LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
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JULIETTE settled quite quickly into her new life of neuro fellow at Seattle Grace. Derek was letting her do fun stuff. Bailey had warmed to her in a way she hadn't expected but enjoyed nonetheless. Especially considering there was no one else really. The interns were still annoying. But, that's interns in general. The hotel were starting to get to know her. A fresh paper every day. No longer having to ask how she had her tea or coffee, it arriving perfectly always. And she'd even found a great hair oil to combat the Seattle weather, hair no longer frizzing, instead back to the glossy curls she was used to.
Of course, there were still memories from before playing over and over. The pizza place was good but not as good. The humour was closer to London level but still not quite there. Oh and of course Jack. Still not happy. Still complaining. In between telling her how much he missed her and loved her of course.
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BAILEY was watching her.
Juliette could sense it. Feel the weight of her gaze, the heat tearing through skin and muscle, flicking away ligaments and tendons before landing on the nerve. Eyes moving slowly, as far to the left as they would, she could just about see the outer edge of the woman. Arms crossed? Leaning against the wall, definitely.
Jules carried on typing.
A few rogue hairs drifted out of place and she pushed them back with a flick of her wrist. The brief movement allowing for another glance. Lips were pursed now. Her fingers glided over the keys, notes appearing on the screen before her as she ran her tongue over her teeth, mind flicking back and forth between the new patient and the (slightly/very) scary resident stood watching over her like she was a piece of prey. The cursor blinked at her as she faltered, manicured fingers hovering above the keys. Not being able to take it anymore, Juliette flicked her head to the left, a perfectly plucked eyebrow raising in question before plummeting into confusion.
"What is it Bailey?" No rush or rudeness in her voice, just a defeatist wonder, a flat questioning.
With that the woman breathed in, chin rising, face still composed in a mirthless irritation. She took a step forward, the rising intonation of "you know Derek Shepherd... don't you." reaching Jules just as Bailey reached the nurses station, arms resting on top of it, eyebrow cocked and eyes heavy with an almost disappointment.
"Well, yeah..." obviously almost followed too but she managed to stop herself. It felt too petulant. Like she was a child being told off.
Maybe she was.
"Family." Bailey enunciated every single syllable, "that's what you said."
Juliette was brave enough to shrug at that, "sort of."
A heavy silence followed. One where it felt as though Bailey was staring straight into her brain, assessing every neuron that was firing. Uncomfortable under the intense gaze, she shifted in her seat, own eyes flicking from each of the woman's before her to the wall behind, the light on the roof, her badge, before landing back on her eyes.
"You know."
"Pardon?"
She leaned forward then, voice dropping but with no loss of power, "about your sort of family and one of my interns."
Her lips formed into an 'oh' shape, no sound escaping but head tilting back in a silent understanding.
"Yeah." Leaning back, she added, and faster now the truth was out, "I mean, did you not think to say?"
"Didn't think it was any of your business to be honest."
The incredulous face that formed at that was enough to make Jules squirm again, "oh, oh none of my business huh? She's my intern, of course it's my business!"
"Well, I didn't think you'd be bothered then."
"I will not have favouritism."
Scrunching up her nose in a refute of the statement, Jules turned her head back to the screen, fingers reaching up to toy with her earring, "oh he won't favourite her Bailey."
A very much disbelieving hum met her ears at that and she turned back, lip pulled up in a smile, "don't worry, it will all be fine."
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FRESH coat of lipstick and spray of perfume, a hand floating through her hair to flick it back into position and she was off to see the new patient, excitement bubbling in her stomach.
"Mr and Mrs Hayes," she projected with a smile, hand already extended in greeting as she entered the room, "I'm Dr Juliette Montgomery."
They stood at her arrival, reaching over their daughter to shake her hand, "I'm a paediatric surgeon currently specialising in neuro," she clarified, "Dr Shepherd said you had a wonderful little girl I should meet."
They smiled at that and she took it as her cue to introduce herself to the toddler, "hi Jamie," she said, voice rising as she squatted down to be eye level with her, "my name's Juliette, it's lovely to meet you."
