Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: I Am a Tree

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AN: Welcome to another chapter of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Let me know what you would like to see this season and in part 2! Thank you for all the support. You are all amazing.

****Sorry about the picture dump, I just found some pictures I liked, and put them in!!****

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Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd always seemed to find themselves alone in elevators. It was their thing. For the past two days, Meredith had been trying to figure out whom to choose; Finn or Derek. She had gone to Cristina and Eddie for advice. Cristina, wasn't the biggest fan of Finn, because he was a vet.

Then Eddie, she gave Meredith her opinion, but told her in the end it wasn't her or Cristina that would need to decide the choice was for Meredith herself only. She had done one thing for her though.

Close your eyes. Imagine ten years in the future, and you are getting an award, or there is some big event in your life. Who is at your side? Who will be there making you the best possible person.

Derek.

Her mind immediately conjured Derek.

But, she also liked Finn. What if she needed to date Finn because Derek had hurt her so much? He was such a great guy and she could see herself being happy.

But, would she be as happy as she was with Derek?

But would he hurt her again?

So she was just back at square one again.

God why couldn't there be an easy answer.

Meredith smirked as she felt Derek familiar presence behind her. Close enough to touch, but he didn't, letting the anticipation build, making Meredith crave it....but the elevator door opened to the floor Meredith needed and she made her way out with a smile and a bit of a sway in her hips knowing Derek was watching her.

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At any given moment, the brain has 14 billion neurons firing at a speed of 450 miles per hour. We don't have control over most of them. When we get a chill: goose bumps. When we get excited: adrenaline. The body naturally follows its impulses, which I think is part of what makes it so hard for us to control ours.

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Two days after Izzie finally got off the bathroom floor, she tried to keep herself busy, and landed on obsessively mass baking. The kitchen of the frat house looked like Izzie robbed a bakery. Dozens of different types of muffins were surrounding. Every flat surface was covered with various muffins-blueberry, chocolate chip, banana, cinnamon, and lemon poppy seed.

"That's enough muffins. We don't need all these. No more muffins." Izzie said, as she continued to make the batch she was currently mixing up.

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Of course, sometimes we have impulses we would rather not control...

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Cristina Yang had decided to cheer up her boyfriend, who was stuck in a hospital bed for the past few days. She paid Tyler, one of the best nurses on the surgical floor, twenty bucks to make sure no one entered Burke's room for a little bit. Cristina walked into room and Burke looked up, and looks a mix of intrigue and confusion as Cristina closed the blinds and then begins stripping off her scrubs, climbing on top his bed in nothing but her red lingerie.

"What are you doing?" Burke asked her confused.

"Just because you cant touch, doesn't mean you can't enjoy." Cristina informed him huskily, as she moved to kiss him.

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...that we later wish we had.

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What Cristina didn't know, was that Tyler had a code blue, and had been called away from the nurses station outside of Burke's room. Which, allowed Burke's parents Jane and Donald, to come in to see their son and his girlfriend in a very embarrassing and compromising position.

"Mama... Daddy." Burke said shocked, which caused Cristina to look confused before she followed his line of sight.

Oh crap, she quickly gets off Burke and crouches besides Burke's hospital bed, holding up some covers to hide her revealing lingerie.

"Oh...what..." Cristina muttered.

"Preston?" Jane Burke said scandalized.

"Mama? Daddy?" Cristina asked Burke who was just as shocked as her.

"Is this a new service the hospital is providing?" Jane asked as Cristina scrambled to clothe herself.

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Eddie had been bored in her hospital room, and she had been able to sweet-talk the nurses to allow her to sit at the nurse's station for a bit, to get a change of scenery, while her family had gone to get them all breakfast before returning to the hospital, while Mark and Frankie were still at the hotel, since apparently last night had been a hard night for Frankie who realized her mom wasn't home and it wasn't the typical routine she had been in, so they decided to sleep in for a bit.

Currently, she and Meredith were listening to Cristina freak out on Tyler because Burke's parents had walked in on them with her straddling him in red lingerie and nothing else. Meredith was trying to look busy by looking for some file. While Eddie was pretending not to listen as she flipped through one of her novels that Conrad had picked up from her apartment for her. But, the two friends shared looks and attempted not to giggle as they listened to Cristina and Tyler's argument.

Luckily, it was in the very beginning, so they (Burke's parents) saw nothing except for seeing Cristina scantily dressed.

Not the best first impression to meet the parents. But, what done was done.

"I told you to guard the door." Cristina reminded the male nurse, who did look somewhat apologetic, wouldn't apologize for saving a person's life.

"I had a code blue." Tyler countered again, for what seemed like the tenth time since they had started this conversation.

"I had parents walk in." Cristina stressed. The one thing she didn't want to happen.

And it did.

"We saved the guy's life." Tyler stated.

"Whatever, I want my twenty bucks back." Cristina demanded. He didn't do his job, he didn't get the twenty dollars, plain and simple.

"Sorry. It bought everyone coffee to celebrate saving the guy's life." Tyler said as he started to walk away, and Cristina gawked at him.

"I want my twenty bucks back!" Cristina yelled.

"You know it's not Tyler's fault you're a dirty, dirty stripper." Eddie teased as Cristina gave her and Meredith a less than amused look.

"You heard." She said, not surprised. It was probably already half-way around the hospital.

"Everyone heard. Dirty stripper." Meredith teased as she looked through some files.

"Oh you're one to talk. Sleeping with two men." Cristina said to Meredith then turned to Eddie, "or in love with one, yet lives in the land of denial, just jump his bones already, you both make me sick."

"Wrong. I'm not sleeping with either one of them. Not until I pick one. If I haven't made a decision by the end of the day, I'm flipping a coin. A girl can only hold out for so long." Meredith informed her friend.

"Slutty mistress." Eddie teased as Meredith laughed and gently hit her with paper file.

"Slutty girl genius." Meredith teased.

"Oh and somehow I'm the dirty stripper." Cristina retorted.

"And, thanks for that great mental picture of me and my daughter's father." Eddie said, her face flushed slightly.

Both her persons shrugged. It was obvious to all but Mark and Eddie that they were basically a couple without the physical intimacy. At least not since their one night stand that created Frankie.

"You two have time to round or are you too busy getting naked on hospital property?" Bailey asked her two working interns, then turned to her intern out on medical leave for the next couple of weeks, whom should have been in bed, especially after going around the floor a few times on her crutches. "And why aren't you in bed?"

"Sorry Bailey, I just needed a different view, I've been consistently supervised, I promise to be in my bed when you all round on me." Eddie said, as Bailey gave her a stern nod.

Bailey had reverted back to her Nazi persona since the events of Izzie and the LVAD situation. The only person she didn't treat shortly was Eddie. But, all the other interns knew that Eddie hadn't been involved in the LVAD situation that could have easily ruined their and her career, and cause the hospital to lose their ability to be a transplant center, and essentially killed a patient because Denny could have lived for a while longer, defiantly long enough to get another heart, if Izzie hadn't done what she had done.

"I wasn't naked... I wasn't naked!" Cristina said, after a moment of completely shock as Meredith and Cristina followed behind their resident.

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Addison Montgomery-Shepherd barely looked like the posh and stylish woman she usually was. She was dressed like she had just rolled out of bed in a t-shirt, sweat pants, an old pair of comfortable tennis shoes, jacket, and bucket hat. Her hair wasn't styled and there was no makeup on her face.

She made her way through the hospital towards the Chief of Surgeries office. There she saw Richard putting away a few blankets and pillows. It was obvious that he had spent the night there instead of at home.

"You have coffee stain on your shirt." Webber commented having spotted Addison standing in the doorway out of the corner of his eye.

"You have a bed on your couch." Addison pointed out the obvious.

"Hope you're not hoping to see patients in your sweat suit." Webber commented, wondering why his head of neonatal surgery and OBGYN, was dressed this way.

He had never seen Addison dressed this way before, and he had know the red head since she started her internship in New York alongside her husband, Mark, and Nicholas.

"Actually I need the day off." Addison informed him.

"A day off...for what?" Webber asked shocked.

"For drinking. I am feeling the need to do some drinking. Actually, I'm feeling the need to do some crying, but my tear ducts seem to be too proud, so I'm going to do some drinking instead." Addison informed her friend and boss.

"What no laboring moms today?" Webber asked her.

"No, because I think God knows I need to do some drinking today." Addison informed him, trying to keep it together.

Her marriage was over.

And, she didn't know how to handle that.

But, drinking sounded appealing. It would dull the pain and maybe it wouldn't hurt as much. She had lost Derek to Meredith Grey. And it hurt, a lot.

"You want to talk about it Addie, or you just want to be glib a little bit longer?" Webber asked, pushing for more information.

He was concerned for her, and wanted to help if he could.

"Why are you living in your office?" Addison countered, and Richard sighed as he sat down on the couch and Addison joined him.

"Marriage... is hard." Was his explanation.

"Well thank goodness, mine seems to be just about over." Addison said sadly, as Richard patted her back in support.

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Bailey and her interns made their way into their next room in their rounds. The room that Dana Seabury, was currently staying in.

Their eyes widened in shock when they saw the woman who was scheduled for surgery this afternoon, surrounded by various desserts and bakery boxes full of treats.

"Ms. Seabury what... what are... no I'm sorry, you cannot be eating." Bailey said shocked as Richard Webber entered the room, to see the same scene as his resident and her interns.

"What is all this?" Webber asked.

"This is chocolate raspberry soufflé cake and it's the best thing I've ever tasted in my life." Dana said as she relished the sweet treat.

"Except for maybe the banana cream torte there, it's pretty stunning really. Bakeries deliver, did you know that? Please grab a fork." Dana said as she offered her doctors a chance to taste these amazing treats.

"Ms. Seabury, you're scheduled for surgery this afternoon." Webber reminded the woman sternly.

"We push the surgery a little? Tomorrow maybe?" Dana said, relishing in indulging in something she denied herself for years.

