S8 EP21
"I FEEL SICK."
Norah had her hair tied up in a messy bun while she ran from one place to another in their apartment. Mark was watching her concernedly while he helped her pack her luggage.
"This is bad, oh my god," she shrieked while dropping the bag of toiletries into her suitcase. "Why the hell did I even think that packing the morning I'm supposed to fly out is a good thing?"
"Norah, you gotta stop freaking out," Mark tried. "You're good. You have everything you need here already. Your suit is ironed, you have an extra set of clothes, your heels are tucked away cleanly, your toiletries are packed, you even have your flashcards and your many folders in here."
He zipped up her suitcase and furrowed her brows when she continued pacing around the bedroom. "I think I'm forgetting something," she stated, racking her brain to recall what was it she had forgotten.
"Hey, look," he held her steady as her eyes searched his, her shoulders relaxed a bit when she met the blues. "If you can't think of it, it's probably not important anyway," he reasoned. "Take deep breaths."
She did so and felt her body unwound a little-before tensing up once again. "Oh crap, what if-"
"Nuh-uh. You're just psyching yourself out."
"What if Kai misses me?" her voice came out small, her lips curled downwards.
He sighed before taking a step closer to her, his hands cupping both sides of her face. "I'll video call you every day, okay?"
"What if-"
He cut her off by crashing his lips to hers, feeling her stiffened body loosening as he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist. "Kai is with his cousin right now, and we have a few-sacred-minutes to spare," he mumbled, backing them up, "And I know how to clear your head."
Her knees hit the edge of the bed, and she fell backwards, her back hitting the soft comforter. Their kiss was heated up instantly-only breaking apart when he pulled off his shirt-but connected once again, eagerly.
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH HAD KAI SITTING on her hip when Timothy walked up to them. He rested his chin on his sister's shoulder while the little boy placed his hand softly on his uncle's face.
"Boop," Timothy chimed as he nudged the little boy's nose with his. Kai let out a shy giggle and buried his face in Norah's neck while his uncle smirked.
"Remember, if you're gonna freak out, think about the beach. Bright sun, warm sand, the sound of the waves," Timothy reminded. "And I'll be waiting for you to come back and tell me that you've fucking crushed them all."
"Oi-baby here!" Norah hissed at him while she covered Kai's ears. Timothy sent her an apologetic grin, and she smirked, "But trust me, I will."
"All the best," Lexie spoke up next to him, giving the older resident a side hug.
"Ah, thanks Lexie," Norah grinned. "Our hard work-definitely gonna pay off."
"Are you nervous?"
"Nervous? Not really. Mad, however? Yeah, kinda," she replied, and Lexie raised a brow at her. "Look around."
They saw the many attendings at the ambulance bay, who were wishing their residents good luck as well as giving them last minute advice; Lexie and Timothy both snorted at Norah's scowl.
"Either your Uncle Derek is entirely confident with your Mama, or he's a baboon who couldn't bother to show up," she mumbled to Kai, who stared back at her.
Timothy clapped her on the back with a chortle. "Shep's entirely confident with you, absolutely," he reassured, "He's a baboon who's entirely confident with you."
"Yeah, hope so."
"Know so," Lexie corrected, and Norah smiled back knowingly.
"Alright, Kai Jr., come to your Uncle Timmy," Timothy lifted the child from Norah's arms. She took the boy's hand out of his mouth and placed a kiss on his cheek before she went to find her boyfriend.
"Now, have salmon for dinner," Mark voiced out beside Jackson, "And tell room service to make sure it's not frozen. You lose omega-3s if it's frozen." Jackson half-heartedly nodded while texting on his phone. "Avery, are you listening to me?"
"I'm trying not to," the resident admitted truthfully.
"Alright, how are you on cash?" Mark queried, holding up a wad of bills in front of him. "I figured you needed some." Jackson merely blinked before accepting it, thanking him oddly.
"But you make sure you treat my girlfriend well with that," the attending added before sending his resident up the shuttle. He then turned to Norah, who had a brow raised at him. "Oh, come on, are you jealous?"
"Nope," she grinned, "Why should I be?" She rested her head on his chest while he had her in a tight hug.
"You're gonna do great, Laurie."
"I know," she stated with a grin. "But when you see Derek, tell him he's a bloody jerk who can't send off his favourite resident."
"Wow, he's not here?" Mark scoffed lightly before lowering his head for a kiss. "Don't worry. I will kick his ass when I see him."
