S8 EP23
"WHERE ARE WE WITH Avery?" Owen asked after writing down large words of 'AVERY' on the whiteboard.
"Holding offers from USC, Penn, Tulane and Emory," Mark replied as he turned on his chair towards the chief. "Tulane and Emory are in love. They want him bad."
Owen nodded and wrote another line of words on the board. "Grey?"
"Uh, still between Boston and Seattle," Derek responded firmly.
"If I'm gonna lose one of my talented residents and my top neurosurgeon, I'd love a decision sooner than later."
Derek sighed, "You and me both, Hunt."
The chief shook his head and wrote another name on the board. "What about Lawrence?" he asked, looking at both the neurosurgeon and the plastics surgeon. "Does either of you know?"
"I got a lot of calls... She has gotten offers around the country," Derek shared, "And one in Canada."
"Mm-hmm, but it's a tight decision between UCSF and Hopkins," Mark added with a grin on his face while he spun a pen in his hand.
"Wait, Seattle isn't in-this hospital isn't in her options?" Bailey piped up on her seat, causing the plastics attending to turn to her.
"She never really brought up Seattle..." Mark furrowed his brows with a shrug. "Well, look, UCSF offered a staffed lab to help with her many research articles, and Hopkins is basically throwing money at her. And what would she get here besides a higher pay from a resident to a fellow?"
The attendings in the conference rooms had fallen silent, and he folded his arms in front of his chest. "I'm just saying, if you want her to stay, you gotta present a better offer."
"How I wish I had money thrown at me when I was a fellow," Derek chuckled, "I'd definitely go or stay at wherever that is."
Mark nodded with a grin, knowing that the neurosurgeon was also trying to psych the chief into making offers.
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH WAS SITTING AT the kitchen island, shuffling through the papers that she had laid out on the countertop. The teaspoon was juggled in her mouth and a bowl of melting ice cream next to her.
"Kai's asleep. What're you doing up?"
She lifted her head to see him pushing himself off their bedroom's doorframe and walking towards her with a sleepy face; shirtless, with his hair messed up. "Decisions, love, difficult choices."
He wrapped his arms around her shoulder from behind, and she leaned her head back on his shoulder. "Seattle isn't in your options?"
"It is, actually, 'cause Kai's only six months old, and moving from one place to another seems like a lot for him," she sighed, pulling out a paper from under one of her files. "But too many bad things happened here, you know? I almost died here twice... possibly thrice, and then there's... I just lost too many people here."
"Alright," he voiced out and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Just pick anywhere you decide is best for your future. Then, the three of us could move into a house instead of an apartment. Kai can grow up in a big house with a backyard and even a pool. What do you say?"
She turned to him with a solid nod. "I say it's perfect," she smiled, "But please don't build it like what Derek's doing. I love you, Mark, but I really don't trust you to build a house given that you can't cook a meal without burning the pan."
"Fine," he muttered back bitterly, looking offended. "Hunt still wants your decision ASAP, though."
"I know. That's why I'm sitting here and thinking."
"And eating," he added through a yawn. "Ice cream?"
"Sweet tooth," she shrugged and turned her head to him. "You want some?"
Glancing at the liquefied dessert, he shook his head. He stared at the many papers and letters on the table, then at the hampers and gifts sent from hospitals around the country that were piling up in their apartment. He rested his chin on her shoulder while his eyes landed on a suspicious item.
"What's that?" he nudged towards the card on the edge of the table.
"Oh, that?" she picked it up, her eyes scanning the name and contact number on it. "My birth mother-"
"Your what?"
"Birth mother. You know, the one who gave me away in a basket? She, who apparently was my examiner for my boards," she shared, and he stared back at her blankly. "She asked me to call her if I want us to know each other."
He rested his chin on her shoulder again, the both of them staring at the card in her hand. "Well... Are you? Do you?"
She shrugged lightly, making his head go up and down along with her movement. It was an offer she could take up, sure, but she never had a thought of finding the woman ever in her life.
"No turning back," she quoted with a soft exhale. "I love the life I have now. You, Kai, everyone else I've gotten to know and love. So, no, I'm not gonna call her."
She put the card aside, along with the papers in the discard pile, feeling him planting a trail of kisses up the side of her neck. She chuckled lightly as she raked her hand through his hair, feeling his face burying onto her shoulder with a soft hum.
"Alright, come on, big boy, let's get some sleep."
❦ ❦ ❦
MARK HAD HIS HANDS ON his hips as he waited for the elevator. It ding-ed, and the doors opened; the other attending in the elevator was just the person he wanted to see least.
He stepped in with a loud sigh, standing next to Derek, who smirked at him. "So, how's the proposal going on?"
