Briar smiles in thanks when Alex slides her a plate with toast on it, scooping eggs, sausage and bacon onto both of their plates before moving over to the dining room table to give some to Derek and Meredith. Derek thanks her quickly before launching right back into his plans for the house he was building for Meredith. Briar fights back a laugh at how confused Meredith looks, exchanging an amused look with her best friend when she rejoins him in the kitchen, jumping onto the counter.

"I'm thinking we put the tub here, that way you can take a bath, look out the window at the trees. But that means we have to move the sink here, because there's no way we can get two sinks on that wall." Derek says, shoveling food into his mouth when he's done.

"Okay." Meredith says, sounding lost. Briar hides her smile by taking a huge bite of her toast–cinnamon sugar, just the way she likes it.

"Okay, so do you want me to move the tub or do you want to share a sink?" Derek asks her, making Meredith stumble for an answer.

"I have one opinion, and that is that I just want a tub deep enough that it covers my–"

"Knees and boobs at the same time." Derek and Meredith say at the same time, Derek clearly having heard this multiple times. Briar can relate, and she's already planning on spending as many nights as possible in the dream home once it's built.

"Yeah, I gotta go. You're useless. Mwah. Love you." Derek says, leaving. Alex joins her as soon as he's left, discussing the house, while Briar moves to look at the dry erase board calendar she bought during their intern year. It's color coded, with Briar assigning everyone a colored Expo marker to use: Briar is orange, Alex is red, Derek is dark blue, April is lime green (Briar may or may not have chosen the color based on the Oopsy Bear she nicknamed her by once . . .), Lexie is lilac, Jackson is dark green, and Meredith is grey–Briar couldn't resist.

When they lived there, Izzie was yellow and George was lime green.

She can't help but smile at the faded stickers on the sides of the board–her and Izzie would buy random ones at stores and stick them there. Sometimes she can't help but miss Izzie, but never enough to reach out to her. There's too much history there, and it wouldn't do either of them good.

The girl she can reach out to, however, is hiding away in the attic. Briar has the day off, and Lexie has a few hours until her shift starts, so Briar makes her a plate–toast, sausage and bacon, since Lexie is allergic to eggs–and heads up.

"Lexie, you up here?" She calls up, heading further up when there's an affirmative grunt. "Here. I brought you breakfast, and I figured we could talk, if you're up to it right now."

Lexie sighs but nods, holding out a hand for her plate. Briar hands it over, sitting down across from her on her bed carefully–she still has a plate of her own–before looking around. The room is kind of a disaster–boxes full of Meredith's deceased mom's belongings mixed in with Lexie's belongings.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lexie asks, taking a bite of her breakfast and making a pleased noise.

"Mark." Briar says bluntly, pushing on despite Lexie's unhappy noise. "Lexie, you know that I love you. I love you, and I can't keep having the same argument with you."

"I love you too." Lexie mumbles, frowning down at her plate.

"You're allowed to have feelings about Mark having a baby–confused feelings, unhappy feelings, whatever. If that's not something you're ready to be involved with, that's okay. I'll never judge you for it. But–I'm also allowed to have my own feelings."

"I never said you couldn't." Lexie says, sounding confused, and Briar sighs.

"Not directly, no." She allows, taking a bite of her bacon to try and figure out how to word her feelings. "Mark is my friend, and I told you when you got back together with him that I wouldn't be picking sides, or getting involved. I meant that, Lex. Mark is my friend, and so are Callie and Arizona, and I am thrilled that they are having this baby. I'm thrilled that they asked me to be the godmother–that's a huge responsibility, and an honor, and I'm excited for it. I'm going to be involved in all of their lives, and I'm going to be happy about it, and I can't keep having this same fight with you."

"I don't like fighting with you." Lexie admits, sounding near tears. "I just–it feels like a betrayal, again."

"Okay." Briar acknowledges, biting her lip. "It isn't, on my end. That decision had nothing to do with you, and I can understand why that would hurt. You're allowed to be hurt, and to be mad at me. I just–I can't deal with the silent treatment, and I don't deserve to have your feelings about Mark taken out on me. Our friendship deserves better, and I really don't think we'll survive if we keep fighting over Mark. That could be a lot of fights."

"I'll work on it." Lexie promises, and Briar gives her a pleased smile.

"That's all I'm asking for. Now, tell me, what's the worst thing you've thought about me?"

✦

"BRIAR!" April screams through the house hours later, making Briar jerk and spill her nail polish in her lap. "LEXIE! Are you in here?"

"Yeah!" They both shout out, just in time for April to shove the bathroom door open and slam it shut again, leaning her back against it. The water turns off in the shower, and Briar moves to turn down their music as Lexie opens the shower door, both of them giving April their full attention.

"Stark just asked me out." April blurts out, making Briar drop the nail polish on the floor, paying it no mind as it soaks through a towel.

"WHAT!?" They both shout, all three of them gaping at each other. April bursts into slightly hysterical laughter, and Briar makes a quick move to sit her down on the toilet seat, still gaping at her.

"Is that not the weirdest thing you've ever heard?"

"I mean, you're gorgeous, but he's gross. Please tell me you said no." Briar begs, because she will not be able to handle that relationship. If he ever comes here, she's liable to move out . . . or do something that could get her arrested.

"Thanks." April gives her a bashful smile for the compliment, blushing. A second later she jumps up and starts pacing as much as she can while Briar watches from her spot on the floor, covered in red polish.

