%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
AN: Welcome to another chapter of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). I somewhat struggled with this episode, it isn't my favorite, but I tried to make it as good as any other of the chapters.
What are you most looking forwards to in Part Two (seasons 4-5)? Is there anything you'd like to see? 🩷🩷🩵🩵💜💜
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As surgeons, we are trained to look for disease. Sometimes the problem is easily detected, most of the time we need to go step by step.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The bathroom of Eddie's apartment was full of warm steam as the couple freshly showered; Mark had a towel wrapped around his waist while Eddie's towel was wrapped around her body.
"So why aren't you going camping with Derek and Burke?" Eddie asked her boyfriend as they both got ready for bed.
They had both finished showering and Mark was watching Eddie put on her usual lotion that she used after the shower, having made no move to get ready for bed.
"Because, it's camping." Mark replied as if it was obvious. "I don't do the outdoors like Derek does. And I have that gender reassignment surgery I was telling you about tomorrow, and they're flying out from New York. Can't cancel on them."
Mark had gone camping with Mark numerous times over his friendship but he never truly enjoyed it like Derek did. But, he did it anyway. Just like Derek did things he liked, even if they weren't his favorite.
"True." Eddie said with a nod. "I also don't understand the appeal of camping, unless it's in a fully functioning cabin."
She had never gone camping. Eli and his family were never ones to leave the city, and her mother and Step Stan were not the ones for the great outdoors either. Their version of "roughing it" was staying at a luxury hotel.
"So, we should cross off camping for any family activity in the future?" Mark asked.
"Yes." Eddie said.
"You are the perfect woman." Mark commented as he made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Eddie blushed at the compliment. And Mark smirked as he kissed her neck. He was thrilled he could evoke that blush from Eddie whenever he complemented her or when he made innuendos.
"You are such a charmer." Eddie commented as Mark continued to kiss her neck, making her go weaker in the knees.
Mark invoked something in her that neither of her previous boyfriends had. And, she truly felt like she ws falling for the handsome doctor she and her friends nicknamed McSteamy.
Eddie turned as best as she could in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her lips onto his, they quickly got swept up in their passion. Eddie quickly found herself with her legs wrapped around Mark's hips and he carried her towards the bedroom.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina Yang watched at her boyfriend packed a bag. She was still trying to compute the fact that he was going camping with Derek. At first, she thought he was kidding when he said he was going camping. But, when he work up, got dressed, and started to pack instead of getting ready for his day at the hospital where he had a full schedule of surgeries she had scheduled for him.
"You're going camping?" Cristina said.
"With Shepherd, yes." Burke said with a nod.
"With the camping on the ground and everyone peeing behind the same bush." Cristina said, still dumbfounded that he was going camping.
"With the fresh air." Burke added.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sometimes the problem is easily detected...
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"We have back-to-back CABGs. I booked the ORs." Cristina reminded him again of their back-to-back schedule.
"I cancelled the ORs." Burke informed her, as Cristina's eyes widened in shock.
"Why?" Cristina asked, her brain short circuiting once again.
"'Cause I'm going camping with Shepherd." Burke reminded her.
"But why?" Cristina asked, still confused.
She really didn't understand this decision. What the hell was wrong with Burke? Was he going through some early mid-life crisis?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A little while later, Derek and Burke were packing the back of Derek's car with their things they needed for the camping trip.
"Ah, men being men. Mountain men. Men in the wild." Derek said.
"Ah the road not taken. The uncharted course. Terra incognita." Burke said.
"Well okay." Derek said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
...most of the time we need to go step by step. First, probing the surface looking for any sign of trouble.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"But we do have to make one stop..." Burke informed Derek, having not told him he had invited a few more people.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A mole or a lesion or an unwelcome lump.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Mountain men in the wild." The chief said.
"Yeah." Derek said, somewhat annoyed that his low-key camping trip was being larger and larger.
He had originally just asked Mark, Burke, and the Quinn brothers; Alec and Conrad. But, Mark had a long-standing scheduled surgery, Alec was on-call and couldn't leave, and Conrad was out of town for a wedding he was part of.
"Terra incognita. You know, this is my first camping trip." Webber informed his two attendings.
"Oh you don't say. So Preston, any other little surprises?" Derek asked him, dreading for the answer.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At Meredith's house, it was somewhat chaotic as George got ready to join the chief and Derek camping.
"Okay, sunscreen, your insect repellent, and you're going to need a shovel to bury your poop." Izzie informed George.
"Izzie, I'm not five." George complained, but the next sentence challenged that.
"Zip me."
Izzie did as he asked, as George continued; "If Callie calls... tell her... I'm a mountain man... man of the wild, right Dr. Burke?"
"Okay, him I invited." Burke informed Derek.
"Izzie baked us treats!" George informed them.
"Have fun with your umm... space... or whatever." Meredith said awkwardly. She hoped Derek's need for space had felt like months, instead of a few days.
Derek gave her a wain smile, he missed her as well, but he needed this to figure out what he needed. But, it was harder than he expected staying away from Meredith. He truly wanted to be with her, but Nancy was right. He needed some time away from everything and clear his head.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At the Emerald City Bar, the group entered, and George looked around looking for the familiar sight of the bar owner.
"I just said we needed an extra tent. Do you think Joe misunderstood?" George asked them.
"Do you want to follow us, or should we follow you?" Joe asked, he was dressed ready to go camping with the group.
"Hey guys." Alex asked as he came in with his own bags.
"That wasn't me, I swear." George said as everyone turned to look at him.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Most of the time, we can't tell what's wrong with somebody by just looking at them. After all, they can look perfectly fine on the outside, while their insides tells a whole other story.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Eddie Sousa was humming a song as she made breakfast for herself and Mark. She was making breakfast burritos; eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, cheddar and pepper jack cheese, and some homemade salsa Eddie had made a few days ago.
Frankie had already nursed and was happily in her playpen, propped up as she played with some of the toys Eddie had placed in there. While Mark was getting ready for his day.
"Something smells good." Mark said as he entered the kitchen, and wrapped his arms around Eddie's waist.
"I'm making breakfast burritos." Eddie said with a smile and a laugh, as Mark dropped a few kisses on her neck and shoulder.
"I wasn't talking about breakfast." Mark commented.
"Okay, hands off mister." Eddie said with a laugh as she turned her head, to meet his lips in a quick kiss. "Your breakfast is ready."
"Thank you sweetheart." Mark said with a grin, knowing they really couldn't do anything. They needed to get to work, and they couldn't do anything with Frankie in the room as well.
"You're welcome," Eddie said as she spooned some salsa into her own burrito.
"So, would you like to be on my rotation today?" Mark asked her. "Because, I think this surgery will be a great one, and you haven't been on a plastics rotation yet."
