AUTHOR NOTE: Welcome to the first episode of season 2. This is one of
my favorite episodes! So I hope you like it! It's also one of my longest
chapters I have written for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). Let me know
what you think!
To be a good surgeon, you have to think like a surgeon. Emotions are messy.
Tuck them neatly away and step into a clean, sterile room where the
procedure is simple. Cut, suture and close.
Meredith and Eddie had found themselves sitting on a stool at the bar of the
small bar right across the street from the hospital, the Emerald City Bar.
Meredith had a line of empty tequila shots in front of her while Eddie had
three baskets of food in front of her; French fries, fried cheese, and fried
pickles.
Eddie knew she was getting some odd looks because most of the people at
the bar were doctors, nurses, or other hospital employees. But, Meredith
had all but stormed out of the hospital with tears in her eyes and looking
like her life was over.
She had all but run into Eddie, Conrad, and his father. And, one look at her
friends face, she apologized and promised to talk to both men later, stating
her friend really needed her right now, without waiting for their response
wrapped an arm around Meredith as she lead them away from the hospital.
Telling her about McDreamy's wife.
Derek had been married. No, correction, Derek is married. To a stunningly
gorgeous redhead who was all leggy and fabulous according to Meredith.
Eddie could barely wrap her head around the news of Derek's marriage and
the bomb that had been dropped on her only moments before. Though,
Meredith didn't know her news yet, she was so lost in the haze of being hurt
and confused. So, when Meredith told Eddie she needed to get drunk to
wash the memories of McDreamy and his perfect wife away, Eddie
followed her to the bar. Where Meredith ordered shot after shot, while Joe,
the owner of the bar who was also Eddie's enabler of her huge craving of all
things fried and delicious.
The two girls said nothing as they sat there, lost in their own thoughts when
the owner, Joe, came over and nodded at Eddie before looking at Meredith.
"You look familiar. You been here before?" Joe asked Meredith. Joe was
very good with faces and he could often place regulars, she wasn't one, but
her face looked familiar.
"Once." Meredith said, thinking back to the night she met Derek in this very
bar. The bar where he used her to cheat on his wife. "That worked out really
well."
Joe gave her a knowing look that Eddie figured all bar owners or bar
tenders possessed since they all shared it. "I know that look. It'll be one of
two things. Either your boss is giving you hell or your boyfriend is. Which
is it?"
"Both." Meredith said, glumly.
But sometimes, you're faced with a cut that won't heal.
"My boyfriend is my boss, which was a problem. But not as big a problem
as the fact that my boyfriend has a wife." Meredith said looking like a
kicked puppy.
"Tell you what, this one, it's on the house." Joe said as he handed her the
shot which Meredith downed the shot he gave her.
"Joe, get her another one, put it on my tab." Eddie said, knowing her friend
needed it, and she planned to take Meredith to her place in case McMarried
McDreamy decided to try and talk to Meredith at the frat house. And, he
had no idea where Eddie lived. So, if Meredith drank a bit more, than it
wasn't a big deal, especially since Eddie lived closer to the hospital then
Meredith, George, and Izzie.
Joe nodded and poured Meredith another drink and Meredith smiled at her
grateful.
Eddie sighed as she dunked a cheese curd in a spicy ranch and popped it in
her mouth. Her mind still reeling and it felt like it was coming up blank.
She didn't know what to say or what to do. It felt like her whole life was
flipped upside down on her head, after what she felt as if she had just gotten
her footing after finding out she was pregnant and was figuring it out her
footing from the last life-altering change. And, now she had another one.
A cut that rips it's stitches wide open.
Derek and Addison in the lobby of the hospital, and the air was tense
between them.
"Addison, what are you doing here?" Derek asked, almost hostile.
All the anger and dark feelings that he hadn't felt since he met Meredith
came bubbling up. All he could remember was him finding Addison in bed
with one of their oldest friends. Nicholas Porter. Nicholas whom he
considered one of his best friends, hell Nicholas was one of his groomsmen
at his wedding to Addison. They had gone to medical school together, went
through the same residency, and they all spend vacations and important life
events together.
All of it was washed away when he saw him in bed with Addison. He could
do nothing except leave. Leave the Brownstone where he found his wife
cheating on him, leave his practice at Mt. Sinai, and leave New York City
because he couldn't stand to see either him or Addison.
"Your hair's different." Addison commented as she looked him up and down
appreciatively.
"A lot of things are different." Derek said tersely. He and Addison would
never be him and Addison again.
"It's longer. I like it. It's very Russell Crowe." Addison commented, as she
tries to run her fingers through his hair but he moves back and away from
her hand and she looked a little hurt.
"What are you doing here?" Derek demanded.
"What are you doing here? You just pick up and leave everything? Your
house, your practice, your friends? You had a life in Manhattan." Addison
reminded.
He had left without even talking to her. And, he refused her call for months.
They were Derek and Addison, they could get through everything. But, he
had just up and left New York City all together. And, every attempt she
made to reach out to him was turned down. And, she had tried to get Mark
to talk to him for her, and he laughed in her face and told her there was no
way in hell he'd do that for her, mad that he cheated on his best friend, so
not only was her marriage in shambles but one of her oldest friendships had
broken. He had taken Derek's side. And, she hadn't thought--or dared--to
reach out to Carolyn, Liz, Kathy, or Amelia, Derek's sisters, whom she
knew would hate her. And, with Nancy things were still icy but thought she
and Derek would patch things up.
"Had." Derek said.
"And now you have a girlfriend in Seattle. She seems sweet." Addison said
jealously.
"The ice you're on. Thin." Derek told her with a hard look.
"She's young." Addison said, she had to be early into her intern year or
residency. "That whole wide-eyed, ooh he's-a-brain-surgeon thing
happening, but still sweet. Which was what you were going for, right? The
anti-Addison?"
Derek sent her a dark look. He had not gone for Meredith because she was
the anti-Addison. He had fallen for her because she was the first person
who made him feel alive and breath for the first time in what seemed like
forever. He knew he and Addison were struggling, but, until he saw her in
bed with Nicholas and he meeting Meredith showed him how much.
"If you came out here to try and win me back, forget about it." Derek
informed her.
"I did. I flew all the way across the country to reminisce over wedding
photos, get drunk, fall into bed, and make you realize you can't live without
me. Relax. Derek, I'm here for work. I'm helping the TTTS case you guys
admitted last week and from Richard's briefing, I should be.." Addison
explained.
"Richard, he knew you were coming out here?" Derek cut her off, now
pissed at his boss. He had know what Addison had done to him. And,
Richard knew she was coming here.
"He asked me to come. Didn't he tell you?" Addison asked.
"No. He didn't." Derek said shortly, as he suppressed his anger.
"Hmm. Surprise. The hair, though. You know I've always had a thing for
Russell Crowe." Addison said as she deliberately got close to him, as he
tensed at her presence.
Then she walked away, with a deliberate sway in her hips, hoping his eyes
would follow her's.
George and Cristina enter the Emerald City Bar.
"All hail the champ!" Joe called loudly, causing everyone in the bar to
cheer. "So, my guy Alex finally got what was coming to him."
"George knocked him down in one punch. You should've seen it." Cristina
said, proud of Bambi for knocking Alex on his ass. She hadn't expected it
from him.
"I don't want to talk about it!" George said, embarrassed about how he
acted. Though, he also felt anger every time he thought about Alex.
"Brag, champ, brag. You've earned it." Joe commented, patting the male
intern on the shoulder.
"Can I have a beer, please?" George asked as he and Cristina joined
Meredith and Eddie at the bar.
"Let's play a game of whose life sucks the most. I'll win. I always win."
Meredith said, looking at her three friends.
"No, you don't want to play with me." Cristina said.
"Oh, I do. I'll even go first." Meredith said, with drunken sadness, "Derek's
married."
George spits his beer out, and some of it is coming out of his nose.
"George, beer is dripping from your nostrils." Cristina said, as George
staggered away to clean himself up.
"Told you I'd win." Meredith said to Cristina and Eddie.
"No, you didn't win." Cristina said.
"Did you hear me? I said Derek is married. As in pigheaded, adulterous, liar
married. Nothing you could say could top that." Meredith informed her
friends.
"I found out who my father is." Eddie said, as Meredith and Cristina's eyes
widened, knowing that Eddie had no idea who her father was. And, from
what she knew about him was that he didn't want her. So, him finding her
was big news.
"I'm pregnant." Cristina admitted as she took a shot, and looked at her
friends who looked very shocked. "I win."
