- - -
surgeons can't be lazy, the risks are too great. the second we stop pushing ourselves, something terrible happens.
- - -
"karev, throw the ball!" owen shouts to alex who is busy talking to cristina and meredith at the side of the pitch, rather than practicing like the rest of the team.
alex then throws it to mark, who catches it and throws it to arizona who squeals, and misses it.
"come on," derek groans.
"robbins, don't be afraid of it," owen coaches.
"wait. i- oh," arizona says, chasing after the ball. "well, it flew at my head."
"not bad. not bad," a woman from the opposing team tells mark.
"you like that?" he smirks.
"i said not bad," she laughs. "don't go crazy."
"uh-huh," he nods, stepping forward and leaning in to kiss her, as she places a hand on the back of his neck.
"sloan. hey, sloan," derek shouts to his teammate.
"yo!" mark acknowledges him, whilst continuing to kiss the woman.
"come on, focus," derek scolds.
"okay," mark says, continuing to kiss her, before eventually pulling away.
"why is mark kissing julia canner?" lia asks, from where she is stood, just behind the fence.
"wh- who's julia canner?" bailey asks.
"she's an ophthalmologist," lia reveals. "i used to work with her at seattle pres."
"mark's been... seeing her," arizona adds from the opposite side of the fence.
"every night this week," callie chuckles.
"hunt, i gotta go," derek says, walking away from his pitching position, following a page he received.
"what?" owen asks.
"lia!" derek shouts, from across the pitch so that she looks over to him. "i need a consult."
"yeah, okay," she smiles, walking to meet derek.
"no, no, wait. we're-" owen begins to protest.
"i gotta check on a sick kid. can i get a ride?" arizona asks, following lia to derek.
"listen, no-" owen continues to protest.
"i gotta update the boards," april adds, also walking away from her position.
"no, no," owen shakes his head, as the practice begins to completely fall apart.
"is that it?" cristina shouts across the pitch. "are we done?"
"just- just wait," owen orders.
"hustle, everyone," derek says, as the entire team walk off the pitch to head back to the hospital.
■ ■ ■
lia exits the elevator onto the roof of the hospital, where she finds owen throwing balls for derek to hit into a net.
"nice," owen says.
"uh... you have a patient looking for you," she informs derek. "should i tell them that you're... working?"
"we are working. sometimes the body works better than the brain," owen tells her as his phone begins to ring. "webber, can you toss him the ball?"
"oh, your swing's too high," lia points out, once she takes owen's place throwing the ball.
"did you play ball?" derek asks her.
"yeah. i was pitcher," she nods.
"really?" derek asks, surprised that he didn't already know this about her.
"yeah," she smiles, tossing another ball. "mark's in love."
"oh, with an eye doctor," derek scoffs. "that should last forty eight hours."
"yeah, well, i should be happy for him," lia sighs, before lowering her voice so that she's practically just talking to herself. "i- i love jackson."
"don't worry about it," owen says to derek once he's off the phone as derek misses the ball again. "just shake it off or shake it out or i don't know, shake something."
"it's his new coaching persona," derek chuckles to lia.
"yeah, i'm still working on it," owen laughs.
"you're still coming at it wrong," lia attempts to coach derek, as she continues tossing balls. "you're- you're- you're approaching the ball wrong."
"i'm holding the bat wrong?" derek furrows his brow.
"no, no, no, it's not the bat," lia shakes her head. "it's your body. you need to... adjust your head, drop your shoulders. i mean, you're not connecting."
derek follows lia's advice by changing his position when he comes to a realisation.
"the head's at the wrong angle," derek says, lowering the bat. "i've been adjusting the probe."
"you need to adjust the angle of her head," owen clicks on, tossing a ball to lia before the two leave lia confused on the roof.
■ ■ ■
"sloan, you're on first," owen announces as he's going through his game plan and handing out jersey's when bailey walks in. "oh, bailey, you're centre field. we're doing some shuffling. shepherd, pitcher."
"shepherd's out," mark announces. "he told me his brain surgery could be a marathon."
"oh, me!" lia raises her hand excitedly. "let me pitch."
"alright, webber, pitcher," owen agrees. "sloan, first. shepherd can be a pinch hitter."
"i need a small," lia says, looking through the box of jerseys.
"oh, they're all larges," owen informs her.
