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

45 | Blind Leading the Blind

I sat upright in my bed as the thunder crashed and the lightning illuminated my otherwise dark bedroom every once in a while. After getting home from Meredith and Derek's place, I went to bed, only to wake up an hour later from an insane nightmare. However, once I woke up, the nightmare didn't stop.

I rocked back and forth with my arms wrapped around my knees as I came in and out of flashbacks from the crash. This had never happened before. I mean, nightmares, yes, but they always went away when I woke up and a few minutes later I would be fine and ready to fall back asleep.

The worst part was that I was all alone in my house. It was now that I dreaded not being able to run down the hall into Meredith's room and have her calm me down like a little kid, or at least have the comfort of knowing that there were other people in the house should I really need help. But right now I was scared and alone.

Reaching over to my bedside table, I turned on my small lamp before reaching for my phone. I wiped sweat from my brow and tried to calm my shaking hands as I scrolled through my contacts. I would've called Meredith, but after the whole thing that went down mere hours ago, I didn't want to bug her. Cristina was my next option, but if she couldn't even text back chances were she wouldn't answer a call. I hovered over Jackson's name for a while before shaking my head and quickly clicking Alex's name.

The phone rang a few times before a groggy and somewhat mad Alex picked up. "Who the heck is calling me in the middle of the night?" Alex barked.

"A-Alex..." I tried to pull myself together as thunder rumbled again and a flashback of me lying motionless on the forest ground flashed through my mind, "I-I'm so sorry to bug you b-but I'm having like...like...I don't know what it is but I'm having crazy flashbacks from the crash and I don't have anyone else to call and I'm scared and alone in my house."

"Ellie?" Alex's tone changed in an instant, "Wait, what? Are you okay?"

I tried my best not to break down in tears, "I don't k-know. This has never happened before and I know I sound like a baby b-but I'm so scared and I'm shaking."

"Hold on." I heard Alex start walking around his house, "I'll be over soon. Just unlock the door for me and try to stay calm."

"Thank you." I managed to choke out before I hung up the phone.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up and made my way to the front door where I unlocked it. Just as the lock clicked, another loud burst of thunder erupted and the image of Lexie's cold, motionless face flashed in my eyes. Screaming, I collapsed to the floor right there in front of the door and buried my head into my hands.

What seemed like an hour later, but was probably only a few minutes later, the sound of the doorknob turning calmed me down slightly. "Ellie." I heard Alex panic as he dropped something and knelt down beside me. "I'm...I'm sorry." I breathed out, looking up at him, "This has never happened before but...I don't know...it seems like PTSD but I've never had it this bad before."

"It's okay." he assured me and picked me up bridal style, "It's gonna be okay."

Carrying me to my bed, Alex set me down softly before rushing out to grab the bag that he had dropped. Upon returning, Alex pulled a movie out of the bag and put it into the T.V. this I had in my room. "I didn't think you would want to sleep, so I brought some movies," he told me.

Smiling, I giggled, "You're a good friend."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it." he joked as he sat down on the bed next to me and we started to watch the movie.

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As my eyes fluttered open the next morning, I panicked for a few seconds upon seeing Alex in bed next to me. But the fact that we both had our clothes on triggered the memory of the night before and I sighed in relief. I had good reason to panic though, because the last time I was in bed with Alex, it wasn't exactly because he was being a "good friend."...or maybe he was just being a "really good friend."

Standing up, I let the sleeping Alex sleep as I got dressed and headed out for work an hour or so early. But not before setting an alarm for Alex so he wouldn't sleep in. I trusted him, so leaving him in my house while I avoided the awkward morning small talk was something I was comfortable with doing.

Once I arrived at the hospital, I met up with Derek and Meredith and walked to the elevator with them. "Hey, Derek. I owe you an apology." Arizona approached us.

"Oh, no. There's no need." Derek assured her.

Arizona continued to follow us, "No, no, I do. It was late, and I was tired and stressed out."

"Well, we were all stressed out." Derek sighed, "We're just trying to do our best."

Arizona nodded, "No, I know, but I had no right to call you egotistical."

"It was 'egomaniacal,' I think." Derek corrected.

"Yeah. I was out of line." Arizona persisted.

As we walked up to the elevator, we saw Webber staring at a giant picture of Derek's face that covered the elevator doors. "On the other hand..." Arizona smirked before walking away.