Behind them, Joe started groaning and holding his head. A bar patron asks
him if he is all right and Joe falls over.
"Ok. Maybe Joe wins." Eddie said, as the three surgical interns raced to his
side as Joe tries to get up.
"Joe, lie back down." Eddie ordered.
"The medics are coming." A male resident Eddie recognized said.
"You called the gurney patrol?" Joe groaned, he couldn't afford an
ambulance ride, and he was literally right across the street from the
hospital. He could walk.
"Sit back and relax. We have to take you to the hospital to run some tests."
Meredith informed him.
"Tests? I don't need tests. I'm fine!" Joe insisted to them.
"Dude! You collapsed! On the floor. This is you bar. You know how filthy
this floor is." Cristina reminded the bar owner.
"Radial pulse is strong." Eddie informed her friends.
"Minor skull contusions." Cristina added.
"You're sleeping with someone?" Meredith asked Cristina, shocked by the
two other big revelations.
God. Life at Seattle Grace felt like it was some big soap opera or teen
drama sometimes.
"What? Who?" George asked, shocked, as he rejoined his roommate and
their friends.
"Why is that such a shock? Even George managed to get some action."
Cristina said as she nodded her head towards George.
"Correction. George got some syphilis." George deadpanned.
"How could I not know, you were sleeping with someone?" Meredith asked,
and looked at Eddie. "Did you know?"
Eddie shook her head "no" though the little looks Cristina and Burke shared
the last few weeks seemed to click into place. For all the crap she gave
Meredith for sleeping with an attending. Cristina was doing the same.
"Forget this." Joe said.
"Joe!" Eddie, Meredith, and Cristina cried as they tried to keep him in
place, but he shrugged them off.
"The hospital is right across the street. I can sure as hell walk across the
street by myself." Joe said as he stands up and stumbles towards the door.
"Oh, I think we should." Eddie and Cristina said together.
"No, I got him. Joe!" George said as the four interns chased after him.
Eddie, Cristina, and Meredith made their way to visit Joe. And, Meredith
pulled the two aside and looked between the two. She was trying to focus
on anything other than the fact Derek is married and she was completely
heartbroken.
"All right. Details. Your father is here?" Meredith asked.
"Yes." Eddie agreed. "Well not here, here. But in Seattle. He wants to meet
up."
"What he change his mind about wanting to be a father?" Meredith asked,
somewhat sarcastically. She and Eddie had very similar backgrounds.
Except, Meredith's father left when she had memories of him and her
mother never remarried, instead focused on her work and not Meredith.
While Eddie had no memories of her father and her mother had made it
clear she had been a burden and only cared about her new family and put all
her focus on that.
"I have no idea." Eddie said, "it didn't get that far."
"Who is he?" Cristina asked.
"Henry Quinn." Eddie admitted after a minute so only her two friends could
hear.
Her father is Henry Quinn. She is the sister of Alec, Ben, Daniel, and
Conrad. Oh god. She had older brothers. When she thought about the
nameless, faceless, man that was her father she would have never expected
it to be Henry Quinn ever.
"Holy shit! Get out!" Cristin said wide eyed, gaining some attention, from
some people visiting, luckily, they were no hospital staff around.
"I know." Eddie said.
"What did he say? How did he recognize you?" Meredith asked.
"We didn't really have time to talk...he must have recognized my name. I
don't know. He called me Edit." Eddie stressed as she rubbed her baby
bump when she felt her little peanut kick her. Knowing she was reacting to
her mother's raise in emotions.
Meredith and Cristina nodded, as Meredith ran her hand up and down
Eddie's arm to sooth her, and after a moment focused on her other's friend's
massive revelation.
"And, You're pregnant? What are you gonna do?" Meredith asked as she
looked at her other best friend.
"Look, you know what happens to pregnant interns. I'm not switching to the
vagina squad or spending my life popping zits. I'm too talented. Surgery's
my life." Cristina admitted.
"I haven't been mommy tracked." Eddie pointed out. Which Cristina
shrugged.
"I don't want to be a mother." She admitted.
"And, that is fine." Eddie said, not everyone wanted (or should) be mothers.
And, Cristina was more career focused than she was wanting a husband and
children. And, that was fine. She knew what she wanted and no one should
shame her for her choices or tell her what to do with her body.
"Which begs the question: who are you sleeping with?" Meredith said.
"Just a guy." Cristina said.
Eddie knew that Burke was the guy Cristina was most likely sleeping with.
And, most likely the father of Cristina's baby as well.
"That's all I get? You can't just bring something like this up and expect me
to drop it." Meredith asked her.
"Well, watch me." Cristina said as they walked up to a desk where George
and Izzie were standing at that.
"Why are you back here tonight, don't you have a date with McDreamy?"
Izzie asked Meredith confused.
"More like McMarried." Eddie informed the former model.
"McWhat?" Izzie asked shocked.
"I came to check on Joe." Meredith informed her friend.
"You think he's gonna be ok?" George asked concerned as he looked over at
Joe who was laying in bed.
"You think he's gonna need an operation?" Cristina asked the group.
"Operation, yes. Ok, hard to tell. Basilar artery's blown up like a balloon.
Subarachnoid bleeding. Aneurysm the size of a golf ball." Derek said as he
walked up to the group.
"No way to clip something like that." George said wide-eyed.
"Not without magic fingers." Cristina said, almost with a scoff.
"Or a standstill operation." Derek stated.
"You're doing a standstill?" Cristina asked shocked, she may not want to be
a neurosurgeon, she would kill to be part of a standstill operation. "He's
doing a standstill operation."
"I'd like to try." Derek said as he looked at Meredith with sad eyes, and it
about ripped out his heart when she avoided his gaze. "First I need some
additional patient history, overnight labs, and a cerebral angio." He tries to
hand the chart to Meredith.
"I'm drunk." Meredith said not accepting the chart.
Her broken tone and the fact she was practically hugging herself to keep
herself together broke Derek's heart even more. And, made her friends
extremely protective of her.
"Meredith." Derek said, sounding almost lost.
Meredith walks away and George grabs the chart. Derek tries to follow
Meredith but the other interns step in his way to stop him from following
her.
"McBastard." Izzie and Eddie said together, not happy with the attending.
Izzie knew that Meredith sleeping with her boss would be bad that she
would get hurt. She just hadn't realized the way her friend would be hurt
because he lied about being single.
Derek leaves. Cristina takes the chart from George.
"Ahem." Izzie said, looking at Cristina with a "really" look.
"What are you doing?" George asked the Korean woman.
"Uh, I am on her side, but we're talking a possible standstill here.
Recognize." Cristina said as the three other interns rolled their eyes.
A few minutes later, Meredith is walking out the front door as Derek
catches up to her. Having raced to catch up to her.
"Meredith!" Derek called, as she stopped and twirled on her heels and
looked at him with all the hurt and anger that had been bubbling within her.
"Go away!" Meredith yelled as she felt the rain soak her clothes.
"Just wait. We should discuss this." Derek all but begged.
"Here's a thought. No! Quit following me!" Meredith ordered, feeling so
stupid for falling for him. How stupid could she be?
Sleeping with her boss. Falling for her boss. Finally feeling happy in her
life...all of it was a lie. He had lied to her.
"At least let me explain." Derek begged.
"Explain? You know when you should have explained? The night we met in
the bar. Before any of the rest of it. Yeah, that would have been a good time
to discuss it." Meredith said, her voice dripping with venom.
"Look, I know how you feel." Derek said, remembering the sucker punch to
the gut he had gotten when he saw her in bed with Nicholas.
"Do you?" Meredith asked, almost mockingly, in a scathing tone.
"Somehow I doubt that. Because if you did, you would shut up, and you
would turn around and go back inside, because you would realize that I am
this close to getting in my car and running you down in the parking lot!"
Meredith turned on her heel and marched out into the rain as George runs
up to her with an umbrella. He covered them both and wrapped his arm
around her as if to protect her.
"Where are your keys?" George asked.
"I'm fine!"
"Meredith, give me your keys. Let's go home." George asked as he took the
keys from her and lead them to her car.
When Derek entered the hospital, he saw Eddie walking out, opening her
umbrella and glared at him as she made her way to the car. One the way
passed her Eddie said. "Give her time. Don't get me wrong, Meredith has
every right to hate you. But, if you want to tell her why you decided to be a
McBastard and lie. Give her time. And, you better have a hell of a good
reason. Because, there is no excuse to do that to someone."
And, then she flipped her curly blonde hair over her shoulder and strode
away as if she said nothing to him.
