⇢ CHAPTER 53

of the hospital's portable computer, Holly stared at the scans in front of her as Derek nodded at the Chief of Surgery, "Hunt, she has a temporal bone fracture. I'm gonna have to do a middle fossa approach." 

"Okay," Bailey pointed at the other scans in front of her, "there's an aneurysm in her celiac artery. I'll need to put a graft in."

The anesthesiologist spoke up as Derek quizzed Holly on what to do in case something went wrong, "She's ready to be put under, Chief."

"Wait." Meredith quickly turned and walked over to the young woman a helicopter had rescued from the bottom of a ravine and had injuries matching those of tortured victims, she placed a gentle hand on the woman's arm before speaking delicately, "You were running from someone, right? Is that how you fell? No one's gonna hurt you. We just need to know your name."

"He-- He called me 'Susan.'" The woman answered in a whisper, "But I-I think it's 'Holly.'"

The doctors looked at each other, the name brought chills along with distraught as Holly looked up at Derek and momentarily shook before muttering, "Well, that's not creepy at all."

✧

"Yeah," Holly nodded as all of the surgeons worked on saving the other Holly's life, "her name was Holly Wheeler-- when she was abducted, my parents kept calling me in case he was searching for someone with the name." 

"We don't know anything yet." Derek defended, not wanting Holly to go on a rant as there was already tension in the air, "Let's not jump to conclusions."

"I-It was all over the news," Holly reminded, "she was in the grocery store with her mom, and someone just... took her. It was the summer of... crap, I can't remember." Holly looked up briefly to the gallery, noting Lexie sitting at the front of the small crowd, "Lex! What year?"

Lexie walked over to the speaker before she pressed the button and answered, "2000."

"Ah," Holly nodded, looking at the doctors before focusing back on suctioning, "Summer of 2000."

"So this could be her." Alex nodded, "I mean, what, she was probably eight or nine at the time?"

"She was six," Bailey spoke, the conversation topic clearly striking a nerve in her as she looked up at the doctors and corrected, "and they weren't in the supermarket, they were outside. Her mom bumped into a friend. Started talking about the block party they were having that weekend. Uh, could she bring a salad? They had enough dessert already. I mean, that's how long it took for her to realize that her child wasn't there anymore. Mm." Bailey hummed, tilting her head at the doctors before going back to surgery, "That story runs through my head every time Tuck walks out the door. And--And yeah, we don't know if this is her, so please let's just stop talking about it and operate." 

Holly nodded lightly, her face quickly reddening as she continued to suction and catch the bleeders as they came before Owen walked inside, "Bailey, Shepherd, can you stop for a moment?"

Derek looked up briefly, "What is it?"

"The police want us to check for a birthmark under her arm." Meredith answered, making Bailey lightly examine their patient's body with her eyes as Derek nodded at the two. 

Bailey watched with careful eyes as Owen brought the patient's arm up, the action made a wave of relief hit her as she saw no birthmark and shook her head at the Chief, "Mnh-mnh."

"The other side," Meredith suggested, pointing at the area in her own arm, "further up."

Bailey quickly turned her head from Meredith back to Owen's as she saw him lift the arm and the birthmark was revealed, drowning the doctors in a sea of unease. 

✧

"You're a name brand." Alex explained as Jackson stabbed his fork into his bowl of fruit, making Holly slightly flinch at the action.

"Sorry." Jackson muttered an apology as he glared at the fruit.

"You're like the freakin' Ritz-Carlton of Surgery." Alex added, "Who cares if that's why they want you?" 

Holly rolled her eyes, about to say something before Cristina continued, "Because he knows deep down he's more of a roadside motel."

"He's not." Holly squinted at the two before placing a hand on Jackson's shoulder, looking at him with a smile, "You're like..." She paused for a second to think, "a five-star hotel."

Jackson chuckled as April voiced, "Oh, oh, oh, she's going for the soup."

"Bold move." Cristina nodded, "She's gonna have to talk to the soup guy. 

"She's looking good." Jackson noted, "Looking confident."

The group collectively sighed as they saw Holly, the patient, walk away from the soup station, "And she bails. No soup for Holly."

"Speaking of bailing," Holly looked at Lexie with a smile, "I've figured out a schedule." 

"A schedule?" Jackson quirked an eyebrow, placing a piece of fruit in his mouth.

"Yeah," Lexie nodded, clearing her throat, "Holly's been planning out her schedule to set up a date with Logan and not have to cancel last minute." Lexie looked back at the other Holly, "She looks terrified." Lexie landed her eyes on Meredith, "Why are you so mean? Would you just go buy her some soup?"

While Meredith answered Lexie, Holly sneakily grabbed a fry off of Jackson's tray before nodding at the boys, "Technically speaking, I'm all set for the date."

"Technically speaking?" Jackson asked, sliding the fries over to Holly, which made a smile come to her face.

"As long as no big cases come today," Holly grabbed another fry, "I'll be safe to go on my date and stand Logan up for another time."

"Just beware," April warned Meredith, "they may judge you more on your personality than what really matters, like your resume."

"Meredith is not like you." Alex shook his head at the older Kepner, "Her personality doesn't suck."

"Hey." Holly glared at him, trying to reach over to hit him but couldn't because there was too much space between them-- making Jackson simply flick Alex on the head. The action made Holly smile brightly at him, "Thanks."

"No problem-- oh," Jackson pointed out as he turned to her, "pizza station."

The group turned their head to look, watching the other Holly walk up to the man at the pizza station before walking away and April groaned, "Oh, whatever! You know what? Those programs can suck it."