You held your son's hand as you struggled to find your wallet in your large purse hanging on your shoulder. You coughed into your elbow and winced. Your chest hurt again and your head was starting to spin. You kept searching but in a fit of frustration you dropped your son's hand and took your purse off and angerly pulled out your wallet. You pulled out your credit card and handed it to the front desk lady who gave you a strained smile. You gave one back then coughed again.

The lady handed you your card and told you your wait number. Tiredly you sat down and placed your head in your hands. You felt terrible, again and you hated taking your son to the hospital all the time. Your eyes widened. Your son.

You quickly stood and looked around but you couldn't see him anywhere. In a rush, you pushed passed people, searching for your little two-year-old boy. Worry filled you as you became lost, as you sure he was.

"Elliott! Please come back to mommy, I won't be mad," you half shouted, half coughed, "Elliott!"

People gave you sorry looks but you ignored them. Your heart dropped as you watched a little boy walk beside a man in scrubs. The boy turned his face to look at the man and you cried out. It was Elliott. Your son smiled at something the man said and continued to walk with him. You raced forward as fast as you could but you were tired and your head was getting worse.

"Elliott!" You struggled to call out but you smiled when he turned at his name.

You stood there catching your breath as the man knelt down and pointed to you saying something. Elliott nodded and the man stood then took his hand. The man walked your little boy to you until he let go and Elliott ran to you, hugging your legs. You smiled and placed a hand on his head.

Kneeling down, you gently took his face in your hands. "You scared me. Are you alright?"

Elliott looked a the man who stood a bit behind him then turned back to you, nodding. You smiled and kissed his forehead.

"I'm sorry I let you go. But next time, just stay by mommy."

Elliott nodded again. You gave him a small smile then stood. You turned to the man who found your son, getting a goos look at him. You took in a breath and held it. He was extremely cute and when he saw you looking he smiled. Your heart skipped a beat. Clearing your throat you patted Elliott's head and smiled at the man.

"Thank you for finding him. I'm sorry he bothered you."

The man shook his head then smiled down at your son who looked up at him with his big brown eyes. "He wasn't one bit of a bother. The little guy just got turned around."

You opened your mouth to reply but a cough came out instead. You leaned against the wall a bit until it passed. Elliott reached up as far he could and gave your bum a small pat.

"All better mommy."

You nodded and gave him a small smile. "All better."

The man took a step forward, worry etched onto his face. "Are you alright? Have you been seen to yet?"

You shook your head and rubbed your temples.

You felt gentle hands take your arm and help you off the wall. "Let's change that." He turned to Elliott and raised his brows. "You stand on that side and I'll stand on this side and hold up your mom. Can you do that?"

Elliott nodded vigorously and placed a hand on your leg. The man smiled. You didn't want to bother him but your body was giving in to his gentle touch. He lead you to a room and helped you sit down on a soft chair. Elliott never left your side, his little hand still on your leg. You leaned back and coughed again. 

"Is there a husband in the picture," the man asked quietly as he helped you sit.

You shook your head and didn't meet his eyes, but he didn't press further. He gave your shoulder a kind squeeze.

The man knelt down and pointed to you. "Good job buddy. You think you can do one more thing?" Elliott nodded again. "Watch over her while I go get a doctor. They will help her feel better."

Then he turned to you. "I'll send someone over. Do you need anything."

You shook your head and placed a hand on Elliott's back. "I have what I was looking for, thank you." You gave him a small smile.

He nodded and smiled back. "I hope you feel better soon." He turned to walk out but you quickly sat up and reached out.

"Wait! I didn't catch your name."

The kind man smiled again. "O'Malley. George O'Malley."

You gave him a weak smile as you leaned back again, Elliott resting his head on your arm. "(Y/n) (L/n). Thank you, George O'Malley."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weeks Later

George smiled as he waved to little Elliott as the young boy walked with you down the hall. Yet again. He has seen you two around the hospital almost twice a week and it has been three weeks. He asked around and learned that you had an illness that wouldn't leave you and came for breathing treatments. But because of work, you couldn't stay long to be treated properly.

Since the day he found Elliott walking around looking at everything with wide curious eyes then later helping him find you, he has spotted the two of you around. He was partly excited to see you each time but partly worried. That meant you were still sick. Sadly, as an intern, there wasn't much he could do but check in on your file from time to time and wave at you and your son from afar.

Seeing George on your visits made the trips to the hospital a bit more bearable. Elliott made a point to look for him every time and to wave, smiling wide. Elliott had always been a quiet and reserved child but when he saw George he was all smiles and loud hellos. You loved seeing him open up to others especially a man. Since your divorce from a suddenly abusive husband Elliott had been careful around grown men. But not George.

You were leaving one of your appointments, your mind else were when you felt Elliott pull from your grasp. You looked over and saw him eagerly totter off. You followed him and smiled when you saw him come up behind George and tap his leg.

