alaska | grey's anatomy

⇢ CHAPTER 68

season 9 episode 23

Holly hummed lightly as she spun around in the chair in her office, her eyes reading through a few flashcards she had made with Callie before someone barged into her office. She frowned her eyebrows at Alex, "Well, hello to you too--"

"Kepner." Alex looked at her seriously, making Holly's smile fall, "I need your help-- follow me, now."

✧

"What the hell happened?" Holly whispered, looking over Jason Myers' scans before she walked over to complete her neuro exam.

"What does it look like?" Alex commented, making Holly throw him a look.

"Well, I see that you've brought him in and Jason's face is severely messed up-- and yet, your hands aren't bleeding or cracked, so you're not the one who did this." Holly quirked an eyebrow, making Alex hide his hands, "Which begs the question, who did and why did you bring the man you dislike in here-- unless you're covering for someone, and the one person I can think of is an intern--"

"What the hell are you? A detective?" Alex reasoned, giving Holly a pointed look, "Can you do this?"

"'Course I can do this." Holly deadpanned, "He has a temporal bone fracture with an epidural hemorrhage and he needs to go to surgery, now. Page brooks and have someone book me an O.R., stat."

✧

"Crap." Holly whispered as she performed surgery on Myers with Brooks by her side, "The C.S.F. is leaking. This is a lot worse than I thought." She exhaled, "The crack has torn the dura."

"It's pretty grody." Brooks nodded, making Holly chuckle before clearing her throat.

"List the possible complications, Brooks."

"Um," Brooks sighed, "death, that's pretty solid. Strokes, re-clots, being a potato, goofiness, loopiness, simpletonism."

Holly spared a glance to her intern as she lectured, "Brooks."

"Difficulty with speech, memory, and vision." Brooks corrected herself, "Why are you telling me to correct myself."

"Derek's trying to get me to fix your words." Holly rolled her eyes, "Honestly, they should just change the words to not be so complex but they won't and Derek's an old man, he's old fashioned--"

"Hey." Derek interrupted from the gallery, making Holly hold back a laugh, "I am not old."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Holly nodded, looking at Brooks as Nelson, the attending who had been supervising the surgery from a few feet away, hid a laugh, "He's ancient."

"Holly!"

"Alright, alright!" Holly shrugged, continuing to operate on Peckwell before she looked up, "You want to scrub in?"

✧

"Oh," Cristina sighed deeply as Holly and Derek scrubbed out of surgery, "is that Chest Peckwell? H-How is he?"

"Oh," Derek shook his head as Brooks joined them, "a bad bleed. We won't know more until he wakes." He looked at Cristina and Holly, "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know." Cristina denied as Holly shrugged, "Um, I need your help."

Holly muttered under her breath, "People keep saying that to me today."

Derek gave Holly a look as Cristina showed the two the scans, "I found that on Paul Dawson's scan." She pointed at the screen, "Could that be a clot that we missed?"

"Yeah," Derek nodded with a sigh, "that's exactly what it is."

"It's blocking blood flow to the basilar artery." Derek and Holly spoke at the same time before Derek turned over to the intern in the room.

"Brooks..." Derek started, making Holly smile, "why would we miss that?"

"Oh," Cristina shook her head, "I'm not asking her. I'd ask her." Cristina spoke, pointing at Holly rather than Brooks.

"Yeah," Brooks nodded, "She's-- she's asking you two."

"And we're asking you." Holly added, pointing at the scan, "Why would we miss that?"

Heather sighed, grabbing the tablet from Derek as her eyes took in everything, "Because it's a thrombus... which is harder to see. It's more common to find a bleed or an infarct. You were looking for the wrong thing."

"Nice." Holly complimented with a smile as Derek turned around to face Cristina. 

"Could you take it out, like now?" Cristina asked with a plead, "Run a pipeline stent and restore the blood flow to the basilar? I mean, could that wake him up?"

"It could." Derek informed, "It could also kill him."

Holly looked at Cristina with a quirked brow, "Does the family want to take that risk?"

✧

Once she got the page from Alex, Holly dropped what she had been helping Matthew with as her legs took her towards the E.R. with quick speed before she asked out-loud to the doctors once she reached them, "Did they run a C.B.C. and a K.B. stain?"

"Yes," Meredith answered as she took a seat, not liking that her friends were treating her like a child, "they ran all the tests. The baby is fine."

"Yeah, well, what about you?" Cristina added, "I mean, why did you fall? Are you dizzy?"

"I fell because I have the same center of gravity as a Jersey cow." Meredith answered with attitude, "I'm fine, guys."

"Doctors," A nurse approached the group, "It's time. It's happening."

"Ooh." Holly smiled, walking next to Cristina as Alex and Meredith walked in front. She looked over at the attending, "How'd it go with Myers?"

Cristina's face held a scowl as she informed, "Mousy took over."

"No." Holly's eyes widened with a smile on her face, "Really?"

"Stop smiling." Cristina instructed, "It's not a good thing."

"You're right." Holly nodded, "It's a great thing!" She chuckled, "I'm slowly becoming a mentor."

"Yeah, okay." Cristina rolled her eyes, making Holly smirk.

"Jealous."

✧

"Who'd have thought Kepner would've found somebody as dorky as she is?" Alex asked, watching Matthew perform a dance number for their proposal. Jackson wrapped his arms around Holly as they watched and Cristina's face remained with disgust.

Holly looked up at Alex with a smile as she nodded confidently, "I did."

And as Matthew proposed to April, expressing the vast amount of love he held for the woman in front of him, Jackson couldn't help but realize he felt the same about Holly.

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next chapter is going to be... oof... i'll update and then update again around an hour later next saturday so possibly prepare tissues, get snacks, and settle in. they're big chapters. 👁👁  that's all i'll leave you with. 

IN OTHER NEWS, i submitted some common apps. and just found out when you do, there's confetti on your screen 🥺 I STAN THE CONFETTI AND ASDKFJHLASKJDFH WE'RE 13 DAYS AWAY FROM WANDAVISION AND I AM PUMPEDDD