She took another bite of the chocolate raspberry soufflé cake.

"Oh my God, you've got to taste this!" Dana cried estastically.

"Ma'am, you have an aggressive form of lung cancer. The sooner we get you into surgery, the better your chances of surviving. So I've heard. It's all very aggressive. I mean, it's very..." Bailey started to explain, but to the shock of everyone, Dana erupts in giggles.

"I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I've never smoked pot. I've never drank. Before today, I hadn't had a desert in 10 years. I am the picture of health. And now...i have lung cancer. Come on it's absurd right? Oh...I'm sorry. I think I'm on a sugar high." Dana said with a laugh.

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Richard, Bailey, and her interns made their way out of Dana's room, still confused about her radical shift in behavior.

"O'Malley reschedule her surgery for tomorrow. And get her a psych consult. And no more food deliveries." Webber ordered the male intern.

"Yes sir." George said as the chief left the interns and Bailey alone.

They had all decided to approach Bailey to see if she could talk to Izzie. Hoping she could get through her, in a way they hadn't been able to.

And, it had been decided that George would be the one to approach her. Next to Eddie, Bailey had a soft spot for George.

"Okay..." Meredith whispered to George motioning with a nod of her head, towards Bailey.

"So...um Dr. Bailey?" George started awkwardly.

"Surgeons don't say "Um" Dr. O'Malley. You want to be a surgeon, learn to speak like one." Bailey ordered sharply and professionally.

"Look he wants you to talk to the chief about Izzie..." Alex started.

"She just baking...a lot of baking, and it seems a waste for all her talent and medical skill to go into muffins. We just thought you might be willing to help..." George explained.

"Stop...talking." Bailey ordered as she sent them all a stoney glare, angry and shocked that they had even asked her to talk to Izzie.

"Yes ma'am." George said quickly.

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The Interns follow her to the next room where Derek meets them, just entering the room as well.

"Well, good morning. Benjamin, Ruth." Derek greeted his patient, Ben O'Leary, and his sister Ruth.

"Good Morning Dr. Shepherd." Ruth said with a nod.

"It doesn't feel like a very good morning to me I have to have brain surgery today. Pretty scary. Plus my sister's nervous, and when she gets nervous she sweats, and the windows in here don't open so it's pretty rank." Ben O'Leary stated as if it was matter of fact.

"Benjamin." Ruth chastised her brother, used to his blunt nature now, though, it didn't mean she let him get away with it.

"Was I rude Ruthie?" Ben asked his sister worriedly, having not meant to offend her. He truly loved his sister, and was glad she stayed by his side, when everyone turned their back on him when he got sick.

"Let's let the doctors talk." Ruth said as Ben nodded.

"Benjamin O'Leary, thirty-two. In for the removal of a brain tumor that's pushing on his fronal temporal lobe. Clearly it's effecting his impulse control." Cristina presented.

"It makes me say everything I think, which apparently is annoying. This doctor looks annoyed anyway. Although it's hard to tell, cause she always has kind of a pinched uptight look on her face." Ben said, then realizing that might have been rude asked; "Am I annoying you?"

"It's fine." Cristina said.

"You can't say it's fine. He doesn't perceive sarcasm or irony. If he's annoying you, you have to tell him." Ruth told Cristina seriously.

"Maybe I'm not annoying her, Ruthie." Ben informed his sister.

"No you are." Cristina stated bluntly.

"Dr. Yang.." Bailey started to chastise.

"Well, he asked." Cristina said with a shrug.

"Okay, Dr. Yang, pinched and annoyed though she may be is going to be prepping you for surgery today. Do you have any questions for me?" Derek asked, trying to get back on topic.

Ben was looking between Derek and Meredith and suddenly asked;

"Is that blonde your girlfriend? Cause the way you keep looking at her, you might as well mount her right here and now." Ben informed his doctor bluntly.

"Benjamin." Ruthie chastised once again.

"I'm sorry, was that rude?" Ben asked curiously.

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After finishing in Ben's room, the interns and Bailey made their way out of the room. Bailey looked at all of her interns with a hard look.

"I'm proud of you all. You make me proud. You reflect on me well. Grey, if you think you can keep you clothes on long enough to follow up the labs, I'd appreciate it. Karev, cover in the pit." Bailey ordered her two interns without a job.

George was on Dana's case and Cristina was on Ben's.

"The pit? Wait, I'm off Gynie squad?" Alex asked, shocked and excited. He felt as if he was going to be stuck there forever.

"Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd is out sick today You can cover the pit where you can... " Bailey started, but then trailed off when she saw a pair of black lacy panties on the board, under "LOST AND FOUND" sign.

"You can tell me whose damn panties are on the bulletin board?" Bailey demanded loudly, as everyone looked at the panties, shocked.

Meredith felt like she was going to die from embarrassment. She felt like she wanted the Earth to open her up and swallow her whole.

What the hell!

"Are those yours?" Cristina whispered to Meredith, who could do nothing but stay rooted in spot with her eyes focused on her black panties she had lost at the prom.

"This is a hospital, people. Serious work happens here. We save lives here. Oh is something funny? Whose are these?" Bailey asked as she turned to look around the small crowd she had made with her outburst.

"This is bad. This isn't good." Meredith muttered to Cristina.

"Well you'd better claim them. She thinks they're mine! Claim them!" Cristina whispered, knowing Bailey would immediately look towards them.

"No." Meredith whispered, as Bailey looked at her two female interns, who looked panicked.

"Yeah, I know it's one of you. It's always one of mine. Always. So, tell me. Which one of you left your damn drawers on my surgical floor?" Bailey asked loudly, watching them to see which one caved first.

"Oh no, did I leave my underwear lying around again? I'm so sorry Bailey. It's my bad." Callie said from her spot by the nurses station and made her way over to the board and took the panties.

She decided to extend an olive branch. She and George were together, so she should try and get along with his friends and try to find some common ground with them.

Bailey looked at her stonily, knowing that Callie had covered for either Meredith or Cristina, but said nothing, she would confront her friend in privet.

"O'Malley, Yang, prep your patients. Karev, pit, Grey, charts. All four of you, do not make me regret setting you loose in this hospital. O'Malley, what I mean by that?" Bailey said after a moment.

"You mean to check with you before we cut any wires or steal any hearts." George retorted, regretting what he said the moment Bailey's dark look. If looks could kill, George O'Malley would be a dead man ten times over.

"Are you trying to be clever?" Bailey demanded harshly.

"No ma'am." George said quickly.

"Better not be." Bailey said as she stormed away, leaving her interns to quickly do the tasks she asked, to avoid being the target of Bailey's ire.

"Holy crap. The nazi is definitely back." Cristina muttered to Alex as they made their way down the hall.

"Louder than ever." Alex replied as he walked away to head to the Pit.

Cristina of course had the unfortunate luck of running into Jane Burke. Despite her shock, and embarrassment of her introduction to Burke's parents, plastered on a smile.

"Oh, Mrs Burke...Hi I'm Cristina. I may have said that earlier.. but..." Cristina started to introduce himself.

"Did I hear you refer to Miranda Bailey as a nazi?" Jane interrupted Cristina, who looked wide eyed.

She hadn't expected that. It was common to call Bailey the Nazi around the hospital. Even Bailey called herself the Nazi. So no one blinked an eye when someone called her that. So, being called out on it was a bit jarring.

"No. Well... I mean yes, but..." Cristina stumbled out to explain that it was not in the way she thought. But, her embarrassment from earlier and her literally running into to Burke's mother had her tongue tied.

"You do understand that the nazi's were responsible for the worst genocide in the history of man. And a racist genocide at that. I would think that as a woman of color and a doctor, no less, that you would think twice about using that word as a punch line." Jane criticized Cristina who looked at her wide eyed.

She decided to play nice, because she knew how much Burke loved her. And, her first impression nor second impression were all that stellar.

"I will think about that in the future Mrs. Burke." Cristina said, which Derek overheard when he made his way over to talk to Cristina.

"Mrs. Burke? Preston's mother?" Derek asked as he looked over to see the stylish older woman with Cristina.

"Yes, and you are?" Jane asked him curiously.

"I'm Dr. Shepherd, the surgeon who operated on your son." Derek introduced himself, holding out his hand.

Jane gave him a wide, genuine smile as she shook his hand.

"Thank you, brilliant surgeon. And a handsome man too. Your mother must be very proud." Jane said, happy to meet the man who had worked on her son, and made sure he could continue with his career.

Then she asked him, "Do you mind, Dr. Shepherd, if I borrow your young intern for a cup of coffee? I'll bring her right back."

"No problem. Dr. Grey can cover for Cristina." Derek said, as Cristina looked wide eyed, feeling like Derek just threw her to the sharks and Meredith who had overheard Derek's comment, turned to face him with a shocked look on her face.

"I'm sorry?" Meredith asked.

She still hadn't decided what she wanted to do. Derek or Finn. And all the chemistry that seemed to still be electric and made her do things....like have sex with her married ex at prom.

"Dr. Grey is very busy. She has charts to do for Bailey. Bailey is on the warpath. Oh, not a German warpath. It's a hospital warpath." Bailey tried to get out of this.

The last thing she wanted to do was have coffee with Burke's mother, whom defiantly didn't seem to like her.

"I'll take care of Bailey. Enjoy your coffee date, ladies. It was nice meeting you." Derek said with his charming McDreamy grin.

Cristina wanted to kill the perfect hair, dreamy doctor.

"Thank you." Jane said with a smile, as Derek made his way towards Meredith.

"I'll um... I just have this one quick... I'll meet you in the cafeteria in a couple of minutes, is that alright?" Cristina asked as she tried to come up with a plan to save herself from the one-on-one coffee date with Burke's mother.

"Yes, I look forward to it." Jane said as Cristina walked away.

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"Well this is a change. From the elevator. A little more public, I like it." Derek greeted Meredith who looked upset as he followed her into a small, privet, room off the hallway they had been in.

