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

11 | Zurich

Sometimes, you just need to get out of town, get a new perspective. But you can't always see that you need a new perspective because you, well, need a new perspective to be able to see that. It's complicated.

As soon as Owen and Cristina walked into the board room, Webber nodded, "Okay, that's everybody. Shut the door."

"Well, wait. Where's Avery?" Arizona asked.

"We can get started without him." Webber assured us, "I asked Hunt to share some news with you."

Owen spoke up, "Dr. Russel spoke with me yesterday. He's leaving the hospital."

"My boss Russel?" Cristina questioned.

"He assured me four times that it had nothing to do with this Harper Avery situation," Owen told us, referring to the recent news that since the Harper Avery Foundation co-owned this hospital, no doctor here could ever win a Harper Avery. That was the only reason Cristina lost.

"Which means it has everything to do with this Harper Avery situation." Webber huffed.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Arizona looked confused, "What situation?"

"No one from this hospital will ever win a Harper Avery." Meredith told her, "Catherine Avery told that to Richard."

Owen sighed, "Richard thinks we should appeal."

"You mean I should appeal and humiliate myself further?" Cristina pointed to herself.

Webber shook his head, "This is not about you, Yang. This is about the hospital being able to get money from research and to attract more surgeons. We're already losing top talent."

"Eh, Russel's a loss, but he's no Cristina Yang." Derek shared his opinion.

Arizona looked to him, "Yes, but Cristina Yang can't be Cristina Yang if we lose funding."

I nodded, "The N.I.H. funds winners...people with track records."

"People with Harper Averys," Meredith added.

"Appealing the decision is not the worst idea in the world," Derek said.

Webber looked to Cristina, "What do you think, Yang? You in?"

Instead of answering, Cristina just stood up and stormed out of the room. "Let me go," Meredith said as she went after Cristina, I following behind closely.

"I hate this." Cristina told us as we got onto an elevator, "I just want one day where I'm not reminded of the Harper Avery. A-and now the hospital's in danger of losing grants? How is being nominated for this award going to cost me grants? Did everyone forget that I put a printed conduit in a kid and it worked?"

"A bunch of guys in Zurich didn't forget." Meredith told her, talking about the men that wanted Cristina to come and speak about her research, "They want you to come and speak about it. It's a free trip. I mean, an hour of talking for five days in the Swiss alps?"

"I'm not running away." Cristina crossed her arms.

"We know that," I assured her.

Cristina huffed, "Yeah, but that's what everyone's gonna think."

"No, they don't." I told her, "Everyone here is angry for you. Everyone supports you."

"Okay, can we just stop for a minute about how the hospital is one big, happy family?" Cristina cut me off, "It's a business. I get it. Catherine Avery made a business decision. I've moved on. Everyone else should, too."

And as if on cue, the elevator doors opened and Cristina stepped off.

This week was a rather important as a very important surgery was taking place. In a few days, I would be in a surgery where we would be separating two twins who share a brain. Of course, I was only there to lend a helping hand as Derek and his sister Amelia, who was also a Neurosurgeon, would be taking charge.

The two twins, Lizzie and Annie, had come to us this morning with their doctor and close friend Dr. Kenzie. He had been there for the girls when their mother passed away, and I knew what those girls must have been feeling. Losing a mother was the worst thing in the world.

Cristina had also decided to go on her trip, which I was happy about. I knew that she just needed to getaway.

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"They're prepped and ready to go." Meredith exited the girls' room on the day of the surgery.

"Which one is twin "A"?" Kenzie asked.

Meredith hesitated, "Umm..."

Kenzie leaned on the desk, "You need to identify the twin with the best prognosis. If things start to go poorly in surgery, the team throws all of their resources toward the stronger twin...twin 'A' It's better to have one alive than neither. I'm a doctor. I know how it works. I delivered these girls, Dr. Grey. I've been to their college graduation, met their boyfriends. I helped bury their mother. And I'd like for you to tell me which is twin 'A'. So I can ask God to take a little extra care of her sister."

Meredith nodded, "Lizzie is twin "A". If things go bad in there, all of our resources will go to her."

"God help Annie." Kenzie sighed.

"Dr. Grey, we're ready." one of the other surgeons called us over.

"See you on the other side." Lizzie smiled at Kenzie as the nurses rolled the twins out of their room.

"And we're gonna want doughnuts, Kenzie," Annie added.