"Sure! If you'd like me to be." Eddie said with a smile, trying to hide her excitement.
"I would love you to be on my service today." Mark said.
"Okay, then count me in." Eddie said with a smile.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Derek and the group are hiking to the camping ground. It was beautiful, and breathtaking. Maybe, even with the unexpected guests, this would be good.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In one of the lounges that usually the senior residents and attendings used; Mark, Alec, Addison, Callie, and Rory were all drinking coffee. Alec and Rory who were working a back-to-back shift were trying to wake up more after not getting a restful sleep. Addison was reading over some academic journal articles, while Callie and Mark were talking as they sipped coffee.
Callie, was also occasionally texting back and forth with Conrad, who was on his way to his friend's wedding. She and Conrad had spent the night with each other once again the night before.
George, hadn't tried to even talk to her after she told him don't chase after her unless he was ready. And, when he said he was committed, she had expected him to show her that he was committed that he wanted to be with her. But, he hadn't. She had heard nothing from him, which resulted in her going to Conrad to talk and drink the pain away.
And, they had once again fallen into bed together and had numerous rounds of pleasure that wiped George from Callie's mind for a while.
She knew it wasn't healthy, but, she and Conrad so far had been able to keep their "friends with benefits" thing going. And, she also knew it wouldn't last forever, which is why she kept doing it. Especially when she was heartbroken over men name George O'Malley.
Their relaxed air was broken when both Rory and Alec's pagers went off.
"I guess break time is over." Alec said with a sigh, as he rubbed his hand tiredly over his bread covered cheek and basically chugged the rest of his coffee as he quickly left the room, followed by Rory fast on his heels.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"What do you have for me Debbie?" Alec asked the head nurse, he quickly got on the good side of, much like his two younger siblings who worked at Seattle Grace.
"Pregnant woman, she was in a car crash, and has a pretty deep head lac, I also called...Dr. Burkhardt, perfect your both here." Debbie said as she handed Alec the chart and motioned to the patient that had just been brought in.
Alec and Rory quickly made their way over to their patient.
"Andie Sonderson, thirty-three, thirty-two weeks pregnant, got t-boned by another driver. She has been in and out of consciousness and had a deep head lac." The paramedic stated.
"Thank you, we'll take it from here." Rory said as the paramedic nodded.
Rory snapped on her glove and started to check over the head wound, while Alec had a nurse go get him a fetal monitor and an ultrasound machine so he could check on the baby. And, while he waited started to check over for any other wounds or injuries.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A few hallways away, in front of the OR Board; Eddie, Cristina, Meredith, and Izzie were looking at the board as they talked about the strange camping trip that Derek, Burke, the Chief, Alex, and George were going on.
"Derek's camping. Taking time, getting space." Meredith informed her friends.
"Prestons do not go into the woods. A guy named Preston is going to get his ass kicked by a squirrel." Cristina commented, as Eddie laughed.
"It's basically a slumber party." Eddie said with a nod, "a very strange slumber party."
"They do it outside, we do it inside. It's really the only difference." Izzie finished.
"Have you seen Karev? He is supposed to be on my service with Eddie." Mark said as he approached them.
"He's camping." Meredith informed the attending who nodded.
"Well in that case how would you like to get in on my surgery?" Mark asked.
"It's an interesting one, Mer." Eddie said, trying to entice her friend.
"Dr. Bailey makes the assignments." Meredith reminded them. With the unspoken saying that Bailey still didn't trust them and assigned them to cases or the pit like she had done when they first started, instead of allowing them the freedom to join a case if they were asked.
Eddie, was different, because she hadn't nearly cost the hospital its accreditation with the transplant center, or nearly cost them their jobs with the cutting of an LVAD wire.
"Dr. Bailey says it's fine." Bailey said as she approached them. Meredith nodded with a grin. It had been to long since she and Eddie worked on a case together.
The three doctors left, leaving Bailey with her last two remaining interns.Bailey looked at Izzie and gave the next assignment.
"Go. Stevens, conference room. You're spending the day with your peer counselor." Bailey added.
"Is that a shrink? The hospital is already making me see a shrink." Izzie said, but Bailey gave her an unimpressed look.
"Stevens, go meet your peer. Get counseled." Bailey ordered, and Izzie left with a slight pout and a sigh.
"Exciting procedures on the board today Yang." Bailey commented, casually, even though she wanted ask why she had erased her name from the board.
"Yes, Dr. Bailey... which one would you like me to start with?" Cristina asked her resident.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Bailey decided she was going to torture her intern for the day, and assign her to a case that would drive Cristina crazy. Bailey showed Cristina the scans of their patient, Eric Sanborn.
"Are those..." Cristina asked shocked seeing the familiar pieces of the monopoly board game.
'Monopoly pieces?" Bailey finished with a nod.
"Twenty-one of them to be exact. Mostly houses and hotels. I also swallowed the thimble, the race car, oh, and the shoe." Eric Sunburn said, without any regret.
"Eric and his older brother don't always get along." His mother, Holly, explained to the doctors, trying to explain why her son would swallow the pieces.
"He wouldn't let me play monopoly with him and his friends. This way, nobody could play." Eric explained.
"Yang, what do you recommend?" Bailey asked her intern, who looked at her like she was crazy.
"Is this even surgical?" Cristina asked, getting the typical 'really' look from her resident.
"Yang." Bailey snapped.
"Track and inventory the pieces, measure the progress by x-ray. Keep examining the stool." Cristina replied, knowing that arguing would do no good.
"Very good. Enjoy." Bailey said as she handed Cristina the chart.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina followed Bailey outside the room, wanting to know why Bailey had decided to punish her. This case wasn't even surgical! Wasn't this the nurses job? There were so many good cases today, why was Bailey making her do this?
"Dr. Bailey, isn't this more of a Nurses job?" Cristina asked her resident.
"Are you too good to help that boy?" Bailey asked Cristina with a hard look.
"Yes." Cristina said, before quickly changing her answer after Bailey's look seemed to go darker and if looks could kill, she would be dead ten times over.
"No. Definitely not. I just think I'd be more help if I was assisting in a surgery with you." Cristina explained.
"No surgery for you." Bailey informed her intern, who gave her a confused look.
"I'm sorry I don't understand." Cristina said, why was she being taken off surgeries?
"I don't understand why you erased my name from the OR board." Bailey stated, as fear gripped Cristina.
Shit.
"I don't know what..." Cristina started to deny.
"No don't do that. Don't give me that fake confused look. It irritates me. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You erased my name from Burke's humpty dumpty surgery, you know it, I know it. What I don't know is why." Bailey ranted as she gave her intern a look that wanted to make her confess.