"I almost did three nights ago," Mark admitted before letting out another sigh. "But then... I didn't."
"You didn't?" Derek shook his head and coughed back a laugh, earning a glare from the plastic surgeon.
"Okay, I was going to, and then she came back from San Francisco and hugged me like... like a koala bear. And then I just..." Mark gave up on elaborating his excuse and shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't."
"Mm-hmm..."
"She's gonna freak out," he insisted. "You know, these questions keep popping in my head, like... W-What if she turns me down? Or what if I'm taking this a bit too fast? Or what if she thinks I'm only proposing because we have a son together? Don't get me wrong, I love her, and I want to be with her, but the whole period of us apart killed me. I-I like the way things are now, but at the same time, I want more-I want a lifetime with her."
"Okay, stop-you're the one freaking out, and you sound like you're proposing to me right now," Derek rolled his eyes at the blabbering attending. "Mark, she's not gonna turn you down-at least I hope she won't," he joked, and Mark grimaced. "And as for whether it's too fast-"
The elevator door opened, and there stood the woman in question with a wide grin on her face. "Ah, my second and fourth favourite humans in one place!"
"-you should just ask her," Derek suggested with a sly smile as the resident entered the elevator with a confused look on her face.
"Hm? Ask me what?"
"N-Nothing," Mark claimed and smiled back at her.
"Ask that..." Derek started, and Mark's eyes widened twice their sizes, sending him a threat to kill. "...that you're coming with us to Boise."
Norah narrowed her eyes at his words. "Just last night, you picked Lexie for the trip, and you threw me all your Neuro cases," she reminded with a scowl, but before Derek could speak, she held up her hand to cut him off. "Alright, Mr Hypocrite-"
"I'm gonna you stop right there before I change my mind," he laughed, pushing her hand down. "Pass my cases to Nelson because this morning's scans showed that both the twins will need spinal decompression after separated. So, since you're now a Board Certified neurosurgeon-"
"Oh-hell yes!" she yelped; her eyes glowed, and a grin settled on her face. "Geez, can I hug you?"
Derek raised a brow at Mark briefly before chuckling at the brunette. "Only if I'm no longer a 'bloody jerk'," he grinned, holding his arms open.
Norah snorted before diving in for the hug; Mark smiled softly to himself at her excitement over the upcoming surgery. "Wait, crap," she frowned while loosening from the hug, "What about Kai?"
"Torres and Robbins can babysit him," Mark suggested. "We'll just be gone for a day. Two, max." She thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"Gather at the lobby before ten tonight," Derek informed.
"Ugh, it sucks that you're going to Boston," Norah grunted, furrowing her brows at the neurosurgeon. "Sucks more that Boston withdrew my offer for you."
"I'm the Dr Shepherd. What did you expect?"
She rolled her eyes at the attending, just as the elevator stopped at the next floor. "See ya, both of you," she grinned before turning to her boyfriend, "Love you!"
The doors had closed before he could say it back. He let out a long exhale while Derek laughed out beside him. "She might love me more than you if you don't hurry up with the ring."
"Just... shut up."
❦ ❦ ❦
"WE CAN ADD SPAGHETTI Wednesday to the list of things I'm not gonna miss about this place," Jackson stated as he set his fork down next to his plate.
"Yeah? Look at Alex there who's on his what, sixth plate?" Norah snorted while Alex shoved the spaghetti noodles into his mouth, mumbling some words with his mouth full.
"Chocolate cake for lunch?" Jackson cocked a brow at her.
"I'm eating what I like before I say bye to this place," she shrugged as she took a bite of the cake. "And right now, chocolate cake, because somehow it looks extra tasty today."
"Hey, I hear Stanford has a farm-to-table chef," Meredith turned to Cristina, "You can text your order right from the OR."
"Well, I'll factor that in," Cristina nodded as she made a mental note. "I still haven't made my decision."
"Well, it's gotta be Stanford. Where else would you go?"
"I don't know. I might stay," Cristina replied. "Everything's on the table."
"She like-a the spaghetti, too," Alex mocked in a horrible accent, causing everyone to burst into laughter except April, who looked bitter. "Oh, Norah, are you taking the offer at Hopkins?"
"Tough choice between Hopkins and USFC," the brunette stated and pointed her fork at him. "You're taking it, aren't you? I heard their cafeteria has their own nutritionist."
"So we're gonna be co-workers again?" Alex smiled at the thought, and Norah chuckled.
April's phone rang, causing their discussion and laughter to fade off. "2-1-2. It's New York," she stared at her phone. Despite her friends' encouragement to pick up the call, she shrugged and returned to her food. "Bad news is only bad news if you pick up the phone."
