S2 EP16&17

[CW: bomb *kabooom*]

"YOU GUYS ARE LATE," Norah stated as Cristina, George and Izzie walked out and met her and Alex at the ambulance bay. "You're never late," she pointed out.

"I had to, quite literally, kick Meredith out of her bed," Cristina replied with a huff, and George nodded.

"She had a feeling," added Izzie as she tied up her hair.

Norah and Alex had confused looks on their faces when the woman in question walked out of the ER doors. "Mer had a feeling that she might die," Cristina explained.

"Today," Meredith added grimly.

"Well, everyone dies, eventually. We're just... living our lives, counting down till the day we drop," Norah shrugged while tying the knot on her yellow gown. "What makes it brilliant, though, is that we're clueless of the length of our countdown... Kind of like flipping an hourglass, but someone could easily smash the hourglass and let all the sand out. And boom-you're lying in a box, six feet under."

The interns stared at her with a concerned look on their faces; even Meredith frowned. "What got you so dark and twisty today?" she asked, but Norah merely shrugged.

A prick of chills ran down her spine-one that she brushed off hastily.

"You have a feeling," the brunette stated, "Just try not to do anything stupid."

"We haven't had a decent resident this week," Cristina groaned, changing the subject.

"Oh, the last two weren't that bad."

"Doesn't matter which resident we get. They suck."

"They all sucked."

"Which surgeon are we having to suck up to today?" Cristina wondered, just as the ER doors opened again.

"That would be me." The six interns turned around, startled to see a very pregnant Bailey standing behind them with an unamused look on her face.

"I've been gone two weeks. Two weeks, and you ran off two residents?" she bellowed. The interns looked at each other, nobody speaking a word. "I've got people phoning me at home, screaming, telling me my interns are Rosemary's Babies."

The six of them looked slightly offended by that statement. "Nobody wants you. Do you think I have time for this?" Bailey continued, "I am pregnant. I'm supposed to be on bed rest. I'm supposed to be growing a human being. I'm supposed to be calm. Do I look calm to you? Did I raise you fools to be pariahs?"

Next to Norah, George pushed past Meredith and Izzie and walked straight up to Bailey. The pregnant resident stared at him, confused. Suddenly, he grabbed her into a tight hug. "You're back!"

"I'm not back."

"You're not?" George asked, tightening the hug.

"Get off me!"

He finally broke the hug and smiled at the other interns; Norah gave him a fist bump. They could hear the sound of sirens growing louder, which meant that an ambulance was approaching.

"Lawrence, Yang, Karev, Grey, stay here and wait for the incoming case," Bailey ordered, "O'Malley, page Addison Shepherd. Stevens, get a wheelchair."

Norah, Cristina, Alex and Meredith immediately moved to the incoming ambulance that pulled up at the bay. They opened the back of the vehicle's doors, only to be greeted by a lady screaming very powerfully, whose clothes and face was covered with blood spatters. A paramedic helped the lady down the ambulance, and Meredith took her into the hospital in hopes to calm down.

The three remaining interns locked eyes with another paramedic, Hannah, a young brunette whose eyes were wide and staring back at them nervously.

"Woah," Norah gasped as she saw Hannah's hand inside a large chest wound of the patient. Cristina and Alex were fighting for the case with each other before she could even react. "This day is getting... dark and twisty."

❦ ❦ ❦

THE LADY SAT IN THE ER and had not yet stopped screaming her head off. Alex and Izzie stood in front of the lady; the latter covered her ears with her palm. Norah was leaning against the wall, away from the screams, more than impressed that the woman's lungs had not given out.

"She's been going at least fifteen, twenty minutes," Alex noted unamusingly. "This must be like some kind of record."

"Look at her," said Izzie, "She's not even turning red."

"Good for her," Cristina interjected as she walked up to them. "Burke says shut her up."

Olivia hurried in and walked towards the interns. "We've got an incoming trauma. MVC with a thirty-minute extrication time and severe and intrusion damage to the car," she informed. Norah's head perked up, and she immediately pushed herself off the wall. "Definite head injury. Stable vitals and everything else-five minutes out!"

