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chapter thirteen ━ sympathy for the parents
season six, episode nineteen

❝ so you must be the
brother of this asshole. ❞

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Meredith once told Aliya that psychologists believe that every single aspect of our lives and all of our thought processes and behaviour patterns were the direct result of our relationship to our parents, and that every relationship we have is another cosmic version of that very first relationship.

This very fact entered Aliya's brain occasionally, usually at the points in her life where she felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu, and that a particular interaction seemed to reflect the same hostility she received from her own mother.

Or, the same hostility she gave to her own mother.

Which, then led to Aliya's train of thought about how much parents actually influence their children's lives, both if they're present in their lives or absent. And, at the end of the day, we are just products of our parents in shiny new packaging.

That train of thought brought Aliya to whether she was on the bathroom floor, ignoring how highly unsanitary it was, with her best friend in the shower, a magazine flopped across her lap carelessly, with a mug of burning hot coffee in her hand, reading out the quiz on page thirty two which was titled 'What Nail Polish Colour Are You Based On Your Love Life?' in an incredibly busy bright font.

Seeing as the colour options were only black, pink, light blue and red, she was really questioning the validity of this very quiz.

She slurped on her coffee, reading question four out loud. "Oh, this is a good one. 'Are your past relationships affected by the way your parents displayed their love?'" She huffed, rustling the pages of the magazine. "A) Yes, definitely, B) Not even a little bit, C) I see some aspects it could've impacted past relationships and D) I don't know my parents' relationship that well. "

"D." Alex responded quickly through the shower screen.

The Levine woman tilted her head to the side, as if contemplating in a serious manner over this question just to get her true nail polish shade.

And, the fact she knew Alex was a solid A, but it was the early morning to argue seeing as Alex was at his most irritable at this time, like Aliya was the most irritable at night time, which may make some may wonder how they could possibly make it as friends.

"Are there a way you can put more than one answer?" Aliya asked, gnawing on her lip.

"I don't think that's the way quizzes work." He explained, the shower muffling his voice slightly.

However, Aliya ignored him by circling them all.

She was conflicted, okay?

Before she could read the next question out, a knock sounded on the bathroom door, tearing Aliya's attention away from the quiz for a split second.

Without waiting for a reply, Meredith pushed her way through the door. "Alex? Aliya?"

The Grey woman narrowed her brows at the sight. "You're both in here?" Aliya shrugged casually at the question, bringing her pen up to her lips, whilst Meredith just sighed. "Why am I even surprise at this point?"

"Mer?" Alex called from the shower in confusion, letting the water continue to run.

"We are discussing important stuff." Aliya defended, pointing her pen to the magazine page.

Meredith raised her brows and began pacing around the room, shaking her arms vigorously in an attempt to calm her nerves that both Aliya and Alex were unaware of the reasoning behind. "So, Cristina's not answering her phone and Lexie is in a thing at the moment, and I have a thing so I need you two. Alex be a girl for me."

Alex tugged back the shower screen, his shampoo soaked hair poking through the gap."What did he do? You want us to kick his ass?" He said, monotonously, letting the shampoo drop in front of his eyes, unbothered, making Aliya question whether he wanted the burning pain of shampoo in his eyes for fun, or just some sort of self torture.

"I took karate for a year in Sixth Grade, I could kick his ass." Aliya offered from the floor, and Meredith paused, her mouth opened slightly in confusion from Aliya's abrupt statement, or she was actually considering taking the brunette up on that offer.

Both ways, she had two people she would call if you wanted someone maimed.

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Why did you take so many random extracurriculars?" He questioned as he too looked upon Aliya in a sense of awe that she would be able to kick his ass at any given moment, which she would never do, but it was fun to have people believe that.

"Child prodigy." Aliya explained, picking up her coffee from the floor to take another long sip.

"Uh— back to my thing." Mer declared, slipping onto the toilet seat. "He wants me to have a baby." The Grey woman's face contorted into a disgusted however somewhat dazzled gaze, looking down at Aliya in further disgust as she spat her coffee back into the mug, the dark liquid staining her chin.

"A McFetus?" Aliya spluttered, wiping the coffee off of her face with the back of her hand.

"Yes, Aliya. A McFetus." Mer nodded, digging her palms into her knees in a panic as she rocked back and forth on the toilet seat at the thought of procreating.

