⋆ ★ PRETTY PLEASE ━━━ CHAPTER SEVEN
( JEALOUSY ) , the self-destruct button.
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ALARMS WERE BLARING. Two of them to be exact - her pager and her alarm clock. Florence didn't like the sudden loud noise and quickly got up from her bed, turning off her alarm clock, which in the process pushed the arm over her waist off of her, and checking her pager.
"Hey," Derek groaned from beside Florence, "Come back here,"
Shoving the male off, because let's face it, Florence loved her personal space, the girl groaned in protest. "You have to get up. We have to get up."
"Oh my god," His eyes adjusted to the light pouring into her bedroom. "What time is it?"
"It's five in the morning, and I have prerounds." Florence told him before getting up off the bed, her naked body exposed, and making her way over to the bathroom but not before turning around, smirking and asking, "You coming?"
Lucy Jones got no sleep last night. Not with Florence and Derek up all night long doing it god knows how many times. She stopped counting after a while. So, after deciding they were not going to stop anytime soon, she took the extra ten minute drive back to Meredith's house and passed out on the couch - not even having the energy to make it up to her room.
"Lucy!" Izzie shouted at the female, trying to wake up the girl. The blonde was starting to think she was dead. "What are you doing down here?"
Turning her head so her face was dove into the pillow, her words were muffled as she spoke, "Florence had a friend over."
"Oh," Izzie nodded but quickly realized what the brunette meant and cringed. "Oh, sorry."
"She could have oiled the bedsprings as a courtesy or buy a padded headboard, but no." The brunette complained, taking the cup of coffee from Izzie, sipping it lightly.
"So, who's the guy?" Alec asked, who had himself spent the night while him and Izzie stayed up reading magazines together. And to be clear, he was not jealous. Florence could sleep with whomever she wanted - he didn't care.
Lucy scoffed a laugh, "You'd think it wasn't just the one guy doing all the work." But she knew - and it was just one guy.
"Do you mind if I don't think about that," Alec cringed in disgust as he made his way to the kitchen.
"Oh, jealous?" Izzie smirked as she called out to her friend. "Because I am. I need to get some - and quick. But think of it this way, Luce." The blonde sat next to her, taking her cup of coffee back. "Florence will have the longest day at work."
"Yeah," The brunette nodded, rubbing a hand over her head. "I guess."
"Hey, this is just an idea but I've noticed Florence has been scrubbing in on a lot more of Shepherd's surgeries." It was no secret that Izzie liked to gossip to fill a void that she had in her life. "Like that Parkinson's patient - apparently she was dropped and then immediately put back in-"
"-Flo wouldn't do that," Alec came back into the room, cutting his friend off. "She wouldn't sleep with Shepherd to get more surgeries. That's not Florence."
"Think about it, D. Just really think about it-"
Once again she was cut off but this time by Lucy. "-it's none of our business and frankly Izzie, I don't care. We're gonna be late."
At the hospital, in the parking lot, meeting up with the said girl, Izzie had on her usual, perky smile as she approached Florence. "So, a little birdie told me you had some pretty radical sex all night long. Who was the guy?"
Looking at Lucy and practically giving her the death glare, Florence shook it off. "No one you know." She lied right through her teeth. Quickly looking to her left, she saw Alex and decided to change the subject, "A run? You run?" She asked him.
Smirking he nodded down at the girl, " Every day, babe. Every day."
"Not suffering enough," Meredith commented as she too stepped out of her car.
"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." The male called out in return.
Cristina scoffed, getting off of her motorcycle, "Don't go acting all indefatigable. You're out here dragging like the rest of us."
"Oh, what is that - professional weakness, Dr. Yang?" Alex continued to tease the girl, jogging next to her as they made their way towards the hospital.
"It's called the flu,"
Scoffing a laugh, and Alex muttered a "yeah" before turning to Florence. "Meet me in the locker room later?"
"Yeah, no. Sorry." She answered. Right now, Florence was pretty committed to Derek if she was being honest with herself. She just hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.
"I need a major rush to make it through this day," George complained as he finished changing into his scrubs. "I need a kick-ass surgery."
"Ooh, you a bad boy last night George?" Alex teased his friend, fist-pumping Alec who was sat beside him.
"Yeah, right." Florence scoffed. "George getting some - I don't think so."
