SHE | alex karev

chapter sixty nine

"That's rude," Izzie added. "There should be at least a couple of days where they act like guests before they put their feet up on the coffee table."

"And what's with the orange scrubs? What, ours aren't good enough for them?" Lexie complained.

"We ran out. They're on back order. Randall from the supply company says they'll be here in a week," Meredith explained. "That's what you learn when you lie here all day."

"Why bother order new ones? We can just give these to our replacements." John huffed.

"We're not gonna be replaced by anybody." Alex shook his head.

"If I have to become a coroner—" Jay began nervously.

"No one is becoming a coroner!" Billie scolded her. "Let alone you, Jayla. Cristina, tell her."

"Tell her what? They're here. It's over," she replied.

"Hey!" Meredith exclaimed. "We are not some stupid hosts. They can't invade us! They can't attach themselves to our faces and then while we're eating spaghetti explode out of our chests and skitter across the floor. This is our ship. This is our ship."

Everyone blinked.

"Excuse me, are you quoting a Sigourney Weaver movie?" Lexie asked.

"Shut up."

Izzie chuckled. "That's what happens when you live here. You watch a lot of TV."

"We own this hospital," Meredith continued. "We were born in this hospital. And we will hold this hospital with our last gasping breath."

There was a moment of silence.

"I really don't wanna be a coroner," Jay repeated nervously. "A bunch of dead people in one same place freaks me out."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Go out there and go get surgeries before they take them!" Everyone reluctantly began heading out. "Go! And I want a full report by the end of the day!"

☆

"Hey, where do you want us?" Billie asked Owen once she arrived at a very cramped ER with her interns in tow.

Next to her, she sighted none other than the man who'd run her over that same morning, followed along by some other residents from Mercy West. She rolled her eyes almost instinctively.

"Uh... at this point, anywhere is good," Owen replied.

"At Mercy West, we do zones. When it's super busy, we just give everyone a zone, a space. The nurses put a patient in that space, you know it's your patient. Helps you get to them quicker," Jack (or was it John?) explained.

"Yeah, well, this is an ER, not a schoolyard. We're not playing four square," Billie muttered through gritted teeth, sending death glares towards the dark-skinned man.

"I like it," Owen, however, said.

Billie's face fell. "What?"

"It's a good idea, let's try it. What's your name?" he asked, looking up at the man.

"Jackson Avery."

That's right, Jackson.

"Dr. Avery, Dr. Hunt," Owen introduced himself. "It's all yours, zone away."

The Mercy West residents immediately scurried away and Billie was left alone with her interns, glaring holes into Jackson Avery's skull and hoping they didn't cross paths yet again for what was left of the day.

☆

"Oh, fuck me," Billie cursed under her breath once she realized she had gotten assigned to the same zone with none other than Jackson Avery himself.