" I... have no comment." Cristina said, pushing aside the fear of the Nazi, for her boyfriend. She couldn't tell her that Burke's hand wasn't steady and he was having her help him in surgeries so he could still do what he loved.
"No surgeries Yang." Bailey said as she walked away.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Mark, Eddie, and Meredith made their way into the elevator. This would be the first time Mark would be working with his girlfriend and one of her person's since he started working at Seattle Grace. While he had been working here he usually had Karev, or some other poor intern on his case.
He trusted Eddie and her fellow Bailey interns over the rest of the interns and residents in the hospital. Most of the residents or interns he had on his cases were doing errands for him instead of being around his patients and potentially screwing something up.
He knew that it was showing some favoritism, but besides from Stevens, Bailey's group of interns seemed to be the smartest and best of the bunch. So, until proven otherwise, they were given a bit more freedom. And, despite the fact he treated his interns and younger residents like errand boys/girls, he still taught them. They would still be in the surgery, learning and watching him as he explained the surgeries in detail and while asking them questions about it.
Mark had gotten to know Cristina and Meredith well since he moved to Seattle. The two women often came over (mostly unannounced) to spend time with Eddie.
Though, he wasn't always the biggest fan of when they would have sleepovers. In his and Eddie's bed, with him still in it.
"Okay, before you start, there are rules to this friendship thing or whatever." Meredith stated to the attending who looked amused.
"The dirty mistresses club has rules? Gosh, you think a club of dirty mistresses would be a little less uptight about things like rules." Mark teased, amused.
It had become their sort of joke between him and Meredith that they were both members of the dirty mistress club. Mark, while never knowingly engaged in affairs (he didn't cross that line), was a known man whore and was known to flirt and sleep with woman often. And, Meredith knew he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, no matter how twisted it sounded. And, she appreciated the fact that Mark seemed to not condemn her sleeping with a married man like most did.
" Number one, no flirting with Eddie, at least while I am here. Second, no talking about Derek. And three, no giving me the face." Meredith said, as Eddie laughed as Mark snorted.
"The face..." Mark asked amused, wondering if Eddie knew what her friend was talking about.
"The McSteamy face." Eddie said, blushing.
Mark smirk. He took way too much pleasure in that nickname, Eddie thought as she blushed deeper. Mark had often used that 'McSteamy' face on her and it made her go to goo on the inside and often ended with them having a few rounds of 'fun'. But, at work so far, she had a pretty good track-record of not falling for it.
"It doesn't work on me. I'm immune." Meredith informed the handsome doctor.
"You know, if I had gone off to the woods, I'd have invited you to keep me warm." Mark informed Meredith, who gave him a 'really' look.
Mark felt like his best friend was an idiot. Derek clearly loved Meredith, and she clearly loved him. They wanted to be together. There was no obstacles in their way; Derek and Addison were now officially divorced and Meredith was no longer dating the vet. Yet, Derek was running from his feelings and leaving Meredith hanging.
"Breaking rules two and three." Meredith informed the attending.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Izzie entered the conference room where she was supposed to meet her peer counselor, wondering why she had to meet with them when she was already meeting with one the hospital appointed her to.
Was this something Bailey was doing on top of what the hospital wanted her to do? She wondered when Bailey would just let it go and let her start practicing medicine again instead of the "don't touch" brigade.
Izzie froze in place when she saw who was waiting for her. Sydney Heron.
"Sydney, you're my counselor?" Izzie said after a moment of stunned silence.
"Peer counselor. We're equals. How are you?" Sydney asked Izzie as she gave her a hug, which Izzie awkwardly didn't return.
"I'm fine." Izzie said awkwardly.
"That's outside Izzie talking. How's inside Izzie?" Sydney asked as she released Izzie from the hug, and Izzie just gave her a strained smile.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"So you and Derek. You guys together or...just answer the question and I'll quit asking." Mark said as Eddie elbowed him.
"Mark seriously." Eddie said, he had been trying to get the information out of Derek, who was just as tight lipped as Meredith. It was also none of his business.
Though, Eddie couldn't help but be curious as well. Meredith for the past couple days had just been mopey. Which, Eddie understood. It was like Derek was putting her feelings and heart in limbo much like when Addison first arrived in Seattle and he was trying to decide what he was going to do.
"Derek and I are taking some space." Meredith said. "Derek and I, there's just a lot of water under the thing or whatever."
"Hopefully, he can get his head straight soon." Mark said honestly as he lead his girlfriend and one of her best friends to the room where their patient was waiting.
"My knight in shining poly-cotton." His patient, Donna Gibson, greeted Mark Sloan happily. He had been her plastic surgeon ever since she started to transition and gotten her breast implants.
"Good morning, Donna. Vicky. How was the trip?" Mark greeted the couple happily.
"Smooth, perfect." Donna said happily, she was giddy, it was finally happening.
"Speak for yourself." Donna's wife Vicky commented.
Vicky was trying to be supportive, she loved Donna, but, still, after two years, she still couldn't fully wrap her head around her husband, now wife's transition.
"She's still having some penis issues." Donna informed Derek, as Meredith looked confused, Mark hadn't told Meredith or Eddie what the surgery they would be assisting him with actually was.
Mark had just told Eddie he had a big surgery coming up, and that this person had been his patient for years.
"I'm sorry...are we missing something?" Meredith asked confused.
"I think you're missing the fact that Dr. Sloan is planning on removing my husband's penis this afternoon." Vicky informed the confused interns.
"Oh and your husband is?" Meredith asked, looking for Vicky's husband.
"Right here." Donna said, as Eddie flipped open the chart Mark had just given her.
"Donna Gibson, 34, in for sexual reassignment surgery." Eddie said, using the name Mark called their patient.
Donna smiled and nodded.
"So essentially, today we are inverting his...um her...uh.." Meredith stuttered, she hadn't been expecting this when she was asked to be on Sloan's service.
"Her penis. That's okay. You'll get it." Donna said, not at all upset or angry by Meredith's shock.
"You know the steps for a vaginoplasty?" Mark asked his two interns.
"Yes." Eddie answered, she had read up on the surgery while she was studying for the intern exam.
"Not exactly." Meredith admitted.
"Well if you want to get in on this surgery today, you better learn." Mark informed Meredith, who nodded.
"Don't pay any attention to him, you're doing very well." Donna said to Meredith.
"Better than I did when I first found out." Vicky added.
"We just need to run a few pre-op labs. Make sure everything's in working order." Mark informed the couple.
"Then surgery today?" Donna asked hopeful.
"Big day Donna. You excited?" Mark asked with a grin, that caused Donna to smile widely.
"Excited doesn't begin to cover it." Donna said excitedly.
