[ surprise, surprise, surprise ]
"You did a tracheotomy? In a restaurant?" Meredith asked me.
"Yeah, he just handed me the knife and-and I did it!" I shook my head.
"Dude, that's awesome," Alex stuck his head out of the shower.
"Yeah it was until my mom ruined everything," I crossed my arms.
"Well, Derek wants babies," Meredith said.
"He wants what?" My eyes widened.
"Want me to kick his ass?" Alex asked.
"Hey, uh, Alex," Derek opened the door and looked at Meredith and I with a confused look.
"Alex is being a girl for me," Meredith said.
"I'm a girl too!" I frowned.
"Yeah, but you can't stop talking about your restaurant tracheotomy," Meredith looked to me.
"True," I nodded.
"What kind of tracheotomy?" Derek asked.
"Ugh, Mark will probably tell you all about it later," I rolled my eyes, thinking about what a disaster last night turned out to be.
"Uh, anyway, Alex there's someone at the door for you," Derek said, "He says he's your brother."
"You have a brother?" Meredith and I asked at the same time.
"Tell him to wait," Alex told Derek.
"Enjoy your girl time," Derek said, before shutting the door.
"How did I not know you had a brother?" I asked.
"I don't know," Alex shrugged.
"Want me to kick his ass?" Meredith asked.
••
"Alex is the oldest, then me, and then Amber," Aaron, Alex's brother, explained to me, "Amber's graduating from St. Savior's in May. She's smart, like Alex. She could go to college if she wanted to, but she's like, 'what's the point?' you know? And I don't know what to tell her. Alex is the doctor in the family. I just move people for a living."
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked, as he walked into the kitchen.
"Man, you got old," Aaron said, before he gave his brother a hug.
"Uh, what are you doing here?" Alex asked again.
"I had to drive to Portland on a job, and since I was in the neighborhood-"
"Well, Portland's not in the neighborhood. It's three hours," Alex said, taking a seat at the island.
"I do three hours in my sleep," Aaron told his brother
"Alex, he's your brother. He's allowed to come say hi," Lexie told Alex.
"You're gonna be late for pre-rounds," Meredith reminded her sister.
"Okay. Well, it-it was very nice to meet you. I'm Lexie, by the way," Lexie introduced herself before she ran out of the kitchen.
"I'm overdue for a visit, it's been seven years."
"No, it has not," Alex shook his head, as he poured a bowl of cereal.
"Since you've been home. Seven years."
"You haven't been home in seven years?" Derek asked.
"Derek," Meredith scolded her husband, "I have this."
"Hey, I'm Derek. Nice meeting you. Aaron. Take care," Derek shook Aaron's hand.
"I'll see you."
"Meredith, by the way. Hello," Meredith shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you."
"Has it been seven years?" Alex asked.
"Amber was 10 the last time we saw you," Aaron pointed out to his brother.
"Aaron, what's going on? What do you want?" Alex continued to ask his brother.
"I do miss you, okay, and I-I did want to say hi, but since you're a doctor, I thought I'd ask. Should I be worried about this?" Aaron lifted up his shirt to reveal a lump on his stomach.
••
"You have an umbilical hernia. You need surgery, so shut up and fill out the paperwork," Alex said, handing Aaron his paperwork.
"I think surgery's just gonna make it hurt worse. You remember when Dad had his gall bladder out?" Aaron looked down at the papers in front of us.
"Stop talking and write," Alex told his brother.
"Write what? I don't have insurance. Okay, what am I suppose to write?" Aaron looked up at Alex.
"Ask Bailey to do it pro bono," Meredith suggested.
"Yeah, you're Bailey's new favorite. She'd say yes," I agreed with Meredith.
"I can't ask her to do that," Alex shook his head.
"Alex, he's your brother," Meredith said.
"Evilspawn has a brother?" Cristina asked, walking up to the rest of us.
"Aaron, Cristina Yang," Meredith introduced the pair.
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Yang. I'm Aaron Karev," He shook her hand.
"Oh my god. You're so nice. He's so nice. Why can't you be nice like your brother? Angelspawn? Why can't you?" Cristina asked.
"Fair enough," Aaron nodded.
••
"Hey," Mark smiled at me as he walked up to the nurse's station.
"Hey," I smiled back.
"How are you doing? Okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked.
"I don't know. Just with last night, with your mom and everything," He shrugged.
"Oh yeah, it's-it's normal. We fight a lot, usually not like that though," I sighed, "But it's fine, and I'm really sorry again. About everything."
"Don't apologize," He shook his head, "I liked your family."
I scoffed, "Yeah, they're quite something. That was the crazy side, the rest of my family is pretty normal, believe it or not."
"Which side do you fall under?" Mark asked, with a smirk on his face.
"I don't know. Probably the crazy side," I told him.
"Shocking," He said.
I rolled my eyes at him, "I gotta go I got a patient, and not just any other patient either, it's Alex's brother."
"Karev has a brother?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, he's like the total opposite of him. Super nice, fun to be around. It's weird," I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Kinda like you and your mom?" He asked.
"Yeah, exactly like that," I nodded, "Will I see you before the party?"
