Footsteps wake Briar Sinclair up, and she has to fight not to groan loudly as a result. Sleeping in a hospital sucks. She feels for her patients now that she's experiencing the flip side of rounds; every time she falls asleep, it feels like she only gets seconds before someone is coming in to check on Izzie. She understands why, and she's thankful that the staff is being so careful with her friend, but she wants to sleep.

She doesn't complain about it outloud; whatever she's feeling, Alex and Izzie are feeling it much worse.

Alex moves from beneath her, having gotten used to waking up at the slightest sound or movement, and Briar doesn't complain when he shoves her off of him in order to see what Dr. Bailey is doing. She just yawns, runs a hand through her incredibly tangled hair, and tries to wake up enough to be useful.

A look at the clock shows that she got forty minutes of sleep, and she tries not to cry at the knowledge that she won't be getting any more rest, having to get back to work soon.

"Any changes overnight?" Dr. Bailey asks, waking the rest of the residents up, all of them shaking their heads.

They've all been doing their best to stay with Izzie. Right now, that means camping out in her hospital room every chance they get. They have a collection of pillows, blankets, and four chairs; as there are five of them, Briar has been cuddling with her best friend. He'd never admit to it, but he needs the comfort: his wife has stage four metastatic melanoma. If anyone needs some added comfort, it's Alex Karev.

It means that her sleep is shot to hell; Alex, in all his wife-could-die anxiety, has been relentless in his sleep, constantly kicking or mumbling. Briar has a collection of forming bruises as a result, not that she'll ever be telling him that.

Bailey's pager goes off, her telling them to make a coffee run before they get to work, Briar whining quietly as she stretches and feels the never ending pain in her lower back.

"I gotta be in surgery in ten minutes," A bleary eyed George O'Malley announces, moving to gather up his shoes and scramble out of his chair. They all slept in their scrubs: Briar feels absolutely disgusting, having not showered in . . . two days? Three?

"Mer, will you let me know?" George asks, Meredith Grey nodding as she looks at the watch on her wrist. Briar watches her, suddenly realizing that she's never bought a watch. Should she buy one? That feels like an adult thing, owning a watch. She used to have a Scooby Doo themed one when she was a kid, and she hasn't had one since.

"We should go, too, it's probably gonna be awhile." Meredith says to Cristina Yang, Briar nodding along even though she doesn't think she was part of that comment. She needs coffee desperately. And, oh God, deodorant. Fuck, she smells.

"I'll bring you back coffee." Briar tells Alex, who nods distractedly, his focus on Izzie. Briar gives him a sad nod before standing up off the floor, only for Alex to argue against what Meredith had just said.

"Shepherd said she'd wake up in the morning." He says, turning his head to look at Meredith. "What did he tell you? Was that all crap? What did he say?"

"He said it may be a while." Meredith tells him, Briar giving her a sympathetic look. She knows that Meredith won't be taking any of this personally, but it's got to be tough having your fiance be the one to perform brain surgery on your friend, especially when that friends' husband expects you to have all the answers.

Briar follows Meredith out of the room, hustling to the coffee cart to buy them coffee, snagging her lab coat off of the back of Cristina's chair as she goes. She ends up in the trauma bay a few steps behind Meredith, having taken a detour to Izzie's hospital room to drop off Alex's coffee, and then to the locker room to apply deodorant and dry shampoo in the desperate hope to not smell too awful.

"Dude!" Callie exclaims when they get a look at the guy in the ambulance, Briar biting back a wince at the amount of bandages covering his face. If he survives this, recovery is going to be long and painful. There's a female in the ambulance as well, her left arm in a sling, presenting with non life threatening injuries. Briar gives her a second glance before turning back to the patient who needs the most focus.

"Unidentified male, dragged by a bus." One of the paramedics reports, Briar looking over Owen's shoulder as he grabs the patient's chart. "He's clamped down, so we couldn't intubate."

"Didn't they stop when they hit him?" Meredith questions, all of them rushing the stretcher into the emergency room. Briar takes over squeezing the Ambu bag, keeping an eye on John Doe's chest as she does so.

One, two, three, four, five, squeeze.

"Bus driver didn't know he was there until he got halfway down the block." The other paramedic says, his voice grim, while the other paramedics unload the female victim and follow them into the E.R..

One, two, three, four, five, squeeze.