"You're Pegasus' face of the hospital?" Webber asked.

"Cahill said it would be some brochures, some schmoozing, not...all of this." Derek huffed.

Webber turned to him, "Not a whole lot of practicing medicine either. I hope you know what you're in for. No offense, Derek. I mean, it's a great face, but...this is a lot of it."

Webber walked away as we got onto the elevator. "I mean, this is kind of gross," Meredith said.

"This is unacceptable." Derek agreed.

"Dr. Shepherd, hold up." Shane called as he ran up, "Love the picture. Love it. Your head is gigantic. I'm prepping for our A.V.M. do you prefer O.R. two or four? He's doing an A.V.M. under hypothermic arrest where he drops the brain's temperature to avoid stroke risk."

"We know what it is." Meredith smiled.

"He's the only one in the region who does it." Shane continued to gush.

I chuckled, "We know, Shane."

"I've always wanted to see it up close." Shane grinned.

"Can we go now?" Meredith asked Derek.

"I'm not doing it." Derek told Shane, "Cahill wants me to meet the buyers."

"He's the new face of the hospital now." Meredith faked enthusiasm, "And the hair. Lucky us."

Derek sighed as Shane took off, "Great. Just make it go away."

As Meredith pressed the elevator button, the doors closed to reveal another large picture of Derek's face on the inside of the doors too. "Oh." we all gasped. "Oh, my God." Derek covered his face with his hands.

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"Okay, so what is this big secret plan?" Cristina asked as her, Meredith, and I stood outside in the rain.

"We want to pool our winnings from the lawsuit and buy the hospital." Meredith explained. Cristina instantly started to laugh.

"We were hoping you would be on board." I added but Cristina just continued to laugh, "Maybe we misspoke."

Cristina calmed down a little, "So that is the plan?"

Meredith nodded, "Yes."

"That is so stupid!" Cristina had to yell over the rain, "You don't know the first thing about owning a hospital or running one, and neither do I."

Meredith shrugged, "Well, Pegasus Horizons knows how not to run a hospital. I mean, you should hear Callie's stories. It's this or go somewhere else."

"No. N-no one leaves." Cristina said, "Owen says if people start leaving, the sale won't go through, and we're screwed."

"That's why we want to buy it, because we're doctors, and we know how it runs," I told her.

Cristina turned to us, "Did you know you'll have to file a declaration for land use for approval by the state Attorney General?"

"Will we?" Meredith asked.

"I don't know. I just made that up." Cristina said, "But see? We don't know anything about this."

Meredith sighed, "I'm surprised. I thought you'd be on board. Or you'd leave again."

"Hey, no one leaves." Cristina repeated, "Owen is killing himself trying to keep the hospital open. Can we please stop talking nonsense and have his back?"

With that, Cristina pulled her coat up to cover her head and ran off. Thunder rumbled in the background, the storm still going strong. Before long, I was called by Meredith to meet outside in a van. Of course, this sounded like I might get kidnapped, but it was Meredith so I braved the rain again and got into the van with her.

Meredith looked at me from the driver's seat before motioning to a man in the back of the van, "Ellie, this is Derek's finical advisor. Stan, tell her."

Looking back to the man, he smiled, "Under Federal law, physicians cannot own and run the hospital for which they work."

"So it's a no go?" I asked.

"However, you could ally yourselves with a for-profit or not-for-profit agency which would be owner pro forma." Stan continued, "Then the six of you could form your own management company, which would be hired by this foundation. Basically, you would run the day-to-day operations, much like a board of directors. Estimating the number of beds, the, uh, overall operating budget, the property and business taxes, the franchise tax board payments-"

"So, it's possible?" I questioned.

Meredith nodded, "That's what he's saying. It is possible."

Stan nodded, "It is very possible. But I don't know how much more money you will need. Not until I see a hospital financial statement."

"We can get that," Meredith assured me.

Stan sighed, "Um, if we have a hope of outbidding Pegasus, the element of surprise is sort of crucial here."

Meredith nodded, "That's why you can't tell Owen or anyone else any of this."

Nodding, I agreed and heading back into the hospital with a smile on my face. After doing a few of my afternoon surgeries, I got a page from Arizona. This really was one hectic day. Meredith had managed to snag a financial statement somehow, and that alone amazed me. Grabbing an umbrella, I walked outside into the rain for the third time that day.