Kenzie chuckled, "Don't worry, Annie. I'll get you doughnuts."

Moments later the twins were rolled off and Meredith and I made our way to surgery.

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"We're almost finished procuring this vein," Meredith announced as the drill being used on the skull whirred in the background.

"Okay, Murphy, how are we doing?" Derek asked Leah, who was in charge of the drill.

"She's doing great." Amelia, Derek's sister, answered, "She's done seven burr holes and hasn't punctured the dura. Checking the last burr hole. Well done, Murphy. Perfect."

"Whoo!" Leah screeched, making everyone jump a little.

Webber looked up, "Delicate vascular work here."

"I'm sorry." Leah apologized.

"Okay. Next, I'll need a number three penfield to strip away the sagittal sinus from the bone flap." Derek said.

"This vessel looks like it belongs to Liz," Derek announced as we continued to work.

Amelia nodded, "Agreed. I'll continue my dissection millimeter by millimeter until we're sure they're stable enough to start ligating the remaining vessels."

By now I was just standing in the O.R. with the rest of the crowd watching this incredible procedure. This was something you didn't see a lot.

"The vitals, please?" Derek looked to Knox.

"Twin "A," 110/70. Twin "B," 140/90." Knox replied.

Derek took a deep breath, "Okay, now, I'm gonna start clipping the bridging veins. Oh, no. Does that look like-"

"Yes," Amelia answered before the whole question was asked.

"Damn it. It's getting dusky." Derek spoke.

"Probably propagating," Amelia whispered.

Derek nodded, "Tissues are edematous moving medially-"

"Towards the sinus. If it gets there-"

"Both flows are compromised. I know." Derek finished.

"What's happening?" I heard Stephanie ask.

Webber leaned towards her, "Liz developed a clot and now they're trying to keep it from spreading to Annie's brain. They have to move quickly if they're gonna save Annie's life."

"We have to separate them now and fast." Amelia called out, "Dissector."

"Try to stay midline." Derek instructed, "Control the bleeding once they've separated. Okay, medium clips...keep them coming. Come on, Annie."

"I'm confused. I thought that Liz is twin "A." I thought that if things went wrong we were supposed to throw all our resources to her." Leah said.

Webber shook his head, "Not anymore."

Soon enough I was so busy and tied up in helping pull the twins apart after separating, I wasn't even listening to what anyone was saying. Annie was moved into the O.R. next door and I stepped out as I wasn't needed anymore and didn't want to get in the way. 

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"So, where is Yang on the appeal?" Webber joined Meredith and me in the gallery.

Meredith shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't spoken to her since she left."

"Well, where is she?" Webber asked.

"She's visiting a hospital in Switzerland," I answered.

Webber turned to me, "She's what?! Is she looking for another job?! You see what you did?" he looked to Jackson who was sitting nearby, "You go and lose the good ones one by one."

"She just went to go give a talk," I explained.

Webber ignored me and continued to stare down Jackson, "I hope you're happy. Thanks to you and your mother, pretty soon the only doctors working here will be you and Knox."

"You have to stop." April jumped in, "It was your relationship with the Harper Avery Foundation that brought them here in the first place. You're embarrassed, and...and you're ashamed. And I'm sorry, but I will not let you take it out on Dr. Avery anymore. He deserves your respect. He's not his mother, so stop it."

The room was silent as Jackson stood up and left, Webber following soon after.

Once the surgeries were over, it turned out that Annie had survived and Lizzie was only breathing because she was hooked up to machines. "Annie decided to withdraw care?" Meredith asked Derek as the three of us stood outside the room.

Derek nodded, "Yeah."

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The next day Meredith and I stood in the airport waiting for Cristina to return. "So who's Burke?" I asked, "And why is it such a big deal that he was the one who invited Cristina."

"He was Cristina's fiancee who worked at the hospital when we were first interns." Meredith answered, "The last time anyone saw him was the day he fled from the wedding. Now, Cristina is telling me that he is offering her everything she could have wanted because he owns the hospital she went to. He's bribing her!"

Once we saw her coming down the escalator, we smiled. "Chocolate." Cristina pulled a box out of her bag for each of us, "I ate some."

The way that Cristina stared at us with that cheesy smile on her face made me suspicious. "You're leaving." Meredith and I both said at the same time.


What do you see? More possibilities? Does your new view give you more hope? That's the goal. Although it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, a shift in perspective just makes you see what you've lost.