12.05

"Ok, and remember. Be kind, learn a lot and make friends!" Helena pressed a quick kiss to her eldest daughter's forehead, while holding Caroline's hand.

"I will, mama!" She nodded, her little yellow blanky, gifted by Lexie, peaking out of her small backpack.

"Ok, now go. Sofia's waiting for you." Helena encouraged, then yelling after the girl. "!" (I love you.)

"" (I love you, too!) The small girl let out, already running towards the preschool doors.

To her right, Callie approached the woman, after having just dropped off her own daughter.

"First day of pre-kindergarten." The ortho surgeon exhaled, with a smile. "How are we feeling?"

"Half proud, half old." Helena chuckled, then asking. "Did Arizona come?"

"No, we decided I should drop Sofia off and she could pick her up." Callie nodded.

Just then, both their pagers went off, making the women look for them in their bags.

Finding it first, Helena told her friend. "Big fire, apparently."

"Let's go." The older woman encouraged, as Helena picked her younger girl up.

"Let's go, . Let's get you in daycare so mama can go help out."

——

Snapping her gloves on, Helena jogged into the ER, her yellow gown already on. Going through the doors, she quickly glanced at Callie, who set a man's leg, before she walked over to the nurses station.

"Keps, where do you need me?" Helena asked her redhead friend, who quickly looked up from her tablet.

"Uh, kids in bed 2 and 9." She told her.

"Thank you." Helena smiled, beginning to walk away. As she did, however, she furrowed her brows, spotting Amelia biting her nails by the wall.

"Hey, Amelia? Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." The woman nodded. "Just checking my charts."

With a nod and a smile, Helena quickly walked over to bed 2. Something was clearly different with Amelia, she would just have to check on her later.

Opening up the curtains around the bed, she smiled, after reading he boy's name on the chart. "Good morning, Lucas. I'm Dr. Campos, but you can call me Dr. C, if you'd like. I'll be your doctor for today."

——

"Hey, have you seen Mer?" Helena asked Maggie, who auscultated a patient, on one of the beds.

"No, I think she was in trauma 1." Maggie told her. "Why?"

"I needed a general consult, and she's not answering her page." Helena explained. "I'll go over there, see if she's not too busy."

Turning away from the beds in the general ER area, Helena walked over to the trauma rooms, opening the door to the first one as she spoke. "Hey, Mer, did you not get the...?"

At the sight before her, the woman froze, her breath catching in her throat.

Meredith was lying on the floor, her face bloody as tears rolled down her cheeks. By her, a big man in a patient gown sobbed on the ground, though seemingly unharmed.

Helena could feel her whole body go cold with fear, almost feeling her blood turn to ice.

Then, she lunged forward, quickly kneeling by her person, as she yelled. "I need some help in here! Right now!"

Tears already in her eyes, Helena checked her person's pulse, as she cupped her face, whispering. "I've got you, Mer. I've got you."

——

As a team of doctors worked on Meredith, Helena stood back, pressing her back against the wall as hard as she could, just like she had when she'd thought her person had drowned, back in her intern year.

She could feel her vision getting blurry with tears, though she hadn't quite realized she was crying, as everything seemed to come through a bit muffled to her. Almost as if she was underwater.

And, suddenly, she was no longer in the trauma room.

She was seeing her father's lifeless eyes, looking at her from the driver's seat. She was watching George's mangled body, as she looked for his Texas shaped freckle. She was watching little Alice Turner bleed out, knowing it would be her turn soon enough. She was looking at one of her best friend's body, crushed under a plane, as she begged Lexie to just hang on. She was holding her son's lifeless body, his little eyes closed. And she was looking at Mark, laying in the hospital, as she was told he wouldn't wake up.

However, as Meredith's eyes opened, the girls feet moved almost of their own accord, as to comfort her as the other doctors worked.

Seeing the blue, confused and panicked eyes looking up at her, Helena softly caressed her face. "I'm here, Meredith. We've got you. We're here."

"Hi, I'm here." Maggie entered the room, tears in her own eyes, before getting to work, too.

As the team of doctors moved the Chief of general to her side, she let out a groan of pain, making Helena take her hand to her mouth as a muffled sob came through.

"Ok, ok, easy." Richard told the patient, as Helena braced herself on Alex's arm, who tried to hold back from crying, too.

"Meredith, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, they have to do it." Helena kept encouraging her person.

"We're here. What do..." Amelia let out as she entered the room, soon freezing as she realized who was on the table.

Owen filled her in, quickly, then telling her. "It's Grey. It's Grey, I'm sorry. I thought you knew."