"I'll take over CPR." Callie declares, taking over from the paramedic, who makes room for her.

Owen speaks up next, talking to the nurses: "Push 20 Etomidate and 100 of Sux." Briar steps to the side to give them more room, just as the female from the ambulance comes into the room. She gives her intern, Lexie Grey, a get her out of here now look. Her interns have learned to read her facial expressions, Lexie proving that when she quickly moves without having to be told.

"He saved my life." Briar hears her say, and can only imagine how guilty she feels. "The bus was gonna hit me. He threw me out of the way. It was supposed to be me under the bus. He's all alone. They don't even know who he is, please!"

She is definitely going to need extensive therapy, whether John Doe survives or not. Briar can't waste time worrying about her now, but she makes a mental note to recommend some therapists she knows to the poor girl. Briar tunes out Lexie talking to her.

"He's back!" She hears. Callie quickly stops CPR.

"Okay, let's get a trauma series, trauma labs, and o-neg blood in here." Callie orders. "Severe avulsion injury to the left forearm."

Briar carefully and gently removes the bandages from his face, needing to know what head injuries they're dealing with, and reveals a bashed in skull.

"Page Shepherd!"

"And Sloan!" Callie adds, Briar shooting a look at Lexie, who quickly grabs her pager to get Derek Shepherd, head of neurosurgery, and Mark Sloan, head of plastic surgery. They're going to need both of them here as quickly as possible.

"Start antibiotics and start cleaning out those wounds." Owen orders, Briar quickly starting the process while one of the nurses starts him on antibiotics. In the background, the female victim throws up, and Briar turns to Lexie. Where are the rest of her interns? Now would be a great time for them to show up.

"Get her out of here!" She orders, Lexie moving to do so. The last thing they need is a civilian watching their every move, especially one who should be getting checked out herself. Briar understands that this is hard to watch for someone who isn't used to it, and that she's been through a trauma, but they can't have her throwing up in the room.

"Woah!" Sloan exclaims as he walks into the room, quickly moving to examine their John Doe.

"Man versus bus." Callie explains shortly.

"Bus won." Sloan points out, most of the doctors–Briar included–being a fan of gallows humor. It makes it easier to deal with all the blood, guts and death they experience on a frequent basis.

"Check out the left arm." Callie tells him, just as the monitors start beeping erratically, Meredith pointing out that he's crashing again. Briar starts CPR while the others explain to Derek what he's walking into.

"We've got roadkill." Sloan says, and Briar would glare at him if she wasn't too focused on her chest compressions. Thankfully, Owen takes offense to the comment.

"You mind? He stepped out in front of a moving bus so he could pull a woman out of the way. He's a hero."

Callie speaks up before Sloan can, although Briar doesn't think even he could have a nasty comment after Owen's defense. "Can you fix the arm?"

"Fingers are already blue. If it's gonna happen, it's gotta be in the next few hours."

"Pupil's blown, stop CPR!" Derek orders, Briar stepping down from her stool, doing her best to catch her breath in what short time she has. "Okay, give me a cranial drill, please. Grey, want to practice your burr holes?"

Meredith nods and moves over to her fiancé while a nurse starts shaving his head, Briar moving instinctively to stabilize his neck while she does so.

"Stabilize his–oh, you're already doing it. Thank you, Sinclair." Derek starts to order, giving her a quick nod when he sees that she's already moved to do so. They all watch as Meredith grabs the cranial drill, Briar hoping that Meredith does a good job with the burr holes.

When the drill tone deepens, everyone starts exclaiming at once, Meredith flinching.

"Right there!"

"Pull back, pull back! That's it!"

"That's enough!"

Briar holds his neck steady as a nurse moves to stop the bleeding. She holds her breath for a moment, relief flooding her when the beeping of the monitor slows as John Doe returns to a normal rhythm.

"Nice work, Dr. Grey." Owen says, giving a small smile to Meredith, who releases a deep breath. Briar gives her a smile as well, proud of her friend.

"I'm gonna go get some Bacitracin for that face." Sloan announces as he leaves the room, going to find the antibiotic ointment. Briar privately wonders why he doesn't keep some in his lab coat, but knows better than to ask that outloud.

"All right, let's get his head rotated." Derek decides, working with Briar to carefully position him. "Watch his neck."

