In the morning, as the interns gathered around Bailey, she warned. "M&M in fifteen minutes, people."
"Wait, we get to go to M&M? Even if we haven't finished our rounds?" Alex asked, surprised.
"Even if. I want all of you at the M&M today." The resident explained as Helena smiled to herself.
As Alex let out a cheer, she looked at him disapprovingly. "People die in this hospital on our watch. Once a month, we meet to discuss how our actions as physicians contributed to the deaths. This is a serious exercise." The resident reprimanded. At that, dread filled Helena's stomach, though she couldn't quite figure what it was about.
"George, Alex, you guys get good seats, is three will get snacks." Cristina told the boys.
Just as Meredith and Cristina were leaving, Helena grabbed their arms, having figured out what she was anxious about. "Wait, wait, wait." As the both of them turned around to face the girl, she whispered, a knot in her throat. "We talk about patients who died on the M&M. Patients whose death could have been avoidable. Patients whose death was caused by us."
As Meredith seemed to realize what the brunette meant, Cristina looked confused. "So, Baby Einstein? We get to hear our bosses being kicked in the teeth instead of us!" She sounded excited.
"She means they might bring Denny up." Meredith sighed, Cristina's brows raising.
"No! They won't, will they? They won't."
"Ok, maybe you're right. They wouldn't...." Helena whispered, attempting to calm herself.
——
As Helena sat down at the M&M, Cristina tossed her a snack and she heard George complain about how Callie was still mad at him.
"Didn't you apologize?" She asked, opening a bottle of water.
"I did! I'm done... I am not apologizing anymore. I'm enjoying life, I'm loving the M&M." He sighed.
"Ok, people. Let's begin." The Chief called through his microphone. "Patient 34986 died last month from complications following a heart transplant. Dr. Burke will present."
Realization dawned upon the interns as the attending approached the podium.
"Hey, guys..." George started.
"Isn't patient number 34986...?" Alex completed.
"Denny." Meredith answered.
"Eight million dollars... eight million dollars could get us on a plane to somewhere far far away." Cristina let out, referring to the money Denny had left Izzie.
"Oh, why do I always have to be right." Helena sunk down on her seat.
"Cause of death at autopsy was an embolus that dislodged from the suture line of the transplant and cause a CVA with brain stem herniation." The attending continued and many hands shot up.
"So the company line is that he died of a CVA?" A female attending asked.
"That's not a company line, it's what he died off." Burke deadpanned.
"Uh, yes, let's get back to this patient's need for an emergent transplant. You're saying that his left ventricle had been weakened by the Lvad malfunction?" An older attending asked, Helena sinking even more on her seat and putting her head on Cristina's shoulder, as if looking for comfort.
"His left ventricle was weakened by the fact that he suffered from congestive heart failure."
"Come on, Dr. Burke. We all know the Lvad was cut by an intern."
"I'm going to my happy place." George whispered, sinking into his seat as well.
"The exact chain of events remains unclear."
"It remains unclear to you because you were in the ER with a gunshot wound. Why aren't we hearing from Dr. Bailey? She was the senior physician on this case." The man pressed on.
"Yes, I was the resident in charge." Bailey stood up, Helena feeling for the woman as she walked up to the podium. "Dr. Burke has summarized the medical facts of this case. Are there any questions for me?"
Several hands shot up and Helena closed her eyes, bracing for what was coming.
"You recently had a baby, Dr. Bailey?" A man asked as Helena felt her face heat up.
"Oh, no, he didn't just..."
"I don't see what that has to do with this." The resident maintained her composure.
"Sleep deprivation coupled with swings in hormone levels are factors that could cloud anyone's judgement." He went on and Helena shook her head in anger.
"I sleep just fine, Dr. Savoy."
"Really? Cause if a patient had died due to my poor decision making, I would lose some sleep over it."
The Chief stood up. "Let me remind everyone that our purpose here is not to place blame. This is a form to discuss mistakes on patient care and learn from them."
"Well, so far I haven't heard Dr. Bailey admit to any mistakes." The doctor pointed out.
"Why don't they just put a bullet on the back of her head?" Cristina whispered to her fellow interns.
