Chapter 17
Season 2, Episode 19-20
For the first time in a while, I had a good night's sleep. A great night's sleep actually. The moment I got home and got to my room, I didn't even change. I just fell into bed and was out like a light. Maybe it was the fact that Mark Sloan was no longer a problem. He left and was no longer something my so-called friends could shove in my face.
After getting changed and ready for the day, I step out into the hall to go downstairs. Once I've closed my door I see Meredith in the hall tiptoeing suspiciously.
"Meredith?" I ask from behind her and she jumps in surprise before turning to me. "You okay?"
"Yeah...totally fine." She whispers as quiet as she can. As she talks, George's door opens and he walks out into the hall before spotting Meredith and going rigid. I look between the two as they stare at each other awkwardly. Before I can comment on it, Izzie's door opens and a half-naked Alex stumbles out and runs to the bathroom.
"Really?" I mutter as he passes by me. Izzie walks out of her room, thankfully fully dressed and spots us all in the hallway.
"Morning." She says looking around at all of us and I give her an awkward half-hearted smile while Meredith and George continue to look at each other. "What? So, I slept with him again. So, I'm a big whore. A big, horny whore who can't get enough. Can we get over the shocked silence already?"
After another moment of silence, Meredith turns and walks away from us. Izzie looks at George with a frown.
"What's going on?" She asks and he just shrugs before walking back into his room. When she looks at me for an explanation I just roll my eyes.
"Izzie? Please don't talk about having sex with my brother around me ever again." I say in disgust and she nods apologetically before going into her room and closing the door. What a great way to start the morning.
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The energy in the locker room was off that entire morning. Whatever was going on between George and Meredith is still leaving tension wherever they go. I'm sitting on the bench tying my shoes beside Alex as he bets on what happened between them. Something tells me George told her how he feels...or felt.
"50 bucks says O'Malley caught her doing Mark Sloan," Alex says and I slap him on the shoulder.
"There's something going on. I mean, look at them." Izzie comments watching them awkwardly pass each other in the doorway.
"All right, he walked in on her doing McDreamy." After he says that we look at him in amusement. "Did I just call that dude McDreamy?" He sounds disgusted with himself and we laugh it off.
"Oh, you know you did," Cristina smirks at him before he leans over to Izzie.
"You are ruining my life." He says playfully in her ear and I fake gag.
"Get a room," I mutter before standing up and walking over to George and Meredith. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." They are way too quick to answer and we all frown in amusement. They are acting really weird.
"You know we're gonna find out anyway," Cristina says, leaning on the locker beside Meredith, but George isn't making eye contact with anyone.
"If you tell us, maybe we can help." Izzie encourages but it doesn't work.
"There's nothing to tell." George defends and Cristina laughs.
"That means there's something to tell." She says and I nod in agreement.
"There's nothing to tell!" Meredith yells before storming out of the room. Izzie gives me a look and I return it.
After a long morning of rounds and checking on patients before surgery I made it to Denny who is back in the hospital. Obviously, his heart has been getting worse and since he didn't get the transplant, things aren't looking too good. Burke eventually let me off his service as Izzie requested to be on his case.
As I walk down the hall to find Bailey, I hear very distinct yelling. I make my way back through the hall to find the source of the yelling I see all my fellow residents. No surprise really, we have a track record of yelling at each other in hallways.
"You think that someone is your friend, you know! At the very least, that she'd respect your privacy!" George yells in Meredith's face before turning to walk down the hallway I came from, almost bumping into me.
"Woah, George, what's going on?" I ask but he ignores me and brushes past. I look at everyone else with my arms open in confusion.
"Baby boy is freaking out," Alex answers before we all start following George down the hall.
"Yeah, I can see that," I say rolling my eyes.
"We can all see that!" Izzie exclaims. "Why is he freaking out?"
The four of us on the outside follow Meredith who is chasing after George in confusion. If he expressed his feelings for her, I don't understand why they are being so weird about it. Even if she doesn't like him back, they don't have to be so distant.