Derek enters Richard's room to find Addison there. They are both laughing.
"And the husband was the.." Addison's word died when she noticed Derek
entering the room. "Well, I will be back in the morning to report for duty.
And you get some rest."
Addison leans over to give her former mentor a kiss on her cheek before
she leaves the room.
"What is she doing here?" Derek asked his boss, trying to reign in the
annoyance in his tone.
"You and I both know she's the best in the field. Brining Addie out was a
business decision, nothing personal." Webber told his attending flatly.
"Oh, well, what a relief. It's not personal. It is personal to me." Derek
informed his boss.
"The working of my surgical unit don't..."
"Don't include my wife!" Derek cut off his boss.
"Don't include your private life! Burke will act as chief of surgery until I'm
back on my feet." Webber cut off his angry attending who looked hurt and
betrayed at the fact Richard had chosen Burke over him.
"You gave chief to Burke." Derek stated blankly.
"Like I said, there's no room for personal in being chief." Richard said
flatly, remembering seeing him kiss Meredith.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Derek asked, having a feeling that was a
subtle dig at him.
"How long have you have been sleeping with an intern?" Webber asked
with a pointed look.
"So, I guess part of being chief is personal." Derek said, knowing that
Richard was close to Meredith Grey through her mother.
"Close the door on your way out." Webber said, dismissing the attending.
Cristina in an empty OR, examining the instruments that surgeons used in
the OR. She wanted to make sure that if Derek was going to do the
standstill, she wanted in. And, she hoped this was going to give her the
edge.
"L.S." She said as she placed the L.S. down onto the tray.
"Babcock." Cristina said as she placed down the next tool.
She looked at the tool in her hand, and in her concentration she hadn't
noticed Burke coming up behind her.
"Right-angle clamp." He informed her.
"Oh." Cristina said as she turned to see the attending there watching her.
And, she quickly started to assure him that she was going to sterilize the
instruments before their use in the OR. "I'm gonna sterilize everything
when I'm done. The scrub nurses won't even know I was here."
"My lips are sealed." Burke promised he joined her, and then hesitantly
asked; "So, I have a question to ask. I checked the schedule and I noticed
that you and I are both off tonight. I made reservations. I have a favorite
restaurant."
"None of those were questions." Cristina informed her lover.
"Would you like to go out to dinner with me tonight?" Burke asked pointblank.
Cristina was shocked and she took a moment before she gave a non-answer.
"You know, the OR is the one place where I can come and think. I'm
thinking right now, ok?" Cristina said.
"Of course. I get it." Burke said.
Inside the intern locker room, the interns were getting ready for their shifts
as George was talking about the previous night.
"I'm not a violent person. I'm a pacifist. But, you know, he just kept pushing
and push. He pushed me, I pushed back." George informed Izzie as he kept
looking over his shoulder to where Alex is standing.
"I was pushed. And now he..." George continued.
"You know what, if Alex tries to lay a hand on you, just tell me, I'll take
care of it." Izzie interrupted her best friend. "Or maybe Eddie. She is crazy
scary with all those baby hormones."
"You...I don't need you or Eddie to take care of it. If Alex starts something
I'll handle it myself. I can handle it." George said, more confidently than he
actually felt.
Bailey entered the locker room and started to list off where she wanted her
group of interns to be. "Okay, people, assignments. Yang, you're on
discharges. O'Malley report to room E19. Grey and Sousa come see me."
Bailey said before looking at her six interns and with a stern look. "And
who was on call last night?"
Alex and Izzie both raise their hands and Bailey hands them both a stack of
chart.
"Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Redo these and return them to me before lunch,
understood?" Bailey asked sharply.
"Understood." Alex said.
"Karev, don't tempt me." Bailey said sternly, not in the mood to put up with
his particular brand of sucking up. Then she turned to the oldest blonde
intern. "Somebody's popular."
"Meaning?" Meredith asked a little sharper than she intended.
"There's been a special request, just for you." Bailey said, "and they asked
for two interns, so Sousa, you're going to be with Grey. Make to make a
good impression, understand?"
Eddie nodded. "Yes ma'am."
Burke is walking through the hall with Patricia, as she informed him of
what his day was going to look like.
"The chief runs through all of this? Before lunch. After, you've got calls to
return, a budget to approve, two staff meetings, and four of Richard's
surgeries, including your own." Patricia informed the attending and acting
chief.
"Absolutely. No problem." Burke said almost cockily.
"Virgins." Patricia muttered, knowing that Burke was full of shit. While it
sounded easy, the job of chief was nothing short of a walk in the park.
Well...if that park was on fire on all sides, where you could only walk a
narrow bridge with a deep endless cavern on either side. While, dodging
spits of fire and other obstacles.
"So. Congratulations are in order." Derek said as he approached Burke.
"Don't sweat it Shepherd. I'll only be your boss for a few days." Burke said,
smug that he had been chosen over the golden boy neurosurgeon.
"I'm well aware of Richard's recovery time. I'm the one who operated on
him, remember?" Derek said, somewhat testily. First there was the fact
Richard brought Addison to Seattle and now he gave interim chief to Burke.
He felt like he was in some sort of nightmare that he couldn't wake up from.
"I do. You operated. He survived and chose me to take over while recruiting
your wife." Burke said almost enjoying the look of annoyance that flashed
across Derek's face.
"Clearly, he has brain damage." Derek commented.
"Or is it your ex-wife? I'm a little fuzzy on that." Burke needled back.
"We're separated." Derek snapped.
"Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Burke." Addison said as she came up to her husband
and the interim chief.
"You're never interrupting." Burke informed the beautiful red head.
"She's always interrupting." Derek commented with a glare.
"I was just checking to see if Dr. Burke secured the interns...." Addison said
as she sent a challenging look to her husband.
Derek sent a hard glare to his estranged wife. Knowing she was doing this
to piss him off.
"Interns you requested? He did." Eddie finished for the redhead. Derek
looks at Addison then Burke, Burke smiles and walks away. Derek walks
away and leaves Meredith, Eddie, and Addison there staring at each other.
"I'm Dr. Eddie Sousa." Eddie said trying to break the clearly tense and
stifling silence. She held out her hand for the red-head to shake.
"Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd." Addison said as she shook the hand of the
pregnant intern.
Then, it dawned on Eddie on who exactly this woman was. MontgomeryShepherd . This was Derek's wife.
Under any other circumstances she would be excited to meet Dr. Addison
Montgomery-Shepherd, she was one of the top Neonatal surgeons and
Eddie was very intrigued by that field. But, right now, with this situation, it
suddenly felt like she shouldn't be. Meredith was one of her closest friends.
And this woman obviously didn't like Meredith, because she had
unknowingly had an affair with her husband.
She had asked for Meredith to toy with her, Eddie figured. Or...maybe she
wanted to keep her enemy closer.
Oh crap.
Eddie had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.
Addison, Eddie, and Meredith are in a patient, Julie's room.
"Define TTTS, Dr. Grey." Addison quizzed her husband's girlfriend.
"Twin-twin transfusion syndrome. Conjoined fetal twins." Meredith
answered promptly.
Eddie couldn't help but compare Addison's expression to a predator playing
with its cornered prey.
"Connected by?" Addison asked, Eddie knew that this question was not
meant for her. Addison seemed to be testing Meredith.
"Blood vessels in the placenta." Meredith answered promptly.
"Meaning?" Addison asked. Meredith seemed to not know, with a few
seconds of tense silence, Addison looked at the younger intern. "Dr. Sousa,
do you know?"
"One twin gets too much blood, the other too little, endangering the lives of
both." Eddie answered promptly.
"Very good, Dr. Sousa. I'd expect you to know that, Grey." Addison said.
"They told me there wasn't much chance anything could be done." Julie said
sadly.
"TTTS is usually impossible to correct. Unless you happen to be one of a
handful of surgeons in the world who knows how to separate fetal blood
vessels. Which, luckily for you, I am." Addison assured her pregnant patient
with a kind smile. "So we're gonna get you into surgery tomorrow. If you
have any questions at all please ask Dr. Grey or Dr. Sousa. They are some
of the best interns in the hospital."
Somehow, Eddie thought, that didn't seem like such a compliment but a
pointed jab towards Meredith insinuating that the only reason why she was
the "best" was because of her sleeping with Derek, and him allowing her in
on his surgeries as a result of their relationships.
When they walk into the hallway, you could cut the tension with a knife.
"I could've answered your question had you given me the chance."
