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

51 | Fighting Fire With Fire

They say you fight fire with fire. We do it in medicine all the time. We cut you to repair your injury. We hurt you to heal you. We stoke the flames. But playing with fire is a dangerous game.

"Well, you know they're saying it's about you," Arizona told April as we walked down the hall. The biggest thing in the hospital right now was this feud between Owen and Nathan...and the rumors were getting pretty out of hand.

"What?" April asked.

Arizona chuckled. "You and Riggs. A torrid affair in Jordan."

"That's...oh, no!" April shook her head, "That is not at-"

"Don't worry. I shut that down." Arizona told her.

"God! Thank you." April sighed, "Geez! No, I think it goes back further than that because I worked with Riggs, and he never even mentioned knowing Hunt."

Arizona stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to us. "Oh, my gosh. Hunt and Riggs...what if they had the torrid affair?"

I burst out in laughter. "Come on."

"No. Just think about it." Arizona told me, "Wartime, no rules, men in uniform, kissing."

April started to think about it a little as I just kept laughing. "I'll see you guys later." I started to make my way down to the E.R.

When passing a big window, I slowed down upon seeing little white flakes falling from the sky. "Is that..." I mumbled to myself, "It can't be snow. It's like sixty degrees outside."

Seconds later there was an all-call for everyone to meet near the lobby and main waiting room. By now I had a pretty good assumption that it wasn't snow.

"Four crews of firefighters were trapped battling wildfires east of town." Bailey started the small meeting, "We have at least forty injuries en-route, I said we would take all of them."

Jackson raised a brow. "Forty? We're gonna hit capacity-"

"We will take all of them." Bailey told him, "We're looking at second, third, and fourth-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and some traumas. All non-critical patients, um...are being transferred to Seattle Pres and Tacoma. This entire hospital is now a burn-treatment center. If you are a little rusty, plastics will be available for consult, but they will be in high demand and cannot be everywhere. Residents, stay with your assigned attendings unless needed in the burn unit or in the pit. Uh, everyone who is on call has been called in. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation. Triage in the E.R. Send the critical patients to the burn unit or the O.R. Dr. Avery is your point person on this, okay? Uh Let's see. Then...that's-that's it, people. Okay. Get to work."

Before long helicopter after helicopter was landing on the roof, carrying a new patient each time. The E.R. was packed in minutes and everyone was working hard.

"People, if you are not on your specialty, you are on burn." Jackson announced, "Consider yourselves burns and plastics specialists for the day. We treat, debride, admit. If you have any questions at all, you come find me."

Walking through the E.R. after admitting a patient, I spotted Owen's mother over by the desk. "Mrs. Hunt." I smiled as Owen came over as well, "What can I help you with?"

"John was working the fire." she told us, "Have you seen him?"

Grabbing a tablet, Owen looked it up really quick. "He is in surgery." Owen finally said, "Dr. Grey and...Forrest, page Pierce to O.R, three. Mom, stay right here, okay?"

"Okay." Evelyn nodded as I headed off to page Maggie. 

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When John's surgery was over, I lead Evelyn up to his I.C.U. room so she could see him. "John's surgery went well." I explained, "His doctors expect a full recovery. He's not awake yet, but you can see him."

Out of nowhere, Evelyn just stopped walking. Looking up, I saw that she was staring at Nathan, and he was staring back at her. "Nathan?" she gasped, soon followed by crying.

Nathan walked over and the two hugged, which just made me even more confused. Soon, Owen walked up to be with his mother as she sat by John's side. Nathan had disappeared, but I still couldn't wrap my head around what was going on.

"We don't think Riggs and Owen's mom-" I started, "We don't think that's the thing?"

Meredith shook her head. "No. But do you think Owen's mom is Riggs' mom? Because that has happened to me before."

As Owen walked out, we stopped talking, not wanting him to hear us. "Keep me updated on how he's doing," Owen said as he just brushed past us.

Looking at Meredith, I gave her a shrug before I ran after Owen. "So, Riggs knows your mother." I started, not being able to help myself now that I had new facts, "Owen, I want to help you. Just talk to me."

"Ellie, I don't want to talk...not about this." Owen huffed, "Listen to what I am saying. I do not want your help."

I froze...something I was good at. I'd done it again. He had made it very clear that he didn't want to talk and I had just pushed too hard. Had I just pushed him away?

Walking back the way I had come, I spotted Meredith in John's room and joined her. "I'm just gonna sit with him if that's all right," Evelyn said as Meredith checked on John.

Meredith nodded. "Of course."

"Mrs. Hunt, it's none of my business, and I'm not asking, but Owen is our friend, and we are worried about him." I pulled up a chair next to her, "How worried do we need to be?"

Evelyn was silent for a while. "Close the door, dear." she finally told me.

Removing her gloves, Meredith closed the door instead. Evelyn told us the whole story...every bit of it and finally, for what seemed like ages, everything made sense.

Right after that, I went looking for Owen and finally found him sitting outside in the ambulance bay. Walking over, I sat down beside him. "You never told me you had a sister."

When we strike that match, we like to think we can control the burn. We like to think we have any control at all. But fire is wildly difficult to contain. And just when you think you've extinguished the blaze...it reignites. It sucks in air, and it burns hotter and brighter than ever