Cristina looked at the rest of the group before sighing and reaching for the ringing phone. She answered the call and pressed it against her ear. "April Kepner speaking," she imitated in a squeakier voice. "Oh, really? Okay. Okay. Oh my gosh. Okay. No, no, no, no. No, thank you."
The other residents looked at her interestedly. "They... They didn't pull my offer?" April asked hopefully, but her hopes were shattered almost at once.
"Oh, no. They did," Cristina informed. "I just figured that's what you'd sound like in the face of rejection."
The group went quiet, and Norah had to hold back a laugh. She picked up the box of fries in front of her that did not belong to her. "Hey, April, you want Alex's fries?"
"Not if they're pity fries," April deadpanned.
"They taste the same," Alex insisted and helped pass the fries over to the sulking resident.
"You still got Case Western and Seattle, right?" Jackson tried comforting her, but she tugged off her arm from his grip. "You're gonna be... fine."
Cristina ignored their odd interaction and turned to him. "Uh, so what does Sloan think about Tulane?"
"He hasn't weighed in one way or the other," Jackson shared with a sigh. "There's something wrong with him... I think he's troubled or something. It's like there's a lot going on in his mind."
When the group of residents turned their heads to Norah in unison, she stared back at them and shook her head with a frown. "He seems pretty fine to me," she claimed as she reached over to Cristina's tray for her pickle.
April's phone rang again, and she stared at it annoyingly while Cristina swept it up. "2-1-6. Cleveland."
"Maybe Case Western's offering loan assistance," Meredith tried while her best friend waited for the other resident to pick up the phone.
Norah raised a brow at the hesitant look on April's face before seizing the phone and answering the call.
"This is Dr Kepner speaking," she spoke, imitating the resident's accent. "Mm-hmm? Oh, wow. Well, I'm an amazing surgeon, so it's your patients' loss for kicking me out of that program of yours just because I wasn't emailed 'Certified'-goodbye!"
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH WAS SPINNING on the chair in the CT room while whistling to a tune. She almost stumbled when her chair got stopped abruptly by Bailey, who greeted her with a glare; Derek merely chuckled at the resident's behaviour.
"C3 to C5 are all inflamed," he pointed out as he studied the scans displayed.
"So it's in there. The worm's in his cervical spine... nesting... waiting..." Bailey added with a tensed voice, causing the Neuro duo to share a curious look.
"Well, there's a chance of paralysis," Norah stated, squinting at the scans. "Complete paralysis, might I be clear."
"Yup, we need to get in there quick. Otherwise, he's gonna be a quadriplegic," Derek let out a huff, already passing the chart to the resident.
"Go. I'm going in with you two. I'm on your six," Bailey spoke up with her eyes narrowed. "I'll get him prepped. Lock and load, people." The General surgeon left the room, leaving two very confused and appropriately concerned neurosurgeons staring at each other.
"Is Bailey high or something?" Norah questioned, but Derek merely shrugged back at her.
"I suspect weed."
❦ ❦ ❦
NORAH CRACKED HER NECK left and right before looking back at the spine through the microscope. "Hm... C3 and C4 are just a mess," she pointed out.
Derek nodded with a sigh. "We're gonna have to go further in here than I expected."
"You might as well go all the way to C5," Bailey spoke up next to the screen showing the close-up of the patient's spine. "I mean, from the look of this lesion, that's where the bastard set up his hive."
Derek looked over at her before raising a brow at the resident opposite him, who had the same perplexed look as he did. "I don't want it to be any more invasive than it has to be."
"Don't argue with her. She's starring in her own Sci-Fi movie," Ben spoke up beside them with a light scoff, sending Bailey a look from the other side of the OR. "You mess with her, she'll pull out her ray gun and atomize your ass."
"And he's still pouting," she scoffed, shaking her head. "You're a physician. Is this really the first time you missed a lunch and the crossword because of a surgery?"
"It was important to me," Ben tried reasoning.
"Well, this parasite's important to me."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"You know what?" Bailey snapped back, "Fine. Let's do it right now. Give me the damn crossword."
"Just forget it-"
"Oh, no. Nobody's ever gonna forget it," she scoffed before raising her voice in the room, "Where is Dr Warren's bag?"
Norah was vividly uncomfortable in an OR with the two arguing couple as Bailey rounded her to get to Ben's bag. "Hey, Derek," she voiced out, her voice pleading for a change in topic, "Jackson mentioned that Mark looks... troubled. Any idea why?"
The attending lifted his eyes briefly to the resident with a suppressed smile under his mask. "Nope, no idea," he played it off and returned his gaze back to the microscope.
