Season 1, Episode 8: Save Me
Overall Episode Number: 8
Created by: Shonda Rhimes
/ / /
You know how when you were a kid and you believed in fairy tales? That fantasy of what your life would be. White dress, Prince Charming, Who'd carry you away to a castle on a hill. You'd lie in bed at night and close your eyes, and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close, you could taste them. But eventually, you grow up. One day you open your eyes, and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is, it's hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely. Cause almost everyone still has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they'll open their eyes and it will all come true.
- Meredith Grey
/ / /
Mackenzie woke up from her spot on Meredith's couch.
Ever since she got discharged from the hospital last week, Derek had been staying at Meredith's house every single day. Not that Mackenzie minded; it meant she got to spend more time with Izzie and George.
Today, Mackenzie was supposed to meet with Burke and get her medications for her asthma. She'd been taking her antibiotic steroids all week long like she was supposed to.
Mackenzie took her clothes for the day and walked upstairs with them, completely unseen by Izzie or George. She walked into the bathroom and got changed, walking back downstairs.
Mackenzie placed her dirty clothes in a laundry bag and walked into the kitchen. George was eating a cupcake. Mackenzie decided to eat one too.
"Morning." She greeted as she took a seat next to George at the island.
"Morning." Izzie and George chorused.
"How'd you sleep last night?" George asked through a mouthful of cupcake.
Mackenzie made a face. "One, it's disgusting to talk with your mouth full. Two, I slept just fine. Mer's couch is comfy. Like... really comfy."
Izzie sighed as she looked at all her cupcakes. "Eight hours, 16 ounces of chocolate, and 32 cupcakes, and they still don't taste right."
George talked with his mouth full of cupcake. "No, these are good. Martha Stewart would be proud."
Izzie snorted. "Yeah, look where it got her."
Mackenzie bit into her cupcake with a smile. She finished chewing, swallowed her bite of food and looked at Izzie. "Izzie Stevens, you can bake. These cupcakes are amazing!"
Izzie shook her head. "There's something missing, some specific ingredient. Why can't I remember?"
"Look, just call her. Call your mother and ask." George told her.
"I don't want to call my mother." Izzie stated.
Mackenzie said nothing about it and she continued to eat her cupcake.
Derek and Meredith entered the kitchen.
Derek smiled. "Good morning."
George nodded. "Hey. You guys want a cupcake?"
"Oh, no." Derek declined.
George shrugged. "Izzie made them."
"You know, I like it here. You said so yourself, you liked having your things around, sleeping in your own bed." Derek said as he got cereal and a bowl out.
"You're like a health nut, aren't ya? You eat muesli every morning." George observed.
Derek looked at George. "No, I don't."
Izzie looked at Derek. "Ok, the muesli thing, you do. The last seven days, at least."
Mackenzie nodded. "They're right, Papa. You're a muesli guy."
Derek sighed. "Oh, come on. I haven't been here for a whole week. Have I?"
"Whole seven days. This is an upgrade from the trailer." Mackenzie notes.
"See? Even they think it's weird." Meredith input.
Derek and Meredith smile at each other and Mackenzie smirks from her seat.
"I'm a total MerDer shipper."
/ / /
Derek and Mackenzie walked into an exam room where Burke was waiting for them.
Burke showed them a smile. "Ahh. Good morning, Shepherds. How are you feeling today, Mackenzie?"
Mackenzie gave Burke a smile as she sat on the examination chair. "I'm feeling great. Really great. I'm taking my steroids every day, I'm getting plenty of rest, my lung function is normal... so can I please start doing physical activities, Dr. Burke? I've been a couch potato all week, and it sucks. I need to at least walk around some and get some energy."
Burke chuckled and Derek looked a little sheepish. "Of course you can perform physical activities, Mackenzie. Just make sure you don't overdo it, okay?"
"Deal. Now... what are some signs that I'm going to have to look for when my asthma gets inflamed? Other than... shortness of breath, I mean." Mackenzie said.
"Check the beds of your fingernails. If they're pink, that means they're normal. If they're a bluish color, that's when you should start taking your medication. It means that your lungs aren't supporting enough oxygen into your body. Checking your fingernails is a great way to prevent an asthma attack from ever happening." Burke explained.