There were only two people in the room when she lost her panties and she couldn't find them. And, she didn't think Derek had anything to do with putting them there, but she was still hurt. If it hadn't been her, she might have found it funny. But, she knew she lost those panties being a dirty mistress. And, so did the person who pinned it there.

"You're married... You're married, and you said things to me." Meredith said, as Derek looked confused about why Meredith looked so upset.

"Yes, I said things to you." Derek agreed.

"Normally, I would like the things you said to me. Normally I would even think the bulletin board thing was funny." Meredith said.

"What bulletin board thing?" Derek asked confused.

"But you're married. Which makes none of this normal. It makes me a home wrecker. And I hate that I'm a home wrecker..." Meredith started to say.

"I'm not going to pressure you, take all the time you need. But just so you have all the information...my home was wracked long before you came into the picture. And I am just now done trying to rebuild it." Derek told her seriously.

He loved Meredith and he was tired of trying to deny it.

He and Addison hadn't been happy, even when they were trying here. He tried, he truly did. And, maybe if he hadn't slept with Meredith all those months ago when they met at Joe's the night of the internship mixer, things would have been different.

But...he loved Meredith. Truly and deeply. He would fight for her like he should have from the beginning.

"Done?" Meredith asked, almost hopeful.

"I'm done. Whatever you decide, I'm ending it with Addison. Today." Derek informed her seriously.

"You have said this before." Meredith pointed out to him, remembering the whole divorce paper argument shortly after Addison arrived in Seattle.

"I know, but this time I mean it. And I'm going to come clean, just as soon as I see her." Derek said, as he kept inching closer and closer to her, their faces inches apart, and Meredith just wanted to push the distance and kiss him.

"You are?" Meredith asked softly.

"I am." Derek agreed.

Just then, Callie walks in just before their lips touch. Derek flees the room, somewhat embarrassed by being caught by Callie, who had walked in on them just after they finished having sex. Callie hands Meredith her underwear.

Meredith pocketed them quickly.

"You guys should think about getting a hotel room or something." Callie quipped, as they both gave each other uncomfortable smiles.

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Eddie Sousa felt as if she hit the lottery, when she found out there was a three bedroom apartment available in her building to be rented within the week. At first, Eddie felt like a three bedroom might have been too big, seeing it was only her and Frankie, and hopefully, maybe, one day Mark.

But, was quickly reminded that she and Frankie could use the extra space as a home office or even a guest room. And, Eddie could see the appeal and the need of a guest room, especially with the possibility of friends and family coming into town, so they didn't need to stay at a hotel or something.

And, she could afford it. While she might not be extremely wealthy, like her mom and stepfather. But, she did have a pretty sizable amount, left to her by her grandparents. Her grandfather and grandmother had been rich, but no where in the same league as Mark, The Quinn family (whom had a sizable generational wealth as well).

But, her grandparents had been comfortable.

Her grandfather had owned many successful business and owned and rented out many buildings and homes when he had been alive, alongside a pretty sizable family inheritance. While her grandmother had been a rather famous opera singer.

And after her mother's less than stellar behaviors and the way she treated Eddie, left her with a minimum amount for her not to contest the will, then the rest was left to Eddie. It was pretty sizable amount and Eddie didn't touch it often, and lived off her pay check and the interest off her inheritance.

So, Eddie took the offer, and when she was released from the hospital tomorrow, she was going to start helping pack up her place. Then, her father paid for movers to move everything a few floors up so Eddie wouldn't have to worry about anything other than unpacking.

So, today, her brothers were finding boxes, while Esther kept her busy. She was looking through a furniture catalog, looking for things for Eddie to buy for her home.

She had done this when Eddie and Eli moved into their shared apartment when Eddie turned seventeen almost eighteen and she was being kicked out of her mom and Step-Stan's home. In another life, Esther would have made a great interior decorator.

Well, in Eddie's opinion, she was better than her mother, who was an actual interior decorator. Esther found pieces that were functional and beautiful. Her mom made homes look like they never had been lived in, with an extreme minimalist style that was barely functional, or, belong in palaces at Versailles.

She guessed some extremely wealthy people had weird taste in decorating their homes.

And, the home she, her mom, sisters, and Step-Stan lived in was always seemingly going through some sort of face lift. There was her mother's white stage (which quickly changed with three small children who tended to dirty it up faster than she could keep it clean), her maximalist stage-where everything was big and grand, her big and bold floral phase. All of them as ugly and showed her wealth.

She never understood her mother's love of furniture that was not meant to be sat on. Or things that served no function at all except show her wealth. But, to each their own.

Speaking of her mother, Eddie couldn't help but once again boggle at the fact of how callous her mother was. Eddie had made sure to reach out to her mom, after being basically no contact with her since she announced the birth of Frankie, her only grandchild so far, to tell her that she had been injured (okay, but injured), and she had gotten nothing in return.

Not even a floral arrangement.

How her own mother could do that, Eddie didn't know. But, at least if she ever did run into her mom, Step-Stan, or sisters, she had a clean conscious about not informing them of big moments. Though, she was wondering if it was just a sign to cut them off completely.

She was obviously not important to them, and if they wanted to know about her, they would reach out. So, she was tempted to just wipe her hands of them. She just...she couldn't understand why her mom was this way.

Eddie couldn't imagine never being there for Frankie or any future sibling she may give her. She loved her daughter, and so far, felt like she had kept her promise of not turning into her mother.

"What do you think about this?" Esther asked, as she showed Eddie some nice looking night stands to replace the ones she had currently, they were cheap and starting to fall apart.

"I like those." Eddie said, as Esther flagged them.

"So, Mark is staying in Seattle?" Esther asked.

Eddie nodded.

"Yeah, he is." Eddie said.

"So, that is a good thing?" Esther hedged, wanting to know how her honorary daughter felt.

Ever since Eli brought home sweet little Edit Sousa, she had been a member of her family. She and her husband had loved her, and took care of her, because it was obvious the little blonde had been starving for love, from a maternal or paternal figure, yes, she had her grandmother, but her poor health did't make it easy for her. She and her husband, god rest his soul, couldn't have any more children after Eli, and they all but adopted Eddie.

Eddie was also quickly adopted by both sides of their family; grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins treated her like she had been born from Esther herself.

"Yeah, it is." Eddie said, "it will be good to have him here. For Frankie...and...."

"Yourself?" Esther finished for her.

Eddie flushed.

"You're in love with him." Esther stated bluntly, a mother always knew when her child was in love, and she may not have given birth to Eddie, but she was her mother in all the ways that counted.

"Yes." Eddie said, "but that is crazy right. I mean...he's Frankie's father...what if he doesn't see me that way? What if we act on it and ruin what we have?"

"He loves you as well, and more than just as Frankie's mother. When we were at the airport, he was a nervous wreck, and he acted like his world was crashing. He looked like a man in love, and the woman he loved was injured and he couldn't stop it." Esther said.

"But...what if we get hurt? What if we break up and ruin Frankie's family?" Eddie asked.

"Sometimes, sweetheart, love is about taking a leap of faith and trust. Yes, you may crash and burn, but don't let the fear of that, keep you from living, Eddie."

Eddie nodded as she let what Esther said sink in.

Maybe she was right.

Maybe Eddie had to just take a leap of faith.

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Cristina entered Burke's room with a clear look of panic on her face. Burke was reading a book in his hospital bed, while his father, sat reading the newspaper on the small couch against the wall.

Cristina made her way to her boyfriend's bedside, and Burke looked away from his book to give her his full attention.

"Oh... um. Your mother wants to have coffee with me." Cristina informed Burke, trying to keep her voice low.

"And?" Burke asked, not seeing the issue.

"She thinks I'm a racist. Oh, and a stripper. She thinks I'm a racist stripper." Cristina informed her boyfriend, who started to chuckle softly.

"Oh, come on, what's funny? This is not funny." Cristina complained, she was serious. This wasn't good.

Cristina wasn't good with mothers.

Her's or anyone else's, let alone her boyfriend's mother, who thought she was a racist stripper.

"Well it is kind of funny. She's just my mama, Cristina." Burke said, not truly grasping why Cristina was freaking out, everyone loves his mama.

"You're mama?" Cristina repeated.

Mama? Really?

"You'll love her when you get to know her. Everybody loves my mama." Burke said, shrugging off her concern.

"You... will save me from this. You will save me from this or... you will save me from this." Cristina ordered, before awkwardly leaving the room. When she was out of the room, Burke's dad starts to laugh alongside his son.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Hey man," Mark greeted when he sat down at the cafeteria table with his bone dry cappuccino. Derek was sitting at the table, with his own drink.

"Hey Mark," Derek greeted with a smile as he saw he was carrying Frankie in her carrier, "and Frankie."

"Can you say 'hi' to Uncle Derek, Frankie Girl?" Mark asked as he got her out of the carrier so he could hand her over to Derek, who gladly took his niece.

He still couldn't believe his best friend was a father. But, Derek had to admit, it was a good look on him. The right look. It seemed like Mark had finally settled down, and was happy. Not that he wasn't before. But, besides work and his friends, he really didn't have anything that grounded him. And, now, Frankie did. As did Eddie.

Derek had listened to many a nights of Mark talking about Eddie, and more recently his feelings towards the much younger intern. But, the heart wanted what the heart wanted. And, Eddie was a consenting adult, and it was obvious to all but them that they were in a relationship already.

"Have you been a good girl? Huh?" Derek asked as Frankie giggled at her uncle.

Derek, had a plan to make sure he was the favorite uncle over Eddie's brothers or Eli. And, so far, he felt like he was winning. Or at least in a tie with Conrad, since they were the ones in town. But, he'd win over his youngest niece.

"Now. Last night was rough." Mark commented, having felt a small portion of what Eddie must go through occasionally, and more often than Mark, since she had Eddie full time while he was in New York City. "She decided that sleep was over rated."

