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For Meredith, another day at Seattle Grace seemed a bit off. This morning she had two coffees in her hands and greeted Derek who was walking straight to the elevator. He ignored her, staring down at the papers he was clutching in his hands.
Meredith furrowed her brow. "That's odd," she mumbled to herself. She eyed Cristina, who had just come through the front doors. "Hey, Cristina! Coffee?"
Her new-found person silently gave her a look that could kill. Granted, it was still morning, but inwardly Meredith knew that she was grateful for the caffeinated beverage. She slowly took the cup from her hand after adjusting her bag. "Thanks," Cristina grumbled out after taking a sip.
"I don't have a good feeling about today."
Her friend groaned, "Last week was bad enough, don't you think? I mean with Alex and then Hunt's anger issues…"
"He's still having those," Meredith asked, wide-eyed.
"Er, yeah. Don't go spreading that around, though."
Doctor Webber examined the young surgeons as he walked by. "Ladies, get to work. Your rounds aren't going to do themselves this morning," He said with a smile.
"Yes, Doctor Webber," Cristina and Meredith said simultaneously before bustling off.
The older doctor paused, "When did Mer start calling me 'doctor Webber'?" Richard shrugged it off and went back to looking at a patient's chart.
"Good morning, Dr.Webber," A familiar voice sounded from behind him. He turns with a grin to greet his co-worker. "Doctor Torres, A pleasure as always. How are you and Owen?"
Callie's smile faltered for a millisecond, the name of her husband caused her to recall the fight that they had this morning. "Uh, good, good. I, uh, well he's dropping off the kids at daycare right now, so..."
"Great." Richard gave one of his fake-knowing smiles. Everyone was acting so strange today. "Well," he said, semi-awkwardly holding up his chart. "Duty calls."
Callie returned an awkward smile and bid goodbye to him. All she could think about was how much she wanted a drink right now. That reminded her of something...but she couldn't exactly remember what it was. The dark-haired woman sighed before walking off to start her day.
Shepherd ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath to try and calm his raging anxiety. Not wanting to glance down at the papers he was carrying, he turned his attention to the silver door handle.
Addison and her full belly— or as Derek like to refer to it now as "the chamber of satan's spawn" —sat on the tan hospital couch. She placed her familiar coffee cup down on the table and the looked up at him above the rim of her glasses. Her lips pursed and the look on her face made Derek want to run away and keep at it forever.
"Here's the, uh, divorce papers. All you need to do is sign. It's clear that you are allowed to take anything you deem necessary for you or the health of your baby—" He hesitated on the word 'baby'— "just drop them in my mailbox whenever you get them signed. Goodbye, Addison." Derek summoned enough courage to lock eyes with his soon-to-be ex-wife and looked at her with the utmost repulsive glare imaginable. He turned to leave and heard Dr.Montgomery scoff while leaning forward, pen clicking.
The door slammed behind Derek causing April Kepner to jump and scatter papers. "Sh-shit," she stuttered. "Freaking McDreary."
"Hey, hey," said Jackson Avery as he attempted to calm down his colleague.
"Sorry," she apologized, picking up the papers. "It's just that I've been on the edge lately. Meredith won't look at me anymore and Alex won't talk to me…" Tears started to form in her eyes.
"Well, do you think Meredith is in the wrong," he reasoned.
Kepner shook her head, pouting. "I suppose not...it just bites losing a friend."
Avery sighed, looking off in the direction Doctor Shepherd stomped off in. "I think we all just need a little space for now."
"You have no idea how true that is!" Meredith laughed, all smiles while popping grapes into her mouth. It was now lunch for most employees of the hospital and she was sitting next to Cristina, who had a small smile on her face for once.
"Yeah pretty crazy, right?" Yang slowly chewed her mystery meat.
More doctors filed into the cafeteria. Meredith spotted Derek almost immediately. He still looked like he was in a rancid mood. His eyes were toward the floor and in the lunch line he was so distracted, he picked the oddest assortment of food. He finally settled at a table alone.
"Sheesh, what's eating McDreary," Cristina commented.
"I dunno," her friend replied in a quiet, more serious tone. "Anyway, I was thinking about working late tonight."
"Again? You're crazy, Webber."
"Anything to keep me away from my mother."
"You could move into my apartment," Yang suggested.
"Thanks, Cristina, I'll think about it."
"I don't get it. How do you become best friends with—" Kepner ranted, but stopped herself, not wanting to admit her fault outloud.
"With the person that ratted on the fiance screwing the best friend? Gee, I dunno...maybe because there's more of a sense of loyalty there," Percy retorted harshly.
"Shut up, Charlie," Kepner spat.
"Woah, guys. C'mon," Avery intervened.
"Says the man with a crush on a druggie."
"Hey!" Avery's eyebrows creased in seriousness. Charles had overstepped himself.
"You did spend a lot of time by her bedside as she recovered, dude." Karev admitted.
