alaska | grey's anatomy

⇢ CHAPTER 72

"It was better than getting an intern to go on a donut run." Jackson muttered, making Holly squint at him.

"Yeah," The anesthesiologist answered Hunt, "it's at twenty."

"Close the patient!" Catherine yelled, wanting to save her boyfriend as she banged on the glass.

Holly muttered to her boyfriend, "Well, we need another plan. And fast."

"Come on." Bailey whispered to herself as the couple thought of a plan to get Catherine to calm down, "Where are you?"

"Dr. Hunt!" Ross yelled, joining the group as he sprinted inside, "Brooks is crashing."

Holly's eyes widened as she stepped away from Jackson, joining Catherine by the speaker, "Brooks is crashing?"

"Yes." Ross quickly nodded, "Shepherd said he needs you and Hunt, now!"

Holly glanced at Jackson, about to apologize for having to leave him with his mother before he gave her a knowing nod, "Go."

With a quick smile, Holly ran off to Brooks' operating room, hoping to get there in time.

✧

"Derek, what's the stat--" Holly stopped herself, the long, droning, and dull, sound emitting from the monitor caught her off-guard as she saw Derek step away from Brooks, where he had previously been to press down compressions and save her-- yet all to no avail. 

His eyes held tears, that she could note from where she was standing, along with the Neuro staff that they would greet every time they walked into an operating room. 

Next, she caught his tousled hair, the one that he'd gain from performing hard-work on a patient. She would have loved to see a smile accompanying it, but instead he wore a frown hidden by his mask.

Heather Brooks was dead.

"No..." Holly muttered, feeling an overwhelming weakness fill her-- the same one she felt whenever life brought her down with a loss.

Holly barely turned around when Owen and Ross entered the room, the sounds of Ross' hyperventilation reminded her of her own when she lost people-- yet she stood there, frozen. And while she longed to turn around and help him, her legs felt glued to the floor as her eyes looked down at the star pupil Derek and her had trained, and now lost. 

It was clear that Derek had experienced this pain before with Lexie-- who would have joined Holly in the Neuro group they planned to have, and now with Brooks, who joined Lexie in the afterlife. 

So when Derek glanced up at Holly, it was no surprise that she was practically frozen, wanting to rewind the time spent with her and think back to the surgeries performed-- to happier times before she was gone. 

✧

"Holly~" Steve sang, knocking on the closed door of her Chief Resident office once more in hopes of getting her to open the door, hearing her small sniffles from the other side, "Holl~"

"Steve," Holly droned, "go away, I can deal with my misery alone and in peace."

"You lost someone." Steve deadpanned, "No one should go through it alone-- when you lost George, you had Lexie; when you lost Lex, you had Jackson, and now you have me for Brooks, okay?" He sighed, knocking on the door once more, "...Too much?"

"Just enough." Holly answered back, opening the door to show her wrapped in a blanket with a tissue in one hand, "Thanks."

"Eh," Steve shrugged, "what are friends for?" He smiled before taking a step inside.