PUT ME IN, COACH 8x7

"Hey!" Meredith and Cristina complain—both women almost getting hit in the face with their practice baseball.

"That could have hit us," Meredith sat up.

"Careful," Cristina rolled her eyes at Alex.

"Nice hustle," Alex replied sarcastically.

"You know, I think this is just more avoiding thinking about Zola," Cristina told Meredith.

"Did you hear something?" Alex asked looking down at the two.

"No," Meredith shook her head. "I— we've bugged Janet until she's sick of us, and she doesn't really know anything, so we just have to wait for the court to give us a hearing date, and we're just.."

"Keeping the faith," Cristina finished for her.

"Keeping the faith," Meredith nodded in agreement.

"Karev, throw the ball!" Owen yelled from a distance, all three residents forgetting about the practice game that was going on.

Alex threw the ball at Owen—who caught it flawlessly—and Owen threw it in Arizona's direction.

Arizona moved out of the way as it hit the fence.

"Ah!" Arizona screeched as the ball hit the fence with a lot of force.

"Come on!" Derek threw his hands up in the air.

"Robbins, don't be afraid of it," Owen encouraged.

"Wait. I— oh!" Arizona fell onto her knees, the catcher gear a little heavy. "Well, it flew at my head."

Jackson walked beside her and laughed, patting her on the shoulder.

"Sloan," Derek shouted at Mark. Who was currently making out with his girlfriend—an opponent on the opposite team.

"Yo," Mark answered, pulling away for a quick second.

"Focus," Derek whistled. "Hello?"

"Okay," One of the doctors rolled their eyes.

"Okay," Mark repeated.

"Who is that?" Teddy grimaces, watching the interaction between Mark and the girl.

"Oh, Julia Canner or Kinney? She's an ophthalmologist from Seattle Pres. Mark's been.. seeing her," Arizona nodded.

"Every night this week," Callie laughs.

Arizona throws the ball back at Owen, "Alright, nice throw, Robbins. That's the way!" Webber shouted in Arizona's direction.

"Hey, Webber, why don't you come down here and show us how it's done?" Callie smirked.

"Uh, let me finish the chapter. I need my energy before the game," Richard waved her off. "In my experience, we'll need it."

"Mhm," Callie turned her head to look back at the field.

"Who's up?" Derek asked, Charlotte walking towards the plate.

"Hey, Hunt," Teddy jumped in anticipation. "When are you gonna let me pitch? I'm a really good pitcher."

"Uh, we're fine," Owen nodded at her. "Shepherd throws an unbeatable screwball, all right?"

"What's your problem, Charlotte?" Callie grabbed the fence.

"She's just pissed April isn't here," Arizona joked, making Callie and Teddy laugh.

Owen walks towards Charlotte. "Now.. Brown, let's go!"

Charlotte gives the trio the finger as Derek tosses the ball at Charlotte, and she hits it hard, eliciting cheers from everyone.

"Go, Charlotte!" Owen praised. "Drop the bat, go, go! Run to third. Don't stop. Alright. Come on, everyone. Look alive. Brown and Shepherd are carrying us. Yang, Grey, you— you could at least stand up," Owen pointed his hand at the two sitting in the out field.

"Hi, honey!" Cristina waved as Meredith just laughed.

"Looking good, Chief Hunt," The chief from Seattle Pres nodded.

"Hi, Chief MacDougall," Owen nodded in return.

"Make it Brad," He pats Owen's back. "We've had this field every morning. Is this your first practice?"

"Uh, no," Owen squints at Arizona, Callie and Teddy, then turns back around. "No, no, we've been.."

"Oh. I would've thought it was. Kudos for putting a team together at all this year, what with all the upheaval over at Seattle Grace."

"Yeah, well, we've got a lot of good players—" Owen said, looking around at the random selection of doctors.

"Webber being ousted, all that nasty business with the alzheimer's trial being shut down— no wonder they put a trauma guy in charge," Brad patted Owen's back laughing. "You must feel like you're just scrambling to stop the hemorrhaging over there."

"We got another half-hour out here or so," Owen crossed his arms. "And then we're gonna be ready to kick your asses tomorrow."

"Oh, just a half-hour?" Brad raised his eyebrows. "Is that all you need?"

Derek's phone buzzes, "Hunt, I gotta go."

"What—"

"Lexie," Derek took his glove off, tossing it at Owen.

"Yeah," Lexie sighs, coming towards him—upset she didn't get to hit.

"We got a consult."