"It would be more humane." Meredith agreed.
"I hate this. I hate this so much." Helena whispered, an arm around shoulder as if hugging herself.
"So, for a period of several hours your interns were running lose in the hospital, totally unsupervised." Savoy continued.
"I'm waiting for a question." The resident affirmed.
"The question is where were you."
"There was the shooting and the ER was chaotic."
"The ER is always chaotic. Did you page them during this time?" The male doctor kept with his interrogation.
"Yes, I paged them multiple times. Only Dr. Campos showed up, we didn't need her on my case so she helped out in the ER." The resident let her gaze fall of the short girl.
"Well, apparently, the rest of them thought it was ok to ignore your pages. Dr, why do you think your interns have such contempt for your authority?"
At that, Alex shot up from his seat and yelled. "You don't know what the hell you're taking about!"
"Dr. Karev. Sit down." The resident instructed and he obeyed.
Suddenly, Helena noticed their blond friend standing toward the back of the room. "Izzie." She told their friends.
——
At the end of the M&M, the interns talked to Izzie.
"You weren't supposed to be in here, Izzie..." Meredith whispered.
"You shouldn't have had to see that." Helena agreed.
"No, it's fine. I'm fine. Clearly, the doctor thing was not working for me. So go about your business. Run labs, cure cancer... I'm fine." She got up to leave.
"You're not going home. Either you stay and hang out with us or..." George struggled to find a fitting threat, looking to the short intern for help.
"Or we'll call your mother!" Helena completed.
"She's just a few hours away, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind coming and staying with you. All day." Meredith agreed.
"You wouldn't." She turned to leave once more.
"Try me." Helena raised her brow, reaching for her phone.
"Woah, woah, ok. I'll just go hang out in the locker room." She caved in as she left.
——
"I think I'm gonna buy something for Bailey." Izzie talked to her friends at lunch regarding the eight million dollar check that Denny had given her. "And for Burke. What do you think Burke would want?"
"Nothing you could get with money." Cristina shrugged as she pulled her hair up, Helena moving to steal her chocolate milk.
"He likes jazz." George told the blond as Cristina looked at the girl who had stolen her beverage. As Helena smiled sweetly at her, she rolled her eyes and let it go.
"I'm not buying him a CD George, I'm a multimillionaire. I need to buy him something... big." Izzie said.
"A house... in the Bahamas." Meredith opinionated.
"I'd buy the Bahamas. Or at least a Bahama. An island. For eight million dollars, I'd buy a bahama." Alex shared.
"You're an intern. You wouldn't have time for your Bahama." Cristina scoffed at him, Helena sipping on the chocolate milk.
"I'd quit."
"No, you wouldn't." Helena chuckled. "I would invest it in something... probably real estate. At least it wouldn't be sitting in the bank." Izzie looked at her, impressed.
"That's rich people talk. Are you rich?" The blond asked her.
"No, I'm not rich rich, definitely not eight million dollars rich, but my mom has some money. It's her money though, not mine. She has always had 'you need to work for your things' mentality." As the small girl shrugged, her friends looking at her shocked. "What? It's not like I get to spend it, it's almost all invested on her non profit."
"Your mother has a non profit?" Cristina looked at her, shocked.
"Yes, the Campos Lima organization?" The girl revealed.
"Wait, I think I've heard of it. Isn't it some sort of organization to help with affordable healthcare or something?" George asked.
"Yeah." She agreed. "So I say either invest it or start some project you're passionate about, let the money do some good. Anyway, you've gotta deposit the money before you can do any of that." Helena told her friend.
"I'm fine! The check is fine, we're all fine alright?" Izzie complained.
——
As Helena was doing some charting in the nurses station, Callie pulled her to the side.
"Oh, hi, Callie. Is everything ok?" As the taller woman pulled her inside an exam room she closed the door.
"I did something. I did something and I'm going to tell you so that you can tell me if I need to tell George, ok?" The woman said in one breath.
"Callie, Callie, slow down." The intern giggled. "You can tell me anything, we're friends right?"
"Yes, yes, we're friends." The taller woman agreed.
"Ok, then, what is it?"
"I slept with another guy. I slept with Mark Sloan." She revealed.
