Josie's Journey

Grey's Anatomy Crossover Fanfiction

Josie woke herself up from coughing vigorously. It sounded hoarse and wet, and it came from deep in her chest.

A nurse poked her head in. "Josie, are you alright?"

She shrugged. "I have this—" She was cut off mid-sentence as she went into another coughing fit. "I have a really bad cough, and I'm really cold..."

The nurse - her name was either Safiya or Kristen, the two looked so similar - had the little cart with her that they used to check everyone's vitals each morning. "Let me get your vitals, honey," she said.

Josie sat on the side of the bed, coughing again. The nurse took her vitals.

"You have a fever of 102.7 and your blood pressure is really low. Your pulse... 157." She wrote it down. "Josie, just rest for a moment. I'll be right back."

Josie leaned back in bed, feeling incredibly weak. Her arm was incredibly itchy - she went to scratch it and noticed a blistering rash. She looked on her hands and noticed it was there too. She groaned and closed her eyes.

Great, just what we needed, Carter said in their mind. You can't go a day without having some medical emergency, huh Josie?

Fuck off, she thought at him.

Nurse Safiya (or was it Kristen?) had left the door open behind her. Josie could hear two nurses talking in worried voices.

"That's the fourth one so far," one of them said. "I have no idea what it is. Cough, fever, hypotension, tachycardia, fatigue, rash, chest pain... it's just such a strange array of symptoms."

"I agree," the other one replied. "I'm going to call in the doctor. You and Safiya need to check every patient here, see how many of them are sick."

Josie was shaking. She pulled the blankets closer around her, shivering despite her fever. A familiar headache set in and she sighed.

No, not now, she thought. I'm tired, we're all tired. Just let me rest.

The headache faded. She started coughing again, gasping for air, and curled up in a ball. She sighed, thinking about how much she hated having OSDD.

— — —

"It's practically an epidemic," Nurse Kristen said. She sighed and leaned against the counter of the nurse's station.

"Pretty much," Safiya agreed. She was sipping on poorly-made coffee from the nearly ancient coffee machine they kept at the station. "The doctor should be here soon, though. He'll figure this out."

Almost as if he was waiting for his cue, Dr. Holzmann came through the front doors onto the unit. One of the nurses unlocked the door for him to come behind the counter of the nurse's station.

"Well?" Steven, a young and eager but anxious nurse, immediately went to the doctor. "What is it? What do they have?"

"I unfortunately don't know yet," he replied, anxiously scratching his beard. "I have to run some tests on all of the infected patients and ask them some questions. Until then, I recommend you quarantine them."

"We can't just keep them in their rooms!" Safiya said. "What about their roommates?"

"Do whatever you have to do," Dr. Holzmann said. "I'll be back soon. I need to get some supplies from the main hospital." With that, he left, and the three nurses stood there, unsure what to do.

"It's not fair to just keep them locked in their room," Safiya said with a sigh.

Kristen looked over the side of the nurse's desk into the rec room. "Well," she said, "the rec room is pretty much sealed off from everything else. We'll just have all the sick ones bring their mattresses into the rec room."

— — —

Josie, despite her hacking cough and rashy hands, was sitting and trying to journal. Her mind was spinning, her alters were all trying to speak at once. She sighed and rested her head on the desk.

Leo, her roommate, was curled up in a ball on his bad. He was coughing and shivering - whatever Josie had, he apparently had too.

There was a knock on the door. Nurse Steven entered the room, a fake-cheerful smile plastered on his face. "Josie? Leo? You're being moved into the rec room until we know what's caused this sickness. Bring your mattress and anything else you want - you can make one trip back but that's all."

Josie sighed. She grabbed her journal, her favorite sweatshirt, and her pillows, and brought them to the rec room. She made a second trip for the mattress - even though it was thin and uncomfortable, it was difficult for just one person to move it.

"Here, let me help." Saige was coming past with an armful of books and a blanket draped around her shoulders. She helped Josie get the mattress into the rec room where a few other patients were gathered.

"Wow, are that many people sick too?" Josie said before going into a coughing fit. She arranged her mattress near Saige's, so she could see the TV and see out the window, and be right by her new best friend.

"No, there's more," she replied. "Alexander and Natalie are sick too, but they haven't got everything here yet."

Leo came in, coughing into his elbow and leaning heavily on his cane. Alexander was helping him bring in his mattress.

"Hey, can I be over with y'all?" Leo asked. Josie nodded in reply.

Alexander dropped his end of the mattress on the floor nearby Josie and Saige and scoffed before he left the room to retrieve his own things.

The three sat together on their mattresses, watching the others come inside.

A nurse came in to give the patients extra blankets and recheck vitals.

"The doctor will be in soon to thoroughly check all of you," the nurse said. "For now, enjoy the extra blankets. It's a cold one tonight!"

Josie laid back, eyes closed, and snuggled under the blankets. "Hey Saige? How are you doing?"

Saige sighed, then coughed. "I have a fever, I'm exhausted, and I keep fucking coughing. Other than that, I'm doing okay. They're bringing up food, apparently they made a really nice chicken and squash soup! Are you gonna- wait, sorry. I forgot... the tube and all..."

"Oh it's okay, sometimes I forget too," Josie laughed, then started coughing again. "I might try a tiny bit of it, they want me to keep my stomach active."

"That's good to hear," her friend replied. "Hey, if you're up to it, wanna help me with this coloring book? It's a bunch of really pretty winter scenery."