"I KNOW YOU ALL HAVE heard a lot of rumours, and I'm sorry for that. And what I'm about to say will be hard to hear, and I'm sorry for that as well. The economic climate is... Well, you all know what it is. In the coming weeks, Seattle Grace Hospital will be merging with Mercy West.
"I wish I could tell you you'll all survive the merger, but there are only so many jobs. And the board and I have some tough decisions to make. I'm on your side, people. I'm rooting for every one of you. All I can say is: please, be at your very best."
❦ ❦ ❦
S6 EP3
NORAH CAUGHT UP TO Meredith and Cristina, who stood anxiously and stressfully as they waited for the elevator.
"I talked to Callie last night about the residents at Mercy West," Cristina shared, "She said they don't suck." The elevator arrived, and the three of them stepped into the tight space.
"You're safe because of Derek," she told Meredith. "You're safe because of Sloan and that you're Derek's best student," she told Norah, who shrugged back at her.
"Izzie's safe because of cancer. Alex is Bailey's new favourite," she scoffed in disbelief, "You know, even George would've been spared because he's Owen's guy. Cardio has been a revolving door around here, and no one's got my back."
"So Arizona is your cover?" Meredith asked.
"She's merger-proof. She keeps little kids alive. No one likes a dead kid," Cristina replied truthfully, "Plus, they're under anesthesia half the time. How bad can it be?"
Norah raised a brow at Cristina's random confidence. "They're pocket-sized humans, Cristina," she reminded, "They attack you with rubber lizards, then expect you to give them candy. They're literal spawns from hell."
"Hmm... But you know what else is hell?" Cristina queried, and Norah looked at her curiously. "You and Sloan. I live right across the hall and can hear-"
"Ah," Norah waved her off with a smirk, "But I call that heaven."
❦ ❦ ❦
"YOU KNOW, WE REALLY should get some sleep before rounds," Meredith suggested.
"Sleep is for wimps," Cristina disagreed, "Sleep is for Mercy West residents."
"I've just finished scrubbing in on a shunt replacement. I'm pumped for some trauma right now," Norah added.
They leaned against the nurses' station in the ER, waiting for the phone to ring so that they could get dibs on a trauma case. Yet their attention was caught by Alex, who walked up to them with an alarming expression. "Don't say anything about the wig," he whispered urgently.
"I'm back," Izzie declared as she rounded the corners, "Yes, I am early, but whatever. I'm back." The three residents took a step back as they stared at her hair, trying their best to hide the horror on their faces. "And because I've been gone so long, the first trauma that comes through those doors, it's mine. Got it?"
Alex shot the three women a look that pleaded them to not burst out in laughter. As badly as they tried, they struggled to keep their eyes off the notably distracting wig. "It's amazing, right?" Izzie asked.
"What?"
"What's amazing?"
"Huh?"
"The wig," Izzie pointed out the obvious.
"Oh, it looks so real, I couldn't even tell," Cristina claimed, playing it off. Norah was clamping her mouth shut beside her, trying to force away a smile.
"I've always wanted to try out being a redhead, so I just thought now's the time."
"What's wrong with your own hair?"
"It's peach fuzz chemo hair," Izzie replied, "I really wanted to put my patients at ease, make them feel comfortable."
They nodded, and Cristina carefully whispered to the two other residents, "She looks like a Stepford wife. Someone's gotta tell her."
"She can't handle it," Meredith stated with an awkward smile plastered on her face. "Just don't stare."
"You look like a Stepford wife, Iz," Norah spoke, and both Alex and Meredith snapped their heads to the brunette; Cristina snorted out loud. "You know, the ones with a passion for, um... cleaning?" the brunette scratched her head while Alex shot her a glare, "It was Cristina's words."
"You-traitor!"
❦ ❦ ❦
"HEY."
"Hey back."
Timothy set down his tray of food opposite Norah, with Lexie next to him; the latter had an exhausted and hopeless look stuck on her face as she stabbed her fork into her salad. Norah raised a brow at her brother, signalling to his girlfriend next to him.
"She's worried about the merger," Timothy explained, "I mean, we all are."
"I dropped bags of blood all over the floor today. Then I lost a schizophrenic patient," Lexie ranted and shoved a fry into her mouth. "Oh my god-I am gonna get cut off the program, aren't I? I'm gonna get fired when the merger happens then I'll be jobless, a-and I'm gonna lose my friends, and-"
Timothy cut her off with a quick kiss. "Nobody's losing anybody," he reassured, handing her his bowl of fries.
"I don't know, sounds 'fire-able' to me," Norah shrugged in a singsong tone, causing Lexie to panic more and shove another handful of food stressfully into her mouth.
Timothy glared at his sister. "Not helping at all, Nor."
