Chapter Eighteen: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
"Let me get this straight, you hooked up with a guy you met at a bar?" George whispered as we watched Joel and Izzie decorate the Christmas tree as we sat on the couch.
"We did not hook up." I shook my head. "He asked me out on a date and I said yes. We went out, had dinner, it was nice and we've gone on a few more dates since then. He's a nice guy, not all men think with their little heads, George."
"Does he know about you know who yet?" Izzie asked from where she stood by the tree, her eyes darting down at Joel before returning to me.
"Not yet." I admitted. "I'm telling him tomorrow, we're meeting up for breakfast before work."
"He's willing to get up at dawn to have breakfast with you?" Izzie looked impressed by this.
"He's a cop." I informed them both as we heard the front door opening and closing, signaling that Meredith was back from taking Doc, her new dog, on a walk. I watched as George got up and made his way over to Meredith.
"It looks like Santa threw up in here." George whispered to her, though I could still hear him.
"Just go with it." Meredith whispered back. "We're being supportive."
"Oh, hey." Izzie smiled at Meredith. "What do you think? Did I go too overboard? Oh, I know. I know sometimes I can go a little overboard."
"No, it's great." Meredith shook her head.
"We love it." I added, looking at Joel as he put another ornament on the tree. "Don't we, Joel?"
"It's awesome." He nodded in agreement.
"Oh, yay!" Izzie smiled in relief. "I love Christmas."
"Clearly." George muttered.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, good morning." Lucas smiled at me the next morning when we met up at a small coffee shop down the street from the hospital. He was already sitting at a table by the front window, a coffee and muffin set at the place across from him, having remembered my order from the last time we got breakfast.
"Good morning." I returned his smile as I sat down across from him, happily taking a sip of the warm coffee to thaw myself from the cold outside. "Thanks for the coffee, and the muffin."
"No problem." He assured me. "How has work been?"
"Stressfull, but nothing I can't handle." I shrugged. "How has your work been?"
"Surprisingly slow for this time of year." He said. "So, from the way you sounded on the phone the other day, it seemed like you had something important that you needed to talk about. Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." I nodded. "There are just a few things I needed to tell you, well there's one thing and it's probably something I should have told you before, but I was worried how you'd react. I mean, you're a really nice guy, but I'm afraid that after I tell you this you'll go running for the hills."
"Beth, I promise, I'm not going running towards any hills." He chuckled at my clear nervousness. "Believe it or not, I tend to only continue asking out girls if I like them and want to keep seeing them."
"I know," I sighed. "But things can change, things that I really don't want to change, in just the blink of an eye."
"It can't be that bad." He rolled his eyes. "Just tell me."
"All right," I nodded as I took a deep breath. "I have a kid."
"A son." He nodded, acting as though this were nothing new to him.
"Yeah, how did you know that?" I frowned.
"On our second date your phone went off and I saw your screen saver when you looked at it." He told me. "It was of you and a little boy, so I just put the pieces together."
"Why didn't you say anything? Or ask about it?" I asked, confused.
"It was none of my business, I figured you'd tell me when you were ready." He shrugged. "I get it, my mom raised me on her own until I was ten, when she met my step dad. I remember what it was like for her date, worried to scare guys off by telling them about me. You were scared, wanting to be happy while also wanting to do what's best for your son."
"So..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say to him at the moment.
"You were really expecting me to run off, weren't you?" He chuckled.
"I was hoping you wouldn't, but I've been known to be sort of a pessimist." I said.
"How old is he, your son?" He asked me.
"Six." I told him. "His name's Joel."
"And his father...is he in the picture?" He hesitated for a moment before he finished his question.
"No." I shook my head, saying nothing more on the subject. Lucas clearly sensed my tenseness with the topic of Joel's father and quickly dropped it, instead focusing on Joel himself, asking me different questions about what he liked and what he was like.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Look at her belly." George spoke softly that same morning as we all followed behind a heavily pregnant Dr. Bailey through the hospital's halls. "She's almost as wide as she is tall."
"Are her ankles swollen?" Meredith asking, eyeing the older woman's feet. "Is that why she's waddling?"
"What's gonna happen to us when she goes on leave?" Izzie pointed out the impending due date and maternity leave for our resident.
"Leave?" Cristina's eyes widened slightly at Izzie's question. "She's gonna leave?"
"Seriously?" I looked at the dark haired woman walking in front of me, amazed by her cluelessness.
"What do you think happens when people push babies out of their vaginas?" Meredith shook her head.