Meredith informed the attending, annoyed that she was being singled out by
Addison.
She already felt bad enough for unknowingly being in a relationship with
her husband, when she had no idea Addison existed. And, the fact that
Addison asked for her just to torture her was just icing on the crappy cake.
"Chin up, Grey. I'm this tough on everyone, if Dr. Sousa didn't know the
answer, I'd say the same. It's not just the women my husband sleeps with."
Addison informed the older blonde intern.
"Dr. Grey, order an ultrasound for her and pre-op labs in full." Addison told
Meredith. "And, Dr. Sousa, you'll be with me for the day."
Eddie glanced over at Meredith for a brief moment, who sent her a strained
smile, and sent a brief nod in her direction, knowing Eddie thought she'd
upset her by being excited about learning from one of the best in the field
she was interested in.
Eddie quickly fell in step with Addison who was a few steps ahead of her,
while Meredith leaned against the wall, next to Julie's door with a sigh.
Unknown to the three doctors, Julie overheard the conversation between
Addison and Meredith.
"Are you friends with Grey, Dr. Sousa?" Addison asked the pregnant intern
with interest.
"Yes, I am actually. She is one of my closest friends." Eddie said as she
rubbed the spot where her daughter moved, making her presence known.
"That explains your reaction when I said my name." Addison deadpanned.
"I was just surprised that is all." Eddie informed the red headed woman. "I
prefer to make my own judgement about people."
Eddie's bright smile, caused the red head to smile genuinely as well.
"So, how far along are you?" Addison asked motioning to Eddie's bump.
"Sixteen weeks." Eddie said with a grin.
"Congratulations." Addison said honestly.
"Thank you." Eddie said as the two stepped into the elevator.
"So, have you thought about possible specialties yet?" Addison asked.
"I've always been interested in peds and neonatal." Eddie said honestly.
"And neuro also interests me, from the few cases I worked on."
Addison looked at the girl for a few long seconds, and a genuinely smiled at
the young intern. "You know, if you'd like, I could show you the ropes of
neonatal if you'd like while I'm here." Addison offered seeing the potential
in the young, beautiful, blonde.
"Really?" Eddie asked, with genuine excitement. "Yes! Of course! I'd love
that."
"Great." Addison said, the girl's excitement was infectious.
George goes to the nurses station to grab the chart he needed.
"Hi. Can I have the chart for E19, please?" George asked the nurse behind
the station, when she handed it to him, he said, "Thank you."
He looks at the chart and realizes that it is the chiefs.
"Oh, good, you're here. Let's get started." Webber said as George entered
the room.
"Okay." George said as he started to examine the chief.
"O'Malley?" Webber said annoyed at the examination.
"Yeah?" George asked.
"You're touching me." Webber said, sharply.
"Yeah." George said, unsure of what the chief was trying to tell him. How
could he examine him if he couldn't touch him."
"No. Carmen." Webber said as he brushed off the nurse who was checking
something. Then he turned to George. "I want you to listen to me very
carefully. As long as I'm in here, I don't know what's happening out there.
With my doctors. My patients. My hospital. You are my eyes today, my
ears. I want you to be a sponge."
"A sponge?" George repeated questioningly.
"You report any and everything happening in this hospital to me." Richard
instructed the intern.
"I'm an investigative sponge." George said semi-deadpanned tone.
"I'm not fooling around, O'Malley." Webber said sternly, looking at the
intern with an intense gaze. "There's too much been happening lately under
my radar. It stops today."
George is in the hallway "sponging." when Derek walks by and runs into
Burke, the acting chief.
"Burke you gave Grey to Addison. Are you sure about that?" Derek asked
the interim chief wondering if he was enjoying jerking around Derek.
"That's not you call, Shepherd." Burke said with a highly condescending
tone. "And for the record, I'm always sure. Did you need me for something?
Because as the new chief, I'm..."
"Interim chief." Derek reminded the man who's ego had grown since his
temporary promotion.
""Chief" nonetheless." Burke said.
"Ever attempt a standstill surgery?" Derek asked, intriguing the interim
chief.
Derek, Cristina, and Burke were standing at Joe's bedside, explaining what
they needed to do to their patient.
"It's the location of the aneurysm that makes it tricky." Derek informed the
bar owner.
"Your body temperature would be lowered cool enough to protect it from
any damage and stop the heart." Burke explained.
"Which stops blood flow to the brain which reduces the risk of rupture. I'll
have 45 minutes to clip the aneurysm." Derek explained.
"Before I step in and get the heart started again." Burke finished.
"You wanna freeze my body, drain my blood, and stop my heart?" Joe asked
as fear flooded his body. That didn't sound good at all.
"And bring you back." Derek finished for him.
"In under 45 minutes?" Joe added, trying to figure out if that was truly
possible. He'd basically be dead.
"Right."
"If you go over, is it free?" Joe attempted to joke, otherwise, he'd feel like
he was crying.
"No."
"Dr, Yang, you can go and handle the pre-op labs now." Burke dismissed
Cristina.
"Ok." Cristina said, not arguing with the interim chief as she went to do as
she was asked.
"How much? How much does something like this cost?" Joe asked the two
attendings.
"I don't think you should worry about that right now." Derek told the man.
"Hey, look, you guys say that you can kill me and bring me back, I believe
you. You're doctors, but I own a bar. I don't got any insurance so I'm not
that concerned about the surgery so mush as what I'm gonna do when I
survive it. I need a number. Ten grand? Twenty? Thirty?" Joe asked,
worriedly.
"It's a couple hundred at least." Derek admitted.
"At least." Burke said.
Izzie and Alex are sitting on a beds in the tunnel fixing their charts.
"Who's Halloran?" Alex asked the blonde.
"Patient in 4115. Red hair? Wife knits all the time? He had the colectomy?"
Izzie explained, and kept adding to it, because of Alex's blank stare.
"Ah, colon dude. That's right." Alex said remembering now. Then he
looked to the next chart, "Who's Monterroso?"
"4238. Mom with the really cute kids. She spiked a post-op fever last night.
You spent two hours monitoring her." Izzie reminded, feeling annoyed that
Alex didn't seem to remember any of this.
"Hernia chick. That's right."
"You have been treating these people for the last week. How can you not
know their names?" Izzie asked the evil spawn.
"Surgery is the only specialty where we don't waste time getting to know
the patients. They're slabs of meat, we're butchers." Alex said. Though,
honestly, he kept himself distanced to keep objective.
"They're human beings. You do know what a human is, don't you Evil
Spawn?" Izzie asked the man.
"I'm not evil. Unless evil turns you on." Alex said, sending her a smirk.
"Do you ever wake up in the morning, realize nobody likes you, and, I don't
know, care?" Izzie asked him, genuinely curious.
"Oh. I think somebody likes me." Alex said as Izzie rolled her eyes.
Cristina enters the stairwell where Burke is also at.
"Hey." Cristina greeted, but Burke does not respond. "What, you don't
speak now you're chief? Burke!"
Burke had never acted like this towards her.
"What do you want?" Burke demanded, almost harshly.
"What?" Cristina asked confused.
"What do you want? You don't want to go out to dinner. You don't want to
meet me in the on-call room, and you sure as hell don't want to talk to me. I
could pretend I know, but hey, I don't even have your home phone number.
So tell me, what do you want?" Burke asked, trying to figure out the intern
he liked so much.
"Don't yell at me." Cristina said, feeling lost for a moment. Burke walks
away, and Cristina called, "Wait. Hey, we're having a conversation here."
"Well, what do you want?" Burke demanded.
"I don't know!" Cristina cried.
He grabs her and kisses her passionately. Shocking the Korean woman.
"Figure it out." Burke said, before turning and leaving as if nothing had
happened. Leaving Cristina frozen, speechless.
Unknowingly to them, they had been seen by George, who had entered the
stairwell and saw the whole encounter with wide eyes.
"What's the report?" Webber asked as he saw George enter his room.
"No report. It's very quiet today, sir." George lied.
"There's no news, gossip, surgeries I should know about? Now come on,
what's the buzz, O'Malley?" Webber pressed, not believing the intern.
"You know, not in the halls, not in the OR, not in the stairwells. Especially
nothing happening in the, you know they're just stairwells." George lied, he
hated lying, but he was doing it for Cristina and Meredith.
"They told me you were in a nightgown, but I thought I'd come and see it
for myself. Very nice, huh." Alex told Joe from his seat by Joe's bed when
Joe woke.
"Heard O'Malley laid you out cold. Nice eye." Joe said highly amused.
