You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

02┃friendships

"Lawrence, this is uh... my wife; Addison, Dr Lawrence, one of my interns from New York," Derek introduced. Addison narrowed her eyes, staring at the intern up to down.

Norah sipped on her coffee. "Oh, not in that way if that's what you're worried about." Derek shot her a glare, which she shrugged off with a smirk.

"Ah, yes, you're the intern who specialises in wrongly-timed humour," Addison acknowledged, and Norah gave her a curious look. "Those were Derek's words, not mine," the former added.

The intern snapped her head at the neurosurgeon, who returned her with a guilty look. Just as she was about to retort, her pager went off: from George; Mrs Griswold's scans were up.

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"THE GRISWOLDS ARE A huge pain in the ass," George ranted as he and Norah walked down the corridor heading towards their room. "Like, why would you be with someone who makes you unhappy?"

"Self-torture," she guessed. "At least their marriage is lasting long, isn't it? Maybe that's just how the world works? Happy people have a short time; unhappy people last a lifetime..."

George furrowed his brows at that concept. "That's... twisted." Opening the door into Mrs Griswold's room, he had a bright smile set on his face despite his complaining just a minute ago.

"Hello, Mrs Griswold, I'm here to take your blood pressure," he informed. Norah went to sit Mr Griswold on the bed opposite his wife's while they waited for the blood pressure to get taken.

"Could you make sure that they get the breathing tube out of my throat right after surgery this time?" Mrs Griswold told her husband. She let out a wince and snapped at George, "Are you trying to cut off my circulation?!"

Mr Griswold sighed, "He's just doing his job..."

"What did you say?"

Mrs Griswold's sudden raise in her voice lifted the tension in the room. The two interns gave each other a cautious look; Mr Griswold had finally had enough of it.

"I said, he's just doing his job."

"Oh, dear..." Norah muttered.

"Well, I don't really care whose job he's doing. He's squeezing my arm off," Mrs Griswold snapped. "Are you just gonna sit there?"

Mr Griswold took a deep breath and snapped, "Shut up, Kim." George and Norah's eyes widened; his wife looked at him questioningly. "Just shut up, huh?"

"Hey-" George tried to interrupt, but he was quickly cut off. Norah tugged on his sleeve to pull him away from the couple's bickering. The two interns backed off to the wall while they waited for them to stop.

"You complain to me, about me, around me," Mr Griswold barked, "All day! Everyday! A little silence would be nice. A few measly minutes of quiet."

Norah noticed Mrs Griswold's heart rate rising on the heart monitor and nudged George. "Oh, no... Mr Griswold, you should-"

"Can't you just for once in your life just-shut up!" he yelled.

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"OKAY, LOOKS LIKE Mrs Griswold is doing well," Burke informed as he continued immobilising her heart in the OR. The patient had to be rushed in for an operation after being yelled at by her husband.

"The husband's blaming himself," George muttered. "One second, his wife was okay, and now she's in here," he lifted his eyes to Norah, "Is that just how the world works?"