"You better," she sighed. "I'll see you in three days. You make sure that Kai bites on the teething toy and not his blanket."
"Mm-hmm," he responded with a nod.
She narrowed her eyes with a finger pointed at his face. "Don't even think about trying to feed him ice cream."
"Got it..."
"Mark, you better put him to sleep on time and not play with him the whole night," she threw him a stern look, and he nodded sheepishly.
"I'll... keep that in mind."
"Alright, I love you!" she muttered to him while walking off to the shuttle.
"I love you more." He grinned proudly back at her as she placed one last kiss on Kai's head before boarding the shuttle. The smile stuck on his face was incomparable to the immense amount of fluttery in his chest.
"Remember the beach!" Timothy yelled, and she merely rolled her eyes at him with a wave.
"What's at the beach?" Mark asked the younger man curiously while carrying Kai from his uncle.
"Hm? Oh, that's our little secret," Timothy chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder, leaving the plastic surgeon to wonder puzzlingly.
❦
NORAH WALKED STRAIGHT to the back of the shuttle bus and sat on the empty seat. She had plugged in her earphones and played a random song while waiting for the rest of the fifth-year residents to take their places.
"H-How... How are you sleeping?" April quirked a brow at her with a stammering voice.
"Well, for starters, I sleep with my eyes closed."
The redhead stared at the brunette blankly. "Aren't you like... I don't know, nervous o-or something? I-I mean, this... this is the American Board of Surgery we're talking about, a-and-"
"April, I just had some steaming good sex this morning," Norah cut her off curtly. "I'd advise you get some action, too. Really helps with the nerves."
Cristina snorted before turning to the brunette. "Sweetheart, she's a virgin."
"Oh, right. My bad."
Jackson narrowed his eyes and leaned forward from his seat. "Is that why Sloan gave me this cash, knowing that I'm... an Avery?"
Norah peeked open an eye and chuckled at him. "Guess so."
❦ ❦ ❦
"HOW DO YOU DO THAT?" Alex questioned April, who had just gotten flipped off by a man. "You've been here, like, two minutes."
April slumped down on the couch in the waiting hall of the hotel. "My examiner is gonna hate me, too, instantly."
"Don't psych yourself out," Cristina told her.
"One in five people fail the boards," April deadpanned.
"Ooh, so at least one of us here is gonna fail, huh?" Norah pointed out, and April looked horrified.
"It's just a test," Jackson tried easing the situation, "We've all dealt with worse. No one's bleeding out on your table. We will be fine."
Meredith had stepped away from the group of six, dragging Cristina along with her. The pair dove into a conversation away from them while the other four residents continued their talk.
"Actually, we will not be fine," Norah spoke again, and the others turned their attentions back to her. "Really. I mean, do the math. If there are a hundred people here, twenty of us are gonna fail."
Alex and Jackson both furrowed their brows as they took in her words, realising the worst of the situation. "Dude, you're not helping," the former deadpanned.
"I know," she smirked before feeling her stomach grumble. "Hey, are you guys hungry? 'Cause I am."
April stood up from her seat with an alarming look still on her face. "I... We should go register then get some lunch," she suggested, "I'll get Meredith and Cristina."
Norah shrugged and dug out a few chocolate bars from her bag, tossing one each to the two men sitting around her. "We're all gonna pass," she mumbled, more to herself.
Was she nervous? Quite. Maybe. But her way to calm her nerves was to make other people feel even more nervous than her-that way, she could assure herself that she was perfectly fine.
Cruel, but effective.
April shrieked loudly, causing the three of them to snap their heads to her. "Y-You have the stomach flu?!"
"Mer has the what?!"
"Zola has the stomach flu," Cristina yelled back at them.
The three of them got up from their seats when Meredith puked into the trash can next to her. Cristina had held her hair back but was pulled away by April once her best friend had done retching. The five of them now stood in a line opposite Meredith, who had a guilty look on her face; Norah was slowly backing away from them.
"Zola has the stomach flu, and you didn't say anything?" Jackson demanded.
"How could you?" April stared at her in disbelief. "A-Are you trying to sabotage us all?"
"It's not like it's the black plague!" Meredith tried reasoning but still received accusing looks from her friends.
"You are supposed to be our friend!"
"Oh, April, calm down-"
"Y-You stay right where you are, Typhoid Mary!" Alex snapped at Meredith when she tried to take a step closer to them.