"It's weird. It's weird. It's weird." April repeats, clearly starting to panic. "I mean, he's old and mean. He's like the Grinch. The Grinch asked me to dinner, and I said yes!" She shouts, laughing even more hysterically while Briar and Lexie both freeze.

"You said yes?" Lexie questions, while Briar focuses on not throwing up.

"There is–there is a nice man under there." April tries, before grimacing at the look she receives from Briar. "You think he's weird?"

"He's determined to ruin Alex, Mer and I's careers because we saved a kid's life. He's on a constant power trip. He was disrespectful to Arizona. He tried to saw off a kid's leg, and then nearly jumped me when I took the saw." She says, holding a finger up with each item she lists. "Also, whenever he gets mad, this vein on his forehead looks like it's gonna burst. Babe, you can do so much better."

"Oh God." April says, looking up. "Jesus, please."

"Okay. Um, we can fix this. Here, let's, uh, let's have a girl's night, and we can come up with a plan." Briar says, grimacing as she tries to think of options. This is a nightmare.

"Okay, um, let me pee first." April says, moving to do that while Lexie finishes showering and Briar starts cleaning up the nail polish, deciding to just throw away her shorts. She strips down to her underwear, relieved to see that the polish didn't bleed through onto them, and tosses the shorts in the bathroom garbage before grabbing her basket of nail polish, her hair supplies, and a towel to bring to the living room.

"White or red wine?" She asks, before sighing. "You know what? I'm grabbing both, and we're ordering a pizza. Operation: Save April has commenced."

✦

"She said what?" Briar asks, frowning at Callie. They're sitting in a hotel bed that Briar booked as soon as Callie called and asked to speak to her. It's a tradition that dates back to when Callie was married to George and Izzie was horrible to her: they would get a room for at least one night, and have a bitching fest over room service.

The only difference now is that neither are drinking.

"That this was my bi dream." Callie repeats, frowning into her cup of orange juice, before reaching over and stealing a bite of Briar's steak. Due to the pregnancy, Callie had to order her's well-done, and she's been eyeing Briar's medium rare all night. Briar isn't surprised that she caved and stole a bite. "She said that this is perfect for me, 'cause I get the girlfriend and the guy best friend who's a good lay, and the baby. That this is my dream, but not hers."

"Oh, Callie." Briar sighs, taking a second to eat some mashed potatoes and think that over. "That's–I get that she isn't a fan of Mark, but she signed up for this. You told her that you were pregnant with Mark's baby, and she still got back together with you. She's going to have to learn to play nice with him at some point."

"He's going to be such a great dad." Callie says, smiling for a second before it falls. "She just can't see that. I know that they could get along, but they just argue constantly, and it's driving me mad. I don't want this baby to grow up around that."

"I think you're going to have to tell them both that." Briar says, smiling sympathetically at her. "And I would talk to Arizona, too, because what she said isn't okay. She's allowed to have her own feelings, but that was biphobic and unfair to you. You and Mark slept together after Arizona broke up with you, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"Why is this so complicated?" Callie complains, before hesitating. "I also have a question for you, but I don't want you to feel pressured or–"

"Callie, just ask." Briar assures her, laughing lightly.

"Will you be my Power of Attorney?" She asks, rushing into an explanation. "It's just that I don't feel comfortable making it Arizona or Mark, with this pregnancy. And I think you're a good choice, 'cause we're close but you're always level-headed in bad situations. I think you'd make the right decision if something were to happen and–"

"Yes." Briar says, smiling gently at Callie, before reaching over for the pad of paper the hotel left on the table. "But, let's talk about what the right decisions would be for you, and for the baby if something happens while you're pregnant."

"Thank you." Callie whispers, tears in her eyes. Briar reaches over and squeezes her hand, before pulling back and starting to write out questions on the paper. She knows that Callie will fill out the official forms with an attorney and Briar will receive a package with care instructions, but she feels better going through it all personally.

It's a lot of responsibility, but Briar feels honored to be chosen for it.

✦

"Whoa." Briar hears Arizona exclaim, but she's preoccupied with staring at her feet to avoid tripping, unable to see over the top of everything in her arms. "What is that?"

"Baby shower stuff." She pants out, grinning thankfully when Mark scoops some of the items from her arms. "Games and decorations. Everything I could buy and make, really, which was a lot."

"I see that." Arizona says, and Briar raises her eyebrows at her for a second before turning to the tables and starting to explain everything she brought for the two of them.

"Okay, so, I made a baby shower family feud that we can play." She explains, handing a curious looking Mark the bag of boards and markers. "So, it's questions like, 'what's a baby's favorite activity' or 'name something parents always carry around with them.' Winner gets a prize and I brought a bunch of them, they're still in my car. And there's baby food, for the baby food race. Mark, you're going to love this one, it's a Mad-Libs–basically, guests write down things Callie says while opening gifts, and then Callie gets to read them out. You'll get why it's funny later." She says, patting him on the shoulder. Typical expressions are things like oh, how tiny referring to the baby clothes–but the mad libs refer to when the baby was conceived. Arizona might love that one the most, honestly.

"This is amazing. Thank you." Mark tells her, and she smiles at him before shaking her head.

"Oh, I'm nowhere near done. I had way too much fun with this." She tells him, turning and rushing back down to her car. When she comes back, she finds Arizona and Mark arguing over whether or not to have a scrapbook station, while Cristina and Meredith try to set down the table for it and leave.

"Put it next to that box with the glitter pens." Mark tells them, only for Arizona to protest.