A nurse comes in and leaves a gift on the rolling table.
"Whoa, who sent that?" Joe asked shocked.
"We all pitched in. The whole floor." The nurse said with a smile. Everyone
at the hospital loved Joe. They had been going to his bar since he opened it.
And, he was a genuinely kind human being.
"Well, please, tell the whole floor a big thank you." Joe said touched.
"Yeah, I will." The nurse said before she leaves the two men alone.
"Alex, you gotta get me out of here, man. Get me transferred to County
Hospital, or something." Joe said, the moment they were alone.
"Oh, you don't want to go to County. Here, they can kill you and bring you
back, but at County, they just know how to kill you. No joke." Alex
informed the bar owner seriously.
"I can't afford this place, man. I'm gonna lose the bar." Joe said serious.
"Hey, Joe, how you doing?" A doctor asked as he passed.
"Hey, Scooter." Joe greeted the doctor, who's nickname was Scooter.
Alex is picking food from Joe's gift basket.
"Okay, that's mine." Joe reminded the doctor.
"Well first start things first, we're gonna start by saving your life, man."
Alex informed Joe seriously.
"The bar is my life. You know that. You've been at last call with me,
practically every night since you moved here. I'm gonna have to shut it
down or sell it." Joe said not liking either of those options. But, he knew if
he truly had to do it, he would. But, it would put him in serious debt that it
would take years to bounce back from.
"You can't do that. Place is an institution." Alex said.
"You know, I've owned the bar across the street for 14 years, and I've never
been inside this hospital till now." Joe informed him.
"Look, I'll pay my tab, right. That's gotta be good for something. How much
is it?" Alex asked seriously.
"Close to a grand." Joe reminded.
"How about I pay, like, 60? That's good. And I'll pay you back later." Alex
said.
George has been watching from afar, he thought he was hidden well
enough, but Joe saw him anyway.
"Hey, champ!" Joe called.
As Meredith put some gel over Julie's pregnant belly, preparing to take an
ultrasound with Eddie, the pregnant patient spoke up.
"What does it take to go after another woman's husband?" Julie asked.
"Excuse me?" Eddie asked.
"It happened to me. Jeff moved in with a long-legged miniskirt who answer
his phones, three weeks into my pregnancy." Julie informed the pregnant
intern with a rueful smile. "By the way, that gel is really cold."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your husband." Meredith said, honestly, as Eddie
took notes on the ultra sound.
"Are you sorry about Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd's husband?" Julie asked,
revealing that she had at least overheard Addison's comment to Meredith.
"I'm going to be checking a few things today." Meredith said, ignoring the
dig, trying to keep professional.
"I bet she asked to work with you. It's what I would have done." Julie
theorized.
Eddie cleared her throat, and attempted to change the subject. "You know
Dr. Grey, why don't you check on the labs. I'll finish up in here."
"Sure." Meredith said, grateful that her friend had given her an out and
quickly left the room, somewhat shaken by the needling tone of the woman
who had no idea of what happened between her and Derek.
She already felt horrible enough about being the other woman,
unknowingly. She didn't need Julie's anger, which was fueled by her own
cheating husband.
As Eddie continued to do the ultrasound, the woman didn't relent.
"You two seem to get along." Julie commented. "How can you be friends
with someone who did what she did."
The intern ignored the question, and instead went down the professional
route, keeping it only to the medicine.
"Okay, after we get the labs, we should be able to tell if the babies are still
stable." Eddie informed the mother-to-bed.
She started to wipe the gel from Julie's stomach. But, Julie wouldn't relent.
"Oh come on. Are you really not going to share Doctor Sousa?" Julie
pressed.
Eddie took a deep breath, trying to control the urge to tell the woman off.
Instead she plastered on a sugary sweet smile, that disarmed many people.
"I'm sorry, I don't talk about my or my friend's personal lives." Eddie said.
"Especially when it is no one else's business and they judge them solely
based on incomplete facts or know the people involved. You can see how
that can make it very uncomfortable, especially in the work place. Wouldn't
you agree?"
"I am sorry for making you uncomfortable." Julie muttered, feeling as if she
was just been put into place like when her mother chastised her when she
was younger, when she was misbehaving.
Meredith and Eddie found George standing outside of Peds talking to
himself.
"Oh, hi chief. No, not much going on. Other than your interim chief making
out with my friend in the stairwell, but hey sponge duty sucks." George
muttered.
"Talking to yourself now?" Meredith asked her roommate.
"Yes. No! damn it, I'm a bad sponge. A leaky sponge. I'm gonna leak all the
wrong secrets. I'm a bad liar, can't even lie about talking to myself. You
look nice today." George said as he looked at both girls. Meredith had put
more time into her appearance this morning and Eddie looked like she was
glowing.
"Thanks Georgie." Eddie said, deciding to not figure out what George
meant about being a sponge.
" Wore my new lip gloss. Cause my ex-boyfriend's wife looks like Isabella
freaking Rossellini, and I'm like me. I'm trying to outdo her when she's the
victim here. How crazy is that?" Meredith complained, feeling like she was
a teenager all over again, hoping her crush would notice her, and
compliment her.
"Not crazy. Smart. You know, gloss, you know, prevents chapped lips and
you ex-boyfriend?" George asked, somewhat hopeful.
"I'm an evil mistress." Meredith said.
"Unknowingly." Eddie told her, "you're not an evil mistress. An evil
mistress knows the man they're seeing is married or in a relationship. Derek
said nothing. So he's a McBastard, and you're just as much of a victim as
Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd."
Meredith sent a smile to her young, blonde friend. She was glad she had
Eddie in her corner. But, she knew that others in the hospital wouldn't see it
that way. They would just see that Meredith slept with and had a
relationship with a married attending.
"Well, still. You look nice." George offered.
"Thanks. What are you doing here?" Meredith asked him.
"Well" George said, unknowing how to bring it up to the two other girls.
"Come on, O'Malley. Out with it." Meredith encouraged.
"Okay. Can either of you think of any reason, any reason at all, really, why
Cristina would be kissing Burke?" George asked, seriously. Wondering if
Cristina confided in her two friends.
By their shocked expressions, not they did not.
Eddie had a feeling that Cristina had been seeing Burke, but to have it
confirmed was another thing.
"You didn't know." George said.
"I thought there was something. Some looks and gestures I brushed off."
Eddie admitted. "But, nothing confirmed."
"Not at all." Meredith said, hurt that Cristina hadn't said anything.
Meredith and Eddie found Cristina, exiting an elevator, and Meredith all but
dragged Cristina into a corner, with Eddie following them.
"After all this time. All your warnings about me sleeping with my boss, and
you're doing the same exact thing?" Meredith asked.
"It's not the same." Cristina defended herself.
Eddie quirked an eyebrow. Really? It didn't. Both women were sleeping
with their bosses, and Cristina often warned Meredith against it. And, not
telling them, sounded like she didn't want to sound like a hypocrite.
"It's the exactly..." Meredith started.
"No, it's not." Cristina cut in, somewhat harshly. "You and McDreamy are
in a relationship."
"And you and Burke are in?" Eddie asked.
"Switzerland. It's very neutral there. And they make very nice watches."
Cristina commented.
"Have you even bothered to tell Burke about the baby? Are you going to?"
Meredith asked.
"Look, Meredith, can we not go there?" Cristina asked. "Can everyone just
accept the fact that there are some things I like to keep to myself? I don't
discuss everything to death."
"Well, why even confide in me at all. If you're so intent on not discussing
it? Why even tell us?" Meredith asked annoyed.
Eddie sighed, not wanting to get into the spat between her two friends.
Knowing that emotions were running high for the both of them. As she
followed behind Meredith, because they were meant to meet up with
Addison and their patient.
"When I found out about the miniskirt, I called her up and took her to
lunch. It was perfectly civil. I said I didn't hold it against her, that these
things happened. But, really? I just wanted to put a face on the bitch that got
my husband to throw away 15 years of marriage." Julie ranted as the two
interns concentrated on the ultrasound.
The two interns pointedly ignored their rant. The two of them tried to keep
their faces passive when they noticed an abnormality on the ultrasound.
They needed to get their attending.
"Okay," Eddie said with a bright smile. "I think we're done here. Dr. Grey
and I will go get Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd now."
"Got a second?" Burke asked Bailey as he joined her.
"Depends on what you need." Bailey said glancing up at him before
returning to what she was working on.
"Who the hell is Dr. McDreamy?" Burke asked her.
Bailey looks to where Derek is talking to Addison.
