greenland | owen hunt

❧ EXTRA 2

THE CHRISTMAS BREAK SPECIAL ! 

THE HARPER AVERY'S 

"This is ridiculous." Natalia commented as she attempted to reach for the glass of champagne in Owen's hand, "I'm not even going to win--"

"Don't say that." Owen lectured as Amelia leaned over to grab the glass of champagne in Owen's hand before handing it to Elliot, who drank the cup, "You're going to win-- and you're going to say your speech perfectly, okay?"

"Mm," Natalia squinted at her with a shrug, "I guess." Natalia hummed as she leaned back in her chair before she looked at her husband with puppy eyes, "Please--?"

"Hunt," Amelia warned, "stay strong, do not feed into your wife's temptations to drink."

Owen chuckled as Natalia groaned, "Why not?" She whined, covering her face with her hands, "I'm stressing out and--"

"Because then you'll go up there and slur your words and drunkenly giggle." Amelia finished, "You're not getting a drink."

Natalia squinted at her friend, knowing full well she was correct before sighing, "Fine."

Elliot cleared his throat, "Look, Nat, you'll be fine. Just go up there when they call you and say the speech you and Amy have rehearsed for ages."

"I guess--" Natalia's eyes darted to her right, "Jackson," Natalia called out as her friend sat next to her, "why did you have to nominate me? I would have been fine--"

"I didn't." Jackson corrected, making Natalia frown her brows.

"Then who did?" Natalia asked as Owen attempted to look anywhere but at his wife and Jackson nodded his head towards the man, making Natalia gasp, "You put me through this?"

Owen squinted at his wife, "You're going to be fine-- you're stressing yourself out for no reason."

"Mm." Natalia hummed before shrugging and leaning back on her chair, "Maybe the kids need us, we should go--"

"Meredith has babysitting duty all done with Callie and Arizona. Lia," Owen placed a hand on her shoulder, "you need to calm down."

"Calm down?" Natalia scoffed, making the others eyes widen as she whisper-yelled, "This is a Harper Avery award-- the only person I know who was nominated didn't win a-and her research was amazing--"

"Yours is, too." Owen noted with a smile, "Your research--"

"Had many errors--"

"That you fixed." Jackson corrected, "Your--"

"The girl at Portland Gen. had research way more impressive than mine--"

"But yours showed more results." Amelia pointed out, making Natalia quirk a brow, "...I may or may not have looked at the other competitors."

"Oh." Natalia blinked, "Well--"

"It's starting!" Elliot hushed loudly, making Amelia facepalm with a sigh.

Amelia shook her head at herself, "I shouldn't have given the other lightweight a drink."

❦

Catherine Avery smiled at the crowd as she slowly opened the envelope in her hands, "The Harper Avery for surgical innovation goes to..." 

"It's the girl in Portland Gen." Natalia assured her husband with a whisper as she leaned forward.

"Natalia Rory Sloan from Grey Sloan Memorial!"

"See," Natalia smiled at her husband, "I told you-- wait, what?" Natalia's face froze as applause filled her ears and smiling faces turned to her, "What?"

"You won!" Elliot repeated loudly, making Amelia nudge him before she continued to applaud for Natalia.

Owen held in a laugh at his wife's shocked face before he leant in to plant a kiss on her cheek, "You won," he whispered, "go claim your award."

"I-I won?" Natalia whispered in shock, making Jackson laugh.

"Yes," Jackson nodded, "now go get the award before my mom keeps it." Jackson nudged, making Natalia stumble lightly out of her chair before, by some miracle, she walked up to the stage and accepted the award handed to her by Catherine with a large smile.

"You did well, my dear." Catherine commemorated as she kissed Natalia's cheek lightly and passed her the award with a hug, "Impressive work."

"Thank you." Natalia spoke with a small exhale of surprise before she walked over to the mic to perform her speech as the applause that once filled the room now grew silent.

"Um," Natalia cleared her throat as she looked down at the award before her eyes landed back on the audience, "t-thank you, for the award and..." She swallowed thickly, looking down at the plaque in her hands, "The Harper Avery award is used as an incentive to promote surgeons to... try their best and work hard to achieve a medical breakthrough in history-- to attempt what no one else has or try to improve the work already accomplished." 

Natalia could practically feel the blood rushing to her ears as she felt the numerous amount of eyes and cameras on her.

"When I was pregnant for the second time, I could not stop my anxious thinking as I thought back to my two dear friend who had made the most difficult decision a parent must make when their child has osteogenesis imperfecta type II." The silence felt deafening as the conversation grew serious, "As I obtained research, I realized how many other parents made the same tough call and couldn't keep that out of my head for several days until i thought, maybe, why not try to find a way to help the infant while they're in utero?"

Natalia took a small pause to breathe, attempting not to cry as she watched tears escape Jackson's eyes from the crowd.

"My mentor, Nicole Herman, could tell you countless of stories she had heard in New York about mothers and fathers-- parents, struggling to come up with a decision." Natalia smiled sadly as she thought over her family, "I've lost a great deal of people in my life and luckily, I've never had to experience the pain of losing a child-- let alone to a genetic disorder that resulted in many lives full of pain or lives shortened."

Natalia took a second to look down the award in her hand before nodding.

"As I hold this award in my hand, all I can think about are the patients I faced to make my research possible, the people I have at my table, the people in my house, and the people who have motivated me to get here and aid the cries of many families. So," Natalia smiled, "a huge thank you to all my patients. Thank you for the nomination, thank you for the award, and thank you for believing in me." Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked at the people in her table, "Thank you."

❦❦❦

i think we all know that elliot, for sure, stood up immediately and began to drunkenly cheer while Amelia facepalmed and made Jackson shut him up LMAO 

but POP OFF NATALIA 🥺 -- i just love how much it means to april and jackson that she chose to help out babies with the same genetic disorder samuel had 🥺