Diary of a Girl from Seattle

Help, I'm Alive

Dear Diary,

It's been a little while since I've checked in. The storm was a few months ago and we've mostly just been working on getting things back to normal. Sullivan has been doing a lot of physical therapy to try to regain his leg strength. Jack has been going to therapy and working hard to get  a handle on his PTSD. And I've been busting my ass at school and started a new semester. This term I'm taking Brain and Behavior, Foundations of Microbiology, and Developing Clinical Skills. The clinical skills class has been sooooo easy, especially since I'm learning a lot of what I already do in the field; but it's been fun to count my shifts at the station as studying.

Anyway, it's just been a lot of the same lately. But the past few days have been special: Andy was awarded a medal of valor. It's such a high honor and we're all insanely proud of her. I got to be there and watch as Pruitt placed the medal around her neck, and waited anxiously to see what she would say. But Andy didn't really say anything, she just said thank you and ran out of the building. Ryan and I followed after her but she just wanted to get out of there and go home. We were having a big party at the house so we both went back to get everything ready. Eventually Maya came home to help and I asked her how Jack was. She's been waiting for him after every therapy session and reports back most days. I was hoping that after four months he would be cleared to come back to work, but no dice.

Of course during the party, Herrera decided to tell Andy that he was thinking about selling the house. She obviously freaked out. I was gonna go talk to her, but Ryan beat me to it. Good thing he got there first, cause he made her waaaay happier than I could have, if you know what I mean. Maya and I made eye contact and couldn't help from laughing, realizing that Andy got laid in the middle of the party. And then Sullivan showed up. Apparently Andy had invited him. As soon as he got there they acted like they were old friends and it was so strange to watch. I don't know how or when they actually became friends but it is such a weird dynamic.

Anyway, I tried to ignore the Captain weirdness and went to talk to Travis. We both lamented the fact that there weren't any strangers at the party for us to hook up with. It's such a rarity that we have the time and energy to actually go out, so it felt like a wasted opportunity. I mean we were celebrating Andy, and that's what's important, but you know what I mean. Anyway, we got bored eventually, swapped phones, and scrolled through tinder, trying to find the cutest guys we could for each other. It was actually pretty fun, and we both got a few matches.

Once everyone left, Maya, Andy, and I started to get the apartment cleaned up. As we picked up empty cups and bottles, I asked Andy what the deal was with Sullivan. Maya seconded my question, saying that it was bizarre to see them hanging out. Andy tried to explain that he's not a bad guy and can actually be fun to hang out with, but Maya and I were not getting it. He still seemed like a smoothie making, stick in the mud, captain to me.

Meanwhile, in hospital news, Teddy came back to Seattle! She's trying to get hired at Grey Sloan again and oh yeah, SHE'S PREGNANT! It's crazy that she's carrying Owen's baby, especially after having watched them as friends for so long. Anyway, I met her for a late lunch after classes today so we could catch up. She asked how med school was going and I told her all about my classes, and my friends, and all the great food trucks near campus haha. Teddy asked if my  classmates hated me yet cause I have such an in at Grey Sloan. I laughed and told her that they didn't know; only one of my friends figured it out and I'm lucky enough that she hasn't told anyone.

As we were chatting I saw Carina walk by. I waved across the courtyard and invited her to join us, introducing her to Teddy. Ever since Arizona left, Carina has seemed kinda lonely and I think she and Teddy would get along really well. Carina sat down with her coffee and chatted with us for a while. I asked how things were in Italy; she had gone home to visit her dad a few weeks ago and I hadn't really seen her since. She talked about how nice it was to be back in Italy and Teddy started talking about how much she missed Germany. The two of them wouldn't shut up about Europe and how great the public transportation is there. I chimed in, talking about my semester abroad in Madrid and agreed that the metro system was indeed, amazing. I was glad to see that they hit it off; they could both use a friend in Seattle.

After lunch, I hung around the hospital for a while. I shadowed Hunt in the ER and watched a couple of surgeries from the gallery. Owen has the flu and had an IV hooked up so he could get fluids throughout the day. During surgery, the anesthesiologist accidentally administered a paralytic into his IV, instead of the patients. He passed out in seconds and Glasses had to intubate him. They monitored him until he regained consciousness, and thank goodness he's okay.

After the last surgery, I headed back to my apartment. Maya was out for a run so I plopped down on the couch next to Andy. Feeling nostalgic, I asked if she remembered the crazy game we used to play as kids.

"Which one?" Andy laughed remembering all the crazy things they used to do.

Mattie smiled, "Royalty."

Andy thought for a second before jumping up and grabbing a deck of cards out of the drawer.

They sat on the floor on either side of the coffee table and Andy started dealing out cards. They each picked up their hand of 12, hid one card under each cushion of the couch, and started to play. When Maya got back from her run, she could hear screeching before she even opened the door.

"What are you guys doing?" she questioned clearly trying not to laugh as she looked at her friends wrestling each other to get the queen of diamonds from under a pillow.

"Playing royalty" Mattie and Andy called back without even bothering to look up.

Maya laughed. "How do you play?" she asked.

At the same time, Mattie snagged the card, "we'll teach you" she called out, "but this is how you win" she exclaimed as she slammed the card down on the table.

Andy and I explained to Maya that we had developed the game 'Royalty' as kids. The objective of the game is to get as many royal cards as you can, but they're all worth a different amount of points. The queen of diamonds is clearly worth the most and if you get that card and add it to a stack that already has 10 or more points, you win. We put cards under the cushions, but you can't look for them until the 11th round. Sometimes you never get there, the queen of diamonds shows up in the deck or there are enough other points to win. But other times, the queen of diamonds is under one of the cushions and it's like a fight to the death to find it and add it to your stack. Maya was so confused she resigned to just watch and laugh at us as we acted like children again. It must have been quite a sight, but it was insanely fun. Neither Andy nor I had laughed that much in months. Maybe next time we can get Maya to play with us.

-Mattie