She looked up at her with wide eyes for a second. Then dropped her head back down to focus on the toy she was passing between her hands, the babble of "Ju," escaping her as she did so.
"Yeah that's right," Juliette was gentle as she watched the girl before her, "what's that you're playing with..."
"It's not lipstick." Jamie said brightly, no evidence of shyness as she held it up to Jules' face.
"It's not?" Her voice was full of enthusiasm as she played with the toddler, "were you putting some on, here, does mine need touching up?" Her eyelashes fluttered close as Jamie waved the toy near her lips, "wow!" Jules grinned as she opened her eyes, "thank you, that was so kind." In her periphery the girls thigh twitched briefly, Juliette watching it for a moment before sending a comforting smile up to Jamie's parents.
"Dr Shepherd said you were going to find out what was causing it?"
Nodding, Jules stood back up, "certainly."
"Is she gonna need surgery?"
"We don't know yet unfortunately," she kept her voice purposefully relaxed and calm in the hope it would spread to the worried parents before her, "hopefully soon we'll have some answers for you."
"It's just that..." Jamie's father pressed, wavering slightly on his words in hesitancy, "my wife and I, we both work and I don't if our insurance..."
"- we know it can be very expensive." Jamie's mother cut in, lifting her daughter onto her hip as she looked at Juliette.
"Please don't worry about that -" the heavy twitching of the toddlers leg cut off her response, "it's a focal left side seizure," she reported to the nurse, "can we have some diazepam now please."
Pulling out the chair from under the bed, Jules wheeled it underneath her, "tournaquet please." Reaching for her arm, Jules' voice replicated the way it had just been when they were playing, "hey Princess Jamie, can I pop this on your arm please... good girl, how fun is this!" She exclaimed before making popping noises with her lips as she pressed the toddler's arm. A gasp fell from her lips as the nurse handed her the needle, "look a butterfly!" With a few whooshing noises, Jules floated the needle down to the vein she had identified, "woahhh" she smiled up at the girl, "it landed on your arm," a flawlessly quick incision and then she sent another grin towards the toddler, "how cool!"
With a grateful look towards the nurse, they waited a few seconds, all watching as her leg began to slow before finally stopping twitching, "and would you look at that." A knowing smile at the parents who responded with ones of relief, Juliette caught Jamie's attention again, "hey, do you like spaceships?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah? Oh great, you're in for a treat..." Catching the eye of the intern that had been observing, she leaned into the toddler, asking in a loud whisper, "shall we take Captain O'Malley with us to the spaceship?"
"Yeah!"
"Yay, let's go then."
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"I can't believe I'm missing a hemispherectomy."
Her voice held the same quality as a petulant child. Sulky and moody, one could almost imagine the bottom lip stuck out, wide glassy eyes staring up in the hope they'd guilt the person into giving them what they wanted. Of course it was contrasted by her.
A thick wool coat balanced on her shoulders (precarious perhaps for some but not for her), the golden buttons shining in the late morning sun. Cat-eye sunglasses perched on her nose, protecting against the said sun whilst also giving the impression of a 50s glamour icon awaiting something. (Intended? Probably). Cigarette dangling between her fingers, wrist flicking in a practised ease to remove the ash. Wine-coloured gloss already stuck to the filter.
Her petite body heaved with a long sigh.
"Don't be jealous." Derek teased beside her, smirking at the face that greeted him in response.
Chin dropped, eyes slightly held in a scowl as she glared over the top of her sunglasses, "a hemispherectomy Derek," another sigh, "it's like a once in a blue moon experience."
"Well," he shrugged, seemingly used to the behaviour of the woman beside him, "you could always stay."
A long drag followed that. A contemplative silence. He thought for a minute he had her. Then she released the smoke in a practised flume, head flopping dramatically to the left, free hand reaching to meet it so her fingers could press into an apparent tense spot on her forehead.
"Can't." She announced through gritted teeth, "he'd be pissed."
Coughing out a huff of laughter, Jules turned to glare again at Derek's response, "what!" he grinned, "like that's stopped you before."
"Yeah but it's his birthday Derek." She pressed, "it's all your fault this," ignoring his guffaw she continued, voice dropping to a hushed whisper that wasn't that hushed really, "yeah, you made me move across the bloody country last minute... once he'd already moved as well."
