Disclaimer: I barely own my car, how can I own Grey's?
I had a review asking for the George and Olivia story, then after the end of the last chapter, I had an idea. The inspiration for this chapter came at the worst time; you don't want to know when. By the way, it is not nurse Olivia, she is a different person.
She felt strange sitting in the cab, travelling on the left side of the road instead of the right.
She looked out the window, watching the views of the airport go by; random buildings she didn't recognize from photos blaring in the streetlights; half-drunk people wandering not-so-straight along the footpaths.
The woman turned her sad face to the torn, wrinkled piece of paper in her hands; a piece of paper that had been given to her, what seemed like a million years ago, only yesterday; and had propelled her halfway across the world.
"Where to, ma'am?" the taxi driver asked in a bored voice.
"Here," she half-whispered, half-sobbed, handing over the piece of paper with an address on it.
"No problem," he replied, handing the paper back before taking a sharp left turn to follow a different road.
The woman returned to staring back at the paper her parents' Chief of Surgery had given her the day before, when she was still in Seattle. She remembered what Miranda Bailey had said about her 'rescue mission'.
"Carolyn, nothing can help George now; Izzie being here made him worse, your stepmother and sisters are doing more harm than good. I don't know how much of your father will be left for Meredith to salvage. After the accident, the memories of your mother resurfaced and he returned to the same devastated state he was when she died. You might just be going for nothing…"
Carolyn Hope O'Malley sighed. The car accident the week before the start of her fourth semester at Stanford the year before had almost killed her, and had killed the baby growing inside her. The grief and memories had almost killed her father, and he hadn't been the same since.
Carolyn sat in her taxi outside the warm and inviting house for some time after the driver had pulled up.
"Ma'am?" he asked, trying to get her attention. "We're here."
Her attention snapped back to the kind man, and she smiled through the tears which had started to run down her cheeks yet again.
"Do you know who lives there, it's a mighty big house?" he asked, yet again trying to gain her attention.
She continued to stare at the massive house, all its lights on, a general sense of warmth and love radiating from the windows and doors.
"Yeah," she whispered. "My family; my friends; the ones who can save my father from his self-destructive mind; and the only people left in the world, other than my boss, that are left to help me…"
Suddenly, a front light came on, and two people stepped out the front door. Carolyn shrunk in her seat, but the driver interrupted her.
"Sorry, luv, but I have another run to make, you're gonna have to leave now."
She sighed. "Thanks so much. Here's a tip." She handed over the money and opened the door.
She grabbed her luggage from the boot of the taxi, and started to walk up the footpath towards the couple at the door.
Carolyn was already starting to doubt herself. What if they didn't remember her? What if they didn't come back to Seattle to help?
"Can I help you?"
She snapped out of her reverie, having been interrupted at the bottom of the driveway by one of the couple; a girl, about 17, when she called out.
"Yeah, I'm looking for Doctor Shepherd. Or Doctor Grey, or whatever Meredith is calling herself these days."
"Doctor Meredith Shepherd?" the boy asked. He was about 17 as well.
"Yeah," Carolyn replied. "Do you know her?"
"Of course I know her," the boy answered. "She's my mother. I'm…"
"Ethan. I know you, and you must be Montana Sloan. I know all of you. Haven't seen you since you were kids, but I remember. I'm Carolyn. Carolyn O'Malley."
Ethan gasped. Montana screamed. Carolyn stared.
Meredith, Derek, Addison and Mark were inside the Shepherd mansion when they heard a scream from outside.
Poking their heads into the living room, Mere and Addie noticed Ethan and Montana were missing from the large congregation of children.
"Where are they?" Mark asked from the front door.
"In the front garden somewhere," Emma replied, not looking up from playing with Bailey. "Said something about it being too crowded in here."
Derek quickly turned on the outside lights and went to investigate the scream, with the other three adults behind him.