"George, can we at least talk?" Meredith pleads with him.
"I don't wanna talk! Not to you! I wanted to keep my mouth shut, and if you hadn't been running away from me every time you see me, you would know that!" He yells in her face before opening one of the stairwell doors with a bang and walking through.
"Okay, you're right. But can we just talk now?" She asks following him down the stairs as we continue to watch from behind.
"You want to talk now because you told everyone that we had sex!" He screams and all of us freeze and my eyes widen in shock. I told him to tell her about his feelings, not go and have sex with her that night!
"You had sex?!"
"You had sex with George?!"
"You two had sex?!" All of us yell at the same time making it hard to understand any of us. George looks around at all of us in panic, realizing what he said.
"You didn't tell them?"
"No." Meredith breathes out, obviously mortified at the situation.
"Damn it!" He yells before turning to run down the stairs. Unfortunately, he trips on the first step and falls, rolling down all the stairs painfully.
"George!" We yell when we see him on the ground groaning in pain. Alex starts laughing and I hit him on the shoulder for the second time today. We took him to one of the empty ER rooms so that an ortho resident could fix his arm. I wanted to stay for support but he told us all to leave. I didn't argue because he must be really embarrassed and I didn't want to make it worse.
"He's going to be okay right?" Meredith asks worried, obviously feeling guilty for how things played out.
"He dislocated his shoulder. He's gonna be fine." Alex says before walking away down the hall.
"That's not exactly what I meant." She mutters as Izzie starts to follow him. Before she leaves, she turns around and looks at Meredith.
"Meredith, if you can't make this right, if you can't fix this with George, just so you know if it comes to choosing sides, I'm on his." She says before walking away down the hall. I turn to Meredith and she's looking at me as if expecting the same treatment. I sigh and put my hands on my hips, looking down for a moment to collect my thoughts.
"He's in love with you, you know?" This sparks her attention and I look back up. "He's been in love with you since day one and you can't just treat him like one of your one night stands. You can't ignore him because it was a one-time thing. He's George. Our friend and roommate, George." I pause a moment to read her face. "Just fix it."
I turn and walk down the same hallway Izzie came from. I like Meredith, I live under her roof and sometimes share late-night popcorn with her, but I don't know if I could forgive her for hurting George. He was too blind to realize that she didn't feel the same way.
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George didn't come home that night. I waited for him to try and talk some sense into him but he never showed up. I called and left messages but nothing went through. I was shocked to see him the next morning with a terribly botched haircut and a smile on his face.
We all follow Bailey up the stairs of the hospital to our assignments but I can't stop staring at George's head. Cristina explained to me that he ended up staying the night at her apartment after Burke picked him up off the street.
"What happened to George's hair?" I ask Cristina with a crinkled nose as he walks beside Bailey so he can't hear me. "Is he having some sort of breakdown?"
"Burke says he's got issues. You should see them together. They're doing things, like running and cooking and talking. They're, like, bonding." She explains before Izzie runs up beside me.
"And you're afraid Burke will realize he's a better girlfriend then you?" She jokes and Cristina rolls her eyes as I chuckle.
"Meredith, just go and apologize to him." She pleads.
"I've tried." She says but I'm unconvinced.
"Try again," I mutter before Alex comes running up beside us.
"What's up with O'Malley's hair? He looks like a hobbit." He says looking at George oddly.
"He's just trying a new look." Izzie attempts to defend him but it's useless because anyone with eyes can see how uneven and monstrous his hair is.
We all make our way through the building until we get to the ISU where Denny is waiting patiently after being admitted last night. He looks healthy but looks can be deceiving and he is long overdue for a transplant.
"Denny Duquette, age 36..." Izzie presents as we all stand in his room but he interrupts.
"37 in three weeks." He smirks proudly while looking at her and she smiles.
"37 in three weeks," She corrects herself with a smile. "Is having difficulty breathing and chest pains." She explains before turning to Burke.