"Where is our van?" Derek asked.

"Someone moved it," Callie explained.

"Why?" Meredith held her umbrella over her head.

Callie shrugged, "It's what vans are for."

"Hey, Bailey's quitting," Arizona yelled over the storm.

"What?" we all turned to her.

Arizona nodded, "If this can happen, we need to make this happen, fast."

"Wait, wait. Are you in?" Callie questioned.

"I'm in," Arizona told us and Callie gave her a kiss.

"So what's the next step?" I asked.

"Well, we don't have enough money." Derek reminded us, "We're gonna have to find the rest somewhere else."

Meredith looked to him, "Can we do that in three days?"

"Two now." Callie corrected, "What about Cristina, is she in?"

"I don't know now," Meredith answered.

"Well, ask her," Arizona said.

Turning around, Cristina ran up to us, "It's happening, tonight. Pegasus wants to move up the closing. They want to buy the hospital tonight."

"What?" Callie's eyes grew wide.

"How do you know?" Derek asked.

"Owen told me," Cristina replied.

Meredith turned to her, "Well, did you say anything to him?"

Cristina shook her head, "No, I didn't say anything, but we have to do it, for Owen. We have to do this now."

"B-before tonight? We can't." Callie sighed.

"No, there's not enough time." Derek agreed.

"We have to stop them," Meredith suggested.

I wiped rain from my face that got past the umbrella, "How? There's nothing that we can do."

"There's one thing we can do." Cristina sighed.

Following Derek, we all walked into the hospital and towards the board room where the meeting to buy the hospital was taking place. "Sorry to interrupt." Derek walked into the room, "I'd like to talk to Dr. Hunt for a second."

"Um, what's up?" Owen stood up from his seat as the rest of us walked into the doorway, "Guys?"

"I'd like to tender my resignation, effective immediately," Derek told him.

Meredith stepped up, "Me, too. I quit."

I nodded, "I quit as well."

Callie nodded, "I quit, too."

"Me, too," Arizona told him.

Owen looked to Cristina with pleading eyes. "I quit, too." she stepped into the room.

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"He thinks we stabbed him in the back," Cristina said as we all entered one of the staff rooms.

"Well, all we did was buy some time to slow down the sale so we can come up with the money." Meredith reminded her.

Cristina nodded, "I know. I know."

"All right, Stan says he can meet with us now." Derek hung up his phone.

"Okay, I'll go get my stuff," Arizona said.

Callie turned to her, "Yeah, we get all our stuff 'cause we just quit."

"What about our patients?" I asked.

"We'll get 'em covered by someone," Callie told us.

"Dr. Shepherd." Webber walked into the room with Shane, "This young man has something to say to you."

Derek turned to Shane, "Did you get them all?"

Shane smiled and nodded, "Pretty much."

"Good work, Ross. Go home." Derek told him. I only imagined that Derek had told Shane to destroy the pictures of him, which had been drawn on by black marker all over the hospital.

Shane took off as Webber gave us a look, "Something's going on here. What's going on?"

"You'll know soon," Meredith assured him.

With a skeptical look on his face, Webber exited the room and closed the door behind him. "Did you see the look on his face?" Cristina sat down.

"Oh, Richard will be fine." Meredith sighed.

"No, Owen." Cristina looked up at her, "This is wrong. I'm gonna go talk to him. I have to explain."

Meredith stopped her, "No. Cristina, no. It's the right thing to do, for his sake. When the time is right, we'll tell him, and he'll understand."

"I don't know if he will." Cristina sat down again.

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The storm kept raging on as we met back at Derek and Meredith's house by the woods for the second night in a row. "The first thing you'll need to do is to form an L.L.C. so that you can legally get all your funds in one place." Stan explained, "And you'll need a name for your new corporation."

"What did we just do?" Callie asked.

"Do you know what you'd like to call yourselves?" Stan looked to us.

Cristina huffed, "How about, The Bitter Pills?"

"Epic failure?" Arizona joked.

"Death spiral?" Meredith joined in.

I took a sip of my wine, "Insanity?"

Derek sat back on the couch, "Blind leading the blind, incorporated?"

"It could be anything. Let's keep thinking." Stan encouraged us.

Staring out the window, I took another sip of my wine. What in the actual hell were we doing?