Infections of a Different Kind of Human

23. A Temporary High

"I do not want to be here."

Ryan and Amelia drove into the parking lot of Grey Sloan, where Amelia had a 12-hour shift to start in a few minutes. They'd spent the last 4 days on a bender, and she was finding it hard to find the motivation to save lives today with how tired she was watching Ryan relapse. Actively trying not to do drugs while he was doing them like candy was one of the hardest things she'd ever done, much harder than being in a bar full of drunks.

"It's only for 12 hours," Ryan mumbled as he pulled into a parking spot.

"Only?" Amelia grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. She didn't even know why she was still in his company, especially considering they were clearly not together anymore. All he was doing was adding even more stress to her life.

"I can wait on you if you want," Ryan offered, remembering they hadn't gotten the mattress up the stairs yet, "At least I can sleep on a bed."

"When are you moving out?" she asked, suddenly changing the topic and catching Ryan completely off guard.

"Uh," he began, trying to add a bit of humor to the answer, "Well I never actually moved in, when you think about it."

"I think that we should stop seeing each other after today," she whispered, not making eye contact with him as she said it.

He sensed the coldness in her words, and he didn't question her. "Okay, my stuff will be gone by time your shift ends."

"That would be nice," she agreed. They parked and she got out, walking briskly to the entrance of the hospital, where she surprisingly saw Owen and Callie at the front desk.

"Wait, so she made you brownies after you tried to break up with her?" Callie inquired after having heard the array of activities Owen had chosen to partake in during his Christmas vacation.

"Yeah, I guess as a peace offering. I think she wants to stay together, I don't know," Owen replied, frowning, "She's been acting really weird since the...well when she tried to smell my junk, and I'm just not sure when's a good time to cut contact."

"Don't you think that's gonna piss Amelia off?"

"What's gonna piss me off?" Amelia asked, suddenly making her presence known to the two.

Owen's face quickly got pale as he tried to figure out how to cover their conversation. "Uh..." He looked down at the container in his hand and opened it, handing a brownie to Amelia. "Callie figured you'd be mad if I didn't give you an extra brownie." He took another from the container and gave it to her. "I don't know if you had breakfast today, so here's two."

"Where are these brownies from?" the Shepherd asked, eyeing the foil covered chocolate treats.

"Kelly made them with her family for Christmas," Owen replied, "They had extras, so she brought them to work."

"Amelia, you forgot your lab coat," Ryan called as he got closer to the group at the entrance.

"Hey, do you want a brownie?" Owen offered, sticking his hand out to Ryan. Ryan eyed the redhead wearily, before finally deciding on taking the treat.

"I hope you're not trying to poison me," he hummed suspiciously, analyzing the chocolate treat closely.

"It probably wouldn't kill you, considering the things you put in your body for fun," Owen dryly replied, smirking at him. Ryan rolled his eyes, handed Amelia her coat, and walked off, leaving the trio alone once more.

"It tastes kinda weird you know," Owen said to Callie, stuffing his face with another bite of the brownie in his hand, while Amelia drifted off to go start her shift.