S4 EP14

NORAH WAS ON HER WAY to the nurses' station when she felt someone bumping the side of her arm. Turning her head, she got greeted with a coffee cup in front of her eyes.

"Thanks," she said to him with a smile playing on her lips. "You want a sip?" she offered when she noticed his gaze on her drink.

He cleared his throat before shaking his head. Truth be told, he was silently panicking.

"What's that?"

"Love letter," he blurted out a little too quickly, and his eyes widened; Norah glanced at him with a bewildered look on her face.

"I'm pretty sure we won't have a lobby full of staff staring at a love letter pinned on the bulletin board, Mark," she chuckled, "Missing panties, maybe. Love letter? Nah." He nodded wordlessly, lowering his head out of sudden embarrassment.

Norah stopped abruptly at her steps, causing Mark to nearly walk right into her. "Alright, what's going on with you?"

"What? Me? I-I... Uh... I-nothing."

She folded her arms, staring at him; he raised a brow curiously at her. "You're stammering. And you've been awfully quiet with a lack of dirty jokes-which is the first thing you'll say to me every morning, along with coffee."

Her fingers tapped against her cup of coffee; he was eyeing the piece of paper tucked under the coffee sleeve, silently cursing at himself for not placing it in a more easily noticed position.

She furrowed her brows at the conflicted look on his face, not knowing what was on his mind. Taking a step closer to him, she heard his breath hitching, which only made her more confused. "What's going on, Mark?" she asked, her voice softer this time.

"Nothing," he managed out with a small smile on his face, but it was not convincing her at all. "It's nothing, no... well, not really..." he let out a nervous chuckle, his hand rubbing along his jaw.

When she reached for his wrist to stop him, his eyes met hers; his body relaxed almost immediately, not knowing that it had been tense in the first place. "You sure?" she asked again, and he responded with a shrug.

She was still holding his hand, as though a string was tying around both their hands and not allowing them to let go. The way his gaze repeatedly dropped to the floor made her puzzled-and concerned.

Something was off, but she was not sure what.

When his pager called for him, his hand did not leave hers, but she continued eyeing him worriedly.

The attending cleared his throat as he was about to excuse himself, but as he lifted his head, he got taken aback when she reached up to press a kiss on his cheek-something she had never done before, yet it felt too natural for her doing it.

Mark stared back at her wordlessly; Norah seemed stunned at her own doing, too. "I'll, uh... see you," she spoke after the longest second ever. "Thanks for the coffee... again."

"N-No problem," he mumbled back to her; the dumbfounded grin on his face made her smile. When she hurried off to join the other residents, he let out a shaky breath and a low curse, running a hand through his hair. "Oh, fuck..."

She was driving his mind in circles, and he had no intention of escaping the dizziness she brought.

The quickening of the pulse on his wrist when she did that left her with a dazed wonder.

❦

NORAH GULPED DOWN THE cappuccino as she approached Meredith, Izzie, George and Lexie standing in front of the bulletin board. They were eyeing the newly-put up newspaper clip: Burke had won the Harper Avery Award.

"Has Cristina seen it?" Meredith questioned, but neither of them could answer.

"We should take it down," Izzie suggested.

"Brilliant idea, but you can't take it down," Norah disagreed.

"Take it down. Take it down," Izzie nudged George, "She never has to know."

"She's gonna hear about it," Meredith claimed.

"Who's gonna hear about what?" Cristina suddenly asked, causing the residents to startle. She approached them from behind curiously, and Izzie quickly jumped in front of the bulletin board, covering the article with her head and hand.

Cristina raised a brow at the blonde before walking over. "Izzie. Move your hand," she requested, "Oh, come on. Move it." As she pushed Izzie away from the bulletin board, her face seemingly dropped upon reading the article; the rest of them were studying her carefully.

"Good for him," her words rolled out bitterly before she walked away.

"Yeah..." Norah grimaced, "Maybe we should take it down."

❦ ❦ ❦

"WHAT'S THAT?" NORAH queried as she sat down beside a napping Alex in the cafeteria. She gestured to the paper under his arms, where he was about to drool on.

Alex stirred up from his sleep. "Some freaking 'Date and Tell' crap," he replied sourly, catching an intern from the corner of his eyes. "Oh, here perv boy comes."

"I need your form," George told Alex, who ran a hand through his face. "The chief needs to know who you've slept with by the end of the day. Be thorough," he recited and handed Norah a form containing little boxes of basic information to fill out. "Lexie, I need you to fill out a form."

The confused intern took the piece of paper from George. "What's this?" she asked.

"The sex police," Alex deadpanned.

"Meredith, I'm gonna need your form," George called out to the resident, who had just walked over.

"Don't ask, don't tell, George," Meredith stated, "Forms are stupid."

"Yeah, I'm still gonna need it, though," he replied before turning to the people at the table, "Pen?"

"Isn't this like... an invasion of privacy?" Norah questioned as she took a pen out from her pocket. "Who's business even is this?"

