around about things that have happened at this hospital before we got here. We've had a shooting, bomb threats, and even a plane crash. We all have demons here."

Owen nodded, "Now sit up straight." he told the interns.

As the surgery went on, we watched as Dr. Wilson...or Jo, I think her first name was, continued the appy. She did well until she ripped the cecum open. From there, she froze and Meredith had to finish up the procedure.

Sighing, I looked at my watch and noticed that it was just about five o'clock. Leaving the gallery, I headed down to Mark's room, where nurses watched from outside as Webber, Callie, and Derek went through the process of taking him off of life support. Looking to my right, I saw Jackson sitting in one of the chairs that lined the hall, watching as his mentor was disconnected.

Sitting down beside him, he looked to me for a moment, before turning back to Mark's room where Webber turned the ventilator off. Reaching down, I grabbed Jackson's hand; not only for him, but for me too. Mark had been here long before I showed up and I had worked with him from the minute I arrived at Seattle Grace to the minute we got onto that plane.

Jackson squeezed my hand as I wiped a few tears off of my cheek. As Webber exited the room, Callie and Derek took a seat by Mark's bed and waited for him to pass. This process could take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours.

As the night went on, Meredith and Webber joined Jackson and I. "We tried so hard...out there in the woods." Meredith spoke up, "We thought if we could just get him back here alive..." Meredith shot up from her seat, "I-I can't stay here. I'm-I'm...tell Derek that I was here and I had to go. I am, uh...I'm going to the airport. I'm gonna go see Cristina."

"Okay," Jackson said as Meredith walked off.

Webber turned to me, "Ellie, why aren't you going?"

I sighed, "Because Cristina is not coming. She's too scared of planes...she won't admit it, but she isn't ready to fly. None of us really are."

"Anything?" Alex walked up.

"No, not yet," Jackson told him.

Nodding, Alex walked over to the nurse's station as Bailey sat down with us. "D-does my nickname command respect?" Bailey asked.

"No," Webber told her.

"Strike fear in the hearts of residents?" Bailey tried.

Webber shook his head, "No."

"Well, what is it?" Bailey pleaded to know.

Webber paused, trying to avoid telling her, "You've been...happy. And the interns noticed that your happiness often coincides with the arrival of-of Dr. Warren. And that's all I'm saying."

"Oh, oh. Come on now." Bailey huffed, "You have to tell me."

"Trust me, you don't wanna know." I smiled.

Webber refused, "No, I can't. I am a gentleman. And also, I don't wanna."

Bailey turned to Jackson, but he just shifted his gaze away from her. Alex walked over again, "Okay, I'm gonna tell you this because I'm literally about to walk out this hospital forever." Bailey walked over to him as Webber tried to stop him, "You're nickname's B.C.B."

"B.C.B.?" Bailey asked.

"Booty call Bailey." Alex nodded, "That's what they call you."

Bailey's jaw hung open, "Thank you."

"Goodbye, Dr. Bailey," Alex said.

"Yeah. Bye, Karev." Bailey huffed.

"Bye, Alex." I waved, "I'll miss you."

Alex waved as he started to leave, "Bye!"

Jackson, Webber, Bailey, Ben, and I sat there for another few hours or so. And then, he flatlined. We could hear the monitor as it went off. Mark was gone.

"He...he tried so hard to save her." tears welled up in my eyes as everyone looked to me, "He tried so hard to save Lexie. He was a good man...and he will be missed."

After that, I headed home. Home to my own home. Meredith and Derek had moved into their dream house. April and Alex were gone. Jackson had moved out. Everything was different. So now I had my own home with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, driveway, and a backyard. I was by myself now.

Dying changes everything. There's the emotional fallout, sure. But there's also the practical stuff. Who's going to do your job? Who's going to take care of your family? The only good thing for you is, you don't have to worry about it. People you never knew will be living in your house, working your job. The world just keeps on going without you. It's what makes things so bittersweet. We leave little bits of ourselves behind, little reminders, a lifetime of memories, photos, trinkets. Things to remember us by even when we're gone.