it was early in the morning when at five o' clock the alarm of meredith's phone went off.
she, gwen and cristina all startled up. both meredith and gwen pushed their sleeping mask off their eyes.
why gwen slept the whole night in a bed with cristina and meredith instead of at home with her husband? that's easy to answer.
cristina was waiting for a call from the harper avery commitee.
"crap, mer! oh, my god! the phone!" cristina shouts sitting up on the bed. "mer, the phone!"
"oh, i'm sorry." meredith apologises grabbing it from the nightstand.
meanwhile gwen sit up on the bed as well only wanting to have a cup of coffee.
it was definitely to early for her. but hey, that's what you do when your best fellow is about to win a harper avery award.
when gwen was nominated it was the same procedure. it was her, derek, addie, amy and mark all together in derek's and addie's house in new york at 8 a.m waiting for the call. she knows the drill. she also knows how excited she was so she could imagine how cristina felt this minute.
"okay, okay, okay." meredith looks at the screen.
"did we remember to..." cristina trails off worried that they missed the call.
"no, no, it's charged." meredith assures her.
"oh, god!" cristina let's out a sigh of relievement.
"it's charged and the ringer's on. okay, hold on." gwen went to her purse. "here, you got to put on some lipstick."
"what if-"
"no, it's not possible, because catherine avery said that you were on the short list, and your project is.. it's innovative. it's gonna lead to the actual printing of hearts. millions will be saved." meredith cuts her off.
"now, put on lipstick because that's what i did and it got me two awards." gwen adds.
"what time is it?" cristina asks while putting on the red shade.
"5:01." meredith replies looking at the screen the whole time.
"did they?" alex asks standing in the doorway making gwen look behind her.
cristina and alex lived together. gwen totally forgot that.
"not yet." gwen shakes her head.
"did they?" jo asks approaching alex in the doorway.
"no." all three women replied.
"oh, god." cristina got panicked.
"okay, listen, if they're five nominees, it's alphabetical." gwen tells her. "yang is last."
"that's easy for you to say with Shepherd." cristina scolds her.
"i was still the last one." gwen informs her when a phone went off.
but it was jo's making the group groan in annoyance.
"oh, geez, hairball!" cristina groans.
"oh, sorry. it's shane." jo explains answering the call. "hey. no. not yet, but it's still early. it's-"
"5:02." cristina says annoyed.
some time passed and everyone watch the phone closely.
"mer, gwen, seriously, what if they don't call?" cristina asks getting more panicked.
then the phone rang.
"oh, my god." they all screamed.
"what do i do?" cristina asks holding the phone.
"answer it." alex tells her.
"it's boston. it's boston. it's them." cristina gasps.
"okay, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, you're gonna be gracious and humble." meredith says to cristina. "you're gonna thank them, but you are not gonna grovel. you remember who you are. you are cristina yang, and you are going to change the face of medicine. go."
"just answer the damn phone!" gwen shouts.
"quiet!" cristina shouts as well when she answers the call. "hello? yes, this is cristina yang."
the whole time meredith took photos from her.
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gwen walked into the hospital only wanting a coffee from the coffee cart after she got driven there by meredith luckily.
"i thought you might need this." mark says from behind her.
she turned around and smiled at the sight of a coffee in his hand.
"god, i love you." gwen smiles taking the coffee giving mark a kiss. "you're the greatest husband on this planet."
"i am?" mark asks playing dumbfounded kissing her again.
"i would really want to show how much of a good husband you are and thank you for the coffee but i have a patient." gwen tells him sipping on her coffee.
"it's okay, just page me when you got the time." mark smirks leaning down to kiss her.
"i will." gwen smiles. "the kids?"
"hailey is in pre-school and piper plays with some kids in daycare." mark replies.
"no problems?" gwen asks.
"nope." mark shakes his head.
"thank you. really. i know i wasn't there often but cristina needs me now. she's my fellow and winning a harper avery award is a big part of someone's career." gwen tries to explain him. "i asked a lot from you. so, thank you."