"You're going to do great." Mark promised.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In one of the OR's at Seattle Grace, Rory Burkhardt and Alec Quinn were working on their patient, Andie. She had a sever head laceration, and the CT scan showed that there was massive bleeding in her brain. So, Rory, was preforming a craniotomy on her to relieve some of the pressure as well as stop more of the bleeding.
While Alec, was monitoring the baby, and was ready to start an emergency c-section.
"How's the baby looking Alec?" Rory asked as she worked.
"So far, so good." Alec said reading the chart.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the woods, the men were setting up camp in the spot that Derek lead them to. Besides Derek, George was the only one with any experience with camping, even if he wasn't always the biggest fan of it. But, it was far better in George's opinion than hunting poor defenseless turkeys.
"That is a nice looking picnic basket." George said to the chief.
"Thank you. The concierge at the hotel put it together. We've got crackers, pate, and an assortment of Seattle soft cheeses. You want some?" The Chief asked George offering up some of the offerings he had brought.
"No thanks." George said.
"Dude, he brought silverware." Alex said to George.
"You should talk. Have you ever been camping before?" George asked as he looked at Alex's choice of wardrobe.
"What?" Alex asked.
"A t-shirt and sneakers? You'll freeze your ass off." George informed Alex.
"So what I'm wearing a jacket." Alex said with a shrug, not seeing the big deal.
"Just don't come crawling to me in the middle of the night when you want to huddle for warmth." George informed Alex, with a shrug.
Richard made his way over to Joe and Walter, who were setting up a tent.
"It's a good looking tent Joe. You and Walter got room for one more?" Webber asked them.
"We thought you'd be sleeping with one of the Doctors." Joe informed him.
"Well Preston's already got O'Malley for a room mate. But just between you and me, these other tents are kind of puny." Webber informed the pair as he looked around the camp sight.
"Well Walter and I were hoping to share this one. You know... just the two of us. But I guess if you really want to..." Joe said as he shared a look at his boyfriend.
"Chief... I don't think you really..." Alex said trying to stop the chief from a very awkward situation.
"They've offered Karev." Webber said.
"They want to be alone..." George said backing up his fellow intern.
It suddenly dawned on the chief on what the two interns were trying to tell him.
"Oh! So you are um..." Webber started.
"Chief." Burke started.
"Wonderful... man love. Beautiful My cousin's gay...so I'm hip. Brokeback mountain and all that." Webber said, which caused the other to wince at the awkwardness.
"Who's ready to go fishing?" Burke asked, ready to change the subject.
"Um me!" Webber said quickly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Meredith and Eddie made their way over to Cristina, excited to tell her about the surgery they were working on with Mark.
"Guess what we're doing today?" Eddie asked her friend excitedly as she and Meredith stood on either side of Cristina.
"Removing a man's penis." Meredith finished for the youngest intern.
"You got an SRS? Seriously?" Cristina asked, shocked. Why did they end up with the cool surgeries.
It was porn dude all over agin!
"She is one of Sloan's patients." Eddie informed her.
"Oh that should be me. I should be turning a penis to a vagina. That should be my penis." Cristina said with a groan, she really hated that Bailey was punishing her for keeping Burke's secret.
"I have to hide. Sydney is my peer counselor. "Heal with LOVE" Sydney." Izzie informed her friends as she joined them at the nurses station.
She couldn't believe she was stuck with Sydney Heron of all people. She was one of the most annoying people Izzie had ever met.
"Oh ew." Cristina and Meredith said, neither of them had the best experience with the resident.
"She's that bad?" Eddie asked, in the short time that she interacted with the resident, she had been put off by her overly peppy personality, but she didn't know her personally.
Her three other fellow interns nodded yes.
"Yeah I'm supposed to shadowing her and dialoguing all day unless I can come up with a medical reason not to. Anybody? Anything?" Izzie ranted.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In Eric's room, Izzie was going through the pieces that he had passed so far.
"Couple of houses and the dog. That's nine pieces so far. I love the dog. I'm always the dog when I play monopoly." Izzie said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In one of the ER rooms, Callie entered to see Addison there with a couple, a very pregnant woman was laying on the gurney, with her husband waiting by her side.
"I got a page..." Callie said.
"Jamie Carr. She slipped and fell in the shower this morning." Addison said as she motioned to her pregnant patient.
"I can't see my own feet. I did this." Jamie said as Callie came over to look at her patient's broken arm.
"Nasty break. She doesn't have any meds for the pain?" Callie asked the attending.
"She refused. She's toughing it out." Addison said.
"Oh don't tough it out. Just say yes." Callie said, knowing that the pain of a broken arm was unbearable.
"But the baby... I know Dr. Montgomery said it was all right, but I'll suffer. Is he okay? He was kicking like crazy, but..." Jamie asked worriedly, her son had been quiet for a while, and ever since he started kicking he never seemed to stop.
"It's possible that he's just sleeping." Addison said, as she looked at the ultra sound, hoping for good news. Though she knew that it most likely wasn't the case. The fall could have hurt the baby, and he could have died before he even had a chance to live, and it would crash Jamie and Ted's whole world.
"See... our son sleeps. He's sleeping Jamie." Ted, Jamie's husband, said trying to sooth her worry.
"Do I need a cast?" Jamie asked Callie.
"Definitely. But first we need to straighten the bones out. Then we'll put your arm in this fancy sling. And use gravity to help align the bones." Callie explained.
"Will you excuse me? I've got a..." Addison said, as Callie nodded, noticing that something was off about the red haired attending, but since she was resetting the bone, she didn't need to be there.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In one of the waiting rooms, Eddie was going over some charts and studying up on Mark's surgery when Donna's wife, Vicky, came over and sat near her.
"I'll trade you." Vicky offered.
"Vicky..." Eddie started.
"Insurance forms. Donna gets the surgeries and I do the forms. Super fun." Vicky explained, somewhat self-deprecatingly said.
"Well you seem to be handling this remarkably well." Eddie complimented her, but Vicky shrugged.
"Well I left at first. When she...when he told me. You plan a life together you know? Kids and... suddenly that's all out the window. Suddenly your husband is this other girl in your house who's borrowing your eye liner and waxing her legs." Vicky said, thinking back to how everything had changed over the past two years.
"But you came back... why?" Eddie asked curiously.
"Honestly, right now... I have no idea. I'm really going to miss the penis." Vicky explained.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Addison Forbes Montgomery quickly made her way to the nearest bathroom, and into one of the bigger stales and slid down the wall, crying.
Jamie and Ted had lost their little boy. In one fall, their healthy little boy died. He would never grow up. She was going to have to tell them that they wouldn't see the little boy the so desperately wanted and loved was not going to leave the hospital with them.
How was that fair?
They seemed like such a nice couple. How could god be so cruel?