Alex pushed the shampoo away from his eyes, narrowing them. "So you do want us to kick his ass?" He tried to clear up, going back into the shower to wash off the shampoo, now sick of the stinging. Mer shook her head quickly, before breathing an uncommitted sigh. "Well. Do you want to have a baby?"

"A baby doesn't want me. I had the worst mother in the world." Meredith stated as her lip curled in resentment. "I'd be the worst mother in the world." She reworded, pointing at herself in conclusion.

"Mer, you're talking a bunch of crap." Aliya poked her arm lightly to draw her attention down to her, and Meredith pursed her lips tight, her eyes fixed onto the bathroom wall far away from Aliya's bright eyes. "You wouldn't be the worst mother in the world. Just do the opposite of what your mother would do if you actually decide that you want to have a kid."

"Izzie wants a divorce. She sent the papers. The official papers." Alex changed the subject quickly, taking Meredith's mind off of the possibility of a McBaby with McDreamy.

"You want me to kick her ass?" Mer's lip curled upwards with her response, as she and Alex looked down at Aliya to coax her to contribute to lists of relationship troubles.

Aliya's eyes widened as she cleared her throat, sitting up straight. "Everyone I like is either expensive, a thousand miles away or won't text me back."

Yet another knock at the door sounded, and Derek entered, immediately, without an invite

"Hey, Alex—" His face was ultimately the image of confusion as he met Meredith's eyes, and then furrowed his brows at Aliya, sat cross legged on the floor below, not expecting all three of them to be here. "Hey?"

"He's being a girl for me." Mer pointed quickly at Alex's head pushed through the gap in the shower screen.

"I was already here." Aliya pushed herself off of the bathroom floor, gripping the magazine in one hand and her cup in the other.

"Dude, it's true." Alex confirmed as Derek looked at the two women with a frown, his eyes darting around the room in a manic frenzy.

"Right. There's a guy downstairs who says he's your brother." The Shepherd man turned back to Alex just as Aliya's mouth dropped and Alex stopped in a stunned silence. "Do you want me to send him up here since this seems to be where you receive your visitors?"

Meredith managed to maintain her composure, the only one out of the three to do so. "Tell him to wait."

"Right." Derek backed out of the room and shut the door quickly, his footsteps disappearing down the hall.

Aliya quickly turned to Alex, a smile covering over half of her face. "I can't believe I finally get to meet your brother. After all this time."

"You have a brother?" Mer interrogated at the same time Aliya was talking.

"Yes—" He answered Mer, before turning to Aliya with pursed lips, and a tense face. "And, you are not going down there alone."

"You're gonna get wrinkles like that." Aliya pointed out in a mocking voice as she noted Alex's physical discomfort as his brother was in town.

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After Alex showered, he ushered Aliya downstairs with him, after forcing her to wait in her room until he was ready to go down, not wanting to leave her alone for five minutes with his brother.

Anyway, that's what he had claimed to Aliya, but she knew that he didn't want to go down there completely alone.

So, armed with bodyguards in the form of Meredith Grey and Aliya Levine, he entered the kitchen slowly, staggering through with the help of Aliya's palm on his shoulder, pushing him through only slightly.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He managed to get out, his voice strained and Aliya seemed to notice a slight tension in it, or hostility towards his younger brother.

Aaron spun around to face his brother, a smile instantly spreading out a cross his face, and Aliya noticed some resemblances to Alex, but they were incredibly minuscule.

Aaron's soft blue eyes, different from Alex's own dark brown ones. He had blonder, more fluffier hair than Alex, and he was also slightly taller as well, and dressed in a plain grey shirt. If he wasn't Alex's brother, she would think he was cute but she kept her mouth sealed, for the sake of Alex and her own mortality. She didn't exactly fancy digging her own grave, and carving her own plaque today.

"Oh, man! You got old!" Aaron joked, drawing Alex in for a hug, patting his back lovingly as he pulled himself away to study his brother's face even closer.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" Alex spoke in disbelief, his eyes darting over Aaron as he failed to reciprocate his own brother's affection.

"I had to drive to Portland on a job, and since I was in the neighbourhood—" Aaron trailed off, digging his hands in his pockets.

Alex stuttered, puffing air out of his mouth in an attempt to release his frustrations. "Portland's not in the neighbourhood."

"I do three hours in my sleep." Aaron replied fast, shrugging off Alex's comment.

"Alex, he's your brother. He's allowed to come say hi." Lexie spoke for him, slipping out of her seat as she made her way over to the toaster, retrieving her pop tarts.

