S2 EP12
CHRISTMAS IS A HOLIDAY that Norah used to look forward to, but not anymore, even if it meant extra surgeries available thanks to unusually high rates of accidents that occur around holidays.
The hospital was decorated with small Christmas trees every here and there, some green with ornaments and some created from blue and white surgical gloves.
The six interns were in a patient's room with Bailey and Derek. Tim Epstein, the patient, had his wife and all children in the room with him-there was literally a whole chaos going on inside.
"I was stringing Hannumas lights, and a shingle came loose," Mr Epstein explained; his children climbed on top of him, placing rubber lizards all over his hospital gown.
And that was what Norah disliked the most about Christmas. Kids.
"He fell twelve feet," Mrs Epstein informed.
"The good news is, my head broke my fall."
Derek nodded, and one of Mr Epstein's daughters flicked a rubber lizard towards his direction, which collided with his face. Norah had to bite the insides of her lips to hold back a burst of laughter, which got noticed by the attending. Okay, maybe kids are not too bad.
"Uh, there are no visible deformities, but he's definitely having some focal left arm weakness."
"He'll probably be fine," Mrs Epstein spoke, "He's always been a little hard-headed." Mr Epstein chuckled at his wife's words but quickly winced in pain.
"Does your head hurt when you laugh?" Derek asked, walking to the side of his bed.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Follow my finger with your eyes, please?"
Mr Epstein's son jumped onto the bed in front of the interns and sat up in front of Bailey. "I know karate," he said proudly with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Dr Bailey has motherly attractions," Norah whispered to George beside her, who laughed softly. The two received a hard glare from the pregnant resident, and their smiles fell instantly. "I'll shut up now."
Bailey frowned at the madness in the patient's room. "You know what? Your husband might need a little quiet," she suggested, walking towards Mrs Epstein, "so there's a cafeteria right down..."
"No, no, let 'em stay," Mr Epstein interrupted. "Pain or no, I don't want to miss out on the holidays with my kids."
"Dr Lawrence," Derek called, "Would you take Mr Epstein down for a CT?"
Norah nodded while she made her way across the room, ducking through the children's toys getting thrown from one end to another. One of the rubber lizards hit her eye. "Ow, f-"
Yeah, no. Kids are not fun at all.
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH SAT ON THE chair in the CT room, swirling in circles while she waited for the scans to come up. The door opened, and George entered the room. "My patient's... family, is loud, and I mean, loud." He closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall. "I feel like my eardrums are about to burst."
"The Epsteins have three kids, George. Three," Norah sighed. "They have rubber lizards attacking my face."
"Mine are adults, but they're so, too loud... like, baby adults. I should throw them out."
"Children and toys! Those two combinations are violent!"
They stared at each other for a moment before letting out long sighs.
"It's the holidays."
"Definitely the holidays."
The scans were up, and Norah stared at it, shaking her head. "That does not look good at all." She took the films and waved goodbye to George before heading out of the CT room to look for Derek. She asked a few nurses who were clueless, then roamed to a hallway where she found Derek and Addison in some kind of... debate? No, that is definitely not the word.
"I don't know," she heard Derek mumble, "Whatever, you know?"
"I thought you love Christmas shopping," Addison sighed. Norah was debating on whether to interrupt the two, so she just stood and leaned against the wall, silently wishing for one of them to end their conversation as quickly as possible.
"I'm just really not in the mood for it right now, okay?" Derek saw Norah standing there in the corner of his eyes with the CT scans in her hands.
"Okay, well, how about French food and Scottish catalogues tonight, around 9?"
"Um, well, I guess that depends. What time I get out of here..."
"Dr Shepherd," Norah called, not being able to witness their conversation anymore. "Neuro-Shepherd," she added when both attendings turned to her. "Mr Epstein's CT scans," she gestured to the films in her hands; Derek quickly walked towards her, eager to get away from his situation. "Subdural hematoma?"
"Yes, and that is... not great at all," Derek sighed, lifting the films by the light.
"Continue walking. I'm saving your arse," Norah whispered. "Even I couldn't keep watching you there."
Derek quickened his pace with the intern following next to him. "Mm-hmm, yup. Thank you. I owe you one."
❦ ❦ ❦
"MR EPSTEIN, SORRY TO uh... interrupt-" Norah dodged a ball that had just gotten thrown in her direction.
"Um, should we talk more privately?" Derek suggested.
Mrs Epstein shook her head and sat up from the bed. "No, just tell us," she insisted. "Is it bad?"
"The fall has caused a subdural hematoma," Derek informed.
"I don't even know what that means," one of the daughters spoke.
"It means your dad is um... bleeding, in his brain," Norah replied.
The attending nodded. "Look, there are some risks to the surgery. It has to happen before the bleeding gets worse."
