flatline [m.s]

xciv.

- - -
the average person touches their face about eighteen times every waking hour. that leaves you susceptible to infection about a hundred times a day. infection has a nasty habit of taking advantage of our every day behaviors.
- - -

"wait. maggie pierce is quitting?!" bailey exclaims, as she catches up to lia and derek walking through the hospital hallway, whilst reading her phone.

"i know. i'm into it," derek assures bailey whilst reading his own phone.

"lia, tell me we're not losing another cardio chief," owen confronts her as he turns a corner and joins lia, derek and bailey in walking through the hospital.

"i'm into it, alright?" derek attempts to reassure him, as they all stop walking and look at each other.

"it's a damn p.r nightmare," bailey protests. "first russell, then lia and yang, now pierce?"

"lia and i busted our asses interviewing people, and now we have to start this whole process over on top of her fellowship?" owen raises his brow.

"well, evidently, because it looks like we hire from week to week. we're a revolving door," bailey gestures to the email on her phone, just as richard approaches the group. "hey, you heard about pierce?"

"uh, yeah, i just read the email," richard says quietly, sharing a look with lia as he does so.

"well, what should we do?" bailey asks the chief.

"i don't see anything we can do," richard shrugs.

"well... i mean, we should talk to her," lia suggests.

"not me," richard dismisses shaking his head, and lia glares at him, but he begins to walk away.

"we- okay, well, i didn't mean you!" lia calls after him. "i meant all of us! maggie pierce cannot quit!"

■ ■ ■

"hey, are you okay? i heard you were out sick yesterday," callie asks lia when she and arizona take a seat beside her in the cafeteria.

"i'm fine," lia shakes her head. "i wasn't sick. i, uh, was with meredith."

"is everything okay?" arizona asks as the two of them grow concerned.

"maggie pierce is my twin sister," lia blurts out, and her friends' eyes go wide.

"what?" callie and arizona ask in unison.

"is that why she's resigning?" callie asks.

"yeah, but, i'm trying to fix that. i'm going to talk to her," lia informs them before exhaling deeply. "so, can we please just talk about something else for now because i feel like someone has scrambled my brain. tell me what's going on with you guys."

"um..." callie begins as she and arizona look at each other with uncertainty.

"come on, tell me," lia smiles. "what's going on?"

"i got the carter maddison grant," arizona reveals.

"arizona, that's great," lia beams, hugging her from over the table. "why wouldn't you want to tell me that?"