"You okay?" Callie asked as she joined the red haired attending, concerned on the other side of the stall door. She had never seen Addison cry.
" I'm ok. I'm fine. I'm good.
"Don't make me climb over the stall. I'll do it but I'll be pissed 'cause I don't know you that well." Callie said, as Addison got up and opened the door.
The tears falling from her eyes and the devastated look on her face told Callie everything she needed to know.
"You're not okay." Callie said.
"I don't know why. There's no reason that this should affect me this much. I'm used to this I am but.." Addison said trailing off, getting lost in her thoughts.
"Used to what?" Callie asked, getting her back on track.
"That woman, yesterday, she's just as healthy as can be and today her baby's dead." Addison said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Everything in the Rory and Alec's OR did not stay calm. The baby started showing signs of distress and did the mother, and Alec had to make the decision to preform a c-section on Andie, while Rory worked on saving Andie.
Alec tried to keep a cool, calm, and collected as everything seemed to be going crazy around him. It felt like a lifetime for him to gently lift Andie's baby, a little boy, out of the womb. He quickly handed the little boy over to the nurse, who took him to the incubator and started to check him over as Alec continued the C-Section.
Everyone could take a sigh of relief when Andie's heart beat started to beat rhythmically once more.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The large group of men found themselves on the rocky shore of the lake near the camp ground getting ready to fish.
"So uh...how long have you and Walter been together?" Webber asked Joe, trying to defuse some of the awkward tension that still lingered from earlier.
"Ten years. Off and on. But now, definitely on. Thinking about kids." Joe informed the older man with a small smile.
"That's a big step." Webber commented.
He had always wanted kids, but they just never seemed to be in the cards. Though, he knew part of it was because of his choice to put his career over Adele.
"You have kids?" Joe asked.
"No. I work a lot. Adele and I...well she always said she didn't want to raise kids alone." Webber said, realizing now why his wife was separating from him. She had to put her life on hold for him, and that didn't seem fair.
"Walter says the same thing." Joe said.
"He does?" Webber asked shocked.
"Well I'm always working at the bar. But what are you going to do right? Who's gonna to run the place?" Joe said with a shrug.
"Exactly." Webber agreed, maybe Joe did get it.
"But Walter...if I have to make a change, I'll do it. Can't imagine my life without him you know?" Joe said honestly.
******************************************************
"Very nice O'Malley." Burke commented as he watched his friend successfully bait his line.
"At least once a month my dad would take me and my brothers to white river." George informed his friend and attending.
"Your father taught you well." Burke said with a nod, then decided to ask, "How are you and Dr. Torres doing these days?"
He thought they made a great couple. But, from what he had been hearing from Cristina's rare comments and the rumors around the hospital, it wasn't going well.
George: Good. She doesn't know it yet, but good. Excellent even. For a while she wanted a certain level of commitment, and I just didn't feel... I was... now I am though.
"So you're stepping up?" Burke asked him.
"I'm stepping up. You knew right? That it was time with Cristina?" George asked.
"Right." Burke agreed.
Burke tries to bait the hook and his hand tremors. Unknowingly to him, George sees this.
"You alright?" George asked.
"Absolutely." Burke promised.
"Cause uh..." George said unsure how to broach the subject.
"We're here to fish, remember? I'm going to see if I can get a bite downstream." Burke said, hoping that George hadn't noticed. He couldn't risk it.
"Okay..." George said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Mark had entered Donna's hospital room with a heavy heart followed by Eddie and Meredith who kept quiet in the background while he delivered the news. He hated delivering bad news. And, this was some of the worst news a person could get.
Cancer.
Donna had cancer.
"I'm sorry Donna. The test results don't lie." Mark informed the woman.
"Breast cancer?" Donna repeated.
"I'm sorry...I'm really...the needle aspiration showed abnormal cells in your breast tissue. Rare, but it happens." Mark explained to the couple. Donna, rightfully so, looked heartbroken.
"Well, so the hormones I've been taking are essentially giving me cancer?" Donna asked, trying to wrap her mind around this and understand how this could happen.
"Yes, that's why we need to stop the hormone therapy and start the treatment." Mark explained, knowing that was the last thing Donna would want.
"Or the cancer will get worse." Donna said, then asked panicked. "The operation?"
"There would be no point. Once we stop the hormones your breasts will shrink, your facial hair will grow back..." Mark explained.
"She'll be a man again." Vicky said.
"What if we do the operation? I keep taking the hormones, what then?" Donna asked Mark, wanting to know all the information.
"Donna you really want to treat this now while it's still in its early stages." Mark informed his patient seriously.
"So if I keep taking the hormones?" Donna started.
"You'd be feeding the cancer." Eddie and Meredith said together.
"I could die? Are you saying if I become a woman, I could die?" Donna asked the doctor's not wanting to believe a word of it.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Outside Jamie's room, Addison and Callie were watching the excited and happy couple.
"They are a happy couple. Look at them. They love each other. They should have everything. Happy people should have...happy things happen to them. I have to tell them.." Addison said sadly.
" Wait. The moment you tell them they won't be happy any more. Give them a few more minutes. Let them be happy. A few more minutes." Callie said, she like Addison always hated to deliver bad news.
And this was some of the worst news you could ever receive.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"So you getting back with Callie?" Alex asked George curiously.
"Yes." George informed him, wondering why Alex was wondering or even cared.
"Trust me man I don't think you really want to do that." Alex said.
He had figured out pretty quickly from the conversation between Conrad and Callie that they were something...friends with benefits or in a relationship he didn't know. But, George deserved to know everything before he tried to bat out of his league once again.
"Really?" George asked.
"Really." Alex said with a nod.
"So when I get back with her I'm going to tell her that we shouldn't see each other any more, and when she asks why, I'm going to tell her, "Well... Alex Karev thinks our relationship isn't such a good idea."" George said sarcastically, thinking Karev was messing with him.
"You think that'll do the trick? Fine suit yourself." Alex said with a shrug.
****************************************************
"This was my camping trip. I was going to come alone." Derek informed Burke.
"So why did you invite me?" Burke asked curiously.
"Because. It's a guy trip. You know...mountain men." Derek said, plus he thought Burke needed to get away for a while, ever since he returned to the hospital after getting shot, he had been far more reserved than usual.
"You don't have any friends do you?" Burke said, "besides Sloan."
"Of course I have friends." Derek said, "and more than just Mark as well."
"Guy friends?" Burke asked.
"Yes. I just need peace. Space. I have a right to space. And you go and invite half the hospital." Derek informed Burke.
"That's because I have guy friends." Burke said with a shrug.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"There you are! I have been looking all over." Sydney said as she found Izzie with Cristina inside Eric's room.