"So you two are... officially together now?" the curious sister asked, "Like-finally? Because I may or may not have bets to collect..."
Lexie's cheeks were slightly red, and Timothy nodded. He snorted at her blush, earning a quick smack from her.
The empty seats next to them quickly filled in with the three familiar faces. Each of them looked pale or tired-most likely had not slept for more than a day, which seemed to be a new norm in all the residents.
"Alright, first off, I am no longer your resident, and you pale faces are no longer my ducklings. So if one of you screwed up, that's on you," Norah spoke, pointing her spoon at the three of them.
"No, we didn't screw up, Dr Lawrence," Nina assured, "But um... Do you have any notice about the merger?"
"Other than what you lot know, no," Norah replied, shaking her head. "Why do you ask?"
"Because... uh... you know..." Jace spoke hesitantly.
"Basically 'cause you and Dr Sloan are a thing, so we wondered whether you might know something more than we do," Kirian finished Jace's sentence, patting the latter on the back.
Norah narrowed her eyes at the three of them and slowly put down her pudding cup. "Lee, Thompson, Rook... Are you three worried?" she raised a brow at them, and they nodded stiffly in response.
Jace scratched his head with a hesitant smile. "Y-Yeah, I mean... I-It's possible that we could-"
"I've raised you gits better than this!" she snapped, causing the younger resident to jump a little, his eyes wide. "Come on, you lot-all five of you here-are the tops of your year. So, go worry about how you're gonna comfort your friends who'll get cut, and shove your doubt up your arses."
They nodded wearily at the older resident, and Timothy laughed, "Nice speech, Nor. Very mother-like."
The second-year residents snorted, and Norah returned each of them with a glare, which shut them all up instantly. They went through their cases together while having their lunch in the cafeteria.
Norah had an odd sense of pride seeing her then-interns now becoming residents.
❦
MARK WAS STARING AT HER from afar, watching her laugh among the residents at her table. Derek crept up to him from behind and startled him, causing the plastic surgeon to roll his eyes at the other.
"Look at her," Mark spoke in awe, "The ducklings love her."
Derek followed his best friend's gaze before nodding in agreement. "Very mother-like," he commented.
Mark turned his head to Derek, his eyes narrowed. "She would slap you if she heard you say that."
"Oh no, she won't," the neurosurgeon smirked, "I'm her mentor, and she wants Neuro cases."
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way round," Mark claimed, "She's your best student, and you can't wait to teach her everything you know."
Derek sighed and nodded with his hands on his hips. "Alright, you're not wrong. She's a natural and a literal genius."
My little genius, Mark smirked to himself.
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH, CRISTINA, ALEX and Izzie walked in a group as they approached Meredith at the nurses' station; the latter had a nervous look on her face as she clutched her phone in her hand.
"What's going on?" Alex asked, "You paged us."
"Check your e-mail," Meredith answered steadily.
"For what?"
"HR. If you got cut, you'll have an e-mail."
Their eyes widened as they immediately took their phones from their white coat. Norah was quick to tap into her e-mails; although she had an odd sense of confidence after 'scolding' the second-years during lunch, she still silently crossed her fingers while waiting for the screen to load.
"I didn't get one, but I've been calm through this crisis. I have been calm," Meredith continued, "But if one of us gets cut, I will not be calm."
Norah scrolled a few pages-relieved when there was no new mail.
"No e-mail."
"I'm fine."
"I'm good, too."
"I'm safe."
"Good! See? I knew it. I knew it," Meredith exclaimed, "I knew none of us would get cut."
"Yet," Norah added crassly, "This is just the first round."
She placed her phone back into her pocket before taking off and speeding away from the nurses' station. She wasted no time in heading to the residents' locker room.
There were few-many, actually-residents who were already in tears. Some were staring into oblivion, and others were comforting each other.
Norah turned her head and found four of five residents she was looking for-one of them was hyperventilating in the middle of the four. She walked up to them, her eyebrows furrowed; Timothy gave her a smile that made her partially relieved, knowing that her brother was safe from the cut.
Nina shook her head next to Jace, who had buried his face in his palms; Kirian soothed his back with a tight-lipped smile. Norah raised a brow at them. "Did he..."
"No," Kirian replied, which caused Norah to be even more confused than before.
"I'm safe," Jace sobbed out, "I'm j-just... It scared the hell outta me-oh my god."
Norah exhaled heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. "For god's sake, you scared the crap outta me, Thompson!" she snapped at the man before turning to her cackling brother, "Tim, what about Lexie?"
"She's still in surgery," Timothy replied, "I'm sure she's safe, too."
Norah nodded. "Thompson, if you're gonna scare me like that again, I'll personally kick your arse off your behind," she threatened, and Jace had finally sucked back his tears, nodding. Kirian, Nina, and Timothy snickered at the snappy older resident.