"Oh, no, no, no. Don't put it anywhere. We're not having a scrapbook station." Arizona tells them, making them drop the table again. Briar edges around them, dropping her next box of items so that she can start sorting through it.

"You heard Callie this morning. She wants us to go all out." Mark says, turning back to Meredith and Cristina. "Move the table."

Briar laughs at how Meredith rolls her eyes even as she does as told.

"No, don't move the table. Mark, this isn't a scrapbook station kind of shower."

"You're wrong. Briar, tell her. Torres wants all the girly stuff–games, onesie decorating." He says the last part with a soft smile, directed at the newborn onesie in his hands.

"He's right." Briar chips in, shrugging away the dirty look Arizona gives her. "Callie wants a big shower, which is why I spent ten hours looking up and creating games for this. Now, who wants to help me blow up balloons?"

"I can't get over the fact that you know what onesie decorating is." Meredith says, looking disturbed.

"I've been boning up." Mark states proudly, dropping the onesie into the box. "That's what you do for the people you love."

"Oh, bite me, Mark." Arizona snaps back.

"Oh, what's going on? Are you fighting again?" Callie asks, coming into the room and sounding disappointed.

"Did you want a scrapbook station?" Arizona asks, clearly hoping to win that argument.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. It's not a real shower if you don't get to take home a scrapbook." Callie answers, either not noticing or choosing to ignore the smug look Mark sends to Arizona. She perks up a second later. "Ooh, we should have glitter pens!"

Mark looks proud as can be as he points to the pens he bought, while Arizona gives him a forced smile, clearly not thrilled to be wrong. Briar just shakes her head, amused by them as she continues setting up.

"What's with the baby dolls?" Mark questions, sliding up to her once Callie has left.

"Oh, it's a diaper contest. So we split into two teams, and each team gets a baby doll, a blindfold, and a diaper for each person. Whichever team puts on all the diapers the fastest gets prizes. And you can keep the dolls for the baby" She explains, before waving a bag of clothespins in his face. "This is for the 'don't say baby' game, and I have things for a baby bucket list–what you should do with the baby, so you have ideas if you need them. I brought disposable cameras, so I can make you a scrapbook after the party. And the rest are decorations."

Briar laughs when she's pulled into a tight hug, returning it with a warm smile.

"Thank you, so much." He says into her hair. "You're going to be the best godmother."

"I'll try." She says, before pulling back, unable to resist making a joke at his expense. "Now, I know you're full of hot air, so I'm putting you on balloon duty."

✦

"Lexie, hey!" Briar gives her friend a warm smile, pleased that she came to the baby shower, and that she doesn't look upset to be here. "Here's a pin, you can't say the word B-A-B-Y, or someone will take it from you. Whoever has the most pins wins a prize. Have fun!"

Briar turns to the next person to enter, repeating the same speech for a few minutes before ducking into the party, going straight to the onesie making station and then to the table her friends have taken.

"Hey, what are we talking about?" She asks, taking a seat next to Alex and grabbing an orange glitter pen.

"Stark and April." Alex explains, making her gag.

"Just saying, Lexie and I created a fool proof plan to get you out of that." Briar points out, a little bitter that all of her hard work was wasted.

"He's really interesting once you get to know him." April says, which makes Briar laugh even as she focuses on making a giant sunflower, her eyebrows scrunched up as she works.

"Yeah, which is why she's taking her pants off for him tonight." Alex gossips, making all of them–Briar, Jackson, Lexie, Meredith and Cristina–react, all whipping their heads around to look at April.

"What?"

"She's going to his place. 'From Here to Eternity' is playing on cable."

"Oh, yeah. Pants are coming off." Cristina jokes, while Briar frowns to herself, not liking the sound of that.

"Nobody's pants are coming off." April tries, but she's quickly ignored.

"Movie at his place? That's the definition of pants coming off." Meredith says, while Briar gapes at the way she's dumping paint onto her onesie.

"Virgin's a goner." Cristina teases.

"And with an older man, too. It's very impressive." Lexie says, and Briar fights back the Mark jokes she wants to make.

"I am not taking my pants off for Stark!" April cries out, grabbing the room's attention and making her shrink down. Briar takes one look at her embarrassed face and stands up, bringing the attention to her instead.

"Who wants to play Family Feud?" She asks the room, moving to the front while Meredith gets questioned on her design and whether her fertility drugs are still affecting her eyesight.

✦

"April, hey!" Briar calls out, running to meet up with her before she can leave the room.

"What?" April sighs out, and Briar looks around them before tugging April into the hallway where they won't be eavesdropped on.

"Look, just . . . you're an adult, and you can make your own decisions. But if you do decide to go to Stark's tonight, please let me drive you there." She rushes out, making April look confused.

"Uh, why?"

"Because I have experience with awful men and what they do, and I never want anything like that to happen to you." She says, shaking her head when April goes to speak. "And I know that you consider him a friend, and I'm not saying that he would do anything, but . . . he's romantically interested in you, April. And it scares me to think of you going to his place by yourself and something happening, so . . . if you want to go, go, but please at least let me take you there. I'll feel better about it if you let me do that."

She'll sit outside the house all night like a stalker if she has to. She has a bad feeling about it.

"Okay." She says, before hesitating. "All virginity jokes aside, do you really think . . .?"