"What kind of risks?" Mrs Epstein asked worriedly.
"See, the bleed is, uh, in an area of the brain that controls the speech and the motor control."
"We don't need operation, okay?"
"You know, Jake, I think we do," Mr Epstein comforted his son.
"Hey, honey, you know something else?" Mrs Epstein, crouching beside Jake, who was on the bed. "We have a doctor named Shepherd."
"Shepherd," Mr Epstein repeated. "Is that a sign from God or what?"
Norah snorted and immediately faked a cough, turning around to face away from the family. She covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from laughing out while Derek glared at her, obviously weirded out by that comment. "Stop laughing," he whisper-yelled.
"Sorry, I'll head out," her voice cracking from chuckling out. "Shepherd."
❦ ❦ ❦
AFTER HAVING TWO craniotomies performed on Mr Epstein, he was finally awake and back to his right self. His family had come back to visit him; his wife kissed him while he hugged his three children tightly.
Thank Santa there were no more rubber lizards.
Norah stood outside their room at the nurses' station; she was filling in Mr Epstein's charts when Derek rounded the corner. "Drinks?" he asked, ready to head out.
"Christmas in a bar is depressing," Norah refused the invitation.
"Well, Christmas alone is worse," Derek smiled, "Nice work in the OR today, by the way."
"Cheers."
"You'd be great in Neuro. Just putting it out there," he grinned. "Thought about a specialty yet?"
Norah smiled at him, "Merry Christmas, Shepherd."
He nodded. "Merry Christmas."
❦ ❦ ❦
WITH DEREK'S WORDS STILL in her head, Norah headed to the interns' locker room, where she found the five other interns who were packing up, ready to head off.
"Alright, spending Christmas alone is depressing," she spoke up, "I know a place with delicious turkeys and hams, and lots of booze, anyone up for it? It's an hour drive away."
"I'm retaking my boards tomorrow," Alex stated.
"Don't be a chicken, study with the turkeys," George said, raising his hand at once. "I'm in."
"I'm in, too."
"And me."
"Damn it. I have to decorate a Christmas tree with Burke..." Cristina grumbled.
"How do you know a place an hour away?" Izzie queried.
"Because I live an hour away," Norah replied. The interns stared at her. "I know-I'm moving into a new apartment soon!"
❦ ❦ ❦
S2 EP13
"HOW EXACTLY ARE you paying for this place?"
"I saved up."
"Two bedrooms? And a balcony? As an intern?" Izzie questioned as she readjusted the furniture in the living room... again. "Wow. Are they paying you more than us?"
"I bet it's daddy's money," Alex guessed, lifting the last box into the apartment.
"Jealous much, Karev?" Norah smirked.
Norah had finally found a new apartment over the New Year that was much closer to the hospital and a way quieter neighbourhood. Meredith, Cristina, George, Izzie and Alex all agreed to help her move in, with the condition that they were allowed to snatch off any surgeries from her if they wanted to. As much as Norah hated the idea, she knew she could not move all of her things by herself.
"You have a mini-fridge... just for alcohol?" George was amazed, looking through the shelves and cabinets in the kitchen.
"Free booze?" Cristina asked, kicking an empty box to the pile of cardboard by the door. "We are so wrecking this place tonight."
"It's a date, then," Norah winked.
"Are dogs allowed here?" Izzie asked; Meredith snapped her head at her. "Maybe Doc could... visit? Just visit."
"We are not giving Doc away, Iz!" Meredith protested, reaching for a bottle.
"No furry animals are allowed here," Norah stated, "And Mer-no tequila. We have to be in the hospital in 20!"
"Now that you live five minutes away from the hospital, your place would be our go-to place to crash in," Meredith said, slowly putting the shot glass back to where it belonged.
"Be my guest," Norah shrugged, "There are two bedrooms and a couch."
"A large and comfy couch," Izzie corrected.
❦ ❦ ❦
"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE, new year, new rules," Webber announced to the crowd of surgeons gathered at the lobby of the surgical floor, "Or should I say, new year, and we will be enforcing the rules mandated by the residency review committee."
The surgeons were whispering to one another curiously. "There were too many mistakes made last year. Fatigue played too big a role," Webber informed, "Exceeding 80 hours per week will not be tolerated."
Several eyes went wide in the crowd, especially the interns. "Does that mean we actually get to have a life?" George whispered.
"Sullivan, you were on-call for 28 hours, leave when you hit 30. Grey, you were here to two a.m. last night, see you at noon. Lawrence, you were on-call 20 hours for five days straight, round up and leave in an hour."
"I get to go? Free time?" Meredith asked in disbelief.
"Run before he changes his mind," Alex warned, and Meredith left immediately.
"What do I do with only an hour?" Norah asked.
"Scut," Alex joked. "You live five minutes away."
