S3 EP4

"LAWRENCE, YOU'RE LATE!" Alex smirked as he called out behind Bailey.

"That's because you took my parking space, you prat!" Norah scowled at him. "And you woke me up in the middle of the night, just so you could crash on my bloody couch!"

The five interns walked behind Bailey down the hallway, bickering with one another. Norah kicked Alex behind the leg before accidentally walking into Meredith, who stopped all of a sudden; he laughed at her.

"Oh, crap-sorry, Mer, my bad."

"Woman troubles?" Cristina asked the sick-looking friend.

Meredith had her hand over her stomach with a pained expression on her face. "Men troubles. I think this dating two guys thing is getting to me. The stress of it," she groaned, "Finn, Derek. Derek, Finn. I think I'm getting an ulcer."

"McDreamy and the vet are making you sick?" Cristina questioned, amused.

"Did you do the both of them?" Norah raised her brow, "At once?"

"No, of course not," Meredith looked at her before sighing, "I just need to make a choice and get it over with."

The resident and five interns rounded on Shawn Sullivan, who had bypass surgery and was soon allowed to get discharged, then with Addison on Rebecca, a mother who was refusing to have a C-section done on her. They left the patient's room with Norah tagging behind the group.

"You alright, Dr Grey?" Bailey asked the intern, who was still grunting in pain.

"Yeah, Dr Bailey, I just..." Meredith groaned as she walked over and sat herself down on a bench, "need to make a choice is all."

Derek approached the group and walked up to Meredith. "Dr Grey, I am clipping a basilar tip aneurysm. Any interest?"

"I want in!" Norah's arm shot up in the air.

Addison walked past them, giving Norah a brief nod, and walked up to Bailey. "Dr Bailey, can I get..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes met the man shaking hands with Webber, and her jaw dropped. "Oh, my god..."

Derek followed her view and did a double-take as he saw the man on the other side of the glass; the rest of the interns, too, noticed the person wearing a white coat with Seattle Grace's name stitched on it. "Oh... my... god..."

George wondered out loud, "Is that-"

"McSteamy," Cristina smirked.

Norah burst into a fit of laughter at the unexpected yet hilarious situation. She immediately smacked her hand over her mouth before the attendings and resident could glare at her. Next to Derek, Meredith threw up on the floor, causing everyone to shift their attention to her while Bailey hurried over.

"No, Mr Sullivan, don't light that!" George shouted alarmingly as he tried to walk past the group. Mr Sullivan did not hear the intern's yells and lit his cigarette, causing an explosion fuelled by the oxygen around his neck. The man's upper body caught on fire, and he fell onto the floor, hitting his head.

"Somebody get a fire extinguisher!"

"Call a code red!"

❦ ❦ ❦

"MAKE SURE HE HAS AN airway," Mark instructed before turning to the patient. "Sir, can you hear me?"

"No, he's out," Bailey informed, "Hit his head."

"Small hematoma in the occipital region," Norah added. "Aren't humans the most idiotic species in the world?" Bailey glared at her as she squeezed the ambu bag over Mr Sullivan's face. "Right, wrong timing."

Mark, however, was slightly amused by the intern's comment. "Get him to the burn unit until he's stabilized and get a CT," he instructed the resident. "Go!"

"Right away, doctor," Bailey replied, not forgetting to send the plastic surgeon a glare.

As the resident and a nurse pushed the gurney away, Mark stole a glance at the intern, who was right about to walk off. "You want in, Dr Lawrence?" he asked.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm clipping aneurysms with Dr Shepherd," Norah stated before walking away, and the attending quirked a brow at her grin. Cristina caught up to her just as she was about to head off.

"You're on Shepherd's service?"

"Not yet, but he'll give in-I don't wanna be on plastics."

❦ ❦ ❦

LEANING OVER THE nurses' station, the interns were more interested in hospital drama and gossips than seizing surgeries from the ER as they usually do.

Derek was having a heated conversation with Webber up the mezzanine while Addison was talking to Mark down the stairs. The interns' eyes constantly shifted up and down between both conversations, trying to eavesdrop on whatever they could hear.

"This hospital is way much fun than where I was in New York," Norah muttered as Meredith dropped her head on the brunette's shoulder. "You sure it's men troubles, Mer?"

Before Meredith could reply, she had leaned over and vomited on the floor. Norah immediately grabbed her hair up for her, staring at her friend with concern.

"Holy crap-are you pregnant?" Cristina questioned a little too loudly, causing everyone to break off from their argument and stare at the troubled intern.

"Oh, this is just perfect," Addison threw her arms in the air as Derek rushed down the stairs. "An adulterous love child," she scowled.