"no problem. i love time with our kids." mark replies when his pager went off. "it's the e.r. see you later."
they kissed one more time before he sprinted off.
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gwen stood with cristina in the room of link mcneil together with the his whole family.
gwen examined the young boy who was intubated and unconscious.
his older sister ivy already has a heart transplant behind her and now the youngest mcneil is showing the same sypmtoms.
it's a vicious circle and kind of ironic.
"hey, linkie." frankie, the middle child, greets her brother after she sprinted together with owen into the room. she held a muffin in her hands. "i got you a chocolate chip muffin for when you're feeling better."
"well, how are you feeling, frankie?" cristina asks the young girl.
even frankie had some heart problems. she got a pacemaker a while ago.
"pretty good." frankie replies trying to catch her breath.
"she just beat me in a race, so..." owen trails off standing next to gwen.
"looks like that pacemaker i put in is working. and-" cristina catched ivy eating chips. "serioulsy, ivy. sour-cream-and-onion chips for breakfast?"
"you said i should put on weight." ivy retorts softly while cristina took the chips out of her hands.
"good." gwen smiles eating one. "so, two weeks post-op heart transplant, and ivy's indices are excellent."
"and mr.link?" cristina asks looking at the boy.
"lincoln mcneil, age 9, end-stage heart failure, awaiting transplant, status 1a." frankie presents before gwen got the chance to. "there's a family history of the disease. the cause is still unkown. link first showed signs of cardiomyopathy two weeks ago and has deteriorated rapidly. an attempt to put him on a berlin heart failed... due to something i can't remember."
"clotting." ivy helps her.
"that's it." frankie nods. "the patient is now on ecmo and is..."
"stable." gwen tells them.
"i couldn't have said it better myself." cristina praises frankie.
"thanks."
"so, where are we with unos?" the father of the mcneil kids, jon, asks.
"well, link is at the top of the list." owen replies.
"how much longer can he survive on ecmo?" the mother, sabine, asks concerned.
"well, with sweep numbers this low at least a week." cristina replies looking shortly at the tablet.
"so, we pray for a miracle?" jon rather states than ask.
"we got one with ivy." sabine reminds him putting a hand on ivy's shoulder.
"we're not just sitting around and waiting." gwen assures them. "we are aggressively looking at other options. in the meantime, heart-healthy food, okay?"
the three doctors left the room walking down the hall.
"so, i put a call in to these guys from stanford who are doing animal testing with a drug-eluting pump to prevent clotting." cristina informs them. "never been tried on humans, but link is a little kid. the fit might be right. it could work. i'll let you guys know what they say."
"so, that's how you're gonna play this, act like it's just another day at the office?" owen asks.
"it is." both gwen and cristina said together.
"no, see, i need details." owen says. "what did they say?"
"congratulations." cristina replies.
"and then what did you say?" owen asks.
"thank you."
"cristina..."
"no, no, really, really, it's just a nomination." cristina shrugs off. "i'm happy about it, but i've got a ton of work to do. i want to focus on that. i really don't want to make a big deal out of it."
suddenly owen stopped walking making both woman look at him confused.
"hey, hey. let's go this way." owen tells them. "you know, get some breakfast?"
"why? we got chips." gwen furrows her brows.
the two opened the double door to be greeted with the whole hospital staff cheering and clapping doing a champagne toast.
"suprise." they all yelled. "congratulations."
"who's idea was that?" cristina asks owen in a low voice.
"meredith's." he replied.
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after link was flatlining cristina paged gwen and owen again. they all stood in link's room.
"he's clotting, even on the heparin." cristina sighs. "i can't give him any more or he'll bleed out, and i can't give him any less or he'll keep clotting."
"we need the stanford artficial heart." owen states his hands in his pockets.
"we can't have it." cristina tells them.
"what?" gwen asks confused.
"it's not them. they want to let us try. it's the fda." cristina explains taking off her gloves. "they're being conservative and insisting on one more animal trial. they're six months away from approval."
