CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEENMELONIE'S POV

   "We really need to talk, Mel," April pleaded. I just stared down at my charts, not looking at her because if I did, I would start crying. "Please."

   "We're at work, April." I finally looked at her. "We're here to save lives, not to argue about this, and I don't really wanna talk about it anyway."

   April refused to give up, and she pulled me into the exam room, locking the door behind her.

   "You know, people are going to have to use this room eventually," I pointed out.

   "I don't care." She walked closer to me. "I've been trying to make things right with you for the past three weeks. I don't understand. We didn't do anything other than kiss."

   "His hand was on your ass! You were going to do something, or you were thinking about it. Whether you actually did it or not doesn't matter to me," I replied. "What matters is that you betrayed me. Someone who I thought I could count on for anything. I stood up to Lexie for you. Maybe I should have just let her beat the shit out of you."

   "Okay, I deserve that, but I just want to be your best friend again," she said. "I miss you." Her eyes filled with tears. 

   "No. You don't get to cry right now," I scolded. "I miss you too. But, every time I look at you, all I see is you kissing him and my heart breaks a little more every time. I'm trying to heal, but I can't do that when I'm around you. So, just leave me alone. Please."

   I walked out of the room, taking deep breaths to refrain me from punching someone, because that would most likely get me fired.

   "Hey, watch it," I heard a familiar voice snap as I bumped into them. I looked up to see Jackson. "Oh, sorry, Mel. I thought you were someone else."

   "No worries," I giggled. 

   "I was gonna grab a drink at Joe's tonight, and everyone else is on call. Wanna come?" he asked.

   "Sure. I have nothing better to do," I smiled, and he walked away, into a patient's room. 

   I smiled to myself for a second. I've always had a little bit of a crush on Jackson, but nothing major. We've always been best friends, so I wouldn't wanna ruin that.

   I walked into the residents' lounge, where I saw Mer, Lexie, and Cristina getting ready. 

   "It's horrible," Mer sighed.

   "It's the opposite of horrible," Cristina fought.

   "What's horrible?" I asked, sitting down next to Mer.

   "Alzheimer's or diabetes?" Meredith asked, ignoring my question.

   "If you continue to whine about how you can't decide which groundbreaking medical advancement to put your name on, I'll punch you in the ear," Cristina threatened.

   "Oh..." I said, realizing what they were talking about.

   "Well, my name's already on one of them according to the Chief. I mean, diabetes-" Mer started.

   "Affects  240 million people worldwide," Lexie interrupted.

   "And Alzheimer's-"

   "Is the seventh leading cause of death," Lexie finished again.

   "It's 'Sophie's Choice,'" Cristina said to Mer.

   "I've never seen that movie," I shrugged, fixing my hair.

   "Me neither," Lexie added.

   "Oh, you should. It's really funny."

   "Okay, Greys, how long has your father been having abdominal pain?" Bailey rushed into the room.

   "Abdominal pain?" I asked.

   "It sounds like abdominal pain," Bailey answered. "Thatcher Grey is not an easy man to get information from."

   "Our father's here in the hospital?" Lexie asked, sitting next to me.

   "Yeah, I admitted him an hour ago. You didn't know he was coming?"

   "No... what's wrong?" I questioned her. "Could it be related to the liver transplant?"

   "Of course. He's rejecting it because it's my liver," Meredith piped in, standing up and walking out.

   "Okay, look, just do me a favor. Go take a blood sample, and try to get some information out of him," Bailey demanded. "I need someone who speaks Grey."

   "I'll do it," I offered.

   "I'll go too," Lexie said, and we walked out of the lounge.

   "Lexie, we need you!" Mark yelled, pulling a stretcher into a room. 

   Lexie looked at me with worry in her eyes. 

   "Go. I'll tell you if anything is seriously wrong," I told her, and she walked into the room that Mark was in.

   I walked into my father's room and saw him laying on the hospital bed. I snapped on some gloves and got to work.

   "You're sick enough that you need to come to the hospital, and you don't even call me or Lexie?" I asked.

   "The pain comes and goes. I didn't want you to worry," he reasoned.

   "So you thought you could just sneak in and just quietly reject Meredith's liver, not even make a fuss?"

   "Just calm down, please," he pleaded.

