Charlie was standing in the locker room with the rest of her friends, eyes narrowed in slight suspicion. Georgie-boy and Mer were acting weird.
Actually, Georgie-boy and Mer were acting weird around each other, which only served to solidify a couple of theories in the girl's mind. Stepping closer to Cris, she leaned in and whispered, "Hundred bucks says they had sex, and that's why something's off with them."
"No way. She wouldn't, would she?" Retorted the curly-haired woman, glancing back at her person, before her eyes widened comically, "Holy shit, she totally did."
The British blonde nodded solemnly, "yep, she totally did. We need to put this girl on a tequila ban or something, before she sleeps with every inappropriate man on the east coast."
"Think she'll confess if we ask her?"
"Ask? No, she'll deny it like a whore in a catholic church, but if we confront her, she'll fold like a goddamn lawn chair."
Cristina nodded thoughtfully, "mhm, worst comes to worst, you pull out the puppy-eyes eyes. That shit works on all of us."
Charlie grinned smugly, nodding her head, before turning her attention to an approaching Alex, who gestured towards the two awkward interns and said, "50 bucks says O'Malley caught her doing Mark Sloan."
"Not possible, since he was with me all night," retorted the blonde, before elaborating at her friends' incredulous looks, "Calm down, I didn't sleep with the man, but we did close down Joe's, and I dropped him off at his hotel after, so..."
Narrowing her eyes, Izzie pulled up her hair, before joking, "You had the chance to sleep with McSteamy, and you didn't take it?"
"Can't afford anymore drama right now, Izzie-fizzie. Derek's already got a stick with my name on it up his ass, don't want to ram that fucker in there tighter."
The former model giggled, before looking back at the two and muttering, "There's something going on. I mean look at them."
Alex chuckled, "Alright he walked in on her doing McDreamy."
The women all shot his bemused looks, Charlie burying her face in his shoulder and giggling loudly. The man grew quiet, before moaning, "Did I just call that dude McDreamy?"
The British girl nodded, removing herself from his arms, and patting him on the cheeks, "You sure did, Xander. You absolutely did. Oh I'm so glad I have an eidetic memory, and this moment will forever be engraved into my mind."
He groaned jokingly, pushing her shoulder, before turning to Izz with narrowed eyes, "You are ruining my life."
The model scoffed, and as he stepped close to pull her into a kiss, Charlie pulled him away, "No! No pornos in the locker room. We all use it, and I'd rather not ask Derek for a lobotomy before my second coffee of the day, please and thank you."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
She'd been paged by Derek to join him for a case, though when she arrived, she found no one but him in front of the patient's door.
Looking around curiously, she glanced at the attending politely before asking, "Is everybody else late, Dr Shepherd?"
The man groaned jokingly, before smiling at her, "Are you still mad, Charlie? You know I was just angry that Mark was here, not at you."
The girl nodded, maintaining her polite, yet distant expression, "Of course, Dr Shepherd. But you are my attending, if you felt by behaviour was in any way untoward, than it was completely correct of you to point it out, and I shall endeavour not to make the same mistake twice."
"Your behaviour was completely correct." He stated, growing serious, meeting her eyes, "You complied with the patient's request, gave him the honest opinion he'd asked for. You were right, yesterday, it's not your job to advocate for my decisions, simply because they're mine, and to ask that of you would be to undermine your intelligence and skill, which is basically criminal at this point. I took my anger out on you, and yes, though I am your attending, I also happen to think of you as a younger sister, which made my accusations untrue and hurtful. So don't change your behaviour, your care and love for your. Patients, I was an ass yesterday and I took it out on you, and for that, I am very sorry."
He finished, inhaling sharply, before glancing her, eyes widened into an expression which she assumed was mean to evoke her. Own puppy-eyes, "Please tell me we're good, and I won't have to deal with the polite, high society-version of you. I need my neuro prodigy back."
Narrowing her eyes at him, she kept quiet, watching him sweat slightly, before chuckling and nodding her head, "Done. But you ever raise your voice at me again Derek, and I swear to the good lord, you'll be forced deal with every bit of cold British politeness ingrained in me for a whole month." Patting him on the shoulder, she adding mockingly, "Also, stop looking at me like that, you look like you're stroking and its mildly terrifying."
