Baby Grey (Grey's Anatomy) ABANDONED

One hundred and eight

"What are you guys still doing here?" Amelia walked into the 3D printer lab where Meredith, Bailey and Maggie were waiting for their tumour to finish printing. Erin was in the corner reading over the stacks Herman had left her, Rueben asleep against her chest. Archie had gone home with Arizona, but Erin had said she was going to stay because she needed to be there in case any of her chemo patients got sick.

"We're solving a tumor by 3-D printing it," Maggie said.

"Reading about fetal surgery," Erin said.

"What are you still doing here?" Meredith asked.

"Also solving a tumor," Amelia sat down at the desk with Meredith.

"Maybe you should 3-D print your tumor," Meredith said.

"Visibility is not my problem. I can see my tumor in all its problematic glory, and it's giving me the middle finger in front of Richard Webber and a bunch of residents. Where are the kids?" Amelia asked.

"Here and at home," Erin nodded at Rueben on her chest.

"Upstairs. Daycare. Nightcare. Whatever care. It's open 24 hours," Meredith said.

"You know that's only for surgeons on call, right?" Bailey spoke up.

"Bailey, don't judge me. Derek lives in DC," Meredith said.

"No, I'm saying if they ask you, make up something about being on call. When I had my genome lab, I was on call twice a week," Bailey said.

"You all realize that printing this thing is gonna take, like, five more hours?" Amelia said.

"7-ish," Meredith said.

"7 hours and 20 minutes," Maggie said.

"7 and a half," Bailey said.

"I'm just saying you could go home, sleep, and then come back," Amelia said.

"Someone has to stay in case the printer crashes. Plus, I don't mind. I like the sound. It's kinda soothing," Meredith said. She sighed. "It feels weird to sleep alone. I'm not used to it. I don't know why. He used to go away all the time, but this time, he's... He's gone, and I know he's gone. And the bed feels lonely. It's like I don't know how to sleep alone," Meredith said.

"You don't. I mean, before three months ago, any time I called your house or came over or skyped or whatever, Cristina was there. There's no way you ever slept alone. I mean, you had Derek. And if you didn't have Derek, you had Cristina. I'm guessing if it came down to it, you were, like, the middle spoon in the middle of a very weird spooning situation. I've never met a less alone person than you used-" Amelia cut herself off.

"Used to be. I have to learn to sleep alone," Meredith said.

"Ben snores. And he sometimes talks in his sleep. And he's hot. Like... a furnace. Like flames shootin' out of him. He's lucky I love him. And he's a resident and hardly home at night. Or he'd be dead," Bailey said.

"Well, sleep is a thing of the past in my house," Erin sighed. "Between night feeds, Archie getting in our bed with us, Alex and Jo going at it like dogs down the hallway, all of the work we're doing, we're not sleeping," Erin said.

"It gets better one day," Bailey said.

"Can that day be now, please? My eyes are burning. My brain is broken. These words don't make sense to me anymore," Erin whispered.

"I miss sleeping with a man in my bed. You know, facing away from each other, barely touching expect for just the arm thrown over your waist. When I'd wake up at night, terrified of... me, I liked knowing he was there and I wasn't by myself," Amelia said. Maggie sighed.