CODING ━ grey's anatomy

chapter seventeen

"No!" she screamed, startling the others. "I am 22 years old! I should not even be in here! This is some kind of mistake!"

"She's panicking. We need to clear the room," Dylan ordered.

"I'm not leaving," Meredith and Cassie chorused.

"Harper, Grey, let's move!"

"I'm not leaving her!" Cassie shouted.

Dylan stared them down. "Get everyone out now, Dr. Burke."

"They're my interns. I am responsible for them."

Everyone began to talk at once. Meredith's hand was on Hannah's arm, trying to calm her down, while Cassie continued to give the patient air.

"No, it's gotta come out! It needs to come out!"

"It's alright, Hannah, look at me."

"NO!" Cassie flinched. "It's gotta come out!"

"Hannah, look at me. You can do this," Cassie soothed.

"Hannah, you need to calm down. You need to relax. Everything's gonna be fine."

"No!"

"Hannah. You can do this."

"No. It has to come out. I have to! I have to!"

Before Cassie could even begin to process what was happening, Hannah pulled her hand out.

Cassie jumped forward, hoping to shield the others from the blast, but ended up crashing into another body and falling to the floor.

The next thing she knew, Cassie was on the ground, staring up at Meredith, who had her arm in the patient's body cavity.

Meredith's gaze snapped down to Cassie's, communicating a silent yet simple message.

Fuck.

☆

"You realize how stupid that was," Dylan deadpanned, moving slowly around Meredith.

"It was, Mer. Incredibly stupid!" Cristina added.

"Very stupid," Cassie nodded.

"Oh, don't act like you're any better," Cristina scoffed. "I saw you dive over there, Cass. I mean, you do realize that if the bomb went off, you would've been the first to go?"

"That's true," Dylan input, before adding, "But, if the bomb went off, she would have dimmed the blast so the rest of us wouldn't have died. Very stupid, but heroic."

"Can we stop talking about me dying?" Cassie huffed, turning back to Meredith. "You were even more stupid than I was."

Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Okay, yeah, let's make fun of the girl who has her hand inside a body that has a bomb in it while a stranger is velcro-ing a flak jacket to her boobs. That sounds fun."

"You've got a sense of irony," Dylan raised a brow.

"Only when things are really ironic."

"We had a feeling," Cassie blurted after a moment of silence, sharing a look with Meredith and Cristina.

Dylan frowned. "What's that?"

Meredith shook her head at him. "Nothing."

Burke entered the OR, arguing with Cristina and trying to get her to leave. Cassie agreed, the less people the better.

Not including her, of course.

Giving up the fight, Cristina leaned into Burke with a heavy heart. "You know in the movies, how there's always the heroes and then there's the other guy? You know, the guy who sees danger and runs in the opposite direction?"