AN: Hey guys, just a really quick note. First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of you. We hope you take the time to tell them how much you appreciate them.

Secondly, we are extremely thankful for all the suggestions that our reviewers on both FF and AO3 are leaving us, and we've gone back and adjusted a few things, and are making a lot of changes to the rest of the chapters we had already written. So make the effort to comment on things you like, don't like, and wish to see. We might not always go in the direction you wish but most of what you recommend does end up influencing how we write the story.

Ep. Ref: S01E04 & S01E05. This chapter starts at the beginning of Ep. 5 but references certain things from Ep 4 too.

We also have two characters from another TV show coming in for cameo rolls for this and the next chapter, but that does not make this story a multi crossover.

We apologize for any grammatical mistakes, we proofread each chapter before posting it but I'm sure we miss some things since we continue to make corrections here and there even after our beta reader, RyanHatch89, has gone through it. Please let us know if the chapter flow was okay to follow or if you found it too choppy, and again, thank you all for reading.

Visual Companion Guide to this story is on Pinterest: nuv86/more-than-just-surviving-hpga-fanfic/

Chapter Six

Human beings waste so much of their limited time on Earth chasing a perfect life, but here's the secret, such a thing doesn't exist. Life involves going through struggles, achievements, failures, honors, insults, love, hatred, friendships, loss, enlightening discoveries, and disillusionments. It took me a long time to understand that life's ups and downs came in continuous waves. During my years of struggles at Hogwarts, the only thing that had kept me going was the thought that everything would be perfect once Voldemort was defeated, but it was just the same. The struggles still continued, along with the loneliness, sprinkled with happiness here and there. It wasn't until the realization hit that a perfect life is not a thing, but an ideal achieved in one's own perception, that things began to look up. Life still continues to come at me in waves, but the way I chose to look at it, confront it, roll with it, and embrace it has made it pretty perfect.

Meredith's POV

Meredith lay sprawled on her back, having spent yet another sleepless night cataloging the cracks on her bedroom ceiling. Her mind had been too busy ruminating on the recent twists of her life to let her get any decent amount of sleep.

Lately, with all the new changes in starting her intern year, trying to find her flow as a burgeoning yet novice surgeon, and navigating all the new relationships she'd suddenly developed, she'd started to feel the old emotions of anxiety well up again. It almost felt like she was drowning, again and again, stuck under the relentless swells of a tempestuous ocean.

Mer resented these feelings. They always came around whenever she experienced an overwhelming amount of social stimuli. Her old therapist's words, not hers. But really, if she was honest, it wasn't so much drowning as it was treading water.

She'd always thought once she graduated with her MD, navigating her life would become easier. Yet everywhere she turned recently, she was surrounded by one frustration after another.

Izzie and George were always in her space. Bickering, being friendly and helpful, wanting her to share her problems, or going through her mother's things for God's sake. If that wasn't enough, George had become annoyingly adamant that 'men' don't buy tampons. Seriously? What does that even mean?

'Complete hogwash,' as Harry would say because everything she'd learned through her association with her older brother, or how Bill and Ron were with Fleur and Hermione, proved her fellow intern was being an idiot and way too sensitive.

Of more importance, though, was the official reprimand Izzie, Cristina, and she had received a week ago from Bailey. At least it had been in private. The woman had pretty much ripped them new ones as she'd laid out in the strictest of terms that what they had collectively pulled during the John Doe case had not gone unnoticed. The Chief, Dr. Burke, Derek, and Harry were in the know and had unanimously agreed their actions would be filed in their permanent records. She'd made it painfully clear if they continued on their present course, they would be in genuine danger of being kicked out of the residency program, and possibly losing the chance to take their Board exams.

Cristina and Izzie, for their parts, had received a full tongue lashing, which pretty much amounted to both having a disastrous level of tunnel vision and apparent disregard for their authority figures. Bailey had also pointed out their lack of any thoughts towards the bigger picture, the patient's or their family's wishes, or their quality of life afterward. She'd referenced Cristina's often tactless and callous behavior, as well as Izzie's inappropriate and intrusive attachment to her patient.

