S3 EP3

THE SCAR ALONG NORAH'S abdomen was still pinkish; it itched sometimes but, nevertheless, healed. She had been counting down to this day since she got discharged from the hospital. Bed rest and cooking were driving her insane-she even started dissecting chickens and ducks on her third day at home.

She was wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans as she walked towards the hospital's entrance from the parking lot. Her mood lifted the moment she felt the familiar air, and she felt energised to be back at work.

With the rush of excitement filling in, she quickened her steps to catch up with the people walking in front of her. "Morning, Mer!" she greeted.

"Oh, hey Norah! You're back at work?" Meredith asked.

"Leave is over, baby!" the brunette grinned. "Hey, George, Torres-you two look brilliant!"

"Thank you!" Callie returned her with the same cheerful smile, and George waved at her, the couple's hands linked into one.

"Wait-does that mean we get to crash at your place again?" Meredith queried.

"I'm up for tequila night," Norah smirked.

"Hi, Norah..." Izzie greeted, but the brunette had already walked away from their group, skipping into the hospital. "Why is she not talking to me? I didn't do anything to her, did I?"

"Besides the fact that all that happened led to her getting shot? No," George shrugged with a sarcastic tone.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH, MEREDITH, CRISTINA and George gathered at the nurses' station while they waited to get assigned work for the day. The three women were sharing a cake laid out on the counter; Norah leaned against the station as she greeted a few nurses who walked by.

"Izzie's back. That's good," Alex cheered as he walked over to the four other interns. He noticed Norah with them, and his smile faded a little. "Or not-ooh, coffee cake." He immediately stuffed a few crumbs of the cake into his mouth.

"I'm dating," Meredith shared aloud.

"Derek?" Norah queried.

"And the vet," Cristina added.

"Morning, people," Bailey greeted, and the five of them turned on their heels to face their resident. "Lawrence, you've been checked before changing into scrubs?" Norah nodded eagerly.

"Good. Shepherd requested for you. Grey, Yang, we're clearing the decks. I need both of you to write discharge forms. Karev, as usual, you're with Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd in OBGYN. O'Malley, Dr Torres has requested you today in Ortho."

"Was she smiling?" Cristina questioned in disbelieve.

"Izzie's back!" Alex chimed and met a look from George. "Norah's back, too!"

"Not that it doesn't suit her. It's just... creepy," Norah shrugged and departed from the nurses' station to look for the neurosurgeon.

❦ ❦ ❦

"MR TRESSELT'S HAVING A corpus callosotomy," Derek stated. "What's that gonna look like?"

"We'll be severing some of the fibres that connect the right and left hemisphere of his brain to prevent the seizure activity to spread from one half to the other," Norah answered.

"Good."

"Daddy's letting them chop his brain in half," Mrs Tresselt, who was standing in the corner of the room, cooed to her baby in her arms. "Because Daddy's a big dummy. Yes, he is."

"They're not chopping my brain in half, Leanne," Mr Tresselt stated.

"Taylor should function much like he does right now," Derek assured.

"I'm having five seizures a day, Leanne. You don't leave me in a room alone with the baby. You think I don't notice?" Mr Tresselt queried, and his wife stared back at him. "You ask your mother to come by every time you need to take a shower-it's because you think I'm a danger to the baby. And I am."

Norah turned to look at Derek, who was also caught in the awkwardness as the room fell silent. "Look, if you're not sure, for any reason, we can wait," he suggested.

"I want to be able to take care of our baby. Please, Leanne, we already agreed. Please."

After Mrs Tresselt had agreed to her husband's surgery, the two surgeons walked out of the room. They had just walked down the hallway when Norah was gifted a coffee from a shy male nurse, who blushed and quickly headed off in the other direction.

Derek smirked at her. "He's hitting on you."

"And I'm treating this as a 'welcome-back-to-work' coffee," she shrugged, taking a sip off the paper cup. She swallowed the drink and shook her head. "It's latte. I don't like lattes-too milky."

"Yet you're still drinking it," he noted.

"Because I need the caffeine, and I missed my cappuccino order this morning."

Derek watched as the intern gulped down the drink rapidly as if she was severely dehydrated. "Mark's in Seattle," he voiced out, gaining her attention, and Norah narrowed her eyes at him. "I caught him sleeping with Addison... Again."

"You caught them while they were..."

"No, no-not this time, at least," he sighed. "He was just out of the shower wrapping a towel around himself."

Hot-

"Well, Addison did found out that you shagged Meredith on prom night," Norah reminded him. Derek stared at her, slightly taken aback by how she knew about that information. "What? I might not be in the hospital, but I know when someone's panties got pinned on the bulletin board," she sneered, and he rolled his eyes.

"But that's alright because Meredith and I are dating now," he smiled.

"So I've heard," she hummed. "And she's dating your vet, too. Girl's ambitious-good for her," she sent him a pat on the shoulder before walking off, and the neurosurgeon sighed heavily.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH RAISED A BROW at the pile of cash in the middle of the table. "What're we betting on?" she asked, setting down her lunch tray and sitting down.