"Me." Bailey said deadpanned. "I'm Dr. McDreamy. I'm tall, handsome. I
like to lean against things and ponder the difficulties of dating beautiful
women. I'm trying to be a surgeon here!"
Burke walked over to the bickering couple.
"That took a lot of nerve." Derek accused.
"Oh come on, she came highly recommended." Addison said, rolling her
eyes.
"Right." Derek said rolling his eyes.
"So you don't recommend her?" Addison challenged.
"No, I did not say that." Derek denied.
"Just not for her medical skills." Addison sassed.
"Oh, would you shut up?" Derek asked.
"Dr. Shepherd." Eddie asked, as she and Meredith joined the small group of
attendings.
"Yes?" Derek and Addison answered together.
"Labs confirm what look like abnormalities on the ultrasound. I think you
should come and see for yourself." Eddie informed the red-headed
attending.
"Fine. Let's go." Addison agreed.
"Meredith. Meredith." Derek said, trying to talk to her.
"Don't." Meredith ordered as she followed Derek's wife and her best friend.
George entered the chief's hospital room again.
"Well, no report. You know, same nothing as earlier. I should go. Oh,
actually there is something, sir." George informed him.
"Burke and Shepherd marking territory on the playground?" Webber asked,
almost amused. Knowing how competitive the two of them were.
"No, sir. It's about Joe. The bartender. The standstill patient." George said, if
he was going to be a sponge, he was going to help his friend and the kind
bartender.
Meredith and Eddie were showing the red-headed attending what they
found on the ultrasound.
"See. Bilateral pleural effusion with evidence of subQ edema." Meredith
said as she motioned to the monitor.
"In English, please?" Julie asked, worried there was something worse
wrong with her babies. The only things who brought her joy since her
husband left her for the mini-skirt wearing tramp.
"We've detected what looks like beginning heart failure in the twins. Don't
be alarmed." Addison soothed.
"Are my babies gonna be ok?" Julie asked worriedly.
"I'm gonna go ahead and take you into surgery now. We're not gonna wait."
Addison informed her patient. She then turned to Meredith. "Book the OR.
Move."
As Joe is being wheeled into surgery he is giving Alex instructions.
"Tell Pete to wash out the taps every night. Not every other night. And
remind him that the delivery truck comes at 6 am. Kegs go in the back. Oh,
another thing. There's petty cash on the top shelf in the storage closet." Joe
informed him.
"We're operating on our patients. That's it." Webber told George.
"I know, but..." George started.
"I sympathize. I do. But solving Joe's finances is not my job, it's not your
job, and it's sure as hell not the job I assigned you today." Webber informed
George.
" It just seems wrong to cut him open, sew him up, and just leave him, you
know, left with nothing." George said, knowing that Joe was most likely
going to loose his lively hood.
"If we can save his life, we'll hardly be leaving him with nothing." Richard
told George.
The observation deck above Joe's OR room. Stopstills were a very rare
procedure and everyone who could wanted to see it. They were watching
Shepherd work.
"That's as far as I can go for now. Let's start cooling him." Derek said as all
the doctors started packing Joe with ice packs.
"Can't see much from back here, O'Malley." Bailey informed George, as she
entered the gallery.
"I know. I'm trying to find a loophole to help Joe. You know Joe." George
informed his resident.
"Oh, yeah. I was the only female intern my year. I didn't know anybody and
nobody knew me except Joe. He knew me." Bailey said as she motioned to
Joe, who was on the table.
"Oh. So, you and Joe?" George asked awkwardly, his mind in the gutter.
"All you people ever thing about is how to get into somebody's pants.
You're nasty. That's why you got syphilis." Bailey said with disgust. She
slaps George's head. Then told her intern, "Joe was the first person here to
tell me I'd make a good surgeon. Not that he knew anything about it. But it
was something when I had nothing."
Alex slips into the seat next to Izzie in the gallery, and noticed she had
brought snacks to watch Joe's surgery.
"Oh, sure. I'm the guy with the heart of stone and you brought snacks." Alex
said.
"It's a working lunch." Izzie defended herself.
"Snacks to watch Joe die." Alex said.
"He's not gonna "die" die. They'll bring him back." Izzie informed the other
doctor.
"He is going to "die" die. No "pulse" pulse. He's gonna be "dead" dead."
Alex reminded the doctor how the body worked.
" It's a granola bar, Alex. Not a bag of super-size popcorn and a box of
chocolate movie mints." Izzie said, waving the granola bar around.
"That's it." George said loudly, and everyone looks at him, confused.
"Dead! Excuse me!" George said as he tore out of the room.
Inside the OR where Julie's surgery was taking place, Addison was getting
ready to begin.
"Julie, we're just gonna go in laparoscopically. You're not gonna feel
anything and neither are the twins. Ok, let's get going. Ten blade. Begin
with a three-millimeter incision." Addison promised, as she began.
"We stop the blood flow?" Burke quizzed Cristina.
"To protect the brain. Operate in a bloodless field so the aneurysm won't
rupture." Cristina answered promptly.
"And cool the body?"
"To induce hypothermia. Uh, keeps the tissue viable until the blood is
restored." Cristina answered.
"Body temp is at 60 degrees." Dr. Burkhardt informed the attendings.
"Ok, Joe, time to die." Burke said as he clamps the blood line and another
doctor, one of the cardiothrostic fellows, turned off the bypass.
"Flatline." The cardiothorasic fellow said.
"All right. We've got 45 minutes, people." Derek said, as the room started
working. Not wanting to waste a single second.
"Start the clock." Burke ordered to a doctor.
"Got it."
The clock is at 17 minutes 52 seconds.
"So what's your "Joe" story? Seems like everybody around here has one."
Derek asked Burke as he worked.
"You first."
"Ok. I went to Joe's place the night before I started working here. I'd only
been in town, you know, a few days. I met this woman. I got drunk and she
took advantage of me. Or she got drunk and I took advantage of her. I got
drunk and she took no. We were drunk. Definitely. Somebody took
advantage. Either way, I like to look at it as my initiation into Seattle. What
about you?" Derek said.
"Oh, I don't have one. I just wanted to hear yours." Burke admitted with a
smirk under the mask.
George was in an office, on the phone. Hoping this would get Joe the
money he needed to pay for the surgery without loosing the bar.
"So, technically, the paperwork just needs to be submitted by midnight of
the day of the surgery to be considered? Oh, good. Well, thank you very
much. Thanks." George said before hanging up.
"How you doing there, Grey? Sousa?" Addison asked the two women.
"Good. I'm good." Meredith said.
"Excellent. This is....amazing." Eddie said, which made the red haired
attending's face lit up at the interns excitement. Addison had a feeling, that
Eddie would be a great neonatal surgeon.
"You know, I'm very sweet once you get to know me." Alex informed Izzie
as they watched Joe's surgery.
"No, you're not." Izzie said.
"We could be good friends." Alex offered.
"Alex. Never, ever, ever." Izzie said, with a shake of her head.
"Why not?" Alex asked curiously.
"Give me one reason why we could? What about you is even remotely
human?" Izzie asked him seriously.
"It's going too slowly." Alex said as he noticed how slow Joe's surgery
seemed to be going to slow.
"I hope Joe can pull through this." Izzie said sincerely.
"He can. He will. He has to." Alex said more to himself than anyone else.
Inside the OR Derek is working hard to save Joe's life.
"Damn it. I can't get the clamp to hold. Give me the bipolars. I'm gonna go
in at a different angle." Derek said.
"Time remaining?" Burke asked.
"Irrigation, please." Derek said.
The clock reads 27 minutes, 59 seconds.
Cristina: 17 minutes.
"Shepherd, I'm gonna need eight minutes to get him back, to warm him up."
Burke told the other doctor.
"Time to make the next 17 minutes count. Right there, go in from there. See
it? See, that's why we can't do it right there." Derek said as he started to
work.
Inside Webber's hospital room, George was explaining what he did.
"He's dead. Technically. Which is science, and this is a huge thing. So I
thought some research foundation has to have an interest in that." George
explained.
"So, in essence, you want to donate Joe's body to science?" Webber asked.
"At least for the next 17 minutes." George said.
"Privately funded grant." Richard said.
"For educational purposes. We're a teaching hospital. The standstill surgery
qualifies." George stated.
"I didn't peg you for the type to ignore my instructions, O'Malley." Webber
commented as he looked at George.
" All due respect, sir. It's worth a shot. It's someone's life." George said,
sounding more confident than he actually felt.
