16┃apparently, they're friends

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S3 EP14

[CW: violence]

"DAMN IT-I THOUGHT YOU were a patient!" Izzie yelped. Norah, who had just stepped through the doors of the newly-opened Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic, startled a little.

"Uh... I'm good and healthy, thank you," she frowned, seeing her fellow interns inside, wandering and looking around. "Well, physically, at least. Mentally, I might be a disaster."

"Lawrence, you're late," Bailey deadpanned.

"Sorry for that, Dr Bailey, I got a flat tire... but I know I'm late-but I'm not, am I? I mean..." she gestured to the notably empty clinic, "No offense to the person who paid for this place, but where are the patients?"

"The patients will be here," the resident assured, "Soon..."

"I'm watching the door," Izzie added eagerly as her eyes continued to get glued at the doors.

Norah walked over to join Cristina and Alex, who were both getting familiarised with the flu vaccine protocol. The two interns groaned as they argued over a cardiothoracic surgery that Alex got picked to scrub in instead of Cristina. The latter stared at him in disbelieve while the former smirked smugly at her.

"I have a once in a lifetime surgery before noon," Mark crept up from behind, "If you wanna scrub in, you can get away from this place."

"Me! Dr Sloan, I want in!" Alex shot his arm in the air.

"Oh, no, no, no. He has a bloodless pulmonary valve translocation with Burke," Cristina interjected. "I want in."

Norah raised her brow at the two eager interns before turning to smirk at the attending. "Take your pick, Dr Sloan."

Mark rolled his eyes and ended up picking none of the interns while Norah laughed. She walked to the other side of the clinic and made sure that Bailey was not looking before sitting up on one of the beds.

"I don't get why you refuse to work on plastics," he stated as he stood in front of her. "Plastics is fun, it changes people's lives... and it pays very well."

"I lack the interest in it. No point choosing a path that I won't enjoy," she shrugged. "And I don't refuse to do it, just prefer not to."

The plastic surgeon narrowed his eyes at her words. "So, I could get you on my service?"

"I am a bloody intern, Sloan."

"Well, I'm gonna put you in plastics for the rest of the month," he smirked, earning a kick in the shin from the intern, who had been swinging her legs on the clinic's bed. "Ouch-"

"We got married in Vegas!" a voice shouted proudly. Norah turned around to look at George standing by the doors with Callie next to him. Everyone else, too, stopped what they were doing and examined the couple. "We're married!" George exclaimed and held Callie's hand in his.

The room was still in utter silence as everyone was processing the information thrown at them out of nowhere-they were at a loss for words.

"Congratulations, George, Callie," Norah spoke up as she went up to give both of them a hug. "That's-brilliant!"

Alex laughed, "Dude, she's Callie O'Malley."

❦ ❦ ❦

"DR SLOAN! ANY PATIENT here that I can bring to the Clinic?" Norah asked, jogging up to the attending in the ER. "The Clinic looks bloody depressing, and it's the open day."

Mark looked around before pointing towards a young woman in the corner. "There. She was coughing and puking," he stated. "Seems like a fit for the free clinic to me."

"Thanks!" she grinned and jogged off again. His gaze followed her as she hurried off to the woman, shaking his head at her excitement.

Addison eyed both of them curiously as she approached the plastic surgeon. "So, you're sleeping with interns now?" she inquired before raising her hands in defence. "Not that it's any of my business-but, her?"

"I'm not sleeping with her," Mark stated, turning to the red-haired woman, who looked genuinely surprised. "We're friends."

Addison raised a brow at him, not believing his words. "Mark, you don't have friends who don't end up in bed with you," she claimed.

Mark sent her a look. "I feel offended. But, no. She's different... We're just friends," he stated, "Strictly friends-her words." They watched the intern, who was now pushing the lady out from the ER, and to the Clinic right opposite the ambulance bay.

Addison did not quite believe a word Mark said from the way the corner of his mouth lifted while looking at the intern. "Oh my god... You're falling for her-!"

"What-no, I'm not," he snapped his head to her, crossing his arms above his chest. "I told you, Laur-Lawrence... and I-we're just friends."

The neonatal surgeon nodded slowly as the plastic surgeon walked away from her hastily.

