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Helena woke up in the middle of the night, her hand shooting up to her stomach in pain

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Helena woke up in the middle of the night, her hand shooting up to her stomach in pain. She blinked rapidly, shaking off the remaining sensations of her nightmare, of being back in the woods.

Then, as the pain faded with her dreamlike state, she rubbed at her temples, the tears she'd shed during her sleep still on her cheeks.

After her heart rate regulated, checking her own pulse, Helena moved to their bathroom, splashing some cold water on her face.

Some days, it was still impossible to go back to sleep after her nightmares. Some days, she still woke up in tears. Some days, she still had to relieve the horrors she'd been through at night.

However, she did not want to wake Mark up. His sleep was irregular enough from his own night terrors.

And, as such, she often resorted to the person that had soothed her mind after the nightmares she'd have after her father's death. To the person that called her, too, when he couldn't sleep or his phantom limb pain was back.

So, Helena grabbed her phone from her nightstand, laid in the couch and called her brother. And there they stayed, like many nights before: on the phone, simply listening to each other's breathing, as they allowed themselves to drift back to sleep.

——

"Uh, ok, folks. Let's just start." Owen announced, stepping up the stairs of the hospital's main floor.

Around the nurses station stood several attendings, all gathered to hear the speech the redhead had scheduled. Helena sat down in a chair, Mark standing by her with a hand on her shoulder.

"As many of you know, Seattle Grace Mercy West has suffered a financial setback." He continued, making Helena bite the inside of her cheek. A financial setback they had caused. "The administration is working hard to keep the impact of that setback as small as possible. To that end, we're gonna have to initiate some cost-cutting measures. The board has hired a physician advisor to help."

"What's a physician advisor?" Meredith questioned.

"Well, she consults on maximizing efficiency, streamlining processes, assessing where we can trim our budgets." He explained

"Who to fire and when to fire them?" Bailey let out.

"She's here to advise and to help. I was hoping to introduce her in person but.." Owen glanced down at his watch. "...she seems to be late."

"Oh, on her first day? Not very efficient." Cristina let out, Helena giggling softly.

"You can expect to see her around the halls, in your labs, in the OR..." The Chief added.

"So we're gonna have an accountant following us around in the ORs?" Derek furrowed his brows.

"She's not an accountant." Hunt corrected. "She's a trained surgeon. Frankly, she's here to try to help us. Thank you for your cooperation."

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