"Breath sounds?" He asks.
"Still a little junky. He has a buildup of fluid in his system." She explains and I watch as Denny doesn't take his eyes off her.
"Hey, did you just call me a junkie? That's not very nice." He smirks and something is telling me he sees her as more than just a doctor.
"Denny, your congestive heart failure is getting worse despite the meds." Burke stresses and Denny finally looks away from Izzie.
"All right. So, how do we proceed?" He asks him but Burke turns to us.
"Doctors, how do we proceed?"
"Titrate up his nitrate drip and continue with diuretics," Alex says before Izzie can open her mouth.
"Ace inhibitors, beta-blockers and start dobutamine." She manages to finish for him and Burke nods. I never know when these two are together or not. They need to sort their crap out.
"I also want his ins and outs recorded, and one of you monitoring him at all times," Burke explains and Izzie is quick to put up her hand.
"I'll stay."
"Me, too." Alex pushes in and I look between them before looking at Denny who catches my eye. I raise my brow knowingly at him and he just smirks. We all leave with the exception of Alex and Izzie.
After a consult with Dr. Montgomery, we follow Bailey down the hall who is holding her baby. She's back to work but still looking after her kid, I would have thought he would be at the nursery. As we walk, her pager goes off and she stops.
"ER needs a consult." She mutters and Dr. Montgomery speaks up for her as little baby Tuck starts crying.
"O'Malley, Grey, you go ahead and take that." She says, talking over Tuck becoming increasingly difficult.
"What about Mrs. Gibson?" Meredith asks about the woman we had a consult with earlier.
"I'll take care of Mrs. Gibson." She assures her before George leans over to Bailey.
"You really think they need both of us?" He asks, obviously not wanting to go to the ER. Maybe it's not the ER he doesn't like, but the fact that he has to go with Meredith. I would gladly take his place.
"I guess you'll find out. Go." She says and the two of them walk away.
"Are you going to take him to the nursery?" Dr. Montgomery asks Bailey who shakes her head, trying to soothe her crying baby.
"It's full and Tucker's out of town till tomorrow." She explains as I see Chief Webber walk down the hallway looking at the baby skeptically. When he gets to us he gives Bailey a look.
"You brought your baby to work?" He asks as Tuck continues to cry even louder. Dr. Montgomery leans forward and takes him from Bailey to try and soothe him.
"Uh, yes, Chief."
"You're not gonna take him into surgery with you?" He asks her with his arms crossed, clearly still unimpressed.
"I don't have anything scheduled for today."
"Yet." He pushes but she isn't taking it.
"Okay, I can't solve a problem until there's a problem to solve. Are you saying there's a problem?" She purses her lips once she's done as if challenging him.
"Is there a problem, Richard?" Dr. Montgomery adds and he looks a little unprepared.
"No." He mumbles before walking away.
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"What have we got?" Bailey calls out as we open the doors of an ambulance bringing in a trauma. She's still holding her now soothed baby and I'm impressed with her multitasking.
"Tachycardic in the 140s. Systolic dipped to the 60s." The paramedic explains as he pushes the gurney with the patient out of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the loud siren from the ambulance is causing Tuck to start crying again. I'm starting to follow the trauma which is being wheeled into the building when I hear Bailey from behind me.
"Karev!" I turn to see her holding her crying infant. "Take him."
"Uh, what?" I ask, very confused.
"You're going to watch him." She says trying to hand me her child but I step back.
"No, no, no. There's a trauma! I have patients!" I try to argue but she shakes her head.
"No, I have a patient. I need to operate on that patient right now. Take him!" She scolds, trying to hand me her baby again and I groan.
"Can't you page someone?"
"No, I am not paging anyone. I'm a surgeon. I'm going to do the surgery. I need you to help me, Audrey." She says before practically shoving Tuck into my arms, giving me no choice but to hold onto him. "You can watch from the gallery. You both can."
