S2 EP19

INTERNS WERE WALKING in and out the locker room, the metal doors twisting open and slamming shut; murmurs and whispers flooded the room, but none of the sounds managed to stop Norah from dozing off. She groaned in annoyance as she stood up, swaying towards her locker.

"I need eye drops," she mumbled. "Pepper eye drops."

"You could try the hot sauce in the cafeteria," Cristina suggested.

"Fifty bucks says O'Malley caught her doing Mark Sloan," said Alex, looking at George and Meredith, who clearly had something going on. Izzie hit him in the arm, causing him to scowl at her.

"I'd say Norah did Mark Sloan," Cristina opposed with a snort. "I mean-look at her."

The three interns turned their heads to the person in question, who yawned widely. After getting paged to the hospital at midnight, Norah worked almost till dawn-now, her brain was shutting down.

"She looks like someone who had had a long night," Cristina lowered her voice before specifying, "Multiple rounds."

"Bitch-I was here since one in the morning," Norah snapped, glaring at the smirking woman. "And the bench here is super uncomfy."

"Ooh, someone's cranky."

"There are on-call rooms for a reason," Alex suggested.

"And walk in on people doing their deeds? Spare me," Norah shuddered and raised both her arms in surrender, causing the other interns to chuckle.

"There's something going on," Izzie interrupted as she studied the other two interns. "I mean, look at them."

They slid across the bench, closer to where Meredith and George were taking stuff out from their respective lockers. "Alright. He walked in on her doing McDreamy," Alex guessed again and immediately frowned at his words. "Did I just call that dude McDreamy?" he cringed.

"Oh, you know you did."

Finally getting enough of the guessing games, Izzie walked up to them, eager to figure out the elephant in the room. "Guys," she called out.

"Excuse me," George muttered, and Izzie ducked out of his way.

"What's uh... What's going on?" the blonde questioned. George and Meredith both gave Izzie weird looks, causing the latter to become even curious than before. "If you tell us, maybe we can help."

"There's nothing to tell," George claimed.

"Oh, that means there's something to tell," Cristina chuckled knowingly.

"There's nothing to tell," Meredith reassured the two busybodies. "And someone better wake Norah up."

Cristina and Izzie looked towards the brunette, who was leaning against the locker, her arms crossed and her head drooped. "Wow... Is she sleeping while standing up?"

❦ ❦ ❦

"YOU LOOK LIKE HELL," Derek said as he walked over to Norah in the ER.

She passed a chart off to the nurse and muttered a 'thank you' before turning back to him. "No, I feel like hell. I look hot," she smirked, and he rolled his eyes. "I've already gone through two coffees, and I'm still dozing off. I need natural stimulants."

Derek cocked a brow at her curiously. "Like what?"

The sound of an ambulance's siren filled their ears, and her back straightened up almost at once. Her eyes widened, and she felt energised like never before-adrenaline.

"Like that-see ya!" Norah snapped on a pair of gloves and hurried out of the ER. She met the paramedic, who had just unloaded the patient down on a gurney.

"35-year-old male, shortness of breath and had a syncopal episode," the paramedic informed as he wheeled the patient into the ER. "Pulse is rapid and irregular."

Norah recognised the face immediately-it was Denny Duquette.

Upon reaching the ER, she saw Izzie, who rushed towards her. When the latter got a glimpse of the man on the gurney, her face paled in concern. "It's Denny!"

"Yeah, I know," Norah replied unamusedly as she helped the paramedics move the man into a trauma room.

"Denny's my patient," Izzie deadpanned, inserting herself into the case.

Norah stared at the blonde, who had already yelled at an ER-resident, paged Burke, and shouted out orders-basically taking charge of the entire room. She shook her head as she removed her gloves and tossed them into the bin. "Izzie, I advise that you don't get attached."

Izzie ignored her words.

Norah stepped out of the room and met Alex, who had a cupcake in his hand, looking gloomier than ever. "You let her take the case?" he questioned, staring at the brunette. Norah merely sighed, and Alex walked past her into the trauma room.

❦ ❦ ❦

"SO DID YOU, OR DID you not sleep with Mark Sloan?" Cristina queried.

"Ugh, please-I told you I was here since midnight," Norah groaned, stuffing a chip in her mouth as the both of them walked up the stairwell. "Besides, he's isn't... isn't my type."

Cristina snapped her head to the other woman with a look of disbelief. "This is the same Mark Sloan we're talking about, right? The Mark Sloan? McSteamy?" she questioned, "Have you actually used that pretty eyes of yours to see him?"

"Alright, alright, I get it," the brunette shook her head. "He's hot-very hot, in fact-but he's... not my type... He's a player-know what I mean? Pretty sure he slept with half of New York."

"Oh, he told you that, huh?" Cristina snorted.

"I asked, and, well, he didn't deny it," Norah shrugged, and the other intern raised a brow at her curiously. "Okay, we kindahad a drink together last night. I went to Joe's, and he was just there. End of story-hey, don't give me that smirk."