"It's always someone's life, O'Malley." Webber said. After a short pause, he
said, "You're hovering. You can leave now."
"Ok." George said as he left.
In Joe's surgery, the clock reads 37 minutes.
"Eight minutes." The nurse said.
"We need to start rewarming, Shepherd." Burke said.
"Take the bipolars, please. Thank you." Derek said as he worked on Joe.
"Shepherd, we need to start warming him up, now!" Burke ordered.
"Hang on." Derek said.
"Now. I need it now, Shepherd." Burke said panic slipping into his tone.
"I can't seem to get, I just can't get behind the aneurysm. If I could get
behind the aneurysm, I could, there it is." Derek said with relief as he got it.
"Got it. That's it."
Relief flood through the room.
"Are you sure?" Burke asked him.
"I'm always sure. Good work, everybody. It's all yours there, chief." Derek
said.
"Ok people, let's grab Joe before he decides to go into the light. Start
warming him up. Clamps are coming off. Turn the pump on. Watch cerebral
perfusion pressures. Keep M.A.P. at greater than 60, please." Burke order as
the others in the OR quickly jumped to do the bidding of the surgeon.
Burke had been called into Webber's hospital room after the successful
surgery.
"I know you're enjoying yourself, Preston. It's a power kick to be the chief.
You're never more surrounded. Never more alone. You're everyone's father,
everyone's boss, and no one's friend. Choices you make. Clean slices and
neat stitches. No emotions, no compromise, no personal life." Webber
informed the man.
"But Richard..." Burke said.
"I just had brain surgery. I'm surrounded by fruit baskets. The only people
who've been in this room come and kiss my ass. I gave you a shot for a
reason, Preston. You and I, we're the same. We put the job first." Webber
explained to the interim chief.
Cristina enter the typical on-call room that Burke liked to use when he was
on shift. He was there when she slipped in.
"That was the single most amazing surgery I have ever witnessed. You, you
killed a man and brought him back to life. You, like, raised the dead. God,
how does that feel? Are you rushing? Is it?" Cristina asked him, feeling a
rush, and she had just assisted and watched.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Burke said, Webber's voice echoing in his
head.
"Hey, um, do you still have those reservations? Cause I'm starving."
Cristina asked, feeling like she was ready to at least try some semblance of
a relationship that wasn't just sex with the amazing surgeon.
"Cristina, I think there's something we should discuss." Burke said.
"Yeah. Yeah, there is." Cristina said, thinking about what Meredith said, and
knew she was right. Even though she made her choice, she should at least
tell Burke.
"It's pretty clear." Burke said, knowing what he had to do.
"It is?" Cristina asked confused.
"We've been fooling ourselves, to think that we can continue like this
without consequences." Burke said.
"Consequences?" Cristina asked confused.
Did he somehow find out about the pregnancy? What other consequences
were there?
"We have careers to think about. Reputations. We both put the job first. You
are very focused. I respect that." Burke told the intern honestly. She would
make a great surgeon one day. She had the laser focus needed to stay
competitive.
"Thank you." Cristina said.
"You're welcome." Burke said.
Then the sudden realization dawned on Cristina. He didn't know about her
pregnancy. He was talking about their relationship. He was saving their
career.
"Oh, you're ending this?" Cristina said.
"I think it's best to make a clean break." Burke said, though he saw the hurt
flash over the usually impassive face of the curly haired woman.
"Ok." Cristina said emotionlessly.
"Before it gets too involved. Before it gets-" Burke started.
"Messy. Right, right. That would be, that would be bad." Cristina said, as
she willed tears from welling in her eyes. Stupid pregnancy hormones
running through her body.
"It's nothing personal." Burke said.
Yeah. It was nothing personal. Except, it was.
"Get in here, O'Malley." Webber said, when he noticed the intern hanging
out by his doorway.
"Ok. I tried. I really tried. But there's a lot of stuff happening out there.
Stuff I can't tell you. Stuff I won't tell you. Crazy stuff. Stuff I'm gonna have
nightmares about. But I'm not gonna tell you about any of it. Because it
doesn't matter. Not when there's a guy out there who we all know and love
who's gonna be bankrupt because he needed a surgery to save his life. And I
spent the whole day working on it." George ranted to his boss.
"O'Malley-"
"Let me finish." George interrupted. "You're wrong, sir. Now you can fire
me, or, you know, bring me up on disciplinary action or whatever. I'm
telling you, Joe deserves-"
"Deserves our help. Couldn't help yourself, could you? Whether or not it'd
win you any points, even from me. I signed your request. Give it to Patricia,
she'll know what to do with it. Looks like Joe may keep his bar after all."
Webber told the intern, stopping his rant.
"Thank you, sir." George said accepting the paper work and started to leave
the room.
"O'Malley!"
"Yes?" George said turning to face the chief.
"Yell at me again, and I'll snap you like a twig." Webber said seriously.
"Yes, sir." George said.
Eddie and Meredith had joined Addison to Julie's room a few hours after
her surgery.
"See? Just a small scar." Addison said.
"And my babies?" Julie asked.
"Your babies are doing very well." Eddie informed the woman with a smile.
"Dr. Sousa and Dr. Grey will be back to check on you a little bit later."
Addison informed Julie.
"Actually, I'd prefer it if Dr. Grey were taken off the case." Julie said.
"Why, is there a problem?" Addison asked.
"Just reminds me of someone I don't like very much." Julie said bitchy.
"Someone my husband likes a lot. Particularly in lingerie. You understand."
Eddie gently laid her hand on Meredith's arm in comfort. While resisting
the urge to glare at the patient she thought she at least set some-what
straight.
"No, no, I don't understand." Addison said as she crossed her arms.
"Well, she's sleeping with your husband, right?"
"Ms. Philips, I lack Dr. Grey's class and patience so, let me set the record
straight." Addison said standing firmly and seriously. "My husband didn't
cheat on me, I cheated on him. So the wronged woman here, Dr. Grey. So, I
think you owe here one hell of an apology."
Eddie and Meredith shared a shocked look. Addison had cheated on Derek?
But, the question was...did that clear Derek of cheating on his wife, even if
not legally separated, without Meredith?
After her long shift, Eddie found herself walking into a little hole-in the
wall Mexican restaurant she had started to frequent after she moved to the
city. It had some of the best authentic Mexican she had tasted, outside of
some small mom and pop's places in New York. She had chosen this place,
because she felt comfortable here. A neutral place to meet, incase things got
ugly.
Last night Conrad had called Eddie and wanted to set up a meeting between
him, her, and their dad. He was there to be a referee incase needed. And,
Eddie had grappled with the idea of whether or not to actually show up.
But, when she exited the hospital that night, she realized that she needed
answers for herself. Eddie knew her mom could have lied to her, or told her
a twisted version of the truth to keep her from looking for him, to keep her
dependent on her or something as twisted as that. Her mother may not love
her, not the way a mother did a daughter. But, if Eddie's biological father
suddenly popped up, and was the opposite of what she spread about him to
her friends, her heroic story of being a single mother doing anything she
could to raise her genius daughter, would be questioned and tarnished.
And if there was one thing Constance Anna Maria Elliot (nee Sousa), cared
the most about in the world was her reputation and standing in society.
Which is why she'd do anything to protect it. And, there was the added
bonus of hurting the daughter she clearly didn't want. Win-win, Eddie
guessed.
And, she figured she had to at least try for some form of relationship with
her paternal family. Especially since Conrad, her older brother, was her
boss' boss. She would be working at the same place as him, and possibly
working on the same cases. It was better to try and form sort of relationship,
so it wouldn't be awkward.
She saw Conrad and Henry sitting in one of the bigger booths in the back
and made her way over to them with a hesitant smile on her face.
"Hi."
"Eddie, hi." Henry said as he stood up, to greet her.
The two shared a brief, and slightly awkward hug. But, Eddie smiled
slightly, because it felt right, though, it was awkward.
"Hey Eddie." Conrad said nodding in greeting, he was closer to the wall,
and couldn't get out. "How was your shift?"
Conrad had the day off, and had spent it at home, and with his father after
he had finished some paperwork at Mercy West.
"It was really interesting." Eddie said as she shrugged off her coat and
placed it besides her along with her purse and slipped into the booth. "I got
to scrub in on a neonatal surgery, with the guest attending, Addison
Montgomery-Shepherd. And, Dr. Shepherd preferred a standstill surgery on
Joe, the owner of the Emerald City bar."
"Derek did a stand still?" Conrad asked interested as Eddie nodded.