Mer was sad to say while she'd been embarrassed for her fellow female interns having such harsh criticism hurled at them, she'd silently agreed with their resident's assessment.

All three of them had been placed on month-long probation, where Izzie would be shadowing Bailey to learn by example and writing an in-depth report on her thoughts about each patient for the first two weeks. In contrast, Cristina had been assigned a peer counselor to help her assess her thought process for each case she worked on for the same period.

Mer did not envy them and felt a relieved sense of guilty comfort that she wasn't facing such harsh consequences. It had been enough for her to have to write a full report on all her actions and why she'd allowed them to happen, why they were considered wrong, and how she would proceed differently. Regardless, her heightened level of anxiety this past week had left her beyond tired, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it.

Alex and George, on the other hand, had been allowed to leave early, since, besides Alex's underhanded action of stealing a surgery from his fellow interns, they hadn't really been involved. However, Bailey had directed some strongly worded advice towards Mer, which summarized down to sticking to her instincts instead of allowing herself to be led astray by sympathy for her peers.

Even a week into their probation, Mer still developed butterflies at the mere thought of the incident. God, how could she have been so, so stupid? She knew better, had been raised, and taught to know better at the hands of surgeons like Ellis Grey and Harrison Potter-Black.

While everything Mer had learned from her mother was through her surgery videos and casual conversations she'd witnessed, Harry had always taken the time to be completely transparent with how practicing medicine played out in the real world. Unlike her mother, he had always made himself available whenever she'd needed tutoring or needed to bounce ideas off during her uni courses. He would spend hours telling her about the ethical judgment calls he'd had to make regarding many of his patients, and now she felt she'd let him down.

God! She'd been so stupid! Her hands still trembled every time she thought on how she'd taken all the basics she'd ever learned, been painstakingly mentored in by one of the biggest names in surgery, and she'd thrown it wastefully down the drain.

At least Harry hadn't been angry enough to leave her, as she'd feared. She'd known from the start it was irrational to fear such a thing happening. After all, Harry had always been and would continue to be loyal to those he loved. It was just an integral part of who he was. But she hadn't been able to help her mind from conjuring up worst-case scenarios. But really, it was because she knew she had his unconditional love that she was ashamed of having let him down.

While they hadn't had enough time between the two of them to fully talk about things, the quick hug and kiss to the crown of her head two days ago had gone a long way to soothe her uneasy soul.

She smiled tiredly at the memory. It had been good to get the reassurance she was still loved. Unfortunately, love didn't replace the sense of shame she still felt, thus her lack of sleep, and on top of that, she'd been called down to the Home by her mother's nurse. Why couldn't life just give her a break once in a while?

Harry's POV

"Harry, can you please come to the Home? Mom's having a lucid day, and her nurse asked me to come because she thinks now would be a good time to take care of having her estate and responsibilities signed over to myself. I don't know the first thing about her finances and estates, and I really don't have time for this right now," Harry heard Mer explain over the phone. She sounded tired and close to tears. With all the recent upheaval in her life, he really should've anticipated this, but first, he needed to work out a plan for Ellis.

"Bambi, Sweetheart, I know this is hard, but as much as you might hate to hear this, she's right," he soothed, hoping to pull her away from the panic he could hear in her voice. "We both know your mother has been getting worse, and if she is lucid then we should take care of this quickly," he said, and before she could refuse, he added, "don't worry, I'll come down and take care of most of it, but you do need to be there once it's time to sign."

Harry had been on his way to the hospital but now with the need to head towards Ellis' Home he turned the wheel to take the next left.

"How do you want to do this? I mean, we have a few options. I could have the papers drawn to give you the full power of attorney and have everything transferred under your name," he asked as his brain started to compile a list of things they would need to transfer Ellis' assets to Mer, and the people he would need to contact.

