Lost and Found

Chapter 12

A/N: Thanks everyone, for your support!!

Maggie scrubbed her hands furiously as she watched Amelia through the window work on the prone patient before her. She tried to clear her head and focus on the situation but her last surgery with Grey still left her feeling raw. After a final rinse, she barged through the doors. "Dr. Shepherd, how are we doing here?"

Amelia nodded, "Pretty good," she said in her characteristic drawl. "You came just in time, I opened up right to the T2 for you, but you should probably take over from here."

Maggie looked at the incision, the pulsing aneurysm that she would have to delicately transverse from one area to another would require extreme care. "Prepare for bypass. Pick-ups," she said. As her hand lowered to the artery, she felt a tremor.

"Dr. Pierce? You okay?" Amelia asked, noticing the tremor. Her blue eyes leaked concern as she glanced back up at Maggie.

Maggie huffed into her mask and put the tool down. "I- I just need a minute."

"No rush..." Amelia said. "Seriously... are you going to be able to do this?"

"I'm terribly sorry... It's just that last surgery with Grey threw me off. She blatantly ignored me when I told her we needed that echo... she snapped at me in front of Chief Hunt and- I don't know what's gotten into me- I turned into Mr. Hyde or something in that OR. What the hell does she have against me? I tried to be nice!"

Amelia's laughter was odd and disconcerting. "I would've paid to have seen that!" she chuckled.

"It's not funny." Maggie said darkly. The whole situation was unproffessional. She'd never worked with someone so- so... bitter? Angry?

"Oh..." Amelia said. "I get it... you got bit by the Dark and Twisty..."

"Dark and twisty?" Maggie asked. The staff at this hospital had so many inside jokes and terms it was ridiculous.

"Look, I get it... Mer snapped at me too when we first met, and that was at Derek's funeral." Amelia continued with her incision, gently widening the space in the man's spine. "You're all smiles and cheer. That just doesn't jibe with her right now. It's just- when you've lost as much as she has, you tend not to care so much about getting to know people, because who knows? Maybe you'll just lose them again."

Maggie sighed. It was possible Amelia was right. "Retractor," she called. But Meredith was her sister, she'd have to tell her eventually. And then what? Would she get a chance to know her... and by extension Ellis, her biological mother?

But then Amelia winked at her. "Doesn't mean you should give up though," she said.

xxx

Meredith rubbed her hip absently as she entered the dressing room. She picked up the patient's chart and began her notes. The autotransplant had been a success, she was very thankfull. The patient had been a little tachycardic and his blood pressure was still everywhere, but it should resolve with time. She sat down slowly on the bench, willing muscle and bone to give in a little. She was so tired.

"You okay, Grey?" Hunt asked.

"Fine... a little sore," she replied, handing him the tablet for his signature. She prepared herself for a reprimand for her behavior earlier.

"You did good in there," Hunt said instead, which surprised her. He sat beside her and tapped a few commands on the tablet.

She did good? Yeah right. Besides giving the patient a reason not to fight, she also nearly lost a kidney and snapped at the new Chief of Cardio. She felt crappy. "I don't feel like it."