S2 EP7
NORAH SLUMPED OVER the nurses' station with George, Cristina and Izzie, waiting for their resident or a page, preferably the latter. She yawned, rubbing her eyes to get the tears away.
How she wished to lie down on a gurney at this exact moment...
"Meredith's become like an exhibit," George voiced out, "Like a zoo animal, like that rare panda that everyone stares at."
Izzie sent him a grim look, shaking her head slightly. "Please don't say that to her face," she advised. "I think that panda died alone."
"It did," Norah confirmed.
George sighed, "I'm just saying, we should do something to cheer her up."
"Don't worry about it. It's under control."
He glanced at the two women curiously, his brows furrowed. "Wait, what do you guys have going on?"
"Nothing," Izzie and Cristina answered in unison.
George turned his head to the brunette, who shrugged back at him. "I don't-" she yawned again, "-know, no."
"Long night?" Izzie asked.
Norah narrowed her eyes at her. "If you mean what I think you mean, then no," she replied, "My neighbours, however, they were really getting at it last night... I need to move out of there to somewhere quieter."
"You live by yourself?" George queried.
"Mm-hmm."
"You rent an apartment? By yourself?" he asked again, and the brunette nodded.
"Don't you have your student loan to pay off?" Izzie asked out of curiosity.
"Nope," Norah smirked. "Full ride scholarship."
"Harvard Med School and a double degree of Psychology and Biology before that," Cristina recited, and Norah stared at her, surprised.
"She looks up all of us," George explained.
"Only those I find competitive," Cristina smirked, and the two other residents rolled their eyes. She turned back to the brunette, her eyes narrowed. "One question-are you and inbred?"
"Uh, pretty sure I'm not..." Norah shrugged, "I mean, I was adopted."
❦ ❦ ❦
"MRS KIMBERLEY Griswold. History of heart disease and multiple surgeries. In for a beating heart quadruple CABG," Cristina presented, right before Alex walked in to join them.
"You're late," Izzie noted.
"Yes, Karev, nice of you to join us," said Burke. "Why keep the heart beating, Dr Yang?"
Cristina looked at Izzie and Meredith hesitantly before turning back to the attending. "I don't know," she replied, earning surprised looks from both Burke and Bailey.
"What?"
"I have no idea," Cristina claimed, her voice sounding forced. Norah, too, had found it odd.
For her few days here, she had already known that Cristina was some sort of 'Cardio God' among the interns; hence, for her to not know something about a cardiac patient seemed very unlikely.
Bailey snapped her gaze to Izzie. "Oh, I don't know, either," said the blonde, shaking her head, "I just don't."
"Because of-ow." Meredith was about to speak up when Izzie elbowed her, throwing her a look to stop her from answering the question. Norah and George shared a suspicious look regarding their three suddenly-dumb friends.
"Anyone else?"
Alex spoke up, "Stress reduction because of the previous surgeries-"
"O'Malley," Burke interrupted.
"I know... I know the answer," Alex claimed.
"I'm asking O'Malley."
"Scar tissue's too deep. The heart's too weak to start up again," George answered.
"So, what should we do? Lawrence?"
"Only immobilise the portion you're working on and leave the rest of the heart on its own," Norah responded at once.
Burke nodded at the both of them and handed them the patient's chart. "Welcome to the case."
❦ ❦ ❦
"OH, HEY," NORAH CALLED out as she stepped into the elevator with Meredith, Cristina and Izzie, who had their eyes glued onto a thick chart in Meredith's hands. "What do you guys got there?"
"A pregnant man," Izzie announced proudly.
Norah's mouth gaped open. "A pregnant-what?" Now she knew why Cristina and Izzie could not answer Burke's question-they were refusing to answer him. "Where did you find a mystery case like that?"
"We kinda stole it from Psych..." Izzie trailed off.
Norah stared among the three. Oh, how she would kill to be on that case. "That's actually brilliant."
"Wanna place bets?" the blonde intern suggested. "We've been collecting from all over the hospital. Highest bid is a tumor, which is lame."
"Uh, no thanks. I'm good," Norah sipped on her coffee. Cristina sneakily snatched the drink over, taking a sip from it; her eyes instantly narrowed at the taste of it.
"What the hell is this?"
"Bone dry cappuccino."
"Ew."
Norah let out an offended scoff. "Return it, then."
