For the First Time

Today's the Day

"Shit," I mumbled while I looked at my watch. It was already 7:00 in the morning and today was going to be one of the most hectic days of my life. I quickly reached for my phone and saw that I had 10 texts from Derek already. "He's going to kill me," I thought as I grabbed my lab coat from the top bunk. I walked out of the on-call room and the sunlight nearly blinded me. I quickly dialed Derek's phone number bracing myself for what his tone might be.

"Meredith Grey where are you?" he asked right off the bat. I already sensed a tone of worry in his voice. "You never came home last night and you missed the rehearsal!"

"I know and I'm so sorry," I apologized. "I meant to call you and tell you but I was pulled into an emergency surgery and it took five hours and then it completely slipped my mind to call you. And I was too tired to drive home so I stayed here at the hospital. Please don't be mad at me." I heard him laugh on the other side of the line.

"Meredith I'm not mad at you, I was just worried," he said. "A call would've been nice but I figured if anything had happened to you, then I would've gotten a call from someone." My pager began to beep as he finished his sentence.

"Crap," I said while throwing my hair up into a ponytail. "I gotta go check on my patient, I love you, and I'll see you tonight.

"Meredith please don't stress yourself out today. If anyone deserves today it's you," he said sympathetically.

"I know," I sighed. "No promises my nails are going to be done or if my makeup is professional because who knows if I'll even make the appointments." We both laughed and then both grew silent at the same time.

"Nails and makeup done or not, you're beautiful no matter what," he said. "Happy wedding day love, I'll see you at the church." And with that he hung up the line and I made a mad dash towards my patient's room hoping that the worst was not happening. 

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked into Savannah's room. She was tachycardic and her stats were dropping quickly.

"She was complaining of chest pain earlier and then her heart began to race," said the nurse. "We had to get her fiance out of the room because we didn't want him to see her like this."

"Okay, did you push epi?" I asked.

"Twice Dr. Grey and there has been no change," she informed me.

"Crap. Okay charge the paddles to 250," I ordered. "Clear!" I shocked Savannah and nothing happened. "Charge again to 300, clear!" I shocked her once more and her heart rate began to slow. I felt her carotid and there was a nice, steady pulse. 

"Good save, Dr. Grey," the nurse told me. "I'll go grab the family." With that she left and I rechecked all of her vitals, which seemed to be holding steady as of now.

"Dr. Grey is she alright?" Landon asked about his fiance. 

"As of now yes, it was just one of the post operative complications I told you about before her surgery," I reassured him.

"Does it mean her cancer is spreading?" he asked.

"Considering I took the majority of it out last night, I don't believe it could've spread so far so fast. I'm hoping within the next week I can go in and resect the rest of it, but that's one of the scenarios that's only in the best cases," I told him. Tears began to form in his eyes as he looked desperately at his fiance.

"And if you can't resect the rest, how long does she have now?" he questioned.

"Well with the resection last night, I bought her about another month. But if it keeps growing, best case scenario she's here for another 4 months at the most," I said to him. Giving the family the worst news of their lives is something I hated about my job.