She gave Cristina a warning look, and the latter shrugged while pushing open the stairwell door.

George was stomping towards them, his face furious; Meredith and Alex were chasing along behind him, and Izzie had just come out from one of the rooms. "You think at the very least she will respect your privacy!" George bellowed in the hallway.

"Um... What have we missed?" Norah asked, ducking aside as George started storming away with Meredith following suit.

"Baby boy's freaking out," Alex responded bluntly.

"Why is he freaking out?" the women chorused, and all four of them went after the other two.

George was standing in front of a door when they caught up to them. "George, can we at least talk?" Meredith pleaded.

"I don't wanna talk. Not to you!" George bellowed, "I wanted to keep my mouth shut! And if you hadn't been running away from me every time you see me, you would know that!"

"Hospital drama," Norah cheered aside while George pushed open the door to the stairwell, and the rest of the interns followed behind him. He started hurrying down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

Meredith let out another sigh before trying to get him to stop again. "Okay-you're right, but can we just talk now?"

"You wanna talk now because you told everyone that we had sex!" George yelled. Everyone's eyes widened. Izzie and Cristina were beyond shock while Norah and Alex stood behind them, both looking amused.

"You had sex?!"
"You had sex with George?!"

George stared at the questioning and shocked look on the interns' faces, feeling alarmed yet confused himself. He snapped his head to Meredith unsurely before asking, "You didn't tell them?"

"No..."

"Damn it!" he howled again out of frustration. He moved to walk down the next flight of stairs, but he accidentally missed the first step and went tumbling down instead.

"George!"

Everyone stared at him concernedly as he rolled down each step. George winced, holding his arm and rolling on the floor. Alex was chuckling, and Izzie slapped his arm; Norah tried her very best to hide her grin while she continued munching on her chips, the crisping sound echoing in the stairwell.

"Come on, George," she voiced out, walking down to meet with the man groaning in pain. "I'll get the resident who set my arm back to fix yours."

❦ ❦ ❦

S2 EP20

THE BLARING ALARM woke Norah up with a start. She reached over to the nightstand, patting around the surface to search for the clock. She knew she found it went a loud crash sounded on the floor beside her bed, but the beeping noise did not stop.

She sat up and kicked her blanket aside, stepping out of her room. Walking towards the door opposite hers, she pounded on the door repeatedly until the alarm got shut off. "George, I swear to god-if your alarm wakes me up again, I'm kicking you out!"

"Sorry!" the man in the room quickly apologised.

It has been a week since the stairwell incident, and George had moved out of Meredith's house the same night. The first person that came to his mind was Norah, who coincidentally have an extra room to spare. Hence, he had temporarily moved into her apartment.

While the woman was more than welcome to help out a friend, the mornings where she failed to have a peaceful sleep had her cranky from the start of the day.

George had witnessed her deadly glare as well as the many kickboxing medals she got on display in the living room-the thought of getting beat up into a pulp terrified him.

❦ ❦ ❦

AFTER THE INTERNS had rounded on Denny Duquette that morning, both Izzie and Alex volunteered to stay on Denny's case. The four remaining interns resumed their rounds and soon split ways to different parts of the hospital.

Norah followed Bailey as they made their way to the ER. Tuck was crying loudly in Bailey's arms when they went out to the ambulance pit. The intern went on to help the paramedic in wheeling out the patient on the gurney.

"What do we got?" Bailey asked.

"Tachycardic in the 140s. Systolic is in the 60s. Last was 72 over 40."

As the paramedic wheeled the man into the hospital, Tuck started to wail loudly. Bailey walked over to the side of the ambulance to ask another paramedic to shut off the siren.

"Here, take him," Bailey stated, right as Norah was about to walk past her. "I want you to watch him for me."

"Um, Dr Bailey, I don't do well with pocket-sized humans," the intern shook her head furiously.

Bailey let out a loud scoff. "Don't ever call children that, Lawrence," she deadpanned, and the intern nodded. "You took care of him the other day. You can take care of him now, too."

"But he was asleep, and that was less than an hour-"

"Lawrence! I have a patient, and I need to operate on that patient right now. Take him."

"We can page Dr Webber-"

"No, I'm not paging anyone," Bailey refused. "I'm a surgeon. I'm going to do the surgery." Norah stared at the resident as she opened her mouth to speak, but she was immediately cut off before she could utter a word. "I... I need you to help me, Norah."

Norah gave in with a sigh, and Bailey handed Tuck over to her. She then removed the baby bag and hung it over the intern's shoulder. "You can watch from the gallery," she stated, "You both can." Without another word, Bailey rushed back into the ER, leaving Norah to stand aimlessly outside with Tuck in her arms.

"Well, Tuck, I guess it's you and me now," she whispered. She walked back into the ER and saw George at the other end of the space, talking to Callie. After Callie had set back George's arm, they had been seeing each other more and talking even more often. Norah could not help but grin at the sight.