"Dibs!" Norah shouted as she rushed out of the ER, already snapping on a pair of gloves.

❦ ❦ ❦

"SOMEBODY PAGE NEURO-Shepherd, stat!" Norah instructed, and a nurse nodded. "Thank you."

The man lay on a gurney in the middle of a trauma room; he had obvious injuries from his accident. Norah was checking on him, along with Izzie, Cristina and some other nurses in the room.

"Is my wife here?" the man asked, his voice shaky, "Is she here?"

"Was she in your car with you?" Norah queried.

"She should be here. She's supposed to be here..."

"We'll find her, Mr Jones..." Izzie assured.

The door pushed open behind them, and Derek entered the room while putting on gloves. "Okay, what do we got? Lawrence?"

"Tucker Jones, age 35. He's got a chest contusion and head CT shows a left side depressed skull fracture and a temporal epidural hematoma," Norah informed, "GCS 14 in the field, now down to 12. His motor exams are intact."

"Okay, let's get him on a gram of Dilantin and 70 grams of mannitol," Derek instructed before turning to Tucker. "Mr Jones, I'm gonna need to do an examination of you, okay?"

A phone started ringing in the room, where Tucker recognised it as his. "My phone... It's my wife," he croaked, "You need to answer it."

"Okay, we're going to answer it," Derek reassured him. "Dr Stevens, answer his phone."

The blonde intern was mumbling under her breath as she made her way towards the bag of Tucker's items in the corner of the room.

"Mr Jones, can you squeeze my fingers for me, please?" the neurosurgeon asked, but he did not get a response from the patient. "Mr Jones? Hey, I need you to squeeze my fingers."

Suddenly, the heart monitor started beeping rapidly, and Tucker started seizing. "He's seizing," Norah noted, turning the patient on his side.

"Alright. Let's get him to the OR," Derek instructed, and the intern immediately prepared their patient for transport.

❦ ❦ ❦

"IT'S BEEN A YEAR," Derek muttered below his mask.

Norah, who stood next to him, cocked a brow at him briefly before concentrating on their patient again. "You're gonna strike a casual chat with Dr Bailey's husband's head open right in front of you?"

Derek glanced at her. "Bad idea?"

"Very."

The OR had an extra layer of tension, and it was quieter than other surgeries as everyone inside knew the identity of the man on the table. Cristina and Izzie stood at a distance from the table, observing since they failed to snatch the surgery from Norah.

"It's been a year," Derek repeated, but Norah still did not answer. "You know what I'm saying?"

"I know what you're saying, yes," she replied.

"A year ago, you dropped out from your internship program in New York. I never got to know why..."

"You dropped out?" Izzie interjected; both she and Cristina were staring at Norah with frowns on their faces. The brunette was biting her inner cheeks under her mask. Derek looked between the interns curiously. "You told us you failed your intern exam. That's why you decided to transfer here."

Ah, crap.

"Is that what you told them?" Derek queried, receiving a clamp from the nurse. "You left without giving notice."

"I left... a notice. I did," Norah defended herself.

"Dropping by and quitting within the same day is not giving notice, Lawrence."

Norah shook her head. "Well, how well do you know me, Shepherd?" Derek looked at her. "You may know me very well professionally, but... personally? Not quite. And," she looked at the two other interns, "I have my reasons... But do know that I never wanted to drop out and that I'm actually glad to be here, in Seattle."

"Is that why you were so dark and twisty just now, sweetheart?" Cristina asked, and Norah just rolled her eyes.

However, before Norah could answer, several pagers rang in the OR. Derek instructed Cristina to check them, and the intern hastily moved to the side of the room. Norah noticed a puzzled look from her friend as she placed down the pager, heading for the phone on the wall.

"How's he doing?" Izzie asked.

"Oh, it's touch and go," Derek replied. "I've located the clot. I'm just trying to find the source of the bleeding," he lifted his head to the intern, "Go and find Addison. Tell her that he's in worse shape than I thought."

Cristina walked over to the operating table; the unsure look on her face made Norah frown.

"What'd they want?" Derek asked.