The elevators doors opened, and the four of them stepped out, still flipping over the chart, looking over it excitedly.
They went into a complete halt as they ran into Derek without noticing. Meredith froze while Cristina and Izzie's defence mode went on; Norah held back a snort.
"Hi. Hello. Hi. Morning," Derek greeted each of them, and his gaze landed on the currently-famous intern in the hospital. "Meredith. Maybe we could, you know, uh, talk?"
Cristina and Izzie gave each other a glance. "No," they replied in unison, putting on their most polite smile towards the attending before hauling Meredith away from him.
"Okay..."
Norah watched as Derek's eyes followed her as they walked off. "Shepherd, you're a bloody idiot," she finally laughed out.
The neurosurgeon scowled at her, finding his situation unamusing. "It's not funny," he deadpanned.
"No, no, indeed, it's not," Norah agreed, clicking her tongue, "It's sad, really. Hilarious, even."
"Yeah, yeah..." he rolled his eyes, knowing very well of the intern's humour. "It's been what, six months? We need to catch up."
"My cardiac patient's scans would be up any minute now."
He nodded with a smile. "Soon, then."
The elevators doors opened again, and more people came out. Addison stepped out and saw the two; Derek, too, had noticed her presence and the smile on his face seemed to drop partially. Norah turned her head and saw the red-headed surgeon, who walked towards Derek and laced her arm in his.
"Lawrence, this is uh... my wife; Addison, Dr Lawrence, one of my interns from New York," Derek introduced. Addison narrowed her eyes, staring at the intern up to down.
Norah sipped on her coffee. "Oh, not in that way if that's what you're worried about." Derek shot her a glare, which she shrugged off with a smirk.
"Ah, yes, you're the intern who specialises in wrongly-timed humour," Addison acknowledged, and Norah gave her a curious look. "Those were Derek's words, not mine," the former added.
The intern snapped her head at the neurosurgeon, who returned her with a guilty look. Just as she was about to retort, her pager went off: from George; Mrs Griswold's scans were up.
❦ ❦ ❦
"THE GRISWOLDS ARE A huge pain in the ass," George ranted as he and Norah walked down the corridor heading towards their room. "Like, why would you be with someone who makes you unhappy?"
"Self-torture," she guessed. "At least their marriage is lasting long, isn't it? Maybe that's just how the world works? Happy people have a short time; unhappy people last a lifetime..."
George furrowed his brows at that concept. "That's... twisted." Opening the door into Mrs Griswold's room, he had a bright smile set on his face despite his complaining just a minute ago.
"Hello, Mrs Griswold, I'm here to take your blood pressure," he informed. Norah went to sit Mr Griswold on the bed opposite his wife's while they waited for the blood pressure to get taken.
"Could you make sure that they get the breathing tube out of my throat right after surgery this time?" Mrs Griswold told her husband. She let out a wince and snapped at George, "Are you trying to cut off my circulation?!"
Mr Griswold sighed, "He's just doing his job..."
"What did you say?"
Mrs Griswold's sudden raise in her voice lifted the tension in the room. The two interns gave each other a cautious look; Mr Griswold had finally had enough of it.
"I said, he's just doing his job."
"Oh, dear..." Norah muttered.
"Well, I don't really care whose job he's doing. He's squeezing my arm off," Mrs Griswold snapped. "Are you just gonna sit there?"
Mr Griswold took a deep breath and snapped, "Shut up, Kim." George and Norah's eyes widened; his wife looked at him questioningly. "Just shut up, huh?"
"Hey-" George tried to interrupt, but he was quickly cut off. Norah tugged on his sleeve to pull him away from the couple's bickering. The two interns backed off to the wall while they waited for them to stop.
"You complain to me, about me, around me," Mr Griswold barked, "All day! Everyday! A little silence would be nice. A few measly minutes of quiet."
Norah noticed Mrs Griswold's heart rate rising on the heart monitor and nudged George. "Oh, no... Mr Griswold, you should-"
"Can't you just for once in your life just-shut up!" he yelled.
❦ ❦ ❦
"OKAY, LOOKS LIKE Mrs Griswold is doing well," Burke informed as he continued immobilising her heart in the OR. The patient had to be rushed in for an operation after being yelled at by her husband.