"April, your virginity isn't a joke to me. It's part of you, and if you ever decide to have sex, I want it to be because you want to and feel safe to. A situation like this, where he asked you out a month ago and asked you to watch a movie with him tonight . . . that's code for having sex. So just think it through and let me know. I'll be helping clean up the party." She says, giving her a smile and a way out before ducking back into the room that's emptying out.

She's beyond relieved when April knocks on her door hours later, holding a bowl of popcorn and asking her to watch From Here to Eternity with her.

They discuss Stark and men and drama from the hospital, ending up in a popcorn fight before they fall asleep together on the couch. When they wake up hours later, it's to find that they cuddled up at some point, and they make the decision to stay that way, too comfortable to move.

✦

Briar is working in the pit, since Callie is taking Arizona on a romantic trip for the weekend. Briar is relieved about it: she encouraged Callie to take some time to themselves, away from the hospital and all the constant stress.

She's relieved until Owen tells her that their next patient is Callie.

Instantly, Briar feels lost. She was laughing with Callie at her baby shower yesterday, and now–now she's been in a car accident that ejected her through the windshield. Now she doesn't know what condition she's in, or what condition the baby's in.

Owen sends Meredith to pull Mark from his surgery, which should be ending, while Briar forces herself to remain as calm as she can be. Callie picked her for her level headedness, and that's what she'll give her.

"I'm Callie's Power of Attorney." She tells Owen, blocking out all the other attendings and residents filling up the ambulance bay. "She filed the paperwork a few weeks ago, the Chief has it. I'm okay to work on her, if you'll let me."

Owen gives her a long look, but it's Chief Webber who speaks up.

"We're going to need all the surgeons we can get, so you can help. The second one of us tells you to back away, you do so, you hear me?" He asks her firmly. She nods back, relieved that she isn't getting sidelined from the jump.

"Her blood type is A positive." She tells them, reaching for her pager. "I'm calling for it, just in case."

"Good idea." Owen tells her with an approving nod, just as Mark rushes into the bay. Meredith follows after him.

"What the hell happened?" He questions, looking around at all of the surrounding doctors. His eyes land on Briar, and a second later he's beside her.

"Car versus truck. That's all we know."

"And her injuries? What–the baby?" He asks.

"We don't know yet." Derek tells him.

"Well, why the–why the hell don't you know?" He questions, his voice breaking. "Someone get me a trauma gown."

"Mark, you need to sit this one out." Webber tells him gently, making his eyes narrow.

"I'm not sitting this one out. That's Callie. That's my kid." Mark fights. Briar understands how he's feeling, but she also understands why they won't allow him to operate: it's too personal with family.

"Which is why you can't." Webber explains. "I'm sorry. You can't be a doctor on this one."

"Screw you." Mark snaps.

"Sloan." Owen starts, but Mark shakes his head.

"No. Screw all of you." He says, grabbing a trauma gown. He starts putting it on, his hands shaking as he does.

"Look at me, Sloan. Look at me." Webber urges gently, grabbing Mark by his arms. "Maybe I don't understand what you two have, how you have it, but I understand this, she is your family. Callie Torres and that baby are your family, and the best way that you can help your family is to step back and let the rest of us do what you can't rationally do–save their lives." He says, all while the sound of sirens grows closer.

Briar braces herself, ready to fly into action as soon as the ambulance doors open.

"Mark." Derek says, giving him a look that seems to calm Mark down, although he still looks ready to fight.

"Mark, hey. We've got this." Briar says as gently as possible, reaching down to squeeze his hand for a second.

"I'm in the room, you hear me?" He asks, although it's clear he's not asking for permission.

"Okay."

"I'm in the room." He repeats, firmer this time.

"Okay." Richard repeats, just as the ambulance starts to pull in. "Hunt, you're in charge!"

"Alright everyone. Multiple blunt trauma protocol. Let's go!" He shouts, rushing to the doors of the ambulance. Briar is right next to him, helping to yank open the doors when they aren't opened quickly enough for her liking. Arizona is the first one out, wrapped in a shock blanket and with blood on her face.

"Tachycardic and hypotensive en route." She reports, jumping down from the ambulance. "Obvious head and chest injuries."

Briar fights back the urge to cry as soon as she catches a glimpse of Callie, barely conscious and covered in blood, with her head wrapped in bandages.

"Callie? Callie. You hear me? Everything is gonna be okay." Owen tells her, trying to hold eye contact. Briar is more focused on the way she's hemorrhaging, reporting that and then trying to find out where all the blood is coming from, before looking up when Callie starts speaking, stumbling over the words due to the head trauma and the amount of blood in her mouth.

". . . Means music." Is all Briar is able to catch, and she shares a scared look with Mark before jumping back into action. Briar can't think about the possible ramifications this accident had on her cognitive abilities or she'll lose the battle against her tears.

"Honey, we're gonna fix you up just fine." Bailey assures her, while Briar reaches over and reapplies the oxygen mask to her face. Her eyes flicker open and shut a few times, and Briar reaches over and grabs her hand, giving it a huge squeeze while everyone continues reporting injuries. She does her best to catalog all of them, knowing that she is responsible for making decisions about her care.

"She went through the windshield." Arizona tells them, sounding horrified.

"Seat belt? Air bags?" Alex questions, only for Arizona to tell them that she took the seat belt off right before the accident.

Mark questions her pulse, and Arizona reports that she lost a lot of blood, making sure they know to give her lots of fluids. Everyone moves around her, doing everything they can within their own specialties, and Briar takes a deep breath before letting go of her hand and jumping back in, applying pressure over one of the bleeders.