"It's the chief's business, so it's my business," George replied. "I'm the chief's intern."

Norah glanced at him, who stood awkwardly in front of her. "George, that's not even a real thing."

He shrugged while patiently waiting for them to fill up their forms. "Where's Cristina?" he queried. "I need her form, too."

"Uh, you... you don't want to go near Cristina right now," Lexie warned as she lifted her head from her form. Norah turned to look at her.

"Why? Is she crying?" Meredith questioned.

"No."

"Is she staring straight ahead being super-scary quiet?"

"No..."

"Is she starting a cult for illegal transplants?" Norah asked, clicking her pen.

"She's singing."

They shared an alarming look at each other; Meredith and Norah got up and went to look for Cristina.

"I still need your form!" George called out.

Norah shoved her form into his hand hastily before leaving. He narrowed his eyes at the one single name on the sheet of paper-Mark Sloan? He blinked and quickly slid the form in between the stack in his hand.

❦

THE TWO RESIDENTS FOUND their friend in the morgue-Cristina was, quite literally-singing. Meredith and Norah shared a concerning look at their friend before walking in.

"You're so fine...
And you're mine..."

"Stop singing," Meredith interrupted, but Cristina merely ignored her.

"Make me strong, yeah, you make me bold..."

"You're gonna win your own Harper Avery award."

"Oh your love thawed out...

"Burke wouldn't have a career if it hadn't been for you," Meredith tried again, "You saved him when he had his tremor. The Harper Avery board may not know it, but he does."

"What was scared and cold..."

"I'm up for illegal transplants if you want," Norah suggested. Cristina lifted her head to her for a moment, pondering on her offer-before deciding against it and lowering her head back to the cadaver body.

"Like a virgin, hey...
Touched for the very first time..."

"I'm in therapy," Meredith spoke up, and both Cristina and Norah shot their heads to her. "'Cause he's with Rose. I'm... I'm way more screwed up than you are."

Cristina lifted her head to Meredith. "Thank you," she said, "That makes me feel a little better."

"You're welcome."

"I think I'm falling for Mark," Norah confessed, not knowing what gave her the courage to do so. No matter how hard she tried to maintain their 'no string attached' friendship, a part of her knew it was not possible.

"Oh."
"Eh."

The brunette stared at the two other residents with her brows knitted closely. "That's not the reaction I anticipated..."

Meredith snorted before asking, "Are you together?"

"Uh, no...?"

"Then we don't need to congratulate you yet," she shrugged.

"Wait, wh-"

"Oh, come on," Cristina groaned, rolling her eyes. "He brings you coffee every morning, waits for you before heading out every night..."

"And the shameless flirting," Meredith added, "Getting touchy at Joe's..."

"Oh, and the blankets in the office rooms when you fall asleep," Cristina recalled, "Doesn't take a fool to notice."

"Honestly, Norah, I'm more surprised that you two are not together already," Meredith concluded with a casual shrug.

For the first time in a very long time, Norah Lawrence was speechless.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH WAS LOOKING FOR her interns, who seemed to have been missing for most of the day. They were not in the ER, not at the cafeteria; the resident was more than confused and decided to page them. Nina and Jace came to her after a short while; Kirian was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where had you lot been?" Norah asked.

"We've got assigned on scut... and... and tons of pre- and post-ops labs," Nina replied while panting, "Sorry... I just ran here from the other side of the hospital. There were many, many charts and lab work... but we... we got it sorted out."

Norah narrowed her eyes at them. "Who assigned you those?" she questioned.

"Dr Sloan..." Jace answered.

The resident snapped her head to the intern before rolling her eyes with a huff. "And where is Rook?"

"...dry cleaning."

The resident shook her head and turned back to her interns. "Go take a long break and recharge yourselves, and page Rook back here," she told them, "Remind him that he's an intern, not a servant."

After the interns nodded and quickly scurried off, Norah went to look for the attending. She stalked down the hallways and finally found him sitting alone in a chilly room. Mark had his back facing the doorframe, and he was fiddling with a paperclip and rubber band in his hands.

"Why are you abusing my interns?" she demanded, and he turned the chair to face her.

Mark pouted, "All my surgeries got cancelled today, Laurie."

Norah raised a brow at him as he stared back at her. She watched as his eyes scanned her from bottom to top, those bright blue eyes looking gloomy and spiritless. Screw those puppy-dog eyes.

"Stop staring at me like that," she snapped at him, and he sighed even heavier. As much as the plastic surgeon made her feel butterflies every time she looked at him, anyone 'bullying' her interns made a pit of fire ignite in her stomach.

"You, uh... You're great with the nurses, right? Can you talk to them...?" he asked sheepishly, "I need someone to, uh, tell them to call off the boycott..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wow. You slept with that many nurses that they're now boycotting you?" she scoffed lightly, not even bothering to ask whether the 'Date and Tell' form was a thing because of him.

For some reason, she felt her heart sinking to her stomach and burning along with the fury within it.