Than man laughed, shaking his head, and patting her on the shoulder, before gesturing towards the room, "You know the case?"
"Yep. Shawn Begleiter. 11 years old. In for intractable vomiting after a minor head injury. I read over the file when I got in this morning."
"How did you know I'd call you in? Maybe I was still angry." He mumbled in confusion, raising his brow at her.
The girl glanced at him incredulously, replying, "Much like you think of me as a younger sister, I think of you as the annoying older brother I never had, which means I know you, and knew the guilt would be eating you up inside, it was just a matter of waiting for your ego to step aside." Shrugging, she gave him an impish grin, continuing, "Also, we both know I'm the most promising prospect for neurosurgery, and your eternal favourite. It would have been nearly negligently criminal not to call me in on your case."
The two waited for the rest to arrive, and entering the room as they did, they found the boy surrounded by his two adorably worried dads.
"Do you need to throw up again?" Asked one of the men worriedly.
The boy rolled his eyes with a smile, shaking his head, "No."
Undeterred, the man continued, "Cause there's no shame in needing to throw up."
Shawn giggled sweetly, "Dad I don't need to throw up."
Derek glanced at her, nodding for her to present the case, which she did with a smile, "Shawn Begleiter, 11 years old. Shawn here was admitted for intractable vomiting, after a minor head injury involving a baseball."
"Oh I wouldn't exactly say minor." Corrected the first dad politely, only to have his partner add, "He was hit in the head with a baseball."
The first man nodded, "Yeah playing first and this little dolt Harry Doppelhammer hits the line-diver out of nowhere and Shawn wasn't looking and...You know this is my fault. I knew I shouldn't have let him play little league. It's clearly a dangerous sport!"
His partner chuckled, gesturing towards the doctors, who stood watching the scene with a smile, "Rick, let's let the doctors talk."
Derek was examining the boy, with a small smile on his face at the interactions, as Rick retorted, in offence, "They wanna know what happened. Michael, I'm telling them what happened."
Micheal, clearly the calmer parent, turned to the doctors and asked worriedly, "Shawn's gonna be ok. Right?"
The attending nodded wisely, "Yeah we have to keep a close eye on him." Looking back at his. Interns, which constituted an awkward looking Mer and George, as well as an amused Alex, and a charming Charlie, he questioned, "Okay recommendations?"
"Traumatic brain injury could indicate anything from a concussion to intracranial haemorrhaging." Began the tall blonde, smiling reassuringly at Rick, before continuing with her brightest, softest smile, "I'd recommend starting with an H & P, doing a thorough neuro-exam and then getting a CT, just to cross all our Ts and dot all our Is."
Derek smiled proudly at her, before nodding his head, "Good."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Later, she and Alex were wheeling sweet little Shawn into the CT room, when the man glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"You know what happened, don't you?"
The blonde glanced at him peacefully, before shrugging her shoulders, "I have no idea what you're on about, Xander."
The man narrowed his eyes at her, "You know everything, you always do. Cut to the chase, Charles, what happened between Mer and Bambi, and what did she do?"
The girl grinned at him, tilting her head to the side, the curls of her ponytail falling off of one shoulder, "How do you know Mer did something, and not George?"
Alex scoffed, "Because Bambi looks pissed and she looks guilty."
Charlie's smile widened, before she shook her head, "Whatever I do, or don't know, is just speculation on my part. Very accurate speculation, but no one's confirmed anything yet, and unlike the rest of you sheeple, I don't make it a habit to spread rumours."
He grabbed onto his chest in mock-hurt, huffing, "ouch, Charles. That really hurt, cut deep, deep, deep."
The girl snorted with laughter, slapping his shoulder, "Sorry Xander, I only speak the truth." Before beginning to wheel their patient more steadily into the room.
Reaching the bed, she carefully held the boy in her arms, laying him on the bed, "There you go darling. Should only take a couple of minutes at most."
The little boy smiled at her, a big, wide grin that showed his teeth, before admitting in a whisper, "One time I put a raw egg in my sock drawer for a month and then I smashed it in my teacher's grade book."
The blonde grinned at him, sharing an amused look with her friend, before replying, "You're trouble, love. Though I can't say that's not somewhat impressive."
He shrugged bashfully, biting onto his lip, "My dads were really mad."