"Do you think we're gonna get a new resident?" George suggested.
"Nah, they'll probably just let us all wander around unattended to see how much damage we can do." Alex rolled his eyes at the stupidity of George's question.
"Yeah, well, you would know." Izzie scoffed before looking at the rest of us. "Hey, you guys, we should all get together and get Bailey a Christmas gift for the baby, or we could organize some sort of secret santa thing."
"Listen, Tiny Tim, you can take your-" Cristina began.
"Sounds great." George cut her off, smiling at Izzie.
"As long as I don't get Alex or Cristina as my secret santa, I'm in." I agreed.
"Okay." Izzie beamed at us before continuing over to where Bailey had stopped at the counter down the hall. As she left Meredith, George, and I all turned to Cristina, giving the woman a warning look.
"We're being supportive." Meredith told her.
"Come on, people." Bailey waved to all of us as she continued down the hall, all of us following her once more.
"Hey, what would be so bad with having me as your secret santa?" Alex asked me. "I understand Yang, but why me? Afraid to get something you might actually like?"
"More like I'm afraid to get some sick and perverted gift." I corrected him as we followed Bailey into a patient's room, Derek slipping in behind us and making his way over to the man in the hospital bed. The sight of the room surprised me, seeing a few kids playing about the room, one of them, a young boy, was even on the bed, setting his toys up on the man, likely his father.
"Tim Epstein, thirty-eight, fell off the roof of his house." Meredith informed all of us.
"I was, uh, stringing hannumas lights, and a shingle came loose." Tim added.
"Hannumas?" Izzie questioned the unfamiliar term.
"Hannumas, Chrismukkah." Tim explained. "We go all out."
"He fell twelve feet." Tim's wife looked up at Derek.
"The good news is, my head broke my fall." Tim joked.
"Uh, there are no visible deformities, but he's definitely having some focal left arm weakness." Meredith continued as Tim's son threw a toy, hitting Derek in the face with it.
"He'll probably be fine. He's always been a little hardheaded." Tim's wife waved it off.
"Does your head hurt when you laugh?" Derek asked, noticing the pained look Tim had after he laughed at his wife's joke.
"Is that a bad thing?" Tim asked.
"Follow my finger with your eyes, please." Derek told him as he began to move his finger from side to side in front of Tim's face.
"You know what? Your husband might need a little quiet, so there's a cafeteria right down-" Bailey began to tell Tim's wife.
"No, no, let 'em stay." Tim insisted. "Pain or no, I don't wanna miss out on the holidays with my kids."
"Who'd like to take Mr. Epstein down for a CT?" Derek looked over al of us, Izzie's hand shot up instantly.
"Stevens it is." Derek nodded.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Nadia Shelton, forty-one, scheduled for excision of her gastric ulcer." George presented when we moved onto the next patient's room with Dr. Webber in tow now. This room was even more packed than the Epstein's, various people all around the room.
"Lot of good it's done us." An older woman sitting beside Nadia's bed rolled her eyes. "She's been scheduled for three days."
"Mom, it's not his fault." Nadia told her mother.
"Every day she gets rescheduled for some emergency." A man frowned at us, likely Nadia's husband.
"We're very, very sorry for the inconvenience." Webber apologized.
"Inconvenience?" Nadia's mother scoffed. "You watch your child spend three days in pain, and then come and talk to me about inconvenience."
"We get a lot of trauma cases at the holidays." Webber tried to tell them. "Your daughter's ulcer is serious, but it's non-emergent."
"Is that the news?" The older man that had decided to lay down in the empty hospital bed asked, watching the tv.
"Are you saying my wife's not important?" Nadia's husband frowned at Webber. "Is that what he's saying? Is that what I'm hearing?"
At Nadia's husband's words a flurry of words filled the room, all of the different voices making it hard for me to follow. Overall though, it was clear, Nadia's family wasn't happy about the wait for her surgery. It didn't matter to them that there had been more serious and life-threatening cases that had bumped her surgery spot over the past few days.
"All right!" Webber finally cut everyone off. "Dr. O'Malley, prep Mrs. Shelton for her ulcer excision, which will happen this morning."
"Thank you!" Nadia's mother exclaimed as we left George alone with the family, moving to continue with our day.
"Grey, Karev, Watley, cover the pit." Bailey instructed as we left the room. "You can expect all sorts of holiday idiocy, so that is my gift to you. Yang-"
"Dr. Bailey, UNOS just called." Burke cut Bailey off as he headed our way. "They have a donor heart for a patient of mine."