"Have you, um... finished the coffee from this morning?" he lifted his head to her just as she was about to walk off.

She stared at him for a moment and furrowed her brows. "I drink like three cups a day-what do you think?"

"Oh," he managed out and nodded, staring back at the paperclips in his hands. "Okay..."

It stung more than he thought it would.

❦ ❦ ❦

BAILEY STOOD IN THE middle of the lobby with Mark next to her. The resident had decided to help him out with his situation; now, a group of nurses assembled in the hospital's lobby.

"This boycott has gone on long enough," Bailey spoke up, "Now, I have no authority here, but I would like to offer my thoughts on Dr Sloan."

"You're doing great," Mark whispered to her, but she brushed him off.

"This man is a whore. Has always been a whore, will probably always be a whore," she announced, and Mark was taken aback. "But, I mean, that's not a secret. He's not keeping it hidden. You all knew who he was before you got involved with him. And now you want to be all 'Woe is me, he doesn't call me back, he's dating other women.' He's nasty, but he's a doctor here... and a pretty good one."

Mark looked beyond disturbed.

"So let us all close our knees, and get back to our jobs, so he can get back to his job and help the people that really need it," Bailey turned to the attending, who took a step forward to speak.

"I know that the last nurse I... slept with was like two months ago, or three... But it's uh... It's not gonna happen again. I'm sure about it," he assured, his gaze not meeting anyone.

"You sure 'bout that?" Bailey cocked a brow at him.

"I don't want to lose what I could have..."

She nodded gladly, turning to the nurses once again. "Disperse!"

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH WALKED ALONGSIDE Timothy as they stepped out of the elevator; the latter was yawning and wiping the tears off his eyes while the former remained silent, her mind pondering upon many issues.

"The 'Date and Tell' form was ridiculous, don't you think?" Timothy queried, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Hm."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's going on?"

She chuckled drily and sighed. "Funny how I asked someone the same question this morning."

Timothy quirked a brow at her bitter tone that sounded like her next words were going to pierce through someone's chest like a sword. "Two o'clock," he whispered and walked ahead.

Norah turned her head to her right, where Mark was walking in her direction. His gaze was still trailing along the floor, but a smile surfaced as he approached her.

"I'm really tired," she muttered and continued walking forward, "I need to go home and sleep."

"Oh... Okay, then," the plastic surgeon nodded quietly behind her as they made their way out of the hospital. They stepped into the parking lot, not a single word passed between them. He hated it, but she loathed it more.

"Mark," she called out just as he was about to walk towards his car; he halted on his steps and turned to her. He just stared at her as she gathered her words. "I want to."

"What...?" he narrowed his eyes at her, and she tucked her hand into the pocket of her jacket. She pulled out the piece of folded paper, lifting it up so he could see. Instead of grinning, he frowned. "Why do you not sound too happy about it...?"

It was her turn to avoid his gaze now as she stared at the tar road. "Bailey had an interesting speech, you see... That many nurses in like, what-eight months? I'm not sure commitment is your thing, you know?" she muttered, and his chest sank. "So, perhaps wanted is the right word..."

He stood frozen at his spot. Everything was going right; he got her answer, but not at the same time.

"Bailey's speech..." he spoke, his throat dry. "How much of it did you listen to?"

"More than enough, I'll say."

He narrowed his eyes as he started walking towards her. "Did you... Did you stay till the end?"

She shook her head with a light scoff. "Why would I want to?"

Yeah-why would she want to?

He stood just a foot away from her, desperately wanting to lift her chin to him. When he tried reaching for her arm, she tugged away instantly. That simple action stabbed him right in the chest.

"I meant what I wrote," he stated, referring to the paper held in her hand.

She had the faintest smile on her face as she sighed, "I know."

She didn't deny it. Addison's words echoed in his head, but his hopes were slowly starting to shatter.

"But...?"

She shook her head. "There is no 'but'."

He took a big step to her, his hands reaching to the sides of her neck. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage like it was screeching to get out. With the closeness of their bodies, it was like no gap existed between them.

The way she was looking back at him was alluring, addicting, compelling. "I am gonna kiss you right now," he whispered, "And you can decide whether it'll be the last time I'll be doing so, okay?"

Before she could reply, his lips had met hers without a second thought; she felt like exploding-imploding, from all the suppressed feelings. She knew she had a choice to make; it was one choice, one decision that would settle all.

It was the way she melted in his touch that made her insane-

Yet she pulled back, her face slowly distancing from his. He stared at her, still panting softly.

When Norah slowly stepped backwards towards her car, Mark let out a shaky exhale. "I can't do 'just friends' if this doesn't work," he voiced out, "Be-Because it hurts so much to be... I-It really... Do you have any idea how bad it stings?"

She had a small smile on her face as she nodded. "Yeah... I have an idea or two," she replied, lifting her head back to him. "Goodnight, Sloan."

He'd rather have thousands of arrows through his heart.