   "Oh, I am calm," I lied. "I am so calm. I'm like the calmest one."

   "Okay, good, because there's something else that I should have told you," he started. "I go to A.A. a couple times a week."

   "Yes, I know."

   "No, I know you know, but sometimes, you have to get up in front of the group and you say your piece, and then people sometimes come up to you afterwards and say that they like what you said, and then maybe you go to coffee with them afterward," he shrugged, not getting to the point.

   "Yeah, like a sponsor?" I questioned.

   "No, not a sponsor. Oh, how do I-" he was interrupted by a petite blond woman rushing into the room. 

   "Oh, there you are," she smiled. "Sorry. I got turned around, and then I ended up back in the lobby. Hey." 

   Suddenly, she kissed him and my heart sunk. I stopped what I was doing and backed up.

   "No, no, no," my father sighed.

   "Oh. Oh, God. What?" the woman asked, worriedly. "I'm sorry, are you in pain?"

   "Uh, yeah." He looked at me. "Not a sponsor."

   I took the tape around his arm and took it off, backing up even more.

   "I'm confused," the lady said.

   "Um, Danielle, this is one of my daughters, Melonie," he replied awkwardly.

   "Oh..." Danielle looked at me. "I am so sorry. This was not the way I wanted to meet you."

   "Well, I didn't even know that there was a you to meet." I crossed my arms. 

   "I know. I-I'm sorry, I-" my father tried.

   "Okay, Mr. Grey..." Bailey saw Danielle and I. "Oh, hello."

   "Dr. Bailey, this is... Danielle," I sighed.

   "Dani... hi," Danielle smiled.

   "Yes, Dani," I started. "That's my father's girlfriend, whom I've just met just now."

   "Oh, I see," Miranda replied awkwardly. "Uh... nice to meet you, Dani. I just have a few questions, and then I will let you get back to all of this."

   "Do you really think I could be rejecting this liver?" my dad asked. "Because Dani has been amazing helping me take care of myself, and I'm constantly taking pills."

   Danielle put her hand on my father's shoulder, rubbing it, and I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

   "His anti-rejection meds," Danielle smiled. "Not, like, speed or anything."

   "'Cause that would be inappropriate," I mocked, making Danielle's smile falter and her hand came off of my dad.

   "Um, when did the pain start?" Miranda asked.

   "Twelve days ago," Danielle answered, and I looked at her.

   "She's good with details," Dad joked, but I didn't laugh.

   "Any fevers or changes in your urine or stool?" Miranda questioned.

   "Um... no fevers, but there was a... pain incident last week, Thursday." Danielle and my father looked at me. "Actually, you might not want to hear this part."

   "I'm a doctor," I pointed out, giving her a fake smile. 

   "All right..." Danielle sighed. "Well, we were being intimate and I was on top-"

   "Oh, no," my father tried to stop her.

   I cringed so hard, almost gagging, and I immediately left the room.

~

   "Yes, I know I'm not Dr. Bailey, but he's my father, and I really need his lab results," I begged the Pharmacist.

   "Sorry, I can't do it," the Pharmacist shrugged.

   "Okay, then maybe I'll just let your supervisor know that I've been highly unsatisfied with your service today."

   "This isn't the mall. We don't have comment cards." He rolled his eyes. 

   "Well, maybe you should," I argued as he started to walk away.

   "Hey, you okay?" Alex approached me. "You need me to talk to him?"

   "No, Alex," I sighed. "My day has been too messed up to have you in it, too."

   I stormed off, into the residents' lounge, where Meredith and Cristina were sitting, eating their lunches and looking at a book, and Jackson was doing his own thing.

   "Holy crap," Cristina said. "Your mom was smart."

   "Truck. Cabin. Spoon," Jackson said aloud.

   "3-for-3." Meredith high-fived him.

   "Crap. This is so good!" Cristina exclaimed, looking at the book that my mother had made.

   "Is it better than this? 'Cause seriously, Mer, you'd have to have died of Alzheimer's to fail this." Jackson took a bite of his carrot.

   "I don't even know if I'm doing it yet." Mer turned her attention back to the book as I sat next to her.

   "You have to," I said. "Mother-daughter surgeons cure leading killer?"

