TRIAGE | grey's anatomy (ON HOLD INDEFINITELY)

007: "apocalypse" (part two)

CLEMENTINE AND MEREDITH NOTORIOUSLY DIDN'T ARGUE, THEY BICKERED. It was always light and while multitasking, a debate over whose underwear ended up in whose laundry load, one asking the other if they left the coffee pot empty and the other lying, etc, etc. It was like something to do when you were bored or lonely-- that even if the talking you were doing was in a slightly raised tone, it was still a way to communicate and connect. Like a family. A fucked up, slightly incestous, scalpel-weilding family.

And much to the amusement of the Bomb Squad, Clem and Mer fell into familiar patterns, even as their hands were shoved into a body cavity with only live ammunition as a roommate. It was comfortable. For them. Cristina looked like she was between laughing out of shock and slapping them both upside the head.

"You realize how stupid you both are, yes?" Dylan, the take-me-to-your-leader alien in a bomb-proof jacket asked, as he moved to strap on vests to the both of them. Meredith was currently not speaking to Clementine, who was rolling her eyes and goading her on. Apparently, Clem turned into a button-pushing brat in emergencies.

"I am not as stupid as Meredith is. Just for the record," Clem announced. She could see Mer's mouth twitch in her periphery.

Cristina piped up. "Nope. You are both incredibly stupid."

"Okay, you know when you don't need to be made fun of?" Meredith gave in. "Like when you've got your hand inside a body that's got a bomb in it."

"And a stranger is Velcro-ing a flak jacket to your boobs," Clem added. She could feel Dylan breathe out a laugh, and it made her feel slightly better that she got the surly man to smile.

"You two have a sense of irony," he said.

"Only when things are really ironic," Clem replied. She was trying her damndest to be breezy and cool, as if she hadn't dived after a friend who willingly shoved their hand next to a bomb.

Meredith eyed them both, then let out a whisper. "I had a feeling."

Clem's eyes widened, and so did Cristina's. Clem felt an intense wave of guilt and despair that she tried to smother quickly, and Cristina remained unbelieving.

"What's that?" Dylan asked, somewhat sharply.

"Nothing," Meredith replied, but her voice was rife with meaning.

*-*-*-*

The OR door slammed ominously behind Cristina's back, and both the women inhaled equally, attempting to keep the tears swimming from their eyes loose. Dylan and Burke looked apologetic, and an erratic side of Clementine was somehow both furious that one of her support systems had left but also innately relieved, knowing Cristina could dodge whatever might happene. Maybe it was the sense of kinship one feels when genuinely directly in the same situation, but the interns were in sync emotionally, despite the fact that Meredith was still mad at Clementine.

They waited in silence, as Burke and Dylan moved around in the hall, looking for answers. It was suffocating. Clem couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, and so-- she needed to speak.

Her voice cracked when she spoke. "Meredith, this morning you said--"

"Clementine, I so do not want to get into this right now," Meredith warned.

"This morning," Clementine insisted, getting stronger. She needed to get this point across. "You said we were going to die today. You looked me in the eyes and you said so. And you meant it, and I knew you meant it. But then Cristina came in and jumped on the bed and appealed to my rational, scientific, analytical side and I stopped believing you."