"Dr. Yang needed some help with this patient. She needed help." Izzie said, Cristina hadn't wanted to do the job Bailey assigned her, and Izzie was itching to do something other than be on the "don't touch" brigade, she was willing to do anything.
Even if it was disgusting.
"Well, patients come first." Sydney said as she sat down, waiting for Izzie to be done.
"Oh what..." Cristina asked confused.
"Oh I'll just wait." Sydney informed the pair, she wasn't that easy to get rid of.
"Wait?" Izzie repeated.
"Wait until you're finished. Then we can dialogue." Sydney informed her.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At the nurses station, Eddie, Mark, and Meredith were talking about Donna.
"So what happens with Donna now?" Meredith asked Mark.
"She goes back to being an unhappy man who's stuck with a penis. There are millions of us out there." Mark made a commented.
"You're unhappy with your penis?" Eddie asked with a raised eyebrow to her boyfriend, last night and earlier this morning defiantly said a different story.
"Of course not, sweetheart. I was just making a statement. I am very happy and content with my penis." Mark said, then he whispered in her ear. "I can show you later, how happy I am with my penis, if you'd like."
Eddie flushed a dark scarlet color.
Meredith made a grossed out look.
"Hey, rule one!" She said to the older man who just smirked.
"Dr. Sloan? You have to talk to her... Donna says she wants to go through with the operation." Vicky said as she approached the doctors with a worried look on her face.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Webber joined his two attendings slightly down the river, who were both waiting in hopes of their lines being tugged.
"Joe and Walter got tired of not catching any fish. They went for a hike. What do you make of that?" Webber asked this two attendings.
"Joe and Walter?" Burke asked.
"No, no. Joe and Walter are great. I meant that we hadn't caught any fish. Any theories." Webber clarified.
"Just one. Fish generally don't like to go where there's a lot of noise." Derek said.
******************************************
"Did you notice anything going on with Burke?" George asked Alex. He couldn't stop seeing Burke's hand tremor replay in his mind.
"No." Alex said with a shrug.
"'Cause before I thought I saw...what are you doing?" George asked when he noticed what Alex was doing. And tried to help him.
"You don't use bait when you're casting! It's going to fall off when it hits the water. Here. What you want to do... Here, here, here, here, here, here. What you want to-" George explained.
"She's sleeping with Conrad, dude." Alex said, not being able to keep it to himself any longer.
"What?" George asked, shocked.
"Callie." Alex explained, "She's sleeping with Conrad."
"No she's not." George said in denial. Callie wouldn't do that to him. She loved him.
She told him so the night of the prom. Why would she sleep with Conrad if she loved him and that they were working on their relationship.
"Torres is doing Conrad Quinn." Alex stated, wondering why this wasn't sinking into George's head.
"You better take that back." George said as anger welled up inside him.
**************************************
"People moving, chatting. laughing, that sort of thing. That sort of thing that lets the fish know they're not alone." Derek informed the chief.
"So I invited other people." Burke said.
"I'm just saying, it's not a frat party." Derek said to his friend.
Just then they heard some commotion behind them, and they turned see Alex and George fighting.
"Hey what are you guys doing? Break it up!" Webber yelled as the men went over to stop the fighting before anything bad could happen.
After separating them, Richard stood between the two interns and looked between them, as they both tried to catch their breath.
"I don't condone fighting. I don't like fighting. I think it's foolish. But you two idiots seem determined to beat the hell out of each other. So if you're going to do it, you're going to do it by my rules." Webber informed his interns who looked at him confused.
"Rules?" George asked.
"Yes, O'Malley, rules, to protect your hands... so you don't do irreparable damage." Webber explained.
"You're dead." Alex said.
"Damage that would end your careers before they even started. So with that in mind, we're going to do open handed combat." Webber continued to explain.
"A slap fight?" Both interns asked.
"Open handed combat. No scratching..." Webber continued.
"This is ridiculous. Karev will kill him." Derek said.
"Not necessarily." Burke disagreed.
"No punching no kicking, no wrestling moves of any kind. Are there any questions?" Webber asked the two interns.
"That doesn't leave us with much." George said.
"All right." Webber said with a nod.
"O'Malley's a scrapper." Burke informed Derek.
"A scrapper?" Derek scoffed as he looked at Alex who was almost pure muscle. "He's going to destroy him."
"He's tougher than he looks. Silent but deadly." Burke said, referring to his friend.
"This is immature and stupid. I think you'd agree with me." Derek informed Burke shocked.
"They're letting off some steam. This is why you don't have any guy friends." Burke informed Derek who gave him an incredulous look.
"This is why I should have come alone." Derek said, as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.
"Let's go." Alex said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In Donna's room, Mark, Eddie, and Meredith were trying to help Donna. While they couldn't make the decision for her, Mark was uncomfortable with going through with the surgery, though he wanted to help Donna be her happiest and truest self.
"I've wanted this since before I can remember. I've waited forever. I'm not stopping now." Donna said stubbornly.
"Donna listen to me." Mark started, but Donna interrupted him.
"If you don't do the operation, I'll go to New York and find another doctor." Donna threatened.
"You're going to have a hard time finding a surgeon..." Eddie started to say, but Donna cut her off.
"I'll find one." Donna said confidently.
"Donna I'm trying to save your life." Mark explained.
"As a man. I am not a man. I'll fight the cancer, I'll just fight it as a woman." Donna informed them.
This caused Vicky to snap.
"For God's sake, wake up Daniel." Vicky yelled.
"My name is Donna." Donna said looking at her wife.
"I'm not going to stand by and watch you kill yourself." Vicky snapped as she left the room.
"I need Vicky to love me. But I need her to love... Me." Donna said sadly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Oh my god, please tell me it's going to stop hurting soon." Jamie said as Callie adjusted her arm.
"You're almost done." Callie promised.
"When our son's fifteen and he's yelling you've never done anything for him, you can guilt him with the wrist." Ted promised his wife.
As much as Addison and Callie wished to keep the couple happy. They couldn't any longer. She needed to tell them their devastating news.
"Ted, Jamie, I need to talk to you. About the baby." Addison said.
"Dr. Montgomery..." Ted said worriedly.
"You have to say it. I won't believe it unless you say it. You have to say it." Jamie said, noticing the look on Addison's face. She didn't want to believe it until the words were spoken. Because, left unsaid she had hope. She could cling to it.
But, when Addison spoke the words she knew it would have to be true. No matter how much she wished it wasn't.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Thanks for this Izzie...thank you. No good deed goes unpunished." Cristina said, as she watched Izzie dig through Eric's poop.
"Good deed. You're making me dig through crap. It's not like I asked her to spend the day with me." Izzie said motioning to the general direction where Sydney was.
"Oh. Ohhwee. How's it going in there? Any luck?" Sydney asked the pair.
