On Call | Grey's Anatomy // Book 3 // COMPLETED

2 | Happy Birthday!

"Sam?" I asked as I stepped towards my former best friend, "W-what are you doing here? How did you get my address?"

Sam nervously scratched the back of her neck, "I, um...I got your address from your sister and Dad."

"Oh, God." I groaned, "So, um, what do you want?"

Sam sighed, "Look, I know that you hate me and I know that I messed up like...really bad; but I need help, okay. I-I made a mistake moving with Jake and the job, well, it fell through. I have nowhere to stay and I know no one else here."

I huffed and crossed my arms, wishing this conversation would end soon so I could hide from the cold inside my house, "You have your parents, Sam. They live literally ten minutes away. I've had a long day and I don't have time for this."

"No, they can't know about this." Sam panicked, "Not yet at least."

Pushing past her, I shoved my key into the lock and opened the door. "Please." Sam begged, "Just for tonight and I promise I'll be gone before you even wake up tomorrow."

"I doubt that." I smirked, "I wake up at five in the morning."

Sam paused for a moment, "I'll be gone before you get back."

Stopping, I thought about it for a few seconds before finally giving in, "Fine! Get in, it's freezing outside."

Quickly, Sam ran into my house and removed her shoes and walked into my kitchen. "I like your house." Sam commented, "It's good to see that you found a place."

"Haven't been here long." I told her, "But after you kicked me out my other friends let me stay with them."

Sam took a breath, "I'm sorry for that. I was a jerk and I know that now."

Silence filled the room as I turned and put some water into my kettle for a cup of tea. "So..." Sam half mumbled, "How are you?"

"We're not doing that." I told her calmly, "I'm not going to ask how you are, because frankly, I don't care. And you are not going to ask about me."

"You don't have to be like that." Sam took her jacket off, "Can't we just forget everything that happened and move on? Be reasonable?"

I turned to her, "You're in my house. I think I'm being pretty reasonable."

"Can't you just...tell me how you've been?" Sam persisted.

I huffed, "You really want to know how I've been?"

Sam nodded, feeling as if she was getting progress, "Yes."

Turning the kettle off, I forgot about the tea because after this I was going to bed. "Okay." I turned to her and took a deep breath, "Let's just start with the fact that you were my best friend and you left me! My sister got into an accident and there was a shooting at my place of work and you left! I got into a plane accident! I fucking plane crashed while I was inside of it and I lost two co-workers and close friends. The group of people in the crash, including me, were stuck out there in the wild for days before we were finally rescued and hospitalized. Then, we sued the hospital by mistake and now we own it. Isn't that weird? So I'm on the board of directors. Oh, let's see...what else? Jackson broke up with me and married my friend, April. I got pregnant with another friend, Alex's, baby but it died a few weeks ago when I was in a car accident. I think that's all, but who cares, because I'm a Trauma surgeon and you're back! Everything is just fine now!"

Sam's mouth hung open. "Well...I'll always be here for you Ellie."

I scoffed, "Sure."

"That's what friends are for," she said.

"I have other friends now," I told her as I stormed off to my room for the night.

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The next morning I woke up hours before I was supposed to and headed to the hospital. Sam was still on my couch when I left, and I honestly didn't care. But if she was still there when I got home that night, I might actually hurt her.

Since I got there pretty early, I did a few quick checks on some patients and did some paperwork that I had to get done. As soon as people started filing in, I found Webber and wished him a Happy Birthday, because today was, in fact, his Birthday.

Finding Meredith in the hall later on, I walked with her to tell her about Sam, but I didn't get a chance to as we stepped into the C.T. booth. "Hey, Dr. Bailey." Meredith greeted, "Hey, do you have the labs on-"

"I said, 'tell no one.'!" Bailey turned to Leah.

"I didn't." Leah denied.

Meredith looked confused, "Tell no one what?"

Looking to the monitor, my eyes widened, "Is that a-"

"Yeah!" Bailey squealed with delight, "Okay, keep your voice down."

"I want in," Meredith said.

I nodded, "Me, too."

"No!" Bailey refused, "It's mine."

"It's ours," Meredith said as we stared at the monitor.

Bailey looked to us, "Page Dr. Webber."

"Why him?" Meredith asked.

"It's his Birthday." Bailey smiled.

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"Why do you need me to look at it?" Webber questioned as he joined us.

Bailey grinned, "It's for your Birthday."

"No more talk about my Birthday." Webber insisted, "I mean, there are fine surgeons working well into their seventies, and I am nowhere near seventy."

"Will you just look at the monitor," I told him.

Sitting down, Webber looked to the screen and put his glasses on. "Let's see." he mumbled, "Okay. Well...oh, my word. I-i-is that a little leg? And a spinal column."

"It is." Leah giggled.

Webber took his glasses off, "It's a fetus in fetu."

"It is." I nodded with a huge smile.

"The man absorbed his own twin," Webber commented in amazement.

Bailey laughed, "He did."

"You know, in all my years, I've never seen one," Webber told us as we looked through the glass at the man in the C.T. machine.

"Neither have I!" we all said in unison.

Webber started to laugh, "Well...hot diggity!"

"Happy Birthday," Bailey told him.

Webber stopped her before turning back to the screen, "Ah, look at that. Oh, my."

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"I have a twin?" the patient, Greg, asked once we had gotten him a room.

Bailey smiled, "You did...in utero."

"Oh, gross." Greg's wife looked at the monitor, "He ate his twin?"

"Absorbed it." Leah nodded.

"Or rather enveloped it." Webber corrected, "Greg, you developed around it."

Greg stared at us, "Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, I'm gonna need a minute."

"Is it dangerous?" the wife asked, "I mean, can it kill him?"

"Jodi." Greg snapped.

I shook my head, "No. In many cases, it's harmless, but Greg's is the source of his pain, so that likely indicates that it will cause problems if it hasn't already."

"Good news...we're able to schedule surgery today to remove it," Webber told them.

"Stop calling him 'it'!" Greg rose his voice, "Everyone needs to slow down. I just found out I have a brother."

Greg's wife gave him a look and frankly, so did I. This man was a little off his rocker if you know what I mean.

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As I was doing some sutures in the pit, I got a page that the surgery for Greg had been cancelled. Quickly finishing, I ran upstairs to find Webber erasing the surgery off of the O.R. board. "What did you do?" Meredith asked as she ran over.

"He talked the man out of surgery." Bailey pointed to Webber, "Now he loves his little brother...can't bear to part with him."

"What?" I questioned.

Webber sighed, "I was explaining the uniqueness of his condition. Apparently, my words...cast a spell."

"Okay, so, now what do we tell him?" Meredith huffed, "How do we get him back?"

"Tell him it could have adverse effects on his blood pressure." Bailey suggested, "Tell him it could explode."

Leah thought for a moment, "Tell him it's a demon."

Bailey nodded, "Oh, that's good."

"Okay, stop!" Webber ordered, "I ruined it. I-I'll fix it. I'll talk to him."

Meredith grinned, "What are you gonna say?"

"I don't know!" Webber told her as he walked away, obviously very frustrated.

"I'm coming with you!" Meredith called as the two of us followed him.

Webber groaned, "This is the worst birthday ever."