She rolled her eyes with a sigh before squinting at the resident standing a distance from them. "Is that really necessary, Norah?" she queried, staring at the brunette who stood at least twenty feet away from them. "You're being as dramatic as Mark!"
"No, no, I am not risking it!" Norah shook her head ferociously, "And please don't gag, because I'll feel like puking, too."
"Come on," Alex sighed, still keeping his distance from Meredith, "Let's go register."
❦ ❦ ❦
"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, oh my god, oh my god-"
Norah was freaking out. Big time.
The four other residents-excluding Alex, who went back to Seattle-stood by the door of her hotel room. They were all dressed and ready to head down for breakfast. They had stopped at the brunette's room; she was currently searching frantically for... something.
"Please don't tell me-" she screeched when she failed to find it, "Oh no, oh no-this is bad. I think I'm gonna cry."
"Norah, we can't help you if you don't tell us what you're searching for," Meredith voiced out, watching the brunette worriedly.
"A-And whatever it is, i-it couldn't be that bad, right?" April asked though she was pumped with nerves.
Jackson nodded slowly and added, "You brought your brain. That... That should be enough."
Cristina rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the wall, striding up to Norah. She held her on her spot, her hands holding the brunette's face. "Sweetheart, use your words," she demanded, staring at the strained hazel eyes.
Norah had barely been able to get much sleep the entire night from overthinking. And when she overthought enough, her mind decided to play an evil trick on her and reminded her about the thing she had forgotten to bring-
"I-I think I left my, um, antidepressants back in Seattle," she gulped, her voice quivering.
The room went quiet, and everyone's eyes widened; Cristina dropped her hands and nodded. "Yup, this is bad," she stated firmly. "Somebody get Sloan on the phone right now."
❦
MARK WALKED UP TO Derek at the nurses' station; the latter turned his head to him briefly before returning to his charts.
"You know, Norah was pretty pissed at you yesterday for not sending your favourite resident off," Mark spoke up, and Derek raised a brow at him curiously. "She called you a 'bloody jerk'."
"Zola has the stomach flu."
Mark stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Alright, fine, understandable," he shifted from one leg to another, his eyebrows furrowed with his words stuck at the back of his throat.
Derek clicked his pen before returning the chart to the nurse with his eyes narrowed at the other attending. When the plastic surgeon started tapping his foot anxiously, he sighed. "What?"
"I... have a question."
"Yeah?"
"Well, um..." Mark scratched his neck nervously, "I don't really know whether you're the right person to ask... but at the same time, you're... sorta the only person to ask?"
"Just to point out, you sound like Tim when he got Callie pregnant," Derek raised a brow at him curiously. "But go on."
Mark drew in a deep breath, mustering the string of words out of his lungs. "HaveNorahevermentionedtoyouaboutmarriage?" he blurted out, feeling his ears heating up.
Derek took a while to process his words. "Why would she? I'm a married man," he quirked a brow at Mark, who blinked at his reply.
It took the neurosurgeon another moment before the words sunk in. "Oh." Mark was running a hand through his hair now, staring at the other attending's stunned face. "Oh, wait," Derek snorted, "Last night..."
"Yeah, no. Let's not talk about last night," Mark sighed awkwardly. "But I wanted to-god, I wanted to so bad," he exhaled, "But uh... I don't want to freak her out, and she was... already quite freaked out from the whole boards thing."
He lifted his eyes to meet Derek's. The neurosurgeon had his brows furrowed back at him.
"W-What?"
"This feels weird to say, but..." Derek clapped him on the back, "I am proud of you, really."
"Oh, thank god-I thought you were gonna punch me again," Mark breathed out, shaking his head. "I... I need answers, Derek, really need answers."
"That woman is totally in love with you, Mark. You have nothing to worry about," Derek replied with a smirk. "Find the right time, the perfect occasion and the perfect place. And then get down on one knee and pop the question."
Mark nodded, mentally taking notes. "Okay..."
"But, just to remind you," Derek smiled back at him, "Meredith and I got married on a Post-It, so my advice might not be reliable."
"Ugh," Mark sighed and rolled his eyes. His phone rang in his pocket, and he took it out, reading the contact on it. "Oh, look who it is."
"It's seven in the morning," Derek glimpsed at his watch. "Why is she calling?"
"Only one way to find out," Mark shrugged and answered his phone, putting the call on speaker while he held it between him and the other attending. "Hey, Laurie. Derek's with me, and you're on speaker."