Derek walked over to the intern after he finished consulting on a patient. "Bailey's got you on babysit duty?" he taunted before cooing the baby in her arms.

The intern sighed, "Yup." Someone started screaming from one of the trauma rooms, and she snapped her head to Tuck. His face started to mush up as he began fussing; Norah stared at the baby in horror. "No, no, no. Don't you dare to-" Tuck started wailing while he turned in her arms, "-cry."

The neurosurgeon laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Have fun," he jeered. Norah was so close to stomping on his foot.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH PULLED OUT THE chair with her leg, plopping herself down. She tossed the baby bag over the cafeteria table with Tuck fussing in her arms. After a few hours of diaper changing and milk feeding, she was praying that Bailey would get out of her surgery as soon as possible.

"I swear to god, Tuck, please just-sleep," Norah groaned, patting the baby's back.

"Babies don't follow commands, you know?" Addison voiced out, approaching the intern in the cafeteria. "Then again, adults don't either... May I?"

Norah handed Tuck to her eagerly and immediately stretched her body that was screaming in relief. Her arms were sore from carrying Tuck for long hours, and her legs were tired from her walking around the hospital to get him to not cry at every possible minute.

Tuck had quieted down upon reaching Addison's arms, causing Norah to narrow her eyes at the baby. "Babies hate me-children hate me," she concluded surely. "Bailey hates me, too."

"It takes experience in handling a baby," Addison stated, and Norah raised a brow at her. "I work on preemies and newborns, Lawrence."

"Well then, any tips on how to get little Tuck there to chug down his bottle?" the intern queried. Addison reached into the baby bag and took out the bottle of warm milk. When Tuck peacefully drank his milk with the red-haired surgeon feeding him, the brunette let out a scoff.

"Little Tuck whacked me," she scowled at the baby. "Clawed on me, too-Bailey's baby is violent."

"All children are violent, I'd say," Addison shrugged, and Norah could not agree more. "Try putting some honey on the tip of the bottle. It works."

The intern folded her arms on the table and dropped her head on it, her lack of sleep finally getting into her. She closed her eyes, imagining that she was back in her apartment, on her Queen-sized bed, slowly falling into a slumber...

"You're close to Derek, aren't you? Like... a friend?" Addison asked. Norah forced her eyes open and hummed a 'yes' in response. "Do you know why... he's ignoring me?"

Norah observed the look on the attending's face as she leaned back against the chair. "Well, Derek is... Derek, and you know him longer than I do," she answered. "Shouldn't you also know him better than I do?"

Addison sighed. "I shouldn't have slept with Mark."

"You don't say," Norah blurted out before mentally shutting herself up when Addison shot her a look. "Sorry-I'm sleep deprived. Words surge out without a filter."

She watched the baby for a moment, how he looked so peaceful in Addison's arms whilst being a total madman in hers. "But yeah, both of them are hurt quite badly, I guess."

"Both of them?" Addison lifted her head to the intern before cocking a brow at her. "You've spoken with Mark, too?"

"I guess you could say so... I don't know. I'm sleep-deprived, so don't take any offense to what I'm blabbering right now," Norah sighed. "I know it's not my place to, you know, interfere with whatever is going on between... But uh..." she thought back to the night in the bar, the face of the man who felt hopeless for himself. "Did you know that he waited for you for... hours in the bar?"

"Mark?"

The brunette nodded. "I left the bar at one in the morning, and he was still there, so... I guess only you know how long he waited... for no one to show up."

Addison frowned at the thought of it. She could sense the voice of sorry the intern had in her sentence towards the man in question. "You showed up."

"I was only there because I couldn't bloody sleep," Norah defended, narrowing her eyes. "And I live just a few streets away."

"But you stayed... and he stayed," Addison thought. "Anything happened after?"

"God-no!"

"But he's Mark Sloan."

"Yeah, I know who he is."

Addison tilted her head at the 'are-you-insane' look on the intern's face. "So, let me get this clear-you and Mark were at the bar, drinking, talking-possibly flirting-but nothing happened after?" she questioned interestedly, and Norah shook her head again. "Wow, I'm impressed."

The intern stared at the attending with a puzzled look on her face. "What?"

"That man only sleeps with people that he is sure that there'll be no strings attached," Addison explained, "Well, obviously, I became an exception, but he almost never not end up in someone's bed after visiting the bar."

Norah nodded slowly before furrowing her brows in confusion. "And you're telling me this... why?"

Addison merely shook her head with a smile as she handed Tuck back to the intern. "Because you're Derek's friend."

The red-haired woman left the table to check on her patients, leaving Norah staring at her seat.

"I am sleep deprived, which means my brain gears is not turning as fast as it usually does... And that woman just messed my brain like scrambled eggs. You know scramble eggs, Tuck? It's yummy food," she cooed, watching the sleeping baby in her arms.

"She left me beyond confused, and I'm blaming her for my existential crisis... right about now."