"Guys, she had no one and she was kind of my patient," Avery made valid excuses. A round of non-believing "mhm's" were shared around the table. "I'll have you know that she's in a rehab facility and making a huge improvement."
"Oh? And now you're keeping tabs on her?"
"She needs someone to be with her while she goes through this process!"
"Isn't she just dreamy," Charlie said in a high pitched voice, batting his eyelashes.
"She's just completely inspirational," Karev joined in. The two men laughed only to make themselves feel better about their own misfortunes. Avery noted this and let them have their moment.
Callie could not stop thinking about the thing that she had forgotten. It had been bugging her all morning, so she figured she'd take an early lunch to see if that would get her mind off of it. She selected her meal and searched for her usual spot. She found the familiar table, but there was an absent presence. Admittedly, she missed Doctor Bailey. She silently vowed that if she ever obtained Chief, she'd hire Bailey back—if she were still a surgeon. Callie tore her eyes from the table and looked for a new spot. Her gaze swept across the room until it suddenly dawned on her when she was confronted with a familiar face. She promised to celebrate the success of the lung kid's surgery with Doctor Robbins, and man did she need that drink now.
Glad that she finally cleared what had been bugging her all day, she sat down at the nearest empty table. She wanted to catch Arizona after lunch, it just seemed less awkward than confronting her right now. It was silly, but she rehearsed how she was going to ask the peds surgeon to drinks in her head. Sighing, Callie bit into her sandwich.
A tray being set on the table next to her tore her from her thoughts. Callie looked up at the owner of the tray. It was Addison.
"Dr.Montgomery," she greeted, surprised.
"Hey, Callie. You looked lonely and I can't sit much anywhere else, so...I hope that's okay."
"Oh, yeah." She glanced over to where Derek was eating. Callie remembered that Addison told Derek the truth about their kid last week. "Is it final?"
Addison sighed, "Almost. This is the right decision, though." Her tone was hopeful.
Callie nodded understandingly as her thoughts wandered to her own husband. "And Mark? What is his take on all of this?"
"Surprisingly, he wants the baby. He's really excited about being a father."
"Wow," Callie raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Mark Sloan, an eager father."
"Yeah he told me that he prepared the baby's room back at his place in New York, showed me pictures, even. I don't know, everything seemed a bit surreal lately."
Doctor Torres was drifting her focus from their conversation and back to Arizona Robbins, who was finished with her lunch, yet still chatting with the other doctors from peds.
"Who's that?" Addison broke Callie's Focus instantly, noting how she was no longer interested about the baby or Mark. Addison knew who Arizona was, ob-gyns and peds tend to get close because of their line of work with the "tiny humans" as Robbins liked to put it. She was just humoring Torres.
"Who? What?"
"Callie, you have been staring at Doctor Robbins like a piece of meat."
"Uh...we had a case together that was very successful in saving a kid's ability to breath and I remembered that I said we would grab drinks and celebrate. Maybe tonight…"
"Mhm," Montgomery hummed condescendingly. "Are you sure you just want a drink with Doctor Robbins?"
Callie grew flustered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Arizona get up from her seat. "I have no idea what you are trying to insinuate, but I assure you it is not that ." She stood up.
"Oh?" The doctor grinned. "Okay, then I hope you have a nice evening and congratulations on the successful surgery."
Torres huffed as she walked toward the trashcan, dumping her tray's content into the bin. "Who does she think she is?" She grumbled to herself. Callie doesn't have ulterior motives. "Do I though?" thought Torres. She shook her head, this stress thing with Owen was driving her nuts. She was just going to have a drink and make a friend...right?
She caught up to her target. "Doctor Robbins!" She greeted.
The pretty blonde turned with a smile, "Oh! Hey Calliope."
Callie's pulse jumped. No one called her by her whole name. She looked down and scratched her head nervously before speaking. "I, uh, thought we could grab drinks tonight." She looked up at the doctor. "You know, to celebrate our kid's fake lung transplant?"
"Sure! I'll meet you at Joe's 'round seven thirty. Will that work?"
Torres's face beamed, "Yes, perfect. See you then."
Arizona chuckled, "Bye Calliope."
Meredith tapped her pen on a patient's chart. Cristina and Charlie were with her, but Charlie was silently working on a computer in the background.
"I was thinking about changing my specialty," she finally said. The rush of the day was now over and there were hardly any patients on the floor.
"And give up on cardiothoracics?" Cristina sounded appalled.
"Eh, you can have cardio. I was thinking about neuro."
Cristina flipped a page to a medical magazine. "McDreary doesn't teach," she said monotonously.
"Maybe I can convince him though. I only chose cardio to impress my mother, but I know that Shepherd is in deep shit with her already. He needs a student."
"Well, good luck." Cristina said, then after a pause, "Thanks, Mer."
"For what, Cristina?"
"For letting me have cardio."
Meredith smiled, leaping up from her chair and walked away.
"Where are you going?" Cristina called after her.
"To find Shepherd, of course!"
When the young surgeon finally found Shepherd, he was just about to help set up an O.R. She stopped him in the hallway as he was going over a patient's chart for a second time in a row.