Leaning closer to him, she gestured for him to grant her his ear, before whispering conspiratorially, "I'm pretty sure what my friend did is worse, though no where near as fun."
Stepping back beside her friend, she leaned her head on his shoulder tiredly, and he murmured, "You're good with them, kids I mean."
"Yeah, I like the little buggers. Would love some of my own one day, but I'm not exactly sure how great of a parent I'd be."
Glancing down at her, Alex furrowed his brows. As far as he knew, Charlie would make a great mother. Hell, she consistently mothered all of them, attendings and residents included. "How come? You're nice, and smart as shit, not to mention you don't let bullshit slide."
The girl bit her lip pensively, before murmuring, "What I'm about to say does't leave this room, Alex. Seriously."
When the man nodded, realising her seriousness when she used his name as opposed to the nickname she'd given him, she continued, "My parents were great, really. But they died when I was fifteen, and I basically raised myself after that. I was diagnosed with both C-PTSD and Bipolar that year, both disorders with genetic components to them. Which means the likely-hood of me passing them on is high. And I also genuinely don't know how to give anything, emotionally speaking. I repressed everything for so long, just so I could get through school, and finish my PhD, that I don't know how to process emotions normally anymore. That's not exactly stable."
Tightening his hold on her shoulders, he mumbled, "I think, because you know all of that, whenever you're ready, any kid would be lucky to call you their mother." He kept his eyes on Shawn, before adding in a whisper, "My mother has schizophrenia, and I basically took care of her my entire life, so if you're ever struggling, and can't find a place to land, know I'll be here."
"Thanks Xander." She murmured back, eternally grateful she'd taken a chance on this man, in stead of deeming him the asshole he portrayed to everyone else.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Once the CT results had arrived, both interns and Derek stood at Shawn's bedside, as the attending calmly explained what they'd found.
"What exactly do you mean when you say blood in the ventricle?" Questioned Michael calmly, but worriedly.
The surgeon was unable to explain, as Rick exclaimed frightfully, "Oh my god his brain is bleeding?"
Stepping closer to the man, Charlie smiled reassuringly, "There's no need for immediate worry. These injuries often resolve themselves, and this is a small amount of blood."
The man shook his head, looking at the attending and questioning quickly, "Yeah but what if it doesn't? Will he lose IQ points? Because he's very smart, and that's very important to him and he likes to be smart." Both the surgeon and the blonde gave amused smiles, shaking their heads, and Micheal looked at them apologetically.
His partner glanced at him, mumbling, "Do you think we should sue that little brute that hit the ball? Or the coach? We should sue the coach."
The calmer parent shook his head, "Shawn loves the coach."
"Yeah Shawn's brain is bleeding!"
The girl chuckled softly, giving the man an appreciative grin. Neither of her parents had been like that, though Richard had been a handful on his own.
Stepping closer to Derek, she watched as he reassured the parents, "Yeah. He's awake, alert, minimal pain. These are all good signs. I just want to monitor him over the next forty-eight hours." Before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially, "This is like the time I got appendicitis all over again."
"Your parents were that worried?"
Grinning she shook her head, "Nope, Richard was. You'd have thought the man hadn't performed his fair share of appendectomies, or even been through medical school himself, with how many stupid questions he was asking."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Derek walked into Shawn's room determinedly, having been paged urgently by Charlie there. Looking his intern, he questioned, "What happened?"
"I was doing the routine neuro-check, and noticed he'd been altered. Most likely a clot, acute hydrocephalus."
The man nodded, mumbling under his breath, "Damn..." Checking the little boy's pupillary response, he ordered, "We need to relieve the pressure right now."
Charlie nodded, pulling up the necessary items, since she'd made sure they'd been present in the room, preferring to be safe than sorry, as Alex announced, "Cranial access kit is ready, thanks to one extra-careful Charles."
The parents stood up in worry, as Rick exclaimed, "Cranial access? Access to Shawn's brain?"
Charlie looked at the nurse present, asking kindly, "Debbie, could you please escort them out for the moment?"
The woman nodded, shooting the girl a smile, but the men wouldn't move, with Rick pushing past herald announcing, "We're not going anywhere."