They rush through the pit, with Richard clearing the way. Everyone barks out instructions as they move, with Owen assuring Callie that she'll be okay. For some reason, she looks terrified when she looks at Owen, but Briar assumes it's just trauma from the accident.

From there, it's a mess of orders and running around.

"Get those I.V.'s up!"

"Make sure her lines are patent!"

"Depressed skull fracture with a probable bleed." Derek reports, making Briar feel sick for a second before she clears her head.

"I'll do a trauma ultrasound." Jackson decides, moving to do that, while Briar moves down to where Lucy is.

"Hang two bags of A positive!" Bailey shouts out, making Briar relieved that she already called down for it to be prepped. She doesn't want them to waste a single second.

"Is there a fetal heartbeat?" Arizona calls out from where she's with Mark against the wall.

"No breath sounds on the right, set up a chest tube!" Teddy orders, but Briar is more focused on Lucy, and how she hasn't checked for a heartbeat yet.

"Lucy, is there a fetal heartbeat?" Arizona repeats, sounding desperate in a way that breaks Briar's heart.

"LUCY!" Mark shouts, and Briar's had enough, moving forward to do it herself when Lucy tells them to give her a minute. That's her godbaby, she's not waiting a minute to find out if they still have a heartbeat.

"What are you doing?" Lucy snaps at her, and Briar spares a second to think of how they've barely interacted before. She knows this has to look bad on her end–resident shoving an attending out of the way–but she doesn't care. Not when it's Callie and her baby on the table, and not when Arizona and Mark are desperate for answers.

Briar snatches the fetoscope from Lucy to try and hear the heartbeat, only to not pick anything up. "Where's the doppler?"

"Here, here." Alex says, rushing into the room with it, and helping her set it up. While they do that, Briar hears Jackson report that the left upper quadrant is clear, and April rushing to get sterile drapes and betadine.

"There's blood in the upper right quadrant." Cristina calls out, before rushing to put in a subclavian line.

"Briar, what are you seeing?" Mark calls out, but Briar ignores him, still searching for a heartbeat. "Derek, please."

"Briar, how are we doing?" Derek asks her, and Briar just shakes her head.

"Everyone, shut up!" She shouts, making the whole room go silent, and a moment later a heartbeat echoes in the room. Briar doesn't think she's ever been more relieved to hear a noise in her life.

"Good job, sweetheart." She whispers to the baby, and then jumps when Jackson yells out "V-Fib!" a moment before Callie's monitors start beeping.

"She's crashing!"

"Start bagging her!" Briar shouts, moving around to Callie's head as they get her on her back to start CPR. Teddy looks like she's about to start, but Briar jumps in and takes over. She never thought she would have to be performing CPR on her friend and mentor, but she feels directly responsible for making sure that she and the baby make it out alive.

"Dr. Fields, you have to stop her from contracting." Briar gasps out, still doing chest compressions.

"I know what I'm doing." Lucy tells her, sounding frustrated as she rechecks the fetal heartbeat. You better hope you do, Briar thinks, because she'll lose her mind if anything happens to either of them.

Derek works on intubating Callie, while Jackson grabs the defibrillators.

"Charging to 120. Clear!" He calls out, placing them on her chest as soon as Briar has moved. The paddles thunk, and Briar stares desperately at the monitor, only for her to still be in V-Fib.

"Charged to 200. Clear!" Jackson tries again, while Briar shuts her eyes for a second, wishing that she could be holding Callie's hand and speaking to her right now.

"Sinus tach. She's back!" Jackson calls out, and Briar sucks in a huge breath, feeling as if she could pass out at any second. A moment later she surges back into action as they quickly move Callie, racing to the elevator to get her into the O.R. She ends up pressed against Alex in an attempt to fit as many people as possible, while Webber shouts for some people to leave. Briar catches them rushing for the stairs to meet them up there, but she's more focused on grabbing Callie's hand again. She's been in and out of consciousness, and Briar can't imagine how terrifying this is for her.

"C.T. shows a large epidural and subdural." Derek announces a few minutes later, after they've all been scrubbed in. "I need to get in there. Is she under?"

"We're ready for you."

"Alright. I'm going in. I need a 10-blade. Bipolar to Dr. Grey." Derek announces.

"Wait, wait, stop! Her anesthesia is too light!" Lexie cries out from where she's sitting by Callie's head, making everyone freeze.

"Oh, I can fix that." Knox, the anesthesiologist, rushes to do so, while everyone else gapes at him.

"Oh, my God." Bailey says, and Briar shuts her eyes, pushing down her anger. If she snaps at him, all she'll do is get herself kicked from the O.R., and that's the last thing she needs.

"Take a breath." Owen calls out. "Everybody. I mean it. Stop what you're doing, and every one of you, take a breath and center yourself. There's no room for rushing here. We rush, we make a mistake, so everybody, take a breath." He orders the room, which falls into silence, before turning to look at Briar directly. She nods at him, silently telling him that she's okay to be here, and after a long second of him scrutinizing her, he nods back.

"Hey." Lexie says softly, leaning in to talk directly to Callie. "Just breathe. Callie, relax. We've got this. It's under control. Just breathe."

"Someone needs to keep an eye on Mark." Derek says, looking up at the gallery. Briar doesn't follow his gaze, not sure she can handle seeing how he looks right now.

"Little Grey." Richard says, sending her out of the room for that purpose. Briar is glad–Lexie is exactly who Mark needs in this situation, despite their breakup. "Eyes on Sloan."

