xxiii. the bomb ²
2.17

Dylan the bomb squad guy, is slowly strapping a flak jacket up to Meredith, Atlas already having his strapped on. He is wearing one himself. Cristina is already wearing a flak jacket and squeezing the ambu bag. Everyone's wearing a flak jacket.

"You realize how stupid that was." Dylan addresses the intern and attending.

"It was you guys. Incredibly stupid!" Christina scolds.

"Ok you know when you don't need to be made fun of? Like when you've got your hand inside a body that's got a bomb in it and a stranger is velcro-ing a flak jacket to your boobs." Meredith sharply turns her head towards Christina as she snaps at the Korean intern.

"Ok."

"You've got a sense of irony." Dylan chuckles.

"Only when things are really ironic." Meredith says to Dylan before she looks to Cristina. "I had a feeling."

"Me too." Atlas sighed referring to the no-good-horrible feeling he had that morning.

Cristina shoots Meredith an 'really? I can't believe you'd say that' look.

"What's that?" Dylan asks trying to get something on the feeling the two had.

"Nothing." Meredith and Atlas reply.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Merediths eyes bore into Dylans, "So you have a plan right?" she nods to herself before continuing. "You have a way to get us out of this right?"

Dylan only stares back at the two holding the bomb sadly.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Dylan presses the cell phone to Atlas's ear. "Bailey?" He questions softly.

" I can't do this. My-my husbands gone, and your not here. A-and y-your stupid brother and his intern friend think that they c-can come in here and try and get me to push." Miranda Bailey says through the phone, Oliver holding his own phone so Bailey can talk into it.

Atlas lets out a sad sigh, "Bailey, Bails. Your my best friend, okay. Meredith and Christina always say that they're each other's person. Y-your my person. You hear that, your my person."

Atlas can hear the sniffles and cried from the other side of the line. "Bailey?"

" I'm here. I-I don't think I can do this. I really don't."

"Yes you can. Your brave, and smart, and you are Miranda Bailey. You are a badass and I believe in you. But you gotta do this for me, because I can't loss you okay?"

" o-okay. I can do this. "

" Oliver and George will be right by your side the whole time."

" she's ready, thanks big brother."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Burke and Dylan are whispering to each other at the doorway of OR 3. Meredith and Atlas share a glance.

"Stop it!" Atlas says loudly, catching everyone's attention. Burke and Dylan stop whispering.

"We are not a patient. The way you look at us, it's the same way we look at patients." Atlas snaps done with the potty glances.

"What?" Dylan asks dumbfounded.

"You look at us like we're going to freak out at any minute. I'm not gonna freak out so whatever it is just tell me straight out. Atlas might freak out — but please, just tell us."

Burke moves away from the door to stand directly in front of Meredith and Atlas.

"The main oxygen line runs directly under this room."

"Ok." Meredith breaths.

Burke just stares at her.

"No, not okay, Mer."

"Okay then, I need one of you to tell me what this means exactly. Because I think I know what it means. But I tend to be glass half-empty these days so I won't trust what I think it means. Because what I think it means if the bomb were to explode over the oxygen line the whole hospital could blow up. ... And that's just crazy right?"

"Meredith, all it means ... is that we have to move." Dylan says slowly.

"Move?" Burke whips his head to the side to look at Dylan.

"That's right. We have to move. Now because I don't want to spend another second in this room." He try's to whispers to Burke, only for Meredith and Atlas to still hear him.

"Wait. We can't wiggle my fingers because we can't shift the ammo. And now you want to roll out the entire gurney?" Meredith stares at Dylan.

"Well that's our safest, safest option."

Dylan nods to Burke as if he's telepathically saying 'you continue with them and their shit.'

"So we move. Not a problem. We can do this. You handling this Grey, Lee?"

"I'm handling this. We're handling this."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Everyone that needed to be of use was in the OR hallway where Dylan, two other bomb squad guys including Atlas and Meredith are moving the gurney very, very slowly.

"You're doing great." Dylan whispers.

"Let's go over it again." Meredith lowers her voice.

"Please, because I'm pretty sure I've forgotten half."

"The device is shaped like a rocket. About 8 inches long. We're going to have everything ready. Dr. Burke's team is going to be in place. My team is going to be in place. And I'm going to ask you guys to take the hand that you both have in Mr. Carlson, wrap it around the device..."

"And pull it out." Meredith says finishing for bomb squad guy.

"Level. Pull it out while keeping it level." He corrects.