"Yeah, no, the bad boy here would be Florence." Izzie outed the girl who rolled her eyes as she put her hair up in a weak-looking ponytail upon her head.
"You a bad boy, Florence?" Alex continued his teasing before getting up to get something out of his locker.
"Oh, really?" Cristina's eyes widened. "Do tell, Ledger."
"Nothing to tell." Florence said in a sing-songy voice, shutting her locker with a bang.
"That says it all," Cristina commented while Florence rolled her eyes again. "Hey, don't be sorry for having a sex life unlike Jones over here."
"Hey!" Lucy slapped the brunette across the arm. "Why drag me into this?"
"Listen to Yang," Alex began, ignoring the other two females. "Don't apologize. Embrace your sex life. Share it, if you know what I mean." He winked at her not-so-subtly.
"Perv," Florence stuck her tongue out at the male who copied her in return.
"But next time let me know," Lucy finally gave her input on the situation. "I'm lucky I don't live with you but I'd like to not walk in on that, thank you very much."
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Florence was stuck with George for her case - just her fucking luck. The one person she hated most in the world was her "partner" for today down in the pit. This was probably Bailey's way of revenge for seeing Florence naked.
The patient was a little girl named Jamie whose parents brought her in for a twitch in her foot. They had seen previous scans of her brain and that was the organ causing the problem.
"Ahh." Florence shone a light in the little girl's mouth, trying to do a routinely check up. "Say, ahh, Jamie."
"Ahhhhhh," The smaller child copied the doctor, making Florence smile with pride - George wouldn't be able to do that, she thought to herself.
"And you noticed her foot twitching?" George asked the parents, the chart held tightly in his hands as he reviewed it. "About three months ago?"
"My foot," Jamie showed the two doctors her foot.
"That is your foot, good job," Florence said as she high fived the little girl who laughed along.
"Just a little," The mother answered George's question. "We took her to county hospital and she got the CT scan, which showed her-"
"-brain abnormality." The female intern nodded, finishing the mother's sentence. "And the twitching has gotten worse?"
"A lot worse," The father answered this time. "They don't have the proper equipment back home to figure out what's wrong."
"Show mommy!" The little girl smiled at Florence, pointing to the flashlight in her hand. Florence did as she was told and handed the mom the flashlight, who took it and smiled lightly at her daughter.
"You did a good thing," The male intern smiled. "You did a good thing by coming all this way, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes."
"Alright," Florence waved goodbye to the child. "You sit tight, Jamie, okay? I'm gonna bring in Dr. Shepherd to see you."
"Dr. Shepherd." The little girl repeated.
"That's right, Jamie, Dr. Shepherd." The woman nodded down at the child, then looking up to the parents and clarifying, "He's the brain specialist."
"Is he good, this Dr. Shepherd?" The mother asked skeptically.
"At just about everything," Jamie forced a smile before she and George walked out of the room.
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After George found Dr. Shepherd, the two met back up with Florence before heading into the tiny patient's room. "We're back." The female smiled. "Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, this is Dr. Shepherd - the brain specialist I was telling you about."
"It's nice to meet you," The father shook Derek's hand.
Greeting them in return, Derek then smiled at the little girl. "You look like a princess. Do you know you're a princess?" He asked the little girl, playfully.
"It's not lipstick," The little girl took one of the instruments from him and rubbed it on her lips.
"It's not lipstick? No, it's not lipstick." The male mused with the little girl. "Want to do my shoulder. Oh, good." After he smiled at Jamie, he looked up to the parents, "Now, we're gonna find out what's causing these seizures. Does MRI know we're coming down?"
"You said CT?" George furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Now I'm saying MRI." The attending shot back.
George swallowed harshly before nodding, "It's available."
"Doctor, is she gonna need surgery?" The father asked Derek, a concerned look on his face.
"I don't know yet."
"Well, it's just, that my wife and I, we both work. And I don't know if our insurance-"
"-we know it can be very expensive." The wife finished for him, picking up her daughter.
"We don't need to be worrying about that right now," Florence stepped in before noticing Jamie's foot twitching erratically - more than before. "It's a focal, left-size seizure."
Derek nodded, "Yep, let's get that diazepam running right now, please."