"Ethan? Montana?" Mark started calling once they reached the garden, the front door barely closed behind them.
"Down here!" Ethan's loud voice called, indicating the footpath at the bottom of the driveway.
Addison and Meredith ran down to their seventeen year old children, and were surprised to see an older woman with them.
"Oh my God," she gasped, spotting Meredith running down.
"Who are you?" the Shepherd matriarch asked.
Carolyn stared. "Meredith Grey, oh my God, Meredith Grey…" she muttered before passing out. Derek and Mark caught the girl easily between them.
"Mere," Derek asked. "Since when did you go by Grey?"
Meredith stared at the woman in her husband's arms. "I gave up my maiden name at our wedding…" she whispered. "But I know this girl; we all do. She's George and Carol's baby girl. She's Carolyn."
Everyone stared at Meredith. "Who?"
"You remember George's first wife, Carol, and how she died in the car accident in San Francisco? Well, Addie saved the baby. George named her Carolyn after her mother. This is Carolyn Hope O'Malley."
The group turned to stare back at her.
"I wonder why she's here." Ethan murmured.
"Don't we all," Derek replied under his breath, carrying the girl back up the steep driveway.
"Mark, you can get her bags," he muttered as an afterthought.
Despite being full, the hospital room was quiet. No, not quiet; silent; deathly silent.
No noise came from the people, their bodies still, each afraid to move at the terrible prospect of setting George off on another rampage.
George O'Malley himself was silent. Awake, yes, but completely silent.
He had been a shell of his former self since Carolyn's accident the year before.
Addison closed the sliding doors behind them as she, Meredith, Derek, Mark and Carolyn entered the study, ready to talk to a member of their family.
"Carolyn? Carolyn…" Meredith tried to wake her gently before resorting to using the smelling salts.
"What?" she muttered under her voice, trying to swat away her 'disturber' with her hand.
"Carolyn, you have to wake up," Meredith pressed again.
She stirred, this time opening her eyes, but gasped again when she saw Meredith's kind eyes staring into hers.
"Aunt Meredith…"
"Carolyn, you need to tell me why you're here," she said, helping the girl into a sitting position.
Carolyn took a deep breath, not really ready for what she was about to say.
"Well," she began. "About a year ago, I was about to begin my fourth semester at Stanford Med, when I was in a car crash. The other person died instantly, but I escaped serious harm… except for the fact that I was pregnant at the time. The accident caused me to miscarry."
Addison stared at Carolyn with absolute wonder in her eyes; Meredith's shed pity with every tear; Mark and Derek couldn't say a word.
"Why did you come?" Addison asked in a whisper.
Carolyn's body shook with each tear that ran down her face. "With the accident, Daddy fell into a grief-stricken state, one that parallels the one that he fell into when Mom died; the only different thing is he needed to stay here for me. Now, there's no one to bring him out of his memories. Olivia and the girls are doing more harm than good; Izzie being there only made things worse; Aunt Miranda doesn't think there'll be much left for Meredith to salvage, if she even goes home to try and help."
Meredith turned to face the young woman. "Carolyn, who's with George?"
"My stepmother and sisters are there all the time, Olivia has taken a leave of absence from her work and the girls are there before and after school; Izzie, Alex and Miranda are there whenever they are off duty, taking turns visiting, and their kids basically live at the hospital. Christina and Preston arrived a few days before I left, with Richard and Kyle in tow. They all pop in every now and again, but all they do is sit in silence."
"Why?" Mark asked.
Carolyn turned to look at him. "Any attempt to talk to him, to comfort him, anything, ends up in him screaming… yelling… no one can get through to him. Miranda was hoping you could help…" She looked directly at Meredith.
Meredith met her eyes, and they did not waver for minutes.
"Miranda Bailey needs my help?" she asked. Carolyn nodded. Meredith looked to her husband, to their best friends, then back to their visitor.
"Just me, or could we all help?" Derek asked.