"DR BAILEY, I'VE NICKED A patient from the ER," Norah announced as she entered the Clinic. "Coughs and vomits, complains of mild dizziness. Where do I put her?"

Bailey's eyes seemed to shine up a little, and she pointed towards one of the beds. "Right there. Bed 4."

Norah pushed the woman over and helped her onto the bed while Bailey examined her. On the other side of the bed, George had curled up into a ball, and he was shaking and sweating profusely. "Man, what happened to you?"

"I'm sick," George panted, "My body aches... and my mouth is dry."

"You want water?"

He shook his head. "It aches too much to drink."

"Alright... You can... You should go home, O'Malley," Bailey spoke up from the bed next to them. "Clearly, whatever you have is contagious."

George's head perked up a little as he saw the lady who fell onto another bed. "Aren't you from the lab?" he asked.

"Yeah, I feel like crap."

"Is that the lady you gave Marina's blood to?" George asked Olivia, and the nurse nodded. "And you all feel shaky and nauseous?"

"It's awful."

George gasped, "She's toxic."

"Callie, yeah," Olivia spoke, "A lot of us feel that way."

"It's the patient's blood that's toxic, for god's sake," Norah shot the nurse an unamused look. "It's making all of you sick."

"Has the chief started, uh, Marina's operation?"

"They were wheeling her up as I came down."

"What's the extension for OR 1?" George asked breathlessly.

"I'll run," Norah notified and immediately took off to the hospital.

❦ ❦ ❦

"HOW'S IT LIKE DOWN THERE?" Norah asked as she entered the gallery of OR 1, where Derek and Burke were suited up and were working on the patient with neurotoxic blood.

"The chief figured out the anesthesiologist didn't have time to drop an NG tube. So now they have to place one and decompress and repack her intestines and close," Meredith replied. "And they're about to run out of air."

"Nothing like a little life-threatening adrenaline rush, eh?" Norah commented, and the interns stared at her. "Or not...?"

Webber took the mic in the gallery and spoke to the attendings in the OR. "Preston, you'll need to milk the bowel to get out the excess fluid," he instructed, "Pack her and wrap her and get her stable for transport."

"How's George?" Meredith asked.

"Medically, he's fine. Emotionally, he's a little stunted if you ask me," Izzie shrugged with a light chuckle to her snarky remark. "You don't marry the rebound girl, am I right?"

"You don't marry anyone on a whim," Cristina corrected her.

"He needs our support," Meredith stated.

"He doesn't need us," Izzie claimed. "He's got his Vegas show wife."

"Who are you to judge on his love life?" Norah shook her head as she turned to the blonde, "Like, really, you?"

Izzie was about to snap back when Mark spoke up next to the group. "Chief, they're at 32 minutes. You gotta pull them out."

"How're you doing on air?" Webber asked through the speaker.

However, before the attendings could provide an answer, they passed out on the OR floor, one after another. The six surgeons in the gallery jumped out of their seats alarmingly.

"That's... something," Norah muttered to herself under her breath.

❦ ❦ ❦

"OKAY, DAMAGE CONTROL. We still have to pack her and wrap her so that she's stable for transport. We work in shifts. One doctor at a time, no one stays in for more than 20 seconds," Webber instructed and lifted his head to the attending, "Dr Sloan, do you want to go first?"

"I'm not going in there," Mark stated. The four interns, who were scrubbed in, gowned up and gloved, turned their heads to him. "It would be irresponsible for the remaining healthy attending to expose himself to the neurotoxin," he explained, "A neurotoxin whose long-term effects we're still unaware of-so, I'm staying in here."

"Coward," Norah mumbled, and the attending lowered his eyes to her. "I used to hold my breath underwater as a game," she claimed, shooting her hand up in the air, "I defeated my brother, who was a good swimmer."

"Okay, you're up, Dr Lawrence," Webber nodded. "Let's get her masked. Lawrence, you're gonna wet the lap pads and pack the cavity."

Mark strapped the thick surgical mask over her face before helping her to put on the eyewear. "Be careful," he whispered to her.

"Yeah, yeah... don't worry about me," she mumbled and picked up the lap pads by the sink.

He lifted her chin so that she was looking back at him, his movement quick yet soft; his bright blue eyes stared solemnly into her hazel ones. "20 seconds," he reminded before nudging his head towards the OR, "Go."