"Goes along with an adulterous sociopath," he fired back, walking over to the intern. "Meredith-"

"Uh-uh, you've done enough already," Bailey cut him off as she led the intern away from him.

Norah walked up to Derek, who was still staring at Meredith in concern. "So... Can I have in on the aneurysm?" she asked, and he turned to her. "I'm volunteering to be your personal therapist for the day."

"...Can I say no?"

"Sure, but I'm either your intern for the day or Dr Sloan's putting me on his service."

"Okay, fine," Derek finally caved, shaking his head. "Follow me."

❦ ❦ ❦

"I WANNA SPECIALISE IN plastics."

"You're sucking up, again," Norah shrugged.

"No, I'm not," Alex defended. "Okay, maybe a little? But Sloan's an ass."

She merely chuckled at him, spinning a pen in her hand. "I'm pretty sure half of this hospital agrees with you."

He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "That dude wants me to get him a bone dry cappuccino," he grumbled. "Who the hell even drinks that crap?"

It took her a moment before she processed his words. When she did, her pen dropped, and she snapped her head to him, disregarding his dislike about the choice of drink. "A what?"

"Bone dry cappuccino. Make it double," he mocked, rolling his eyes.

Norah fell silent, racking her brain back to that one conversation she had with Derek. He mentioned that he knew someone with a similar order the day he found out that Addison had signed a contract with Webber and decided to stay in Seattle.

Was that someone Mark Sloan? She couldn't help but wonder.

"Dr Lawrence, Neuro consult," Derek called out, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. She hurried over to the attending, who slowed down his steps for her to catch up, and they headed to the burn unit of the hospital.

Upon entering the burn unit, she saw Mr Sullivan lying on the bed, his face wrapped with gauze. Mark stood with them, his eyes catching hers before flickering over to the neurosurgeon. "Oh."

Derek did a quick consult on the man on the bed, checking his pupils and nerve issues while Norah assisted. "Mr Sullivan, I'm going to recommend a night of observation in the ICU before Dr Sloan proceeds with your surgery," he informed.

"Is that really necessary, Dr Shepherd?" Mark interrupted. Derek walked over to him to discuss their patient. "The longer we wait, the higher the risk of infection," the former pointed out.

"Well, I think it's important that we attend to potential life-threatening injuries before moving on to cosmetics, Dr Sloan."

"He's not here for a face-lift, Derek," the plastic surgeon deadpanned, "He's a burn victim."

"Why did you ask for a consult if you've already established a course of action?"

"Because I thought you were good enough at your job to put aside the personal and do what's best for the patient."

"My job? You're telling me how to do my job?"

Norah let out a sigh as she watched the two attendings bickering back and forth as though they were children. She was about to interfere with their argument when Mrs Sullivan stood up from her seat.

"Please! I'm sure it's complicated. And I know Shawny's sorry for lighting that smoke... He was trying to keep his word to Dr Bailey. He told her he wasn't going to smoke when he got home. And he was... just trying to keep his word," she spoke up. "He knows he did wrong. But he's... he's a salesman, that's who he is. So could you just fix his face? Could you do that for us, please?"

Derek glowered at Mark before walking off; the latter followed suit while Norah quickened her pace to catch up with their wide strides.

"If what happened between me and Addison is so unforgivable, then how do you justify what happened with you and Meredith?" Mark questioned in a low voice.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Derek snapped back while taking a step towards the plastic surgeon; Mark did not look like he was about to back down, either. "You better shut your mouth before I give you another-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa-" Norah squeezed in between them and physically pushed them away from each other. "Take a breather, aye?" she snapped her head between the both of them, "See, Derek, I agreed to be your personal therapist, not a mother who's separating two boys from a fight."

The attendings turned their attention from each other to the intern between them, and their eyes narrowed in unison. Norah furrowed her brows as she recalled her words.

"Yeah... I just realised that sounded disrespectful-but that's not the point," she sighed. "The chief will murder the both of you if you're gonna start fighting again."

"The chief just hired me," Mark stated.

"I'm not afraid of Richard," Derek deadpanned.

"I'll get Bailey," she scowled, and he lowered his eyes to her.

Derek looked between her and Mark with a suspicious frown on his face. He was not a fan of the way the latter was looking at her. "Is something going on between you two?" he questioned out of nowhere.

Norah stared at him wide-eyed. "Me? And him?" she scoffed. "Definitely not! Why would you even-"

"Because you have a fist on my chest, and a palm on his," Derek noted.

Norah moved her gaze from the one attending to the other; Mark had his eyes fixed on the hand on his chest. "You, Derek," she snapped her head back to the Neuro attending, "have a girlfriend. Well-sort of-I don't know."