"They want us to evacuate," the intern answered, receiving puzzling and questioning looks from everyone else in the OR.

"Evacuate?" Derek asked, "Did they say why?"

"Uh, no," Cristina replied in an uncertain tone. "But your pager said 'Code Black'?"

Derek looked up from Tucker's brain, startled; Norah's eyes widened. Code Black. She knew what that was-bomb threat. An uneasy feeling lingered in her heart as the whispers in the OR grew.

"You're sure they said that?" the neurosurgeon asked, and Cristina nodded yes.

He lowered his head back to the patient in front of him with a clear crease on his forehead. "Could be a drill. Even if it's not a drill, I can't evacuate. I've got an open brain on the table," Norah heard Derek mumbling to himself.

"Are you... panicking?" she whispered, but the attending did not answer.

"I'm not leaving Bailey's husband on the table with his skull flap open," Derek raised his voice, "So if anybody wants to go, they should go. Anybody wants to evacuate?" Everybody remained at their places without moving. "Going once, going twice, three times."

A few nurses shook their heads, and he turned to Cristina again. "You're sure they said 'Code Black'?"

"Yes," Cristina re-confirmed with a firm nod.

Derek nodded and turned to the intern next to him. "Are you good here?" he queried.

"Never better," Norah breathed, cracking her neck from side to side. This day just got a whole lot more interesting.

❦ ❦ ❦

CRISTINA AND IZZIE had left the OR. Meanwhile, Derek spent another hour operating on Tucker's brain with the help of Norah and another nurse before they were interrupted by the OR door getting pushed open again.

A man in black clothing stood there, and at that moment, one thing that came across Norah's mind was: he's good-looking. She shook the thought off her head as soon as it popped up.

Pull it together, Norah. It's just a bomb.

"Dr Shepherd, there's an explosive device in the OR next door," the man spoke. "I need you to evacuate now."

"Yeah, and I've got a guy whose brain is exposed on this table. I'm not going to walk away and leave him to die," Derek retorted before he lifted his head to the OR team. "The rest of you can go."

The majority of the OR team left, leaving Derek, Norah, and two nurses. The man at the door looked unpleased, but the attending did not bother.

"You close him up. You do whatever you have to do," the man instructed. "The Chief of Surgery has authorised me to tell you: you cannot stay here."

"The Chief of Surgery doesn't scare me. Dr Bailey scares me," Derek replied directly. "I'm not going to be the one to let her husband die. And that's what would happen if I put his skull flap on in this condition. Bomb or no bomb," he peered at the man, "Now get out of my OR."

The man exhaled heavily before closing the door and going away. "Harsh," Norah spoke up. "He's just doing his job."

"Lawrence, you should evacuate," Derek advised.

"Uh... no, I'm not?"

"Yes, you are. Code Black is a-"

"Bomb threat. I'm aware," Norah interrupted. "But all due respect, Dr Shepherd, you don't have three hands, do you?"

Derek thought for a moment before giving in. "Okay, fine," he sighed. The OR was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, "And you know what? If we make it out alive, we should be on first-name basis."

Norah snorted, finding his suddenness rather amusing. "You make it sound like the bomb is the worst thing that could happen to us."

"You don't think so?"

The intern shook her head. "Dr Bailey will decapitate us if you don't save her husband," she replied. Bokhee, who was still in the OR, nodded in agreement. "Just imagine... a very hormonal Bailey... chasing us with an axe..."

"Okay, yeah... you're right. That's worse," Derek took a deep breath. "Alright then, let's save a life."

❦ ❦ ❦

THE OR WAS QUIET. Silent, almost.

As the time passed, the surgeons and nurses in the room grew more and more anxious. The knowledge of an unsteady bomb not far away from them was not doing any of them any good either.

"He's got a second bleed under the skull base..." Derek spoke to himself, repeating his words for the third time in that hour. "If I do what the textbooks say, he could lose the power of speech, herniate through the first craniotomy and die. And, if I do what I wanna do-"

"-it's the same outcome," Norah interjected. "Sorry."

"I've been repeating myself, haven't I?" he queried, just as the doors of the OR swung open. Norah glanced curiously at Cristina when the latter entered the room, putting her mask over her head. "How's it going out there, Yang?" Derek asked.