She slings her baby bag over my shoulder which is much heavier then it looks. She gives me an encouraging nod before running away and inside the building leaving me with her crying child. I look down at him in my arms and cringe. Great.
I make my way to the gallery with a screaming child, earning a few strange looks from people passing by. This was not how I was planning on spending today. I had a good night sleep, I thought I could use that energy in a really long surgery. Instead, I'm literally babysitting.
Once I get there, to my luck, I'm the only one there. I bounce him in my arms for a couple of minutes, walking back and forth.
"You're okay. Please stop crying. You're okay." I pat on his back lightly until I realize he probably has a full diaper. Gross. I put him down flat on his back on one of the carpeted steps of the little room before searching through the baby bag.
I find a diaper and sigh in relief. I look back down at Tuck who I'm kneeling in front of before undoing the little flaps of the diaper and opening it to reveal a very nasty sight. I hold my breath as I start to change his diaper.
"Gross. Gross. Gross." I mutter to myself as I work.
"Dr. Karev?" I hear from behind me and jump in surprise before turning to see Webber standing at the door.
"Oh, Dr. Webber."
"What's what smell?" He asks me unimpressed and I cringe, looking over at Tuck who is smiling at me, clearly pleased with himself.
"Uh, feces...baby feces," I say while attempting to put on a new diaper.
"You having trouble with the diaper, Karev?" He asks, clearly unsure of my capabilities and I shake my head.
"No, Sir."
"Because it looks like you're having trouble with the diaper."
"No! Sir, I'm fine." I collect myself before speaking calmly. "I have a Ph.D. I can handle a diaper." I mutter before turning to him. "Unless you want to?"
That seems to take him by surprise because he stops interrogating me and steps back.
"Uh, no, that's fine. You, uh...carry on." He says awkwardly before leaving. I roll my eyes. Men. Scared at the idea of a diaper. I continue to work until the diaper is secure. I pick him up so he's standing and give him and little shake which makes him giggle.
"It's not falling off. Who says I can't put on a diaper?" I say to myself before looking at his little face. I have to admit, he's a cute freaking baby. "Wanna watch your mama do a surgery?" I say in a baby voice before carrying him to the front of the gallery and looking down to see Bailey working.
After a couple of hours, I got really hungry and decided to go for lunch. Tuck was asleep so I don't think he'll mind. I put him in the little swing Bailey gave me and put it around my neck to secure him at my chest.
I make my way to the cafeteria and buy a sandwich before sitting down at one of the tables. George and Izzie eventually join me. At the sight of mini Bailey, they start laughing.
"Oh, no, you did not get stuck babysitting." George laughs as he sits down beside me.
"Shut up," I mumble looking down at Tuck. Not that I want to be stuck with him, but he's kinda growing on me. "You want to take him?" I ask looking at Izzie hopefully.
"No, Bailey gave him to you." She says leaning back in her chair.
"She's only gonna be in surgery for another half-hour. Take him." I say a little more urgently when I see that's he's starting to wake up.
"You're a liar and you smell like vomit." She states going back to her food.
"Really? Cause I think she smells like poo." George says while taking a sip of his drink.
"Shut up!" I yell again before Izzie changes the subject.
"Have you talked to Meredith yet?" She asks George and I perk up.
"Ooh, yeah, have you?"
"Tomorrow I am gonna buy a t-shirt that says to stop asking me about Meredith and I'm gonna wear it every day until people stop asking me about Meredith." He rambles until I see Meredith walk into the cafeteria with Cristina and I give a little hiss for him to stop talking.
"At least they won't be asking about your hair. I mean, seriously George, what did you do to it?" I say looking at his hair which is uneven at the front. Before he can answer, Meredith and Cristina sit down at our table and he stands up to leave.
"Oh, come on. Meredith, stop him." Izzie says gesturing to him as he walks to another table and sits beside a girl I don't recognize.
"What should I do, knock him down?" She asks and I frown.