As Florence helped and gathered all the supplies Derek needed to stop Jamie's seizure, George sat back, with wide eyes not sure what to do. It made Florence scoff.
"Hey, Jamie," Derek knelt in front of the child. "Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna put this in your arm, okay? Isn't that fun?" Watching in amazement, Florence had a bright smile on her face as she watched the interaction between the two. After Jamie's leg stopped twitching, Derek smiled as well, asking the young child, "Hey, you like spaceships?"
"Yeah," The little girl nodded.
"You do, okay. Should we take Captain O'Malley, my first lieutenant and Princess Ledger to the spaceship MRI?" The little girl nodded. "Let's go,"
After the MRI was quickly done, Florence keeping the young child calm and still as best as she could, they brought the parents in to explain what was happening, and what their next steps would be.
"It's called Rasmussin's Encephalitis." Derek told the two. "What it amounts to is that this side of her brain-" He pointed to the light side "-this part's all healthy, it's working perfectly. But this black part of the brain-" he pointed to the dark side "all of that is dead or dying. The condition has gotten radically worse since her CT scans three months ago. Left untreated, this disease is gonna kill her."
The mother had tears forming in her eyes as she asked, "How soon?"
"Too soon." Florence answered for the attending.
"So, is there a cure?" The father questioned.
Derek nodded. "The treatment requires the diseased portion of her brain be removed and sealed off. See, eventually, the spinal fluid will fill the cavity."
The father looked repulsed by the idea. "Remove? But I mean that's-"
"-half of her brain, yes."
"Half her brain - that seems impossible." The mother stuttered out.
"Mrs. Hayes," Florence stepped in once again. "Her age makes it possible. Her brain's not fully developed, so the remaining neurons will compensate for the loss."
"But will she be normal?" Mr. Hayes asked.
"There's risk to any surgery, and this is, you know, a major one. But if we're successful, Jamie could walk out of this hospital in a couple of weeks got on to live a relatively normal life." The attending told them as they met up with Jamie, wheeling her back to her room, the two interns following closely behind. "Look, I know this is a lot to digest. But the important thing to remember is that we can save her life."
"Thank you," The mother nodded as they continued to walk, the three doctors stopping in the hallway.
"Dr. O'Malley, Dr. Ledger," Derek called out for them. "If the patient's parents consent, I thought you two would like to scrub in on the hemispherectomy. Are you in, or not?"
"Of fucking course," Florence beamed before quickly retracting it and calming herself down. "I mean, yeah, that's cool." Derek smiled brightly at her.
"Uh, in." George stuttered out in surprise.
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"I appreciate this," George told Shepherd as they were scrubbing in on Jamie's surgery. The parent's had consented and it was go-time. "The chance to scrub in on this kind of procedure is, well - yeah, I appreciate it."
Derek merely nodded, too tired to say anything as a scrub nurse handed him a coffee, "Triple espresso, not too hot."
"Ah, coffee - where would medicine be without it, huh?" Dr. Taylor, the anesthesiologist, smiled at the two interns who followed him into the OR.
"Yeah," Derek scoffed a laugh. "I hope you have a new crossword, Taylor. We're gonna be here a while."
Tapping the crossword puzzle hidden in his scrubs. "Never go without." He then looked at Florence and George before saying, "Big day for you kids - congrats."
"Thanks," Florence nodded wearily, brushing the weird smell that was radiating from Dr. Taylor that she couldn't quite place.
"Hey, princess." Derek smiled at Jamie who was prepped and ready to go for surgery. "You ready to take a nap?"
Putting the mask up to her face, the nurse told her to, "Just blow bubbles. You just breathe in. That's it."
"What?" Derek looked over at George who looked mildly uncomfortable.
"Do you smell..." He trailed off, standing next to Dr. Taylor.
"Smell what?" The attending asked. "I have a mask."
George brushed if off before saying, "I'm sorry, Dr. Taylor, but did you just... have you been drinking?" He asked openly, making Florence's eyes widen and Derek turn to the two.
The anesthesiologist looked offended. "I beg your pardon?"
"What?" Derek questioned.
"Do you smell - I smell alcohol." The male intern admitted.
"Where the hell do you get off accusing me of something like that." Taylor snapped at George, making the intern go quiet.
"George, you're out of line." Florence nudged him.