"Meredith and Finn," Alex replied. Norah followed his gaze to the other side of the table, where the two in question were chatting happily. "Who eats cake for lunch?"

He sent a questioning look at the dessert on her plate, and she glared at him. "Me, apparently."

"Fifty down on whether Shepherd shows up to challenge Finn to a duel," Cristina stated.

Norah pulled out some cash from her pocket and placed it in the betting pile. "Eighty says Derek nicks Meredith away from the vet," she announced.

"Oh, can I be in the..." George pulled about a note from the pocket of his scrub top, "with five?"

"That's not a bet. That's milk money, dude," Alex laughed.

"I left the rest of my cash at home..."

"Oh, here we go, here we go. Okay," Cristina cleared her throat, and the four of them snapped their heads towards the action. Derek walked past Meredith and Finn's table to the coffee stall to buy a drink, then walked back past the table.

Cristina sighed loudly while Alex smirked. "Takes it like a man and walks away."

He was reaching for the cash on their table when Norah slapped his hand away and nudged her head back towards the scene. Derek had turned around and started walking back towards the two's table.

"He's coming back," George informed.

"Oh, yes, he is!" Cristina cheered.

The four of them watched as Derek struck a conversation with Meredith, and Finn joined in after a while, not too delighted with the situation. The interns were observing attentively, and when Meredith stood up from her chair, Norah pumped her fist in the air.

Derek and Meredith walked away, leaving Finn alone at the table.

"Money's mine!" Norah announced proudly as she hurled the cash to herself and started counting her profit for the day.

"What do you think Shepherd told her?" George queried.

Norah thought for a moment before shaking her head and chuckling, "Surgery. We're cutting our guy's brain in half."

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH WAS CHATTING WITH the shy nurse from earlier when Alex interrupted their conversation. "Hey, Lawrence!" he called out while rushing towards them; the nurse's face went red, and he turned away. "I lost a kid."

"Oh... Sorry to hear that."

Alex stared at her, puzzled for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, not that lost. Like, actually lost, like-she ran off, okay?" he cleared up. "Are you gonna help me find her, or not?"

"Alright, alright," Norah sighed.

"Her name's Megan!"

"Megan. Got it."

Norah began opening every door along the hallways, checking through windows and under tables. She checked the stairwells, too, while heading one floor below, entering that floor and began pushing open every linen and supply closet.

She eventually found someone sitting on the floor-not Megan, but Addison.

"Oh my god, can't I just cry here peacefully?!" Addison snapped, her cheeks stained with ruined mascara from her tears.

Norah's mind went blank for a second before the backup generator of her brain kicked back in. "Are you gonna yell at me to get out?" she asked, and Addison lifted her head to her. "You know what? I'm not even gonna ask." She closed the door halfway when it was pulled back open from the inside.

"I'm living in a mess. My life is a mess," Addison raved, and Norah stepped in, closing the door behind her. The intern leaned against the door with her arms folded in front of her chest. "I am a double board-certified surgeon... And I cannot even handle the problems in my life!"

"Is this a Derek problem? Or a Meredith problem?" Norah queried. "Or a... Sloan problem?"

Addison narrowed her eyes at the intern as her tears continued flowing down her cheeks. "How do you know about everything?"

"See, I have um... chatty friends who see me as a therapist..." Norah thought with a humourless chuckle. "But uh... see, I'm useless in comforting people, especially when they're... well, crying. But I'm a pretty decent listener, though. But... I suck in giving proper advice."

"My husband is dating another woman," Addison sobbed. "And I am... hooking up with his best friend. Ex-best friend..." she wiped off the tears under her eyes, "And Mark is... He wants a relationship with me, but I do not want a relationship with him. But-that man drives me crazy! He makes me feel things like I'm in middle school again."

Norah handed the attending a pack of tissues, slowly lowering herself to the floor.

"And he makes me feel seen, you know? He makes me feel wanted, and he gives me more attention than Derek does," Addison continued, "He makes me feel good. And the sex-god, he's amazing-"

"I uh-I did not need to know um... that," Norah interrupted with a frown. "But, well... go on."

"Mark is Mark. He sleeps around and could never keep his pants to himself," Addison resumed, "And I don't want to be involved with him. I just want sex and no strings attached."

"Then, show him that," Norah stated. "Don't leave a string for him to pull. Show him that you're serious about this no-relationship thing and, um, I don't know-tell him to go to hell?" she crossed her legs and leaned closer, "Of course, the first step is for you to... you know, stop booty-calling him."

The red-haired woman stared at the intern for a long while, taking in the latter's words of advice. She sighed; her pager went off, and she slowly stood to her feet, Norah following suit.

"They found Megan," Addison stated, wiping the remaining of her tears.

"Feel any better?" Norah asked.

"Much," Addison nodded. "Thank you. You really are a good listener, and you give better advice than you think."

Norah shrugged and opened the door for the attending to step out before leaving the supply closet herself. "Uh, Dr Montgomery-Shepherd-"

"Addison."

"Addison. You might wanna..." Norah gestured to the attending's eyes, "Your makeup is smudged."