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27

under George's arm, Eleanora stared at the doors to the trauma hall, never tearing her gaze away. She was practically waiting, begging for someone to come out and tell her that Meredith was okay.

The doors opened and Eleanora stood straighter, her eyes falling on Addison. "Is sh-"

"It's not good." Addison interrupted, not looking at any of them directly. Eleanora let out a whimper in return, feeling George hug her tighter.

As though her and Eleanora's personalities had switched, Cristina started rattling off question after question. "Is she still cyanotic? What was her initial temp? What is taking so long?"

Addison quickly grew frustrated, snapping at the normally composed Doctor. "Dr. Yang!"

All of the interns grew still, Eleanora curling in towards George a little more at the tone. She was never good at being yelled or, and was definitely horrible around conflict or anger. To add one of her best friends maybe being dead just a few feet away? She couldn't bear it at all.

"It's not good. They're doing everything they can. You should maybe...prepare yourselves. I have to go, my Jane Doe's awake."

Addison started down the hall, Alex falling behind her. He looked over Eleanora as if checking she would be okay without him, even if he hadn't really been there to begin with.

Alex used to be able to calm her down no matter what, he was her safe place. But today, today it was George. If anything, it seemed that him holding her back earlier just caused her more pain.

Maybe she sensed that he wasn't fully Alex anymore.

"I'm coming with you!" He called after Montgomery, letting his attention fall to Izzie for a moment. "Iz, you'll let us know?"

Izzie just nodded, Alex giving Eleanora one last look before bolting after Addison. Eleanora sniffled, focusing back on the doors.

"Prepare ourselves?" Cristina finally asked, her voice breaking as the realization of what Addison meant hit her. "That's what we tell the families before we call time of death."

"She's going to be okay." Izzie tried to reason, Cristina brushing her off. George gave Izzie a look, running his fingers through Eleanora's hair.

"Sometimes you're wrong." He told Izzie softly, Eleanora wincing at the words.

Cristina started to shake her head, slowly backing away. "No. Uh-huh, no!"

"Cristina-"

"I'm not doing this." Cristina barked out, her voice holding a dry and dark chuckle. She turned fully on her heels and stormed off, Izzie and George both calling after her.

Eleanora finally spoke up again, her voice seemingly hopeless. "She's not coming back." The two focused on her, and she sniffled. "Cristina, I mean. She won't come back until Merediths either better or....or they ca-call...."

Izzie stepped towards the smaller girl, placing her hands on her arm. Eleanora's eyes snapped away from the doors and into Izzie's face, her eyes hard.

"She's going to survive this." Izzie repeated. George felt Eleanora stiffen under his arms, and quickly Eleanora tore her arm out of Izzie's grip.

"Don't touch me." Eleanora hissed out, taking the two by surprise. "I'm not stupid, Izzie. So just don't... touch me."

Izzie took a small step back, and George looked between the two, confused. When Izzie didn't argue back, George pulled Eleanora into a full hug, shushing her. He didn't even want to know what was going on between the two right now, but he knew he'd find out soon.

Eleanora started to shake with sobs again, George rocking them side to side. He whispered into her ear, trying to keep her as calm as possible in a situation like the one they were in.

"Just breathe, Ella. I'm right here, okay? Always gonna be here."

______

had someone gotten out of George's hold, now sitting on the floor with her back resting on the wall right beside the doors. She held her knees to her chest tightly, tears still running down her face.

The doors opened to reveal Callie and Bailey, and Eleanora scrambled up quickly. she thought.

Bailey looked at her three interns, her face devoid of emotion. She knew she had to be strong and stern because if she wasn't, her interns would probably fall apart.

"Callie, I'm putting you in charge of my interns. Put 'em to work, anywhere but here."

Bailey let her eyes dance over Eleanora, letting out a sigh. The girl looked broken, and Bailey knew she wouldn't be able to actually do any work at full capacity.

"All except Amedeo. Find her someplace thar isn't here and someone to make sure she doesn't come back here, please."

Bailey turned to enter the trauma hall again, the three interns starting to voice their complaints. She turned around quickly, her voice sharp.

"You're concerned, I understand. But there's been a disaster and there's work to be done. Go, now!"

Bailey quickly disappears, leaving Callie to look them over. She softly grabs Eleanora's arm, pulling her along.

"All right, they need bodies down in the clinic. Let's go down there." She focused on Eleanora again, brushing some hair off of her forehead. "How about we go find Alex, huh?"

Eleanora shook her head, her voice shaky. "Mark."

Callie furrowed her brows, but before she could ask for her to repeat that, Eleanora spoke again.

"I want Mark."

______

was standing at the desk outside of Ellis Grey's room when Callie and Eleanora showed up. He focused on the intern quickly, stepping towards her.

"Hey, Nora." He said softly, quickly noticing her tears. He looked at Callie with a confused face, wondering why she brought Eleanora here. He knew what was going on, just practically getting back from talking Derek down. He wasn't able to talk to her, having to run straight from Derek to handling a page in Ellis Grey's room.

"She didn't want Alex, she said she wanted you. And Bailey doesn't want her working in the state she's in. She isn't handling it well."

Eleanora wiped under her eyes, feeling slightly calmer now that she was around Mark. Once she was in a better state of mind, maybe she'd start to put two and two together about why she felt so drawn to Mark Sloan and why he gave her this comfort.