Well, they were Aliya's pop tarts.

And, watching how the younger Grey woman was acting, Aliya felt the overwhelming need to tell Lexie later how painstakingly obvious it was that she was in love with Alex, who had just moved out of his brothers way in a mission to find a distraction.

"So, you must be the brother of this asshole." Aliya stepped forward to take the heat off of Alex and reached out her hand with a grin. "Aliya Levine, it's nice to finally put a name to the face."

Aaron smiled back at her and took her hand in his, his eyes flickering with fascination at Alex's life he had built himself here. "You must be—"

"Alex's friend." Aliya finished as the two stopped shaking hands, not wanting any misconceptions.

Mer cleared her throat abruptly, eyeing Lexie's fidgeting from behind Aaron. "You're gonna be late for pre-rounds." She told her sister.

"Ok, well, it was very nice to meet you. I'm Lexie, by the way." She picked up her purse and coat and stumbled out of the room in an awkward bundle of blonde hair and swinging bags.

"I'm overdue for a visit, it's been seven years." Aaron turned back to his brother after saying his goodbyes to Lexie, sliding back onto the stool he was positioned on a few moments before.

Alex huffed, shaking his head and grabbing a mug to pour coffee in. "No. It has not."

"Since you've been home. Seven years."

"You haven't been home in seven years?" Derek leaned against the counter, where he had been observing the encounter.

"Derek. Liy and I have this." Meredith coaxed, trying to get Derek out of the house, so she could handle the train wreck that was this situation.

His childhood was all sunshine and rainbows, minus his dad's death of course, but anyway, he had a home to go back to, a loving one. Where his mother doted on him, and his sisters chatted affectionately. Unlike the other three. Aliya would be perfectly fine if she hadn't been home for seven years.

"Actually Mer, I have to go to the hospital." Aliya gave the Grey woman an apologetic smile. "It was nice to meet you though, Aaron." She angled her head to him, still in slight awe she had finally met Alex's younger brother, after all this time.

"You too, Aliya." He replied with a smile.

Then, Aliya grabbed her own coat and bag, slipping out of the door with Derek close behind her before giving Alex a look of reassurance.

Because, he looked as if he was going to be sick.

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"It's sad really. I would be ecstatic if my sisters came to visit. I rarely get to see them." Derek commented, steering into the parking lot.

For most of the drive over to the hospital, Derek had been babbling on about how awful it was that Alex hadn't been home in seven years.

"God, I wouldn't be." Aliya stared out the window as Derek pulled into his designated parking space.

"That's sad." He replied, painstakingly mockingly as he slid out of the car, following Aliya up the pavement and into the hospital.

"Oh, yeah, the amount of sleepless nights is unbelievable." Aliya said, dramatically.

She really wouldn't mind at all.

Just as Derek was about to reply, Derek and Aliya's pagers buzzed in a perfect unison.

"Kamala Thompson? I thought she was being discharged today?" Aliya furrowed a brow as she stared down at her pager she had just retrieved from her pocket.

"She was." Derek muttered, gripping hold of his briefcase as the two entered through the double doors.

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"Mrs Thompson! You must love our company." Aliya smiled warmly as she entered the room with Derek by her side, where Kamala was sitting up right in the bed, her everyday clothes on instead of the hospital gown she was usually dressed in.

"Believe me, Dr Levine, I would be out that door if I could!" Kamala smirked, massaging her temples subtly.

"This is a bit of a silly question, Mrs Thompson, but how bad is the pain on a scale of one to ten? One being no biggie, ten being astronomical amounts of pain." Aliya asked, sincerely, approaching her bed.

Kamala shook her head with a wave of her hand, denying . "Honestly, Dr. Levine, it doesn't hurt that much!"

"Mom." Leslie, Kamala's daughter, warned, her jaw stiffening.

"Mrs Thompson, do you have any other symptoms? Nausea? Slurred speech?"

"It's just a headache." Kamala told the brunette with enough reassurance it almost seemed completely honest. "Can I go home now?" She pleaded, sitting up more as if getting ready to run out the door as soon as someone said go!

"I'm sorry, Mrs Thompson, but we are going to have to run some tests." Derek replied, giving her a short nod as the pair exited the room.

As the door shut soundly behind them, the pair shared a look.

"It might be nothing." The neurosurgeon pointed out, trying to relax the woman across from him.

However, Aliya wasn't entirely convinced as she looked through the window towards Kamala and Leslie, who were sat on the gurney, holding hands. "Mights are not good enough, though."

