You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

39┃how did you fall for her?

"What?"

"To be cutting into brains today," he stated. "Is he okay to be back?"

"Yes. Of course," Meredith replied, "Derek is fine."

"I was there for his carnage in the OR, remember?" he scoffed before shaking his head, "This isn't just any patient today. This is Izzie."

"Shepherd's fine, Alex," Norah reassured, and the man seemed to calm down a little. "Izzie will be fine, too. So stop frowning, or you'll get creases on your forehead before you turn thirty."

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH HAD FINALLY GOT her patient discharged and now had a clear schedule before something else popped up. She wandered around the hospital, searching for Mark, but she could not seem to find him.

She met Timothy in the ER with the trauma attending, who both were busy with a patient who did not look too well.

To come to think of it, Timothy had been on Owen's service for a while now.

Norah opened the door to a patient's room, catching sight of Bailey and Izzie, who turned their heads to her. "Oh, should I come back later?" she asked.

"No, I'm just finishing up," Bailey replied as she gathered the charts and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"You don't have to stay, you know?" Izzie spoke with a smile, "I'm sure you have patients to work on-actual patients. They shouldn't suffer because I have things growing on my organs."

"I just discharged my patient, so I'm pretty free right now," Norah dropped herself on the chair near the bed. "Is that what you say to everyone else? Or is it just me?" she cocked a brow at the blonde.

However, Izzie's face showed a different expression, and Norah sighed. "I'm the first one here since rounds, aren't I? Not even Alex?" she asked, and the other woman shook her head. "Well, that's just depressing."

"Insulting the cancer patient in the room? That's very Cristina," Izzie joked.

"Who's the scarf for?" Norah asked, nudging her head at the green knitting in the blonde's hands. "I can't picture exactly Alex wearing a scarf."

"It's for Bailey, actually," Izzie replied, "But don't tell her yet. Not until I'm finished."

The brunette nodded with a shrug. There was a long silence, where they sat in the room, listening to the knitting sound of the wooden sticks hitting each other. Izzie shook her head as she missed a knit, returning to the previous row.

"Is Shepherd really okay?" she asked with a hint of worry behind her eyes.

"He looks fine," Norah assured, "Big pressure is a certainty, but overall, I think he's good-I'm sure that he's good." Izzie nodded at the reassurance and resumed with her knitting.

❦ ❦ ❦

THE RESIDENT WANDERED the halls until she was informed by a nurse that the neurosurgeon she was looking for was in an OR. Norah made her way there and found Derek in the OR, where he would be performing Izzie's surgery.

She slowly and quietly pushed open the door, staring at the surgeon standing in the middle of the room. He was repeatedly practising the surgery.

"Forceps. Lift free from the arachnoid. Tacking sutures. Patties. Suction." Derek sighed as he lifted his head from the tray of tools in front of him, looking at the currently empty gallery.

"How long have you been in here?" Norah voiced out, causing the attending to startle a little. "You know, your hands are sweating-on sterilised surgical tools," she pointed out, "That's why scrub nurses hate surgeons."