   "I mean, I'm still jealous, and I'm doing a heart transplant on a baby that hasn't even been born yet," Cristina chimed in. 

   "You know, you're her daughter too. You can do it." Mer looked at me.

   "Not gonna happen."

   "Will you shut up about that?" Jackson sighed.

   "Keep your mouth shut, Cabbage Patch," Cristina scolded.

   "Meredith, you have to come see Dad," I said.

   "Oh, does he want more organs?" she joked, not looking at me.

   "He wouldn't say," I shrugged. "He was too busy loving up on some tattooed twenty-year-old."

   They all looked up at me, almost as if it was planned.

   "Is that upsetting you?" Jackson took a bite of his salad. "You wanna talk about it?"

   "No," I replied.

   "No worries." Jackson looked back at his food. "I have a surgery to get to." He left.

   "Meredith," I begged.

   "I can't deal with our dad. I'm too busy with our mom," Mer replied.

   "Mer, let's go." Cristina took a sip of her water. "I wanna see your dad making out with his tatted-up fiancée."

   "They're not engaged." I rolled my eyes.

   "Are you sure?" Cristina stood up.

   "Meredith, please," I pleaded again.

   "Fine," she groaned, closing the book in front of her.

   We all left the lounge and as soon as we got to the desk in front of our father's room, we stopped to look at charts. We looked into the room and saw him making out with Danielle.

   "Ugh, get in there," I groaned.

   "And do what?" Meredith crossed her arms.

   "Make it stop!" I begged.

   "There's no way she's twenty. She has to be like twenty-six, twenty-seven," Cristina commented, and I looked at her.

   "I'm twenty-six..." I pointed out.

   "Oh." Cristina looked grossed out. "Gross."

   I nearly gagged, but Cristina's pager went off, and she checked it.

   "Tiny baby heart time!" Cristina exclaimed. "Careful when you go in there, Mer. You tangle with one hells angel, you tangle with the whole gang."

   Cristina left, and Meredith stood next to me.

   "Okay," she sighed. "You coming?"

   "I'm not going in there again," I refused.

   "Seriously, Melonie?"

   "I can't!"

   "Well, then I'm going back to work." Mer crossed her arms.

   "Meredith-"

   Suddenly, we heard our dad scream in pain from his hospital room and we snapped our heads to look at him. We ran into the room, and Danielle was standing in my way.

   "Hey, uh, move, please." I shoved her out of the way to get to my dad.

   "I'm gonna page Bailey." Mer picked up the phone.

   "This is what happened last time," Danielle told me.

   "Alright, Dad, is it the same pain?" I asked him. "Where does it hurt?" I put my hands on his abdomen.

   "I'm telling you, I've seen this before." Danielle was right over my shoulder, talking into my ear as I was trying to help my father.

   "Okay, well, I'm sorry. Will you please let him talk?" I snapped at her.

   "He can't talk."

   "No, it's here," he told me, and I pushed on his abdomen to see where the pain was. "Ow!"

   "Alright, alright. Just back up, please!" I yelled at Danielle, who was still invading my space.

   "Baby, it's gonna be okay. I'm right here." Danielle tried to hold his hand, but I smacked her hand away because I was trying to work.

   "Back. Up," I snapped again.

   "I need to do something. Let me just-"

   I finally snapped and turned to look at her. "Okay, back the hell up right now!"

   Danielle looked at Meredith who just shrugged.

   "You should have listened to her the first time she told you to get out of the way," Meredith defended me as I went back to working on Dad. "She's just trying to help."

   Miranda came in a few minutes later, after Dad had finally calmed down and wasn't in pain anymore. Meredith, Miranda, and I stood on one side of the bed, while Danielle stood on the other.

   "So, your blood tests indicate that your liver is fine," Miranda said, looking at the chart. "Is there anything at all that you've left out?"

   "It's when he pees," Danielle blurted out. "Uh, just now and then last Thursday, we had Mexican food, and he drank all this water because it was spicy, and he went to the bathroom as soon as we got home. I was freaked out when he screamed later during the sex, I didn't even connect."

   I looked at Mer and we both cringed.

   "Alright, good, that helps," Miranda replied.

   "W-what do you think it could be?" Dad asked.

   "Well, that... it could be kidney stones or your prostate," Mer answered.