Mark had been used to functioning on little sleep. But, this was a different type of tired. He appreciated Eddie even more for making motherhood look easy. Mark knew it wasn't easy, but Eddie made it look effortless.

"Ah, a future surgeon in the making then, huh?" Derek asked with a grin.

Mark laughed. "If she wants to, sure." Mark agreed easily.

"So, how are you?" Derek asked as he bounced Frankie gently.

"I am fine," Mark said, "I am just glad Eddie is okay. But, what is up with you. You've been weird the past few days."

Ever since the prom his friend had been weird and cagey. And, having known Derek since they were in kindergarten, he knew something was up with him. He knew all his tells, and Derek had never been the best liar.

"I'm fine." Derek said as Mark gave him a 'really' look.

"Okay...so I might have done something..." Derek started, and Mark immediately knew what Derek did and he started to smirk.

"You slept with Meredith." Mark said.

Derek didn't deny it.

"I did." Derek said after a moment.

"What about you and Addison?" Mark asked, as much as he disliked Addison after she cheated on Derek with Nicholas, he had accepted that Derek wanted to try with his wife.

So, he hadn't expected him to sleep with Meredith.

Okay, he saw that Derek was still in love with Meredith and he hadn't forgiven Addison like he was claiming, Derek would never cheat.

He hated cheaters, so either it was the heat of the moment, and he was trying to get Addison to forgive him, or he and Addison were over.

"We're over." Derek informed him. "I need to talk to her, I haven't seen her since the prom."

Mark nodded.

"Okay," Mark said.

"Have you seen Addison? Has she stopped by to see Eddie?" Derek asked him as Mark shook his head.

"Not recently," Mark said, but it explained her awkward body language when she talked to Eddie.

She must have found out or had an idea of what Derek and Meredith did.

"Damn." Derek said, "I've been looking for her for days. She had been avoiding me since yesterday."

"Maybe Richard will know." Mark suggested.

"I'll head there next." Derek said.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After coffee with Mark, Derek had made his way to Richard's office to find the chief of surgery looking through some paperwork.

"Hey, you haven't heard from Addison have you? She's not answering any phones." Derek asked his friend and mentor.

"Actually she needed the day off. Something about finding another woman's panties in the pocket of your tux." The chief informed his friend and head of neurosurgery.

Derek sighed he sat down on the couch.

"That's not how I wanted her to find out." Derek said honestly.

He wanted to talk to her. To tell her, but, she had found out in a similarly insultingly way he had found out about her and Nicholas.

"You don't leave another woman's panties in your tux unless you want her to find them. I know a thing or two about affairs. I even know a thing about affairs with women named Grey." Webber reminded Derek who sighed and rubbed his hand over his face.

"It's not an affair. I was going to tell her...Addison...i was going to tell her today. I was going to end it." Derek informed him, as Richard just gave him a look.

"Give her some space." Webber suggested, but Derek shook his head in negative.

"No, I gotta talk to her today. If something's over, it's just got to be over. Meredith, she's...she's not an affair." Derek informed the chief.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In Ben's room, Meredith was doing the typical pre-ops that needed to be done. Currently, she was drawing some blood.

"Ow!" Ben cried as he looked at Ruth. "Ruthie I don't think I want this surgery."

"You have to have this surgery Ben." Ruth reminded her brother, leaving no room for argument.

"Right." Ben remembered.

He looked at Meredith critically, then said in his typical blunt manner; "You're very pretty. But you look kind of tired, and I think maybe you should change your hair conditioner."

"That was rude Benjamin." Ruth informed her brother who looked between the two women with wide eyes.

"It is?" Ben asked Meredith curious.

"No, actually, it's true, and it's refreshing." Meredith informed him with a wide smile.

"Do you have sex with that brain surgeon?" Ben asked Meredith curiously.

"Benjamin..." Ruth said, with a sigh.

"It's okay. Nope. I haven't. Not today anyway." Meredith informed Ben honestly.

"I would." Ben said bluntly. "He's hot...and arrogant, in a ways that's still sexy. I would totally have sex with him if I could. Looks like you could. So what's the hold up?"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Meredith and Callie were both at a nurses station when George makes his way over to Callie, and tries to look over her shoulder, trying to see her chart, but also trying to be in her space.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" Callie asked George amused.

"I was just wondering... I have a lot of work to do, but I was just wondering about the panties, that are yours, and how they ended up on the bulletin board. Black lacy panties on the board." George said, very interested, he had seen her in her panties a lot of days in a row, and the black ones were new.

"You are trying to seduce me." Callie said thrilled and amused.

"No... no I'm not. I'm just wondering how...panties I haven't seen before...and I've seen your panties a lot of days in a row now... I'm just wondering how black panties that apparently belong to you and I've never seen end up on the bulletin board." George informed her, as Callie tried to stop the excited look cross her face.

An unexpected gift from claiming Meredith's panties.

"Wow...you are jealous." Callie commented.

"No...no no no." George denied as he followed Callie like a puppy.

"Yeah..." Callie said knowingly.

"I'm not..." George denied.

Just then, Dana Seabury came flying by in her self-propelled wheelchair, screaming in joy. Racing against another patient.

"Is that my patient?" George asked shocked, as he watched the odd scene that crossed them, it took him a second to jump into action.

"Mrs. Seabury? Mrs. Seabury? Hey! Stop! Hey!" George yelled, as he raced after her.

Once George was out of ear shot, she made her way over to Callie.

"I'll tell him." Meredith promised.

"What?" Callie asked, turning her attention back to her boyfriend's roommate.

"I'll tell him the truth...about the panties." Meredith told her.

"Don't you dare." Callie said quickly, then gave Meredith a knowing look, which Meredith understood. "He is jealous."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the ER Callie was helping Alex tie his yellow gown, as they made their way towards the ambulance bay. They had just gotten the call that the ambulance was a few minutes out.

"So, you and O'Malley, huh? How'd that happen?" Alex asked Callie, trying to figure out how George got someone like Callie.

"I don't know. You're a surgeon, how'd that happen?" Callie quipped back.

They had passed Bailey, who was on a warpath today, who heard Alex's question and made herself known.

"Karev, she's a resident, she outranks you. You don't get to ask personal questions." Bailey snapped at her intern.

"It's fine Dr. Bailey." Callie said, if she thought it was inappropriate she had no problem letting other people know.

"He's my resident, I say it's not fine. Is that clear?" Bailey snapped.

"No." Alex said, as polite as possible, but he didn't understand why Bailey wouldn't talk to Izzie.

Yes, she made a horrible mistake. But, she lost Denny, her fiancé, and Bailey seemed to be reverting to her early days of their internship, and didn't seem to care.

"What's not clear?" Bailey demanded.

"What's not clear to me is why you won't talk to Izzie. That's what's not clear." Alex informed his resident.

"Really, you want to push me on this? Today? Today you want to push me?" Bailey asked as she walked out of the ER and into the ambulance bay to meet the ambulance that had just pulled in.

"What have we got Jill?" Bailey asked the paramedic, who had gotten out of the back of the bus to come report to Bailey.

"Harley Hernandez, fourteen. Was street lugeing when he lost control and hit a car. Witnesses say he was catapulted at least twenty feet into the air. Landed on a pile of tree trimmings. Broken pelvis is apparent, as are I would guess some pretty massive internal injuries." Jill explained.

"You would guess?" Bailey asked.

The paramedics wheel out Harley who has a tree sticking all the way through the left side of his body.

Bailey's eyes widened and quickly jumped into action.

"Alright Harley, you're at the hospital. We're going to take care of you now." Bailey said as she came to his side, along with many other hospital personnel.

"Hospital? What's the matter with me?" Harley asked clearly out of it.

"You're an idiot that's what's the matter." A middle aged man, Harley's father, Jeffrey, snapped as he tried to race over to Harley's side, but due to all he doctors in the way he couldn't reach him.

"Dad?" Harley called.

"Please back away, sir." Bailey ordered.

"Your friends are idiots and you don't use the sense God gave you. That's what's the matter with you!" Jeffrey exclaimed angrily.

"You're blocking our path, please!" A nurse said as they tried to move past him and get Harley into the hospital right way.

But, the man didn't move, and after a moment, Alex shoved Harley's dad to the side, forcing him to slam agains the wall of the hospital. He didn't mean to push him that hard, but the man was not moving and with all that was going on, they didn't have any time to waste.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked concerned as the rest of the nurses and doctors pushed Harley in.

"You son of a bitch. Where's my son?" Jeffrey demand.

"We took him in there." Bailey said pointing the ER, which he immediately raced into.

"He was blocking the paramedics!" Alex informed Bailey, who was glaring at him.

"No, he is terrified. His child is a tree! Alex, listen to me. You will not get physical with another human being on my watch ever again. You will not question my authority. And you will not defend your little girlfriend for killing a man. Are we clear?" Bailey yelled, letting out some pent up anger she was feeling.

"She's not my girlfriend." Alex snapped he made his way into the ER.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the outdoor cafeteria, Cristina was sitting at one of the tables with a cup of coffee in front of her while she sat opposite of Jane Burke, who was looking her over and sizing her up, with her own cup of coffee in front of her.

"As you know I'm sure, he graduated first in his class from Tulane." Jane boasted about her son.

"I... I did know that." Cristina said awkwardly. Then decided to offer up her own academic achievements to show that she wasn't trying to use her son to get ahead.

"Actually, I graduated first in my class at Stanford." Cristina offered.

Jane nodded and pursed her lips.

"Ah. So you are planning to pursue a less time consuming specialty? Obstetrics perhaps? Or family medicine?" Jane asked.

Cristina paused for a moment.

"Oh, I'm in the surgical program." Cristina informed her.

"But after you're married?" Jane pressed.

Married.

Woah.

Pump the breaks.

When did marriage come onto the table. And why would she be the one to change her career once or if she got married to Burke? Who thought like that outside a 1950's house wife. Or, her own mother to some degree.

