S3 EP25

NORAH STAGGERED TO THE hospital with her head in circles. She needed something to distract her from imploding, and she needed it quick. Mark followed closely behind her with an odd silence between them which they could not place.

"Hey," Derek called out as he caught up to them. "You two came here together?"

"No."

"Yes."

The neurosurgeon narrowed his eyes at them curiously before nodding slowly. "Okay..."

The three of them headed into the ER together, just when Bailey walked up to the attendings urgently. "They found the fourth climber," she announced. "Vitals are stabilising after fluids, but..."

"I thought he was dead," Mark questioned.

"He was, according to his friends," Derek clarified with furrowed brows. "Did the CT Show a bleed?"

"Uh, we haven't done a CT yet," Bailey informed.

"I don't understand. You said there's a head trauma."

"Yeah, there's been a little head trauma," Bailey sighed as she pushed open the door to the trauma room, and Norah got a good peek at the man inside it. "Ice axe to the head."

Indeed, the patient in the trauma room had an axe lodged at the back of his skull. Even the sight of it made them grimace.

"I'm taking Lawrence on this case," Derek informed, nudging his head to the intern to enter the room.

Mark stepped in after her, the tension between them still sky-high. Norah stared at the patient, lesser shocked but more astounded that the man was still alive.

"What the hell happened up on that mountain?"

"That's a good question."

❦ ❦ ❦

"DR LAWRENCE, FOLLOW me in here," Derek requested as he walked towards one of the patients' rooms, "I need extra eyes and ears on this one."

They entered the room, where three men were in, who all had horrible frostbites covering their skin. Norah stood at the side of the room, observing the men while Derek informed them about their friend, who had just gotten admitted into the hospital.

"They recovered Lonnie's body?" one of them questioned.

"Not his body. He's alive," Derek stated as he stood between them, "So why don't you tell me what really happened up there on the mountain?"

"We... We're halfway up this ice wall," the middle one spoke, "There's a... There's a ledge a couple of hundred feet above us. We figured we'd set up the tents, wait out the storm... Only Lonnie's insisting we go down the mountain."

"I told him, we gotta dig in, sit tight," another man continued, "He started freaking out, keeps saying down's the way to go... And then he starts climbing down. We were tied together. And just like that..."

"We're falling," the last one stated. "I swing out with my ice axe, just trying to catch a rock. And I clip Lonnie in the back of the head. Axe just... snags," he gulped, "We thought he was dead..."

"It was an accident."

Derek sent each of them a suspicious look, but nonetheless, he had to trust their statement. When the attending and intern left the room, Norah spoke up, "They're lying."

"What makes you think so?" he queried.

"Did you see how they were eyeing each other?" she frowned, "They're hiding something. Some... facts, just something. You believe what they said?"

"Not really," he sighed, "But there isn't any evidence to support that they're lying."

"Yet," Norah added curtly. "Look, my Psychology degree is valid. And I'm telling you-they are lying about something."

❦ ❦ ❦

A FLAP OF THE MAN'S scalp was open in the OR; Norah frowned at the sight of the ice axe picked into his head. She held the axe in place as Derek carefully drilled on the skull around it. After some effort, the cut was made, and the attending passed the drill back to a nurse.

"Now we pull it out?" Norah asked.

"Yes, but the axe went in as they fell. So there will be some tearing," Derek informed. "It should be a shallow wound, and it should come out easily. You ready?"

She nodded, and he took over in holding the ice axe. "Alright, everybody. Here we go. Ready?" Derek tightened his grip on the axe, "Okay, one, two... three." He pulled, but the axe remained at its position, causing soft murmurs to grow in the OR.

The intern raised a brow at the attending, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. "That's strange... One... two... three-"

The axe got pulled out from the man's head with a piece of his skull following. When the surgeons examined his brain again, they were puzzled. "That's a clean cut," Norah pointed out. "Didn't you say there was gonna be tearing?"

Derek nodded softly with a frown on his face. "I know. It doesn't make sense..."

Norah turned to look at him. "Now, do you believe me?"

❦ ❦ ❦

"AN ATTEMPTED MURDER," Norah sighed while spinning around on the chair at the nurses' station. "He's so-claimed friends put an axe to his head. Poor lad."

"The world is dark and very twisty," Meredith shook her head while she filled in some files.

The brunette came to a halt before pulling the chair closer to the desk, gaining the other intern's attention. "Remember how I left early like... just a few hours ago?" she asked, and Meredith nodded. "Sloan was waiting at my apartment door."

"Oh?" Meredith quirked a brow at her. "Isn't it kinda normal now? I mean, we sleepover at your place like you're collecting strays or something."

Norah blinked at her statement-whatever happened hours ago was definitely not 'collecting strays or something'. She pondered that she was kidding herself, but even her conscious self knew that it was not possible.