What about Arizona? She thinks, but she isn't willing to be sent from the room. She'll make a point to check in on her later, and she already knows that Alex will at the earliest opportunity.

Derek and Meredith are working on her brain, while the rest of them are trying to control the multiple bleeds Callie has, and Alex works with Lucy. She'd refused to let Briar join them, and Briar is listening to her for now, not wanting her to be more focused on anger with her than on the baby.

Briar is trying to get control of a liver laceration with Owen, when Knox announces that her body temperature is dropping, meaning that she's becoming hypothermic.

"She's contracting." Lucy announces, making Briar freeze for just one second, worry filling her. She'd been worried about that the second she saw Callie, because it's too early for her to be having this baby.

They're going to be okay, Briar thinks, making eye contact with Alex for just one second. They're both going to make it.

She's not sure what she'll do if they don't.

"More lap pads." One of the nurses says, handing them to Briar, who rushes to use them on the liver so that Owen has a more unobstructed view.

"I need a retractor in here!" Bailey calls out, just as Jackson and April bump into each other, with April dropping an instrument on the floor.

"If you're not needed, get out of the way!" Webber orders, with a few people leaving the room.

"Hunt, her pressure's dropping, we need to get out of here." Briar tells him, worried about causing too much trauma to Callie's body. She's strong, but the human body can only endure so much.

"Her blood isn't clotting." Jackson chips in.

"Agreed. She needs time to recuperate." Hunt tells the room. "If we don't pack her and get out now, she's gonna bleed to death. Lets, uh, get set up for a temporary abdominal closure."

"So–so what happens now?" April asks, sounding worried.

"We get her up to the I.C.U." Bailey explains. "And see if she lives for the next 24 hours. If she makes it, we go in again."

"When she makes it." Briar corrects firmly, not willing to even entertain any other possibility.

"I want a doctor with Torres at all times." Webber orders, and Briar nods. She has no intention of being anywhere else. "Dr. Fields, what's your plan here?"

"My plan?"

"Yes, a plan. What if Torres starts contracting again?" Richard questions, while Briar fights back the urge to cry at how confused Lucy seems. She's never missed Addie more than in this moment. "What if she has preterm labor? What if, God forbid, you have to deliver this baby?"

"I may be a little out of my depth here, sir." Lucy admits, and Briar shakes her head, following Richard out of the room.

"Are you calling Addison?" She asks him, and he nods, heading straight to do that while Briar scrubs out. She finds Alex hugging a crying Arizona in the gallery, and wastes no time sitting in front of them with a stitch kit for the cut on Arizona's forehead.

✦

"What's her status?" Addison asks, entering Callie's room in the I.C.U.

"She's in S.V.T. I gave her some adenosine and some diltiazem." April lists off from the other side of Callie's bed.

"Go, take a break, I got it." Addie tells her, leaving only Briar and Lucy in the room.

"Dr. Montgomery, uh, there's a chance the baby could survive if we deliver by C-section while Callie is stable." Lucy tries, making Briar shake her head in disbelief. She spent too long being taught by Addison when she worked at Seattle Grace to believe that for a second.

"No, there's not, because not only did you fail to stop her contractions, you didn't give steroids to the baby to help mature her lungs, so you can go too. Go!" Addison states, and Briar watches Lucy leave the room, not before giving Briar an annoyed look.

"Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry. But don't you worry, we got this. The attendings, we are all gonna meet and we are gonna come up with a plan. I promise you, we're gonna make a plan, and we're going to figure out what to do. It's gonna be alright." She assures her, feeling around her stomach while Briar keeps an eye on her stats.

"So, you're godmother?" She asks a second later, and Briar slowly looks over, smiling at Addison.

"Yeah. I am." She whispers, fiddling with the godmother bracelet she's wearing. "I'm also her medical Power of Attorney."

"Alright. I'll keep you in the loop so that you can make any decisions, and I trust that you'll keep an eye on both of them while I'm in that meeting." She says, squeezing Briar's shoulder before leaving the room.

✦

"So, you think that she'd have a better chance if we took the baby out now, electively?" Arizona asks Bailey, who came to report on the attendings meeting. The two of them, Mark, and Briar are standing outside of Callie's room.

"Well, Callie's cardiovascular status could possibly be greatly improved, but we just need to know–"

"What we want to do." Mark finishes the sentence.

"No, what Callie would want us to do." Arizona says flatly. "The baby's barely viable."

"Why are we even talking about the baby?" Mark asks her, shocking her.

"Did–did you just say that?" Arizona questions, crossing her arms.

"I'm saying we give Callie the best shot she can get."

"Callie wants a baby!"

"Callie wants to live!"

"We all want Callie to live, but what's her life gonna be like if she wakes up and her child is gone?" Arizona shouts back, ignoring both Briar and Bailey's attempts to stop the argument.

"What's her life gonna be like if she's dead?" Mark shouts back.

"Oh, God. It's not that simple–"

"It is. I don't like it. It's horrible, but it is that simple. We can have another baby. We can't have another Callie."

"Oh, so you're just gonna screw my girlfriend again?" Arizona snaps, and Briar has had enough. She turns and walks away, going unnoticed by the two doctors shouting at each other.

It's a quick walk to the vending machines, and Briar tries to ignore the way her hand has started shaking as she feeds the machine money and starts punching in the buttons. She buys as many snacks and drinks as she can fit in her hands, before turning and bumping straight into Jackson, who hurries to grab the drinks before they can fall.