Apparently, so did Burke's mother.

"Married? I'm sorry... married?" Cristina asked after swallowing a sip of coffee.

"Come, Cristina. You must have considered the possibility. You're no spring chicken. I don't know a young woman who wouldn't want to marry my Preston, given half the chance. He's brilliant, he's handsome. He's the best thing I've done in my life. He's the most important thing in the world to me." Jane informed Cristina leaning in further, she was like a panther ready to spring on the first sign of weakness.

She couldn't believe this woman. Cristina didn't want kids, ever. She loved Frankie, but she was her baby Einstein and her favorite niece. But, she would never want to have one of her own. She would be happy with Eddie (and possibly Meredith's) children. She would be able to be the fun aunt then give them back.

Burke and her career made her happy.

Burke's mother seemed to put value in what woman were "supposed" to do. Get married and start popping out babies. Like her achievements meant nothing.

That rubbed Cristina the wrong way.

Just then she noticed Burke making his way towards them. Cristina let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh...okay. Oh Burke, Burke! Preston... Preston Burke is here." Cristina said, relief in her tone as her boyfriend stopped at their table.

"What a surprise. My two favorite ladies in the same place." Burke said, as if he hadn't been asked to come down here by Cristina.

"Preston, what on earth are you doing out of bed?" Jane fretted over her son.

"Oh... well I... I wanted to... get some... stretch my legs mama." Burke stuttered out, not wanting to admit that Cristina had asked him to come save her.

"But you're not supposed to stretch your legs. You're supposed to be resting." Jane said.

"Right. But I wanted to have some... some air. Some stretching, some air... and some coffee. Anybody want any coffee?" Burke asked his mother and girlfriend.

"We Already have coffee. Please have a seat." Cristina said, as Burke nodded.

"Right. Just a second... coffee." Burke said, before he made his way over to the coffee cart to get his own cup.

"You did this." Jane accused Cristina.

"What?" Cristina asked shocked.

"Cristina, listen to me. It's not that I don't like you. I think that you're a very smart, very attractive young woman. But you're selfish." Jane informed Cristina bluntly, she was not the right fit for her son.

"I beg your pardon?" Cristina asked shocked.

"Oh, you pulled him out of his sick bed because you were uncomfortable. That's selfish. You're selfish, and my son is giving. And the combination...well...it's not going to last. Not much longer." Jane Burke informed her, just then, Burke came back with his own cup of coffee, and a scone.

"Hey, hey, hi. Alright. I brought you a scone mama." Burke said as he sat down.

After a few moments of tense silence, Cristina was relieved to hear Eddie's familiar voice.

"Dr. Burke! Cristina"

Eddie was sitting in a wheel chair with her leg propped up so she didn't need to bend it. She was holding Frankie on her lap, while she was being pushed by her older brother, Ben.

"Dr. Sousa." Burke said with a smile, when he saw the young doctor who had helped save his life, and one of his favorite interns.

"Ed!" Cristina said relieved to see them. She hope Eddie's arrival would get Mama Burke off her back for a little while.

"Dr. Sousa?" Jane said as she looked at the young blonde whom she heard got injured trying to help her son. She had stopped the bleeding after being shot.

"Yes, hi." Eddie said with a smile.

"Eddie," Burke said, "this is my mother, Jane. Mama, this is Dr. Edit Sousa."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Burke." Eddie said, "I'd sake hands, but I have mine a bit full. And, this is one of my brothers, Ben Quinn.

Eddie motioned to Frankie who was reclined against Eddie who was holding a plush doll.

"Oh, yes, Dr. Quinn, it is nice to meet you, I just read your paper you published." Burke said to his fellow colleague.

"You as well, Dr. Burke, I've heard a lot about you and your work." Ben said with a smile and a nod.

"I am glad to see you up and about Burke." Eddie said with a smile.

"You as well." Burke said, "thank you, again, Eddie."

"Oh no problem! Eddie said, I am just glad we're both on the mend." Eddie said with a smile.

Jane smiled.

"It is no problem, thank you for what you did to save my Preston," Jane said with a smile. "And who is this little angel?"

"Oh, this is my daughter, Frankie." Eddie said with a smile. "Can you say hi, Frankie?"

Frankie just frowned.

At least Cristina had Frankie on her side. She didn't like Mama Burke either.

"Sorry, she's off routine with me being here, she gave her dad a hard time last night as well." Eddie said.

"No worries," Jane said with a smile. "So you're a surgical intern as well?"

"Yes ma'am." Eddie said with a nod.

"And your husband is okay with such a demanding career?" Jane asked, as Eddie and Cristina shard a look.

What?

How was that okay to ever ask? Sure, Eddie got a lot of strange looks or questions because of how young she was. Whether in her career or the fact she was a young mother. But, she hadn't expected that straight to the point question.

"I'm not married, but her father is supportive. He's a surgeon as well. We've got a great support system, and as long as we raise our daughter to be a good person, I say we did our job." Eddie said, as Cristina mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

"Yep," Ben said with a laugh. "Mark is here biggest cheerleader. So are we."

He motioned to a table a few feet away, where the entire Quinn clan, minus Conrad, who had been convinced to go to work because Eddie felt fine, along with Eli and Esther were sitting at.

"We'll let you guys talk, we are meeting our family for breakfast." Ben said after a moment, unsure of how else to respond to this now tense situation.

"Bye Burke, Cris." Eddie said as Ben pushed her away.

Cristina watched as Mark joined them, carrying a carrier of different drinks. Cristina almost wanted to go beg, and have Eddie come save her from this awkward meeting.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the OR, doctors were trying to figure out the best way to save Harley. This was something they had never really seen before.

"His kidney's gone. No way to save it." Bailey informed the group.

"Just focus on keeping the renal artery under control." Conrad said as he worked on his own area trying to see any other damages.

"I have another bleeder." Bailey called.

"Okay pace yourself everybody. We have a long way to go. We have enough blood standing by?" Conrad asked Alex.

"Yes sir." Alex said.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the OR Gallery, Cristina was informing Meredith about her run in and coffee date with Mama Burke. When George entered the room.

"Is that a tree?" George asked shocked to see a tree limb impaling the patient Conrad, Bailey, and Alex were working on.

But, neither Meredith or Cristina answered him, and Cristina continued on her rant.

"His mother rivals his mother. And that is saying something." Cristina informed Meredith.

"They're operating around it?" George asked as he tried to get a better look.

"Both of them dark and evil." Cristina complained, referring to both her mom and Burke's mama.

"You're blocking my view George." Cristina informed the other intern.

"I miss dirty stripper Cristina. She was fun. A lot less angry." Meredith said as Cristina sent her a glare, but didn't say anything.

"Next time I see her, if she even looks at me sideways, I'm telling her what I think. She wants to call me racist?" Cristina ranted.

"What?" George asked confused as he moved to sit down in one of the open chairs.

"I'll call her sexist. Change my career after I'm married? What is this, 1953? She comes at me, I'm going there." Cristina continued as if George didn't say anything.

"I think you should. I think we all should just go there. You know, tell the truth. Spit it out. Go with your gut. Follow your instincts." Meredith said, thinking about Ben, whom said what he thought without consequences.

"I miss philandering whore Meredith. She was trashy and much less ldyllic." Cristina retorted.

"Do women have two sets of panties? You know, ones they wear for different occasions?" George asked the two. But, they didn't answer him.

"I made a choice. I'm picking Derek. Finn is great. But Derek...is Derek. And I'm following my gut." Meredith informed her best friend.

"Whatever. I want my patient back. You know, the one you stole after mama cornered me?" Cristina informed her friend, wanting something to do so she didn't go rip mama a new one.

"That's okay. It's my day to check on Izzie anyway." Meredith informed her friend as Cristina left the gallery.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A little while later, George entered Dana Seabury's room to see Tyler standing there, looking very much annoyed and fed up.

"You paged me?" George asked him.

"Your patient was caught shoplifting chocolate from the hospital gift shop." Tyler informed George annoyed as Dana started to pack up her suitcase.

"What?" George asked shocked.

"I've never done that before, it was exhilarating." Dana explained, as George looked at her in shock.

" And now she's planning to leave." Tyler informed George, who tried to talk some sense into her.

"You can't...she can't leave. You're sick. You should be sleeping. Resting." George tried to remind her.

"Preparing for death?" Dana asked.

"Preparing for surgery there's a difference." George countered.

"Maybe. Maybe not. That's what they mean when they give you a sixty percent chance of survival. It means four out of ten people die whether they have the surgery or not. I have lived my entire life, pent-up, repressed. Stifling every impulse, following every rule. And now I'm done. And you know what, you should be too. We should all be done." Dana explained her reasoning.

"So you're leaving?" George asked, knowing he couldn't force her to stay, but this was crazy.

"I'm claiming my life doctor. I cant do that from a hospital bed." Dana explained.

"And you know you'll die." George pointed out. That wasn't going to change, she would die, her illness would kill her if went untreated.

"Maybe. But at least when I do, I'll know that I have lived." Dana said as she ate of the chocolates. "Mmmmm. Oh God, this is good."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Meredith entered the frat house, and was worried when she didn't hear the now typical clatter from the kitchen. Ever since she decided to bake away her grief, the sound of clanging pots, pans, and ovens were common.

But, there was nothing.

"Izzie?" Meredith called.

No response, she made her way to the kitchen, to see it empty, except for the sea of muffins and the stove was off. So either Izzie was upstairs, finally asleep (which she doubted, since they had found her asleep at the kitchen table), or out of the house.

"Wow, okay?" Meredith muttered, as the doorbell rang before Meredith could go see if Izzie was upstairs.

Meredith went and opened the door, and was shocked to see Finn standing there holding a paper bag.

"Finn." Meredith said shocked.

"Hi. What are you doing home? I thought you were working." Finn said confused to see Meredith at home.

"I am. I was. I still am. I just came home to check on Izzie." Meredith informed him.