"Maaaaaaaark-"
"Well... that does not sound good," Derek commented and glanced at the worried plastic surgeon.
"Norah, what did you do?" Mark asked, but a loud scoff responded through the phone.
"No, no-it's what did I not do. Do you know what did I not do? Bring my antidepressants. 'Probably not important' my arse, Mark Sloan, I did not pack my bloody antidepre-"
"Alright, stop pacing and take deep breaths," he cut her off and heard the footsteps coming to a halt on the other side of the phone, followed by long deep breaths huffing in then out.
Derek narrowed his eyes, "That's actually bad."
"Shut up. You're not helping," Mark snapped at him before bringing the phone closer to himself. "Norah, listen. First off, you're one of the best residents I've known in my life. You're a genius, and you can literally pull a straight face in any serious situation. You'd do great."
There was a long pause on the other side of the phone, and both the attendings shared a puzzled look. Mark checked to see whether the call was still on, and it was.
"Laurie?"
"What the fuck," Norah's voice deadpanned, "I'm calling Tim-"
"Okay, wait, hold on," Mark tried again, "You never needed the meds for exams and stuff, right? Only one item was by your side every time. Where's your lucky coin?"
"I... holy fucking crap-I didn't pack the coin either!" Norah shrieked, "I knew I should've double-checked my stuff before heading out of our place-"
"Wait, Norah-"
"Mark Everett Sloan, I swear to god, I am withholding sex from you-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, stop right there," Mark's eyes widened, and Derek snorted next to him. "I packed it," he spoke through the phone, "Check the inner compartment of your suitcase. There's a small zip behind the larger one."
They heard some shuffling noises, as well as the other residents chattering in the background. A loud thud was followed by the sound of zips being pulled.
"Oh, found it!" Norah informed delightedly, and Mark exhaled in relief. "Ooh, the one-dollar bill is here, too!"
"One-dollar bill?" Derek questioned.
"Remember Isaac's spinal tumor?"
The Neuro attending's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh, wow. It didn't end up in a vending machine?"
"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p'. "Oh, hey, you're still a bloody jerk, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got the message," Derek chuckled.
Mark pulled his phone closer to himself. "Alright, Norah, you good now?"
"Mm-hmm," she replied through a bunch of shuffling noises. "For god's sake, Cristina, return me my deodorant-Oh, thanks, Mark. Tell Kai I love him. Bye!"
"I love y-" The call ended on the other end, and Mark stared at his phone screen with a sigh.
Derek patted him on the back with a suppressed smile on his face. "Don't worry. My wife does that to me as well," he chuckled, "And your future wife will, too. That's after you find the right time to propose, of course."
"Hmph."
❦ ❦ ❦
THE SURGEONS WERE getting called, one after another, and they entered their respective exam rooms.
Norah bounced her leg nervously while sitting on a chair outside the many rooms. She was fidgeting with the coin in her pocket with the one-dollar bill tucked away in another.
Her mind was blank... but in a good way. Which meant that her head had not started coming up with worst-case scenarios with her ended up fainting in the middle of the test-oh great, now she was thinking about it.
"Sweetheart, you'll be alright," Cristina reassured her.
Norah lifted her head to Cristina and Meredith sitting opposite her. "I'll be alright," she repeated, taking a deep breath in before exhaling.
The door next to her chair opened, and a tall woman stepped out with a clipboard in her hand. "Honorah Lawrence."
The brunette held back a squeak as she felt her breath hitching and her heart hammering. She exhaled deeply, clearing her lungs while she held her wrist to feel the faint beats-a rhythm she very well needed.
She stood up and turned to the woman whose eyes met hers. The taller woman in her mid-50s had a frighteningly straight posture, some greying under her dark brown hair and a pair of fierce hazel eyes.
"Good morning, doctor, my name is Angelina Chapman," she introduced herself with an accent mixed with London and Boston.
Norah blinked at the woman's name. It definitely rang a bell somewhere, but what spooked her was that it rang a bell not because of being a neurosurgeon. It was familiar in a part of her life way before surgery.
"Good morning, Dr Chapman." She shook the cold hand extended to her, feeling slightly alarmed at her resemblance. But she remained a straight face, adding a smile to it.
The older woman smiled back; the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes and the warmth of her smile somehow eased Norah's puzzled mind.
And then it hit her-the familiarity of the name was a past flooded back in her life.
Angelina Chapman, her head examiner, was her birth mother.