"Okay, I can't have that grinning puppet head stare at me another second so just go." Cristina ordered, as Izzie gave her a deer-in-the-head's light look.
How could Cristina leave her to Sydney? Did she hate her that much.
"Cristina..."
"Hey, this is my crap. This is my crap. Bailey assigned me to this crap, you get Sydney." Cristina said, as she pushed Izzie out of the way.
"Fine. Come on Sydney, we can go." Izzie said, trying to hide her frustration.
"Okey-dokey-smokey." Sydney said as she and Izzie left the room.
"Man, I thought my brother and I had problems. But you two are morons." Eric commented as he watched the scene in front of him.
"Oh and swallowing monopoly pieces? Wasn't exactly a genious move. You could have really hurt yourself." Cristina informed him, somewhat sarcastically.
"But I didn't did i? And now mom's going to let me play all the monopoly I want. I get to play. That's all that matters, getting to play." Eric explained his genius.
"And that makes you smart?" Cristina retorted.
"You're fishing through my poop, how smart are you?" Eric challenged.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the woods, George and Alex fighting as Richard, Burke, and Derek watched.
"That's right Karev. Whatever it was, don't take it back." Burke critiqued.
" We don't even know why they're fighting." Derek said.
"Arms up, O'Malley, don't drop your arms!" Burke coached from the sidelines.
"Hey! No wresting!" Webber said, as Alex tried to pull a wrestling move.
"This is stupid." Derek commented, he wondered how he got to this point.
He sort of wished now he didn't invite Burke, and he could have just enjoyed the solitude.
"George is defending his honor. Karev says that Conrad's been sleeping with Torres." Burke explained, as Derek's eyes widened.
"What?" Derek asked Joe and Walter walked up.
"Next time we are not going camping with straight guys." Joe said to his partner.
Alex grabbed George and starts pushing him, and they land against Walter, who is knocked down and hits his head on a rock.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At the nurses station, Cristina was envious of the fact that Eddie and Meredith were going to be doing such an amazing surgery. Both of them were sitting at the nurses station studying.
Gender reassignment surgeries were not as common as people thought, and Cristina would kill to do it.
Hell, she'd kill to be off Bailey's bad side and allowed to do any surgery, instead she is digging through some kid's poop.
"So basically, you're getting paid to study penises all day?" Cristina asked them.
"Eddie and I studying for McSteamy's reassignment surgery." Meredith explained.
"And, we're doing pretty well." Eddie said, she had been quizzing Meredith before Cristina arrived with a dark cloud above her head.
"Hey, um...when your mother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's, why didn't you tell anyone?" Cristina asked Meredith out of nowhere.
"She asked me not to. Why?" Meredith asked her, confused.
"So you think it was right to keep her secret?" Cristina pressed not answering the question.
" Yes. Why?" Meredith asked.
"Even if it meant you had to fish crap out of a toilet all day and probably for years to come." Cristina asked her friend, and both Eddie and Meredith shared a concerned look.
"Okay, rewind. Whose secret are you keeping?" Eddie asked her friend, as Cristina was saved by the bell...well her pager to get to Eric's room.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina entered Eric's room and quickly took note of everything going on, and made her way over to the nurse whom paged her.
"What happened?" Cristina asked.
"He was fine one minute, then he just ..." The nurse explained, as Cristina started to check over Eric's stomach.
"Eric, lay down... his abdomen is rigid. There's blood in his vomit, He's perfed. Page Bailey." Cristina said as the nurse quickly did her bidding.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"There's a lot of blood, but it didn't penetrate the Gilia." Burke said as he checked over Walter.
" Is that a good thing?" Joe asked not understanding the medical jargon.
"Yeah, it means we don't have to do deep stitches." Derek informed the man, as he watched Burke prep a fishing hook.
"Using a fishing hook?" Joe asked curiously.
"Don't worry. We sterilized it, and clipped off the barb. It's as good as a needle." Burke assured the worried man.
"All right. Wound's clean. Just keep some pressure on that chief. Walter, we're going to do some stitches." Derek informed the man.
"Is it going to hurt?" Walter asked worriedly, he couldn't always handle pain.
"Yes." Derek said, there was no point of sugar coating it.
"It's okay." Joe assured his partner.
"Karev, you want to sew him up?" Webber asked the intern.
Before Alex could answer, Joe did for him.
"No, no... Forget it. I want an attending.'' Joe said.
"Thanks dude." Alex said, somewhat sarcastically.
"You're doing some crazy MacGuyver surgery in the middle of the woods. I want what's best for my guy. No offense." Joe explained.
"Don't worry Dr. Burke's really good at doing this. You are, right?" George asked the attending.
"Right. There's still a little bleeding there." Burke said as he cleaned it, hiding his tremor for a moment from the group.
"Hold on Walter." Webber said.
"Got it?" Derek asked.
"I always have it." Burke said confidently.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Cristina found Bailey in the scrub room.
"You want something?" Bailey asked her intern.
"He is my patient. I've been with him all day. If there's any change that I can get in on this surgery..." Cristina all but begged.
"Why'd you erase my name from the board?" Bailey asked her intern.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." Cristina tried to deny, but Bailey wasn't having any of it.
"You really want to go head to head with me on this? You really want that? Right now? This second? You chose your own fate." Bailey said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the gallery above and OR Sydney and Izzie were watching a surgery. It was an awkward silence between the pair.
"So tell me about Denny." Sydney finally asked.
"What?" Izzie asked.
"Yeah it helps to talk about what happened. So, as much as you can." Sydney informed her peer.
"Okay, we are done here." Izzie said as she got up to leave.
"Izzie, really... it helps to share." Sydney said honestly.
"No, I don't want to share with you. Do you know what I've been doing all day? Sifting through feces. I would rather sift through feces than talk to you. And now you bring up Denny like you want me to gossip with you?" Izzie demanded angrily.
"I understand this must be difficult..." Sydney started, but Izzie interrupted her.
"What you cut someone's LVAD wire, you fell in love with a man and he died?" Izzie asked.
"Well no, but..." Sydney started, but Izzie interrupted her angrily.
"Well then how in the hell could you possibly know?" Izzie demanded.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Mark in the end decided to go through with Donna's surgery. Donna knew the risks, and was willing to fight it as who she truly was.
"Sousa, what's our next step?" Mark asked quizzing his girlfriend this time.
"Continue the primary incision in the ventral side of the shaft." Eddie answered promptly as Mark nodded.
"I am surprised that you agreed to do the surgery." Meredith informed the attending who looked at her seriously for a moment.