"Everything's fine," Cristina replied. However, Norah seemed to notice something off with the way she spoke.

"How's the girl with the bomb?"

"How's he doing?" Cristina changed the subject hurriedly, as though it was a taboo to speak about.

Something is definitely wrong, Norah thought to herself.

"He's almost there. I need suction. Irrigate," Derek requested, and Norah immediately did as told. "That's great," he turned to Cristina once again, "You didn't answer my question, Yang."

"Sir?"

"How is the girl with the bomb?"

Norah looked at Cristina, who stared back at her, her face uncertain-conflicted. "You're dodgy," the former spoke, gaining the attention of the other intern. "That's not good."

In a split moment, her words from the morning came back to her: You have a feeling. Just try not to do anything stupid. Norah froze to her spot, staring blankly at Cristina. "Please tell me it's not..."

"It's Meredith," Cristina finally blurted out. Norah shut her eyes momentarily to catch her breath while Derek turned his head to the intern, startled. "The girl with the bomb is Meredith."

Goosebumps rose up the back of Norah's neck as she took in the information. How long had Cristina known? She wondered how long they had been hidden in the dark.

And all of a sudden, the heart monitor connected to Tucker flatlined.

"Damn it. We're losing him-push one of epi!" Derek ordered.

Cristina rushed over to give them an extra hand, checking on Tucker's pulse from his wrist. "Thready pulse," she notified.

"Epi in!"

The monitor continued to flatline for a few seconds before Derek jumped into action again. "Nothing. Okay, get me a wet lap," he requested. "We're gonna roll him on 3. Okay, let me know when everyone's ready." Everyone immediately started positioning the patient to flip him. "Let's go. We gotta go. Come on! Let's go!"

The patient got rolled over, but his condition was still not improving. Norah was performing manual CPR on him, her own heart rate spiking sky-high under the intensity. "Wide complex bradycardia," she informed when she saw the display on the monitor changing.

"Push one more of epi and one more of atropine," Derek ordered. "Come on, come on, come one. You can't do this, Tucker. You cannot quit on me, Tucker. Come on-don't quit!"

As Tucker's condition did not show improvement, the nurses were starting to lose hope in the situation. Cristina stood over the man, Derek was panicking, and Norah was still performing CPR without missing a beat. The adrenaline was getting into her-she could almost literally feel her pupils and blood vessels dilating.

"Punch him. Now."

Norah glanced up at Derek, whose face drained out of colour. She wasted no time-stopping her CPR-listening to the monitor flatline-raised her fist high in the air-striking it right on the left side of his chest-the monitor started beeping!

Everyone exhaled in relief as Derek jumped back to work on Tucker's brain instantly; Norah grunted while shaking her sore hand.

"The girl with the bomb is Meredith..." Derek mumbled; Norah and Cristina looked at each other alarmingly.

"Shepherd?" Norah knew they had no time to lose. "Dr Shepherd."

"The girl with the bomb..."

"Derek!" she bellowed. The attending looked at her, his eyes flooded with concern and distress. "Save the life you know you can save," she spoke. "Everyone will be just fine. Nobody is dying today."

He nodded slowly. "Nobody is dying today..." he repeated her words, "Okay... okay... Suction, please."

❦ ❦ ❦

"HE'S STABLE. GOOD JOB, Dr Shepherd."

Everyone in the room let out a relieved sigh. Tucker was not dying today. Bailey will not be killing anyone today. A family of three shall be born. Cristina had gone out to update Webber about their situation, but Norah wondered if she would be with Meredith.

Hell, nobody seemed to know anything.

"You should get out of here," Derek told Norah. "I only need to close up. I can do it alone."

"Why're you so eager to shoo me off?" she queried.

"Because there's a bomb next to this OR?" he furrowed his brows, sending her a look as though he was stating the obvious. "Hold on, you're not... scared to go out, are you?"

Norah chuckled. "Nice try, but reverse psychology doesn't work on me."

"Norah," his voice was much serious this time, "Just go. We'll be fine. Nobody is dying today, right?"