"Welcome back, sir. You had us worried there for a minute." Meredith says softly, a smile on her face, and Briar looks back at John Doe to see his eyes open, locked onto Meredith's. Briar hopes that he's finding some relief in locking in on her, focusing back on helping Derek as much as she can.

"What did you do to O'Malley?" Dr. Bailey questions, shoving herself in the room. Briar raises an eyebrow, wondering what George is doing now. Honestly, the guy's her friend, but he's a mess.

"Excuse me?" Owen asks when it becomes clear she's speaking to him, looking over to her as he places his stethoscope back around his neck.

"Uh, somebody else around here likely to convince someone to join the army and be a trauma surgeon in Iraq?" Bailey snaps. Briar freezes for just one second, the look she receives from Derek forcing her back into action. John Doe can't afford for them to lose focus on him, as much as she would love to know what is happening with George.

The Army? Really?

"What?" Callie shouts, making Briar remember that she was previously married to George. The marriage had been a mess, and Callie is glad that the woman is free of that relationship, but Callie is a very caring woman. This has to be a huge surprise for her specifically.

"The Army?" Meredith shouts next, unconsciously asking the question floating through Briar's head. The thought of George O'Malley in the army is. . . Briar can't picture it.

"V-fib!"

"Charge the paddles to 360!" Owen orders, doing chest compressions while they wait for the paddles to charge.

"Just call who you have to call and undo this." Dr. Bailey orders. Briar grimaces, eyeing the monitors, and silently wonders why all the doctors here never have good timing. She doesn't think it's normal to constantly be bursting into emergency rooms–sometimes even operating rooms–to discuss anything other than their patients. And yet, that's a common occurrence at Seattle Grace Hospital.

"Dr. Bailey, little busy here!" Owen defends, just as the paddles charge and Meredith orders them to clear.

"Clear." Briar repeats, lifting her hands off of John Doe, watching as he's shocked.

"George? George O'Malley?" Callie questions, seeming to be in shock.

"No change!"

"It wasn't my idea." Owen snaps, turning to Meredith: "Charge again."

"Clear!" Meredith shouts, shocking him again.

"Look, I did what I could to give him a decent education in trauma." Owen tells Dr. Bailey. "I didn't know he was gonna go and enlist."

"He keeps coding." Meredith points out, Callie looking at his scans hanging up.

"Here's why. Open-book pelvic fracture."

"There's too much bleeding." Owen sighs, resuming chest compressions. "We take him to an O.R., he'll die on the table."

"He needs to go to angio if we're gonna stop the pelvic arterial bleeding." Callie responds, just as Meredith announces that he has sinus tach. Briar smiles at the fact that he has a rhythm: he's a fighter.

"Let's stabilize the pelvis." Owen decides. Briar helps him and the nurses do just that, keeping one eye on the monitor, worried about him coding again.

"I know what goes on in this hospital." Dr. Bailey tells Owen, grabbing his attention again. "I know you're messed up from that war, and not in a small way. Get him out of it."

"Page me if you need me. I've got other patients." Callie tells Owen, her voice cold, and Briar stares after her in disbelief. They all have other patients, but this one needs as many hands as he can get.

"How'd you piss off all the women?" Sloan asks, Briar scoffing quietly.

Owen exhales loudly, "Let's get our guy to angio."

"Angio? He's barely got a pulse." Meredith points out, sounding worried, but Owen doesn't change his mind.

"It's now or never if we want him to live. Let's move." He orders, Briar stepping aside so that he can push the bed out of the room, with the help of a nurse and Sloan. Briar overhears him talking to John Doe as she moves to help the nurses clean up the room as fast as they can. "Sir, I know it's tough, but I'd personally be very grateful if you'd try and stay alive for the next few minutes."

With that, they're gone, leaving Briar and Meredith to stare at each other in trauma room 1, both worried about their friend joining the Army.

✦

"Aren't you gonna chew?" Cristina asks Meredith. Both her and Briar watch in disgust as Meredith rushes through eating her sandwich.

With her mouth full, Meredith explains her rush: "Our dragged-under-a-bus guy is in angio, they're gonna page any minute."

"I don't see Briar scarfing down her food." Cristina points out, Briar giving her a smile as she pointedly takes her time eating her own sandwich. It's a ham and cheese sandwich, and while she would prefer not to be eating from the cafeteria, it's not as if she's had time to go home and pack herself a lunch.

