𝟘𝟠𝕩𝟘𝟝
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The lecture room was full of people that morning. Natalie looked proudly around the room. She was really excited for that day and the medical history they were going to make. She was extra proud for the visitor that was coming at the hospital. Catherine Avery. Only her number one medical role model. And the fact that she was the chief of surgery at the time they were doing a a penis transplant for the first time, made her mood a little bit better.
She took her seat next to Mark and smiled widely at him. It was one those days that she didn't regret accepting the job offer. Until she would get home a little too late and neither of her daughters were awake. "I'm so excited for this." She told him. "You're going to love it."
"I'm going to love going through a presentation?" Mark asked already bored. Natalie hadn't informed him about what was going to take place that day. Mostly because she knew that he was going to have too many questions and too many doubts.
"Oh, it's more than that." She raised her eyebrows like she was telling him that he was going to be surprised in few seconds. "Shh, she's here." She said when Catherine Avery came out on stage.
"Wake up, everybody." The woman, also known as Jackson's mother, yelled the moment she appeared one stage. "I know, I know, it's grand rounds, where we have to sit and listen to somebody talk about how somebody did something and here's how they did it, and there's not enough coffee in Brazil for this." She said making the crowd laugh. "Well, not today. Today we are going to do. Today I'm going to change a life and maybe make medical history, too. And I can't do it alone. Ryan, honey, would you come out here, please?" A young male joined her on stage. "Everybody, this is Ryan." Ryan waved awkwardly. "Ryan, could you show everybody what we're here to do today?" Catherine asked him and he took off his bathrobe. "Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to invite a few very lucky residents to scrub in on this country's first penis transplant."
And everyone gasped.
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"Thanks to a case of penis cancer, Ryan underwent a full penectomy 11 months ago." Few seconds later, Catherine started explaining the situation. "Good margins left him basically cured and cancer free so that's gone. And today we'll be replacing the other thing Ryan lost. A suitable donor's become available here at Seattle Grace Mercy West, and Ryan generously agreed to fly out and make this day a teaching opportunity. Who wants in on it?" She asked and every single doctor in the room raised their hands. "Hello! That's more like it."
Natalie felt movement next to her and she looked on her left only to see Mark standing up. "Uh, Mark Sloan, plastics." He introduced himself and Catherine looked at him. "Isn't penile reconstruction the standard approach in cases like these? Why a transplant?" He asked.
"Well, I can answer your question with a question. Do you like your penis?" Catherine asked him back.
"Yes." Callie coughed making the attendings around her laugh.
"Oh god, don't answer that!" Natalie hissed at him and almost pushed him back to his seat. Almost.
"It does the job." Mark replied and Natalie rolled her eyes.
"If one day, it wasn't there, wouldn't you want it back?" Catherine asked the plastic surgeon. "Or would you be satisfied with a reconstructed organ that has very little function?"
"Satisfied? No. But that's not the-"
"Kill me now!" Natalie said through her teeth and Callie gave her an encouraging smile.
"Neither would Ryan here." The older doctor interrupted Mark. "Yes, this is new ground. But here's a young man with his whole life ahead of him, with the will to live it as a whole man, with a bravery and selflessness to help advance medical science along the way. So let's give Ryan a hand. Come on. And now let's give Ryan a penis!"
"Yes!"
People started clapping and Natalie glared at Mark. "Can you not talk about your penis in front of everyone?" She asked and Mark raised his hands in defence.
"She started it!"
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"Catherine!" Natalie exclaimed as she walked out of the room and found the hospital's visitor. Catherine was chatting with Mark and Jackson. Mark was informing her that he was mentoring Jackson.
"My sweet Natalie, it's so good to see you again." The two women hugged. They had worked together in the past.
"You know my mom?" Jackson made a face, like his nightmare was only getting worse.
"Of course I do." Natalie huffed like it was obvious. "Now Catherine, I hope you're not giving my husband a hard time."
"Not in the slightest, I just asked him to scrub in with me." Catherine said making Jackson cross his hands on his chest in annoyance. "I gotta know my son's mentor. Congratulations for the job by the way. I hear you're doing a great job."
"Yeah" Mark agreed, "my wife is a great chief."
