chapter 3
— cutting deep
{ 2x01 - Rain drops keep falling on My Head }
„To be a good surgeon, you have to think like a surgeon. Emotions are messy. Tuck them neatly away and step into a clean, sterile room where the procedure is simple. Cut, suture and close. But sometimes, you're faced with a cut that won't heal. A cut that rips it's stitches wide open."
Rubys eyes darted between the married couple, figuring out whether she should stay and say something or leave. She knew situations like that from her parents. After her adoptive mom left she only had her dad and brother. But before they finally divorced Ruby had to sit trough hundreds of fights and learned that you don't intervene. They are two possibilities: A) They ignore you and just go on with their fight or B) they scream at you. And Ruby knew that option A was always her go-to, even if she hated to keep her mouth shut. But after that long day Rubys head was full. She couldn't stand watch another fight and just left. In the distance she could slightly hear Derek and Addison talking.
Entering Joes was something Ruby Moore had done the whole week after work. She would just sit at the bar, flirt occasionally with a nice blonde and drink too many tequila shorts. Joe saw her entering and poured a shot for her wordlessly. He noticed that she didn't like talking about her day and just wanted some quiet (even if quiet wasn't exactly how you would decribe the bar) and someone to make her forget.
After ordering a sex on the beach, she made her way to Meredith and sat next to her. Meredith didn't shared a look with the brunette. Ruby knew she fucked up but she knew Derek longer and kept it a secret. „I know i messed up, Mer. Derek told me not to tell you anything. It wasn't the right choice, I know."
„I'm not mad at you."
Rubys eyes flickered to her. She was confused. „Why?" She just asked and drank some of the cocktail.
„It wasn't your concern to begin with, he should have told me."
Ruby nodded and ordered two tequila shots. „Thank you, but these two are on me though. I still feel bad." Meredith thanked her and the two of them downed the alcohol quickly.
„All hail the champ! So, my guy Alex finally got what was coming to him." Joe exclaimed and looked at George and Christina who made their way up to the pair.
„George knocked him down in one punch. You should've seen it.", Cristina was proud of George for finally doing something.
He just shrugged. „I don't want to talk about it!"
„Brag, champ, brag. You've earned it."
They sat down next to the duo. „Let's play a game of whose life sucks the most. I'll win. I always win." Ruby shot Meredith an apologizing look.
„No, you don't want to play with me."
„Oh, I do. I'll even go first. Derek's
married." Meredith said waiting for an answer.
At that answer George spit out his beer and coughed. Ruby looked disgusted at him. „Ew, George beer is coming from your nose."
„Told you I'd win." Meredith exclaimed still believing that nothing was worse than that.
„No, you didn't win."
„Did you hear me? I said Derek is married. As in pigheaded, adulterous, liar married. Nothing you could say could top that."
„McAss." Ruby muttered under her breath and downed the shot.
Cristina answered knowingly. „I'm pregnant. I win."
In the background Joe started to groan and holding his head. Some moments later he falls over. They all looked at him.
„Ok. Maybe Joe wins."
After admitting Joe to the hospital the interns made their way up to the nurses station. Izzie was already waiting there.
„Why are you back here tonight, don't you have a date with McDreamy?" She asked unknown to the occurred situation.
„More like McMarried."
As on cure Derek walked up. „Operation, yes. Ok, hard to tell. Basilar artery's blown up like a balloon. Subarachnoid bleeding. Aneurysm the size of a golf ball." He looked at Meredith with pitiful eyes. She wouldn't look back, so his eyes darted towards Ruby who also wouldn't meet his gaze.
„No way to clip something like that."
„Not without magic fingers." Cristina's eyebrows darted up.
„Or a standstill operation." Derek said looking up from the chart and at the interns.
Impressed Cristina said. „You're doing a standstill? He's doing a standstill operation." Her voice changed after she saw the looks of the rest. Ruby of course already saw one of these extremely rare operations so she wasn't as impressed as her fellow coworker.
„I'd like to try. First I need some additional patient history, overnight labs, and a cerebral angio." He tried to hand the chart to Meredith. She didn't accept it.
„I'm drunk."
„Meredith." He tried again. But she walked away. George took the chart but quickly Ruby had it in her hands.
„Nobody is operating on that case! We will not do it for Mer." She exclaimed and also walked away but in a different direction.
After that long night and an successful surgery on Joe (were Ruby was scrubbing in because he asked her to), she and Cristina went to Joes again. They sat next to Meredith who was again drowning her emotions in a pool of tequila.
„The clinic has a policy. They wouldn't let me confirm my appointment unless I designated an emergency contact person. And because I don't know if one is enough when one of you is in surgery, I wrote down two names. Someone to be there, just in case, and to help me home, you know, after. Anyway, I put your names down. That's why I told you I'm pregnant. You're both my person." You could tell that she wasn't comfortable with saying that.
Ruby looked happily at her. „We are?" She exchanged a small glance with Meredith who mirrored her expression.
She shrugged. „Yeah, you are. Whatever."
„Whatever." Meredith replied smiling.
Cristina took a peanut. „He dumped
me." Both of the women put their head on her shoulder and an arm around her. „You both realize this constitutes hugging?"
Ruby lifted her head laughing. „Shut up. We are each others persons. And fuck him!"
*