Norah hurried into the OR and dipped the lap pads into a bowl of saline; she could feel the coldness of the liquid over her hands. She quickly packed the lap pads into the patient's abdomen, then made sure that there were no spaces between the intestines.

Though her movement was quick and sharp, she had started to feel uptight.

She made sure that the cavity was properly packed, double-checking once more before her air went out-that was until her eyes met her hand.

Red.

Her mind felt fuzzy once again, and she was on the verge of freezing on spot. She stared at her hand that was covered with the patient's blood. It's not my blood... it's not my blood... it's not my blood...

"Lawrence, get out of there!" Mark shouted through the window, causing the intern to snap back to herself. She hurriedly ran out from the room, feeling queasy and out of breath.

"I managed to... I managed to pack the wound," Norah gasped for air as she pulled the mask off her face; Webber had already started to call out instructions to the next intern. Her eyes unintentionally wandered to the glove of her hand. Light red splatters, bright liquid; she felt si-

And then, the bloody glove on her hand got ripped off, and Mark covered the oxygen mask over her face. He did not say a word, but she knew that he was aware of her panic.

❦ ❦ ❦

ALL THE SURGEONS WHO entered the OR and had contact with the neurotoxic patient were now sitting in the ER breathing through oxygen masks. Some looked tired, and some looked fine.

Norah, however, looked blank as she stared at her shoes while breathing through the oxygen mask. The scene in the OR replayed in her head, how she could easily have collapsed if she had frozen there longer than she did.

"How are you guys?" George asked as he approached the group of interns.

"We're good," Meredith replied.

"As good as one can be after being exposed to neurotoxin," Norah added grimly.

"Okay, that's great then," George smiled, "Have any of you seen Callie?"

They shook their heads. "Probably somewhere thinking that it wasn't the best idea to elope," Izzie sniggered, and his face turned bitter.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Norah asked through the mask, "Just because your relationship had a tragic ending doesn't mean you get to destruct everyone else's."

"Okay, you know what-I am done coexisting!" Izzie bellowed and jumped off the bed. She stomped towards the brunette a few beds away; Meredith had tried to stop her, but the angry intern had merely brushed her off. "Why do you have such big of an issue with me?"

Norah looked around them, where nearly everyone in the ER was staring at them. She shook her head and sighed, "We're not doing this here."

"Oh, you bet we are," Izzie deadpanned as she yanked off her mask.

"Stevens! Lawrence!" Bailey warned, but neither of them listened.

"Alright, then," Norah sighed. "Everyone has an issue with you-it's just that no one has the guts to speak up. My personal opinion? You should've never been allowed back in this program."

"That's coming from you?" Izzie scoffed. "You froze in the OR, Lawrence-you think we didn't notice that?"

Norah's eyes snapped to her, and she saw a few nurses whispering to each other. Ah, here we go, then. She slowly took the mask off her face and stood up-directly in front of the blonde intern. "You wanna say something to me? Speak," she stated calmly, staring straight into the other's eyes.

"Is someone gonna stop them?" Addison asked through her mask.

"No, let them be. We're too tired to interfere," Derek replied. "Besides, I'd like to see how this end up..."

"You hate me. You loathe me!" Izzie spat.

"That's accurate enough."

"You-why?" the blonde demanded. "Denny died. The love of my life died. And you? I've done nothing to you-"

"I got shot because of you!" Norah interrupted piercingly.

Izzie stared at her in disbelieve. "Well, I didn't shoot you! The stupid shooter did!"

"No, no, no..." Norah shook her head, "Because of you and your pathetic love life, jeopardising the life of a patient-technically an attempted murder, mind you-which led to me getting-"

"You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Izzie defended herself. "Burke was the one who got you on that ambulance!" Both Burke and Cristina widened their eyes at her defence statement. "I did not-"

"Oh, for the love of god-you just wouldn't take the blame, would you?" Norah scoffed with a weak smile on her face as she shook her head, helpless. She took a step closer to the other woman, the pit of anger in her stomach already reaching its boiling point, but she had repeatedly forced herself to calm down.

"I'd wish that you were the one who got shot instead of me," she spoke slowly before rolling her eyes, "But you living your current pathetic life doesn't seem like too bad of an idea to me."