   "Prostate? Are you saying he could have cancer? He-" Danielle started worrying. "He can't have cancer."

   "That's what happens when your boyfriend's an old man. Old men get cancer," I gave her a fake smile, and Meredith elbowed me, signaling for me to stop, but I wasn't done.

   "Melonie, come on," Dad tried.

   "No, you see, if you were a doctor like we are, you'd realize that when we use the word 'prostate,' it doesn't necessarily mean cancer," I kept going.

   "Dr. Grey-" Miranda tried.

   "No, see, freaking out and jumping to conclusions like a little child isn't gonna do him any good."

   "I am scared, okay?" Danielle raised her voice. "I am terrified over here, and I've got questions."

   "You're terrified? We're his family," I fought back.

   "Melonie, stop," Meredith tried.

   "I'm his family, too!"

   "No, you're not his family, you're his midlife crisis," I blurted out, but I instantly regretted it.

   "Melonie, Melonie, Melonie," Dad tried to get my attention, but I couldn't even look at him. "That's enough. You're out of line."

   I looked at him, then to Miranda, Meredith, then to Danielle.

   "I'm sorry," I sighed, walking out of the room. 

   I walked out of the hospital, still in my scrubs, and I sat on a bench. I wasn't sad or angry enough to cry, so I just sat there, thinking about how awful I was to that woman. I'm never that mean, to anyone. I wouldn't even say something like that to April.

   "There you are!" I heard Meredith say, but I didn't look up, so she sat next to me. "What the hell was that?"

   "I don't know," I sighed.

   "I've never seen you talk to someone like that," Meredith said. "What's going on?"

   "I don't know!" I raised my voice, and she jumped. "I'm sorry."

   "Don't be." She took my hand. "Take a deep breath and tell me what's going on. I'm your sister. Talk to me."

   I took a deep breath and started, "Ever since Mom died, I've always just kind of blamed him for it. If she had someone to love her and take care of her, she could have gotten treated for her Alzheimer's. She would still be here. I could have gotten to know her as well as you knew her. And now he has this new girlfriend, and he acts like he loves her or something. Why couldn't he love Mom the way he loves Danielle?"

   "Melonie, I didn't know Mom. She didn't want me. She didn't want a child, that's why she sent you away. She kept me because she had no one to give me to, and she didn't have the money to put me up for adoption," Mer explained. "I promise that you're not alone in this. Neither of us were or are happy with our father, and we both were upset with Mom. But, we have each other now, and we have Lexie. We don't need them."

   I finally looked up at her, and smiled, wiping away a few tears. 

   "You're right," I sighed. "I have you guys and that's all I need."

   "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," Mer smiled. "Now, we have lives to save, so let's go."

~

   I walked into Joe's to meet Jackson, and I looked around. I finally saw him sitting at the bar with an empty seat next to him. I smile and sat beside him. 

   "Hey, stranger," I smirked.

   "Oh, hey," he smiled back with his perfect smile and his adorable, bright green eyes.

   "Um, Brandy, please," I requested, and the bartender nodded, handing me a shot glass.

   "Woah. Rough day?" Jackson laughed.

   "Yeah, you could say that." I took the shot, then requested for another.

   "Don't get too drunk, please," Jackson teased. 

   "Can't promise anything."

   "So, are you going to tell me what happened today or are you gonna leave me hanging?" Jackson took a sip of his Whiskey.

   "My dad was at the hospital with his new girlfriend, who can't be any older than me," I explained. "I may or may not have called her his midlife crisis."

   "Wait, I thought you guys didn't like your dad," Jackson said confusedly. "So, why do you care if he's dating someone?"

   Then I told him exactly what I told Meredith earlier, and by the end of my sob story, I was in tears.

   "Mel, don't cry." Jackson rubbed my back, but I couldn't look at him. 

   "I'm fine, I'm fine." I wiped my tears. 

   "You can't lie to me," Jackson smiled. "I know you too well."

   I finally got the courage to look him in the eyes and his smile faltered. He pulled me in to hug him.

   "It's gonna be okay," he reassured me. His green eyes looked back at my blue ones. "I'm here for you."

   Before I could stop myself, I pushed my lips against his. At first, he tensed because he wasn't expecting it, but he eased into it, cupping my face with his hands soft hands.

~

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