"Mights don't save lives." He murmured under his breath, before passing Kamala's chart over to Aliya. "Book her in for a CT. Just to double check."

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"You paged me?" Aliya approached Alex at the desk, where he was scribbling in his charts. She managed to book Kamala a CT, but that wasn't until later in the day.

In the meantime, Alex Karev had paged her ten times.

Ten.

Times.

"Follow." He turned around, walking over to an exam room door, and when he realised Aliya wasn't following him, he turned back around and grunted, pointing to the door.

"Speaking in monosyllables today, are we?" Aliya questioned, crossing her arms at his new cave man persona. "I usually get a little more than a few grunts."

He grunted yet again, shooting her with his classic look of unfiltered agitation Aliya had become well acquainted with, beckoning her to follow him. She complied, much to her dismay, and entered the room he so eagerly wanted her to go into. "Dr. Bailey. I would like Aliya to assist on this case."

"Woah, hang on, what's going on?" Aliya looked at Aaron on the gurney, wide eyed. Having only met him for the first time an hour ago, to him being examined was quite a shock to the system.

"Umbilical hernia." Alex filled her in using just a few syllables, passing her the chart quickly which she began to flick through.

"Karev!" Bailey snapped from where she was right in the middle of assessing Aaron. "I thought I told you to go be doctor!"

"I will be a doctor, if you take Aliya." Alex countered, shoving Aliya closer to the gurney with one hand.

Bailey paused for a few moments, before letting out an over-exaggerated sigh. "Fine, Levine and Grey, take Aaron up for a CT."

"I already have a patient booked for a CT I need to take her—" She stopped as Bailey shot her a look that provided evidence for the reasoning behind her previous nickname. "But, I can accompany Dr. Grey whilst she takes Karev Number Two to CT."

"Good." Bailey filtered out of the room, Alex following her out.

He smirked from his position on the gurney.  "Is it because you know all the crap?"

Aliya swivelled her head back to him, away from where she had just watched Alex leave, puffing air into her upper lip, she replied: "Yes. Pretty much."

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"That's my intestine?" Aaron peered with intrigue at the computer screen, where his CT scan had just loaded up.

"Yes." Aliya answered, pointing towards the screen. "That part there is meant to be in the inside of the membrane. But, yours is on the outside."

"Dude, that is sick." He grinned, coming in closer to the scan to see it clearer. "Can I get a copy of this? I want to hang it on my fridge."

"Um— are we doing consults at the desk nowadays? 'Cause I kinda need to use the computer." Arizona approached the three with raised brows, tapping on the charts in her hand.

"Oh— This is Alex's brother. Aaron, this is Arizona Robbins." Meredith introduced, pointing back and forth between the blonde and Aaron.

"Nice to meet you!" Arizona beamed, shaking Aaron's hand eagerly, all bitterness towards the two women hogging the computer leaving her body. "How come I didn't meet you at the wedding?"

Aliya instantaneously began to move her hands in a rapid motion, trying to tell Arizona in a not so subtle manner to cut it out.

Meredith cleared her throat, taking matters into her own hands. "Actually, Dr. Robbins—"

"My wedding!" Aliya raised her voice, gulping back a ginormous lump in her throat. "It was my wedding! I told Alex to invite— uh— you and Amber he must not have gotten round to it. Or, he forgot. He's quite forgetful— uh— he always forgets to do his dishes it's—"

Arizona raised her brows, seemingly not catching on to Aliya's clear façade, and quite literally shrugging it off. "That's right—" She thought out loud. "No one's family came. Last minute switcheroo and all that!"

Aaron narrowed his eyes in sky rocketing confusion, turning back to Aliya's panicked face, and her un-ringed wedding finger.

And, the fact she lives with four other adults.

"Yeah, my family live in LA, and they are insufferable, and it was so last minute!" Aliya quickly added, her hands flailing about the place. "No one's family came. Not even my husband's."

"Who's your husband?" Aaron inquired with a raised brow.

"Dead."

Arizona was getting awfully confused with this whole thing, while Meredith was just sat there with her hand in her face.

Aaron pursed his lips, now knowing the information that Dr. Aliya Levine, surgical resident at Seattle Grace Mercy West, was a terrible liar. "I'm guessing you didn't get married. So, what wedding?"

"Alex and Izzie's." Arizona answered for her at the same time a high pitched yelp sounded from Aliya's mouth like a dog whose tail had just been stepped on.