"Help me," Cristina's voice spoke from behind them as she stood behind Meredith's chair. Norah was the first to spin on her chair to her; the former's eyes widened twice their size before she burst into fits of laughter. "Norah, not funny. Not-"

Meredith turned around curiously, and her eyes widened, too. "Whoa..."

Cristina looked like she was on the verge of tears. The skin above her eyes was clear and smooth-not in a good way. "Mama took my eyebrows," her lips quivered, "She took my eyebrows... and now I am a Burke."

Norah slowly took out her phone and snapped a picture of the very horrified-looking, eyebrow-less Cristina. Upon hearing the sound of the camera clicking, the latter snapped her head at the brunette. Cristina lunged towards Norah, who was tearing up from all the laughing.

Mark stood at a distance, watching her smile and laugh; the warm and fuzzy feeling grew in his chest.

"Stop smiling," Derek snapped behind him. Mark turned to see the neurosurgeon shaking his head at him. "You'll drool when you see her in her bridesmaid dress later."

The thought of it lighted a spark in him.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH STOOD IN FRONT of a mirror in the locker room, where she was curling her hair while the interns got ready for Cristina's wedding. The brown dress looked much nicer than the soft purple one she had tried on before-also, it was much more comfortable.

"Anyone got any deodorant?" Alex asked.

"Um, you're not putting my deodorant in your hairy armpits," Cristina muttered.

"I have an extra in my locker," Norah offered, and Alex went to look for it.

"Don't move," Izzie said as she turned Cristina's face back to her. "You're gonna have a unibrow."

"I vote for Cristina with a unibrow," Norah voiced out, and Cristina glared at her. "Come on-unibrow beats browless!"

Cristina lunged an eyeliner at the brunette, who caught it and returned her with a smirk. The door squeaked open, and Patricia walked it, holding six envelopes in her hands. "Moment of truth, people."

"Those our scores?"

She handed out the envelopes as she called out, "Grey. Karev. Yang. Stevens. O'Malley. Lawrence."

"Thank you," Norah smiled at the lady as she took her envelopes while cheers already were exchanged among the other interns. She ripped open the envelope and found her score at the end of the paper-her face lit up at once. "Hell yes!"

"Did you pass?" Cristina asked.

Meredith grinned, "You bet your married booty I did."

"How'd you do?" Izzie asked George. "Did you pass?"

"Yeah... I-I'll talk to you at the church," he replied and left hastily, ignoring the questioning look on Norah's face, too. The other interns finished up and followed suit just when Derek entered the locker room.

"Looking good, Shepherd," Norah grinned, and the attending smiled back at her.

She walked after Izzie, who had Cristina's wedding dress, and they were hurrying down the hallway to the chapel. Norah did a double-take when she saw an attending walking from a different direction; Mark was in a dark suit that fitted him flawlessly.

After the slightest moment of hesitation, she decided to lift her voice-what could go wrong, right? "You look hot, Sloan," she called out.

Mark turned his head her while tightening the tie around his neck, and a smile grew on his face. "Have you seen yourself?" he chuckled as he walked up to her, eyeing her from head to toe-Derek was not wrong.

When he stood in front of her, their voices drowned away. The mix of her perfume and his cologne intoxicated their lungs. Their proximity reminded them about the situation before, causing both their heads to be clouded with thoughts once again.

He sighed, "Listen, about-"

"No, don't," she interrupted, shaking her head, "Not now, okay?"

The pair of blue eyes stared back at her, soft and sweet. "Okay," he replied before lowering his gaze to her hands. "Is that your results? How did you do?"

He watched as her face brightened up twice it already was; it seemed to have illuminated his entire day. "Aced it, duh," she smirked proudly. "Hey-not my hair-no!" she smacked his arm before he could ruffle her hair. "I'll see you later?"

The uneasy knot in his chest seemed to have loosened; the tension in the air, too, was seemingly subsided. "After?"

"After."

❦ ❦ ❦

"YOU REMEMBER YOUR vows?"

"Yeah. I wrote them on my..." Cristina's face dropped as she stared at her palm. "Oh, my god. I scrubbed in," she looked alarmingly at Meredith, "I scrubbed in, and the vows were on my hand-I scrubbed off my vows."

"Oh, okay. Um..."

"I... I scrubbed off my vows," she shrieked, "I-I can't-I can't do this. I don't have any-I don't have anything on my hand!"

"Cristina-calm down," Norah spoke urgently, "Breathe-"

"I can't calm down, sweetheart! I scrubbed off my vows!" Cristina bellowed as she started pacing anxiously. "There are no words in my head. Okay? I have no vows-no vows!"

"It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"You know what? Stop saying that! Will you say something else?" Cristina fired back, "Say something that is gonna help me." Meredith was stammering while Cristina pleaded urgently, "You know what? Say something. Say... I don't know. Say... Say what I would say to you if you were me."