"That would mean I would have to take care of everything from then on?"

Sympathy welled up inside Harry at hearing her uneasy tone, and his heart went out to the fragile girl she sounded like. He understood this would be a heavy weight for her to carry, especially during the start of her residency. After all, he had personal knowledge of what an enormous step it was, having to take on the sudden responsibility of managing such a substantial financial portfolio, especially when you were barely starting to step into the world yourself.

He'd gone through his fair share of anxiety filled episodes when the Black and Potter estates had been turned over to him by his account manager.

He stopped at the red light and tried to reassure Mer by telling her it wouldn't be so bad, but knew she would appreciate him being as straight with her as possible. She was a lot like him when it came to information and would rather have people be truthful with her than hide things away for the sake of not hurting her. He remembered all too well growing up with too many adults thinking they knew better, misleading him with half-truths and misinformation, which was why he whole-heartedly understood Mer's feelings on such matters.

He hadn't spent too much time with her before he'd realized her need to have a bit of control or say in her own life, so he'd made her a promise to never lie or sugar coat things for her, even if hearing the truth might hurt her feelings.

He hadn't done so when she'd almost been taken advantage of by some college boys during her freshman year in college and hadn't taken the proper precautions at a campus party. Or when she'd asked his opinion about whether he thought she was cut out for medical school. Even when she'd almost given herself alcohol poisoning after first hearing Ellis' diagnosis, or when she'd failed to stick to her instincts and her attendings' directions two weeks ago. He wasn't about to start now.

"Hmm, you would have to take charge of Ellis' affairs and make all decisions for her, maintain any investments, and take care of upkeep for any properties under her name."

Listening to her contemplative silence, he could clearly imagine the panicked look she was probably supporting and thought of other alternatives. "Well the other option is that you have full control, and I retain a limited power of attorney to help you with matters, it would give you time to get used to handling her affairs until you feel ready to do it on your own, but the final call will still be yours."

"Yeah, I think that might be better. You know I'm not good with all this, and it would take me forever to work things out."

He continued to make his way closer to the Home, while he spoke to Mer on speakerphone. "Look, I'm almost there. Do you want to keep Ellis' original lawyer or bring in Harvey to handle the legal stuff, and I can always have Bartok handle her estate for you?"

"Harvey sounds good. He already handles your personal and business matters, so it might be easier," she responded, sounding a little less overwhelmed.

"Alright, let me call Donna, and see how fast he can get here. We only have a window of a few hours, and if he can't make it, we'll have to go with her old lawyer for now."

"Sounds good, I'll see you soon, and thanks, Harry."

"Always."

Hanging up, he dialed Donna's cell, and a teasing smirk lit his face at the thought of one of his favorite redheads. I seem to have a lot of those, he realized, thinking of all the Weasleys in his life. "Good afternoon, Luv," he smiled.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite Brit," his lawyer's assistant of seven years and girlfriend for the past two, greeted in a playfully husky voice. "How have you been, and when are you planning to come visit us in New York?"

"Well, your favorite Brit is just dandy, thank you, and no plan as of yet to head to your side of the country, I'm afraid. Still too caught up in settling here," he replied with a touch of disappointment.

"Hmm, so, did you miss me?" He could clearly imagine the impish curl of her lips as she asked. "What am I saying," she corrected imperiously without giving him a chance to get a word in. "I'm Donna, of course, you missed me. Which begs the question, why has it been so long since you've visited?"

"Is that ever in question? Don't worry, we'll have to get together soon to remedy that," he replied as he thought about how long it's been since he last hooked up with Harvey and Donna, and felt a delicious tingle travel down his spine at that memory.

Clearing his head, he turned to the original reason for his call.

"Donna, I need to speak to Harvey. Something's come up with Ellis Grey, and I need to get things transferred under Meredith's name."

