⇢ CHAPTER 72

walking inside Meredith's room, "have you guys seen--"

"You're alive?" Meredith frowned her eyebrows with a smile as she looked at the friends that forgot to inform her.

"Don't look at me," Alex defended himself, "I'm as surprised as you are." Glancing over at Holly, he placed an arm around her before he noogied her head, "Glad to have you back--"

"Ow, Alex!" Holly groaned, quickly escaping from his grasp as Cristina, who hid her relief from seeing her previous intern alive, and Meredith laughed, "Could you not just give me a hug like a normal person since I'm alive?"

"No." Alex smiled before Holly's pager beeped.

"Oh," Holly sarcastically hummed as she squinted at the man, "of course not."

"Glad to see you walking, Four!" Cristina called out with a chuckle.

Holly shouted back with a monotone voice upon hearing her old nickname, "Thanks!"

✧

After giving a neuro exam to a patient, Holly walked off to find her boyfriend-- who was chasing after his mother, "Hey," She greeted as she walked alongside him, "I didn't know your mother came--"

"Webber's in surgery." Jackson informed, making Holly's face drop, "He was electrocuted in the basement and suffered a lot of internal bleeding and injuries-- Meredith's his next-of-kin and decided to put him into surgery and that's about it, I was going to tell you on our date but my mom's here now... but you already knew that..." He frowned his brows as Holly stood frozen, "Holl?"

"I, um," Holly blinked, attempting to clear her mind as she thought back to the fact that Webber had been one of the doctors who was there for her when George passed, had noticed her sadness and never pulled her aside for a conversation like many others tried, "h-he was always there for me when G-George passed and now I just feel like--"

"You want to help but can't?" Jackson provided, making Holly nod, and with a sigh, he looked at his mother and spoke, "Yeah, me, too."

As the couple looked at Catherine, an idea popped in both of their minds before they looked at each other-- immediately sprinting after Catherine as they decided if they could not help the man himself, they could at least help her. 

✧

"Huh," Catherine commented sarcastically as Jackson and Holly walked into the gallery, "there's a surprise for you."

Jackson took a step forward, "Mom--"

Owen glanced at the monitor, ""

"--here's Holly!" Jackson smiled with enthusiasm, making Holly glance back at him as his mother continued to stare straight ahead.

"That was your 'plan'?" Holly asked in a whisper, glancing up at her boyfriend with a quirked brow.

"It was better than getting an intern to go on a donut run." Jackson muttered, making Holly squint at him.

"The anesthesiologist answered Hunt, ""

"Close the patient!" Catherine yelled, wanting to save her boyfriend as she banged on the glass.

Holly muttered to her boyfriend, "Well, we need another plan. And fast."

"." Bailey whispered to herself as the couple thought of a plan to get Catherine to calm down, ""

"" Ross yelled, joining the group as he sprinted inside, "."

Holly's eyes widened as she stepped away from Jackson, joining Catherine by the speaker, "Brooks is crashing?"

"." Ross quickly nodded, "

Holly glanced at Jackson, about to apologize for having to leave him with his mother before he gave her a knowing nod, "Go."

With a quick smile, Holly ran off to Brooks' operating room, hoping to get there in time.

✧

"Derek, what's the stat--" Holly stopped herself, the long, droning, and dull, sound emitting from the monitor caught her off-guard as she saw Derek step away from Brooks, where he had previously been to press down compressions and save her-- yet all to no avail. 

His eyes held tears, that she could note from where she was standing, along with the Neuro staff that they would greet every time they walked into an operating room. 

Next, she caught his tousled hair, the one that he'd gain from performing hard-work on a patient. She would have loved to see a smile accompanying it, but instead he wore a frown hidden by his mask.

Heather Brooks was dead.

"No..." Holly muttered, feeling an overwhelming weakness fill her-- the same one she felt whenever life brought her down with a loss.

Holly barely turned around when Owen and Ross entered the room, the sounds of Ross' hyperventilation reminded her of her own when she lost people-- yet she stood there, frozen. And while she longed to turn around and help him, her legs felt glued to the floor as her eyes looked down at the star pupil Derek and her had trained, and now lost. 

It was clear that Derek had experienced this pain before with Lexie-- who would have joined Holly in the Neuro group they planned to have, and now with Brooks, who joined Lexie in the afterlife. 

So when Derek glanced up at Holly, it was no surprise that she was practically frozen, wanting to rewind the time spent with her and think back to the surgeries performed-- to happier times before she was gone. 

✧

"Holly~" Steve sang, knocking on the closed door of her Chief Resident office once more in hopes of getting her to open the door, hearing her small sniffles from the other side, "Holl~"

"Steve," Holly droned, "go away, I can deal with my misery alone and in peace."

"You lost someone." Steve deadpanned, "No one should go through it alone-- when you lost George, you had Lexie; when you lost Lex, you had Jackson, and now you have me for Brooks, okay?" He sighed, knocking on the door once more, "...Too much?"

"Just enough." Holly answered back, opening the door to show her wrapped in a blanket with a tissue in one hand, "Thanks."

"Eh," Steve shrugged, "what are friends for?" He smiled before taking a step inside.