"So did I. Brought her lunch." Finn said as he held up the paper bag he was holding.

"You brought Izzie lunch?" Meredith asked shocked.

"When my wife died, there really wasn't anything anyone could say. But the bringing of food helped. It was the only thing that helped." Finn explained as Meredith melted as Finn entered the foyer.

Finn was so sweet.

"You brought Izzie food?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah." Finn said.

"Even though you didn't think I was here." Meredith said, amazed at his generosity.

"Is that okay?" Finn asked, worried he stepped over some boundary.

"Yeah... it's amazing actually. You're amazing. Sweet and thoughtful. And sensitive." Meredith said with a soft smile.

"Meredith, I don't want to pressure you. You have a decision to make. I want you to take all the time that you need. But I do want to make one thing clear." Finn said.

He paused for a moment.

"What's that?" Meredith asked.

"I'm not al that sensitive." Finn said, as he bent forwards and kissed her, and while they were kissing, Meredith was pushed against the wall as they deepened the kiss.

"So..." Finn said as he broke the kiss.

"So..." Meredith repeated.

"Have a nice day at work." Finn said, before leaving Meredith alone with her thoughts.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Eddie was studying for the intern test when Mark entered the room. He saw Eddie was on the hospital bed, while Frankie slept in the travel play pin.

"Hey sweetheart, what are you doing?" Mark asked as he looked at her surrounded by a sea of books, color-coded index cards, and various pens and highlighters.

Mark went over to check on Frankie who was out like a light, then joined Eddie sitting on the chair besides the bed.

"Oh! Hi honey." Eddie greeted looking up, with a grin, "I am studying for my intern test."

Mark looked at the note cards filled with her elegant handwriting. It was obvious that she had put a lot of time and effort into her studying.

"Do you need help?" Mark asked.

He knew that despite the fact that Eddie was a genius and that she had an eidetic memory, it didn't mean she didn't need to study. Which, a lot of people didn't understand, because they thought she knew everything.

Eddie worked hard to where she was supposed to be, and Mark was very proud of her. And, the intern exam was something important. Mark spent any spare time he had his intern year studying as well.

"Sure, could you quiz me?" Eddie asked as she started to gather the notecards she made.

"Sure." Mark said with a grin, as he helped her pick them up.

He shuffled some notecards and asked; "how do you treat pancreatic divisum?"

"Dorsal duct sphincterotomy." Eddie answered and Mark nodded.

"What is the strongest layer of the small bowel?" Mark asked.

"Submuscousa." Eddie said, as mark nodded.

"Good job." Mark said as he started to quiz her some more.

About fifteen minutes into their study session, Alec entered the room.

"Hey Mark, Ed." Alec greeted.

"Hey Alec, what's up?" Eddie asked her older brother, as he came over and kissed her cheek.

"I was just coming to check on you," Alec said, "and let you know something...what is all this?"

"Mark is helping me study for my intern exam. I figured since I am on leave for a few weeks, I thought I'd spend some time being proactive. What's up?"

"Oh, good idea." Alec said as he looked through some of her color-coded cards.

"So," Eddie said with a smile. "What's up?"

"How would you feel if I spend some more time here, in Seattle?" Alec asked.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked confused.

"Well, Richard offered me a temporary position because a peds and neonatal surgeon is out on FMLA. So, I'll be here for the next two or three months." Alec explained.

"Really?" Eddie asked excitedly.

"Yeah, so what do you say, can you handle working with two of your brothers?" Alec asked.

"I'd love it." Eddie said.

This was great. Not only was Mark going to be moving to Seattle, but so would her other older brother.

"When do you start?" Eddie asked.

"In a couple of weeks. I am going back to California, this next week to settle some affairs with my place and things like that, and then I will be back." Alec said.

"That's amazing." Eddie said with a smile.

"Thanks." Alec said, relieved. He would have hated it if his little brother and sister would not want him there.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Bailey made her way out into the waiting room, looking for Harley's father, whom was sitting nervously, waiting for the news of his son. Beating himself up for allowing this to happen.

"Mr. Hernandez?" Bailey asked, as she approached.

"How... how is he? Is he okay? I mean you've been operating for hours." Jeffrey asked worriedly, hoping that the last thing he said to his son, was said out of anger and worry as he was being brought into the hospital.

"There is extensive damage. We've had to remove one of his kidneys and a portion of his bowels." Bailey explained.

"But the tree's out. I mean you got it out and he's okay?" Jeffrey asked worriedly.

"Okay, Mr. Hernandez the branch is actually still there. We're operating around it which is a part of what's taking up so much time." Bailey explained, as Jeffrey looked completely stressed out and near tears.

"His mother's not here yet. Do you think he'll be okay by the time she gets here?" Jeffrey asked, his wife was a few states away due to a business trip.

"I'm sorry, I do have to get back in there. I just came to give you an update." Bailey explained.

"That he's still alive." Jeffrey said, holding onto that news.

"Yes, that he's still alive." Bailey said, as Jeffrey nodded and took a sigh.

"Okay." Jeffrey agreed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Izzie entered The Emerald City Bar armed with a large basket of fresh baked muffins. She needed to get out, and seeing all the muffins made her sad, and decided to give some muffins to her friends and other places so they would not go to waste. Because, she would not be eating the sea of muffins she had been making.

"Izzie. How you doing sweetie?" Joe asked concerned, the others had told him what had happened with her and Denny, and about Denny's death.

"I brought you some muffins." Izzie said as she held up some muffins for him to see.

"Okay." Joe said, accepting the gift as Izzie, almost robotically made her way to the counter.

"I made a lot. I was running out of room and I thought maybe you would like some. I'm a good baker." Izzie continued.

"Yeah absolutely. Thank you." Izzie said as Joe put the muffin basket onto the counter, just as Addison came out, already on her way to being very drunk.

"Dr. Stevens." She greeted.

"Please don't call me doctor." Izzie said, flinching.

She wasn't a doctor, not anymore.

"Okay...please don't call me Mrs. Shepherd. HA. That's funny." Addison said drunkenly, getting a stiff smile from Joe and nothing from Izzie.

"She's drunk." Izzie said.

"This is true." Joe agreed.

"So did you know about the slutty sex your slutty friend had with my super slutty husband?" Addison asked Izzie, who looked uncomfortable.

She had heard, but, hadn't really paid attention. Lost in her own grief.

"You should have a muffin. They're really good...and they'll help you." Izzie offered instead, it would also soak up some of the alcohol.

"I may be beyond help." Addison said sadly.

"Yeah. Me too. Don't let her drive Joe." Izzie ordered as she made her way out of the bar.

Addison grabbed one of the muffins from the basket and took a bite from one and moaned.

"Mmm. Good." Addison said.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Eddie was sitting at one of the nurses station once again, as she, Cristina, and Meredith were watching Burke's hospital room from the widow, where Mama Burke was fretting over her son.

"She's still here." Meredith said, as Cristina and Eddie both nodded.

"Yep," Eddie said with a nod as she popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"She never leaves. She never even pees. I'm not entirely sure she's human." Cristina said.

"Well, maybe she'll have to recharge soon, and we can wheel her out." Eddie said as her friends laughed.

"See, girl genius, this is why we are friends." Cristina said.

"Finn brought Izzie lunch." Meredith informed her friends.

"Oh you went to see Izzie?" Cristina asked.

Even though, Eddie wasn't friends with Izzie, she still felt horrible for her. She hated how Izzie acted and what she had done, and it was incredibly stupid for her to cut the LVAD wire, and risking not only her career, but her friends, Baileys, and the hospitals standing as a transplant center. But, she could still feel sorry for Izzie, whom's life was ruined, no job or fiancé.

"Yeah, she wasn't home. But I'm taking that as a good thing cause at least the baking has stopped. But my point is, Finn brought Izzie lunch. He's that guy...the guy who brings your roommate lunch when she's sad." Meredith explained, trying to figure out whom she needed to choose.

"So you didn't end it?" Cristina asked.

"Yeah, I thought you chose Derek." Eddie added as she offered some popcorn to Cristina who accepted some.

"He's the guy who brings your roommate lunch when she's sad. So I'm going to end it with Derek." Meredith said.

"Are you sure?" Eddie asked, "you don't need to decide right now. Hell, I'd date. Figure out who you want from there."

Meredith just shrugged. It felt silly. Dating seemed so high school. She didn't know.

"Whatever." Cristina muttered, as she looked back at Mama Burke whose words were playing in her head.

"You know, I'm not selfish. I'm by his side. I..I took off all my clothes this morning. That's not selfish. And I'm going in for surgery. Selfish people don't save lives." Cristina said, as she walked away.

Just then, both blondes saw George flirting with a new nurse from the hospital window.

"George..." Meredith started.

"What?" George asked as he looked at his roommate and friend.

"You're flirting with that Nurse." Eddie pointed out, annoyed that George was flirting with another person while being with Callie.

"I'm young. I'm healthy. I got a life to live." George said, thinking about Callie and the black lace panties.

"Is this about the panties? Are you still jealous?" Meredith asked him, as George shrugged.

"I'm not jealous. I'm just living my life." George said, as the two women shared a look.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Cristina was getting Ben ready for surgery.

"Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a boyfriend?" Ben kept repeating to Cristina who was pointedly ignoring him.

"He's going to keep asking 'til you answer." Ruth explained to Cristina who sighed.

"Yes. I have a boyfriend." Cristina answered and then said, "Can you look here?"

"If I had a boyfriend, I would definitely not be as angry as you. Why are you so angry? Is it because you're frigid? Or he's frigid? Or.." Ben started to question again, not realizing it was borderline rude.

"Nobody's frigid. My boyfriend's mother called me selfish." Cristina explained as she used her pen light.

"Are you selfish? Cause you do seem kind of self-obsessed to me." Ben stated.

"Ben." Ruth chastised.

