"I think it's time to call her family."
Doctor Bailey breaks the silence with her certain voice, standing behind the nurse desk along with Link and Meredith.
"She has n- I don't know how much I can say, because she's really private about it, but she has no family, doctor Bailey." Link answers the chief's question, not knowing what and how much he should say.
Everything has been a little overwhelmed and chaotic in the last few days. Nobody was already back on track after they had a patient from the psychological floor running through the hospital last week, thinking he was Michael Myers, from Halloween, randomly stabbing people with a stolen scalpel.
Thank God nobody died through this, but a few patients and doctors got seriously injured.
And of course the one with the worst injuries has to be a Grey Sloan doctor, because otherwise it wouldn't be a real Grey Sloan tragedy, right?
This time it hit Jo, who of course had to play the hero and tried to protect patients, in which she got stabbed in the stomach five times. After lying in her own blood for almost an hour she was found by some nurses, who immediately paged chief Bailey and Meredith and bought Jo in an OR. Her injuries were bad and she lost a lot of blood, and coded three times during her five hour surgery; no one is sure if she will make it. Right now she is stable but in an medical induced coma, lying in the room across the nurse station, where Bailey, Meredith and Link are standing and debating what to do next.
"You remember when she had that depressive episode a few years back? That's when she met her mother for the first time, her father is dead, she has no siblings and we know all what happened to her husband. So, no there is no family we could call." Meredith is talking calmly, but freaking out on the inside. She and Jo grew quite tight in the last few years. After their tiny liver research and well after Alex left them, they became quite close friends.
"Ok, so who's her emergency contact?" Doctor Bailey looks from Link to Meredith, both of them shrugging their shoulders. Bailey grabs an electronic chart from the docing station behind her and starts looking for Jo's file. She keeps looking for a while until her finger stops appruptly and her eyes go big.
"Oh." Mer and Links eyes grow big too in confusion.
"What?" "Who is it Bailey?" But she's not answering.
Mer grabs the tablet out of Baileys hand and looks herself.
"Oh no. It's still Alex." She passes the tablet over to Link, so he could see by himself, putting her head in her hands.
"What do we do now? We can't call him, right? They are divorced. And Karev made it very clear that he wants no contact to anyone here in Seattle." Link stares into two blank faces. No one was prepared for this. And noone knows what to do now.
"I think we need to call him. She has been in a medical induced coma for the last week. Her injurys are not getting better. She coded three times already. I think we need someone to make a decision here." Bailey admittes.
"With all due respect, doctor Bailey but they are divorced. They haven't seen each other or spoken to each other in two years. How could he make the right decision here, if he will answer his phone anyhow."
Link askes concerned. Looking over to Mer to get some approval.
"I think we should do it. We should call him." Mer's agreeing with Bailey.
"What? No!" Link protests in disbelief.
"Yeah we should, Link. We need someone to make a decision. We are all way too involved, so maybe it's even better that they haven't spoken in two years. Maybe it's better if someone who hasn't been around for some time makes the decision. He still cares about her but he can also think rational about all of this. He's a doctor he knows what's best for a patient. Maybe he's her emergency contact for a reason." Mer tries to calm everyone down again. "I will call him. If that's ok with everyone." She waits for consent, then walks to the nearest oncall room. She locks the door behind herself and sits down on one of the beds. With a few deep breaths she takes out her phone and dials Alex's number. It's silent until she hears his voice after almost two years for the first time again.
"Mer." His voice is happy, which makes her feel a little better. The last thing she needed was a grumpy Alex right now.
"Hi Alex." She greets him, trying not to sound to concerned.
"What's up Mer? Are you having man problems and need your person to vent to?" He's laughing through the phone, waiting for Mer to answer.
"No, Alex. That's not- why I'm calling. There- there has been an accident, Alex. It's Jo. She- she got stabbed in the stomach five times. She lost a lot of blood. She had severe internal bleeding. They removed a piece of her liver, her kidney was removed completely, her aorta was damaged and they had to do half of a Whipple. They almost lost her, she's in an induced coma now." Meredith's slowly telling Alex all the information, not letting him interrupt her.
"Mer-"
"Her injurys aren't getting better and she coded three times already. It's bad Alex." Taking a deep breath she has to hold back tears.
"Mer stop. Why are you telling me all of this? I'm not her husband anymore. I don't think you should hand out personal information about a patients condition like that-"
"Alex you're her emergency contact."
She interrupts him. "You are the one that needs to decide what we do next. You need to decide if we should unplug her and let her go." Mer tries to sound like a doctor but it's not quite working. A first tear is streaming down her cheek.
"No, Mer. No! I- We- No. Fuck, no! I will not decide this, Mer. No.-"
"Alex you have to. Her patient decree says that her emergency contact has to decide what to do in a case like this. Alex you need to come here and decide, please." She beggs with a teary voice. Tears streaming down her cheeks. "Alex she needs you. She needs you to make this decision and even though you are divorced and you really hurt her by leaving, you are still her emergency contact. Maybe she didn't change it on purpose. Maybe she still trusts you enough to make a decision like that."
"I don't think-"
"Man up and do at least this for her, Alex! She could die if we don't decide fast enough. You are not this stupid asshole anymore, that called me a nurse. And you are not Evil Spawn anymore, that sleep with every girl in the freaking hospital. You are changed because of Jo and if you really loved her or still do, you will get your ass in a plane and come here to at least see her one last time!"
"Ok Mer. I- ahm I have to take care of a few things before I can come. Can you please stay with her until I'm there?" He's asking her with concern.
"Thank you, Alex."
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Please stay with her." He begs.
"I will Alex. Have a safe flight."
"Bye Mer."
With this Meredith places her phone beside her on the bed. She hadn't been sure if Alex would do it. She hadn't been sure if she could convince him to come and take care of his Ex-wife. She hasn't even been sure if he would pick up his phone. But he did.