"Okay-that's enough now. Both of you!" Bailey interjected again as she walked over to both the interns. Norah had turned around, shaking her head while she walked away.

"And what about you?" Izzie suddenly spoke up again as she stormed towards the brunette, "Mommy abandoned you before you could even hold your bottle. Isn't that pathetic, too?"

The ER fell silent; even Bailey had stopped at her spot.

She had stepped way beyond the bloody fucking line, Norah thought as her eye twitched.

She had always been on her nerves whenever she worked with the blonde intern, but she had learned that bickering and arguing were not worth her breath. So she always chose to take a deep breath in and walk away whenever she had the urge to use her as a punching bag.

And so far, it was working.

So far.

Norah couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh at the other's words. She slowly turned to Izzie, who was standing directly behind her. She cocked her head aside as she studied the blonde's expression; no shame, no regret-she meant what she said, and that infuriated her more.

"Are you done?" she questioned in a low and careful voice.

"Yeah... I'm done."

She nodded slowly as all's eyes were still on them, a smile creeping up her lips.

"Oh, this is bad..." Derek muttered under his breath as he attempted to stand up on his feet.

"Good."

And at the next second, her fist collided with the other's jaw.

People gasped in shock. Norah scowled at the woman on the floor, who was already bleeding-from where, she did not bother. She dragged her up and smashed her up the wall. But before she could swing another blow at her, her arm was caught by another.

Norah's resentful-filled eyes met with a pair of soft ones. "Sloan, I swear to fucking god-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Mark had scooped her up and hauled her away from the other intern. He dropped her down on the nearest bed and used his body to shield her away from the nosy stares of the other people.

"Listen... As much as I like to see you beating her up, you do not want to throw away your medical career," he spoke in a lowered voice, "What she said was way over the line, but don't waste your energy on her. She isn't worth your energy, Laurie."

She attempted to get up again, but he pushed her back onto the bed. Her anger seemed to dissolve under his stare, and she finally caved. "Fine."

"Okay," Mark nodded and passed the oxygen mask back to her. "Let's get your hand checked out while they..." he looked over his shoulder to peer at the other intern, "try to save that face."

Everyone watched as the intern followed the attending into one of the rooms. "That was sick," Alex stated, amused while George nodded; Meredith was shocked, and Cristina silently thanked her for doing that.

The attendings, however, were more curious about the whole Mark-and-Norah interaction.

"How did Mark get Norah to calm down?" Derek questioned, narrowing his eyes at the pair who had just walked into one of the exam rooms.

Addison pulled down her mask. "Apparently, they're friends."

"Mark has no friends."

"That's what I said."

❦ ❦ ❦

"LUCKILY FOR YOU, YOUR hand will be fine," Callie informed as she clipped the X-ray to the light. "Congratulations, and thank you," she added the last part with a whisper.

Norah nodded as the Orthopedics resident left the room, and Bailey entered with a furious look on her face. The intern's face dropped at the sight of a very murderous-looking resident, who was glaring daggers at her.

"You just had to punch her?" Bailey asked.

"Yes, and it felt brilliant," Norah answered. "Also, I'm not apologising for it. She deserved it!"

The resident stared at her for a long while before letting out a sigh. "I didn't say she didn't," Bailey claimed, and Norah smiled. "Dr Sloan, Stevens' jaw might've gotten dislocated. Could you-"

"There are other plastics attending in this hospital, Dr Bailey," Mark cut her off while he cleaned up the light bruises on the intern's knuckles.

"She'll be alright," Norah spoke up.

"She said her jaw got dislocated."

"She thinks it's dislocated," she corrected. "Nothing is broken, but it'll hurt as though many are." The resident and attending gave her curious looks in which she shrugged in response. "What? I aim well."

Mark grimaced a little. "Remind me to never anger you."

Bailey walked over to the intern. "You are taking a day off," the former informed, "Nuh-uh-before you say anything, you have not rested since the bombing and the shooting."

"I had days off after both events," Norah argued.

"Those are for your injuries-it's different," Bailey snapped back. "You are taking the day off tomorrow. Stay at home and rest your hand, and don't do anything stupid."

"Can it be the day after tomorrow?" Norah queried before Bailey walked off. "I have, uh, someone visiting Seattle the day after tomorrow, so-"

"Take both days off."

"What-"

"End of

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