"I'm a surgeon. In order to be a surgeon, a certain amount of self- obsession is necessary. My boyfriend gets that. If his mother doesn't. It's her problem." Cristina explained, trying to shrug it off, and let Burke's mother's words roll off her back.

"I used to have a boyfriend. When I got the tumor, he understood. He tried to understand. He loved me. But his mother didn't. My offending everyone offended her. And he said he didn't care what his mother thought. But in the end he did care, 'cause now it's two years later and I'm having brain surgery, and only my fat sister Ruth is with me." Ben laminated about his long-lost love.

"Benjamin, that was kind of rude." Cristina informed the man, who looked at his sister with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry." Ben apologized to his sister, who just gave him a smile.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the scrub room, Cristina and Derek were scrubbing up, getting ready to enter the OR where Derek were operate on Ben.

"If the tumor is removed, is it going to bring his old personality back?" Cristina asked somewhat bluntly.

"If we get the tumor out and Benjamin lives, anything else is icing on the cake." Derek said honestly.

This was a very risky surgery, and Ben had a high probably of dying on that table based on where the tumor was. Derek was only trying to focus on trying to get that out, instead of anything after.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In another OR, where Conrad, Callie, Bailey, and Alex were working on Harley. Conrad had come up with a possible way of getting the tree from Harley without hopefully causing more damage.

"I'm locking down the external fixator." Callie informed the group.

"There's no active bleeding, and the trajectory is clear." Bailey informed Conrad who nodded.

"Karev, I want you to hold pressure on the liver. Put your hands down there and don't move. You with the saw, don't make a move until we get our hands on every vital organ around the tree trunk. The parents, have they said their goodbyes?" Conrad asked Bailey, knowing that this might be not work, and he would hate for them to not have said their goodbyes.

"Mom's not here yet." Bailey informed him as Conrad nodded, hoping that this worked and she wouldn't have to say goodbye to her son.

"And the father was too busy blaming him to say goodbye." Alex added, which got him a glare from his resident.

"Speak when you're spoken to Karev. I've had enough out of you today." Bailey snapped.

"All due respect Dr. Bailey, I think you've gotten me mixed up with Izzie Stevens." Alex retorted, and everyone was quiet for a moment, the tension in the room was palpable.

After a moment, Conrad said, "All right, everybody, take your positions. Cut carefully. We'll get this thing out in pieces."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Inside Derek's OR Derek was operating on Benjamin and explaining to Cristina and the other residents in the OR what he was doing.

"You see that right there? It's too close to the cavernous sinus. Suction. I've got a bleeder. The brain is starting to swell. His heart can't take it. Yang get those paddles. Move!" Derek ordered as things started to take a turn for the worst.

Cristina did as she was told and started to use the paddles on Benjamin, hoping they didn't lose him.

"Clear!" Cristina called.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Renal artery's collapsed." Bailey informed Conrad who gave her a look.

"I thought you had that." He replied.

"Hepatic artery is gone." Alex said.

"BP is dropping." Bailey said, as Conrad noticed the bleeding speed up.

"Oh he's bleeding. He's bleeding fast. Laps." Conrad ordered as the room went into a flurry of activity as they tried to save the young teen.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"No change. Epi and atropine are in." Rory Burkhardt said to Derek, who nodded, trying to think about any way to save him.

"Still in v-fib." Cristina informed them.

"Shock him again." Derek ordered.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

At Joe's Bar, Addison was sharing a table with Bailey, Rory, Conrad, and Alec.

"I've decided that I'm going to get really fat. Just as a stopgap. Just until I figure out another plan. I'm going to eat all of these muffins, and I'm going to really, gloriously fat." Addison informed them.

"Of course you will Addie." Alec said, knowing from experience when Addison was this drunk she would say things and not remember them in the morning, so it was better to play along with them, and stop her from doing anything to stupid.

He had decided to join Rory for a drink to celebrate his new job and drown her sorrows over loosing a patient, Milo, had made friends with Alec's niece, Amanda, and the two were currently having a play date at the hotel, so Rory could unwind for a bit. Conrad decided to tag along to get a few drinks after a very long day. And the three of them hadn't expected to play babysitter to the drunk attending.

She had joined them, and never left. But, honestly, as bad as it may sound, they were enjoying her drunken rants a bit too much to find a different spot.

"It's over. Over. Over! I'm talking about the last third of my life! How can it be over? How can it just end? Over a skanky pair of panties and... a bad tux? I am desirable, Amanda and Ronnie, right Alec? Conrad? I'm desirable."

"Miranda.", "Rory." Both Bailey and Rory corrected at the same time.

"Yes, Addie you are." Alec said honestly, he had eyes. "you'll find someone who loves and accepts you, just not me...and, Derek just isn't the one."

"Of course you are, Addison, you're a catch." Conrad agreed as he took a sip of his beer.

"Right. Joe, I'm desirable, right?" Addison asked Joe, who approached them.

"I have a boyfriend." Joe informed her.

"Be that as it may, I don't need me to tell you how wildly attractive I am. Wildly attractive." Addison boasted drunkenly, not having listened to one of her oldest friends and the bar owner.

" You are," Joe said as he reached out and wiped some of her tears from her face. "And your wildly attractive cab is here."

"It is?" Addison asked with drunken amazement.

"You told me to call you a cab at 10:00. It's 10:00." Joe informed her.

"I guess that's for the best, huh?" Addison asked the trio who nodded.

"I would say so." Bailey agreed.

"I'll take care of her Joe." Alec promised and turned to Rory and said, "I'll be right back."

Rory smiled and nodded, as Alec helped corral a very agreeable Addison to her cab which was outside.

"You have it bad." Bailey informed her friend, who flushed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Rory said, as Bailey hummed as she took a sip of her drink.

"Of course you don't." Conrad said with a laugh as Rory sent a pointed kick towards the man who was quickly becoming one of her best fiends.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Hey. Can I buy you a drink? I have a lot of them. I'm trying one of everything." Dana, George's patient, asked Alex as she motioned to all the alcoholic drinks spread in front of her on the bar countertop.

"Hey." Alex said, placing her after a moment. "Aren't you the cake lady from this morning? Aren't you supposed to be having surgery?"

"Well that hasn't been decided yet. So you're a doctor?" Dana asked Alex as she moved to sit closer to him.

"Yes. I'm a doctor." Alex said.

"Does that mean you can't drink with me?" Dana asked, flirting.

"Not at all." Alex said.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

George and Meredith were at one of the high top tables in the bar, as they played dart. Currently, it was George's turn to throw his darts. He missed the board completely, as he flirted with the nurse from earlier.

"George... you're going to kill someone. What are you doing?" Meredith asked her friend and roommate.

"I'm working it. If Callie can be bad, so can I." George said as he threw another dart, which almost hit the nurse seated near by.

"Hey! Watch it!" The nurse exclaimed.

"George, Callie is hot. She's like really sexy...almost dirty hot. And she's hot for you. In my opinion, you could keep using the darts as weapon, or you could go get lucky with a sexy, hot, dirty girl." Meredith said, she owed Callie one, and she truly liked George and she could see that George liked Callie, so why not give a little shove?

George thought about it for a moment, chugged half of his beer and then decided to leave without a word, making his way to Callie's apartment in the hospital basement.

"Where's he going?" Cristina asked Meredith as she passed George and joined her friend at the table.

"To get laid." Meredith informed Cristina who groaned.

"God, you know there is something wrong in the world when bambi's getting laid and I can't get five minutes alone with Burke. What are you doing?" Cristina asked as she noticed Meredith was playing with a quarter in her hand.

"Day's over. I'm flipping a coin. Call it." Meredith said.

"The brain surgeon should be heads." Cristina said as Meredith nodded in agreement as she flipped the coin and caught it checking to see whether it was heads or tails.

"Right." Meredith said. "Choice made."

Cristina gawked at her friend.

"Oh that's it? You're going to base your choice on flipping a coin?" Cristina asked, thinking that Eddie's suggestion earlier was probably the best way to go if she couldn't decide between Derek and the vet.

"I'm taking a cue from Benjamin. Impulsive, honest." Meredith reminded her as Cristina looked her as if she was crazy.

"Benjamin died. He wasn't impulsive Meredith. He wasn't honest. He was sick and brain damaged. And now he's dead." Cristina informed her friend bluntly, who looked shocked and sad.

What was she going to do now? That is when Eddie's words rang in her mind.

Dating?

Maybe that wouldn't be too bad, and she could make a more informed decision then.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Bailey made her way towards the bar bathroom, when she found Harley's father, Jeffrey Hernandez, sitting at the bar, looking sad and miserable.

"Mr. Hernandez? May I?" Bailey asked, the father, who looked up and nodded.

Bailey sat in the chair next to him and grabs an Izzie muffin.

"You-you okay? Your son is going to be fine." Bailey reminded him, Harley had come out of the surgery alive, and he was going to be able to live a fairly normal life. When she left the hospital, he was awake and stable.

"He was off with his friends. I let him go off with that thing. I knew better. His friend, he has this driveway up on a hill. I just keep picturing him...i just keep picturing him going down that hill and I didn't stop him. I should have stopped him." Jeffrey said sadly as he beat himself up for what happened to his son.

"Kids spin out of control sometimes. They spin out of control. You can't..." Bailey tried to consul him.

"Yes, you can. You can control them. It's your job as a parent to control them. Ever since the divorce, I only get to see him every other weekend. I never would have bought him that louge. I never would have let him go off on his own that way before. I went soft. I went soft when he needed me to be the father." Jeffrey informed Bailey, who sat there for a moment, thinking about the recent events.

Maybe, she, like Jeffrey, was beating herself up over something she thought she should have been able to control. And, maybe she had loosened her reigns too much, when they needed her the most.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

On the other end of the bar, Dana and Alex were still talking, as they drank.

"I wish I'd had more fun. I didn't want to be a slult. I didn't want to be a tramp. I didn't have any fun. My ex husband...he had fun. All sorts of fun with all sorts of women who were a lot more fun than me. Nobody called him a slut. Why is that? Men can do it but women can't." Dana said as she took another sip of a strong drink.

