It's always been you, April Kepner

progress

bad blood
season 9 ep 13

🎵Sparks-Coldplay🎵

"i promise you this, i'll always look out for you"

~~~~~

Madelyn, Cristina and Mer stand in the C.C.U staring intensely at the installed cameras

"They've installed cameras. They're all over the C.C.U. Next they'll be in the O.R. s, the hallways, the on-call rooms. We're being spied on. Who knows what evil lurks behind that electronic eye?" Madelyn whispers to the two women

"Morning, Dr. Shepherd" a voice says

"Big Brother knows your name" Cristina whispers to Madelyn

"Big Brother can see your name tag" Mer says

-

"The cameras are not here to spy on you. They are here to supplement you. On the other side of the camera is a remote physician, an extra set of eyes to help reduce mistakes, improve patient care, and maximize physician hours..." Alana says "...Now the initial program..." Madelyn rolls her eyes zoning out as the women continues to talk "...And of course, ultimately reduce costly litigation. So does that answer your questions?"

"With disturbing clarity" Cristina says

"All right. Let's move on then. As you can see, this O.R. has been arranged with maximum efficiency, specifically for O.R. turnover. Now what are the main causes for bottleneck? The layout of O.R. supplies, equipment, and instruments. So what we have done here ..." Alana continues "...Your average time between surgeries is 37 minutes. With these new O.R. procedures, I'd like to see that cut in half. Thank you, everyone"

As they doctors leave the OR Cristina says "Closing the E.R. should cut down on time. We won't have any patients"

"How's Hunt feel about that?" Alex asks

"Oh, he says he's not gonna do anything about it until it actually happens" Cristina replies

"Oh, it's happening" Madelyn scoffs

"And he can't be a trauma surgeon without an E.R" Jackson adds

"Is he gonna leave town? 'Cause if you go with him, I'm screwed. I'm kind of depending on your rent check" Alex asks

Cristina rolls her eyes "Way to make this all about you"

"The E.R. is not going to close. Derek has a plan" Met says confidently

"Where is Derek?" Madelyn asks

"He spent the night with Kepner"

~~~~~

"I hate her" Cristina says

"Who?" Mads asks

"My intern"

"Why?" Mer asks

Cristina scoffs "Look at her, all mopey-faced just 'cause she didn't get her way. We were never mopey-faced. We sucked it up. Why aren't you in your skills lab?" age asks Mer

"Oh, because the baby kicked. Wouldn't stop kicking, actually" the blonde replies

"Jerk" Madelyn mutters

Meredith laughs but quickly shakes her heard "No, it's good. It's great. Kicking is a good thing"

"Maybe I should kick my intern" Cristina says

"Maybe my baby's kicking because it wants a granola bar" Mer says

"That's possible" Madelyn replies

~~~~~

"I did forget what a rush it is" Alana says to Owen

"What, saving someone's life? Yeah, it's not bad. You know, we could do that again tomorrow if we had an E.R.." Owen divert us the conversation when he sees Madelyn at the nurses station "Shepherd"

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about something-"

"...We figured it out. We can save the E.R" Derek says running over with April and interrupting Owen "We got each department to make some cuts, and I'm gonna have to park in Tacoma, but it is going to work"

"I'm sorry" Alana says "You misunderstood. No amount of budget cutting or shuffling is gonna save your E.R. or your hospital, for that matter"

Something clicks in Madelyn's brain "You're getting us ready to sell"

"What?" Owen asks

"A buyer is going to save your hospital. I just need to make it presentable" Alana says

"I'm sorry. Wh-what?" April says confused

"You're staging it, like a house" Derek says

"Exactly. And the E.R. is like the shag carpet.It's gotta go. Sorry. I had a wonderful time today" Alana says walking away and leaving the four doctors standing there in shock

~~~~~

"I'm worried" April says to Madelyn as the two get ready to go home for the night

"About what?" the brunette asks

"How am I meant to train to be a trauma surgeon if there's no ER. I mean it's alright for you, you've got ortho-" she rambles

"April, April, April" Madelyn says walking over to the red head and grabbing her shoulders forcing the girl to look at her "You will be fine. I promise you everything will be fine"

April searches the girls eyes for any sign of doubt only to be met with a comforting gaze "Okay"

"Remember you're a solider or whatever" Madelyn teases as she remembers the boards. a time before all this chaos

"You're not funny" April says slapping Madelyn's arm gently

"Hey, be careful, I need that arm" Madelyn jokes

"Oh come on, that did not hurt" April laughs

The twos moment is interrupted by a soft knock on the door followed by a blonde beard peering round the door "Hi" Lucy says offering April and small wave which the redhead returns "Are you ready to go?" she asks Madelyn

"Yeah" Madelyn smiles "I'll see you tomorrow" she says to April as she grabs her bag

"Yeah, see you tomorrow" April replies quietly

Madelyn places a soft kiss on Lucy's lips and wraps an arm around the blondes shoulders as they head home together falling into an easy conversation about their day