"Oh, and, people, our nurses are gonna have to work extra hours to compensate, so treat them well," Webber reminded, "Cranky nurses don't do us any good."
Bailey rounded up her remaining interns-Izzie, George, Alex and Norah-with a patient's chart under her arm. "I have a heart transplant patient, who-" Before she could finish her sentence, four hands shot up in unison, all eager for a case. "Uh... Lawrence."
Norah pumped her fist in the air, but before she could take over the chart from Bailey, Izzie stopped her. "I'm snatching it." Bailey stared at the blonde intern with a raised brow.
"I helped her move into her new apartment. We had an agreement that we're allowed to snatch a surgery from her if we want it," Izzie explained, "And, Norah was meant to leave the hospital in an hour, Dr Bailey. Says the residency review committee."
Bailey stared at Izzie, then at Norah, and back at Izzie again. "Fine. Your case, Stevens." She handed the chart to the other intern. "Finish up your rounds, then go home, Lawrence." The intern nodded with a sigh.
The five of them made their way down the hallway and entered one of the rooms, where a man lay on the hospital bed. The patient grinned when he caught sight of Bailey. "Denny Duquette," Bailey smiled.
"Hey, Dr Bailey," Denny greeted.
"I hope seeing you here means that they finally found you a heart."
"No offense, Doctor, but I'm not a big fan of hospitals," he joked. "It'd take something pretty special to get me in here."
Bailey turned to look at Izzie. "And what do we know about Mr Duquette?"
"Capricorn, single, loves to travel and cook," the patient spoke, his words directed to the blonde intern.
"Denny, be quiet. Let her show off."
Izzie looked down, smiling and shaking her head gently; Alex frowned at her. "Denny Duquette, 36," she started, "Admitted today for a heart transplant necessitated by a viral cardiomyopathy."
"And what does that mean?" Bailey asked.
"That his heart is unable to fill and pump blood normally."
"Good. Denny, this is Dr Stevens," Bailey introduced. "She'll be tending to your private surgery."
"So I guess I'll be seeing you around, Dr Stevens," Denny grinned at the blonde.
Norah noticed the unamused look on Alex's face as Denny flirted shamelessly with Izzie, his eyes now trailing behind the intern walking out the room. Norah dragged Alex along with her as they walked off after Izzie. The interns left Denny's room and stood at the nurses' station while waiting for their resident to finish checking on the patient.
"Gotta hand it to the guy, trying to get some action when he's practically a corpse," Alex deadpanned.
"Alex, he's just trying to be nice," Izzie retorted.
Norah shook her head, "Very flirty."
Bailey and George walked out of Denny's room, and they started walking down the hallway to finish their rounds. Norah, Izzie and Alex had to quicken their pace to catch up to them.
"No one enforced an 80-hour-work week when I was an intern," Bailey muttered, "110, 120 hours suited me just fine. I learned more 'cause I worked more."
"Well, at least this way, you get a rest before you have the baby," said George, and he received a glare from the resident. "I mean being that pregnant, keeping up this pace..."
"What are you saying? I look tired, O'Malley?" she questioned.
"No, not... not tired, no," George shook his head. "You look fresh, spry. You glow."
"O'Malley, go do an intake on Addison Shepherd's patient," Bailey instructed. George walked off, and Bailey turned to the three remaining interns.
"You do glow," Izzie said.
Norah nodded, "Very brightly."
"Like the moon," Alex added.
"You can spend the day in the pit, Karev," Bailey ordered, turning to Norah.
"Dr Bailey, I can-"
"No, you cannot," Bailey cut her off. "Your one hour is up, Lawrence. You know what to do."
Norah spent a long time wandering in the hospital before her legs finally brought her to the locker room, where she changed out of her scrubs. Even in her casual clothes, she was still in the hospital, chatting with nurses at their stations and buying some of them coffees-until she received a death glare from Bailey.
The resident made sure she personally saw the intern walking to the elevator to ensure that she was leaving the hospital.
"Heading off?" Addison asked as they waited for the elevator.
"80-hour limit. Residency something committee," Norah replied.
The elevator bell ding-ed, and the doors opened. Derek and Meredith stood inside, both of them looking at each other with smiles on their faces. Their smiles dropped immediately upon seeing Addison standing in front of them.
"Hi," Derek greeted.
"Bye," Meredith blurted out before stepping out and walking away hurriedly.
Addison stepped into the elevator, and Derek looked at Norah. "Are you, um, gonna come in?" he asked.
"And be drowned in that... awkward tension within those four very narrow walls?" Norah smiled at the pair. "Cheers, but I'd rather jump off the building-have a nice day!"
She turned to her side and jumped backwards, whispering cuss words-Bailey was scowling at her with her hands on her hips.
"Lawrence, go home and enjoy your day!"