A very pregnant Bailey is walking down a hallway. She's taking a few deep breaths. Meredith, Evi, George, Izzie, Cristina and Alex tailing follow her a few feet behind her.
George whispers to Meredith. "Look at her belly. She's almost as wide as she is tall. Izzie grins at this.
"Are her ankles swollen? Is that why she's waddling?" Evi asks quietly.
"What's gonna happen to us when she goes on leave?" Izzie asks.
"Leave? She's going on leave?" Cristina asks.
"What do you think happens when people push babies out of their vaginas?" Meredith asks.
George chuckles. "Do you think we're gonna get a new resident?"
"What?" Cristina asks confused.
"Nah. Probably just let us all walk around unattended. See how much damage we can do." Alex says. They stop walking as Bailey has stopped at a nurse's station still a few feet away.
"Yeah, well you would know." Izzie says.
Suddenly Izzie rounds to the front, smiling. "Hey you guys, we should all get together and get Bailey a Christmas gift for the baby. Or we could um organize some sort of secret Santa thing." She suggests.
Cristina looks less than impressed. "Ok, listen Tiny Tim you can take-"
Meredith and George move quickly to block Cristina and interrupt her loudly.
"Sounds great."
"Secret Santa sounds great Izzie." George and Meredith say at the same time.
Izzie smiles. "Okay." She turns around and starts heading off to Bailey. George and Meredith turn to face Cristina. Cristina has a 'what the hell' look on her face.
"We're being supportive." Evi says.
•.•
"Tim Epstein, 38. Fell off the roof of his house." Meredith presents in the loud patients room.
"I was stringing Hanumas lights and ah a shingle came loose." Tim explains.
"Hanumas?" Izzie asks.
"Hanumas. Chrismakkuh. We ah go all out." He says.
Izzie smiles broadly. "Awesome."
"He fell 12 feet." Mrs. Epstein says.
"Ah good news is my head broke my fall." He says.
One of his daughters flings a rubber lizard which smacks Derek's face.
"Ah there are no visible deformities but he's definitely having some focal left arm weakness." Meredith says.
"He'll probably be fine. He's always been a little hard-headed." Mrs. Epstein says.
Mr. Epstein chuckles but quickly moans slightly in pain.
"Does your head hurt when you laugh?" Derek asks.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Do you wanna follow my finger with your eyes, please?" He moves his finger from side to side in front of Mr. Epstein's face. Mr. Epstein's son, Jake jumps of his bed and jumps onto the adjacent one and sits up in front of Bailey.
"I know karate." He says.
"Mmm Hmm." Bailey says. He whacks the jug sitting on the table which Evi quickly removes. "Ah." Bailey moves quickly away to where Mrs. Epstein is sitting.
"You know your husband might need a little ah quiet so there's a cafeteria right down the hall..." Bailey says.
Tim interrupts. "No, no, no. Let them stay. Pain or no I don't want to miss out on the holidays with my kids."
"Who would like to take ah Mr. Epstein down for a CT?" Derek asks.
Only Izzie puts her hand up very eagerly.
"Stevens it is."
•.•.•
Bailey, Evi, Cristina, Meredith and Alex are walking down a hospital hallway.
"Grey, Karev, Jensen cover the pit. You can expect all sorts of holiday idiocy so that is my gift to you. Yang..." Bailey says.
Burke who walks down the hallway up to Bailey and the interns, interrupts.
"Dr. Bailey, UNOS just called. They have a donor heart for a patient of mine." He says.
Cristina, Alex and Meredith jump at this.
"I'm free. I'm totally free right." Cristina says.
"I can totally do this." Alex says.
"I'm free." Meredith says.
"I'm available." Alex says.
Bailey gives Alex and Meredith scolding looks.
"No you're not! You're covering the pit." She turns to Cristina and Evi.
"Yang, it's yours." She says.
"Thank you." Cristina and Evi both say .
"Pit!" Bailey scolds the other two.
•.•.•
Alex, Meredith and Evi are in the pit. An ambulance officer pulls down a man lying on a gurney.
"Male. 44. Had a gastric by-pass. 3 weeks post-op. Reported extreme pain when we found him. Said something about fruitcake." The paramedic says. Evi checks the patient.
"Must've torn his abdomen wide open." She says. She turns back to Meredith and Alex. "You're going to have to fight me for this one." She says.
"He's all yours. My parting gift." Alex says.
Evi and Meredith watch him walk away.
•.•.•
Meredith and Evi enter the Scrubs room adjacent to an O.R. Bailey and George are in there preparing for Nadia's surgery.
"Dr. Bailey, gastric perforation just came in." Evi says.
"Damn." She says. George has look that says this can't be happening. "Uh, um alright." She pats George. "Take Mrs. Shelton back to her room."
"Seriously?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding? Tell her we'll get to her this afternoon." George heads into the O.R annoyed. "Jensen, Grey call the E.R, tell them to send him up and then scrub in." Evi nods and moves to call the ER.