"Well, aren't you lucky then?" He could hear her whispering something to someone. "Harvey is meeting with a client at a vineyard in Portland and should be finishing soon. How soon do you need him there?" She asked, her tone taking on a business-esque quality.

"The sooner, the better. I'm sure you know how Alzheimer's can be. She's lucid now, but there is no guarantee for how long it will last. Are you with him?" He asked since he assumed it was Harvey she'd whispered to.

"Ooh, you caught me. We decided to tack on a little vacation at the end of this trip. I'm sure the anticipation of being in my wondrous presence is killing you."

"You've been holding out on me, Donna," he said in mock anger, "but nonetheless, I hope to see you both soon."

"All right, I'll get back to you soon, just make sure everyone else that might be needed is there. Oh, and have her lawyer forward her estate paperwork to me, I'll take care of the rest. Ciao, McYummy (Goodbye, McYummy)."

With a quick, "Au revoir, Espiègle (Goodbye, Minx)," he ended the call. What the actual hell? That woman has ears everywhere.

Completely baffled at that woman's resourcefulness, he pulled into a parking space and got out to make the necessary arrangements with Ellis' nurse.

Harry considered his younger sister as he drove away from the Home. He'd received a text from Harvey, informing him he'd be here in four to five hours, so for now, Harry had offered Mer a ride to the hospital. Quite frankly, she looked bone-weary, making him regret not doing more for her after the events, which led to her probation.

Reaching across the console to take her hand, he gave it a squeeze.

"What's weighing your heart down, Bambi?"

She stayed silent, and he started to think he wouldn't be getting anything out of her right now, but then she spoke quietly. "It's nothing and everything. Just a lot of things. I'm sorry I let you down."

She'd probably needed to get that off her chest for a while now. It had always surprised Harry that for such an insular person, she'd never been very good at keeping things inside. He hid a minuscule smile that her quirk had always made it easy to get her to open up.

"You didn't let me down." Seeing her incredulity, he replied, "I was more worried you let yourself down. I know you know better than anyone, everything you have gone through to get here. I know, you're also aware of just how good your instincts are when it comes to medicine. So I have to admit, I was astonished you would allow someone, without much of a logical argument, to get you to override what you knew was the right thing to do."

She chewed on her lip in thought, before admitting, "I knew I'd messed up right after it happened. I just, how do you say no to a friend?" she asked, almost pleadingly.

Harry wondered if she realized that she had just referred to Izzie as a friend. "Mer, I know you have limited experience with friends and family, but you still have experience with us, with Teddy, Andy, Fleur, and Hermione. Not to mention the rest of the horde."

Seeing a sliver of a smile at his moniker for their family and friends, he continued. "So, taking our relationship into account, has anything wrong ever happened because I refused to go along with something you wanted, or when you've refused to do something with me, because, and I quote, 'it's so stupid, it's dumb'?"

That got her to let out a grin. "No," she said, sounding hopeful. "I know you're right. We've survived through a lot of bickering, disagreements, and the countless fights we've had since we met."

"And we're still here," he finished her thought with another squeeze to her hand, only to get one right back, "but I know there's something else," he said, trying to get her to open up just a little more.

"Uh, just the same old. I visited mom when Liz, her scrub nurse, was at the hospital, and you know what, mom actually remembered her, talked about her, laughed about her, but she still couldn't remember who I was." Her woeful explanation chipped away at his heart, causing him to clasp her hand more firmly in silent support.

"I'm sorry, Bambi. I know none of this is fair, and I can't imagine what exactly you must be going through. Would you like me to take over visiting her for a while? You could use a break."

"I don't, but maybe just now and then, if you wouldn't mind," she said expectantly after the initial hesitation.

"Sure. You know it's no problem." Then deciding to change the subject, he asked, "So, I hate to ask, but how's work?"

She let out a whining moan, which made the wizard chuckle and ask, "That bad, huh?"

"Well, no, it hasn't been too bad, but there was this patient and his wife, you know, with the nails in his head?"

