𝙎𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙆𝙎; 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙣

|| 35 ||

Natalie smiled softly, she had missed that kind of appreciation for her name. Because chief Webber hadn't been so appreciative towards her for a long time. Even if he had recognised his mistakes and made her chief of cardio. "Thank you sir. I will be in touch."

"Think about what?" Amber asked once her mother had hung up the phone.

"Hm?" Natalie turned around and saw Amber opening the fridge to get some juice. "Nothing, just some things for work." 

"Okay" Amber shrugged it off. "I am ready. Today's your surgery with Layla, right?" Layla was a six year old that Amber had befriended at her time at the hospital, volunteering. She had a heart condition and Natalie was working on her. "Can I watch?"

"Absolutely no." Natalie refused.

"Mark said I can watch. He'll be in the gallery with me." Amber argued.

Natalie gave a look at her daughter. "Well, I gave birth to you, not Mark or any other man. I was in pain for 8 hours because you didn't want to come out in the world."

"No one's taking your credit for that, mom. Jesus." Amber rolled her eyes.

"Amber, seeing the inside of a human body for the first time is really scarring. And you've said it yourself, you don't want to be a surgeon."

"I was thinking about being a social worker." Amber informed her. "I already applied to volunteer in the community center. I am gonna take Mulan with me after school and help around with whatever they need."

"Another day I didn't fail as a mother." Natalie smiled proudly at herself.

"Good morning." Mark entered the kitchen and ruffled Amber's hair.

"Hey, don't mess with the hair. I am not five." Amber grumbled.

Natalie spaced out, she still looked at them and smiled, but she couldn't hear them. Because in her mind she was trying to find a way to not lose that and move forward in her career.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

That morning the chief had called all his attendings at the conference room for a meeting. Mark was sitting between Natalie and Derek, watching all the food the chief had brought in for the meeting and trying to choose which one to try first. "I know it hasn't exactly been easy around here the past few weeks. And I know you want answers. But I'm afraid I don't have them. Not just yet..." The chief was talking, but Natalie turned her attention to Derek who was annoyed with the merger most than anyone.

"He brought us down here to make himself feel good." He complained.

"Well, at least he sprung for good danish." Mark said and grabbed one.

"You know how many nurses got fired for that danish?" Natalie pointed out to Mark and he quickly put the danish down.

"The Mercy West staff will be arriving in three days" Webber continued, "and when they do, there will be more cutbacks and more layoffs. And I need each and every one of you to step up and be leaders. And when I can answer your questions, I will." The doctors started talking at once. "If you would like to make an appointment to talk about your concerns..."

"Is my hyperbaric lab getting shut down?" A doctor asked and the chaos in the conference room carried on. 

"You were right. Excellent danish." Derek said and started eating as he watched the hospital  fall apart.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

After the meeting, Natalie followed Derek outside of the room. She wanted to talk to someone and since she was not mad at him anymore, she was going to talk to him. Derek stood by the nurse's station and Natalie stood opposite of him. "So I got a call this morning."