season 9 episode 24
PART ONE ; THE CRASH
Tasked with taking inventory for the oncoming storm, Holly clicked the pen on her right hand as her eyes glanced over the items in front of her before writing down the numbers on the clipboard in her other hand.
Humming lightly to herself, Holly grew oblivious to the noise of the door opening and closing before her boyfriend's voice filled her ears, "Holly--"
"Did you hear?" Holly began with a chuckle as she wrote down another number, not turning back to see who it was as she could tell it was Jackson from his voice, "Meredith's water broke and she's going to give--" Holly turned around to see Jackson, standing in front of her with his clothes completely soaked, "I-- Jackson," She took a step forward as the lights above them continued to flicker, "what happened?"
"Nothing." Jackson shook his head, almost too embarrassed to admit he had been caught in the rain Holly warned him about, "I went to Joe's bar and figured since we'd be stuck here we could have a date and I got caught in the rain."
Holly's eyes softened as she stared up at him before handing him a dry towel on her left, "Jackson--"
"I got fries." Jackson announced, holding up a bag Holly hadn't noticed was in his hand before she grabbed it and smiled at him, her eyes filled with pure love before she reminded herself she needed to finish taking inventory.
"I, uh, there's a spare set of attending scrubs in my office-- you can change there, I'll finish up here, and we can have our date." Holly planned with a nod before she took a step forward, went on the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek, and walk back to where she originally was to write down more numbers.
Jackson chuckled at his girlfriend before quirking a brow, "Really--?"
"Of course." Holly smiled as she looked at him, "And I don't plan on missing it for anything."
✧
The laughs and chuckles that previously filled and bounced around the room quickly fell to a halt as the lights that once illuminated Holly's office were now gone. With a nervous glance around the room before looking forward, Holly squinted, "I swear, Jackson, if you reach out and scare me, I'm gonna-- ah!"
Jackson howled with laughter as Holly glared at him in the dark, not appreciating how he had grabbed a hold of her ankle out of nowhere, "I'm sorry." He chuckled and Holly eventually joined him, seeing the humor while also being upset, "It wasn't an idea in my mind until you said it!"
"I hate you." Holly attempted to say seriously before she laughed, making the room fill with more laughter before Holly paused, catching Jackson's attention immediately.
He quirked a brow, "Holl?"
"The power should be back on by now." Holly muttered as she frowned her brows and looked outside her window onto the hallway of the hospital, "The backup generator must be off or something." The second Jackson's pager went off, Holly jumped at the unexpected noise.
Jackson sighed, looking at his beeping pager and nodded at Holly in the darkness, "Duty calls."
Holly nodded back, watching Jackson stand up in the dark to head towards the room he was being paged, "Wait!" Holly walked over to her desk before she bumped her hip on the edge of it, "Ow."
Jackson frowned his eyebrows in concern, "You okay?"
"Yeah." Holly squeaked out in pain as she reached into her drawer to pull out two flashlights, making Jackson appreciate how prepared Holly was, "Here."
"Thanks." Jackson smiled, turning it on before he placed it under his chin to create a creepy image, "Holly~"
"Okay." Holly rolled her eyes, pushing him lightly with her hand, "Get out and save lives."
"Will do."
Hearing his retreating footsteps, something in Holly couldn't stop herself from calling out involuntarily, "Jackson."
Jackson turned around as quirked a brow, "Yeah?" He stared at his girlfriend, who seemed to redden as the seconds went by.
"N-Nothing." Holly assured as she shook her head before waving her hand at him to leave, and with frowned brows, he did so-- once she was alone, Holly sank into her desk chair as a hand went to her face, "I need to tell him."
✧
Spinning around in her office chair, Holly sighed as she waited for her pager to go off-- hoping to be needed somewhere before her eyes landed on her phone, which lit up after receiving a text from Callie.
It was the picture she had taken of all of the plane crash victims after getting their money from the lawsuit surrounding Meredith, who was now about to give birth to the baby growing in her stomach when they took that photo.
Holly smiled, recalling the beautiful memory before they became Board members-- and at that moment, another memory struck Holly-- Callie unfolding a note from her pocket before Holly assured her she was dating Jackson. Holly looked down, contemplating a thought before she got up-- deciding to find out what the note said, what Mark's last words would have been to her.
And for that, she'd have to go off and find Callie.
✧
"Where's Arizona?" Callie found herself asking as she left the Nurse's Station after being paged to a room.
"Callie!" Holly called out as her sneakers squeaked against the floor, coming to a stop in front of the attending, "I was wondering--"
"Out with it, Red." Callie demanded as she quickly placed her hair in a ponytail, readying herself for the incoming trauma patient.
"The note." Holly concluded, "The note that you had during the post-plane-crash dinner. The one Mark wrote for me before--"
"It's on the top shelf in the attending's lounge in my bag." Callie informed before running off, "I have a patient!"
"Thank you!" Holly shouted back before walking over to the room she was directed to-- once she reached the lounge, she stared at the intimidating door until she placed aside the rule that said she couldn't enter as she walked in to grab the note.