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But unfortunately Natalie couldn't stay and watch the surgery she was so looking forward to, because there was a situation and as a chief and a good friend, she had to take action. Zola, the baby Derek and Meredith were trying to adopt, was brought back into the hospital after having a seizure while in foster care. Arizona and Alex were working on the case, and even though they weren't supposed to tell them, Alex felt the need to do it. So the four of them ended up in a conference room, with Derek yelling about wanting to see Zola.
"Oh, thank god. Natalie." Arizona exclaimed when Natalie entered the room.
"Look," Natalie looked at Derek, realising how upset he was and she could completely understand why. "Arizona told me what is going on, and she is right. You can't see Zola."
"Natalie, stay out of it." Derek told her.
"She's probably terrified, and someone should be with her." Meredith added and bit her nails worried.
"She's sedated." Arizona comforted them. "She's not alone. I have a herd of nurses on a rotating schedule, holding her, singing her... we've got this."
"Did you try an N. G. tube?" Derek asked.
"The bowels are compressing the V. P shunt, and she's hypotensive, so we're taking her to the O.R." Arizona replied.
"Well, then I'm in there."
"Shepherd, you can't."
"I inserted the shunt. It's part of the problem. I should fix it!" Derek yelled and started pacing around.
"Are you out of your mind? The adoption lady's watching her like a hawk." Natalie reminded him. "They're looking for a reason to ding you."
"Where is she?" Derek asked.
"I will page you the minute that they are done." Natalie promised him. "I'll have Karev give you hourlies."
"Karev, look at me." Derek looked at the resident and he looked back at him. "Where is she?"
"Pre-op. 16-08." Alex replied and Arizona and Natalie freaked out.
"Thank you. I'm going there." Derek ran out of the room and everyone followed him.
"Shepherd, don't." Natalie cursed that she couldn't ran fast enough with the heels. "Derek. Derek, don't do this."
"You know how long the shunt had to have been malfunctioning for her bowels to have gotten this bad?" Derek yelled.
"Derek Christopher Shepherd!" Natalie screamed and Derek stopped and turned to look at her, knowing better than running away. "You're making a mistake! And I am not going to stand back and watch you lose your child."
"They didn't know what to look for" Derek added.
"Exactly, because she should've been with us." Meredith spoke for the first time. There wasn't much she could see as she was blaming herself for what happened. "And she's not, and that's my fault. And I may never sleep another night again because of that, but if there's a prayer of us getting her back, we have to just do our I's and cross our T's, not mess with the rules. Arizona is a great surgeon. Please don't make it worse."
"What is your plan on fixing this?" Derek asked Arizona much calmer than before.
"It's just kinked. Once I get in there, and I remove the adhesions. And I fix the obstruction, the shunt will be fine. Derek, I can do this. Let me do this." Arizona almost pleaded him and he finally gave in.
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Natalie met Derek in the staircase, just sitting alone with his hands on his face. "Hey." She said softly and sat down next to him. "I just left O.R. two. They've started. I brought you coffee."
"Thanks." Derek accepted the coffee. "I know I should be with Meredith. I see her pain, but I can't." He shook his head. "I can barely look at her. This is all her fault. Every time I think I've moved on, I've started to forgive her, something else comes up, and I'm right back where I was."
"I'm sorry Derek, but you two love each other, you're going to make this work and I know it's not easy. But sometimes it's worth it." Natalie squeezed his shoulder just to show him that she was there for him. They were each other's person after all.
"You're a good friend Nat. And a good chief I might add."
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"Hi baby girl." Natalie took Iris from the crib she was lying at at day care. "Mama's leaving early tonight because she wants to spend some time with you." The baby started smiling at her mother. "Mama loves you. Can you say mama?"
Iris started babbling, it wasn't like she was saying words, but it sounded like she said "mama" it was more like mam, but in Natalie's head, Iris was saying her first words.
"Yes, that's me, oh, you're mama's girl." Natalie exclaimed excited, after the day her best friend had, she truly needed to be with her daughters, so she decided that she could finish up some of her work at home and be with her family at the same time. "I am never letting anyone take you away from me, you hear me? No one!"
"Oh mama got you first." Mark entered the day care and saw Natalie holding Iris. "Hi sweetie." He kissed his daughter's head. "Hi my love." He then pecked Natalie lips.
"Mark, Mark she said mama." Natalie's look soften as she informed her husband about what had just happened. "I swear she said it."
"Yeah right, earlier she was babbling and she said dada. You came second." Mark scoffed, not accepting that Iris' first words were going to be mom.
"Whatever, you weren't here. So you can't take that away from me." Natalie said annoyed and started rocking Iris around.