"That's 'cause I have manners." She says pointedly as soon as she's done chewing, grimacing at the sounds coming from Meredith's mouth.

"How's Izzie?" Meredith asks Alex, who slumps down in his seat. "Is she retaining anything?" Izzie woke up this morning, like they had hoped, only she hasn't been able to remember anything. According to the text from Cristina, she kept asking how the surgery went, only moments after being informed about it. Hopefully it's just a short-term side effect, and not a permanent memory issue.

"No." Alex says glumly, his shoulders slumped, and they all sigh. Briar shoves her bowl of fruit in his direction, nudging him until he huffs and starts picking at it. He's not been eating as much as he should be. Briar understands that it's because of his stress and worry, but he won't be any good to Izzie if he ends up in his own hospital bed, so she's taken it upon herself to keep him hydrated and fed.

"Okay, uh, at 6pm, your idiotic colleague George O'Malley will finish his surgery with the chief." Dr. Bailey says, her and Callie stopping at their lunch table.

"And at 6pm, you will be standing beside us in the O.R. hallway, prepared to join in an intervention." Callie tells them, Briar frowning to herself as she thinks about it.

"What polite company might call an intervention, though I'm not sure interventions involve whooping people on the behind with a belt." Dr. Bailey interrupts, Briar feeling bad for George already.

"What, he's got a drinking problem now?" Alex asks, the right side of his lips quirking up. Briar blinks, reminded that neither he nor Cristina were there for the chaos this morning.

"He joined the Army." Meredith informs them, Cristina whipping around to look at her.

"007?" Alex asks, chuckling in disbelief. "He can't go to the Army. He's the guy that gets killed."

"He's the guy that gets killed cleaning his own gun." Cristina emphasizes Alex's point.

"007: License to Kill." Briar whispers, shrugging sheepishly when they all look at her strangely. What, she's the only one not allowed to make jokes about it? Not fair.

"Grey is going to coax him back as a loving friend." Dr. Bailey informs them. Briar's glad she didn't get that role. To Cristina, she says, "You are going to use logic and reason to point out the idiocy of his ways." A perfect role for Cristina. "Stevens will make sad cancer eyes." Well, if that doesn't work, Briar has no idea what will. "And you, Sinclair, are going to guilt trip him. Talk about his mother, yell at him, cry, whatever it takes. Guilt trip him."

Why is she the one who has to get emotional?

The question must be written on her face, because Dr. Bailey rolls her eyes at her. "Yes, it has to be you. You and Karev are always fighting with the guy. If you cry it'll be more shocking."

"Okay, fine." Briar gives in, not willing to go against Dr. Bailey. "I'll cry, but none of you are allowed to use it against me after." She adds on, giving Alex a pointed glare.

"It's cute that you think I was asking." Dr. Bailey says, giving Briar the stink eye. "If all of that doesn't work, Karev, you're gonna pull out your 'I was raised out back with the trash cans' roots and just beat the crap outta him."

"Ooh, can I help?" Briar laughs, thinking back to her youth. She can totally take down O'Malley.

"6 o'clock." Alex agrees with a grin, clearly excited about this, making Briar laugh harder.

"6 o'clock." Callie agrees, and everyone disperses, Meredith and Briar rushing away when their pagers go off.

✦

"Why is everyone hugging today?" Meredith asks, pulling open the door to reveal Sloan and  Derek hugging each other. Briar raises her eyebrows at them, looking past them to the scans that they've been looking at.

"Oh, the blushing bride." Sloan greets Meredith, making Briar whip her head around to look at her. Is she actually getting married? Today?

"All right, here's the plan for our John Doe." Owen announces, pushing past them into the room, Callie following behind. "Shepherd, you'll evacuate the epidural. Grey and I will correct the internal injuries. That'll make room for Torres to place the internal fixator. Sloan, you and Sinclair should still have time to work on the arm if the patient doesn't get too acidotic or hypothermic."

"Do you think he has a shot?" Meredith asks, and Owen sighs.

"I've seen people come back from worse." He tells them, before sweeping out of the room. The rest of them shrug at each other and follow. Briar can't help but be morbidly excited for this surgery: plastics is definitely not something she's interested in specializing, but it is interesting to work alongside Sloan. She'll never admit it, his ego is large enough as is, but he's excellent at his job, and Briar always learns a lot from him.

