Ghosts of Grey Sloan

2

Mercy's mouth fell open as the man spoke his name.

She knew the name, of course she knew the name. Even without Callie's relationship to George, Mercy had been in the hospital enough times to know who he was.

He was a resident here, five years ago. He was in the same intake as some of the doctors Mercy knew. Meredith Grey, Alex Karev, and Cristina Yang, even though Cristina was now in Switzerland. George died after being hit by a bus, the day he quit and joined the army thanks to Owen Hunt's inspiration. And once upon a time he'd been married to Callie, while he was an intern, before he died obviously.

"So, you know who I am now, huh?" George joked, shaking Mercy back to reality.

"You're a ghost? An actual ghost I can see and talk to?"

George nodded. "Seems like it"

"Oh my god, I'm going insane" Mercy muttered to herself.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Came George's protest.

"You are a figment of my imagination. And I'm going"

"Mercy, please!" George cried out but Mercy had turned off the intercom and gone searching for Callie's OR. George had said right next door, so that would make it either 2 or 4.

Mercy stopped herself and shook it off, she wasn't about to start taking directions from a hallucination. Then Callie would really think she's gone nuts.

Letting herself into the OR 2 gallery, Mercy was relieved to find it empty, but the OR full and working. She recognised Callie's scrub cap and sighed in relief as she sat down.

"About time, was beginning to wonder if Owen was lecturing you" Callie's voice came as a scrub nurse alerted her to Mercy's presence. Mercy chuckled and hit the talk button on the intercom, something she had done just before with her own imagination.

"He let me in then ran off for an emergency. You said OR 3"

Callie laughed. "Oh, my bad mini-Torres. What surgery did you end up watching then?"

"There wasn't one. I just kind of sat and talked. To myself"

"Well, you missed all the fun. I'm actually about to finish and scrub out. Meet me in the attending's lounge on four?"

Mercy knew where to go and nodded at Callie. She switched off the intercom and then remembered the same intercom she'd left on in OR 3's gallery.

Before she could stop herself, Mercy was back in the gallery. She went for the button to turn off the intercom, when a voice stopped her.

"Please believe me, Mercy"

Turning to look down into the OR, Mercy was shocked to see George again. He was vivid as anything, as if he were a real person really standing there.

"I can't believe you, you can't be real"

"Let me out and I'll prove it to you"

"I have to go, before my mom wonders where I've gotten to"

"What will it take? For you to believe me?"

Mercy stopped. Her finger hovered over the button to turn the intercom off, but she didn't press it yet. "I-I don't know"

"Well, you won't be convinced if I tell you something about yourself, right? You'll think it's part of your imagination with access to your brain. So, what if I told you something about me that only your mom and a few others know? You can ask her. If she confirms it, then you know you can believe me"

"Okay, what do I say?"

Now George looked stumped. "Uh, I don't know. I never thought that would work. Oh, maybe ask her if it's true that Alex Karev gave me syphilis! Tell her Cristina or Mer told you that, she'll believe it then I'm sure"