And after scouring the entire shelf and Callie's bag, Holly had found the note.
✧
"Hey, Matthew, Apes." Holly greeted, a skip in her step as she approached the two at the hospital's lobby before her eyes glanced around, attempting to find her boyfriend in the crowd of people.
"Hey." Matthew greeted, a smile on his lips as he looked down at April before glancing back at Holly, "I just wanted to say, thanks again for helping with the proposal."
"No problem." Holly nodded, knowing he was thanking her for clearing April's schedule for the proposal while April stared at him, also coming to that conclusion, "Where's Jackson?"
"Oh." April nodded her head towards the flipped over bus on fire-- one that Holly hadn't seemed to see until her sister pointed it out, "Hunt, Callie, and Jackson went in to get some pedestrians out of the fire-- I'm here in case more patients come out."
"Oh." Holly exhaled, looking at the bus with worried eyes.
"He'll be fine, Holl." April assured, placing a hand on Holly's arm, "He'll--"
"Why isn't he walking out with Callie and Owen?" Holly asked in a low voice, watching Callie and Owen roll a patient out in a gurney as Matthew and April shot each other a look before all three participants ran out of the hospital.
"Where's Jackson?" April and Holly found themselves asking at the same time as Owen instructed April to prepare a large-bore I.V.
"Right behind us." Callie shouted over the rain, not looking over the direction she had guided the sisters to.
"No, he's not." They both answered back before looking at each other.
✧
"W-What if he's in there?" Holly's mind raced as her eyes stayed firmly planted on the bus on fire, "What if h-he's t-trapped or s-something?"
"He's probably taking a detour." Matthew assured, trying to calm his future sister-in-law as he hesitantly looked over at the burning vehicle.
"He's not inside." April informed as she finished walking out of the hospital before walking over to aid Callie in assessing their patient.
"I'm going in." Holly nodded, brushing aside her wet hair from the rain as she stepped forward-- making Matthew grab her arm to keep her in place.
"You don't even know that he's in there, Holly." Matthew reasoned, "You're going to be risking your life for nothing--"
"Not nothing." Holly immediately corrected, tears building up in her eyes as she stared into Matthew's, "For Jackson, for-- for him-- for e-everything. Okay? I-I've already lost one person I loved to a bus crash and I'm not planning on losing another, so let. Me. Go." Holly demanded, trying to forcefully remove her arm from Matthew's strong grip.
"Do you see him?" Callie shouted out to no one in particular as she wrapped her patient in a thermal blanket before her eyes caught onto something.
"I need to go, Matthew." Holly pleaded, looking up at his eyes with her own tearful ones that made Matthew feel bad for holding her back, "please--"
"Wait," Callie announced, driving all of the surgeons and patients attention to her as Holly stopped fighting Matthew, "is that him behind the bus?"
"What?" Holly croaked out, turning her head with a rapid speed to try and see him through teary eyes.
"Avery!" Owen yelled, not soothing Holly's racing heart as she felt like sobbing.
"Matthew," Holly shouted at the man who refused to let April's sister run into a fire as she attempted to get out of his tight grip while a sob threatened to leave her lips, "let me go!"
"Jackson!" Callie yelled, warning him to get out in time.
"Avery," Owen joined her, "come back here!"
"Jackson!" Holly called out-- hoping, praying, and wishing that he would safely walk away from the bus before it exploded.
"Evie!" The mother of said child called out, eyes wide with worry as she stared down at the fire.
"Why is he--" April began, feeling herself glued to the floor in shock while Callie held her in place in case she felt like running.
Feeling an idea spark in her mind, Holly looked over at April before she looked at Matthew, who had his eyes planted on the bus as he continued to pray, "April's going to run." Holly lied, looking at the direction April was in to make Matthew look over-- and when he did, she quickly got out of his hold and was able to run a few steps before he grabbed onto her waist.
"Holly," Matthew shouted over the rain pouring on the two and the shouts for Jackson to run to safety, "you can't go in there!"
"Avery, get back here!" Owen instructed.
"Let me go!" Holly sobbed, trying to pry Matthew's arms off of her as she looked at the fire.
"No!" Matthew answered back and Holly could feel him shaking his head as she continued to fight him, "It's too dangerous!"
"Shut up!" Holly shouted between choked sobs, looking at the growing fire as she began another speech, "Jack--"
That was when the bus exploded.
And that was when Holly felt her world crumble.
✧✧✧
so uh yeah, that happened...
ASKDFHJLASKJF HOLLY SAYING SHE WON'T LOSE TWO PEOPLE TO A BUS CRASH BECAUSE GEORGE DIED FROM ONE AND I-- ASDKJFHLAKSJDFH SAD TIMES
I STAN MATTHEW FOR TRYING TO KEEP HOLLY SAFE LIKE-- SHE LITERALLY WAS PLANNING ON RISKING HER LIFE TO GET JACKSON BEFORE THE EXPLOSION AND MATTHEW WAS LIKE I SHAN'T LET YOU RUN INTO THE FIRE-- i stan ✨
anyways, as promised, i'll double update within an hour 👁👁 prepare thyselves