✦

"How's the arm?" Derek asks in the O.R.

"The nerves are still intact." Sloan reports, showing Briar the nerves he's looking at before getting back to work. "Just have to reattach the vessels."

"You ready for me?" Callie asks, having just finished scrubbing in.

"I'm almost done with the major internal crush injuries." Owen explains. "Pelvis will be all yours in a minute. Give me some more laps, please."

"You think you could do it?" Sloan asks, clarifying his question a moment later. "Step in front of a bus for a perfect stranger?"

"We'd all like to think we would but–" Callie starts, getting interrupted by Derek.

"That's more or less what Major Hunt's been doing every day for the last couple of years."

"Oh, no, the guys did. I just came in behind 'em with a dustpan and broom and swept up."

"You sewed up soldiers under fire." Derek responds. "You didn't sweep up."

"How do you think O'Malley's gonna do over there?" Owen asks. "You think–you think he can handle it?"

"No, I don't." Callie says, but Briar frowns.

"I think he's gonna surprise us all." Derek says before she can jump into the conversation, and she nods.

"I agree." Briar says, clearly surprising everyone. "I know this guy–great guy, super funny, incredibly kind. He served as an Army Ranger. I didn't know him before he served, only after, but I've heard stories from his brother, who's a doctor. And serving–it gave him trauma, and nightmares, and injuries. But it also gave him a purpose, and a family, and now he's a detective. And it's brave. Braver than I could be. I couldn't join the Army, or throw myself under a bus for a complete stranger. So I think we're doing a disservice to–to George, and to John Doe, by standing here and debating it."

There's silence for a moment, while Briar stares at Owen, who looks relieved that she's not criticizing him for something that isn't his fault.

"He's George." Callie starts, but Briar just shakes her head.

"Yes, he's George. I know he's your ex-husband, but everyone needs to stop treating him like a child. He can make his own decisions; he's an adult. If he wants to join the Army as a trauma surgeon, then fine. I'll write him letters."

"Here, look at this." Sloan tells her, and she moves to focus back on John Doe's arm, blocking out any issues outside of this room and this patient.

✦

"How's she doing?" Briar asks, herself and Meredith speaking to Cristina outside Izzie's hospital room. Alex is in there, sitting next to her bed and talking to her. "Any improvement?"

"No," Cristina says softly, all three of them sighing.

Briar looks into the room, smiling at all of the post-it notes. They cover every available surface, all with notes about what's going on, so that Alex doesn't have to repeat the same conversation with her every time her memory resets. It's heartbreaking that she has to have them up, but it's a sign of Alex's love for her.

"I'm going to go in." Briar informs Cristina. She hasn't gotten to talk to Izzie yet, and she finds that she needs to. When she's given a nod, she slowly walks in, giving her friends a soft smile.

"I think we should trade names." Briar tells Izzie, who looks confused at her words. Alex does too. "Every time I've come to see you, you've been asleep. You're Sleeping Beauty."

The explanation makes Izzie beam, which is what Briar was hoping for. Alex laughs too, even though he seems completely exhausted, and Briar reaches over to grab Izzie's hand and squeeze it gently.

"Does that make you my Prince Charming?" Izzie asks, startling a laugh out of Briar.

"Nah," She says lightly, looking at the way Alex is looking at his wife. "That's all Alex."

She stays for a few minutes, keeping one eye on Izzie's stats as she chats away. Before she leaves, she reaches into her pocket, pulling out a stack of purple post-it notes. She's not sure where Alex will stick anymore notes, but she's sure he'll figure it out.

"Here, they match your bedsheets." Briar hands them to Alex, grinning at the both of them. "I have to go check on my patient, but I'll be back later. Izzie–" She falters when Izzie looks at her, taking a second to take her in. She's alive and so beautiful. It feels like a real miracle, despite the memory issues. "I love you. Get some rest, okay?"

With that, she hurries away, trying desperately not to let any tears fall.

✦

The intervention is a bust.

George was sent home by Dr. Webber this morning, after he found out about him enlisting, so that he could spend the remaining time stateside with his mom. Callie won't stop ranting about it, but Briar just walks further down the hallway, trying to call George.

It goes straight to voicemail, making Briar frown, before she decides to text him.