"Did you know he cut his hair over my bathroom sink this morning," Cristina complains and I look at her shocked. No wonder he did it himself with no preemptive thought about it.
"George is a good roommate. If you tell him what's annoying you, he will stop." Meredith suggests but Cristina shakes her head.
"No, he's not my roommate! See, this is why I shouldn't have given up my place." She complains but Izzie is still looking at Meredith in disappointment.
"He would still be our roommate if Meredith would just apologize."
"I have apologized. I have apologized sincerely and you know what? It takes two to make a stupid sexual decision. So whatever." She says annoyed before getting up and walking away. Christina gives us a look before standing and following her.
"Great, Izzie. We've pissed off another one." I mutter taking another bite of my sandwich.
"I just miss when we all got along. Can't we just go back to that?" She sighs before Alex walks up to our table and her mood shifts. "Excuse me. I have to check on a patient."
She walks away and I look at my brother with a tilted head.
"So, are you guys a thing or not? Cause it feels like it's changing every day." I ask and he throws his food platter on the table angrily which upsets Tuck to the point of crying. "Okay, well, you didn't have to be an asshole about it."
He sits down across from me and starts picking food from my plate. I roll my eyes before trying to soothe Tuck. Why is the world falling apart around me?
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"Come on, baby! Eat!" I try not to yell at Tuck but it's becoming harder when he won't latch onto the bottle of formula I found in the bag. I can barely do this for a day, how does anyone do this for a freaking lifetime. I feel and hand on my shoulder and I turn to look up at George. I'm sitting down at a nurse's station with a crying baby and I guess he finally wants to help.
"Angle it." He says gesturing to the bottle.
"What?" I try to shove it in his mouth but he still rejects it. George puts his hand over mine and tilts the bottle until Tuck takes it into his mouth. "How'd you do that?"
"I don't know. It just seems to work." He says as he sits down across from me. Now that Tuck has stopped crying we can finally talk at a normal volume. I look at him for a minute before taking a risk and talking.
"Look, I know you don't want to talk about Meredith and I-" The moment he hears her name he stands and starts to walk away but I'm not gonna let him.
"Hey! Don't walk away from me O'Malley! I can't chase you because I have a baby but I will yell in front of everybody!" I yell which draws the attention of a few nurses, but enough attention for him to turn and walk back over to me in fear of creating a scene.
"What? What do you want from me?!" He whisper-yells and I purse my lips.
"For one, you could sit down." He does what I say and sits across from me again. "I know how you must be feeling and I'm sorry, but what made you think sleeping with her was a good idea?"
"You said that-" He starts but I cut him off.
"I said to talk to her! Not have sex with her!" I say a little too loud and he shushes me in embarrassment.
"I wasn't thinking. I was caught up in the moment." He mutters and I nod in understanding.
"I'm on your side, but she really is sorry and wants to make it up with you," I say but he shakes his head.
"I can't. I just...I can't. At least not yet." He says and I look down to see Tuck has finished his milk and fallen asleep. I put the bottle down and with my newly free hand, I reach forward and put it on his arm.
"You're a good guy, George. She's an idiot for not seeing it sooner." I give him a comforting smile which he returns before standing.
"I have to go. Surgery." I nod and watch as he walks off. I'm suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. How could I have slept so well last night and be tired from just looking after a baby? I hold him tight before standing and making my way to an empty on-call room.
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I don't know how long I was asleep. I remember lying down with Tuck in my arms and drifting off not long after. A hand on my arm is what wakes me and I open my eyes to see Bailey standing over me. She puts her arms around Tuck and picks him up from the bed.
"I fed him," I grumble, rubbing my eyes to wake up. "I changed his diaper but he's a pooper so you'll probably need to do it again."
"Audrey, go back to sleep," Bailey says comfortingly as I try to sit up.
"No, it's okay. I should..." I try to argue but my brain can't seem to get my body to work and I remain lying in the bed.
"Sleep." She says to me. "Thank you."
"Yeah, you're welcome." I yawn as my eyes drift closed again.