"Oh, that one I passed to Shepherd? I remember the trauma was fully focused on his central nervous system. What about it?" he asked, recalling the case.

"Well, we got the nails out, but then we found a fuzzy tumor, and taking it out would've made him lose his memories and take away the parts that made him, him."

Harry could already see the parallels Mer's mind would draw to her situation with Ellis, and accurately guessed, "You tried to talk the patient and the wife out of it?"

Her eyes showed her desperation when she answered, "I wanted to so badly. You know what they'd be going through. It wouldn't be him anymore. I couldn't, though, with already being in trouble and Bailey telling us 'no more mess-ups.'" She said, pouting at him.

"Oh, don't give me that look. I know you fully realize that you all needed a little harsh reality check. Better earlier than when it's too late."

"I hate it when you talk logic to me," she said, turning her head towards the passenger side window.

"Mer, like the situation with Alex in the locker room, and again with the husband and wife. You need to remain objective. Use your personal experience where appropriate, but try very hard to not bring your personal issues to work. Your patients and your profession deserve better than that. Your situation with your mom is not at all similar to your patient's," he pointed out.

His comment made her turn back to him. "Of course it is," she said, surprised he didn't agree.

Shaking his head, he tried to explain, "Your relationship with your mom has always been fraught with tension, and you've never been that close to one another, so it's understandable that you feel a little resentful of having to take care of her. Heck, I would, too, if I had to take care of Petunia or Vernon. The situation with your patient and his wife is quite different, perhaps?"

Taking a second to think about it, she said, "They're completely in love with each other. It was really sweet, actually."

"There you go, then, your experience doesn't really apply now, does it?"

Thinking about it a bit more, she responded in the mature way of sticking her tongue out at him, which he grabbed between his thumb and index finger with lightning-quick reflexes, but he was sure she understood what he'd been getting at.

"Aaiee, aech ee ao," she tried to say. Letting her tongue go, he wiped his hand on her jeans. "Eww, Harry."

"What? It's your spit!" he defended.

While getting out after he parked the car, she said, "By the way, thanks for coming down hard on all the male interns who ganged up on Izzie for the lingerie ad," then with an approving grin and a joking tone, she said, "it was the height of badassery. You make me proud to call you my brother," she finished haughtily.

"It's sexual harassment, so they deserved it," and turned to pat his Audi before leaving, "Bye 'Nimbus.'"

"Never mind, I take back that last comment," and with that, she vamoosed.

He followed her in amusement. At least he'd succeeded in distracting her out of her doom and gloom mood. The rest, he wasn't too worried about. She'd always been a quick learner and had a good head on her shoulders. She wasn't the same girl he'd met eight years ago, wasn't as fragile, or as broken. Instead, she had become so much more durable and more confident, especially with people like Andy, Fleur, and Hermione as positive influences.

So while she still had much to learn, he wasn't worried.

Preston's POV

Preston felt a little undecided. He was about to take either a great step or make a huge mistake. He had just finished an early morning CABG surgery which had lasted four hours and was currently standing at the second-floor balcony waiting for his coffee order. He'd been thinking a lot about their first-year intern, Cristina Yang. Usually, she was logical, cold, practical, austere, and everything a budding surgeon should be, but during the Liz Fallon case, he'd seen her show open emotion for the first time.

The stoic woman had spent an entire day trying to get in on Liz's supposed Whipple surgery, only to become angry once she realized the scrub nurse had only been here for palliative care. When the older woman had coded, something about the way Cristina had just lost it had stuck with him, and he hadn't been able to get that image out of his head since. He'd never encountered someone with so much surgical passion and ambition since his own time as an intern.

Grabbing the two cups of coffee, he made his way towards the in-patient floor, where the Asian intern had been assigned this shift. He caught sight of her immediately, leaning as she was by the nurse's station, writing in a patient's chart. She was in light blue scrubs and her white coat, her wavy ebony hair half up in a clip. The image she painted made him swallow to wet his suddenly dry throat.