"This is bad..." Norah whispered.

"It is," Izzie responded with a nod.

"Got it," Meredith took a deep breath and stood in front of Cristina's face, "Stop whining-this is your wedding day. You will go down that aisle, and you will get married. If I have to kick your ass every step of the way to get you there, you will walk down the aisle. You will get married. Do you hear me, Cristina? We need this. We need you to get your happy ending."

There was a moment of silence where Cristina took in her best friend's words, letting them sink into her mind. "Okay," she nodded with her chest up, "I'm ready."

The three bridesmaids quickly puffed up her wedding dress, making sure her hair was in all the right places, and the bouquet in her hand had the best side facing outwards. However, before Cristina could walk down the aisle, the doors to the chapel opened from the inside.

Burke walked out with an unsettled look on his face. The tension in the air said it all.

"Oh, this is bad," Norah mumbled before faking a cough and turning around awkwardly. Did I say that too loud?

❦ ❦ ❦

"THAT WAS..."

"Quick."

"Yeah."

"Mm-hmm."

With a sigh, Norah pushed her key into the keyhole and unlocked the door to her apartment. The coziness from within took her mind off the unexpected situation outside the chapel.

She put her shoes aside and immediately headed to the kitchen. Mark closed the door behind them, clicking then locking it shut.

"Who knew getting ready for a wedding could be so bloody tiring," she huffed while taking a bottle of tequila from the mini-fridge. She unscrewed the cap without a second thought, taking a swing directly from it. The burn down her throat was something she needed at that moment.

"I say it's worth it," he spoke while walking over to her, "Get to see you in that dress-hot."

"Still the non-subtle flirting, huh?" she mused, rolling her eyes at him before taking another swing.

He smiled in response, leaning against the kitchen island. "What's with the drinking?"

"I needed time to clear my head, but that didn't happen," she replied, "Then I got my distraction with the axe in the head, then Cristina's wedding-well, failed wedding." She took another mouthful, feeling the heat down her throat; Mark took the bottle from her and took a swing, too. "And now, I don't want my head cleared."

He swallowed down the liquor. "Why not?"

"Too much to think about, and clearing my head isn't the solution," she shrugged. "For once, I'm facing my problems instead of running away from them."

He lifted his eyes to her, and the tightness in his chest resurfaced. The tequila was already gone a quarter. "So... we're talking about last night," he muttered, but she did not reply.

Their eyes fixed to each other's; neither of them spoke a word-the room was silent. How long they stood there, nobody knew. The only source of measuring time was the bottle of tequila, passing back and forth between the two, with more than half already gone.

The burn of the liquor down their throat was still not heated enough to melt off the thin string binding them in one.

"God-you drive me crazy, Laurie," he finally broke the silence, shaking his head helplessly, "And I can't help it-I can't stop it. These flutters in my chest-I just... can't."

"Norah."

"What?" he raised a brow at her while she set down the tequila bottle.

"Just Norah."

A light smile tugged his lips, and the bubble in his chest only inflated more. "So, after half a bottle of tequila... we're finally on first-name basis now?"

She shrugged, turning around to face the island while she searched for the cap that got misplaced. "Remember when we last had this... conversation?"

"We were at the bar," he recalled; a memory he was fond of, the lightness in his chest that night was better than any drinks combined. "You said it builds on trust... and intimacy..."

"It still is."

He lifted his head to her, taking in the view of her from behind-the way the curls of her hair sat on her shoulder, and the way the dress looked alluring on her body...

It could be the alcohol kicking in, but he knew he could no longer help himself if the urge rose even close to his head again.

"What are you saying?" he asked carefully.

"I'm just saying, Mark, the dress I'm in slips off pretty easily."

And the urge erupted through his skull.

He snaked around from behind, planting soft kisses from her shoulder up to her neck, pulling down the zip of her dress-all at the same time. Her grip on the island surface tightened as she felt his fingertips tracing slowly down her spine; a cold breeze greeted her back.

"No strings attached?"

He allowed the three words to bounce around his mind, just for a split moment, because the desire of wanting her had erased any other thought in his mind. "Okay."

Turning her around, their body melted into one. She stared at the bright blue eyes now darkened, dilated-lust screeching from them. She did the one thing she did not get to do before, pulling him down by the collar and crashing her lips into his.

He cupped her face while he deepened the kiss; bolts of electric struck right down their cores. Lifting her onto the countertop, he stood between her knees. He then only realised that his necktie had already got tossed somewhere, and her hands fumbled with the buttons of his dress shirt.

An arm around her waist pulled her closer to him while he found the sweet spot at the side of her neck-the sound from her as though a melody to his ears.

A whole new flush of euphoria neither of them had ever experienced, yet they were utterly conquered by it.

━━━━━

No, there will not be any smut 😀