"The husband's blaming himself," George muttered. "One second, his wife was okay, and now she's in here," he lifted his eyes to Norah, "Is that just how the world works?"
"The world is a weird place," Norah shrugged as she suctioned the blood from the patient's open chest.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a situation caught all medical personnel in the OR off-guard-Mrs Griswold's heart was on fire!
"Code red!" Burke shouted as the surgeons took a step back from the table.
"The heart... it's on fire," George mused.
"Wow," Norah blinked, staring at the flames, more impressed than alarmed.
"We have to save Mrs Griswold," Burke announced hurriedly, "Begin fire protocol."
"On it," George and Norah replied. George headed for the saline while Norah went to the side of the OR, and she began to disconnect the electrical leads.
"Any unnecessary personnel in this room, evacuate now! Shut down the O2."
"I got the ambu bag," Norah informed. "Starting manual respiration."
To say she was amazed by the whole situation would be an understatement. Her internship in Seattle Grace was getting more interesting, day by day.
"I gotta control this bleeding. O'Malley, I need some hands here," Burke requested, gesturing George over. "Her vitals are stabilizing. We might just have a chance."
Norah looked up to the gallery while squeezing the ambu bag. The doctors there were all on their feet, gaping at the unexpected situation, their expressions wild.
"She was on fire," Norah whispered to herself under the mask, still unable to believe what had just happened. "Mystery case!"
❦ ❦ ❦
A VERY CONCERNED Norah and George were sitting opposite of Mr Griswold in the waiting room; Burke was hiding a smile at him.
Mr Griswold had burst out laughing upon hearing that his wife caught on fire whilst being operated on, and survived. He looked back and forth between the three surgeons, unable to control his hysterical laughter from coming out of himself.
"She's never gonna die!"
"Uh, Mr Griswold?" Burke called out, "Mr Griswold."
"Mm-hmm?"
"I know this is an emotional time for you. Um, if you would like to wait-"
"Wait? No, no," Mr Griswold interrupted as he stood up from the couch. "I'm not waiting any longer." He thrust the bag into George's hands, the latter looking at it in confusion; Norah held back a laugh.
The old man then grabbed his coat and started walking off. "You tell her," Mr Griswold spoke, "Tell her... Hell-tell her she'll survive without me!"
The man started laughing again and wandered to the elevator; he saluted the three surgeons who just sat there, watching the man step into the elevator and leave. Burke walked off shortly after, leaving the two interns who sat there, amused.
"Well, it seems like even unhappy people last a limit, eventually," Norah chuckled, standing up from the seat. "That's just how the world works."
"Uh... Any idea what do I do with this?" George asked, lifting the bag in his hands.
"Return it to its rightful owner, I guess?" she suggested, and he nodded in agreement. "You know, I'm certainly needing a drink after all this, you joining?"
He stood up immediately and darted to the elevators. "After I return this-wait up!"
❦ ❦ ❦
JOE'S BAR WAS BUSY, just like any other night.
Norah, George, Cristina and Izzie sat side by sat at the counter, the blonde counting the betting money they got that day. The former took a shot of whisky, allowing the fiery liquid to go down her throat.
"485 dollars worth of tickets," Norah stared at the money in surprise. "That's just... brilliant."
"And more," Cristina smirked, pulling out another wad of cash from her back pocket. The four interns, along with Joe, chuckled.
Meredith walked in and took the seat next to Izzie. "Hey, Joe," she greeted.
"Hey."
Everyone kept quiet and continued sipping on their drinks while Joe poured one for Meredith. "So you guys really don't have anything else to talk about."
Cristina, Izzie and George sighed, "No."
"We could talk about the rare panda," Norah shrugged; the four of them turned their heads to her.
"I'm a rare panda now?" Meredith mused, shaking her head while she took a shot of tequila. "Are we talking about the same panda that died alone?"
"That's the one," Norah confirmed. "Kinda depressing, to think of it. But at least the panda was cute... Chubby, and cute."
The five of them burst out laughing, clinking their glasses together, then downing their shots of alcohol. Their attention turned elsewhere when Alex wandered into the bar through the door and walked right up to Izzie.
"What?" the blonde asked, staring at the determined look on his face. He dipped her backwards off the barstool and kissed her passionately. The four others were cheering and wooing; Norah wolf-whistled at them.
Alex pulled her back up, a smile tugging his lips. "Goodnight," he said, before leaving through the doors again.