"okay, so what do we do now?" gwen asks folding her arms.
"we hope unos calls." owen simply replies.
"today." gwen adds.
"yeah." cristina sighs.
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"you said he was stable." jon points his finger at the doctors as he and his wife got back to their son's room. "you said he had at least one more week on ecmo."
"we thought that we had it under control, and we didn't expect for him to clot." gwen tells them.
"and six months ago, i didn't expect any of this." sabine says her voice breaking. "i was in carpool line picking up my three happy, healthy kids from school. and now... now i have two kids in end-stage heart failure and one being kept alive with a pacemaker. you guys can't tell me why my kids are sick, and now you're scratching your heads, telling me that there's nothing more you can do for link except... except wait?" sabine cries putting her face in her hands.
"i thought you were supposed to be some award-winning doctor." frankie suddenly said behind them. "my parents keep saying you're doing your best, but your best is bad."
then the little girl ran away her parents running after her.
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gwen sat in the cafeteria with her husband and callie eating a burger.
"you all right?" callie asks her friend. "you only eat fast food when you're upset."
"it's just... imagine all three of your kids sick with some type of heart failure." gwen sighs biting in her burger again. "i mean, me as a mother, i couldn't sleep at night. i would just think one of my kids dies while i'm asleep."
"our kids are fine." mark reminds her.
"how was your e.r. patient?" gwen asks his husband when she noticed that callie eats and drink pretty fast. "are you all right?"
but before callie could answer derek approached them with his own food tray in his hands.
"hey." derek greets them.
"it was low blood sugar, shepherd." callie tries to convince derek. "take that food to go. we're gonna do this again. come on! come on! let's go!"
callie practically dragged derek out of the cafeteria.
"what was that about?" mark asks confused.
"i really have no clue." gwen replies with a mouth full of food.
"you're gonna eat the whole thing?" mark asks.
"i so will." gwen bites into the burger once more.
"hey." owen walks up to them. "i have an idea for link but i need your help."
"okay, i'll come with you." gwen sighs putting the food down.
"i'll keep it for you so you can eat it later at home." mark assures his wife.
"i love you." gwen smiles kissing him.
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owen had the idea to convince the fda and unos with the fact that cristina was nominated for the harper avery award. and it work. they approved.
gwen just got the approval from the parents.
"parents signed consent." she informs owen and cristina.
"they put the device on the next plane." owen says. "i got wilson coordinating with the airlines."
"how the hell did you talk the fda into doing that?" gwen asks.
"you're not gonna believe this." owen says excited walking over to her. "okay. it was a no. it was a hard no. and then-"
"quiet! please!" cristina cuts him off. "i've got about four hours to get through all their research. can you please take the party outside?"
"san francisco's fogged in." jo storms into the room. "they've grounded all commercial flights for at least another couple of hours."
"well, he's getting worse." gwen states. "i don't think that he has that kind of time."
"let's go." owen takes gwen.
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"san jose airport's open. there's a flight that connects through portland. it can be here in six hours." leah informs gwen as she searched through the internet.
"that's still too long." gwen sighs.
"i'm telling you, private charter is the only way this will work." jackson says behind gwen.
he, gwen, alex, jo, leah and owen tried desperately to find a plane.
"yeah, richie rich, you said that." alex snaps.
"i got one! a private jet." jo speaks up gaining their attention immediatly. "it's fueled and ready and on the tarmac or whatever."
"yeah, yeah! get it! get it!" the group says.
"yes, very interested. what would... it's $25,000." jo informs them putting her hand over the speaker from the phone.
"so, who pays for that?" gwen asks.
"no, we need board approval for that one." jackson sighs.
"you're the board." owen reminds him.
"well, you call an emergency board meeting because we have to!" gwen looks at jackson.
"come on!" alex backs her up.
"we got to do it." gwen says.
"just use this, okay?" jackson gaves her a credit card. "put it on my card. i'll sort it out with the board later. it's fine."
"thank you, jackson." gwen hugs him tight.
"thanks, man." alex nods.
