Baby Grey (Grey's Anatomy) ABANDONED

Five

Erin's eyes fluttered open and she blinked a few times. She could feel a clamp on her finger to measure her pulse and she had an IV in her left arm. She was in a hospital gown and there was a terrible pain in her stomach, just above her knicker line. She looked around, seeing she was alone.

She pressed the button for the doctor and waited for a minute before a nurse walked in.

"Erin!" she said. Erin vaguely recognised her as George's ex girlfriend, Olivia, who he'd broken up with following the revelation that she'd slept with Alex and given George syphilis.

"Where's... What happened?" Erin asked, voice croaky.

"I'll go and get Meredith and Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd," Olivia said, turning and hurrying away.

Erin wasn't waiting long. Within minutes, Meredith, Dr. Bailey, Chief Webber, Dr. Burke, George, Izzie, Alex, Derek and Addison were all crowding into her room. Meredith wrapped herself around Erin, kissing her head and whispering that she was alright as she wiped her own tears before Erin could see them.

"What happened?" she asked again. Dr. Bailey shooed out everyone except Addison and Meredith, though they all stood outside her closed door with Dr. Bailey glaring at them through the window.

"You had a panic attack. You had extremely high blood pressure and combined with the stress, the panic attack and the lack of oxygen, your placenta ruptured," Addison said. Erin stared at her, eyes unseeing. "When Meredith found you, you were bleeding and experiencing abdominal pain. This was because of the placenta tearing from the uterine walls. We had to operate to ensure your survival," she said. She took a deep breath but seemed unable to continue.

"Erin," Meredith whispered. Erin looked at her and Meredith cupped her cheeks, kissing her temple. Erin closed her eyes, leaning her head against Meredith's chest. They sat for a minute before Erin could keep her tears at bay. She turned to look at Addison again.

"Just tell me," she said. Addison sighed and nodded.

"I'm sorry, Erin. It was too early for your baby to survive outside of the womb. We did an emergency C-section and we did everything we could to save your baby before we got to that point, but it just wasn't possible if we wanted you to live. Your baby passed away at eleven minutes past eleven yesterday morning," Addison said. Erin blinked and then nodded.

"Why is mom here?" Erin looked at Meredith.

"She might have liver cancer," Meredith said, tucking Erin's hair behind her ear.

"Erin, I'm sorry to ask but..." Addison trailed off. She sighed. "Your baby is downstairs if you want to say goodbye. We give patients the option to hold their baby, take a photograph if they wish, give the baby a name and take their handprints and footprints before we decide what the next step is. Would you like to do that?" she said.

"Please," Erin nodded.

"We'll fetch her now. We'll keep everyone out of your hair. Meredith, if you want to stay-" Addison started.

"She's staying. Day off. Erin needs you more than I do," Bailey snapped. Meredith nodded. "We'll be back, Erin," Bailey said. Erin nodded and watched them leave.

"Uh, Bailey said they do like, certificates," Meredith cleared her throat. "We could get one for at home. If you, uh, don't want to bury her, you can get her cremated but there's... there'd be no ashes. And if you got her buried, we could find a nice place for her. Or we can let the hospital, uh, handle it. It's up to you, darling," Meredith whispered. Erin nodded.

"I'd like to bury her," she said. Meredith nodded. "Who operated?" she asked.

"Bailey, the chief and Addison. We weren't allowed to scrub in so it was some other doctors. I don't know their names or anything," she said.