"I'm sorry, but there are rules. You know there are rules for a reason. There is a two-year-old girl on this table. You shouldn't take advantage of someone else's vulnerability."
"I don't need some punk intern telling me what's at stake here." Taylor continued to pound on George. "Get him out of here, Shep." When Derek didn't move, he repeated himself. "Shep?"
"You're out, George." The attending finally decided before he turned to the anesthesiologist and said, "You damn well better be ready, Taylor."
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Florence sat back quietly, knowing she should say something, yet not finding the courage to. So, instead she kept one firm eye on the surgery and one on Dr. Taylor.
"Alright, we're gonna start the procedure with the left temporal lobectomy." Derek told Florence, who was now the only intern who was scrubbed in. "Now, after the temporal we'll do the frontal, and then the occipital."
As the surgery proceeded, Derek explained everything he was doing along the way. "From the frontal lobectomy, I'm going to encounter a, uh,"
"We'll encounter the anterior cerebral artery." Florence finished for him, not noticing what he was staring so intently at.
"Yes, so, we're gonna need to, uh," He continued to trail off once more.
"The branches of the artery need to be coagulated and divided."
Nodding, he looked over to the anesthesiologist, "You know, Taylor, her anesthesia's awful light." When he got no response, he tried again. "Come on, Taylor, she's waking up."
Putting down her instrument, Florence stepped over to see what the problem was. "Dr. Taylor?" She asked. "Uh, he's asleep!" She exclaimed.
"Taylor!" Derek yelled, making Florence jump back in surprise. She never did like the yelling. "Dr. Taylor!"
"Huh?" He awoke with a light gasp. "Oh, god, sorry. Sorry, I'm on it. My bad, Shep."
Looking over at him, Derek scoffed. "He was right, wasn't he?"
"Aww, I nodded off. Come on,"
"Yeah, whatever you got to do to get through the day, right?" Florence remarked, sarcastically.
"Steph, get me some coffee," He called to one of the nurses before looking back at Shepherd. "I'll be fine. It won't happen again."
"Yeah, not in here it won't. Uh, Steph, call Dr. Pennington. Hopkins, take over until she gets here. Get out of here and get it together."
Finishing the surgery, Florence smiled, "That was unreal."
"Yeah," Derek smiled in return. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed. But I got to talk to O'Malley first." He met the intern in the hallway. "Let me explain,"
"It's fine," George nodded in understanding.
"No, there is a code among doctors. We're not supposed to ask each other questions, not within the walls of this hospital."
"Okay, I was out of line," The intern snapped, getting ready to storm away.
"No, you weren't, I was." Derek argued. "I was out of line. Somebody should have taken responsibility, and it should have been the guy doing the cutting. It should have been me. You didn't deserve what happened to you today. You did the right thing - code or no code." He then put out his hand to shake.
George merely scoffed before finally shaking his hand quickly and pulling away.
Derek got the hint and said, "You saw me with Flo, didn't you?"
"Oh, was that you?" He pretended to think on it, remembering seeing them two in the car outside of Meredith's house. Not a sight he'd like to see.
"I'm not using her. And I do not favor her."
"She may hate me but," George swallowed hardly before saying, "she's pretty great, you know."
Derek nodded in agreement. "So, let's go tell Jamie's parents she's gonna be fine, barring any complications."
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Walking out of the intern locker room, Florence pulled George aside, and said, "You did great today, O'Malley." Noticing the surprised look on his face she pointed at him, "Don't make me take it back."
"Oh, I won't," He forced a smile, clutching his bag tightly to his chest.
Florence noticed the somewhat stressed, and/or constipated look on his face and asked, "What's the matter?"
"He's not favoring you, is he?" He blurted out faster than he could blink.
"What are you-" Cutting herself off, Florence's wall's we're back up and she was starting to regret congratulating him. "-you tell anyone, O'Malley, and you're dead. Shep doesn't favor me - I earn what I work for, unlike you who sits aside and let the other's do your work for you. You're weak, O'Malley, so do me a favor, do what you do best and shut the hell up."
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- AUTHOR'S NOTE:
not much but a short little chapter.
haha, two updates in a week - who am i?
izzie and alec are besties now but just you wait, fam, mwhahaha.
someone give me a good grey's anatomy fic recommendation, pls, i beg of you.