Slowly sauntering forward, he casually avoided colliding into Dr. Stevens as she came out of a patient's room, and discreetly placed one of the cups by Cristina's right hand on his way to stand by her left side. She stopped writing and slowly glanced at the cup before turning mechanically to give him a measuring look.

Preston continued to look at the wall in front of him, trying to keep it natural, took a sip of his coffee, burning his tongue in the process, and turned to face her. Feeling a little awkward at her silent stare, he looked between her cup and face a few times, wracking his brain for something, anything to break the silence. Finally, he settled on giving her a friendly smile before clarifying with an accompanying shrug, "Just coffee."

After considering it in her course manner, she uttered a terse, "Good."

"Okay."

"Okay," she answered, and with a lack of anything else to say, he walked away with a stiff nod, but stopped around the hallway wall, hidden from her view.

He came back out and grinned, feeling a giddy sense of satisfaction when he saw her take the cup and sip from it and watched her walk away, but almost lost his grip on his hot coffee when his eyes locked on Harrison relaxing against the wall Cristina had just passed, supporting a sly grin.

Fuck. Looking away robotically, Preston started to walk away from the younger surgeon's sight but bowed his head when he felt the Brit wrap an arm over his shoulders, and allowed him to maneuver him into an empty on-call room.

"Harrison," Preston sighed at the inevitable, taking a seat on one of the beds, while the other man parked his frame against the wall.

"So," he drawled, "you've got the hots for our spitfire intern?"

"Oh God," Preston moaned, "can you please not make it sound like some teenage crush?" Before the other man could respond, he tried to make his case. "I know what you're probably thinking. This is a bad idea, she's an intern, and I'm her boss, and God, this is so wrong, but I can't stop thinking about her. Trust me, I've tried."

"What? Did I say anything?" The grinning man asked innocently.

"So, you're saying you don't care?" The older surgeon scoffingly asked.

The green-eyed man moved over to take a seat by him and clasped his hands together, elbows resting on his knees. "Look, Preston, as your friend…"

"Friend?" Preston asked him in bewilderment. We're friends?

"Hush, don't look a gift horse in the mouth," the Englishman waved off and turned to look at him before continuing. "As a friend, I'm happy for you. Plus, I'm sure I can say nothing you haven't already thought of a thousand times yourself." His friend said, surprising the older man with his laissez-faire outlook.

"You must really feel a pull towards her if you're willing to place both your careers in danger."

Preston was surprised at how calmly his 'friend' was taking this when most would've already started to talk him out of it.

"You don't... disapprove?" he asked Harrison, surprised at seeking his approval. He didn't know why it mattered, maybe it provided him with a sense of relief to find some support for his decision, but at the moment, it seemed important.

"Hmm, not really. You're a grown-ass man and know exactly what you're getting into. A piece of advice if you want it?"

He nodded at Harrison's genial question.

"Cristina has a thirst for success, is insanely ambitious, and your student, hence under your authority. Others might take it the wrong way. Stay professional, make sure you request various interns on a rotation, so no one feels cause for suspicion. Do not let her sweet talk you into anything."

The last comment made him narrow his eyes at the Brit, only to receive a skeptical brow as if he was asking Preston, 'What, you don't think so?', and Preston found himself reluctantly voicing, "Yeah, she might."

"All I'm saying is, be prepared for every eventuality. If your relationship ever comes to light, it will look just as badly upon her, and all her hard work will be placed in question, and you know how the rumor mill can be around here."

The darker-toned male sighed and leaned back on his elbows. "I know, really wish it was easier." Then thinking about the man's last comment, Preston directed one of his own sly grins towards the younger surgeon and teased, "Yeah, the rumor mill, dangerous thing that, McYummy."

This earned him an abrupt, "Oh, for 'Merlin's bloody bits'!"

