"Four surgeries, four fatalities, and the day has barely started. Can I have a bite of that?" George turned to Cristina.
"No. You're in my apartment, you don't get to be in my food." She complained.
"Dr. Burke gave me a protein bar this morning."
"He packs his lunch for him, did I mention."
"Well, I think it's sweet." The short girl said. Things we're still a bit weird between George and Helena but they were starting to get back to their friendship.
"I talked to the morgue guy..." Izzie informed, biting an apple.
"The one with the unibrow?" Meredith asked.
"The one with the teeth thing. He said that surgical fatalities come in threes and sevens. Says there'll be three more before midnight." To blond finished.
"Well, then. Since teeth morgue guy said so..." Cristina joked.
"He's the morgue guy. He knows things about death." Izzie explained.
Helena shrugged as she tied back her hair. "We'll see, I guess."
Suddenly, Bailey entered the locker room. "Come on."
"Where?" Meredith questioned.
"ER."
"All of us?" Helena scrunched her nose up in confusion.
"We've all had deaths, let's all go save a life."
——
"Great. No blood, no guts, no lives to say..." Cristina complained in the OR. "It's dead quiet."
"Huh, did you really just say that?" Bailey asked, slightly mad.
"Cristina!" Izzie complained.
"You said the q word. It's like saying McBeth in the theatre." George explained.
"Please..." Cristina scoffed.
"Last time I heard someone say it, a man came in with a bomb inside of him." Helena reasoned. "Don't question it, just accept it."
"You think just cause someone says it's quiet, that..."
Suddenly, a woman came into the ER, holding someone else. "Somebody please help us here. She's coughing up blood."
After that, Izzie and Alex's pagers went off and they both rushed off. In the background, an ambulance was heard as a nurse called out. "Two incoming."
Helena looked at her friend in an I-told-you-so manner, as they and Meredith rushed to the ambulances.
"Yang and Campos, first is yours. Grey, take number two."
"Jesse Fannon, 32, unrestrained driver in a rear end collision." The paramedic informed them. "There was spider webbing at the front windshield where his head hit. BP is 125, pulse 75."
"What do you wanna do, Yang?" Bailey asked.
"Primary and secondary survey, head CT and X-ray." Helena's friend informed as the smaller girl noticed the man counting something on his fingers.
"Ok, page Shepherd when you get there." The resident asked as they began taking off.
"Wait!" The patient asked. "I'm counting the siren whops. We can't go until it reaches 33."
"He also seems to have a touch of OCD." The paramedic informed as they waited.
"Can anyone spell coincidence?" Cristina complained.
——
As Helena wheeled their patient into the elevator, her people by her side, Meredith commented. "I got hot chocolated. The she shepherd hot chocolated me. It's her juju."
"I don't like people who say juju."
"Believe it or not I only found out juju was even a word, like, a year ago." The small girl giggled.
"I say juju." Meredith's patient answered.
"I refuse to believe it's a real word." Helena threw her hands up.
"Juju. Juju, juju, juju..." Cristina and Helena's patient started repeating a lot of times.
"I didn't drink it." The blond intern confessed.
"You're not obligated to honor someone else's juju." The female patient explained.
"I thought you were being friends." Cristina pointed out.
"I am, with him. Do I have to be friends with her too?"
"Maybe." The curly haired intern answered.
"I mean, they are married, so by association, kinda..." The short girl scrunched her nose up slightly.
——
"I was counting the clicks. The turning signal clicks." Helena's patient revealed as she wheeled him into the CT room. "I couldn't move until I hit 333. The light was green, but I couldn't move." Helena looked at him with compassion. "I can't blame them for hitting me."
"How long have you been feeling these compulsions?" The psych doctor asked him.
"All my life, but it's been out of control these past three years. It ruined my marriage, I can't hold a job..." As the intern tried to move the patient to the machine, he asked. "Is it clean? I need to know if it's clean."
"It's very clean, we clean in between each patient." She gave him a reassuring smile.
"Any relatives with OCD?"
"My mother. She killed herself at 38. It ruined her life, now it's ruining mine. Clean, clean, clean?" The man asked Helena again.
"Yes, it's clean, clean, clean." She answered, helping the man move o the machine.
"Thank you. I know it's annoying but I can't help it... Find a Penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck. Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck. Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck..." The man repeated.
"Repetitive rhymes, prayers. It's classic. He feels he has to say this a specific number of time, probably a multiple of three." The psych doctor explained.
"Let's get you in, Mr. Fannon." The girl smiled at him as he continued his prayer.
——
"You're removing part of my skull? Do you really have to do that?" The patient asked Dr. Shepherd, Helena and Cristina also in the room.
"It's the only way I can get to the affected part of the brain." The attending explained.
"And the operating room? Is it clean, clean, clean?" He made sure.
"Yes. It's clean, clean, clean. I'm gonna go get ready." The neurosurgeon left the room as the man started playing with the light switch.
"Can you stop that, please?" Cristina asked, annoyed, as the shorter girl shot her a reprimanding glare.