Mackenzie nodded, seeing as the information was already stored in her brain.
"What about her medication?" Derek asked.
Burke pulled out a box. Inside of the box was a dark gray handheld machine with a clear tube sticking out of it. On top of the machine was a clear mask... that looked like the face of a fish. Below the machine was a box labeled 'Albuterol Sulfate.'
"This is your albuterol sulfate inhalation nebulizer. The box below the machine contains your albuterol sulfate drips. This is for you to use when you're still having shortness of breath or chest pains after you've used your inhaler. You put the albuterol sulfate into the nebulizer, connect the nebulizer to the machine with the tube, put the mask on, turn the machine on, and you'll inhale the albuterol sulfate through the mask. This is to be used only when necessary." Burke explained.
Mackenzie nodded as Burke pulled out a smaller box.
"This contains your Ventolin HFA inhaler. You have approximately 120 doses on this. You will have to carry this around with you during the winter and the spring — those are the worst seasons for asthma attacks and inflammations. This is to be used intermittently if you're at home or not. I recommend two puffs for the lowest dosage, and four puffs for the highest dosage. This little inhaler will most likely be a life saver for you. Always know where it is and keep a track of your remaining doses." Burke explained.
Mackenzie put the inhaler box in her purse as soon as he finished telling her what she needed to do with it.
Burke pulled out a box similar to the size of her Ventolin inhaler.
"This is your FloVent HFA inhaler. You have approximately 120 doses in this one as well. You have to take this before bed each night. Two puffs is enough. If your asthma is flared or inflamed, you should take two puffs in the morning and then two puffs at night. I would recommend taking your Ventolin before your FloVent when your asthma is inflamed; the Ventolin inhaler will help open your airways a bit so that the medicine in the FloVent can circulate through your lungs. Do either of you have any questions?"
Mackenzie shook her head. "I don't have any questions. Thank you, Dr. Burke."
Burke nodded. "You're very welcome, Mackenzie."
Burke was shocked when Mackenzie gave him a hug. Nonetheless, he hugged her back.
/ / /
After Mackenzie dropped off her nebulizer in Derek's office, she decided that she'd hang out with Alex. He was the one intern that she hadn't really hung out with.
Mostly because she didn't really like him and thought he was annoying.
When Alex saw the girl in front of him, he rolled his eyes. "Go find someone else to bother."
Mackenzie stood there with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face that could rival Bailey's stare.
"Cut me some slack. I almost died last week and I want to hang out with you. So... let's hang out."
Alex sighed. "Forget it, kid. I'm not hanging out with you."
"Why? Because it's lame or boring? Or is it because hanging out with the daughter of Seattle Grace's top neurosurgeon is such a chore? You really are an Evil Spawn." Mackenzie said matter-of-factly.
Alex sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Let's hang out. But no girly stuff. So... what do you want to do?"
Mackenzie smiled. "I have an idea or two."
Alex gulped visibly.
What did he get himself into?
/ / /
Mackenzie laughed as she and Alex had a wheelchair race in the basement.
"Come on, slow poke! Last one to the door has to buy lunch!"
Alex chuckled as he wheeled a bit faster. "You're going to eat your words, little Shepherd."
Mackenzie smirked as she wheeled herself faster, reaching the door first. Alex was in shock as he wheeled up to her a few seconds after.
"How did you...?"
"I may know a trick or two when it comes to wheelchair races. Thanks for paying for my lunch, Alex! You can be nice when you want to be." Mackenzie said with a smile.
Alex smiled as he ruffled her blonde hair.
"I'm only nice to my friends. I guess we're friends now, little Shepherd."
/ / /
Meredith and Derek were looking at Mr. Walker's scans.
Meredith sighed. "See, this. The guy's films are clear. There's no reason I can see for his creeping paralysis."
Derek sighed as well. "It's just so surprising. I expected an intrusion into the spinal space or bony spur in the nucleus pulposus."
"Well, you were wrong. You don't always get what you expect, do you?" Meredith asked.
Derek looked over at her. "What is your problem?"