George put down the file he was looking over when he felt a small tap on the back of his leg. Turning around he smiled at Elliott's bright eyes looking up at him. Kneeling down he mused the young boy's hair.

"Hey, there little man. Did you run off again?"

Elliott nodded but took a step forward, leaning in to whisper something into the intern's ear. You didn't catch what he said but by the look on George's face it must have been about you and your own face reddened. George looked up at you and his smile vanished, replaced with worry. He looked back to Elliott and took his hand.

"We will take good care of your mommy. Don't worry. She will be better soon."

Standing he walked your son back to you. You gave him a small smile and he grinned back. You took Elliott's hand, your hand brushing against Georges. You swallowed and cleared your throat, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach.

"Sorry. He is quite adamant to find you each time."

George nodded but kept his eyes on you, searching your face. "Are you sure you are alright? Can they not fix whatever it is that you have?"

You shrugged and coughed lightly. "No. I'm afraid I have to deal with what I have. I can't stay here, where will Elliott go? Work pays for this, so I can't complain too much."

George nodded in understanding. He would offer to look after Elliott but he didn't want to spook you into thinking he wanted your kid. He just wanted you to get better but not worry about your son at the same time. He reached out and took your hand, giving it a kind squeeze.

"Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

You nodded, looking down at your son so George couldn't see the tears that suddenly surfaced at his sweet gesture of help. Quickly you squeezed his hand back before taking Elliott's hand and leaving. Elliott turned and waved. George waved back. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't shake. You were getting worse, not better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People's heads turned as emergency crew rolled in a bed, yelling out orders and vitals. George only glanced up, used to the interruption from time to time. But the sound of a young boy made his head snap up. There, squirming in the arms of a nurse was Elliott. He was crying and screaming for you. George left what he was doing and made his way over to the nurse. Perhaps he got separated from you again.

Elliott spotted George and squirmed some more. The nurse let the boy go and he rushed to George. George knelt down and gathered the boy in his arms, rubbing his back as he cried. Extremely worried now, George pulled the boy back and looked him over to make sure he wasn't the one hurting. His eyes widened at the boy's clothing all mismatched and wrinkled like they were put on in a hurry; his hair was even wet.

He reached up and smoothed Elliott's hair. "What's up buddy? Did you lose your mom again?"

Elliott sniffed. "No. She fell down. I got in the bath and waited but she fell. I ran and got the phone like she said and all the people came. Loud people. Lots and lots." He sniffed again.

George held the boy to him and hugged him until he calmed down. Picking him up, George went to the nurse who was trying to hold Elliott earlier. "Do you know what happened?"

The nurse nodded in the direction where they had wheeled you into the OR. "Her appendix ruptured. Explains why she was so sick. Son was naked when we found them, she was giving him a bath but forgot his towel in the laundry room. Never made it back before collapsing. It's only the two of them here so we had to bring him."

Elliott yawned and rested his head on George's shoulder. George reached up and rubbed the boy's back. "Thank you. I can watch him, he knows me."

The nurse nodded, looking relieved, then left. George walked around the halls pointing to various things and telling Elliott what they were and what they did. George was beyond worried but put on a brave face knowing Elliott was probably traumatized and needed to be comforted. Soon enough the boy fell asleep in his arms. Luckily he was small for his age so he wasn't too heavy. George continued to walk around, waiting to hear back from the OR.

Two hours passed and George sat beside your recovery bed with sleeping Elliott on his shoulder. He himself was tired but he dared not miss seeing you come out of the OR. He watched as your chest rose and fell with each breath. Your face looked peaceful and void of all signs of being in pain. Elliott let out a content sigh as he snuggled into George's neck. George smiled but it grew as he caught you watching.

Your heart soared when you the first thing you saw when out of surgery and free of pain was your son being held by a man you grew to trust. Geroge smiled at you and you gave him a weak one in return.

Gently he reached over and took your hand in his. "How are you feeling."

You looked at your hand in his. "Better. Much better." You nodded to Elliott. "Is he alright? I worried about him when we left the house. He wasn't any trouble was he?"

George shook his head as he rubbed his thumb over your hand. "(Y/n), he was perfect. A little shaken up but stayed with me the whole time. Don't worry. I'll watch over him. Just focus on recovering."

You closed your eyes and let a few happy tears fall. "Thank you, George. You have no idea how much that means to me." You nodded to your son. "Can he rest here?" You pointed to a spot next to you.

George smiled. Carefully, he scooted the chair closer to you so he could rest Elliott next to you, but he didn't leave like you thought he would. Instead, he sat back down closer to you and continued to hold your hand until you had fallen asleep.

You dreamed of running around with your son again and of long walks on the beach with a certain man holding your hand. George made sure to keep in contact with you, all for Elliott of course, but didn't turn down your invitations to come and spend time with him. In turn, you accepted to go on dates with the sweet man, his chances of being your son's father quickly rising.