"Women can. I know some who do." Alex said with a shrug.

"Not without being called names." Dana reminded him.

"Why do you care what people call you? I get called an ass, I don't care." Alex said.

"I don't think you're an ass." Dana informed him honestly.

"I don' t think you're a slut." Alex countered.

"You have a girlfriend Alex?" Dana asked boldly, as Alex took a sip of his beer.

"No, no girlfriend." Alex said, not since Izzie left him for her patient.

"So you're single?" Dana pressed, as Alex nodded.

"Yes. Definitely. I'm single." Alex informed her.

"I'm single too. And I'm very bad at this. Never actually had any practice. So..um. I'm going to go into the bathroom. And if I find myself alone in there after two minutes, I'll just touch up my makeup and come back out. But should you have any interest in fulfilling the wish of a potentially dying woman...you know where I'll be." Dana said as she got up from her seat and made her way to the bathroom.

It only took less than sixty seconds for Alex to follow Dana into the bathroom.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Mark, what is this?" Eddie asked with a smile, as she entered her hospital room in a new pair of pajamas.

Mark had set up the small table with two take out containers of food, from what looked like her favorite Mexican restaurant, two drinks, and a small cup from the dresser by the water jug, that held two daisies in it.

"Dinner for two." Mark said wit ha smile as he helped her in bed. "I am taking the night shift here for Henry, so he can get a good night sleep. Esther insisted on taking Frankie for the night for some Grams and Frankie time. So I thought I'd treat us to a nice non-hospital dinner."

Eddie smiled and with one of her hands, gripped the fabric of his shirt and pulled him down to give him a kiss on his stubbled cheek, and then pulled him back with a wide, grin on her face.

"You are an amazing man, Mark Sloan. This is fantastic. Thank you."

Mark all but blushed.

"It's no problem, and I may or may not have gotten use some of their sopapillas." Mark said with a smirk as Eddie's eyes sparkled with delight.

"Okay, you've jumped up to epically amazing Mark." Eddie said as Mark laughed.

"Good, because you deserve this, so dig in." Mark said as he sat at the bottom of the bed and the two dug into their dinner laughing and talking.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the hospital basement, Callie was in her room, dressed in only her t-shirt, underwear, and sunglasses as she danced around listening to her music. Unaware that the chief of surgery was walking by and heard the music, and decided to investigate what was going on and found Callie's makeshift apartment.

"Getting some exercise Dr. Torres?" Webber asked, as Callie froze, like a deer in the headlights of a car.

"Yes... Yes... Sir. Richard Webber." Callie said awkwardly.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Meredith had called both Finn and Derek to Joe's bar, and sat at the table with a clear view of the door, so they could find her easily. Finn walked in first and smiled in his sweet grin and made her way over to her.

"Hi." Finn greeted.

"Hi." Meredith said.

Just then, Derek walks in, who also walks to her table.

"Finn." Derek greeted.

"Derek." Finn replied.

Both were confused to see the other there.

"Thanks for coming. Both of you, thanks for coming. Here's the thing...." Meredith said as she looked between the two men.

"I like you" she said to Finn, and then turned to Derek, "and I like you."

Both men looked confused still, but let Meredith speak.

"And I thought I had a choice to make I thought I had to decide. But I think I owe myself the chance to consider my options." Meredith continued.

"Options?" Finn asked.

"There's this thing that allows for the considering of options. In the olden days they called it dating." Meredith informed them and both men looked shocked.

"Dating?" Derek repeated.

"Yes I'd like to try that." Meredith informed them.

"You want to try dating." Derek repeated as Meredith nodded.

"Yes."

"Both of us?" Finn clarified.

"Yes. I understand if you're not up for it. But, I really hope you are." Meredith said before walking out of the bar, leaving her two suitors alone.

"You bowing out?" Finn asked Derek, who scoffed.

"No, you?" Derek asked.

"I don't think so." Finn said.

Game on. Let the best man win.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the hospital basement, Callie handed Richard a cup of coffee and joined him on the end of her bed.

"You're here first. You get all the best cases. Trauma comes in the middle of the night, you get first dibs." Webber said.

"Exactly." Callie said with a nod.

"I respect it. I do. And also I can't have it and you know it." Webber said as Callie nodded, understanding.

"You're throwing me out." Callie stated.

Goodbye first dibs, Callie thought sadly.

"Got no choice. This violates all sorts of codes and you know it." Webber said knowingly, as Callie sighed, but decided to point out the hypocrisy.

"I have to go but you're allowed to live in your office?" Callie asked.

"You noticed that huh?" Webber asked with a sigh as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, I'm pretty observant." Callie informed him.

"Guess if I'm throwing you out I have to follow my own rules." Webber said with a sigh.

Just then, George entered the makeshift apartment with some flowers for Callie.

"Ok I'm jealous. I have a right to be jealous cause I don't want other guys touching your panties." George said, before seeing Callie half-naked sitting on her bed with Richard, having coffee and left as quickly as he came.

"Great. That's great!" George said.

"Might want to clear that up." Webber said knowingly as Callie nodded.

"Yes sir." Callie agreed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Dana came out of the bar's bathroom, a while later, completely satisfied and relishing in the fact that she had a one night stand. Something she had never thought she would do. But, she had a new appreciation for life, and she was going to do what she wanted. This was a new start.

"You headin' out Dana?" Joe asked the woman.

"Gotta get back to the hospital Joe. Kick this cancer's ass." Dana said, deciding that she was going to fight, so she could continue living life to it's fullest.

As she left, Alex came out of the bathroom and made his way to the bar.

"What do I owe Joe?" Alex asked, as Bailey approached him.

"Alex... about today..." Bailey started.

"Dr. Bailey, you were right. I shouldn't be getting physical with patients." Alex said, shocking Bailey.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The body is a slave to its impulses.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"I don't know if it's going to get any better mama." Cristina heard Burke say as she made her way to the doorway of Burke's room.

" Well I do baby. I do know." Jane said, as she noticed Cristina and said, "Cristina, it's late. Preston needs his sleep."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

But the thing that makes us human...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"I'm sorry Mrs. Burke, I was just coming to see if either of you needed anything before I went home for the evening." Cristina said, as Burke smiled, Cristina was not cowing down to his mother, and showing her she cared in her own way.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

...is what we can control.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"We're fine." Jane informed her, softening somewhat, but still a bit cold.

"Good night Preston. Sleep well." Cristina said with a soft smile, before turning to head home, and as she made her way down the hall, she passed Burke's father.

"Hang in there." Donald said, liking his son's girlfriend, and knew that if his son loved her, then he loved her. His wife would come around.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After the storm, after the rush, after the heat of the moment has passed...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Conrad and Alec had come to say goodnight to their sister, but stopped when they saw her and Mark talking and laughing at what looked like a very successful hospital dinner date. The two brothers didn't know how to feel.

They were both protective of their little sister, even though they knew she could handle herself, it was in the big brother handbook, that they were protective of their younger siblings. Also, both men hated the idea that their little sister was dating, it was in the rule book, they would never like it, though they will begrudgingly accept it.

"They will get together within the next few months." Alec informed his brother.

"I agree." Conrad said.

"And, we accept it, because, Eddie would kill us if we do the whole "father with a shotgun routine". But if he hurts her, we hurt him." Alec asked, knowing that is Mark ever hurt his sister, there would be a long line of people after him.

"Defiantly." Conrad said.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Callie found George laying on one of the benches outside the hospital and made her way over to him.

"The panties?" Callie said as she sat on the edge of the bench, next to him.

"Yeah..." George asked, worried to actually learn whom she wore them for.

"Not mine." Callie informed him.

"Yeah?" George asked, happy that Callie hadn't been sleeping with anyone else.

"The jealousy?" Callie asked after a moment.

"Yeah?" George asked.

"Insanely hot." Callie said as she leant down and kissed him and George kissed her back.

"What's with the suitcase?" George asked as they pulled back, and noticed Callie had a suitcase with her.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

We can cool off and clean up the messes we made.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Callie, George, and Meredith entered the kitchen and found Izzie once again making muffins.

"I'm busy you guys, leave me alone." Izzie ordered as she continued to stir the batter.

Meredith and George stepped aside, to allow Izzie to see Bailey behind them.

"Izzie... I went soft. I had a baby and I swore it wouldn't change me. It just...it does change you." Bailey said as she made her way over to the intern.

"I got tired. I got busy, and I stopped teaching. I stopped teaching when you needed a teacher the most." Bailey said.

"You couldn't have stopped me." Izzie replied, still stirring.

"Yes I could have. You couldn't have stopped you, but I could have. And in the past I would have. I went soft, And I'm partly to blame for what happened. So, I want you to come back .you'll talk to the Richard, well work it out. Because you're talented, and capable, and we all make mistakes - and it's enough muffins." Bailey said, as she grabs the spoon from Izzie's hand.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

We can try to let go of what was.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Derek had found out Addison was staying at the Archfield and made his way to her hotel room and knocked on the door. It took a moment for Addison to answer the door, with wet hair, and wearing a robe.

"I thought you were room service." Addison said flatly as she let him in.

"I feel terrible. I'm not proud of what I did. You deserve better. And I'm sorry about the panties. The prom. I'm sorry I did that." Derek said as he sat on the bed, and Addison joined him sitting next to him.

"Yeah. I'm sorry you did that too." Addison said.

"Our marriage is over." Derek stated.

" Yeah I guess it is." Addison agreed sadly.

"It's all my fault. It's incredibly sad." Derek said, just as Nicholas walk out of the bathroom...steamy and naked, wrapping himself in a towel.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

And then again...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Oh this is awkward." Nicholas said, not expecting to see Derek in the room.

"I feel much better now." Derek said as he walked out of the hotel room, leaving Addison and Nicholas alone.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Then again...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you would like to see in future chapters!!!!!