"Ah, Alex Karev failed his boards and he's re-taking them tomorrow. He can't study for a practical by himself. If he fails again he's out." Meredith says.
"Ok, go." Bailey says.
•.•.•
Bailey, Evi and George are in the OR, operating on the gastric perforation guy.
"Wow, that's all you can save of his stomach?" Evi asks.
"Yup. Eating is what this man lives for. We should put him out of his misery." Bailey says.
"Paging, Dr. Karevian." George says. Everybody in the OR laughs except Bailey and Evi.
"What did you just say?" Bailey asks.
"Just, it's a joke. Kevorkian, karevian."
Bailey just stares at him. "Alex Karev." George clarifies.
"I get the joke. I just don't think it's funny." She holds up a scalpel. "You see this O'Malley. I make one mistake with this scalpel and this man's dead. My husband, he makes mistakes at his job all the time. As far as I know he's never killed anyone but I have and you will and Alex did. He made a math mistake and a man died for it. Run that past your accountant. See how he'd feel if every mistake he made, someone ended up dead. You don't have to like Alex, you don't have to care about him, but you damn well have to be on his side." George just stands there, looking sufficiently told-off.
•.•.•
Evi and Meredith enters the scrub wash room with a chart. George is already in there as is Bailey who's sitting down and eating a chocolate bar.
Evi hands Bailey the chart. "I got another one for you." She says.
"He tried to gift wrap a 70-inch TV for his wife?" Bailey asks.
"Hernia?" George asks.
"Strangulated. Pretty ugly." Evi corrects.
"And you just know the wife just hates TV. Grey is that other project covered." Bailey asks Meredith.
"I think so." She says.
"Then both of you scrub in. O'Malley, go tell Nadia Shelton she's off the schedule until tomorrow." George looks upset at this.
•.•.•
"Are we using mesh?" Evi asks.
"Yes, the conjoined tendon is..." She pulls away suddenly from the surgery and puts the surgical tools down and moans. "Mmm Hmmm Mmm."
"Dr. Bailey?" Meredith asks.
Bailey raises her hand to silence Meredith. "Just wouldn't want to throw up in the body cavity."
"Dr. Bailey, are you all right?" A nurse asks.
"Do you need...?" Meredith tries.
"I just need a minute Grey. Oh when you operate the rest of the world goes away. Hunger, thirst, pain. You don't feel it in the OR. But it's not that way when you're sharing you're body with another person. Ok." She turns back to the surgery and starts again.
"Are you sure you don't want me to find someone to take over for you?" Meredith asks.
"What I want you to find me is a strawberry milkshake. Extra thick." Bailey says. The operating staff look amused at this.
"Seriously?" Meredith asks.
Bailey nods. "Yeah, nausea. Comes with the hunger, Grey. Go." Meredith leaves the operating table.
•.•.•.•
"Nadia Shelton's ulcer perforated. She's vomiting blood by the pint." George says rushing into the scrub room after Meredith.
"Is the Chief back?" Bailey asks.
"I didn't see him." Meredith says.
George shakes his head. "No."
"All right uh all of you scrub in. I'm gonna need all the help I can get." She starts drinking massive gulps of her milkshake not stopping as Meredith, George and Evi start scrubbing up.
•.•.•
Evi, Meredith and George were in the OR where Nadia is being operated on. Bailey is being fed a drink by a scrubs nurse, while the interns stand near the operating table, holding clamps and stuff in Nadia's body cavity.
"Oh, look at that." Evi says.
"Kissing ulcers. One's perfed and the other one's bleeding." Meredith says.
"Two ulcers. Not surprised by the family. I should've thrown them out. Why didn't I throw them out? That's what I should've done. But no I didn't." George says.
Bailey turns back to the operating table, scrub mask in place.
"Stop whining O'Malley, you had your chance; you didn't take it. Move on." Bailey scolds.
"Right, sorry."
"Do not kick me." Bailey says.
"Excuse me?" George says.
"Are you kicking me under the table O'Malley?"
"No!" George says shocked.
"Then clearly I wasn't talking to you! ... Uh! Eh!"
she backs away from the operating table) "You can not kick me while I'm doing my job." Bailey is pressing against her pregnant belly. Everyone just stares at her amazed. "Thank you." She steps back up to the operating table.
"Wow." Evi whispers impressed.
•.•.•
There's an old proverb that says you can't choose your family. You take what the fates hand you...
and like them or not, love them or not, understand them or not...you cope.
Izzie and Evi were lying down on the floor with their heads under the Christmas tree. The tree is all lit up and flashing. Meredith walks into the room.
"Pretty." She comments.
"Yeah." Izzie says.
Meredith lies down next to Izzie.
Then there's the school of thought that says the family you're born into is simply a starting point.
George now comes to the living room and looks at the three confused.
"What are we doing?" George asks.
"Lights." Evi says in a trance. George sets down his coffee mug and runs quickly into the room and lies down next to Meredith and also begins staring at the lights.
They feed you and clothe you and take care of you until your ready to go out into the world.
Doc barks once and enters the room and sits down next to George.
...and find your tribe.
•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•