"Let's see," Bailey cleared her throat. "'Peruvian mountain range.' Oh, Andes..."
"C3 or C4?" Norah asked the attending after gaining better visualisation through the scope.
"What's your guess?"
She furrowed her brows before mumbling under her breath, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe-"
"Dr Lawrence," he sent her an unamused look. Yet before she could bite back a witty retort, her words caught at the back of her throat.
A prick of chills ran down her spine; one that she could not quite pinpoint.
The familiar chills made her furrow her brows, but she shook her mind off it and directed her attention and focus back to the patient's spine. "Um, C4, I guess... Let's go."
"'My question to you,' anybody?" Bailey raised her voice again. "Lawrence? You're smart."
"All due respect-don't drag me into that," the resident answered back coolly, and Derek snorted under his mask.
"Fine," Bailey squinted at the crossword, "Two... nine... thirteen... Thirteen letters, anybody?"
"Fourteen," Ben corrected.
"No, I'm looking at it. It's thirteen."
"No, it's fourteen," he insisted. "Count again."
"I just counted," she scoffed back at him frustratingly. "What, do you have X-ray vision from across the room?"
"'Will you marry me' is my question to you," Ben finally voiced out, tired of her guesses.
The OR went silent at the suddenness; several surgical staff's eyes went wide. Derek stole a curious look at the resident opposite him to make out her possible reaction, but Norah's face remained serious on the surgery.
Well, he trained her well-that was for sure.
"And the reason why it's so easy is because I made the crossword. Took me two damn months, not to mention getting a mock-up made of The New York Times," Ben stared at Bailey, who froze from her shock. "The phrase has fourteen letters. 'Will'-four; 'you'-seven; 'marry'-twelve; 'me'... fourteen."
"Well, Warren's a brilliant guy, that's for sure," Norah mumbled quietly, feeling the tension in the OR was not to her liking. "That's one hell of a gesture, though."
Derek cocked his head aside and attempted to lend the particular plastic surgeon a hand. "I think it's a great one, though. You're not a fan of big gestures for proposals?" he queried carefully.
"We both know I hate surprises," she merely shrugged back, her concentration not broken from the patient's spine while she retracted the membrane. "But that? That's sweet-oh, hey, look what we got here."
The Neuro attending looked back through the microscope before picking out the parasite with the forceps. "Got it. It was in C4."
"Guess luck's with me today," she chuckled before clicking her tongue. "And you know what? I'm feeling lucky, and I've made a decision for my fellowship."
❦ ❦ ❦
"SO, MAMA AND DADA ARE gonna be away for a short while, and you're gonna stay with your cousin," Norah mumbled to Kai, who had a hand hugging around her neck.
When his dad tried to carry him over, he looked away immediately, causing Norah to chuckle. Mark huffed before picking out a toy from the baby bag, taking a step over to the boy. Kai's head lifted from Norah's shoulder at once with his eyes twinkling.
"Come on, little man, you know you want it," Mark cooed as he waved the stuffed elephant in front of the boy's face. Kai's eyes followed left and right along with the toy's movement as the three of them made their way to the hospital's lobby.
Norah quirked a brow at her boyfriend before chuckling. "He's not gonna leave me for you, you know?" she smirked, and Kai giggled at the defeated look on Mark's face.
The lobby was already starting to fill up with the surgeons who were on the case of the conjoined twins in Boise. Everyone was chatting or looking through the patient files with their luggage sitting beside them.
Callie walked up to them from the side where two baby strollers sat; Sofia was in one of them. Timothy had crouched down next to it and was making the girl burst in squeals of laughter; Lexie stood behind him with a soft smile on her face.
"Alright, Torres, here's all of Kai's stuff... I suppose," Mark muttered as he passed the baby bag over to Callie.
She furrowed her brows at him while hanging the bag over her shoulder. "You suppose?"
"Well..." he scratched his head with a nervous chuckle, "Let's hope I did not forget anything, or I'm gonna get killed by the love of my life."
"Hey-I heard that!" Norah shot him an unamused look, and he smiled back in response.
Mark planted a kiss on the side of her cheek, only to be greeted by a sharp slap from their son. He stared at Kai with an offended gasp, and the boy giggled. "You've got competition, love," Norah chuckled, and Mark lowered his head to their son.
"You can't have your mom all to yourself. We gotta share, okay?" he gestured between the both of them, "We talked about this before... Please?" he added the last part in a whisper. "Come here, little man."
Kai leaned over, and Mark carried him over from Norah's arms, the latter stretching her arms from the soreness of carrying the not-so-tiny baby. She watched in awe as Mark mumbled words to Kai while the boy stared back at his dad attentively.