To: 007
I think you're being incredibly brave, which I have never said to you before. That's how you know I mean it. You've got this. Ignore what anyone else has to say, and give me a call back before you leave! Also, I want to know where to send letters. I'll keep you updated on all the drama happening here, so you'll be receiving a lot of them. Also, what's your email?? They'll let you have access to a computer sometimes, I'm assuming, & that feels more this century. Call me back.

She hits send, blowing air out through her teeth. It feels weird, him just leaving like that, without even telling them. Does he plan on coming back before their shift is up? He'd at least say goodbye to Meredith and Izzie, right?

She shakes her head, pushing aside all thoughts of George as she makes her way back to their John Doe. He's going back for another surgery, so she meets Owen and Derek inside his room, along with Meredith.

"I thought you were getting married." Owen says to Meredith and Derek, reminding Briar that they had made plans to go to city hall that day. With everything else happening, she completely forgot.

"We did." Derek says, exchanging a smile with his wife.

"Oh, congratulations." Owen says, sounding as surprised as Briar feels. What are they doing here, if they got married? "You sure you want to start your honeymoon in an O.R.?"

"We're sure." Meredith says, Briar shrugging at Owen. It's not where she would decide to be after she got married, but who is she to judge them.

Meredith goes to finish his prep for surgery, putting him under, while Briar follows Derek and Owen out of his room. They meet up with Callie, all of them discussing the upcoming surgery, Briar getting informed about the role she'll play.

"It's George! It's George!" They hear Meredith scream, all turning to face her as she sprints out to join them. "John Doe is George!"

Everything is complete chaos after that. They get John D–George–they get George, George who's been hit by a bus, and wheel him in a rush to the operating room. They're all talking over each other, trying to assure him and themselves–each other–that he's going to be okay, even as all their doubts about his survival ring through Briar's head, all the gallows humor she's been secretly amused by. It doesn't feel real even when they're in the O.R. This can't be George.

"B.P's dropping!"

"All right, let's put him out, now."

It doesn't make sense for it to be George. George is supposed to be at home, explaining his new career path to his mother. George is supposed to be calling her back, any second now.

"We're losing him!"

"Damn it, O'Malley. Come on. Live. Just live."

George is going to call her back. He's going to call her back, whining about how his mother won't leave him alone. He's going to call her back, and she's going to scream at him over this misunderstanding, and talk him out of the Army.

"I.C.P's 30."

"Push 70 of Mannitol and start bagging."

Briar's changed her mind, George isn't allowed to join the Army. He has to live. She's going to get Alex, and he can hold him down and force him to stay the way Bailey wanted him to. She'll do anything, if he'll just live.

"He's hemorrhaging into his brain stem."

"Is it too late for steroids?"

And then, one final question: "Anybody know if he's a donor?"

✦

George is dead.

George is dead.

Briar has repeated those words to herself dozens of times, and yet she still can't grasp the concept. George is dead. George is supposed to be cooking her breakfast since he lost a bet last week. George is dead. George is supposed to be cheering Izzie on as she beats cancer's ass. George is dead.

George is dead.

And she doesn't have a black dress.

"What's so funny?" Meredith questions, her brows furrowed as she stares at her friend. Briar just shakes her head, her entire body shaking with the force of her laughter, noises she's never heard herself make escaping her. "Do I need to call into psych?"

That only makes Briar laugh harder, imagining telling George that she missed his funeral because she didn't have a dress to wear and Meredith sicced psych on her.

"He–" She starts to explain, gasping in between each word in a way she hasn't done since she ran track and field in high school. "He made fun of me for having hardly any clothes when we moved in with you. And I thought he was dumb but his funeral is tonight and I don't have a dress!"

It takes a moment, but as soon as Briar has calmed herself down, Meredith starts laughing. That sets Briar off, and when Derek enters the room a little while later, they've laughed themselves into tears.

She borrows a dress from Lexie.

✦

"There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. . . A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant, a time to kill and a time to heal. . ."

Briar has to bite her tongue in order to not start laughing. She has a tendency to laugh during funerals, and the monotone, droning voice talking about plants of all things is not helping.

You're surrounded by people you respect, she thinks desperately, don't let Chief Webber see you laugh at George O'Malley's funeral.

She'd have no choice but to quit. Actually, forget the Chief–if Bailey sees or hears her so much as snort, there's going to be a double funeral.

At least they already have an officiant on standby, she thinks, and then has to cough into her elbow when she can't control the urge to laugh. She's pretty sure she pulls it off well, although Derek is side-eyeing her more than she's comfortable with.