"Hey." He says softly, frowning at whatever he sees when he looks at her. She imagines that she looks a mess–she's regretting putting on mascara that morning. "How are you doing?"

"Great." She quips, sighing as she puts her items down on the table by the vending machines. Her head has started hurting, and she takes a second to put her palm over her forehead in hopes of relief, undoubtedly leaving a red mark when she moves it. Not that any of that matters right now.

"Arizona and Mark are fighting again." She tells him after a minute, handing him one of the water bottles she'd bought, before opening up a Coke for herself. "All they do is fight, and I'm so sick of it. They're screaming at each other outside of Callie's hospital room and I–I–"

"Woah, hey." She hears before she's pulled into a hug, and Briar takes the opportunity to hide her face in his shoulder, taking deep breaths to avoid crying. She can't afford to start crying now. "It's okay."

"It's not." She says, her voice coming out choked up. "I have to try and get them to be civil and actually have a discussion, 'cause we have to decide whether to deliver the baby before she goes back into the O.R. I have to decide, 'cause I'm in charge of her medical decisions when she can't decide, and–and I never thought this would happen, even though I am specializing in trauma. That's such a huge decision."

She pulls away from him after a moment, wiping under her eyes in hopes of stopping the tears building in her water line.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asks her, and she can't help but give him a watery smile.

"Thank you, but no. This is something I have to do myself–but seriously, thank you." She tells him, before scooping up her items again and walking away, feeling like she's walking to the gallows.

"A baby born at 23 weeks risks Encephalopathy, R.O.P., Cerebral Palsy, developmental–" Arizona is saying as Briar makes it back to the I.C.U, and Briar sighs to herself. They all know that–they're doctors, they know that there are risks involved.

"I know the risks!"

"Oh, do you? 'Cause you're acting like you don't care about the baby."

"I'm thinking about Callie. You don't think I care!? This is my baby!"

"You're not being rational!"

"Oh, you never wanted this! You never asked for it. Why the hell are you giving us some opinion on what you–"

"No, no, no! You know what I didn't ask for? I didn't ask for you, Mark. Because you know what you are? You're basically a sperm donor. I mean, this is me and this is Callie, and we're together, so I say–"

"No! You don't get a say! This is my family. I'm the father. I'm the father. You're not anything. You're nothing."

"Okay, enough!" Briar shouts, forcing her way in between both of them. "Neither of you are helping. There are other people in this unit that don't need to hear this. And, by the way, neither of you are making the decision. I am."

"Excuse me?" Arizona snaps, turning on her, but Briar stands her ground.

"You heard me." She says, raising an eyebrow at her and silently begging her to try and make a move on her. She could have her on the ground in two seconds. "Callie asked me to be her Power of Attorney because she didn't think it was fair to ask either of you to make a decision like this. I agreed because I love Callie, and because I didn't think you two could make a mutual decision, and clearly I was right. Callie was in a severe accident, and you two are fighting in the hallway. Get your shit together so that I can talk to you about our options, or I'll make this decision myself."

With that, she shoves past both of them, straight into a conference room.

✦

"It's too soon to tell anything." Derek tells them, following his neurological exam. Briar shuts her eyes, knowing that means that the results weren't positive.

"She didn't respond?" Arizona asks, crying. Briar hands her another tissue, already knowing the answer based on Derek and Meredith's faces.

"She opened her eyes, and, um. . . look, it's just too soon to tell." He says gently, avoiding looking at his best friend.

"Derek, did she follow commands?" Mark asks, making Derek look at him properly. "Anything else?"

Derek opens his mouth, but doesn't seem capable of speaking.

"No, nothing else." Meredith jumps in.

✦

Callie develops abdominal compartment syndrome, which they discover when her pressure drops rapidly before they can get her back into the O.R. They have to rush her into one since she's bleeding out, and Briar gets one last look back at Mark and Arizona before the doors shut.

Scrubbing in feels like it takes forever, even though they rush through it as fast as they can. Addison talks to her the entire time, telling her her plan for the baby, and Briar gives her consent to operate as she feels best, trusting Addie to make the best decisions for Callie.

"Definitely got some new bleeding." Owen announces, while Briar helps Addison prep in case they have to deliver the baby.

"Remove the abdominal packs carefully. They may be stuck. Irrigation." Bailey tells them, with Jackson moving to irrigate.

"I'm starting to cannulate." Teddy announces. "Slowly push the heparin."

"We've got blood!" Meredith calls out, rushing forward along with Derek.

"We need to go back in." Derek says.

"It's the heparin. Dr. Altman, we can still do the percutaneous repair." Cristina says, making Briar feel hopeful. She believes in Cristina's ability to do it, since she'd been taught how to by Burke. "It'll work. I know it will."

"Dr. Yang, the decision's already made." Teddy says, just as Dr. Bailey calls for more lap pads, and Briar finds herself rushing to help with that.

"The baby's having decels." Addison announces from where she's watching the fetal monitor.

"This is not working. Yang is right." Owen decides. "We need to reverse the heparin and try the percutaneous repair."

"What? No." Teddy protests, but Briar speaks up, trusting Cristina and Owen.

"Do it." She says, making Teddy turn to face her.

"Excuse me? You're not an attending."

"No, but I'm Callie's POA, and I trust them to do it." She says, deciding not to think about how many attendings she's gotten on the bad side of lately, turning to Cristina.