She could not make out what he was saying, but the growing smile on his face was enough to brighten up her night.
It took another few minutes for the pair to finally part with their son. Mark placed one more kiss on Kai's head before waving at him as the boy got put into another stroller.
Norah tucked her hands into the pockets of the Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital jacket, letting out a long exhale. "You sure you've packed everything, love?" she asked. "Like, everything everything?"
"Everything is packed in this suitcase here," Mark reassured with a nod, but she was still staring at him with narrowed eyes. "And I didn't forget your antidepressants," he added with a shrug, "What could go wrong?"
"I don't know, we c-" she cut off her sentence and shoved her words down her stomach, "-never mind. I'm not gonna say anything."
He raised a brow at her. "You're worrying."
"I know, I just... don't know," she sighed and scratched her neck.
The chills from before had a lingering creep up her back, but they have flushed away when he threw his arms around her. She leaned against his chest and listened to the soothing sound of his beating heart while he tightened her with a suffocating hug.
"Alright, alright, love-I need to breathe here!" she grumbled before lifting her head to him with a smile. "I've told Hunt about my decision, he wasn't delighted, though... But we're going to San Francisco!"
Derek perked up his head when he heard her announcement. "You're choosing USCF over Hopkins?"
"What?!" Meredith and Cristina chorused, both looking at the brunette with widened eyes.
"Oh, come on, don't give me that look," Norah sighed, staring at the two residents' shared 'what-the-hell-are-you-thinking' look on their faces. "USCF's staffed research with their large funding is a brilliant offer. Not to mention the job openings after I completed my fellowship..."
"We're going to San Francisco!" Mark cut her off with a kiss which she leaned in for more; Cristina let out a noise before resuming her conversation with Meredith.
"You son of a bitch! I had to hear it from Hunt? What, you couldn't even be man enough to tell me yourself?" Arizona's voice rang from the hallway with Alex, who backed up to the wall. Callie tried to calm her wife down, but it was not working. "No-you ungrateful crap dog!"
"It's Hopkins!" Alex exclaimed at the Pediatrics attending. "You went there. You of all people should know-"
"You are a miserable, miserable bastard!" Arizona fired back at the resident, who went wide-eyed.
Timothy let out a low whistle as he and Lexie walked up to the group by the nurses' station, both dressed in hospital jackets. He was pulling a suitcase behind him and a duffle bag over his shoulder when he narrowed his eyes at his sister. "So, when were you on this case?"
Norah turned around and leaned against Mark's chest, mirroring the curious look on her brother's face. "This morning. They need extra Neuro," she stated before returning his question, "When were you? I mean, why were you?"
He placed the duffel bag over the counter and shrugged. "Well, when you've got asked whether you're interested in a case like this one, who cares what fucking specialty you're aiming for?" he replied. "I say seize the opportunity and get your ass moving."
Lexie nodded in agreement before turning to the older resident. "Have you made a decision? About..."
"Mm-hmm. We're going to San Fran!" she exclaimed and watched both the younger residents' eyes widen.
"Damn it. I thought you'd stay here! I had bets on Seattle!" Timothy shot up with a scowl. When Norah kicked on his shin, he winced before leaning down for a hug. "Well, I'm gonna fucking miss you, sister dearest."
"It's just a two-hour flight away, baby bro," she snickered, her arms tightening around his body...
...unaware that this was the last time she would be hugging her little brother in her arms.
"But I'm gonna miss my buddy Kai more, though..."
"Asshole," she scoffed, pushing him off, and he chuckled back at her.
"Mm-hmm," Timothy sat on his suitcase with his arms folded on top of its handle. "Hey, how long is the flight to Boise?"
"One and a half hours," Lexie answered while she stiffened a yawn, resting her arm on his head. "Just enough for a nap."
"Well, lucky for you, someone might've mentioned once or twice that I have a strong shoulder," he grinned.
She chuckled with a nod. "And that someone would love to nap on that shoulder later."
❦ ❦ ❦
LEXIE WAS LYING ON Timothy's shoulder while he rested his head on hers.
Meredith and Derek were discussing their future possibilities in Boston.
Cristina was studying some cases with the lamp on above her head.
Arizona was staring out the window while frustrating about her resident's leave.
Norah was thinking about Kai while hugging Mark's arm as his mind wandered back to the velvet box in their drawer.
The eight of them soon retired into rest in the supposedly peaceful flight-neither of them prepared for the catastrophic event that was laid out for them, awaiting them to fall into the mousetrap.
If only time could be stopped.
Because this time was, in fact, the calm before the storm.