"Arizona, I actually really need to talk to you about Eliza—" Aliya had resorted to making desperate attempts to change the subject, grasping a hold of any chance to further manipulate Aaron.

"Alex got married?" Aaron raised his voice over Aliya's babbling, his jaw dropping at this piece of information he definitely did not know about.

Arizona tilted her head, finally catching on to Aliya and Mer's manic gestures and lies. "I'm just gonna go use the computer over there." She fast walked away from them, leaving the residents to deal with the mess she just left in her wake.

"He got married and he didn't even call us." Aaron scoffed, turning his back to the pair.

Aliya followed him around the desk. "In all fairness, Aaron, it was very rash and Alex, he just wanted—"

"No— it sounds weird but it was a spur of the moment thing." Lexie interjected, approaching the group without any of them even noticing.

Aliya sharpened her eyes at Lexie, seeing as she was pretty sure she had the situation handled until the blonde poked her nose in. "Rash like I said."

"You know because of the cancer." Lexie added, casually.

"Why do I even try." Aliya facepalmed, walking back to the computer chair to flop onto it, finally giving up, labelling the situation as too far gone.

Dead on arrival.

Like Aliya's made up husband.

Aaron's eyes widened, which was a shock to everyone because it was impossible for them to widen even more. "Alex has cancer?"

"Lexie!" Meredith attempted to shut her own sibling up, tugging on her white coat.

"No! Izzie has cancer." Lexie replied, ignoring Meredith's attempts and swatting her hand away

"Who's Izzie?" Aaron asked, confused.

"Alex's wife. But, she's not really his wife anymore. It's— I wouldn't worry about it." Lexie laughed, nervously through her ever so flawed explanation.

Poor Aaron looked as if he had just been slapped clean across his face. "They got divorced?"

"No, but they—"

"How about we stop and let Alex tell his own life story? Hm, Lexie?" Aliya called from the chair she was spinning around in, looking up at the ceiling tiles rotating, and imagining how her life had come to this very moment.

Was it fate? Was she destined to be stuck in awkward situations she couldn't weasel her way out of?

"Uh—" Lexie began to stutter, fidgeting with a strand of hair that fell across her face. "She left and then you know she came back, but he didn't think—"

"Why does no one ever listen to me?" Aliya groaned, slumping further and further down into her chair, her chin burying into her blue scrubs as, trying to hide herself from the situation.

"Lexie." Meredith breathed, tapping her sister in the shoulder. "Stop talking."

"Ok." Lexie pressed her lips together, physically restraining herself from speaking anymore.

Aaron also stayed silent, often opening his mouth as if to say something, but closing it again when he couldn't exactly find the words.

However, when Alex rounded the corner he pushed up out of his slouched position against the desk.

"Dude. How could you not have told me you got married?"

Alex paused mid page turn, looking around at the now three residents for some sort of explanation — he got none. "You told him."

"I tried Alex." Aliya offered from the chair, stopping her spinning as she reached the threat of motion sickness.

"No, it wasn't me." Lexie held her hands up in a pledge of innocence. "Well. Some of it was—"

"It was Arizona Robbins, and it was an accident." Meredith explained more coherently than any of the others ever could.

Aaron scoffed. "She figured your own brother would already know you married somebody, but hey—"

"This is why I didn't wanna tell you. You'd make a big deal—" Alex explained, facing his brother for the first time since this morning.

"It is a big deal! You got married on the spur of a moment. You walk out on your wife—"

"Hey! He did not walk out!" Aliya raised her voice as she pushed out of her chair.

"I did not walk out on my wife! She walked out on me! She walked out!" Alex yelled, Aaron hitting a memory that Alex wasn't particularly fond of, or had dealt with in the 'healthy' or 'normal' human way.

But, what was heathy and normal anyway?

"You have any idea what Mom's gonna do when she finds out?" Aaron snapped back, curling his upper lip as he regarded his brother in disgust, causing anger to boil in her stomach as she watched her best friend's own brother stare at him like that.

She knew that glare. She knew it too well. She received that glare on failed tests and revealed secret crushes. She gave that glare in arguments and breakups.

"She's gonna go off her meds."

"She's not going to do anything, because you're not gonna tell her." Alex moved closer to Aaron, in an act of threat, his eyes narrowed as he continued. "You're gonna get your free surgery, get back in your truck, and you're gonna get the hell out of here."