"Heart surgery." Cristina's eyes widened at the news. "I'm free. I'm totally free, right?"
"I can do this." Alex said. "I'm available."
"I'm free." Meredith added while I stayed quiet, already knowing how this would end.
"No, you're not. You're covering the pit." Bailey looked around at Alex, Meredith, and I. "Yang, it's yours."
"Thank you." Cristina nodded.
"Pit!" Bailey ordered the rest of us, sending us running.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, what happened with Lucas this morning?" Meredith asked me as we both headed towards the ER doors, a trauma coming in. "How did he take the news?"
"Apparently he already knew." I informed her. "Says he saw my screensaver on our second date and put the pieces together himself, says he understands and that it doesn't bother him at all."
"That's good, right?" She raised a brow at me.
"Male, forty-four, had a gastric bypass." The paramedic informed us as the back of the ambulance opened, not giving me a chance to answer Meredith's question. "Three weeks post-op. Reported extreme pain when we found him. Said something about fruitcake."
"He must have torn his abdomen wide open." Meredith shook her head. "Alex is gonna have to fight me for this one."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem." I glanced around to see Alex nowhere in sight, despite the fact that he had heard the nurse alert us to the incoming trauma. "You take this, I'm going to go find him."
"Okay." She nodded, leading the paramedics and the man inside while I followed, heading the opposite way to get back to the back hallway where we all usually went when we had a break or a dry spill. When I reached the hall I found Alex sitting on one of the spare hospital beds, books surrounding him and a notebook in hand.
"So, this is where you've been hiding." I spoke up, causing him to glance up at me before returning his attention back to his books.
"Leave me alone." He told me.
"Nope." I shook my head. "Not until you tell me what's going on here, why are you in such a sour mood today?"
"I failed my boards, all right." He sighed, tossing one of his books aside. "I retake them tomorrow, but if I fail again, and I probably will, then I'm done. I'm out of the program."
"Alex, why didn't you tell me?" I frowned at him. "I could have helped you."
"I don't need anyone's pity." He shook his head. "I can do this on my own."
"And fail." Meredith commented as she came up behind me, stopping at my side.
"What are you doing here?" Alex rolled his eyes.
"The same thing as Bethany." She said. "To help you."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I don't know. It hurts here and here and back here." Meredith faked a voice as she pointed at different parts of her body, all the while laying on the spare hospital bed as I sat at her feet, having to bite back my laugh at her act, trying to help Alex help with diagnosing patients.
"Any chance you got hit by a truck and forgot about it?" Alex asked.
"Wrong." I threw one of my chips at him, hitting him in the shoulder before it fell to the ground.
"You're judged on bedside manner, Alex." Meredith reminded him. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's why you failed the last time."
"Could you two be any more patronizing?" He frowned at us. "I didn't ask for either of you to help me."
"Enough with the ego, you big baby." I rolled my eyes.
"I gave up a surgery for this." Meredith informed him. "Now like I said, it hurts here and here and back here. Oh, and this morning, I noticed my poop was a funny grayish color."
"Does this hurt, Mrs. Grey?" Alex asked as he pressed down on her left side.
"Yes, doctor." She nodded.
"How about here?" Alex pressed her right side next. "Does it hurt here?"
"Yes, it does." Meredith said as I glanced down the hall, spotting Cristina watching them with her jaw dropped.
"Okay, seriously, if you're that lonely, there are excellent vibrators." Cristina spoke up, causing Alex and Meredith to glance her way too. "I can give you a catalog."
"He failed his boards. We're helping him study." Meredith informed her.
"You failed your practical?" Cristina looked at Alex in surprise.
"Glad to know you keep a secret, Grey." Alex scoffed.
"I kept your secret. It didn't do you any good." Meredith told him.
"He needs our help." I told Cristina.
"Oh, you're not serious." Cristina shook her head.
"What if it were you?" Meredith asked as her pager went off.
"It wouldn't be." Cristina said.
"Well, what if it were?" Meredith pressed, getting up from her seat and looking at her pager.
"It wouldn't be." Cristina insisted.
"I have to go." Meredith said. "Be a patient. Do it for me."
"Fine, but when Tiny Time goes all Norman Bates on us, I'm blaming you." Cristina warned her as she left.
"I second that motion." I agreed.
"Diagnosis?"Meredith asked Alex.
"Gallstones." He answered.
"Yes." She nodded, disappearing around the corner as Cristina took her place on the bed, sitting up rather than laying down.
