If I can't have you

Chapter 14

Alex Karev hated board meetings. It was a well known fact at Grey Sloan Memorial that every time that there was a board meeting, the complaints of Alex Karev could be heard through the hallways. Without fail, they would always bore him to tears and he would find himself doodling on scrap pieces of paper or writing little messages to Meredith and passing them under the table like he was sixteen and back in high school. But there was something different about this board meeting. He knew it as soon as he had dragged his feet through the door and found himself on the receiving end of a Miranda Bailey glare that he had not received since his intern years. That look alone had been enough to send shivers down his spine and make him want to curl up in the corner of the room. He slid into his chair, pouting and glanced across the table at Meredith, who sent him a supporting smile that was clearly telling him to behave himself.

When Owen and Amelia had appeared, Miranda firmly closed the door. "I would like to start this meeting straight away with a proposal about Nico Kim." Alex looked around the room to see the same confusion that he felt written on the faces of the other board members. Miranda flapped her hands in an effort to get their attention back on her and launched into her proposal. "As some of you may be aware, a few months before the car pile up that injured our orthopaedic fellow Nico Kim, his insurance company filed for bankruptcy. Now Nico has had no idea about any of this until a few hours ago and his family has been paying for his medical bills up until now."

Alex put his hand up at this point confused about where Miranda was planning to go with this speech. "Yes, Alex?" Miranda sighed clearly preparing herself for what the question was.

"While I'm sure every one in this room feels for Nico and what he and his family is going through, I'm sure that I speak for everyone when I say what on earth has this situation got to do with the board of this hospital?"

"Because Devil Spawn, if you'd let Dr Bailey finish, you would find that she's asking this hospital to do a fundraiser in order to raise money to go towards Nico's treatment," Meredith snapped from across the table. That caused Alex to lean back in his chair in shock, letting out a large sigh as his mind processed the new information. Owen leaned forward and asked "What sort of fundraiser did you have in mind, Doctor Bailey?"

Bailey looked rejuvenated at Owens comment, almost as if the life had been breathed back into her. Rushing towards her large stack of papers and folders, she started to flick through the pile and started to hand out information packets to all at the table. "I do have a few ideas on how we can get started and after that, we can assess which had the most impact and managed to raise the most money and go from there. I thought that we could start out with something simple such as a charity auction. We could all bring in things such as unwanted clothes, presents. Maybe even some old books. Meredith could bring in some kids stuff that Ellis, Bailey and Zola don't use anymore to try and appeal to a larger audience base in terms of getting families involved as well. Ben has offered to get some of the guys from his station to do a bit of cooking and we can sell the food outside the hospital at some sort of food truck type thing. Dr Karev I was hoping that you would do a cake sale in the peds department. Little kids and cake is always a sure combination as I'm sure that any parent in the room would agree." Miranda has managed to get all of this out in what seemed to be a single breath and turned to look at them all with a hopeful expression on her face.

Owen was the first to react, leaning forward in his chair and shuffling the papers in front of him before responding with "I'll get the ball started. I'm in. Whatever you need me to do I'll do as long as everyone else sat at this table agrees." His eyes looked around the table, locking in Alex's. Alex could almost feel the desperation rolling off Owen in waves as he silently pleaded with him to join him in what Bailey has proposed. He sighed deeply before sitting up from where he had been slumped in his chair and leaning toward Owen to meet his stare. "I'm in. As long as you don't try to drag me into something that involves me getting my clothes off." He heard a light chuckle go around the table at this comment. "So that's that everyone. Now has anyone else have anything to bring to this board meeting?"

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Levi was pacing the small basement room of his mothers house and muttering almost wildly to himself when his mother entered carrying a cup of tea in her hands. Her concern for her son was clearly etched on her face, her frown lines deeper than normal. This had been the first time that she has seen Levi at home since the accident that had landed his boyfriend in hospital almost two months ago. Even though she had met the boy only once, she could tell that he had been smitten for her boy and her boy smitten for him. And now, watching her son go through all of this pain for love was making her heart break. Levi and her had always had a special relationship where they had been more like best friends than mother and son and it had hurt when Levi had felt uncomfortable about telling her his sexuality. But she had been determined to make sure that he had felt comfortable ever since he had told her. And she was proud of the man she saw in the room before her. As she opened her mouth to alert him to her presence, she saw him wobble, stumble and then collapse.