"Fine. You know what? I don't need your free surgery. I'll see you." Aaron began walking out towards the exit.

Stubbornness appeared to be in the Karev family DNA. Noted.

"You're not going anywhere." Alex reached out for Aaron's arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"I don't need your crap!" Aaron slapped his arm away in reflex. "You walk out on us, you walk out on your wife. Like father like son."

Like father, like son.

The words glided effortlessly off of his lips as he essentially compared his brother to their alcoholic, lousy son of a bitch dad.

It was a low blow.

Alex retaliated instantly, lurching forward and grabbing a fistful of Aaron's collar. "Take it back! Take it back!" He snarled, his face reddening.

"Get off me, man." Aaron spat, making an attempt to shove Alex back. Though, he was at a disadvantage, seeing as he was much weaker and skinnier compared to his brother.

When he finally did push his brother away, it ended with Alex lunging for him, causing them both to pile in a heap on the ground. Alex drew a fist up in mid air, that instantly came crashing down to collide with his brother's face.

"Alex!" Both Meredith and Aliya hauled themselves towards the two brothers on the floor.

Mer's hands balled Alex's scrubs into her fists, pulling him back with all of the strength she could muster, whilst Aliya pulled Aaron's gown to move him out of the line of fire.

"No, this is not happening! Alex!" Bailey jogged towards them and held her rolled up newspaper in the air, hitting Alex in the shoulder. "Karev!"

Her face was horrified, and she physically pushed him off of Aaron with the sole of her shoe.

"What the hell is your problem!" Aaron wiped the blood from his nose, Aliya helping him to his feet as he leaned on her for support, his arm slumped over the brunette's shoulder to steady himself.

Alex tried to edge closer to him, but failed as Mer pulled him right back. "You are!" 

"You're hitting people now, too?" Aaron released a dry laugh, panting heavily in over exertion. "You really did turn into Dad!"

"Aaron!" Aliya snapped at the man's audacity.

He was getting a free surgery! He had no right to hurl insults out into the open for the whole freaking hospital to hear.

She really was starting to dislike this man.

Aaron looked down to her, gritting his teeth. "He just attacked me!"

"You just compared him to your lousy asshole of a father, what do you expect?" Aliya replied, bitterly as she began to move Aaron to a seat, but instead he hunched over, his head falling to her knees as he grasped his stomach with a wail. "Bailey!"

Bailey looked over, and began to rush over to them. "I need a gurney!"

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"Your brother is out of surgery." Aliya announced as she approached Alex on the peds floor at night, the white glow from the computer screen illuminating his face. "It went well, by the way. You might want to go see him. I know he's a jerk and all, but it's just a friendly suggestion."

Alex didn't even react, he just continued to jam letters into the keyboard with over exaggerated force.

After a few more moments of this, Alex simply just grunted, looking up at her in brief dismay, before turning his eyes back to the computer screen.

Aliya continued to stare at him, anticipating some form of a reply. "Talking in grunts today, are we?"

She sighed, rounding the desk to slide into the chair next to Alex, typing her log in details into the computer as she thought that the very least he could do was reply to her.

"Do you have to type so loudly?" Alex muttered, a sharp frown displayed on his face.

"Do you have to breathe so loudly?" Aliya retorted, because even though it wasn't exactly nice, at least he was actually communicating.

Before she could click on Kamala's scans, her phone vibrated on the desk, her screen lighting up with a text message.

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TRAVIS LEVINE (7:52pm)

Hey Ladybug, just checking in to see if
you had a good birthday, sorry I couldn't
come and visit, there was a lot going on
with surgeries and events. Are you free
next week? I can book a flight to come
and see you, just you and me?

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (7:53pm)

hey dad, yes it was good, thank you
for the flowers you sent, i haven't killed
them yet! that would be great, i have a free tuesday next week if that works?

⠀
TRAVIS LEVINE (7:53pm)

Tuesday sounds great, I can't wait
to see you, I'm so sorry it's been so long
⠀

Aliya turned her phone screen off, clicking onto the images of Kamala Thompson's scans, which popped up on the screen instantly, angry at herself that she missed her patients scan when she was too busy caught up in the Karev family drama.

Staring closely at the scans, the brunette narrowed her eyes at them in an attempt to make the screen clearer. She then closed the tab, looking at the notes where her only noted symptom was a headache.

A headache could be absolutely anything ranging from just a common side effect, to a symptom of a post-op complication.