"I'm a fifty-five year old man. I'm nauseous and I can't stop throwing up." Cristina told Alex.
"Forget it, all right?" Alex shook his head. "I didn't ask for anybody's help."
"Okay, evil spawn, you can nurse your pride, key word being nurse, or you can pass your test and be a doctor." Cristina told him. "Up to you."
"Any abdominal pain?" Alex gave in, walking over to stand in front of her.
"Yes, from my giant, fat belly all the way to my back." Cristina nodded. "Oh, and I'm drunk. Hiccup, hiccup."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Yeah, okay, the way you're grabbing me now. That's assault." Cristina warned Alex as she moved his hands from her chest. I watched as she straightened his hand before returning it to her chest. "This is an exam pat."
"What..." We all looked up to see George watching the scene before him with wide eyes. "What the hell? Does Izzie know? Does Burke know about this?"
"Maybe this isn't the best studying place." I commented.
"Unbunch your panties, George. We're helping Alex study. Do it." At her instructions Alex began to pat her chest again, this time using the proper method.
"I can't hear you when his hand is on your boob." George shook his head.
"Take your hand off my boob, Alex." Cristina told him and he listened.
"Thank you." George nodded as he walked over to us. "Study for what?"
"Shut it, Yang." Alex sent her a sharp look.
"Alex failed his boards." Cristina ignored him.
"I failed one part of one board." Alex clarified. "That's it."
"Still, that's pretty embarrassing." George said as Cristina's pager went off.
"Eh! He's all yours, Georgie." Cristina jumped to her feet. "Do your worst."
"Why can't Bethany do it?" George looked to me.
"I don't do touching." I shook my head.
"You're not giving me a rectal. Do not ask me to cough." George set down some guidelines, causing me to laugh.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"My throat, it's, like, wicked sore, yo!" George told us, faking a different voice. I had to bite my cheek to keep myself from laughing. "Plus, I got all these sick breakouts, right?"
"Dude, seriously." Alex scoffed, not amused by the act. George only glared at him before getting to his feet to leave. "All right, all right, sit down, sit down. Open up your mouth. I'd like to inspect your tonsils."
"Aah!" George exaggerated as he opened his mouth, letting Alex have a look.
"What's wrong with you? Are you sick?" Izzie asked as she came down the hall, seeming confused by the scene in front of her.
"Fix it." George told Alex.
"I failed my practical board exam." Alex admitted to the blonde. "O'Malley and Watley are helping me study."
"You failed you..." Izzie trailed off as she looked back at George. "You're helping him?"
"Just to study, nothing else!" George quickly assured her.
"Izzie-" Alex began.
"No, you don't get to say my name, and you are unbelievable!" Izzie yelled before storming away.
"I was doing mono, the whole fever and glands thing. The acne was just part of the whole teenager thing." George told Alex before he followed after Izzie.
"She's pissed." Alex stated the obvious.
"You think?" I scoffed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Are you sure about this?" Lucas asked as he pulled his car into the driveway, right behind Meredith's car. I looked over at him from my own seat, seeing the slightly nervous look her wore as he looked up at the house.
"Are you really this scared of meeting my friends?" I raised a brow at him.
"Well, based on the stories you've told me, I think I'd be crazy not to be nervous." He chuckled.
"Well, lucky for you, Cristina and Alex aren't here so you've got the easy ones now." I assured him as we climbed out of his car. I laced my fingers through his as I led him up the front steps and to the front door that we found unlocked. I led the way inside, finding it surprisingly quiet. "Hello?"
"In here." George called out as Lucas closed the door behind himself. I looked into the living room to find Izzie, Meredith, and George all laying on the floor, their heads tucked under the Christmas tree as they just stared up at the lights, even Doc laid beside George on the far side of the group.
"Before I ask about this, where's Joel?" I asked the trio.
"Asleep." Izzie answered without looking up. I glanced back at Lucas to see him watching my friends with an amused look on his face.
"So, is this normal?" He asked me.
"Who's that?" Meredith questioned at the sound of Lucas' voice.
"It's Lucas." I informed them.
"Nice to meet you Lucas." George said without getting up from his spot, none of them moved an inch.
"Is this normal?" Lucas repeated his question.
"You'd be surprised." I nodded.
"All right." He took my hand again, pulling me towards my friends. I only laughed as he had me lay down next to Izzie with my head under the tree as well before laying down beside me, a small smile on his face. At his actions all three of the others turned their heads, only looking at us for a second before turning their gazes upwards, to the lights decorating the tree.
"I like him." Meredith commented.