She turned her gaze to Mark. "And him?" She could feel his beating heart under her palm, but chose to ignore the quickening pace of it. She narrowed her eyes at him while dropping both her hands; he raised a brow curiously back at her. "He's a whore."

Mark blinked at her words. "Excuse you?"

"Huh..." Derek nodded with a satisfied look on his face. "Suddenly, I'm not so mad anymore." He gave her a brief smile before walking away in the opposite direction.

Mark chuckled lightly next to her. "Did you just call me a man-whore to my face, Laurie?" he lowered his head to the intern. She turned her head to him, but despite their close distance where they stood-unnoticed by them-she did not budge.

"Pity if you missed it, but I'm not repeating myself," she stated firmly. "And stop with the nickname. We're in the hospital-working."

He smirked, "So I don't get to call you by your first name?"

"Nope."

"But Derek does?"

"Addison, too."

"Even though you wrote it down on a piece of scotch-stained tissue for me?"

Norah opened her mouth before closing it again. Okay, I did do that... She stared into his eyes; those blues were almost reflecting herself on them. "Your point is, Sloan?"

A light smile grew on his face as his eyes unintentionally dropped to her lips, before he met her eyes again; whether or not she noticed, he did not know. He leaned closer to her as he whispered beside her ear, "I like the way my name rolls out your tongue."

He straightened his back again and smirked at her. "Could be the accent," he shrugged, and she rolled her eyes at him. "I'll see you around, Lawrence."

And as he walked away, Norah finally loosened her hand that clutched on the fabric inside her pocket. God, that man really is...

❦ ❦ ❦

"OH, OH! ON THE TABLE, keep me draped. Too many people have seen me naked already. I'd like to keep whatever dignity I have left," Meredith pouted. George looked horrid as he pushed her down the hallway; Norah was enjoying the moment.

Meredith noticed the attending who stood on the other side of the hall, and her head perked up. "McSteamy."

"Meredith..." George tried to stop her but failed.

"McSteamy! Woo-hoo!" Meredith called out, rubbing her nose.

Mark walked over to the intern getting pushed on a bed with an amused grin on his face. "Is that what you're calling me? McSteamy?"

"Yeah... But I don't think you're supposed to know that."

He chuckled. "How's my favourite dirty mistress?"

"Haven't you heard? Now, I'm an adulterous whore!"

George quickly pushed Meredith away from the scene out of embarrassment. Norah was about to follow him when Mark stopped her. "Lawrence, are you scrubbing in on Grey's surgery?"

"I'm not."

"Are you done clipping aneurysms with Derek, then?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Wanna scrub in?"

"Sloan, I have no interest in plastics," she reminded, cocking her head at him.

He chuckled before gesturing for her to follow him. "You've mentioned, but scrub in anyways."

❦ ❦ ❦

"THE SURGERY WENT WELL," Mark notified. "We removed the necrotic tissue, applied the live cells, and if his body responds in three to four weeks..."

"He'll have his face back?" Mrs Sullivan asked hopefully.

"Mr and Mrs Sullivan... your face may never be exactly what it was," he informed. "Even if everything goes perfectly well, there will be scarring."

"But he's a salesman," Mrs Sullivan's face dropped, "He has such a nice face."

Mark looked between the two-the despaired wife and the injured husband. Norah lifted her eyes to him. He looked conflicted at the wife's statement, and he was at a loss of words.

"There's a half a dozen car salesman in the lobby waiting to visit you, Mr Sullivan," the intern spoke up. "Your face may be different, but we all know that it's not about what you look like or how successful you are in your job. What matters most is having people in your life that truly love you for who you are. And you, Mr Sullivan, you have a brilliant wife who had never left your side. That's all that matters."

With the smiles on the Sullivans faces, Mark and Norah left the ICU to let the patient rest for the night. She stretched her arms tiredly after the long day filled with surgeries. "You good?" she asked the attending, who was staring at the patient's charts blankly.

He sighed before lifting his head to her. "You have a way with words," he spoke.

"I've been told," she shrugged, leaning against the wall.

"Wanna grab a drink?"

"You came to Seattle for Addison," she reminded. "Yet still, you'll end up in somebody else's bed."

He turned to her with a raised brow. "Is that an invitation?"

"Funny how the human mind automatically links bed with sex. It begs a wonder, don't you think?" she stared at him with a slight smirk on her face.

"You're messing with my head, Laurie."

Norah rolled her eyes at the name before walking away from the nurses' station. "I guess I do have a way with words, then."

Mark's gaze trailed along behind her until she had left his sight. The ICU was cold and quiet, but he felt oddly warm and fuzzy on the inside. Shaking his head, he placed the chart back and left in the other direction.