Meredith looked back at Derek. "Give me something to go on. Anything. What are your grandparents' names?"
Derek shrugged. "I don't have grandparents."
"Where'd you grow up? What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Where'd you spend your summer vacations?" Meredith asked rapidly.
Derek chuckled. "Lighten up. It'll be good for your blood pressure."
Derek left the room.
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't you tell me to lighten up. I'll lighten up when I...feel light."
/ / /
Izzie was loading Mr. Duff into the MRI machine.
Mr. Duff looked up at Izzie. "Your nostrils are flaring."
"They are not." Izzie denied.
Mr. Duff smirked. "You're into me. I can tell. "Dr. Small and Angry" was a hot appetizer but you, doc, are a smorgasbord of lust."
Izzie sighed. "Mr. Duff, you're pressing your luck."
"Would you press it for me?" Mr. Duff questioned.
Izzie remained professional. "I hope you're not claustrophobic. You're staring at me. Stop it."
Mr. Duff chuckled. "I'm looking at you, sweetheart, but it's the strangest thing. I'm hungry for a chocolate cupcake."
Izzie stopped in her tracks. "What did you say?"
"A chocolate cupcake. Maybe one of those fudgey things with the white squiggle on the frosting. Could you oblige?" Mr. Duff requested.
"What, do I still have some chocolate on my face or in my hair or something?" Izzie asked.
Mr. Duff furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"
Izzie looked at him. "You. I know the drill, so keep it up. Next you'll be reading my cards, telling me my dead uncle is in the room."
Mr. Duff looked at Izzie. "Is he?"
Izzie sighed again. "I don't have a dead uncle. I'm watching you."
/ / /
Izzie entered Mr. Duff's room.
"You need to sign these consent forms so we can proceed with your surgery."
Mr. Duff chuckled. "Sweetheart, I'm not signing anything unless it's got my name on it followed by a whole bunch of zeros."
Izzie ran a hand through her hair. "Look, the AVM is located in this crucial part of the brain. It's a tangle of blood vessels that could burst and affect your speech, among other things. So, we know your visions are actually seizures."
"Do you?" Mr. Duff questioned.
Izzie looked confused. "Do I what?"
"Know they're seizures." He replied.
Izzie shook her head. "You're really good at reading people, aren't you? Telling them what they want to hear?"
Mr. Duff shrugged. "There's a really unfortunate alignment of Saturn in the house of Jupiter right now."
"Ok, I know what you're doing. You watch people, read their body language. You say "chocolate cupcakes," I lean towards you, so you think you're on the right track. Not only do you know you're having seizures, but you're milking it." Izzie assumed.
Mr. Duff shrugged. "Hmm. Well, we'll just see about that, cricket."
Izzie looked like a deer caught in headlights. "What? What did you just call me?"
/ / /
Mackenzie had heard so much about the "psychic" that Izzie had for a patient, so she decided to pay him a visit.
Mr. Duff looked over at the girl with a smile. "Well, well. The infamous daughter of Dr. Shepherd."
Mackenzie looked at him with her head tilted. "Did you hear that from the nurses?"
"Yes. I heard about you from the nurses. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you've heard about me from that hot blonde doctor." Mr. Duff explained.
"If you're talking about Izzie, the answer is yes. You're the buzz of the whole hospital." Mackenzie said as she sat next to his bed.
Mr. Duff smiled and went to say something, but he stared at the wall in a trance-like state.
"Mr. Duff? Are you okay?" Mackenzie asked in concern.
Mr. Duff looked back at her. "I'm just fine, Mackenzie. But you're not fine, because your father and Addison tore your papa's heart apart. The knowing that your family will never be the same is chewing away at your heart."
Mackenzie blinked and avoided his gaze. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"You feel guilty; you want to fix your family, but you can't. Just like you felt guilty because you couldn't help Amelia and her addiction." Mr. Duff told her.
Mackenzie bolted out of the room just as Izzie was walking towards the room.
A complete stranger knew her deepest, innermost thoughts.
She fully believed he was psychic.
/ / /
The interns and Mackenzie are in the deserted hallway.
Meredith sighed. "I tried to talk Shepherd out of that clot surgery. What is wrong with me?"