Derek sighed, but before he could complain, the intern took over, explaining to the men softly, "There appears to be some swelling on Shawn's brain. The easiest way to relieve this, is to utilise a cranial access kit, and lessen the pressure. Now, Dr Shepherd is an incredible surgeon, and he has done these procedures more times than I could count, so there should be no worry on that front. It simply is not the most pleasant thing to witness. If you two simply step outside for a moment, I promise, I will personally walk you back in once everything is done."
The parents glanced at her gratefully, before making determined eye-contact, as Rick stated, "We are not leaving his side!"
Nodding in understanding, the girl stepped back beside her attending, before telling the couple, "It is not easy to look at, but do not panic, we know what we're doing."
As Derek performed the procedure, she checked on the boy's eyes, announcing in relief, "Pupillary response is reactive."
Derek nodded, adding, "Pressure's stabilising."
The parents sighed in relief, and the surgeon looked at his interns, "I want neuro checks every hour and increase the supervision."
The group nodded, and the man looked back at the worried parents,"We...we're in the clear for now."
Swallowing, Rick questioned hesitantly, "We're in the clear?"
Charlie chuckled, nodding at them, before praising slightly, "You guys did well."
The little boy groaned as he woke up, murmuring, "Ah, I have a headache."
Both the attending and the interns chuckled, as Charlie announced with a sunny smile, "Welcome back, darling."
As Alex' pager beeped and he left, Charlie glanced down at Derek as he sewed the hole in the boy's head with steady hands, before glancing up at the parents, with Rick looking paler by the second.
Clearly, the boy had noticed the same thing, as he questioned with a confused expression, "Dad you look white, are you okay?"
The man nodded unsteadily, before leaning over and vomiting all over the floor, to the amusement of everyone else in the room, and Debbie's groaned, "Oh, great."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
She'd found Mer hiding in a corner of their hallway, knees huddled close to her chest. The British girl sighed, before taking a seat beside her person, and laying her arm over her shoulders, pulling her in.
Grabbing the paper bag she'd been holding, she gifted it to her best friend, murmuring, "Got you a brownie, as is tradition for whenever one of us feels like shit."
Giving her a pathetically weak smile, Mer mumbled, "Thanks Char. This brownie is about the one thing that made me smile today."
The girl hummed in agreement, before stating casually, "Well, sleeping with someone we know we shouldn't have slept with will do that, fill you with guilt. Though drowning yourself in it is needless, you're both consenting adults, casual sex is normal."
Meredith looked at her with wide eyes, and she snorted in reply, "C'mon Mer, I'm omniscient. You knew I'd figure it out the minute I saw you two." Growing serious, she met her person's eyes, "It's not your fault. Should you have done it, probably not, but George is an adult, and he consented, and made his decision. Which means that he shouldn't be acting as though you exsanguinated his puppy with him as witness."
Chuckling wetly, the shorter blonde shook her head, "I just don't get it. He's acting like I broke his heart, but I remember clearly, he said he was still in love with you. He even called your name accidentally, I think. It's what snapped me out of it."
Biting her lip, the tall blonde hissed between her teeth, "Well that's awkward. Really fucking awkward. And I don't know Mer, I think he's confused. Or maybe he had a thing for both us, which makes his type really clear, by the way."
When her person looked at her questioningly, she joked, "Georgie-boy likes his damaged, emotionally messed-up and unavailable blondes."
"You told her? I..." came an astounded voice from the doorway.
Both girls raised their heads questioningly, before Mer gasped in surprise, and Charlie rolled her eyes slightly.
"George...." Began the shorter blonde, only for the boy to interrupt her, shaking his head, "Wow when I'm wrong about someone..."
Standing up, Charlie approached him slowly, "Georgie-boy, calm down. She didn't tell me anything. It didn't exactly take a genius to figure out what had happened."
He didn't hear her though, continuing to back away while shaking his head, mumbling under his breath in betrayed disbelief.
As the two girls ran after him, they were joined by Alex and Izz, with the latter asking in worry, "What's going on?"
Assessing the situation quickly, Alex surmised quite helpfully, "the foetus is freaking out."
Huffing under her breath, Izz muttered, "I can see that," before attempting to grab onto George's arm, asking, "Why are you freaking out?"
He came to a stop, before announcing, "You think that someone is your friend you know. You think at the very least she'd respect your privacy!"