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𝟘𝟠𝕩𝟘𝟞
"Hey, mom, wake up. It's a good day to eat breakfast in bed." Her oldest daughter's voice woke Natalie up that morning, she sat up and sighed, needing more hours to sleep. Her eyes were half open but she could see Amber and Mark in the bedroom and one of them was holding a plate with food.
"Morning." Natalie rubbed her eyes, completely forgetting that it was her birthday that day.
"Happy birthday honey." Mark kissed his wife cheek and put a tray with her breakfast in front of her. "We made you eggs benedict."
"Oh thanks." Natalie mumbled, still half asleep. "Where's Iris?"
"Napping." Mark informed her.
"Ooh. Try the eggs. The bacon is jalapeno-infused." Amber said, proud of what her and Mark had managed to pull of.
"For dinner we're making short ribs infused with cabernet, serve with cooked egg noodles and a homemade pan sauce." Mark informed her, they were supposed to surprise her, but it was better if she knew, in case she decided to stay at work late.
"I just want coffee infused with extra cream, just for a change." Natalie smiled and made a face when Amber feed her. "You guys know that I can't eat in the morning."
"No, yeah, but just try the hollandaise." Amber said ignoring her mother.
"I-I have to get ready. I have budget reports..."
"But this is your birthday breakfast, we woke up too early to make it." Amber complained.
Natalie looked between the two of them who were giving her the wide eyes look. "Okay, I'll eat, but I'm gonna need my coffee, please." She pleaded before taking the fork from Amber and started eating the food. "Oh, this is good. Thank you guys."
"Happy birthday mom!"
"We love you!"
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Natalie was passing by the nurse's station after a quick lecture at the fifth year residents. Lexie was following Derek and apologising about something. Natalie had recently decided that Lexie would be a good replacement since Meredith wasn't working with him anymore. Natalie had seen how well Lexie was doing at neuro and she didn't want that to go to waste. "I'm sorry. I will make sure that the scrub nurse separates your macrodissectors from your micros. I told her that yesterday, but she must have forgotten, which I know sounds like an excuse, and I am sorry for that too..."
"Lexie. Leave. Now." Derek said through his teeth, annoyed.
"Okay." Lexie walked up to Natalie the moment she spotted her. "Dr. Turner. I mean Chief, cause you're chief now and that is great really." And the girl started rambling. "They couldn't have found a better one, but you know I was wondering. Not that I am questioning you."
"I have things to do Lexie." Natalie sighed, not being a very patient woman.
"Okay, are you sure I should be at Dr. Shepherd's service, because I don't like him very much." Lexie admitted. Derek Shepherd was not an easy person to work with.
"I told you, he's going to be hard on you until you learn all of his quirks." Natalie reminded her.
"They're not quirks." Lexie argued. "They're these scary, nitpicky rules ... just to drive me crazy. Like what is the deal with him needing 16 towels in the O.R. at all times?"
"Well, if I give you all the answers, you'll never learn on your own."
"You're just as mean as he is." Lexie replied. "Respectfully." She added making Natalie laugh.
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"Nat, happy birthday!" Liam walked inside Natalie's office, ignoring the fact that she was on the phone. "I didn't get you anything you know, I was thinking about it, but then I thought what a more appropriate gift for Nat than a cup of coffee."
"Thanks, I got my own coffee machine." Natalie whispered and hold the phone so the person on the line wouldn't hear her. "Yeah, I am well aware of that." She said on the phone and Liam started making coffee at her coffee machine.
"Is it July yet?" Derek joined them in the office and Natalie shushed him. "'Cause I need a whole new crop of residents." He continued with a whisper.
"Huh. Lexie's still struggling?" Liam asked him.
"Oh, she's drowning." Derek informed him. "I didn't know how lucky I had it until Meredith was off my service."
"Don't you guys have things to do?" Natalie whispered at them annoyed. "Because I do." But their only reply was to pour some coffee and sit on her couch.
"Homemade maple-ginger scones." Mark announced as he entered the office next, holding a bowl of scones. Natalie pointed at the phone in her hands. "Try." He said quieter.
"Oh, no, no, no, really." Derek refused.
"I just had a big lunch." As did Liam.
"The scone's a very tough pastry to make. You have to be exact with the ingredients, the baking temperature ..."
"Hey, how is the house coming?" Liam ignored Mark who was rambling about scones.
