Infections of a Different Kind of Human

15. Daydreamer

Amelia sat at the conference table, barely hearing what was being said by Meredith. Her mind was preoccupied insistently these days, thinking about how much of a horror show her life had become because of her decisions. Although things seemed to be smoothing over the last few weeks with regards to finding a new routine between Owen and the kids, Amelia found herself consistently on the verge of tears during the day, or just flat out crying at night. When she wasn't crying, she was trying to find some sort of quality sleep that wasn't fueled by anxiety from nightmares of her suffering and dying. It was beginning to drive her insane. Not to mention, as of recently, she noticed Owen appeared to be occupied and smiling at his phone more, and that served to make her even more nauseous about her current life. How could he be so normal when she was so devastated and barely able to function?

"Amelia?" Meredith called, knowing the Shepherd had zoned out for most of the meeting's conversation, "The numbers for your ward?"

She blinked and opened her eyes wide. "Right, yes." As she began speaking about patient numbers, costs, and damage to machinery, she could see her colleagues all giving her a look. At the end of her dialogue, she added, "I'm fine, guys." She knew that her mental absence was something that still worried some of them because of the brain tumour, but she was getting tired of people always looking at her like her head would implode.

"Thank you, Dr. Shepherd," Meredith concluded, moving on to orthopedics. Once the meeting had concluded, Owen met up with Amelia outside, trying to get her attention.

"Hey, Amelia?" he said as she turned to face him, "Do you think you could take the kids tonight instead of tomorrow?"

She tried to remain emotionless in her face, but her eyebrows raised, nonetheless. "Sure, is everything okay?" She hated being nosy, but she couldn't help but wonder if he wanted the time to meet up with whoever was making him smile at his phone more.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he assured her, "I just wanted to meet up with a friend and get some drinks." So, there was a person.

"Oh, a lady friend?" she attempted to tease. God, she was being so nosy.

"Something like that," he replied, smiling politely at her; at least he was trying to be nice despite her nosiness. "Thanks for being okay with the last-minute switch." And with that, he walked off, leaving Amelia feeling more nauseous than before as she began overthinking about who this mystery person was.

"Amelia," Meredith called now as she approached her, "Are you okay? Headaches, black outs?" She watched and sighed as Meredith held her head and tilted it, then passed a finger across her vision.

"I'm fine, Mer," she answered unenthusiastically, "I don't have another brain tumour, for Christ's sake."

"I'm just checking up on you," she assured the neurosurgeon, choosing to exclude the penlight from her tests, "How are you and Owen?"

"There is no me and Owen," Amelia reminded the blonde as the two walked along the halls to the elevator, "He's going on a date with someone."

"Who's going on a date with someone?" Maggie asked as she joined the trio's pace, still looking at her phone.

"Owen," Meredith answered, adding, "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but he's always looking at his phone and smiling, and he asked me to take the kids tonight instead because he's getting some drinks with a friend," she recalled, "God, I sound like a stalker."

"A little bit," Meredith agreed as they approached the elevator.

"What's her name?" Maggie inquired, pressing the up button.