You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

24┃just like paint

"Except it would," Norah shrugged.

Callie quirked a curious brow at the younger resident. "You're not defending him?" she asked, "I mean, you're friends, right? And he's your intern?"

"Exactly-he's my intern. And, yeah, we are friends, but I don't play sides," Norah stated solemnly. "Well, what he did does deserve some sort of... punishment."

Callie hesitated a moment before turning to Mark. "Torture him how, exactly?"

❦ ❦ ❦

IT WAS DINNERTIME, AND Norah had sent her interns off to the cafeteria to grab some food before they had to observe an awake open-heart surgery later on.

She sat by an empty nurses' station on the outpatient section of the hospital, where it was less busy and more peaceful. The hushed area was a perfect place to catch a nap.

"I think Lexie is into me."

Norah raised a brow at Alex, who walked up to her with a conflicted look on her face. "You sure about that? Or are you into her?" she sighed, more because of her nap being interrupted. "Meredith's gonna kill you, Alex."

"No, she won't."

"She might."

"She doesn't even see Lexie as a sister," Alex reasoned.

"Whatever. Shoo, Karev. I'm trying to sleep," she groaned and folded her arms on the desk before laying her head on them.

She drifted off to a quick, dreamless slumber, but before it even felt like a decent nap time, her rest was interrupted again by a hand ruffling her hair. She sat up and scowled at the attendings in front of her.

"Do we look like a couple?" Mark asked, gesturing between him and Derek.

Norah stared at the both of them as though they had gone mad, yet both of them had the most serious looks on their faces. The only reason she had not snapped at them for waking her was that they were, technically, her bosses.

"Why the bloody hell are you asking me that?"

Mark sighed, "Erica Hahn-"

"-thinks that we're a couple," Derek finished.

Norah leaned back against the chair and narrowed her eyes at them. "You two would make a decent couple, if that's what you wanna hear. McDreamy and McSteamy-brilliant McCouple."

The horrified look on their faces made her cackle. The two men gave each other a disturbed look before hurrying off in separate directions.

❦ ❦ ❦

HAHN STOOD WITH A marker pen in her hand as she stared at the OR board. She hastily erased the name of the resident assigned with her surgery, then wrote down another name, that she had picked.

"I'm taking Norah Lawrence from you this week," she informed as Mark walked past her. "I've heard great things about her from many surgeons, and I wanna see what she's like."

"That not how it works here," he protested, slightly saddened that the resident got swapped away from his service. "You get assigned a resident. There's a schedule."

"Well, the schedule doesn't take into account certain things," Hahn scoffed lightly, "Like the fact that I don't want Yang. You can have Stevens. She's good, and I'm sure Shepherd won't mind."

As the Cardio surgeon walked away, Derek walked towards Mark, who was still staring at the OR board, displeased. "Won't mind what?" Derek queried.

Mark was silently gritting his teeth with his arms folded above his chest. "She took Lawrence off my service," he stated.