"No. No, wait. We're—"

"I gotta check on a sick kid. Can I get a ride?" Arizona asked Derek—following after him.

"Sorry Hunt, we gotta get back. I'm with Torres today," Charlotte shrugs, pinning her hair up in a bun.

Callie walked beside Charlotte who was already walking out.

"Listen, no—"

"I gotta update the boards."

"Is that it?" Cristina shouted as Meredith stumbled onto her feet, obviously tipsy. "Are we done?"

"Just— just wait.."

"Hustle," Derek told everyone.

"Everyone. No, no."

❄️

"One, two, three," Callie, Charlotte, a paramedic and a group of surgeons lift the patient off the gurney and onto a hospital bed.

"Okay, what do we have?" Owen asked as April trailed behind him.

"Carl Shatler, sanitation worker, mid thirty's," The paramedic answered. "Fell off the back of a garbage truck, then hit by a car backing out of a driveway."

"Okay, vitals are stable but he has multiple contusions, scalp lac, and obvious hand injuries," Callie read off the clipboard.

"Okay, Carl?" Owen flashes his light into Carl's eyes. "Carl, I'm Dr. Hunt. Do you know where you are? Can you hear me? G.C.S. ten, and pupils are equal and reactive. I'm gonna need the portable x-ray and ultrasound."

"Right away," April hurries towards the phone.

"Oh, this hands hamburger," Callie observed, Charlotte beside her.

"He's gonna lose some of this," Charlotte looked at his hand.

"Oh, god. No!" The patient muttered.

"Calm down," Owen soothed.

"No!"

Owen turned, "Kepner, where is that ultrasound? Give us some room here, Torres."

"Okay, we just need to stabilize the hand, and then we will—"

"I said, give us some room," Owen demanded. "The hand is not the priory right now."

"Fine. Page us when you need us," Callie took of her gloves with force, dropping them in the trash.

"Mhm," Owen said, not sparing the two a glance.

❄️

"So how are you? I feel like we haven't talked— or hung out in forever," Callie smiled at her best friend.

"I know," Charlotte grinned. "How's Sofia?"

"She's good," Callie nodded slowly, getting the feeling that Charlotte didn't want to talk about herself. "Are you still talking to April?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing happening there. Not romantically anyways. She'd rather flirt with guys than talk to
me—who stood up for her, may I add—when she had a bad day," Charlotte pointed out.

"Oh," Callie drew out the word. "That's what this is about?"

"Yeah.." Charlotte swallowed. "And it was weird watching her flirt with them. I mean, I don't know, I felt.."

"Jealous?" Callie untucked the chart for another patient they've been helping.

Charlotte glared at her.

"What? It seems like that was what you were getting at," Callie said while reading off the chart.

"Whatever," Charlotte sighed—hoping Callie would drop the conversation.

"Is that why your mad at her?" Callie raised her eyebrows, looking up from the chart.

"I'm not really mad, just, confused," Charlotte rubbed her face.

"About what? You like her. Go with it," Callie advised. "You stopped sleeping around for her."

"Yeah, okay," Charlotte scoffed. "I haven't dated since my senior year of high school."

"There's a first time for everything," Callie sang as April approached the two.

"Uh, so C.T.'s negative for internal bleeding, so Chief Hunt says Mr. Shatler's all yours," April handed Callie Mr. Shatler's chart.

"Oh, that's super," Charlotte said, faking enthusiasm. "Hey, tell Chief Hunt we're so grateful he gave us the go-ahead."

"Okay," April said unsure.

"Enough," Callie whispered.

"W— was that sarcastic?" April asked as the three surgeons walked into the E.R.

Charlotte just looked at her, making the red head chuckle uncomfortably, "Sorry. Um, hey, is there any chance you need another assist on that hand? I need more O.R. time."

"Sure," Callie smirked look at Charlotte. "Go schedule an O.R. Charlotte can fill you in on the procedure. Oh, and uh, wish me luck. I'm about to tell a guy his crappy day just got crappier."

Callie pushed Charlotte in April's direction.

April gave Callie a single nod as April walked away from the nurses station, Charlotte following her.

"Are we going to hang out at all this week? You've seemed kind of distant all week," April furrowed her eyebrows with worry.

"Oh, yeah, I've been hanging out with Callie and Arizona," Charlotte lied. "I keep falling asleep there rather than going home."

That wasn't a complete lie. She had been falling asleep somewhere rather than going home—but it wasn't Callie and Arizona's.

"Oh," April bit her lip.