She shook her head at them and turned around; Mark was leaning against the doorframe waiting for her. She walked up to him and leaned up for a kiss. "I'm safe," she mumbled.
"Of course, you are, little genius," he grinned as he deepened their kiss, but she tugged him off before it got intense. "Very mother-like back there," he joked, and she shot him a glare.
Timothy caught up to them before they left. As they walked down hallways after hallways, they met a crowd of crying staff members, especially nurses.
Mark shook a few of their hands, wishing them well and so on. Norah felt sorry for them, too, and hugged a few since she had been close with the nurses since her first day in the hospital. Timothy was handing fist bumps and high-fives to literally everyone.
"Ryan, my man," Mark spoke as he shook a male nurse's hand, "I'm sorry to see you go."
They exchanged a few more words before Ryan walked over and hugged Norah-a little too long in Mark's opinion. When they finally let go of the hug, Ryan's face was a little pink with a shy demeanour taking over him.
Mark raised a brow at her when the nurse walked away, and Norah chuckled at the jealous look on her boyfriend's face. "He hands me the best cases," she stated.
"Uh-huh..."
"Because he had a crush on her in her intern year," Timothy clarified with a smirk, and she snapped her head to him. "What? He told me," he shrugged innocently.
Mark narrowed his eyes down at his hand, then back up to Norah, who had burst into laughter. "Ugh... Should've told me earlier..."
"Where's the fun in that?" she winked back as they reached the nurses' station, where Derek, Meredith, Cristina, Owen and Lexie were at.
Lexie gave Timothy a big hug, and both their faces brightened up, knowing that they were safe from the cut. Cristina was looking burdened because she got kicked out of Pediatrics.
"I have an idea."
❦ ❦ ❦
FOUR PAIRS OF COUPLE stood at the corner of the baseball field, and a large cooler filled with beer sat on the sandy ground. Cristina had the baseball bat in his hand and Derek with the glove crouching near her.
"I'm sorry, I don't have time for games," Cristina muttered, "I have to get back to the hospital."
"She's right," Meredith agreed, "She does have to go back to the hospital."
"We're not gonna talk about the hospital," Derek spoke up, walking over into his position. "We're here to play baseball."
"And drink beer," Mark added while passing along the bottles of beer to everyone. "Drink your beer."
Timothy got the cap off his bottle and swapped it with Lexie's unopened one. "How can I drink beer when all my friends just got fired?" she grumbled but still took the beer that got handed to her.
"You know, I'm sorry. I'm leaving," Cristina started to walk away, but Owen stopped her. He helped her put on the protective gear and pulled her back in front of the machine.
"Now hit the ball!"
"I don't want to hit the ball," Cristina grunted in frustration. The ball still shot out despite her protest, and she jumped backwards slightly, both shocked and surprised at the speed of it. Everyone was amused as the woman stammered.
"What, are you trying-" Cristina shook her head before getting into position reluctantly.
"You need to stop thinking about what's gonna happen, and you need to focus on what is right in front of you," Owen voiced out.
"Come on, Cristina! Hit the ball like they're Peds cases!" Norah shouted.
Lexie coughed on her drink before furrowing her brows at the older resident. "That was... dark," she commented, and the Lawrence siblings shared a laugh.
When the ball launched again, Cristina managed to hit it into a distance. Everyone was cheering loudly at her success; she was thrilled, screaming in excitement as wide grins grew on everyone's faces.
Norah gave Timothy a nudge; the latter raised a brow at her, and the former pushed him over to the pit. Cristina handed the bat to the younger man, and he got into position quickly, with a competitive smirk painted on his face.
The machine shot out the ball, in which he hit it smoothly; the group watched as the ball flew far away towards the other end of the field. Everyone was cheering at his shot. Lexie's eyes widened in shock while Norah smirked knowingly, sipping on her bottle of beer.
"Tim was a hell of an athlete back in high school," she told the younger woman, who glanced towards her curiously. "Swim team, track and field, and baseball captain."
'Wow' was all Lexie could say as she stared at her boyfriend with stars in her eyes.
"Watch this," Norah smirked as she picked up one of the baseballs on the floor. She took her stance then pitched the ball towards Timothy. Derek had yet to register the incoming ball when the younger man had already caught it in his hand.
"Norah-not the face!" Timothy barked back with an unamused scowl before hurling the ball back at her. Norah quickly darted out of the way and took cover behind Mark, who chuckled at her.
"Women like men with quick reflexes," she grinned as Lexie blushed slightly; Meredith and Cristina stared at them, both silently agreeing.
"Is that so?" Mark whispered by her ear, and she dismissed his question with a kiss to shut him up.
The man grinned foolishly at her, and they clinked their beer together, swaying as the surgeons enjoyed the rest of the night.