"Surgery. See you at the party?" He asked.
"See you then," I said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, before heading off the Aaron's room.
"How is it your brother is a surgeon and you waited months to take care of this?" Bailey asked, as she examined Aaron's hernia.
"I don't know. Karevs are tough. I guess five years in foster care will do that to you," Aaron shrugged.
"Foster care? You're all foster children?" I asked.
"Well, me and Amber were in and out, but Alex, he had like 17 different foster homes in 5 years."
"So Alex was a foster child?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah, because my mom was, you know, it was before they had all the meds that they have today, and she was, uh, I guess she was doing her best, but my dad, he-he wasn't a good guy, and he was, you know whatever. And so, Alex, he got shipped around a lot. And he was a pretty rough kid if you didn't know him, so people didn't like to keep him. Then he ended up in Juvie."
"J-j-juvenile detention?" Bailey asked, shocked at what she heard.
"Yeah, 'cause my mom, she sometimes-she'd forget to buy food, so-He was good, though. People wouldn't have even known he was stealing anything if it hadn't been for the video cameras."
"How old was he?" Bailey asked.
"Mm, 11, maybe 12."
"Hey, what are we doing with 28-07? Dude, are you talking crap in here?" Alex asked, entering the room.
"No," Aaron shook his head, obviously lying.
"Dude, I work here," Alex said, seeing through his lie.
"So go to work," Bailey told Alex, "Uh, check the chest tube in 28-07. Go."
"Shut it, Aaron," Alex told his younger brother before he left the room.
"So what happened after Juvie?" Bailey asked.
"Dr. Bailey, I don't think that Alex-" Meredith tried to defend Alex.
"Mind your business," Bailey told Meredith, "Aaron, after Juvie?"
••
"I just told this guy that his wife was fine after surgery, but then she ended up having a stroke and now she's going to die," Lexie sighed, setting her food down on the table.
"Our patient is pretty cool, I mean he is Alex's brother. Some how that's his brother. I don't see it," I shook my head.
"God, that poor man. He thought his wife was going to be okay, after three years, she finally got her tumor removed and then she had a stroke and now," Lexie shook her head, "He thinks she'll still wake up."
"That sucks," I shook my head, "Hey, Alex do you want the rest of your sandwich?"
"Paws off," Alex said.
"How do you just not care?" Lexie asked, "How do you learn to not care?"
"I don't think you can. That's the hardest part of the job. Sometimes you can just ignore it and move on. Other times you just gotta suck it up and try your best, but I don't think you can ever learn how to not care," I shook my head.
••
"Where's Aaron? I thought you invited him tonight?" I asked Alex.
"He went back to Iowa," Alex said.
"You let him drive after surgery?" Meredith asked.
"I'm not his dad. He's got my number," Alex shrugged.
"I liked him, you should bring him back sometime," I said.
Alex scoffed, "Yeah, right."
"Hey everyone quiet! Arizona will be here any minute!" Callie said, causing us all to quiet down.
We sat for a few moments until the sound of heels clicking echoed down the hall and we could hear the sound of the lock unlocking.
"Surprise!"
Arizona stood in the doorway as we all cheered and clapped for her, until she started to break down, crying, "I-I." She quickly turned around and ran out the door.
"Oh," Callie frowned before she ran out the door after her.
"Told you," Mark shrugged.
"Hey!" I said, elbowing him in the side, "I guess you're right, surprise parties never come to any good."
"I think this party speaks for itself," Mark said.
"At least there's booze," Jackson said, filing his cup up before he left.
"I don't get it. My favorite party was the surprise party my parents threw for me. I-I loves it," Lexie shook her head.
"How old were you at this party?" Mark asked.
"Seven," Lexie said.
"Makes sense," I nodded and turned to Mark, "Go ahead and gloat."
"This party's a dud. I'm going home," Alex said, walking out the door.
"How is Aaron his brother? I don't get it," I shook my head.
"He was so nice," Lexie shook her head, "Now I'm thinking about Mr. and Mrs.Clark."
"Who's that?" I asked.
"My patient from early. I bet he's so lonely right now," Lexie shook her head.
"Okay, I'm leaving before you start crying," I said, standing up, and heading to Cristina's room to use the bathroom.
When I opened the door my eyes widened as I saw Jackson and Cristina kissing, "Oh my god! I'm sorry," I said quickly shutting the door.
"Every time," I whispered to myself, recalling the time when I walked in on Owen and Cristina.
I quickly left, before things could get any more awkward and took my seat next to Mark.
"I bought an apartment," Mark said.
"You did?" I smiled, "Congratulations! Where is at?"
"Right across the hall," He said.
"Right across the hall from Callie," I nodded, forcing a smile.
He bought an apartment right across the hall from his ex-fuck-buddy-now-turned-BFF. That's no big deal right? Right. It's no big deal. It's nothing.
~
Sorry for another short chapter, hopefully the next chapter will make up for it, or maybe it will make everything worse? I don't know. Just prepare yourself for the next chapter. I'm bringing out the big guns. ;)
( does that even make sense? i don't know, i just wanted to hint at something, if you catch my drift or should i say bullet? sorry i'll stop now. . . . . )