Love gives hope

Chapter 4 "she like you"

I've been a nurse for almost 40 years. There was hardly anything I hadn't seen yet. I loved my job, but I was getting down to retirement. My grandkids were grown and getting ready to give me great grandkids. As stubborn as I was, I decided to just switch from a difficult specialty as a surgical scrub nurse. I went to oncology.

It was my job to make people comfortable, so they didn't suffer too much while they died. Of course, I hoped they didn't, but the chances were slim.

I loved my job being a scrub nurse. Even more so, I loved being Ellis Grey's scrub nurse. She took a liking to me about 20 years ago, I was new to Seattle Grace, and she was the best, so was I. We were a well-oiled machine. She didn't like it when I told her that I needed to slow down before I retired, but she respected me for it.

I missed her. I missed working for her. So, when her daughter walked through those elevator doors a few nights ago, I got a little excited. I knew she would be as legendary as her mother, if not more. There was something special in those timid green eyes that screamed excellence...even if she was banished to the Oncology kingdom with orders to cheer up a certain VIP patient.

She was a baby, but she was good. She cared about her patients, or at least this one... Here she was, 12 hours post op, and still standing vigil at his bedside. I met her at the door of his room as she was walking out and smiled as she handed me his chart.

"I have to go check in with Dr. Bailey." She mumbled, "Would you keep an eye on him for me? He should be waking up soon and probably will be in pain. Please make sure he gets 4 of morphine, 5 if he says it still hurts, I want him feeling as comfortable as possible."

"I'll take care of him for you, honey." I chuckled, she smiled with gratitude and rushed off to her head resident.

I walked into his room and let out a sigh as he cracked his eye lids open and smiled painfully at me.

"You're not who I suspected to wake up to."

"Sorry, I'm not as skinny and pretty as Dr. Grey," I smirked "But I can get you morphine just as well if you want."

"I'm fine." He cringed.

"You're pretty Dr. Shepherd, but not a good liar."

His face fell a little in disappointment and he sighed, "You recognized me. I was hoping you wouldn't."

"You remembered me?"

"I don't remember every scrub nurse." He smirked "But you were good, I remember you."

"That I was." I smiled "So when are you going to tell that pretty little intern that you're a hot shot surgeon?"

"Never." His face fell again, his eyes grew hard, "It's bad enough that she has to see me like this. That we have conversations over my folie catheter, I don't want her to know what I degraded down from. If I wanted people to know who I was, then I would have stayed in New York. What surgeon wants to fall off his high horse and into this? I'm nothing, I'm just a sick dying patient."

"You know she is Ellis Grey's daughter, right?" I rose an eyebrow "She's smart, she'll figure it out."

"For her sake, I hope she doesn't."

"Are you afraid that she'll idolize you?" I asked, "That she'll want you to get better so you can teach her all you know?"

"No." he mumbled "I'm afraid she'll like me; she'll get her hopes up and when I do die, she'll..."

"Be crushed." I sighed, "Well, I hate to tell you this sir, but that is already far too late. You should've thought about that before you started turning your charm on her."

"I didn't!" he defended.

"You were teasing her, you were flirting, and now she's standing vigil at your bedside. I don't think she's religious and I'm pretty sure I thought I saw her praying. Her hopes are up, I suppose you just have to figure out what to do with them now."

"Liz, I'm dying."

I laughed, "If she has anything to do with it."

"She is so stubborn."

"She gets that from her mother." I laughed again, "You should know that. She was your teacher at one point, wasn't she?"

"My resident from hell." I sighed, "I'm glad she doesn't recognize me."

"Did you expect any less from Ellis Grey?"

"No, I was counting on that."

"I don't think her daughter has such a high god complex to forget a face though."

"You don't think she knew me back then, did she?"

"I don't know, but I do know that it's a matter of time before she figures it out." I said as I pushed the morphine into his IV, he cringed as it burned going in "You're a damn fool to come out here expecting us to just let you die. From what I hear, Ellis has ordered Meredith to make sure you live, so good luck with your mission to die."

"Can't a man die in peace?"

I smiled and shook my head as his eyes started to close "Not at Seattle Grace."

His breathing leveled out and he was starting to dose off when I heard sneakers screech to a halt at the door, I turned to see Meredith stopped to catch her breath, she looked frantically at him and then at me.

"He woke up just long enough to ask for some morphine for his pain and to sleep."

"Ok." She breathed "thank you, Liz."

"You seem to really like him."

Her tongue looked tied as she opened her mouth, but nothing came out, she shrugged "I just want him to make it. I know we can't save everyone, but him...he needs to make it, he looks like he should make it. So, I'm going to try like hell to see that he does. And yeah...maybe I do like him, a little."

She turned to run off again and I smiled as I glanced down at the bed.

"You hear that?" I mumbled, "Big shot neurosurgeon or not...she likes you."

"Yeah." He breathed, "I heard."