Alex smirked. "Basically, you tried to kill the guy."
Cristina glared at Alex. "Basically, you're an ass."
Alex chuckled. "Come on. You know you want it. Come to papi, baby."
Mackenzie hit Alex upside the head. "Perv."
George entered.
"This, uh, is George. George has a hot date." He said.
Meredith smiled. "Oh, that's great, George."
George nodded. "Yeah."
Alex got up. "Left pocket of my lab coat, Georgie. No glove, no love."
George grabbed Alex's arm as he is leaving and takes a condom from his pocket.
Izzie sighed. "My psychic had his surgery."
George sat down where Alex was just sitting; he was in between Izzie and Mackenzie. "Yeah?"
Izzie had a pondering look on her face. "I wonder what happened with his...gift."
Cristina scoffed. "Come on. We all know he's crazy."
Meredith looked at Izzie. "Thought you said you didn't believe in that stuff."
"I grew up in a trailer park. I waited tables, which was supposed to put me through college, but my mother was always calling these psychics all the time. And the bills started piling up, so I had to use my money to pay them. When I turned 18, I left and never went back. But this guy has been saying things to me, things he couldn't possibly know anything about. So I just wonder." Izzie explained.
Mackenzie sighed. "He knew my deepest, innermost thoughts. Things that no one else knows. He's psychic, alright."
George pulled her into his arms. "Don't worry, Mackenzie. It's nothing you should be anxious about."
"I hope you're right, George. I hope you're right."
/ / /
Meredith and Derek were outside. They were walking in the dark.
Meredith looked around. "Where are we?"
Derek smiled. "Shh, shh. I'm gonna tell you. All right. My mother's maiden name, Maloney. I have four sisters. I have, uh, nine nieces. Five nephews. I like coffee ice cream, single-malt scotch, occasionally a good cigar. I like to fly fish. And I cheat when I do the crossword puzzle on Sunday. And I never dance in public. Um, favorite novel, The Sun Also Rises. Favorite band, The Clash. My favorite color is blue. I don't like light blue, indigo. The scar right here on my forehead, that's why I don't ride motorcycles anymore. Mackenzie is the light of my life, and she comes before anything and everything. I love being a mother to my baby girl; she's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. She's the reason I get up in the morning. And I live in that trailer with my daughter. All this land is mine. I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it. So that's it. That's all you've earned for now. The rest you're just...just gonna have to take on faith."
Meredith took a few steps toward the trailer, reached her hand out for him and they walked into the trailer.
/ / /
At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well...it may not be a castle. And it's not so important that it's happy ever after. Just that it's happy right now. See, once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you. And once in a while...people may even take your breath away.
- Meredith Grey
/ / /
Mackenzie was in Meredith's living room, fixing up the couch for the night. Since Meredith and Derek hadn't come back yet, she figured they'd be sleeping in the trailer tonight.
Mackenzie had just finished putting her pajamas on when her phone buzzed. She looked at the contact name flashing across her screen.
Addison Montgomery.
Mackenzie bit on her lip, but she answered the phone.
"Hello?" She asked softly.
"Mack? Sweetheart?" Addison's voice answered on the other end of the line.
Mackenzie sighed. "Hi, Addison. You, um, you called."
"Of course I called, honey. We have a lot to talk about." Mackenzie's stepmother said seriously.
Mackenzie looked at the clock on the wall. 11:55 pm.
"Gee, Addison. You know, I'd love to stay and talk, but it's almost midnight in Seattle. It's time for me to go to bed. Goodnight, Addison; I'll talk to you in the morning." Mackenzie said quickly.
"But — " Addison was cut off when Mackenzie ended the call.
The 11-year-old let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. That was the most awkward phone call she'd ever had with her stepmother.
Things were about to get a lot more awkward for Mackenzie, Meredith and Derek.
/ / /
3160 words
*This was a fun episode to write for. All of Mackenzie's asthma medications are based off my own medications for my own asthma medications. I added some Alex/Mackenzie content in here. The next chapter is the season 1 finale.*
Next Update: Who's Zoomin' Who?
Published: 1/19/2021