"Why don't you call her and ask?" Addison countered. "We haven't been to Seattle in years, and you two haven't been back since…"
"Since we lost Angie," Meredith whispered. "That was twelve years ago."
Carolyn nodded. "Call Miranda and ask, I know William will love to see you again, and I'm sure everyone else can make their way home to help Daddy."
Meredith nodded, stepping forward to hug Carolyn, to hug her niece.
Carolyn's tight hold on her emotions snapped as soon as she enveloped her arms around her aunt, one she had not really known.
"Shh, Caro, shhh…" Meredith tried to soothe her, just as she tried with her other children. "Caro, we're going to go home to help George."
Miranda Bailey was running through her new Seattle Grace; the one that had been rebuilt eleven years before; towards the only room on the surgical floor which didn't hold one of her patients – George O'Malley's room. She was running because she had news.
"Doctor Bailey! Chief!" she was stopped by her head of paediatrics and neonatal surgery, Izzie Karev. Her husband, Alex, had only narrowly missed being head, but Izzie was slightly better than Alex, even though both were Addison Sloan's protégés. Alex had changed from Plastics to Neonatal after the original Grace had blown up.
"What's up Izzie? I have to talk to George," she hurried. Miranda kept moving quickly towards his room.
"Miranda, I need to know if it's true," she said, stopping the vertically challenged woman in her tracks.
"Izzie Stevens, what has Nurse Debbie been spreading this time?" Miranda asked, crossing her arms in her typical 'Nazi' fashion.
"Bailey, I heard that Meredith and Derek are coming back; Mark and Addison too. Is it true?"
Bailey frowned, looking around. "In here, now," she muttered, pushing Izzie towards a supply closet.
Izzie was confused. As soon as the door closed, Miranda turned to Izzie, one of her last interns.
"Izzie, you can't tell anyone this," she started in her kind, soft tone, one that she didn't use often. "Understand?"
She nodded.
"Okay. Yes, the Shepherd's and the Sloan's are coming back, but only to visit, to try and bring George back. Meredith is dragging her troop of nine to Seattle; Addison's contacting her oldest girls to fly them here; Christina called her three oldest to have them here, and I suggest you call Evelyn and bring her here too. Carolyn wanted to get everyone here just in case something happens to George."
Izzie nodded again, "And what about Richard Webber? When are we going to tell Meredith that the man she thought of as her father has died?"
Miranda half-smiled, "No one knows except you, me, Alex and the Burke's. That's why I want everyone here too, so they can all stay for the funeral."
Izzie bowed her head slightly, "Yeah, that will surprise them. When do they arrive?"
Miranda smiled fully now, "They'll be here within the week. Make sure Derek's mansion is opened up so they can fit their whole brood in there, plus some."
Izzie smiled with her Chief of Surgery, "Yeah, plus everyone."
Meredith, Derek, Mark and Addison stood surrounded by thirteen children aged between twenty and two at Brisbane International Airport.
The Qantas flight staff catering their flight were surprised at the number of people they had to accommodate from one family on their Seattle run.
"Excuse me? Are you the Seattle Grace party?" one of them asked.
Meredith nodded in reply. "Yes we are. Can I help you?"
The one in charge stepped forward to face Meredith. "Ma'am, we have orders from someone at Seattle Grace to upgrade you to business class and have you expressed there immediately."
Meredith Shepherd smiled. "Thank you. When will we be able to leave?"
"Right away, ma'am. If you'll just follow me?" she turned and moved her arm, ushering the group towards the gate.
"Yes, yes we will," Derek replied, grabbing his youngest daughter and leading the way, everyone else not far behind.
Okay, so this didn't end up as an Olivia and George story, just leading up to a large homecoming. And sorry for taking so long to update; Year 12 is hectic. I'm sure any high school seniors would understand, and anyone who's been there before!
Thanks, and please review, my inbox hasn't been loved in a long time.
Cheers, Emma.