Aliya clicked instantly back onto the scans and she looked closer, enlarging the imagine and noticing how on the still, non contrast CT image of her brain showed a slight, barely noticeable defect, right below where her tumour resided.

She brought her face closer to the computer, looking insane. And, just as a single half-word escaped Alex's lips as he noticed Aliya's insanity, she whispered: "Holy shit!" and jumped out of her seat in a crash.

She scanned urgently around the ward, spotting And from across the room.

"Andy! Andy!" She hollered, jogging towards the wavy haired Nurse. "You were on neuro earlier, right?"

Andy looked up over the top of her glasses. "Yes, honey, what's wrong?"

"When was Kamala Thompson discharged?" She spoke quickly with urgency, her words merging into one long babble.

Andy tilted her head slightly in thought. "Oh— I was just helping her into the wheelchair before I was paged to help down here."

"Thank you!" Aliya called as she already was running down the halls to get to the front desk, earning herself a truck load of odd stares as she weaved her way through many of the hospital halls but, what was new.

She began to descend the stairs in the reception, spotting Derek and Kamala's daughter walking next to Kamala's wheelchair on their way out of the hospital.

"Stop!" The Levine woman called in desperation, running further and faster, stopping abruptly next to them. Now, Kamala, Derek and Leslie looking at her as if she was out of her mind and in need of psychiatric help.

"Levine." Derek eyes his resident sternly as she bent over, clutching her side.

"Yeah— I'm just— incredibly— out of breath." She stopped her self to catch her breath. Quickly straightening up as she stood upright, fanning herself lightly with her hand, attempting to regain her composure.

Leslie looked at her in judgement, fastening her hands over her mother's wheelchair in protection from the crazy lady. "We best be going—" She started, preparing to wheel her mother away from the hospital and, quite frankly, Aliya.

"No! Wait!" Aliya paced quickly to stand in front of Kamala's wheel chair, bracing both hands on the arm rest, looking directly at Kamala who stared right back at her. "Have you had any ringing in the ears? Spots in your vision? Neck pain? Anything like that at all?"

Kamala ducked her head to the floor, her ponytail slipping over her shoulder. "I guess I've had a few moments where my vision—" She looked at Leslie cautiously, almost as if she was waiting for her daughter's disappointment sigh. "Wasn't the greatest. And, I've also had a tiny bit of neck pain, but not—"

"Mom!" Leslie protested, seeing as her mother failed to mention any of these symptoms she was experiencing. "What's going on Dr. Levine?"

Aliya released a quick breath before starting her needed explanation. "I have reason to believe your mother has CSF Leak, which could potentially develop bacterial meningitis if left untreated."

"CSF Leak? What the hell is that?" Leslie started to breathe heavily, too heavy for a heavily pregnant woman, something Derek began to notice.

"Levine." Derek warned for the second time for Leslie's sake, but Aliya ignored him for the second time.

"Cerebrospinal Fluid." Aliya began to explain, now that she had fully caught her breath. "After craniotomy's, it has a risk to leak into the outer membrane of the brain. They can occur spontaneously, even after a successful surgery, and the symptoms commonly include what your mother is demonstrating— the neck pain and spots in her vision. It's hard to see it on a CT scan, especially one without contrast."

"Levine, may I speak to you. In the corner. Privately." Derek angled his head away from them as Aliya followed him away from the Thompsons. "We could've had this discussion in more private manners?"

"I saw she was discharged and it couldn't wait. We can't let her leave, what if she has it? What if it develops into meningitis? What if she gets home and it's too late?" Aliya pleaded, staring intently, not wanting Kamala to slip through the cracks.

"That's a lot of what ifs, Levine." Derek eyed her up and down, before giving up. "Fine. Run an MRI scan, and take a sample of her nasal fluid. Keep me posted." He walked off, leaving Aliya in her victory.

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Aliya pressed the intercom button, leaning closer to the microphone. "Alright, Kamala, try and stay perfectly still so the scan can get a clear image."

"Sure, honey." Kamala replied, chirpy for someone who could've had a heart attack caused by her very own doctor.

"Heard you rugby tackled a patient." Jackson's voice echoed around the room, and Aliya turned her head to regard him, his body slouched against the door frame. "Cute glasses." He pointed at the frames on her face, sliding into the free chair next to her.

Aliya pressed her lips together, side-eyeing the man beside her. "I didn't rugby tackle a patient. I leave that to you."

Jackson scoffed, light-heartedly, recalling his very first day at this hospital. "The news tells it differently."

