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

7 | Fish Out of Water

Callie, Meredith, Cristina and I sat in silence as we ate our food. I could tell just by the look on their faces, and the one on mine as well, that we were all having a rough day. Not being able to save someone's live is hard enough; but knowing that there was something that you could've done...something that you could do...that was a hundred times worse.

"Dr. Yang?" a man in blue intern scrubs who I had never seen before walked over to us, "I'm a...intern here. I just want to say congratulations. You are totally gonna win."

Cristina glared up at him as she took a sip from her drink, "Are you from the future?"

"No." he chuckled.

"Then shut up," she told him, a polite smile on her face.

"She means 'Thank you.'" Meredith smirked as the man's smile faded and he stepped away from us.

Groaning, April sat down with us and opened her lunch container from home, "Anybody want some meatloaf?"

"Mnh-mnh." Callie shook her head.

I stared down at April's food, "Isn't that the meatloaf you had yesterday?"

"Yep. And the day before that." she answered, frustration in her tone, "Probably gonna have it tomorrow, too, 'cause there's still a piece left at home. Jackson doesn't eat leftovers, you see. He says he finds it depressing to eat food out of a Tupperware container. You know what I find depressing? Paying seven dollars for a hamburger."

Cristina speared a tomato from her salad with a fork, "Make her stop." Callie then started to slurp at her drink, "Her, too."

"Hey." Derek greeted us as he approached with Webber by his side.

Callie looked up at him, "Oh. it was low blood sugar, Shepherd. Take that food to go. We're gonna do this again. Come on! Come on! Let's go!"

Derek gave Meredith "help me" eyes before turning around and following a frantic Callie out of the cafeteria. "There she is." Weber smiled as he sat down and looked to Cristina, "The future of medicine. How's it feel?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Cristina picked up her drink and took off.

"Okay." Webber sighed and leaned towards Meredith, "Your mother was the same way. Didn't you have that meatloaf yesterday?" he asked April.

"Yep." the three of us answered.

April nodded as she pushed the food around with her fork, "And the day before that. And probably gonna have it tomorrow."

"Dr. Grey? Dr. Forrest?" a voice nearby called and we looked up to see Marty, "You're gonna kill me."

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"The surgery is back on?" Bailey questioned us, eyebrows raised as she sat in her lab at the computer.

I nodded, Meredith, Leah, and Shane by my side, "Well, kind of. Marty felt terrible, so he's back on board. But we told Keith that they weren't a good match."

"You did what?" Bailey asked.

"They're best friends, and we were trying to help!" Meredith explained.

Bailey sighed and leaned back in her chair, "You got emotionally involved. Rookie mistake."

"I am not a rookie." Meredith folded her arms across her chest.

I nodded in agreement, "Neither am I. But I don't know how we're gonna go back and explain this."

Bailey smirked, pushing her chair with wheels away from the desk and standing up, "Oh, I do."

══════════════════

"Dr. Grey and Dr. Forrest both misread the labs." Bailey calmly told Keith, throwing Meredith and me so far under the bus, "Their relative inexperience led to a terrible error. You two are, in fact, a perfect match."

"Wow!" Keith smiled, "I mean, this is such great news."

"So sorry, Keith." Meredith apologized.

I hung my head and stared at my shoes, "Yes, so sorry."

"I'm willing to just put all this behind me and move forward," Keith assured us.

"Well, you know how these young surgeons are." Bailey just kept going at it, "It's all about P.R. and awards, and they get sloppy."

I glared at her, trying my best to hold my tongue, "He said he's ready to move forward."

"Luckily, I'm available to do your transplant, and I assure you I am substance over flash." Bailey volunteered herself.

Keith stared back at her, confusion on his face, "I thought you were doing Marty's surgery."

"Well, I-I-I don't mind taking Dr. Grey and Dr. Forrest," Marty told his friend.

Keith lowered his voice, "Well, why should you settle?"

"Well, they're, you know, just taking out my kidney." Marty responded, "How hard could it be, you know?"

"But they can barely read a lab report." Keith argued, "You don't know if they're gonna mistake your gallbladder for your kidney."

By now Meredith just couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Guys, I assure you...we are excellent surgeons," she told them.

"Why don't I get another doctor to do Marty's surgery?" Bailey asked them.

"What?!" Leah snapped and Bailey glared at her, "...a good idea."

Keith nodded, "Yes. Thank you."

"Yes." Bailey chuckled, loving every second of this.

Meredith and I both stood silently, glaring at Marty.


By the end of the day, many surgeries had been performed, and I hadn't done a single one. Being a surgeon and going a full day without surgery felt like I imagined being a fish and going a whole day without water would feel. Suffocating...like your air was being taken away from you. Of course, I was probably just overreacting. There was always tomorrow.