"Oh." Helena's brows rose a bit. "Oh, ok, I wasn't expecting that."
"Oh God, is it that bad?" Callie started pacing around, worried. "Is he gonna hate me?"
The intern pressed a hand to her shoulder to stop her. "Callie, it's fine! You aren't even in a relationship, right? I was more surprised you slept with dr. Sloan than anything else..."
"Yes, you're right. I'm... I'm not in a relationship." She tried to convince yourself.
"Exactly. You technically don't even have to tell George but, if you want my advice, you should. He likes you and you like him, it'd be a shame for you not to get back together." The short girl shook her head.
"I have to tell George." Callie realized. "Ok, I really do. Thanks, Lena, thank you." She hurried you leave the room, leaving a still somewhat surprised Lena behind.
——
As Helena entered the gallery, she found Cristina doing a running whip stitch.
"Cristina's doing a running whip stitch?" She asked her friends, confused, sitting down.
"I guess sleeping with your boss has its perks." Alex concluded.
"This sucks. Cristina gets sex and perks." George whined.
"Oh, come on, she's great at cardio. Maybe it isn't perks." Helena reasoned. She didn't know why exactly, but she watching the girl made alarms go off in her head, like an itch she couldn't quite scratch. Something wasn't right.
"Maybe you should apologize again, George." Meredith suggested.
"Yeah, cause you are in a great position to give relationship advice." The boy scoffed.
"Cristina is doing a running whip stitch, on a heart." Izzie whispered to herself, fascinated, making Helena look over at her and smile.
——
Later that night, Helena watched with furrowed brows as Cristina talked to a nurse. "Put Burke in OR 2 tomorrow at ten am with the usual scrub team. And get rid of his valve replacement at two, that's no good."
The woman approached the nurse writing on the board, as the shorter intern still watched intently. "Make sure they put the instrument tray on his left hand side, he wants the extra elbow room. And remember, OR 2, no gallery. Burke was specific." Helena's thoughts were running. She knew something was wrong, but she simply couldn't put her finger on it.
"Dr. Burke has become very specific since coming back to work, hasn't he?" The nurse commented, annoyed.
"Do you want me to tell him you said that?"
Suddenly, as Cristina grabbed the marker and started writing on the OR board, Helena straightened her back. She'd realized what had been happening.
——
Later, the interns were in the locker room, Helena reading an article.
"You've been busy." Meredith told Cristina.
"Yeah."
"Derek hasn't called yet. I told him I broke up with Finn a week ago and he still hasn't called." The blond revealed to her friend. "Hey, you wanna go grab a drink, catch up?"
"No, I can't. I have to study for Burke's surgery tomorrow." Cristina got up to leave, Meredith turning to her smaller friend.
"You, Lena?"
"Yeah, I'll meet you at Joe's, I just have to take care of something first." The brunette closed he locker and grabbed her bag, leaving the room to follow Cristina.
Once she found her friend on an on call room, she opened the door, asking with a soft voice. "Can I? I know you're busy, I'll be quick."
As the older woman nodded, she entered the room and sat beside her in the bed. "He isn't well yet, is he?"
"I'm sorry?" Cristina looked up from her book, startled.
"Burke. His hand isn't ok yet. You've been helping him when it starts to shake." The girl declared, her voice still soft.
"I don't... he isn't..." Cristina started, mumbling.
"It's ok, I won't tell anyone. But you should know that it's not fair to you." She whispered as the other girl simply kept quiet. "It's not fair that you've been so overworked and busy. And it's not safe either: it could end up really badly, Cristina."
"Baby Einstein, I don't... if I say anything you'll be involved. I can't... I can't say anything, ok?" Cristina explained, tears in her eyes.
"I know, and that why I say it's not fair to you. He's putting you in an impossible position, and you're sticking with him. He better be damn thankful for you. But please, Cristina, you know this can't go on... there are patient's lives on the line." She got up to leave, worried for her friend and her patients' well being.
——
Word count: 2366
AN:
I don't particularly love this chapter, it's more like a filler, but I thought it was essencial to include the M&M and the whole Cristina/ Burke situation. Anyway, what do you think of how Helena reacted to it?