"The news always tells it differently." Aliya pointed out rather truthfully, tapping her fingers onto the desk whilst waiting for the scans to load in anticipation.

"Well, I heard that you were running through the halls like a maniac, nearly knocking your patient out in the process." Jackson informed, leaning back into his own chair, his eyes flickering over to her.

Aliya shook her head in denial of the statement — she totally did not tackle anyone. "Lies! The running part, true. The tackling, false. Where do people even get these stories from?"

Jackson shrugged, an easy, flawless smile dancing across his lips. "I heard you were heroic."

Aliya stared right back at the screen, her own lips curving up slightly, resisting the urge to steal a glance at him. "All I did was look at a scan." She declared, her cheeks increasing a single shade of pink.

"Don't undermine your save, own it." He put his foot up onto the arm of her chair, the edge of his shoe scraping across her bare arm which she managed to ignore.

"Fine. I'll own it." Aliya yawned into her palm, taking her glasses off to rub her eyes as she pondered when her last cup of coffee was, and why Jackson presence made her slightly more crazy than she already was. "Shouldn't you be in surgery? Or, you know, doing your job?"

He rummaged through his pockets, pulling out a packet of cheese Doritos. "Nope."

She raised a brow at the Avery man, and how he was cramming chips into his mouth. "You have nothing better to do?"

"Want a chip?" He dodged her question, offering her the bag of chips, which she accepted, just as the screen began to change, and the MRI scan loaded onto it. "Scans are up."

Aliya slammed her glasses back onto her face, hunching over and studying the scan closely, immediately noticing where the fluid leak was.

"Gotcha." She whispered to herself, her mouth hung open slightly, her eyes fixating on the screen.

"Doesn't it feel heroic?" Jackson smiled from where he was sat in, observing her nod slowly, continuing to stare as if her eyes were glued to it.

After a few more moments of staring, Jackson cleared his throat, half snapping her out of her whatever trance she was in.

"Sorry to ruin whatever moment you're having here, but you may want to page Derek and schedule an emergency surgery."

"Uh-huh." Aliya agreed with a mumble, her eyes still on the screen as she blindly reached over for the phone to page Derek.

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The pair left the operating room, walking through the automatic doors like a pair of zombies, their legs aching underneath them, causing them to nearly crash directly into the sink unit.

The surgery went well, they managed to repair the leak, and Aliya even got the chance to do it herself, managing to relieve the intracranial hypotension.

It was all pretty amazing, if she said so herself.

Aliya nudged the tap on with her elbow. "Not to say I told you so, but I told you she would pull through."

Derek chuckled, standing beside her at the sinks, turning his own tap on. "I knew you were going to say that."

Aliya smiled with him, scrubbing her hands. And, when the laughter died down, he stood there silently, his mind racked with a mixture of guilt and exhaustion.

"It's my fault she had to have a second surgery in the first place. If I had been more thorough—"

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault." Aliya assured, glancing over at how he was scrubbing his hands harshly, his eyes narrowed at his palms.

He shook his head at the statement. "I should've been more thorough."

"That's why I'm here." Aliya grinned, drying her hands with a cloth.

Derek laughed lightly, rinsing his hands before grabbing his own cloth. "So, Meredith told you?"

Aliya widened her eyes, turning away to put the cloth in the bin. "About what?"

One word came to mind. And, that was McFetus.

"Don't play dumb, we both know you're hopeless at playing dumb." The Shepherd man pointed out, leaning against the sink (if he didn't, he would actually pass out.)

"Fine. Yes, she told me." Aliya muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Ah." Derek whispered slowly, crossing his arms across his chest. "So? What did she say?"

The Levine woman snorted. "I'm so not going to tell you that."

Derek paused, looking at her as if waiting for her to say something anything else, which only cause her to huff.

"Just talk to her! And no, Shepherd, don't just talk at her, actually listen to her point of view as well, okay?" She finished, taking in Derek's very thoughtful and ultimately troubled facial expression, keeping his slouched position by the sink, he really couldn't be bothered to even move a single muscle. "Married couples."

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( notes! )

it's officially officially autumn and i love it 🫶🫶 pumpkin spice lattes for the win

also i rewatched this episode and the amount of audacity aaron had like this bitch was given free surgery because of his brother and then just starts yelling at him??? but i guess it was bad alex didn't tell him about izzie but still aaron had some audacity

( word count! — 7,000 )