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gwen was so happy they got a plane in time that she picked up piper and walked with her through the hospital.
she found derek in a radiology room looking at two screens.
through the glass wall she could see callie sitting with something on her head.
"hey." she greets her brother piper immediatly getting excited when she sees her uncle.
"hey." he greets back tickling piper's little foot.
"my patient's heart will take some time before it arrives, so piper and i decided to visit uncle derek, right piper?" gwen asks the little girl.
"i think you have a crush on my sister." derek suddenly states making gwen look at him confused. "gwen walked in, and your pleasure centre just lit up. it's still lit."
gwen looked at her best friend slightly shocked but callie kept her glance on piper.
"no. it's not gwen." callie dismisses him.
the only thing she wants is another baby.
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after the heart arrived gwen and cristina immediatly operated on link.
"i'm gonna start here to leave a rim of ventricle to sew the pump to." cristina informs gwen.
"good idea." gwen nods. "hey, have xou googled any of the other nominees?"
"no." cristina replies.
"i have." gwen tells says. "you want to know what i think?"
"no."
"what is it with you?" gwen asks suddenly in a more stern tone.
"it's just... you should know the best. everyone thinks of me different and treats me different because of this nomination. it's not even sure that i'm winning anyway." cristina tells her. "please, i thought at least you would understand and leave me alone with this."
"when i got the call addison threw this big party. she invited all of our friends, my whole family, even people from the hospital. and i stood there and i was annoyed. i was annoyed because i knew why people were there. not because i'm a good friend or a good colleague. but because i'm about to win a big ass award and win a lot of money if i did so. so i just stood there speachless, drinking my wine and locked myself in my room. i couldn't stand everyone asking me questions or congratulate me. i was beyond pissed. i screamed at her after the party was over. i didn't talked to her for two days. i didn't talked with anyone for that matter. and now years later i regret that. because i couldn't celebrate this with my friends and family. i know exactly how you feel. if i had this champagne toast in the hospital back then i would have freak out. but i want you to celebrate this. even if you don't win. even a nomination is worth celebrating. not everyone gets a nomination. and if you don't win you can still save millions of live with your invention. i trained you to this. and ever since i had my first surgery with you i knew that you were gonna do something great. i'm so proud of you. and i taught you better than that. so if someone congratulates you, you look them in the eye and smile and say, thank you."
the two then looked down at the patient again.
"yang?" gwen calls her again making her look up. "congratulations on the harper avery."
"thank you, gwen." cristina replies with a genuine smile.
"you're welcome, cristina."
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after the surgery gwen and cristina talked to link's family.
"so far, there's no evidence of clotting and his pump is working well." cristina informs the family.
"he's doing really great." gwen smiles.
"we're gonna keep him sedated for about 24 hours, and then slowly wake him up." cristina adds.
"thank you all so much." jon says.
"i'm sorry we doubted you." sabine stood up. "we shouldn't have."
"doubt is normal. get some rest." cristina tells them.
then she left the room but gwen stood there a few moments more looking at the three sleeping kids.
she smiled at the parents before leaving the room as well.
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when their shift was over gwen sat with cristina in the basement on a gurney drinking wine.
"you know, i have looked at the other nominees." gwen confesses to her. "i've seen their research."
"me, too." cristina says.
"what? really?" gwen asks.
"yes, i looked at everyone's abstracts and read their articles. i even called a friend over at chigaco children's who knows lucas... you know, whatever his name is... who's doing the work on the ligature tissue-sealing device, which is kind of..."
"derivative." gwen finishes for her.
"right? right?" cristina nods. "and supposedly, his trial patients are not doing well. which is bad, obviously, but also..."
"i think you're gonna win." gwen cuts her off with a soft smile. "i really do. i think you are really going to win."
"me, too." cristina smirks as the two did a toast with their cups.
i'm so in love with gwen and cristina's friendship.
also, i'm sorry that there aren't that much mark and gwen scenes.
i hope that's okay.
just tell me how you want the season finale to be.
stay save♡
love -j<3