You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

36┃neuro

Meredith's head snapped to the group, and Norah sighed to herself; Addison cleared her throat loudly. Mark turned around and only seemed to notice Meredith's presence in the room.

"Oh, my bad," he muttered. Norah gave him an unamused glare, which he returned with an innocent grin.

"No, no. It's fine," Meredith stated as she casually scrolled through the scans, "I, uh... I think it sounds like a fine song."

Addison had an awkward smile on her face as the singing and laughing piped down. Norah gave Mark a sharp kick at the back of his foot, in which he grunted while keeping a smile on his face. Addison cocked a brow at the interaction between the two.

"Archie, heard you were gonna let Derek remove those suckers from your brain," Mark voiced out.

"Maybe."

"He is," Addison stated definitely.

"I hate surgery," Archer sighed, "Especially brain surgery."

"Yeah... being a neurologist, you probably see a lot of patients post-op who are just, you know, scrambled eggs up there..." Mark trailed off; Norah bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from cackling aloud.

"Okay-you know what, Mark? You're not helping right now," Addison deadpanned. "We're sitting here trying to convince him that surgery is-"

"-is not an option." Derek entered the room with a file of scans in his hands; his news caused everyone to turn their attention to him.

The look on his face was complex, but Norah recognised that frown-one that never followed by good news.

"According to these scans, the single cyst you had on your last CT has now multiplied by eight, all clogging the third ventricle," Derek informed, "There's no way I can surgically navigate through a mess like that without rupturing one."

The room had gone still and silent as they took in that piece of information. "So, what does that mean?" Addison spoke up, her eyebrows knitted into one.

Mark, who had been cracking jokes, too, had gone quiet. He had taken a step back and leaned against the wall next to Norah; she was fiddling with the loose piece of thread on her sleeve cuff.

The room was in utter silence.

"You're in a room full of doctors, Addison, who are all being very quiet right now," Archer turned to his sister, whose eyes were wet with tears. "I'm gonna die. That's what it means."

Norah felt a sting in her chest and frowned at Addison's quiet sobs. Everyone left the room one after another to give the siblings privacy. She blew a breath with a bleak look across her face as she handed the chart over to a nurse.

Cases involving siblings always hit her right in the core; it was one thing that had-and always will-bother her.

Izzie walked up to her; the bright smile on her face caused Norah to raise a brow at her. "I'm playing a game with the interns," the blonde announced.

"A game?"

"The interns are broken," she stated, "They're on probation, and it's making them hate medicine. I'm trying to remind them that the thing they hate is actually the thing they love."

Norah was least to say, impressed at her words and effort. Izzie handed her several cards similar to the flashcards she used to study for her exams. "The interns will come looking for you and just quiz them," Izzie explained, "Switch between the questions so that they wouldn't cheat."

"Oh, cool. This is brilliant, Iz," Norah nodded and slipped the card into her pocket as the blonde hurried away.

She caught up to Derek, who looked prominently stressed as he shook his head at the scans once again. She peaked at the imaging in his hand, frowning.