"what?" april asks, standing up from her seat and beginning to look through them herself. "no. we can't be out of smalls already. i told them we need an assortment of sizes. i... i was very clear on the phone."
lia scratches the back of her neck uncomfortably as april has a miniature breakdown over the softball jerseys, and owen tosses one to mark.
"sweet," mark grins. "i'll look fantastic in this. and when you look good, you play good, am i right, avery?"
"you know it," jackson says, and the two high five, before mark exits the conference room.
"what the hell was that?" lia asks as jackson squeezes her shoulder whilst he's getting a jersey for himself.
"what?" he asks.
"are you guys pledging delta chi together?" lia scoffs.
"no, sloan's pretty cool, actually," jackson smiles. "he's, uh, been in such a good mood lately, he's letting me do half his procedures. he let me run the burn centre last night."
"neat," lia says, unconvincingly as jackson walks away.
■ ■ ■
"hey, what's going on out there?" owen asks derek when he looks over to see what appears to be meredith arguing with bailey.
"i'm not sure," derek admits.
"time-out. i got this, hunt," richard calls, before heading over to meredith, bailey and cristina.
"c- can he do that?" owen turns to derek.
"he seems to think he can," derek chuckles.
"oh, this must be pretty humiliating for you," julia laughs to mark, from where they are stood on first.
"yeah, you're gonna look so hot when you get tagged out at home plate," mark smirks, placing an arm around her.
"oh, in your dreams," julia chuckles as he pulls her in to kiss her.
"god, get a room," lia groans, at the sight of mark and julia, from where she is stood waiting on the sidelines. "it's disgusting."
"give the guy a break," jackson shrugs.
"she's on the opposing team," lia objects.
"so what? he seems happy. he's happy, i'm happy," jackson shrugs, resulting in lia scoffing and shaking her head. jackson takes a sip of water before he speaks again. "and you and me, we're- we're happy, right? my mom thinks you're great. you're parents like me... i think. we're happy, right?"
"oh, what is with the friggin' hold up? let's play ball," lia shouts, ignoring jackson's question as she stands up from her seat. jackson remains seated, and presses his lips into a thin line.
once richard has resolved the issue between meredith and bailey, owen calls another time out, in order to gather his team into a huddle.
"i just wanna say how proud i am of all of you. you are an incredible team," owen praises them. "i've watched you work together, solve problems together. i watched you teach each other and learn from each other. you... step up when you need to and you... you do more than anyone asks you to do. you're the finest team i've ever been a part of."
"oh my god," derek scoffs with a chuckle.
"that's really sad," alex adds.
"beautiful," mark nods.
"you don't think we actually have a shot a winning this," callie points out.
"what, this? this?" owen gestures to the softball game. "no, no, no, we're screwed. you are all horrible at softball. but as doctors, you're pretty great, and you're all here, so i just... i just wanted to tell you. but now... now we're going down. so what do you say we go down fighting?"
"yes!" the whole team cheer, before placing their hands in the middle. "one, two, three, go team!"
"whoo!" arizona cheers as they leave the huddle to return to their positions.
"alright. come on, guys!" april encourages. "let's go, lia!"
lia looks over to mark to see him and julia playfully pushing each other, and laughing, before she throws the ball.
"oh, no arm! no arm," julia shakes her head. "this is your best pitcher? hey, my grandma's not busy. she can pitch better than that."
lia then turns and throws the ball at julia, which hits her, and she gasps.
"oh, right in the boob," callie winces.
"lia!" mark shouts, as both teams come onto the pitch, and several seattle pres doctors run to check if julia is okay.
"what? i thought she was stealing second," lia shrugs.
- - -
something we never see coming. so we may not always be winners. but we're not lazy.
- - -
following the game, the team, minus mark, are sat in the stands passing around a hip flask to celebrate their win due to seattle pres' forefit.
"i am taking you home," arizona says, suggestively, and taking callie's hand.
"julia's gonna be okay, right?" lia asks callie, grabbing her arm as she walks past her to leave.
"ah, it's her boob. she's in good hands," callie laughs before following arizona away from the pitch.
"are you gonna tell me what that's about or what?" jackson asks, causing lia to turn to him with confusion.
"yeah, i thought she was stealing second," lia reiterates her excuse from earlier.
"no, you didn't," jackson says, before standing up and walking away too.
- - -
we take chances. we go for broke. we swing for the fences. and sometimes, yeah, we strike out. but sometimes, you get a home run.
- - -