flatline [m.s]

clviii.

- - -
every doctor has a dirty little secret. we're all competitive science nerds. in grade school, we made the biggest and the best volcanos, which erupted actual, fake molten lava.
- - -

"are you nervous?" ben raises his brow at bailey when he finds her waiting outside of the hospital. "you're not nervous."

"of course i'm nervous," bailey tells him. "been waiting for this day my entire career, and i promised them 'candy disco rainbows'. and now i have to deliver. am i nervous?"

"you will deliver," ben attempts to reassure her as he kisses her forehead.

"i just need it to be perfect- just today," bailey breathes as ben takes her hand to walk inside. "oh, no, no. go on. uh, you can't be late for rounds. people will think i'm giving you special treatment. go on."

"okay," ben chuckles, leaning in to kiss her goodbye, but she pulls back.

"no, special treatment!" bailey frowns.

"okay," ben shakes his head, turning to walk into the hospital. "i'll see you later... chief."

- - -
in junior high, we spent hours laboring over our rat mazes, so that one day, we'd be the person who changed the face of medicine forever.
- - -

"when you said carpool, i thought you just meant us," lia turns to mark sat in the passenger seat of her car, whilst they wait outside derek and meredith's house. "where is meredith? carpooling is supposed to save time."

"boo!" derek shouts then laughs as he appears in the passenger window.

"derek!" lia scold. "i've been sitting out here for twenty minutes."

"well, yell at your sister for not changing her oil in over a decade," derek tells her, and meredith rolls her eyes as they gets into the back seat of lia's car.

"everybody buckled?" lia asks as her phone chimes. "my dad needs one of us to walk bailey into her surprise breakfast thing this morning."

"no, thanks," mark shakes his head.

"not, i," derek insists.

"i hate all of you," lia groans as she pulls away from the house.

■ ■ ■

"i mean, i just- i just- i- i barely know this man. we had like two dates last week," maggie tells callie and amelia as all of the surgeons gather in the conference room for bailey's surprise breakfast, having various discussions as they wait for her arrival. "he asked to see me again tonight."

"so, i looked it up, and bailey's the first," arizona announces as she approaches the girls.

"first what?" amelia furrows her brow.

"first female chief of surgery of this hospital. before that, all men," arizona elaborates.

"i say it's about time," jackson nods from where he's sat on the table behind them.

"and all the department chiefs are women- cardio, ortho, peds," maggie points to herself, callie, and arizona, in turn.

"we got trauma, plastics, and neuro," jackson argues, pointing to owen, mark, and derek, in turn.