"Alright, alright." The intern placed the tools in her hands aside and walked towards the OR door. She ripped the gloves off her hands before tossing them into the bin beside her. When she held onto the door handle, there was a lingering hesitation deep within her. "If the bomb goes off and I die, I'm haunting you till your death."

Derek merely rolled his eyes back at the intern. "You have my permission. Go."

Norah swung open the door and almost startled back. The 'handsome bomb squad guy' from earlier was cautiously walking past their OR with the explosive securely sitting on his hands. He looked at Norah with sweat covering his face; the latter anxiously closed the OR door behind her.

"Am I, uh... allowed to move, Mr um... bomb squad guy?" she asked as chills ran up her neck.

"Move along the walls. Slowly," he warned, his voice hoarse. "And it's Dylan, by the way."

"Got it-Dylan-thanks. Um, I'm Norah." She carefully strode sideways, moving along the walls as instructed; neither of them dared speak another word.

Norah had just made it to the other occupied OR at the end of the corridor when the door opened. "Oh, hey, Mer, are you alright? You heading down now?" she asked. Meredith stood outside the OR, her face pale and her mind... seemingly blank.

"Yeah... I'll be right there," Meredith replied, still standing at her spot, staring at Dylan's back. "I had a feeling."

Norah chuckled at her friend and resumed walking down the corridor. "Yeah, I bet you're psyche or someth-"

She felt a strong amount of heat on her back, and the corridor had suddenly gone bright-too bright. One second she was walking away from the ORs; the next second, she was being blown off her feet-off the floor, and her back collided against a hard surface-she could not tell what.

Glass shards flew in all directions in the air, and she had barely been able to shield her head and face from the flying pieces. The smell of smoke filled her nose as she got up shakily, her ears still ringing, and she was blinking away the soot in her eyes.

The corridor that had been silent just one minute ago had now blown. Pieces of walls, as well as loose chunks of concrete, were scattered all across the floor as the grey fumes rose to the air; the windows were all blown off, its blinders halfway detached from the window frame.

And Dylan was... gone.

"Meredith..." she called out, striding towards the woman lying on the floor. She crouched down and shook the person on the floor before wincing in pain. Okay, something definitely felt broken there. Wonderful.

❦

ALL THAT HAPPENED AFTER she felt the piercing pain in her shoulder was a blur. How she and Meredith managed to get out of that corridor was not registered in her head.

Norah's conscious mind only seemed to register her surroundings when cold water splashed on her face. She gasped for air, startling George, who was holding her steady.

"Oh... Sorry to startle you," Norah said as she lifted her head from the sink.

"You... You're back," George exhaled in relief. She furrowed her brows at him, not understanding his words. "You were, well, snapped out of yourself for a moment?"

"Dude, your soul was gone," Alex stated instead.

"Oh." Norah cupped her hands under the running water but was stopped by George before she got to splash it on herself.

"Your face is uh..." He scratched his head awkwardly before gesturing to the mirror.

She leaned closer to the mirror in front of her, tilting her head as her eyebrows furrowed. "Who the fuck decided to use glue instead of sutures?!" she shrieked, staring at her reflection in horror.

"It was... Well, you see, it was either me or Alex," George admitted. "And the cut isn't that deep, so we didn't decide on suturing..."

"O'Malley did it," Alex shrugged, crunching on his bag of chips.

Norah let out a grumble. The freshly closed cut on her left jaw was soon going to drive her nuts. "Fine, fine. Thanks, George, thank you."

George was not entirely sure whether her tone was laced with sarcasm or that she was genuinely thanking him. "Um... Bailey gave birth to a healthy boy. And I helped her birth her son," he announced proudly, changing the subject instead.

"Ooh, wow-cheers to Bailey! And you, too!" Norah was about to give George a high-five before she winced at the pain from her shoulder.

"A-Are you okay?"

"Might've dislocated my shoulder..."

George was quick to pull out his pager. "Should I page Ortho?"

"Yes, please."

Alex snorted as he tossed the empty chips wrapper into the bin. "Sucks to be you."