The weird cuss made Preston choke on his sip of coffee before he sat back up to clear his windpipe, and turned a befuddled stare on his new friend.

"Yeah, ignoring that, and do both of yourselves a favor," Harrison said, leaving his eccentric swear unaddressed. "The minute you realize your 'teenager fling,'" he wiggled his fingers to emphasize the words, "is becoming a regular thing, just be open about it with the Chief and Bailey."

"And if it backfires?" Preston countered, thinking of all the ways, doing so could turn wrong.

"I don't think it will, mate. Let them know it's there, give them proof that it hasn't changed anything since it first started, promise to continue to remain professional, remove yourself from the chain of command when it comes to any disciplinary action towards her, yada, yada, yada," the Trauma surgeon ended with a lazy twirl of his wrist.

"So others can't say that I coerced her. Yeah, I know," he nodded, understanding what the Brit was trying to say.

"Well, if that's all for our Dr. Phil session." The younger surgeon trailed off, standing up from the bed.

Preston followed his action and offered his hand in gratitude. "Thank you Harrison, for ah..." he trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Call me Harry, Pres. I think we've at least gotten that far," he declared with a friendly smile, and Preston stood there silently mouthing 'Pres' and allowing the word to figuratively role on his tongue.

"I don't think anyone has ever called me that," he thought out loud.

"Really?" 'Harry' asked, surprised. "How fantastically unlazy of everyone," he declared in the epitome of an upper-crust English accent.

"Well, I have to dash, but I'll be seeing you around." With a smile at Preston's last 'thanks,' he walked out the door, leaving the heart surgeon to just stand there thinking, I haven't really had a friend here before. Feels... nice, I think.

Meredith's POV

Mer sat in a chair, her right foot bouncing at the toes in a clear sign of her nervousness. Not five minutes ago, she had pulled Bailey aside to tell the Resident she needed to speak to her and Burke as soon as possible. The woman had peered at her in silence and then nodded, telling her to wait in this room.

Her mind kept toggling back and forth between following Harry's advice, or backing out before it was too late.

She'd felt distressed and conflicted about her mistake since she'd scrubbed out from assisting in Ms. Patterson's CABG surgery this morning, and it had been slowly eating away at her.

She focused on the present, and stood up as the door opened and in walked Bailey and Burke.

"What is this about Grey, and try to be quick, I still have rounds to finish," the cardiothoracic attending pronounced, getting straight to the point.

Bailey took a seat, but Burke remained standing, and Mer didn't think she could do this if he continued to hover over them. For the hundredth time, the intern wished Harry had accompanied her, but he'd thought she needed to do this on her own. She was sure she might, possibly, see sense in his decision later, but for now she just hated him, just a little bit.

"Dr. Grey, we don't have all day." Dr. Burke said strictly.

Encouraging him to take a seat as this might take a while, she started to explain. "I think I made a mistake during Ms. Patterson's surgery."

Both of her superiors became more attentive at her confession.

"Mistake?" the attending asked. His voice was level, and he hadn't started yelling. So far, so good.

"My hand had been getting tired and if you recall, the heart slipped a little in my hands." She saw Burke nodding at remembering the incident.

"Well, when I went to remove my gloves, I noticed my nail had popped through and…" Mer paused.

This was it. If she said another word, there would be no turning back, but when Mer had chased after Harry when she'd caught sight of him coming out of the on-call room, to seek his advice, he'd said the best thing she could do was be honest as soon as possible.

"But, what if I get in trouble?" she'd asked in fear.

"Do you care more about your patient, or about your position?" Harry had asked as if they were discussing something inane.

At her silent indecision, he'd asked a different question. "Why did you become a doctor?"

She hadn't even had to think, her reply had been instinctive. "To help people as much as I can, in any way that I can, for as long as possible." They'd both smiled at her words, since they were the same ones Harry had told her when she had asked him the same question years ago.

"Then, I think you already have your answer, Bambi."

Yes, she did.

