9.14

——

The room was spinning around her. It was spinning, and she was frozen in place. It was .

Ian. The face now had a name.

As the man explained what had happened with her son, the sound came muffled to Helena, almost as if she was underwater.

"-but his pain got so bad I had to come in, despite the storm." He finished, his eyes still in Helena, still speaking as a normal, worried parent.

"Helena?" Callie called out, approaching her. "They want a consult at the NICU, can you go?"

At that, Helena snapped out of her thoughts, the room around her almost coming back into focus. Forcing her eyes to leave the man's face, the short girl muttered.

"E-excuse me."

Turning her back away from the man and his child, Helena forced her legs to move, to take her as far away from as she could.

As she rushed to the nearest bathroom, she could hear Callie call out behind her, in worry. "Lena?"

She couldn't react. She could barely recognize that her name was being called, as the surgeon barged into the bathroom. Moving to the nearest stall, Helena took a couple deep breaths, before bending over and emptying her stomach's contents.

She felt a hand pulling her hair out of her face, as she felt Callie's other hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.

As Helena's head come back up, the wiped her mouth with the back of her face, as a couple hot tears rolled down her eyes.

"Hey, hey, what was that?" Callie asked, her voice soft.

Looking at the woman with tear filled eyes, Helena opened her mouth to speak then, closing it back again, as she realized she couldn't do it without sobbing.

"Lena?" Callie called out once more.

As a pager went off, Helena glanced down at hers, as she read out. "I-it's Mer. She's going into labor."

The small girl simply got up from her position, forcing her legs to move to the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror, taking a couple deep breaths as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I'm ok. I'm fine." She confirmed, with a nod, almost trying to convince herself, as she stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Callie behind, a look of confusion in her face.

——

"Figures you'd go into labor in the middle of a super storm." Cristina told the blond woman, as Helena entered the room. "Ok, we need to go over your birth plan. We never talked details."

"Hang on." The woman shook her head, bent over her hospital bed, as Derek rubbed circles on her back.

The world around Helena was still blurry, as she could barely understand the rest of the conversation. She had backed up against a wall, almost wanting to disappear onto it. Almost like she had when Meredith had drowned, as her throughs ran.

He was here. He was in the hospital. She didn't think he had recognized her. He hadn't even blinked when he saw her. He had a kid. He had a name. He was in the hospital.

"Baby Einstein?" Cristina called out, making Helena snap out of her thoughts. "You ok?"

"What? Yes? How's your pain, Mer?" She asked, noticing Derek had already walked out of the room.

"9!" Meredith groaned. "Talk to me, distract me, it helps."

"Well, Owen is-" Cristina started, the thunder being heard outside their window.

"He's here." Helena let out, her voice shaky. "The man who, when I was nineteen... he's- he's here."

"?!" Meredith let out, still bent over the bed. "How? Why? I'm gonna kill him!

In contrast, Cristina did something that was so uncharacteristic for her. She was left speechless, her mouth opening and closing. And she simply approached the girl, putting her arms around her, in a tight and comforting hug. One that made the younger girl's lip tremble over her shoulder.

"You're ok." Cristina reassured. "You're safe."

——

"Arizona." Helena called out, entering the NICU. "Can you take an appy for me?"

"Oh, I really can't." She shook her head. "Not many nurses made it in, we're understaffed here in the NICU already, cause the babies haven't all been evacuated."

"Can someone else take it?" She tried.

"Lena, we're understaffed, you're the only peds surgeon in the ER, we can't spare another one." She explained, opening a chart on her tablet. Then, looking up, she furrowed her brows. "Plus, I know Meredith gone into birth, but she has Cristina and Derek. And it's just an appy, it'll be quick. You could do it in your sleep, and then you'll get back to Mer."

"Right." Helena nodded. "It's just an appy."

——

"Mark?" Helena was in the OR's gallery, having turned the mic on.

"Yeah?" Mark looked up from his patient.

"Is there any other plastic surgeon that can-" She started. However, right then, the man on the table started coding.

"Crap..." Mark let out, as he hurried to stop his bleeding. Helena bit the inside of her cheek as she watched, as the man stopped coding. "Yeah, honey, what do you need?"

"No, n- it's nothing. Just... I'm going to go into surgery. I thought I should let you know." She muttered, leaving the room.

She needed her Mark. She needed him more than ever. But, right now, he's had to save a man's life.

And she had to save a child's. No matter whose it was.