"Doctor Shepherd, do you have a moment?"
The neurosurgeon sighed, "Doctor Webber, I am really not in the mood today."
"I have a proposition for you, McDreary, that might even save your career." Meredith's tone dropped, but her smirk was constant.
"Oh? And why is my career in need of saving?"
"Derek Shepherd, I am the daughter of the chief. I. know. everything. In the words of Ellis Webber, 'You don't publish and you don't teach.'" Meredith had his attention now.
He looked up at her, squeezing his lips together and squinting his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but Meredith was right. "What's your proposition , Doctor Webber?"
"Teach me neuro," Meredith said simply. "I want to change to Neuro."
"You want to give up cardiothoracics?" Derek replied, shocked. Everyone knew that Meredith and Cristina pushed themselves and challenged each other for cardio.
She rolled her eyes at the older man. "My mother wanted me in cardio. I don't."
"Okay." He said slowly. "Okay, you can scrub in. I'll teach you."
Meredith's face illuminated, Doctor Shepherd began to walk away.
"Oh, and Meredith?"
"Yes, Doctor Shepherd?"
His voice softened. "I'm going to need a drink tonight."
The intern's grin widened, "Of course, Doctor Shepherd."
Doctor Webber was walking down a regularly populated hallway on the ground floor when a nurse grabbed his attention with a tug on his arm.
"Webber, sir, there's been an accident, three people in critical condition. They're on their way to the hospital now."
The doctor simply nodded. "Page Hunt," he replied before breaking into a jog, speeding his way to the emergency bay. Some of the interns in the area over heard and scattered after him. Among them were Charlie, Karev, and Cristina. Shortly after, Hunt, Torres, and Webber joined them.
"Where's Meredith," Torres asked Christina, slightly winded from her run down to the bay.
"Uh, in the O.R. with Shepherd."
"Shepherd? Why in the world is she there?"
"She's thinking about switching specialties," Charlie answered. Christina shot him a small glare.
"She's WHAT?!" Torres screeched, turning to Richard Webber. "Did you know anything about this?"
"Why, no," he thought. "I didn't, good for her though. Especially if she convinced Derek Shepherd to teach her."
"Your wife is going to kill me. She's gonna think I had something to do with this."
Doctor Webber only chuckled in amusement.
"Look sharp, everyone," Hunt said as an ambulance pulled up. As soon as the doors of the vehicle flew open, Hunt grabbed the chart from the EMT. "What have we got?"
"Two males, both in their twenties in this ambulance. One has internal bleeding in his abdomen and the other is unconscious. Shards of glass in both of them."
"Jeez, what happened to 'em," Karev asked, helping the patients out.
"Car accident. The chick in the other vehicle is worse."
All of the interns looked at each other, wanting a chance to work on the worse-off patient.
"Okay, Percy, Karev, you're with me. Yang and Torres can help out the girl."
Everyone was running now. Torres and Yang made their way over to the next vehicle.
"Jesus Christ," exclaimed Torres as her eyes met her patient.
"Wha—Oh my," Yang said, speechless as she arrived next to the surgeon.
The patient had two large shards of glass in her chest, one about seven inches and another around eleven.
"We're going to need an OR right away," Torres said flatly.
Meanwhile,
The surgery lasted for a long period of time and was extremely stressful. Yang was exhausted by the time Torres gave her the go-ahead to scrub out. Cristina would have refused like any other time, but she needed the sleep. She checked on the other patients before leaving for the night. Hunt passed her in the hallway, busy looking at paperwork.
"Oh, uh, Doctor Hunt, how are the other two trauma patients?"
Hunt stopped and turned to Christina as he heard his name. "They're fine. They should be out in a few days. Have any trouble in the OR?" He countered.
Cristina waved her hand like it was nothing, "We removed the shards one by one and fixed all the bleeders. Yada, yada."
"Good work then, Yang," then he turned to leave.
"Listen, Doctor Hunt. How have you been? I mean...you know."
"I'm fine Cristina," He sighed.
"Okay," she took a step back. "Have a good night, then."
"Thank you, and you too."
They both continued down opposite sides of the hallway. The night shift was eerily quiet. Hunt concentrated on the quiet murmurs of the night nurses as he filled out the paperwork from earlier that day.
"Hey babe," Callie greeted, seemingly coming from nowhere. Owen jumped in response, he was disconnected from the world as he was signing the forms. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. How did your traumas go?"
"Good, both men are stable."
"That's great. We had a scene with my girl, but she's fine now."
Owen just nodded in response.
"Hey, is it alright if I grabbed a drink with Doctor Robbins tonight? We wanted to celebrate the lung kid from a few weeks ago, but only got around to arranging it tonight."
"Oh, sure, sure."
"Will you be fine with the kids for a few hours?"
"Yes, Callie. I love our kids," he said somewhat irritated, but then changed his tone. "Go. Have some fun."
Callie grinned, teeth sparkling as much as her eyes. "Thank you."