Atlas didn't see it — then again, he didn't see a lot of things sometimes ( he probably needed glasses ) — but down in the ground was a silver bar that goes from one side of the hallway to the other, no one seems to realize that they're approaching this bar.

The group had stopped once Christina exited her OR. Dylan had tried to get Christina back into her OR only for her to stay and start up a conversation with Atlas and Meredith.

"He told me he loved me. Last night. He thought I was sleeping but I heard him say it." Christina blurts.

"Burke loves you." Meredith says softly.

"Yeah." Dylan looks at Cristina and she notices, "Mind your own business."

"C, Burke loves you. Real life loves you. In a world of crazy shit, loves you."

"Okay everybody has problems." Christina mutters to the two of them.

"Well are you going to say it back or...?"

Cristina interrupts Meredith, "Of course not. He didn't say it to me. He said to the sleeping me. Reciprocity is not required. Besides he might blow up."

"That's a fair point, very true." Atlas chuckles.

And then it happiness, all of sudden the gurney hits the metal bar across the floor and the whole gurney jolts before stopping.

"All right everybody. Let's keep placing one foot in front of the other. Nice and slow. Alright Meredith, Atlas, we're almost there." Dylan's voice is calm, despite the panic.

Meredith closes her eyes as she whispers an 'okay'.

"We're almost there. Nice and Easy. You ready?"

Atlas and Meredith nod.

"Alright let's go. Nice and slow." Dylan commands.

They move the gurney slowly over the bar on the floor and continue on.

"You had to say you were going to die today." Christina looks at Meredith before shooting Atlas a glance.

Meredith only shrugs, "I told you."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"Suction. Irrigate. That's great." Derek says to a scrub nurse before he looks to Cristina, "You didn't answer my question Yang."

"Sir?" Christina's voice comes out quiet, as she try's to avoid the question.

"How is the girl with the bomb?"

Cristina looks conflicted for a second as she doesn't want to tell Derek who holds the bomb, but when she sees the look in his eyes she caves, "Its Atlas and Meredith."

Derek turns to her startled just as Christina repeats what she says, "The girl with bomb is Meredith and Atlas. They're holding the bomb."

And all of a sudden the heart monitor connected to Tucker flat lines.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Baileys giving birth in her hospital room with Oliver sitting behind Bailey, George holding her hand by her side.

Bailey lets out a painful groan.

"Push!" George grimaces as the right grip Bailey gives off.

"A little bit more. I can see the top of the head."

"I need stop. Need stop." Bailey falls back into Oliver's chest breathing heavily.

"That was good." Oliver softly smiles.

George who was holding her hand, silently pulls his hand back and makes a pained expression as if Bailey's broken his fingers.

"That was very good. Are you ready?" Oliver and George help Bailey sit up.

"Ready?" Addison asks and Bailey nods in return.

"Push."

And she does, "Oh god!"

╚═ ☆ ═╝

To Atlas, before he had pulled him hand out with Meredith, his life seemed to flash by in memories. When his siblings were born, the first time his mother taught him to bake, when his father had taken him out fishing for the first time — and even catching a fish. Than growing up, going to medical school and then discovering who he was. And so much more.

Meredith is crying a little as she and Atlas moved their hands in sync as they hands the bomb very careful to Dylan, who's holding his hands out stretched to receive it. They remove their hands.

Atlas had thought that it would've been harder having two peoples hands on the bomb, and it was — but they passed the hard part.

"You two did good." Dylan whispers as he starts moving slowly away from the operating table.

Atlas and Meredith also back away as Burke starts operating on Mr. Carlson.

Dylan heads out the door with the intern and attending hot on his trail — even if they are walking slowly. Atlas is still stunned that he held a live bomb in his hands and didn't blow up.

They walk out the door and stand in front of it watching as Dylan is a few steps away. Dylan readies himself as he starts to pass the bomb off to another Bomb Squad member who is standing ready to receive the it.

Atlas couldn't even blink before it happened. And all of a sudden theres a large explosion.

Dylan is instantly blown up.

The force is so strong that it flings Meredith and Atlas backwards onto their backs.

The exploration blows up various things in the hallway including nearby windows of adjacent OR's and scrub rooms.

Meredith is caked in debris, blood and flesh — just like Atlas. The lights are all blown and everything seems dark.

Just before Atlas closes his eyes to settle into an unconscious state, his mind drifts towards his family and friends, and the life he imagines for himself.