You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

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"I've always wanted to try out being a redhead, so I just thought now's the time."

"What's wrong with your own hair?"

"It's peach fuzz chemo hair," Izzie replied, "I really wanted to put my patients at ease, make them feel comfortable."

They nodded, and Cristina carefully whispered to the two other residents, "She looks like a Stepford wife. Someone's gotta tell her."

"She can't handle it," Meredith stated with an awkward smile plastered on her face. "Just don't stare."

"You look like a Stepford wife, Iz," Norah spoke, and both Alex and Meredith snapped their heads to the brunette; Cristina snorted out loud. "You know, the ones with a passion for, um... cleaning?" the brunette scratched her head while Alex shot her a glare, "It was Cristina's words."

"You-traitor!"

❦ ❦ ❦

"HEY."

"Hey back."

Timothy set down his tray of food opposite Norah, with Lexie next to him; the latter had an exhausted and hopeless look stuck on her face as she stabbed her fork into her salad. Norah raised a brow at her brother, signalling to his girlfriend next to him.

"She's worried about the merger," Timothy explained, "I mean, we all are."

"I dropped bags of blood all over the floor today. Then I lost a schizophrenic patient," Lexie ranted and shoved a fry into her mouth. "Oh my god-I am gonna get cut off the program, aren't I? I'm gonna get fired when the merger happens then I'll be jobless, a-and I'm gonna lose my friends, and-"

Timothy cut her off with a quick kiss. "Nobody's losing anybody," he reassured, handing her his bowl of fries.

"I don't know, sounds 'fire-able' to me," Norah shrugged in a singsong tone, causing Lexie to panic more and shove another handful of food stressfully into her mouth.

Timothy glared at his sister. "Not helping at all, Nor."

"So you two are... officially together now?" the curious sister asked, "Like-finally? Because I may or may not have bets to collect..."

Lexie's cheeks were slightly red, and Timothy nodded. He snorted at her blush, earning a quick smack from her.

The empty seats next to them quickly filled in with the three familiar faces. Each of them looked pale or tired-most likely had not slept for more than a day, which seemed to be a new norm in all the residents.

"Alright, first off, I am no longer your resident, and you pale faces are no longer my ducklings. So if one of you screwed up, that's on you," Norah spoke, pointing her spoon at the three of them.

"No, we didn't screw up, Dr Lawrence," Nina assured, "But um... Do you have any notice about the merger?"

"Other than what you lot know, no," Norah replied, shaking her head. "Why do you ask?"

"Because... uh... you know..." Jace spoke hesitantly.

"Basically 'cause you and Dr Sloan are a thing, so we wondered whether you might know something more than we do," Kirian finished Jace's sentence, patting the latter on the back.

Norah narrowed her eyes at the three of them and slowly put down her pudding cup. "Lee, Thompson, Rook... Are you three worried?" she raised a brow at them, and they nodded stiffly in response.

Jace scratched his head with a hesitant smile. "Y-Yeah, I mean... I-It's possible that we could-"

"I've raised you gits better than this!" she snapped, causing the younger resident to jump a little, his eyes wide. "Come on, you lot-all five of you here-are the tops of your year. So, go worry about how you're gonna comfort your friends who'll get cut, and shove your doubt up your arses."