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

83 | Complaint

"They were all just staring at me, judging me, with their little Resident eyes." April complained as she walked up to the desk with Arizona, this being my first time seeing her since the Wedding, "Like they used to stare at you...cheater eyes."

Arizona nodded, "Ooh, yeah. Cheater eyes are the worst. But it's not like you deserve it, right? I mean, you and Jackson...it's not the same thing. I mean, is it?"

"Well, I-" April stammered.

"Hey, Renee called." Callie walked over and looked to Arizona, "The carpet's gonna be done by three, and then we have an appointment with the notary at five."

"Ooh, you guys are signing papers on the house today?" I grinned, "That's so great."

Callie huffed, "Well, maybe not. There's no way I can be out of here before five."

"No, it's fine." Arizona assured, "He's a traveling notary. He can come to us."

"Splendid." Callie faked a smile.

"Oh, and I have this ice cream maker I couldn't figure out how to send back." April told them, "That'll be your housewarming gift! Congratulations!"

Arizona turned back to Callie as Arizona took off, "I told you we should have kept track of the cards."

"What happened?" Bailey slid over to us in a hurry, "Did you get the dirt on her and Avery? I've been trying to get Ben to do recon with the Residents, but he's all, 'I don't like to gossip.'"

"Dr. Torres, Dr. Forrest." Stephanie ran up, "Robert Fischer's missing from his room, and nobody knows where he is."

Callie and I gave her a confused look. "The cat man!" Stephanie corrected herself and we understood, "The cat got out."

Callie gasped as we took off with Stephanie. That man could not be loose in the hospital. There were too many small children and he wasn't exactly soft on the eyes.

Once we tracked down the cat and got him back into his room, Callie took a quick scan of his arm to make sure it was still okay. Apparently he had gone up to Peds to apologize to the little girl. "Well, looks like the bone's still intact, so you didn't do too much damage." Callie looked from the monitor to the cat man, or Robert, as I had just found out his name was.

"I never should've done it." Robert sighed.

I rolled my eyes, "You think?"

"I never should have left the house." Robert told us, "This whole accident happened, all these people were hurt because of me! Because of some stupid thing I've done to myself! You know, when I started this, my parents...everybody said, 'You think you're gonna like this is twenty years?' I thought I would. I thought I knew who I was. I was nineteen. So now I work from home...same data-entry job for sixteen years. I can't date. The kind of women who find me attractive scare the crap out of me. I don't have friends. People stare, people laugh...people punch. And time goes by, and I realize I haven't left my house in a year and a half. I said to myself, 'Rob, you got to do something. You-you got to try and live again. Just go out. Just got for a walk.' That was this morning."

The three of us stared at him with sympathy. "Uh, we're just gonna finish splinting this up, make sure it's stable, okay?" Callie said as we started re-wrapping his hand.

Robert looked to us, "Can you make it quick? I just want to go home."

After wrapping Robert's hand again, I got called into an emergency board meeting right before I went home. A little frustrated about the meeting, since it would probably take an hour at least, I made my way to the room and sat down with everyone else.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Owen walked into the room, shut the door behind himself, and stood at the end of the table. "Is this about what happened with Karev and Ross?" Meredith asked.

Owen looked to her, confusion on his face, "What happened with Karev and Ross?"

"Nothing." Meredith and Cristina said at the same time.

Owen cleared his throat, "One of our surgical residents has lodged an official complaint with human resources. Three separate complaints, actually...direct sexual harassment, quid-pro-quo harassment, and hostile work environment."

"What?" I asked.

"Who?" Cristina cocked an eyebrow, "Directed at who?"

"HR won't release that or the name of the resident," Owen told us.

Callie scoffed, "Hostile work environment?"

"Does she have a case, legally?" Arizona asked.

"O-okay, is there any way that we could-" Jackson started, "Or maybe I could...talk to this person? You know, we could just clear the air before it gets out of proportion."

"He shouldn't talk to her without legal present," Callie said.

Derek sighed, "Well if she's already filed a complaint-"

"You're all missing the point!" Owen rose his voice, "This is not about one person. This is a complaint about this hospital and this teaching program. We are too often letting our personal lives disrupt our work. None of us are guilt-free...myself included. Now, HR have recommended a clear, zero-tolerance policy." he started to hand out papers.

"Excluding those of pre-existing married couples..." Meredith read.

I looked to the sheet, "Relationships of romantic or sexual nature between superiors and subordinates will not be allowed."

Owen nodded, "It is restrictive, it is non-negotiable...but it is fair, and, better still, it is unambiguous. I urge you all to vote to implement this."


Looking back, it's easy to see when a mistake has been made...to regret a choice that seemed like a decent idea at the time...but if we used our best judgment and listened to our hearts, we're more likely to see that we chose wisely...and avoided the deepest, most painful regret of them all. The regret that comes from letting something amazing pass you by.