"Well, lesson learnt... don't move across the country for a girl."
"Helpful, thanks." She bit back before taking another long, slow drag, releasing with a sigh. A moment of silence again before she added with a sniff, "now I know how Meryl felt in Sophie's Choice.
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NEW YORK welcomed her with ease. She slipped immediately back into the rhythm of it. The rush and the noise. It took her back to being a kid, pulled from place to place whilst wide eyes took in the bright lights surrounding.
Jack welcomed her back too. Enveloping her in a hug, gushing about the past few weeks. There was a stillness though. A few looks she had caught out of the corner of her eye. He'd masked it, breaking out into a big smile as soon as he saw her watching. But Juliette saw. She noticed between the arms pointing things out as they walked the streets (as if she hadn't spent part of her childhood in the the very same streets) and the hand on her lower back, guiding her too and fro, an ever constant reminder of his presence. Between that he was restricted, as though holding a part of himself back from her.
It became clearer the night of his birthday party. She glided through his friends and family, deep red velvet midi dress clinging to her as the champagne bubbled away. Despite the low lights and heavy music, she could sense an atmosphere. As if the smoke that was drifting back through from the open balcony doors contained a warning. Drifting and floating around her, the familiar smell making manicured fingers itch for their vice. She knew a few of the guests. Warm smiles and polite conversation. A couple she was closer too, but only one had turned up and she had a new boyfriend who was apparently incredibly preoccupying. The rest were strangers, a collection of facial features moving around her. As she floated through the room murmurs of conversations met her ears. Talks of New York (had they been to xyz?), the journey here (for some had traveled to make it and didn't appear pleased by it) and then indecipherable flickers of words that ended at her appearance.
The suspicion rose.
His sister gave her a big hug and then a huge smile, showing far too many teeth for it to be genuine. The over the top intonation making Jules' stomach churn, another glass finished as she turned on her heel to find her boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend after a few minutes. For she was the only one who didn't know the party was both a birthday and a celebration of him moving back home.
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NEW YORK ended with that. A birthday card with a fuck you note tucked inside, written in her loopy handwriting. Various terrible coping mechanisms. And then a flight back to Seattle. Ignoring anything and everything that had happened in those few days.
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"HOW was it." Derek asked her as she arrived at the nurses station. He'd been watching her right from when she exited off the elevator, ramrod posture the norm but not the way her jaw was firmly set. Or the way the sound of her heels against the linoleum was more of a stomp than the usual clack. The already present frown only served to warn him more as she approached, dropping her bag with a thud.
"Terrible."
She glared at him, flicking a hair away with a not very restrained frustration. Mouth set in a thin line, frown deepening by the second.
"Oh." Derek replied, the storm in front of him doing little to dim his own pleasant mood.
"He dumped me." She spat out and for a second Derek wasn't sure whether he was in trouble too. (Was he supposed to have guessed that?) Nevertheless, she carried on. The venom pouring out now the floodgates were open. "What kind of prick dumps you at their birthday party?"
"What happened?" He tentatively asked, head titling back slightly as if he was handling something dangerous and needed to be careful. (He was and did.)
"He's still pissed I'm not moving to New York so it's all your fault really." Oh, there it was. "He took the job because I was moving and apparently it's 'really long hours'..." he bit back a grin at her exaggerated impression, "and the rents expensive and he misses his mom and the weather's bad and moan moan moan." She exhaled long and hard, hands landing on her hips as she kicked the floor with the ball of her foot, "dick."
"Taken it hard then?"
Lifting her gaze from the floor, he was greeted with another glare, "don't be coy Derek it doesn't suit you." Throwing her hair up into a bun she continued, "And to put the cherry and top of the bloody cake guess who I bumped into."
"Santa?"
Huffing out a long sigh, she rested her elbows on the desk, leaning onto her forearms, "the wicked witch of the east coast."
"Bizzy." He nodded in understanding.
"Bitch." She bit at a cuticle before moving her hand away to investigate the rest of her nails, frown deepening as she lifted her head, "I'm sure she's got some sort of radar on me."
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