"Seriously," Izzie said breathlessly.
Norah took yet another shot and pointed at the blonde. "Go after him, and you'll be having a hell of a long night," she smirked.
Izzie took a large gulp of her drink while the rest of them continued laughing, high-fiving each other, and Joe poured them shots after shots.
❦ ❦ ❦
S2 EP9
"YOU HAVE TO STOP BY the house later," Meredith said as she put on her shoes. "Izzie was ready to kill me when I left for the hospital this morning."
"I don't celebrate Thanksgiving," Norah refused as she shrugged on her scrub top.
"Well, I don't either," Meredith sighed. "Do you know how to cook?"
"Um, yes...?"
"Then you have to come over. I don't want trips to the toilet to puke myself out later tonight."
"Isn't Izzie doing the cooking?"
"She not a cooker, she a baker. And George had gone off turkey hunting with his brothers and dad."
Bailey walked in and looked at her two interns. "Grey. We're working with a temp attending today," she informed, "Dr Kent... He's subbing in from Mercy West. We need to get him orientated."
"What about me, Dr Bailey?" Norah asked, raising her hand while she got up on her feet.
"You had just done a 25-hour shift," Bailey narrowed her eyes, "Go home. Go celebrate Thanksgiving with your family."
"My adoptive mum is dead, and adoptive dad is back in London," Norah blurted out, "Also, my birth mother dropped me off like a Thanksgiving basket before I could blab." Bailey frowned at her. "Too dark for the holidays?"
"Alright, fine. Stay if you want. Go help out in the ER and maybe get yourself some surgeries," Bailey instructed, and Norah's face lit up almost at once. "No stealing surgeries! Holidays lead to alcohol, which leads to violence, and people get hurt. The stupidity of the human race. Be thankful for that."
Meredith and Norah stood up and followed behind the resident as they left the locker room. "And thank you for coming in, both of you. Saving me from having to choose interns to torture," Bailey added.
"Happy to be tortured," Meredith cheered.
"Not a fan of Thanksgiving?" Bailey asked.
"Not a whole hell of a lot to be thankful for."
"And you, Lawrence? Besides the whole... parent issues."
"Well, I'm thankful for my hands for always being by my side," Norah shrugged, clipping her pager on the waist of her pants. Meredith snickered while Bailey just rolled her eyes.
❦ ❦ ❦
"AND MY SON, MY SON IS in San Diego for a business meeting. A business meeting-on Thanksgiving! Could you believe that?"
"I'm sure it happens, Mrs Lane," Norah replied with a smile. She was suturing the opened skin on the old lady's forehead; her grandson was waiting beside the bed. The teenager was pacing around anxiously, mumbling to himself and sweating profusely.
"Will my Granny be okay?" he asked with his arms on either side of his waist. "I just-my helicopter malfunctioned and it hit her! I swear I did not do it on purpose!"
"Freddie, it is not your fault," Mrs Lane reassured calmly, holding her grandson's hands.
"Mom and Dad are gonna kill me... I'm gonna die on Thanksgiving..."
"Freddie, sit down and take deep breaths, okay?" Norah requested. "It does more harm than good to your grandmother if you continue pacing around like that."
Freddie nodded and obediently sat down on a stool alongside the bed. Norah let out a deep breath. Finally. Truth be told, he was only distracting her from suturing with his constant blabbering and pacing, foot-tapping and nail picking.
The curtain behind her was pulled open, and the three of them stared at the attending standing there. "Ooh, that is one handsome man," Mrs Lane noted, and Derek smiled back at her.
"What are you doing here on Thanksgiving, Shepherd?" Norah asked as he walked up to her side.
"I needed a, uh... distraction," Derek replied, "And I might be able to wake up a patient who was minimally conscious for 16 years."
"With Meredith," Norah peered at him knowingly. "What? Gossips travel faster than you think in this hospital. Besides, you're all... smiley."
"You are taking your time with the sutures, aren't you?" he asked, changing the subject as he quirked a brow at the intern.
"Well, Mrs Lane here does not want a big ugly scar on her face, does she?" Norah smiled at the old lady.
"Absolutely not," the lady replied, "I want whatever beauty is left on my wrinkled skin."
"Oh god, will my Granny have a scar?!" Freddie shrieked.