"A hard procedure." Henry said with a nod, having preformed some as well,
all successfully. It was a dangerous surgery to preform. "Though, I have
seen Derek in action when he was in his fellowship. Talented surgeon."
"He is." Eddie agreed. "I am upset I missed it, but, it was happening the
same time as the surgery I got to scrub in on."
"What was it?" Conrad asked.
"A TTTS."
"Another great surgery, Addison is one of the best in her field. Besides
Alec, she is one of a small handful that could preform it." Henry agreed. "I
am sensing you might be interested in the field yourself?"
"Yeah. So far I have really enjoyed my Peds and neonatal cases I have been
part of." Eddie said with a grin.
Henry smiled, Eddie noted that she, Conrad, and Henry all had the same,
bright and shiny smile.
It fell into a slightly awkward silence after that. The teenage daughter of the
owner of the restaurant came over, with a smile, and took their orders
before leaving.
"So, Edit...Eddie." Henry started. "I just...I don't know what you're mother
told you about our relationship..."
"Nothing too flattering." Eddie said, as she played with the napkin she had
picked up. "She said you had an affair on your wife, and broke up with my
mom because you were worried about your reputation, and when she told
you she was pregnant, to get rid of me, and not bother asking for support."
Henry sighed, but looked as if that was what he was excepting, though he
had hoped Constance had told their daughter the truth.
"That, was far from the truth." Henry said. "Eddie, my wife had been dead
for years when your mother and I started to date. We had been dating for
about a year, when I was offered a job at Mass. Gen. I wanted to continue
seeing your mother, but, she didn't want a long term relationship. So, we
went our separate ways."
Eddie stayed silent at that revelation.
"I didn't find out about you until you were already a teenager. I was at the
Yale campus, visiting my alma mater, when I saw you. You, you looked and
still do look, very much like my mother, I thought I was seeing a ghost. So,
I asked about you. And, with your name, Edit Sousa, I looked into you.
And, I did some digging and found out that there was a good chance I was
your father. I went and talked to your mother, and she confirmed it..."
"Oh," Eddie said, "if you knew about me, why didn't you reach out?" Eddie
asked.
"Because, your mother forbade it." Henry said, "and, honestly, I didn't know
what to say if I did. I figured, by the way your mother talked, you probably
hated me."
"I don't." Eddie said, surprising even herself. "I don't hate you. I don't know
you well enough to hate you."
Henry and Conrad smiled.
"Eddie, I know I am in no position to ask you anything...but I am hoping we
could try and get to know each other." Henry hedged.
Eddie sighed for a moment, and was saved from answering when their
server came back with their food and drinks and dropped them off.
"I'd like that." Eddie said, "though I don't know if I can just jump in with a
father-daughter relationship."
"And, that is fine." Henry agreed, wanting to be in his daughter's life in any
role she felt comfortable in him filling. Even though, he wanted to be a
father to her, he understood she might not be ready for that, or maybe her
stepfather filled that role.
"Okay." Eddie said.
The conversation turned to their lives, though nothing to deep. Eddie told
her father about her pregnancy, and he seemed excited to be a grandfather
again, she found out her brother, Daniel, had five kids, and even though he
didn't seem thrilled about how his only daughter got pregnant, he still was
excited. She also learned a lot about her family.
It was a successful first meeting, and honestly, Eddie felt the dread she had
felt all day melt away as the three talked and ate.
Meredith didn't know why she agreed to hear Derek out. But, she did.
Which is why she found herself out at his trailer to talk.
She needed to hear for herself why Derek chose to do what he did.
"One night I parked my car, I unlock my front door, go inside my house,
and something 's different. Nothing's different, everything's the same, but
yet, still, something's different." Derek said, as if he was remembering the
moment playing in front of his eyes. "And I stand there for a while. And
then I know. See, there are moments for me, you know, usually when I'm in
the OR, when I just know what's gonna happen next. So I go upstairs. As
I'm walking down the hall, I trying to prepare myself for what I'm gonna
see when I go into my bedroom. I step on a man's jacket that doesn't belong
to me. And everything I think I know just shifts. Because the jacket that
doesn't belong to me is a jacket that I recognize."
Meredith remained impassive at Derek's recollection of events that caused
him to leave New York. So far, she found out that Addison cheated. But,
why did he use her? Make her feel like a dirty secret.
"And what I know now is that when I go into my bedroom, I'm not just
gonna see that my wife is cheating on me. I'm gonna see that my wife is
cheating on me with Nicholas, who happened to be one of my best friend.
It's just so pedestrian, common and dirty, and cruel. Mostly just cruel. I left,
came out here."
"And you met me." Meredith said, speaking for the first time since she
greeted him.
"And I met you." Derek agreed.
"Well, what was I to you? The girl you screwed to get over being screwed?"
Meredith asked Derek curiously.
"You were like coming up for fresh air. It's like I was drowning and you
saved me. That's all I know." Derek told her seriously. Meredith had saved
him.
"It's not enough." Meredith said blankly.
Derek should have told her.
Meredith quickly made her way to the car. Driving off. Leaving Derek
alone at his trailer with his thoughts.
They say practice makes perfect. Theory is, the more you think like a
surgeon, the more you become one.
Burke is in the on-call room alone, thinking about the fact that he had to
break up with Cristina, a women he had grown to have feelings for, because
of the words that Richard Webber spoke to them. His life was his career,
and he shouldn't complicate it. If anyone found out he was sleeping with
and intern, it could be bad for him, and for her. More so for her. Because,
her career would practically be over before it started. While she wouldn't be
fired, but people would look at her more critically, and assume she scrubbed
in on surgery, or any advancement in her career heavily scrutinized. And
that would be a shame, because she deserved it.
Derek was lost in his thoughts of Meredith and Addison. He paced the
porch of his trailer, drinking his beer and looking upset. After a moment,
Derek goes inside the trailer and paces some more. He goes back to the
porch, slamming the door angry at himself, Addison, and the situation.
And, the one thing he could think about was the fact he could have just lost
the best thing in his life.
He sighed as his phone rang, with hope he looked to see if it was Meredith.
But, instead it was Mark.
His life-long best friend, his brother in all but blood.
Derek sighed and accepted the call.
"Hey Mark."
The better you get at remaining neutral, clinical. Cut, suture, close.
At the hospital, Izzie watches Alex take a chair and sit with Joe. Maybe
Alex was right. Maybe she didn't know Dr. Evil Spawn as well as she
thought she did.
And the harder it becomes to turn it off, to stop thinking like a surgeon.
"Thought I might see your ugly mug in here tonight. Did you hear the good
news?" Joe asked Alex happily.
Alex notices George walk by, and smiled wildly, before calling out:
"O'Malley!"
George stops confused at why Alex would be calling him, especially after
the fight they had when he found out Alex gave him syph. He turns to look
at Izzie, who shrugs her shoulders, unsure why Alex had called for him.
George takes a deep breath and heads back towards Alex.
"I heard what you did, champ." Alex said as he hugged George tightly,
shocking both George and Izzie.
And remember what it means to think like a human being.
When Eddie had finished her dinner with Henry and Conrad, Meredith
called her and asked her to come hang out with her at the Emerald City Bar.
She had talked to Derek, and felt like she wanted to drink away her
problems with tequila, and hoped Eddie could just sit with her and talk her
down from something stupid, like calling Derek and forgiving him.
So that is how she found herself at the bar with Meredith, as she sipped on a
soda, while Meredith downed a few shots.
About thirty minutes Cristina enters Joe's Bar and sits down in between to
Meredith and Eddie.
Both blondes looked at Cristina and gave her a smile. Clearly, Meredith and
Cristina had silently declared their disagreement from earlier done, and they
were all good again.
"The clinic has a policy. They wouldn't let me confirm my appointment
unless I designated an emergency contact person. Someone to be there, just
in case, and to help me home, you know, after. Anyway, I put both of your
names down. That's why I told you I'm pregnant. You two are my
"persons."" Cristina informed them, honestly.
"We are?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah, you are. Whatever." Cristina said trying to play it cool.
"Whatever." Meredith said, knowing what Cristina meant.
"He dumped me." Cristina said, shocked about how sad she truly felt. She
knew that she was starting to feel something...but...when he broke up with
her it hurt more than expected.
Meredith and Eddie both laid their heads on either side of Cristina's
shoulder and put their arms around her.
"You realize this constitutes hugging?" Cristina asked her two persons.
"Shut up. I'm your "person."" Eddie and Meredith said together with a
smile, as the three girls sat in silence for a while.