Norah shot him a hard glare, not before wincing again when she moved her arm. Alex broke into a laugh, and George, too, was holding in a chuckle. "Karev-I'll skin you alive."

❦ ❦ ❦

"ON THE COUNT OF THREE. One... two..."

Norah yelped in pain as she heard her bone crack back into its proper position. "Oh, god, Torres. T-That bloody hurt!" she groaned after spitting out the cloth that she was biting on.

"It hurts less when you don't see it coming," the Orthopedics resident stated.

"Yeah, but it doesn't work that way when I already knew that trick..." Norah moved her shoulder, "Ow..."

Callie grinned. "Well, screams are music to my ears," she said, putting the arm sling on the intern.

Norah stared at her for a moment, her mind thinking... "Were you hitting on me?"

Callie's head snapped back to her, her mouth hung open, and her hands froze. "I'm-not... I-no," she denied, shaking her head. "D-Did it sound like I was... hitting on you?" she asked in a softer voice.

"Maybe?" Norah thought. "Maybe it's just my adrenaline messing with me. I mean, I almost died. That's something. I don't know." She adjusted the strap on the sling and hopped down the bed. "Thanks again, Torres."

"You're welcome," Callie smiled. "Hey, um-" Norah turned back to her, standing in front of the door. "Drinks at Joe's?"

"Platonically? Or do you expect something afterwards?"

"Lawrence, I relocated your shoulder less than five minutes ago."

"Yeah... kind of a turn-off, huh?" Norah chuckled. "I'll be there in an hour."

"Uh, yeah. Okay."

She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. The attending who was waiting for her pushed himself off the wall. "Going for the Ortho resident, are you?"

"Shut up," Norah hissed as they walked down the empty hallway.

"So... the bomb did go off."

"It did," Norah sighed. "I kinda jinxed myself, didn't I?"

"Sort of, yeah," Derek chuckled before nudging his head at her arm sling. "How's the shoulder?"

"Back at its right place," Norah looked at the sling around her arm. "How's Meredith?"

He shook his head with a heavy shrug. "I don't know..."

Norah looked at the man, who was staring at the floor. "Nobody died today, Derek," she reminded. "Well, the bomb squad lad, Dylan, did get blown into... chunks? But you get my point."

Derek sighed, lifting his head to her; he still had the same distressed look in his eyes. Gosh, this man is totally whipped, she thought, shaking her head at the sight of him. "Go check on her."

"What?"

"Meredith. Go check on her," Norah advised. "You look like hell-and that's coming from me, who could've turned to ashes if I left the OR a minute later." Derek was hesitating; she could tell. "We both know that you wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if you don't make sure that she's alright."

"Huh. So you know me well, huh?" he sighed. "And I know you better than you think, too-I know you run away from problems," he mentioned, and Norah's face fell a little. "Remember in New York? When that guy accused you of bribing me for surgeries?-which is still insane to this day-but you went off my service for weeks, just to avoid him."

They stopped in front of the nurses' station, where Derek filled out the last of Tucker's charts. "You are a genius, and you're calm when something unexpected happens in surgery," he continued, "But you don't bring yourself to face problems in your personal life. You take a run for it."

"Okay, wow..." Norah blinked, "You didn't have to call me out like that."

"Am I close?"

"Too exact... It's creepy." She stretched her arm that was not injured. "You really wanna know?" she sighed, "I was being stalked-yes, stalked. And one day, with the help of vodka, I went rogue and decided to stalk my stalker instead. Bonkers, I know. So, ended up, I... might or might not had fractured the lad's skull..." she trailed off when Derek stared at her wide-eyed. "He's alive, don't worry. And so... like you said, I took a run and fled here to Seattle."

"Remind me to never provoke you."

"You best not," Norah grinned, "Well then, see you tomorrow, Derek. I'm off to try to fix my face. No offense to George, but this-" she pointed at the cut on her jaw, "-looks hideous."

As the intern wandered off to the supplies closet, Derek could not help but think of a certain someone she reminded him of. The two were similar even though they had never met. But a pit of anger surfaced within him at the thought of that specific someone.

He was glad to be in Seattle, away from everything that had happened.