She's pretty sure she wasn't noticeable over the redhead's crying. Amelia? Angela? Her name starts with an A . . . it has to be Angela. Angela feels right.

"A time to weep and a time to laugh. . ." The officiant continues, and maybe Briar is being conceited, but that comment feels pointed. "A time to mourn and a time to dance. . ."

This is the worst funeral speech Briar has ever heard. It's as if he's shoving it in their faces that they're going through a hard time, like they aren't already gathered at a funeral. Before Briar can start coughing again, movement catches her attention: Izzie breaking away from the group, and Alex and Meredith rushing after her.

Cristina and Briar share a look before removing themselves from the crowd as quietly as possible. Briar can't help but snort when she hears the officiant start talking about gathering stones, ignoring the look Cristina gives her.

They find Izzie sitting at the front of a mausoleum, everyone but Meredith sitting down next to her. Meredith leans against a tree in-front of it, everyone trying to figure out how to comfort Izzie. There's no way that stress is good for her, but it's not like they could discourage her attending George's funeral.

"I'm sorry," Izzie gasps out in-between laughter, and Briar starts laughing with her. It feels good to not be the only inappropriate one.

"They're laughing," Meredith says in disbelief, being echoed a second later by Alex.

"George–George is dead. He's dead. They're about to put him in the ground, and the priest is doing classic rock lyrics." Issue chokes out, her body shaking with her laughter. Briar lets out an ugly snort at the rock music comparison, making Cristina lose the battle against her own laughter. Briar leans into her side, needing some contact to avoid falling over into the grass. "And that girl, that redhead is crying harder than his mother, and she never even met him."

Izzie puts her head in her hands while the others join in the laughter.

"You are far more twisted than I ever realized," Cristina says, sounding impressed.

"I had the thought that Bailey would kill me if I started laughing, and then that it was good that we already had a priest to speed the process along." Briar says next, making Alex cackle. Briar grins over at her best friend, glad to see him happy for even a moment after all of the stress of the last few months. Years, really, but the last few months have been especially hard on him.

She'll make all the dark jokes in the world to see that smile on his face.

"You got married on a post-it!" Izzie points at Meredith, who shakes her head in disbelief over her own actions.

"I got married on a post-it. I did. I did." She agrees, leaning forward as she laughs, a beautiful smile on her face.

"You guys got married for real!" Cristina gestures to Alex and Izzie, and all of them laugh even harder.

"I got cancer!" Izzie shouts, throwing her arms in the air. "What!?"

"I had a threesome with my ex-husband and his girlfriend last night!" Briar exclaims, the words having been stuck in the back of her throat since it happened. It's been killing her to not have told them as soon as it happened.

"You dirty, dirty slut!" Cristina gasps out, shaking her by the shoulders as tears start streaming down Briar's face, her sides hurting from all the laughter.

"I need all the details!" Meredith adds, and she nods to all of them. They can have all the details they want once they go home.

"Dude, O-O'Malley got hit by a bus." Alex says, and that gets the loudest laugh of them all.

Anything else they try to say is unintelligible through the laughter and tears, the laughter starting to subside just as the service comes to an end and people begin to trickle out. That is, until Andrea walks past, sobbing into her hands the whole time.

That sets them off again, just as Briar has an epiphany.

"Amanda!" She gasps out, holding her sides as she rocks back and forth. Her name is Amanda!

"She never stops crying!" Izzie points out, setting off another round of laughter.

When it fades, they all just look at each other, the knowledge that they've lost one of their best friends finally sinking in. Briar's face feels swollen already, and she can only imagine how red her nose is. Her sides hurt from the laughter and her head is pounding but she's alive.

She's alive.

authors note:
quick chapter to introduce you to
briar and her dynamic with MAGIC
... or MAIC... because i didn't want to
start the story with jackson's entrance.
so. we get the "george is dead" intro

i'm going to be honest, briar might be my favorite oc ive ever made. i love her a lot, and i hope anyone who reads this does too. she's messy, possibly the messiest character i've ever written. this isn't one of those fics with the perfect oc, she isn't going to steal everyone's great surgeries and never make mistakes. that's boring, people!

i will be messing around with plot lines, because that's half the fun of writing a fic like this. i'm genuinely really excited about this story :)

— chris