9.07

Helena woke up in the middle of the night, her hand shooting up to her stomach in pain. She blinked rapidly, shaking off the remaining sensations of her nightmare, of being back in the woods.

Then, as the pain faded with her dreamlike state, she rubbed at her temples, the tears she'd shed during her sleep still on her cheeks.

After her heart rate regulated, checking her own pulse, Helena moved to their bathroom, splashing some cold water on her face.

Some days, it was still impossible to go back to sleep after her nightmares. Some days, she still woke up in tears. Some days, she still had to relieve the horrors she'd been through at night.

However, she did not want to wake Mark up. His sleep was irregular enough from his own night terrors.

And, as such, she often resorted to the person that had soothed her mind after the nightmares she'd have after her father's death. To the person that called her, too, when he couldn't sleep or his phantom limb pain was back.

So, Helena grabbed her phone from her nightstand, laid in the couch and called her brother. And there they stayed, like many nights before: on the phone, simply listening to each other's breathing, as they allowed themselves to drift back to sleep.

——

"Uh, ok, folks. Let's just start." Owen announced, stepping up the stairs of the hospital's main floor.

Around the nurses station stood several attendings, all gathered to hear the speech the redhead had scheduled. Helena sat down in a chair, Mark standing by her with a hand on her shoulder.

"As many of you know, Seattle Grace Mercy West has suffered a financial setback." He continued, making Helena bite the inside of her cheek. A financial setback had caused. "The administration is working hard to keep the impact of that setback as small as possible. To that end, we're gonna have to initiate some cost-cutting measures. The board has hired a physician advisor to help."

"What's a physician advisor?" Meredith questioned.

"Well, she consults on maximizing efficiency, streamlining processes, assessing where we can trim our budgets." He explained

"Who to fire and when to fire them?" Bailey let out.

"She's here to advise and to help. I was hoping to introduce her in person but.." Owen glanced down at his watch. "...she seems to be late."

"Oh, on her first day? Not very efficient." Cristina let out, Helena giggling softly.

"You can expect to see her around the halls, in your labs, in the OR..." The Chief added.

"So we're gonna have an accountant following us around in the ORs?" Derek furrowed his brows.

"She's not an accountant." Hunt corrected. "She's a trained surgeon. Frankly, she's here to try to help us. Thank you for your cooperation."

——

In the room with one of the Africa Program's kids, the orphanage owner talked to Arizona, Helena and Cristina.

"Everyone at Namboze was so worried when we heard the program might move to UCLA, myself included. You make the kids feel so at home here."

"We would never let that happen." Helena smiled brightly at the woman.

"No, I was away, but now I'm back. And as long as I and, most importantly, Dr. Campos are here, the program stays here." Arizona confirmed, as Cristina moved to explain the surgery she would preform on the girl's heart.

After, the woman looked to Helena for guidance. "What should I tell her?"

"You can feel her we're gonna fix her heart, so that she'll breathe much better." The short girl smiled, leaving the room with Cristina by her side.

"Nice program." The cardio attending let out. "Shame to see it go."

"Thank- wait, ?" The girl furrowed her brows.

"We're getting a visit from the efficiency fairy. You think she isn't gonna make this disappear?" Cristina shrugged.

"Oh, do not start with me, Cristina." Helena warned. "We've just got the program running back smoothly."

"She's trimming fat, Baby Einstein. You're flying kids across the world for pro Bono surgery. That's pretty fatty." The curly haired woman pointed out, making Helena pout.

"B-but they're orphans! Little, cute, defenseless tiny humans that need big surgery, surgery they can't pay for, so it has to be Pro Bono!" She explained, still pouting a bit as her puppy dog eyes came out.

"Do you not see how that proves my point?" Cristina chuckled. Then, noticing the small girl's upset face, she put an arm around her shoulders, as she gave in, her expression softening. "Maybe you can get some donor money or something, though, Baby Einstein. We'll figure it out."

——

"And the pericardium is free." Cristina announced, in surgery with Robbins and Campos. "You should see an increase in cardiac function."

Furrowing her brows at the heart, Helena pointed out. "Oh, that's weird. Her heart is floppy, see? It's still not how a child's heart is supposed to look..."

"It could be endocarditis." Cristina suggested. "I'll do a biopsy. Biopsy needle, please. Unless it..."

"Oh, it couldn't, could it?" The short girl's eyes widened. "Could it be...?"

"Endomyocardial fibrosis?" The curly haired woman finished. "I-I've only read about it, it's rare, subtropical... could this be that?"

Noticing Arizona shifting in her feet slightly, Helena glanced at her, as to check on the woman. However, at Cristina's question, she looked back at her.

"M-maybe? I mean, remember that kid with Pentology of Cantrell?" She suggested.

"This program is a medical freak show goldmine. They can't cut it."

"No one is cutting it." Helena shook her head. Then, noticing her mentor still seemed a bit spaced out, she tried. "Right, Arizona?"