"Get me a percutaneous catheter kit!" Cristina calls out, moving around the table, and Briar turns to Jackson next.

"Jackson, can you assist her?" She asks, not trusting herself to do it, relieved when he nods and moves to help Cristina. A moment later, Richard is ordering Teddy to step back, after she ignores Cristina and Owen's attempts to get her to stabilize the heart and step aside.

"Still got active bleeding coming from somewhere." Owen reports after a few minutes of everyone working together.

"Well, then let's recheck the retroperitoneum." Bailey decides.

"I've got access!" Cristina announces.

The next few minutes are filled with people giving orders until Derek announces that he's gotten control of the brain bleed.

"Okay, the occluder's in. Turn on the doppler." Cristina orders, and Briar can't help but smile at the fetal heartbeat when it echoes in the room.

"Minimal residual V.S.D. flow." Jackson states, sounding proud, and Briar feels proud of him and Cristina.

"Good. Then we're done here. Pulling out." Cristina narrates her moves, while Briar watches with her heart in her throat.

"I got a lumbar vein avulsed in the vena cava. Two allis clamps." Owen says, just as the monitors start beeping rapidly.

"Idioventricular rhythm!"

"Damn it, she's bradying down!"

"Pressure's down. 55 systolic."

"Push one of atropine."

"We're losing her!"

"We've already replaced her entire blood volume." Knox calls out. The words make Briar feel sick, not liking Callie's odds.

"Starting cardiac massage."

"Push one of epi."

"Find whatever's bleeding and shut it down!" Richard orders them, while they're all scrambling to do just that.

"How about an amp of bicarb?" Jackson suggests, while Briar helps suction away blood so that the attendings have a better view–again. Briar feels like all she's done today is mop away the blood Callie rapidly loses. She feels useless and helpless.

"Push 3 of epi and another of atropine!" Owen orders, while Addison stands up and moves away from the fetal monitor, going to get her gown on.

"Richard, you have one minute to get her heart back, or I'm taking the baby out." She says. Briar moves to join her, needing to do something, and she and Alex assist Addison. Addison makes the process as quick as possible, but Briar feels like she can't breathe properly the entire time, the feeling only worsening when she's handed her goddaughter. She can't weigh more than a pound and her coloring is wrong.

"Is she breathing?" Someone asks.

"Her color's bad. Stimulate and suction. And get some access!" Addison orders, while Briar gently moves the baby to the table where Lucy and her team are waiting.

"I'm not getting a heartbeat. Dr. Karev, I could use a hand." Lucy calls out, and Briar swaps places with Alex, moving to help Addison with Callie again. She feels horrible moving away from the baby, but she needs to do something instead of standing there watching her goddaughter not breathe.

"There it is! Torres is coming back!" Richard shouts, and Briar lets out a noise she's never heard from herself before, more relieved than she's ever been.

"Systolic 70 and rising."

"Getting no chest rise with the bagging." Lucy says, with Alex moving to intubate.

"Tube's in. Starting ventilation." Alex states, and Briar swallows thickly, fighting the urge to go back over there. She wants to be everywhere at the same time, but she focuses on assisting Addison, knowing that she's needed there. She feels instant relief when Arizona moves to help with the baby, her and Mark having entered the room when she was delivered.

"Continue compressions. Suction through the tube." Arizona orders.

"Got it. The bleeding's controlled." Owen states. The constant back and forth of fear and relief makes Briar feel like she's losing her mind.

"I have a heartbeat." Arizona calls out, her voice breaking, and Briar instantly starts crying.

"Mom's heart is strong." Richard says back, and Briar just about passes out from the instant relief.

✦

"Hey." She hears from behind her, but Briar doesn't lift her head up from her hands. She doesn't feel capable of moving. "Briar, are you okay? Oh, God, did something happen?"

Briar shakes her head, feeling Jackson sit next to her on her bench.

"Callie–Callie woke up." She whispers, and then bursts into another round of tears.

"Oh, wow, that's great!" He says, and then pauses. "That is great, right? Oh no, how's her brain activity?"

"Derek is running another test on her." She manages to get out, clearing her throat. "But it's looking good. Way better than I would've thought a few hours ago. Recovery is going to be long, though, and I plan to be here through it–"

"Do you want me to run and get you anything from home?" He asks, handing her a tissue from her locker.

"No. Uh, actually, can you take me to the grocery store, and then home? Just–everyone has her for now, and I know that Mark and Arizona will be living here while she is, so I should cook for them."

"I can order catering, or something. You should get some sleep, it's been a long two days." He says, but she shakes her head, forcing herself to her feet.

"No. Thanks, but I need to do this."

"Then I'll do it with you." He offers, and she blinks at him, confused by the offer. He has to be exhausted too, but he just smiles at her, waving his keys in front of her face. "Come on, you can teach me your favorite recipes."

They make it three hours before they fall asleep on the kitchen floor. 

✦

authors note

hi guys! first of all, thanks for 31k reads on this, you're all so amazing <3 the reads, votes and comments mean the absolute world to me, I love you all so much 

I think im in the minority because I actually like the musical episode. it's different! and it's important plot wise, so I enjoy it. Owen's "get straight" always makes me laugh so hard. 

briar now has 3 attending's that she's pissed off. . . girl just can't help herself 

Sofia is here <3 godmother briar era!!! 

also, I can't express how excited I am to delve into the Jackson/mark friendship/mentorship, without all the Lexie drama. I adore them!! 

love you guys so much, hope this chapter didn't disappoint <3