"People don't come to me to fix what's on the outside, they come to me to fix what's on the inside. And if that means giving someone a straighter nose, or bigger breasts, or..if that helps a person get by.. I dont run. I don't hide. I don't take space." Mark answered her as Eddie smiled as he glanced at her for the last part.
It was true. When Mark set his mind to something, he went after it, full force and whole heartedly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the woods, Alex was talking to Richard as he looked around the breath taking forest.
"Well don't look at me, I didn't start it." Alex informed the chief, referring to his fight with George.
"Karev..." Webber started, but Alex interrupted him.
"Look I just came out here to have some fun. Then the guy gets all over me about what I'm wearing. He just rubs me the wrong way." Alex said with a shrug.
"You're on a camping trip. You're supposed to be enjoying the great outdoors." Webber pointed out to him.
"You know I grew up in a bar? Literally, in a bar. My dad was always doing one of two things in there. Playing music or drinking. Dude never even took me to the park. I just figured this was my chance to get out with the guys. The one time I try..." Alex admitted awkwardly.
"You wanted to be a different person." Webber asked as Alex nodded. Then after a moment, Webber said, "They're a happy couple."
"Yeah." Alex agreed.
"I miss my wife." Webber said sadly.
*******************************************
"You have high standards." Burke informed George, after learning why George had gone after Alex.
"You have high standards." George countered.
"Your standards are too high. You... make people out to be...and people make mistakes. Your standards are too high. You see a flaw and you attack." Burke informed the man.
"You're saying that if Cristina did something like..." George started to ask, but Burke stopped him.
"Cristina and I are a team. We are a team. You're either a part of the team or you play alone for the rest of your life." Burke said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In Jamie's room, Addison was coaching her through the birth of her dead baby boy. A heartbreaking sight.
"Good, push Jamie. I need you to push one more time. Jamie. Ted. One more time, push. We got it." Addison said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(In the Woods)
"You know I thought that if I just got away for a while I'd get some answers...a fresh start." Derek informed his mentor and friend.
"Fresh starts, no such thing." Webber informed the man.
"Any other words of wisdom there Chief?" Derek asked his mentor.
"I'm living in a hotel. I buy most of my clothes from the hotel gift shop and my wife wont speak to me." Webber informed the pair.
"Well don't look at me. I came out here for the same reasons you did. I have no wisdom. There is no wisdom here." Burke informed Derek, as they looked around the woods.
"So in other words, we're all a bunch of idiots." Derek said.
"Yes..." Burke said.
"Who wants to go home?" Webber asked them.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sydney found Izzie in the intern locker room, and before Izzie could say anything, Sydney spoke first.
"I lost a kid...my first year. It was my fault. And I just couldn't ...so I had a breakdown, I got time off, and when I came back I put a smile on my face, and everybody thought I was fine. I lost a kid. It comes in waves Izzie. There's a lull and then another wave hits you. I wasn't trying to pry. I just wanted you to know...it's okay not to be fine sometimes." Sydney informed the intern.
"I miss him. All the time I miss him. It's not waves it's constant. All the time. And I walk through the doors of this hospital, and I want to be here I do. But I don't know...if I can be a surgeon again. And I can't talk about it because it scares me too much. Okay?" Izzie said honestly.
"Okay." Sydney said in understanding.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Eddie and Meredith entered Donna's room to see Vicky, who had left, waiting there for her.
"You came back." Eddie said with a smile, glad that she did.
"I was heading home. I was on my way to the airport...then...you asked before why I came back the first time. I tried not to. I went on dates. I had a lot of great first dates with guys who were planning to stay guys. And you know you have a great date and you want to tell your best friend about it. My best friend is Daniel. Donna. Then you have a few bad dates and...she's my best friend. She knows me. She loves me. She's my husband. At the end of the day, it's Donna...even when she hurts me. Even when I hate her." Vicky explained to the two girls who smiled slightly.
"She's the one you want to talk to." Meredith said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Not all wounds are superficial.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"So you're sleeping with Conrad?" Addison asked Callie who smiled slightly.
"Was." Callie said. "Or am...I don't know. We're friends who sleep together no emotions, no strings."
"You want to get a drink or something?" Addison asked after a moment of silence, but Callie's pager goes off.
"Some other time then." Addison said with a smile.
"Definitely." Callie said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Most wounds run deeper than you can imagine. You can't see them with the naked eye.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Outside Eric's room Cristina was watching Bailey talk to Holly, Eric's mother, about his surgery.
"He'll make a full recovery." Bailey promised Holly who looked relieved.
Cristina turned to see Burke approaching her.
"You're back." Cristina said with a smile.
"Yes."
"I'm glad you're back." Cristina informed him.
"Me too." Burke agreed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"George we need to talk." Callie said, as George approached her. She had paged him to the room where his father was admitted into.
"Yeah, I think we do." George said, thinking about the fact that Callie was sleeping with someone else.
"It's about your dad, George." Callie said, as George looked at her confused.
"My dad?" George asked, as the curtain opened and he saw his father lying in a hospital bed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
And then there are the wounds that take us by surprise.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
At the Emerald City Bar, Eddie, Meredith, and Mark were getting a drink after work. Alec had offered to watch Frankie for a while so the couple could relax and spend some time alone together.
Currently, they were talking about Meredith's lack of relationship with Derek, and what she was going to do. And, Mark offering to help set her up to get Derek jealous if he needed to. He might be Derek's best friend, but he had to realize that Meredith wouldn't wait around forever and he needed to figure out what he wanted.
Mark gets a page before Meredith could reply.
"Saved by the bell. Order me another beer, please sweetheart." Mark said as he kissed Eddie cheek to go call the hospital.
"Hi. I'm Derek Shepherd." Derek said as he approached Meredith.
Eddie watched curiously.
"What are you doing?" Meredith asked confused.
"We met at this bar, do you remember? We met and you said "I'm just a girl" and I said "I'm just a guy" and we starTed this thing. We starTed this thing. You didn't know anything about me. The good , the bad, the wife. You didn't even know my name. You didn't know me. I want you to know me. I want to start over, from the beginning. So hi. Derek Shepherd." Derek said with his McDreamy smile.
"You walked away, and now it's too late. There's too much water under then thing or whatever." Meredith said hurt.
"Meredith please." Derek begged.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The trick with any kind of wound or disease is to dig down and find the real source of the injury...
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
After an encouraging nod from Eddie, Meredith smiled, and decided to embrace the relationship with Derek once again.
"Hi. I'm Meredith Grey." Meredith said as she shook Derek's proffered hand.
"Very nice to meet you too." Derek said.
"It's nice to meet you." Meredith said as they leaned in for a kiss.
Eddie slipped away with her own drink and Mark's second beer, and found a table, which Mark joined her at a few moments later, as the new couple continued to kiss.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
... and once you've found it, try like hell to heal that sucker.