Strengthening her resolve, she looked at her teachers and said in as steady a voice as she could manage, "I'm not one hundred percent positive, but what if the reason her heart isn't responding as well as it should is because my nail nicked it."

Burke went into deep thought, while Bailey's face became extremely troubled and she looked discreetly at the attending out of the corner of her eyes.

Am I missing something? Mer thought.

"Okay, it's not as bad as it could be, but why didn't you come to us as soon as you suspected?" Burke questioned.

Sighing in relief at the nonaggressive question, she explained, "I didn't want to get kicked out of the program, especially if my suspicion turned out to be untrue."

"Not that I'm not happy you did, but why come forward now?" asked Bailey.

Mer took a stuttering breath, still feeling the beats from the flow of her blood in her ears. "I, uh, I had been thinking about it all day, I was scared and didn't know what I should do, so I asked Hay… um, Dr. Potter-Black, and he advised that the best thing to do would be to be open with you as soon as possible, so we can help the patient without it blowing unnecessarily out of proportions."

"Did he now? He seems to be just full of wisdom today," Burke commented more lightheartedly than Mer expected, considering the current situation.

"He is right though. Now that we know about this, we can keep a closer eye on Ms. Patterson, and put a game plan together on how to approach her husband about any complications. Still, for now nothing changes, continue to monitor her Grey, and I'll go warn the Chief," the man said before getting up.

"Wait, I'm still on her case?" Mer asked in surprise, not being able to believe what she was hearing. She'd been certain this would lead to another strike in her record, and so soon after the first one too. Just the thought of confessing had her at the edge of tears since the surgery.

"You showed strength in choosing to follow all the right protocols, didn't hide any facts, and it's not too late for intervention if needed, so yes, you're still on her case."

He turned to leave before turning back to her. "Why go to Dr. Potter-Black with this?"

Damn, she'd been hoping they didn't notice her slip of the tongue. "Well, it's not really a secret, but we don't really go out of our ways to announce it either, I mean, the Chief already knows, and so does Cristina…"

"Meredith," Bailey interrupted, looking amused at her rambling.

"Right, uh, do you want the long story or the short story," she asked, trying to lighten the impact but curious about their answer as well.

"Grey, not all day," Burke huffed, crossing his arms.

"My mother didn't always have time to be a mom and we didn't get along most of the time. I met Harry when he started the first year of his residency with my mother and well, he kind of took me under his wing," she narrated with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

Thinking about the saying, 'in for a penny, in for a pound,' she decided to just let them know the full truth. "After a few years, he practically became my unofficial guardian, and since I don't really have any family besides my mother, he took on the role of an older brother and sometimes father.

"But this won't affect us working together. Harry doesn't believe in giving special treatment, he's always made me earn everything," she finished with an expectant look, hoping this wouldn't cause problems.

"Well, that's good to know, reassuring that he's ethical about it, and since the Chief knows, it should be fine," Bailey said, bringing Mer's anxiety level down.

The Resident then looked towards the attending and asked, "If we've all done here, can I send my intern back on the floor?"

"Yeah, we're good," Burke dismissed before heading out the door.

Bailey then turned to her, with a considerate look. "Well, this explains a whole lot about why Dr. Potter-Black informed me you might need to leave early to take care of some family business. That has seriously been bugging the crap out of me all morning."

Mer chuckled at her older brother's shenanigans, as he'd probably done it for that exact reason. "He's a prankster, so he tends to pull stuff like that," she whispered as if letting Bailey in on a secret.

"Huh, he seems so mature."

"Mm-hmm, he's really good at it too, but you should be safe as long as you don't do anything to get on his bad side."

Mer's comment made Bailey narrow her eyes in calculation, before she told Mer, "We'll see about that, now get back to your station."

CHAPTER END

6504 Words, Updated May 10, 2020

AN: Please review and let us know how we're doing, point out any errors, tell us when something sounds too cheesy or makes you go Awww!