Lost and Found

Chapter 42

A/N: Hello Readers! I believe this is the chapter you've been waiting for... Dedicated to izzy1736

The monitors beeped rapidly. "Pressure's dropping! Laps! More laps!" Meredith reached for them, pressing them into Jo's body cavity as she felt around for the bleed. "Where the hell is it?"

"What was Jo doing, playing around with a gun?" Bailey asked.

"I don't know," she huffed. She hated guns, but she gritted her teeth. She should've taken Alex more seriously when he mentioned that Amber had a gun. "I'm pretty sure she didn't expect an earthquake."

Bailey shook her head, "It's maddening. You raise them, teach them. Give them all your time and energy... and then-" she stopped, speechless.

Meredith sighed too. Fate? Coincidence? The universe liked to mess around with everyone, didn't it? "Retractor, Brooks." She couldn't lose Jo too. Alex would kill her. Though maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

But underneath her forefinger she felt a pulse. "I found it! I found the bleed! Three-oh micryl, Bokhee!" The needle was palmed over to her. "Brooks, more retraction here. Suction... I need suction." There... she could see it now, a small tear in the kidney.

"Let me in there, Grey, I'm gonna have to clamp the renal artery." Bailey said. They worked quietly for a moment, focused on their patient. "I never thought I'd have you as my student again," Bailey said. "But you came back. Your first patient was Mrs. O'Malley. I didn't think you could finish her surgery, but you did."

"I did," Meredith replied, remembering. "What's your point?"

"What's all this talk I hear about giving up?"

"What do you mean, giving up?"

"On being a mother."

She glared at her mentor. "It's really none of your business, Dr. Bailey."

"I believe it is," she replied. "You need someone to love, to care for. Someone that loves you. It makes you a better doctor, a better person."

"Are you saying I'm not?"

"I'm saying-"

"-You have no idea what I went through to get here! None!"

"And how much longer can you hold yourself together, Grey? How much longer can you run away from love?"

"As long as I have to," she snarled back as she threaded the stitch.

"You are maddening. Throwing yourself in front of a bus... for what? I thought I taught you better-"

"-Brooks, suction!" Meredith demanded. She shook her head. "So sue me! I've lost everything I ever cared for. My mother. George. Derek. My baby. Zola. I'm done. It's done."

"Clamp." Bailey positioned the clamp over the renal artery. "You're just gonna go back to Medusa again? You know, I wish George was here. He'd talk sense into you."

Meredith only harrumphed as she continued to stitch.

xxx

Carolyn held the dozing Zola in her arms. Now that things had begun to settle down, she wondered what she should do with the little girl. Surely Meredith would like to see her again. Maybe she could talk to the social workers in charge to give her a chance to say goodbye, or maybe another chance altogether.

"Zola?" Someone called. Carolyn looked up to see a dark-skinned professionally dressed woman coming down the hall. "Oh my goodness, what is she doing here?"

"She found me during the earthquake. I brought her here, to keep her safe."

"I see," the woman said. "I'm Janet-"