"I can assure you, Dr Lawrence has one of the best suturing skills among any other interns," the neurosurgeon told the teen, "You're in good hands."
"Yay me!" Mrs Lane grinned.
Derek eyed the intern, who had her full attention on perfecting the suture on the old lady's face. She sometimes reminded him of a certain someone, but even the thought of that person was enough to ruin his holiday mood.
"Well, this was obviously not my Neuro consult," he cleared his throat, "I better get going. See you around, Lawrence. Happy Thanksgiving."
Norah hummed a reply, mainly because she was too concentrated on the stitches. It took Norah another five minutes to finish suturing the lady's forehead.
"Well, Mrs Lane, we're done here," she placed down the tools and removed her gloves, tossing them into the bin. "Come back in a week to remove the stitches, and your forehead will look like it never had to come here, to begin with."
The old lady smiled and gave the brunette a tight hug; Freddie thanked her repeatedly, his pale white face finally coming back with colours.
❦
NORAH STROLLED AROUND the hospital, greeting nurses and radiologists along her way to grab a coffee. With a cup of large cappuccino in her hand, she found herself in the tunnels, where Alex sat on a deserted gurney.
"Skiving Thanksgiving too?" she spoke up, causing Alex to jump a little as he shoved the note pad in his hands aside.
She walked over to him, only to notice the many medical books opened and scattered around him. The note pad that he shoved away filled with lines of notes in untidy handwriting.
"Yeah, yeah. I failed my medical boards. Big deal!" Alex groaned, right as she was about to speak.
"Well, it is kind of a big deal," Norah sipped of her coffee. "I can help you study if you want," she suggested, and he stared at her curiously. "Well, Karev, not to rub it on you, but I aced every exam I took."
"Except your intern exam."
She sent him a glare. "I graduated high school at 16, got two degrees and finished med school by 26. I even took a gap year," she recited; Alex looked back at her with widened eyes, visibly impressed.
"The only reason I'm still standing here, offering you a hand, is because it's Thanksgiving," she deadpanned. "Now, do you want to pass your boards, or do you prefer to say goodbye to your surgical career?"
Alex did not waste another second as he moved a few books aside to let Norah sit on the gurney beside him. "Do not tell anyone else about this, Lawrence. I mean it."
"Got it," she replied and snatched over his notepad. "Why do men have such big ego?" she mumbled to herself, flipping through his notes.
❦ ❦ ❦
IT WAS ALREADY NIGHT time when Norah met Meredith again on Thanksgiving day. "I heard about the case you were working on," she said, walking towards her locker in the corner of the room, "How's your patient?"
"He died," Meredith let out a long sigh, "Derek's with his family right now."
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"You're close with him, aren't you?" Meredith spoke up, "With Derek? He mentioned that you're from his old Practice back in New York."
"Yeah, but we're strictly co-workers. Not everyone gets in attendings' pants," Norah winked, stretching her back; Meredith snorted at her reply. "You know, I basically assigned myself with scut work today, instead of sharking for surgeries... I feel daft."
"You also helped Alex study," the blonde added, and Norah looked at her. "He told me. That was nice of you."
The both of them turned their heads to Cristina, who had just walked by; she stared back at them in shock, her look similar to the two other interns.
"What are you doing here?" Meredith asked. Just then, George walked into the locker room. He did a double-take when he saw Cristina, his eyes widening as he noticed Meredith and Norah were there, too.
"Oh... This is beyond bad."
Norah sighed and closed her locker. "Will there be booze?" she queried, and the other interns looked at her. "If there is, I'll join."
❦
THE FOUR INTERNS drove to Meredith's house; Norah was carrying two bags of different alcohol. They walked up the front porch, and George unlocked the door.
Together, they walked into the living room, where the table was already set up with plates of dishes; Izzie and Burke sitting on either end of the table.
"Happy Thanksgiving. We brought booze," Norah voiced out, placing the two bags on each table.
She took the seat between Cristina and Izzie, and George walked to the opposite of her, leaning down to Izzie as he whispered, "Today I committed bird murder and I was forced to touch my Dad's ass. I get extra points for showing up at all."
"Let's eat," said Izzie, her face glowing up unlike before.
The five of them then started to dig in on the Thanksgiving dinner; though the food was cold, it still had its taste that did not disappoint after their long day in the hospital.