Rolling her eyes, Charlie hurried up to him, catching him at the end of the stairway, "Georgie-boy, calm down."
He glared at her, shaking his head, "Don't you tell me to calm down! She told you, and you were mocking me."
Tilting her head in confusion, she retorted, "When in the hell did I make fun of you?" Stepping closer to him, she jabbed her finger into his chest accusingly, "Don't put words in my mouth George O'Malley, and don't do this shit again. So what you slept with the girl? So fucking what? She didn't return your feelings? I get that it hurts, I understand its painful..."
"You don't!" He interrupted, "You put me in the exact same spot."
"You mean when I told you I wasn't emotionally prepared for a relationship, that I had my own goddam trauma to get through, and that I had as many feelings for you as you did me? Was that it, George?"
He grew quiet, eyes widening slightly, and she sighed, shaking her head, "What? You thought the feelings just evaporated? You don't think this whole situation is slightly painful for me too? But I made my decision that night, and I stand by my choice, which means you were free to be with whomever you chose. Much like you made yours, knowing full well Mer wasn't emotionally available. Accept the consequences George, and don't let them ruin a great friendship. Trust me, sex ain't all that worth it."
He swallowed heavily, backing away into the stairwell, before tripping on his own feet and falling, landing with a dull thud.
The girl scrambled after him, followed by the interns, and she glanced at Alex from the corner of her eye, "Xander..." she whispered.
When he leaned close, she continued, "Could you take him to Callie Torres, she's the best orthopaedic resident onsite, and I doubt he wants to be around me right now, after everything." Swallowing, she pleaded, "And please, don't give him too much shit. He already feels awful enough."
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Having finished the charts she'd been given, as well as paid a visit to a poison-oak infested Addison (which was incredibly funny, though the attending didn't seem to share her humour in the situation), the girl found herself waiting for the orthopaedic resident by a nurses' station.
She and Callie had struck a mutual friendship over drinks and games of pool at Joe's, and the blonde really like the Latina. She found her brashness and snarkiness refreshing, and their humours truly matched up perfectly.
Spotting her. Across the hallway, exiting George's room, she hurried over to her, asking quietly, "Is he okay?"
The dark-haired woman smiled at her reassuringly, nodding her head, "yep. Dislocated shoulder. Screamed like a baby when I popped it back into place, but he'll live."
The blonde smiled gratefully, before hooking her elbow through the older woman's and leading her away, murmuring, "How about a round of pool tonight? You owe me from last time, when you bailed for a hot date..."
Callie chuckled, nodding her head. She appreciated her blossoming friendship with the blonde as much as her counter-partner did. After all, there weren't many people she could rant in Spanish with around Seattle.
v^√√v^─√v^√v^─
Later, the man himself walked up to her slowly, thrusting a cup of coffee in her direction as soon as he was close enough.
"Here, peace offering, and apology, since I was being an ass."
Chuckling softly, Charlie grabbed it, mumbling, "You weren't being an ass, Georgie-boy, just slightly irrational."
"No, I was." He retorted, before interrupting her as her mouth opened, "Just let me finish, because this needs to be said. I was an ass. I know you still feel something for me, and I completely forgot about it, being all up in arms because Meredith didn't. And I truly don't feel anything for her, I was just trying to forget you, and she showed interest and I just..." trailing off, he shrugged his shoulders, before mumbling, "I'm pathetic."
The blonde leaned her head against his shoulder, "You're not pathetic Georgie-boy. I hurt you, broke your heart probably, which is something I will always feel awful about. But I genuinely would have hurt you worst if we'd given it a shot. And I know sleeping with Mer wasn't planned, and that you felt equally as bad. About it as she does, but these. Things happen. C'est la vie, you know? Shit occurs, and then we make our peace with it, and move on as swiftly as we can."
"You don't need to feel bad. I know you did the right thing, hell what happened today proved it. And I'd rather always have you with me, as my best friend, than lose you if we hadn't worked out. And everything with mer and I will work out, I know it. Especially if we've got our very own Char to beat us over the head whenever we're being stupid."
Smiling, she burrowed her head deeper into his shoulder, feeling the comfort and safety only her Georgie-boy could give her, before mumbling through a yawn, "You'll always have me, that's a certainty."