"Oh, we're working on the drywall now." Derek replied.
"All right." Mark sighed. "I get it. I'm a bore. But Avery's doing all my surgeries, and I'm taking up cooking to keep my mind sharp for when the next big case rolls in."
But Natalie's yelling interrupted their little chat. "I don't care how long it's going to take, you better start fixing it right now!" She hung up the phone and shook her head annoyed.
"We should go, before she starts yelling at us." Liam whispered and Derek agreed.
"She can start yelling at me." Mark smirked at is wife when they were alone in the office.
"I swear I have to do everything by myself." She muttered and looked at her husband. She narrowed her eyes not understanding why he was looking at her like that. "What do you got?"
"Scones." Mark walked up to her and offered her one. "Try my scone Chief Turner. You know you want to."
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Mark knocked the door of his wife's office and saw her all stressed out with a pile of paperwork in front of her. "Chief Turner, I am heading out." He smiled at her, but Natalie didn't even bother looking up to him.
"Okay." She mumbled and started playing with the pen in her hands.
"Are you okay?" Mark walked inside and closed the door behind him.
"Yeah, I just can't finish this budget report. And I really need a drink." Natalie sighed and dropped the pen on the desk. She stood up and walked up to him needing a hug.
"Oh wait." Mark remembered. "I hid it when you moved in this office." He pulled out a bottle of her favourite whiskey and two glasses.
"Oh, you are the best husband ever!" Natalie exclaimed and took the glass. She took a sip and felt her inside burning up with joy.
"Better than your last one?" Only when he blurred out the question he realised how stupid it was, but he couldn't take it back.
"Honey, a pile of trash is better than my ex husband." Natalie gave him a point look. "Why are you bringing him up anyway?"
"Sorry..." Mark apologised. "you need anything before I go and prepare your birthday dinner?"
"No, I am okay, go get Iris." Natalie smiled softly, not remembering the last time someone had prepared her dinner for her birthday. And she felt the luckier person on the world. And she was sure that this time no one could take that away from her.
"Are you sure Chief Turner?" Mark asked with a hint in his voice. "You're looking a little stressed." Natalie followed him with her eyes as he moved to the window, closing the window blinds. "Now, I wouldn't want to leave the chief like that." He said and stood in front of her at the desk where she was leaning in.
"Did you have something in mind?" Natalie raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"My thoughts are too inappropriate to share them with you Chief Turner." Mark whispered in her ear.
And Natalie caught up to what he was doing rather quickly. "What if I command you? What if I tell you that I'll fire you if you don't tell me?"
"Well, then I guess I don't have a choice, I have to do anything you tell me."
"Anything?" Natalie gasped softly.
"Anything." Mark mouthed, his voice barely audible. But his promise was well heard.
"Well, how about you start by locking the door?" Mark did what she told him to. "Good boy."
"I never thought I'd hear you say that, fuck, that's hot." Mark chuckled in surprise, too happy about everything that was happening and were about to happen.
"Less talking and more undressing."
"Yes ma'am." Mark said and stood in front of his wife as he started unbuttoning his shirt.
"Oh" Natalie remembered, "but Mark, don't move anything from the desk because I know guys have this fantasy of throwing everything and it took me hours to pile the files in the right order and I am not spending the night of my birthday in here fixing it up, no matter how good the sex is. There is a perfectly good couch, or even the floor-"
"Honey, don't kill the moment." Mark interrupted her.
"Sorry, now it's my birthday, so you better act like it!" She ordered and then they were both a little too late for cooking dinner and budget reports or even taking their own daughter from daycare, but they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Too much in love to do it.
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ɴᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ꜱᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴋɪʟʟɪɴɢ ɪᴛ ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜɪᴇꜰ, ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ? ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀʀᴋ ɪꜱ ᴀʟʟ ʜᴏᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴏᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ɪᴛ! ʟᴏʟ
ɪ ᴀᴍ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙʀɪɴɢ ɪɴ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ꜰᴜɴ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ, ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ꜱᴇᴀʀᴄʜɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇɴ'ᴛ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ꜰɪɴᴅ ɪᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ! ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴡᴀʀɴᴇᴅ!
ʙᴜᴛ ᴀɴʏᴡᴀʏ, ɪ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɢʀᴇʏ'ꜱ ꜰɪᴄ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛᴡᴏ ɢʜᴏꜱᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ! <3