"No. Sorry, I wish I could." He turned to the younger girl. "She's judging me."
"She isn't." The shorter girl attempted to reassure him, shaking her head slightly.
"Yes, she is. I've been living with this for three years, and it's always the people that are most like me that judge me the most." He complained. "You're type A, right? Straight A student, top of your class?"
"Yes, I was." Cristina answered.
"So you've managed to turn your compulsions into something productive. But we're cut from the same cloth. That's why you can't stand me." He pointed out, as the other intern watched the altercation.
"Time to go." The asian woman responded.
"But I'm not done."
"How many do you have to do?" Lena asked, looking at him with patience.
"96."
"I'll stay with him while he finishes, you can go." The Portuguese girl told Cristina.
As the man kept pressing the button, he turned to the girl. "I'm sorry. I can't help it."
"I know, you don't have to apologise. Take your time." She smiled as she sat down.
"Are you judging me too? You're judging me too, aren't you?"
"No, Mr. Fannon. I wouldn't. Besides, that'd just be hypocritical of me, really." She sighed.
"Hypocritical? Why's that?" He kept on switching the light on and off.
"Well, I have an anxiety disorder as well. It's social anxiety for me, but still, I understand knowing something is irrational and still not being able to stop it. I understand how hard it can be." She smiled calmly at him.
"Does Dr. Yang know? I mean, she wasn't exactly the most patient..."
"I don't know... maybe? I've never flat out told her, but she's seen some anxiety attacks and everything, so I think so. I promise she's actually kinder than she looks." Helena commented, the man still switching the light on and off.
——
As George entered the locker room, after Helena's patient died, Alex spoke up. "O'Malley, you are a sad excuse for a man."
"Excuse me?" The boy asked, Helena furrowing her brows as Cristina and Meredith turned to look at the men.
"You heard me. You're like a whiny little girl." He scoffed.
"Alex! What the hell?" The short girl asked.
"You know, he cheated on you and now he's walking around all whiny and sad. Man, your relationship ended, because of you. A man would move on. But you? You mope around this place like a dog that likes to get kicked." At that, Helena stood up, angry at the fact that her friend was being attacked.
"Alex Karev, shut up." She warned.
"You make me sick. If it wouldn't get me thrown out of the program I'd smash your pathetic little face right into that locker." He attacked, punching the locker.
"I said shut up, Karev." She got closer to the man. "Maybe you had a bad day, maybe you're angry, but you don't get to lash out at people like that. You hear me? I'm not putting up with it." The girl warned once again, clearly getting mad.
"What, you're defending your pathetic little friend? The one that cheated on you?" Helena looked at him, her eyes hard. "The one that traded your whole relationship for just a kiss with blondie there, cause that's how much you're worth?" At that, Lena went on, biting her bottom lip to keep the tears away.
"You know what? No, I'm not letting you do this. I'm not letting you push us away, because I think you're better than this. So, lay it on me, what else have you got?" At the boy's silence, she went on. "Nothing, you sure? Cause I can't take it, go on." Once again, there was silence. "Ok, then. When you want to actually become who I know you can become, talk to me. Until then, keep it to yourself. We don't have to put up with this." She left the room, not looking back.
——
As George went to find her, he sat down by Helena in a hospital bed. "Thanks for that in there. Really, thank you."
"Oh, come on. As if I could stop myself from protecting any of you." Both interns giggled.
Once the laughter died down, George thought for a moment before he asked. "You know, we're friends again, right?"
"Yes, Georgie. What is it?" The girl put her head on his shoulder.
"So, you know Dr. Torres?"
"Callie? Yeah, I do. She's really nice."
"Well, she might or might not have given me her number." At that the girl perked up, her heat lifting off his shoulder, excited. "Don't get too excited, cause I didn't call her."
"Georgie! She's pretty, nice and smart. You're not getting much better!" She playfully reprimanded.
"Ugh, I know, I know. I've been trying to apologise but she just won't listen, and I thought, you always have the best advice so... any ideas?" His brows shot up, hopeful.
The girl thought for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, before she answered. "Oh, I know! Ok, here it is: you're gonna talk to her and apologise again. If or when she doesn't take it, you're going to call her and say something about how she gave your your number and you're calling a bit late, before she leaves your sight. Just say sweet things and all of that. Oh... it's such a good plan!" She let out, impressed at her own idea.
"See, this is why Cristina calls you Baby Einstein." He smiled at her as she flopped her head back on his shoulder. "Thanks, Lena. For everything, I mean. I really am sorry..."
"I know. I know you are, Georgie. But, you know, even though it's been a while already, it still hurts." She answered, sighing. "You didn't mean to and I get it. We can build this friendship back up. But you should know that I meant it when I said I couldn't trust you like that again."
"I know and it's ok. I had my shot and I blew it, I am just glad to have you as a friend. That is how everything started off, either way, isn't it?" He sighed, happy to have his friend back.
——
Word count: 2010
AN:
George and Helena's relationship is finally getting back to normal! Are we excited to see Callie and Lena's friendship?