S4 EP6&7

"HEY, NORAH, WHAT'S THE first thing that comes to mind when I say the words 'gentlemen's evening'?"

The resident narrowed her eyes at the two attendings, who were waiting for an answer. Her interns stood behind her, curious of her reply, too. "Strippers...?" she sent the plastic surgeon a questioning look.

"See, even your prize student thinks so," Mark muttered to Derek before glancing at the interns. "And what about your ducklings? What do you guys think?"

Their responses were along the lines of 'flying dollar bills', 'booze', 'board games' and a shrug from George.

Norah had the same confused look like the rest of them when she walked up to the plastic surgeon. "Dr Sloan, we're on plastics today."

Mark had the brightest grin on his face looking at the resident. "Great to finally have you back on my service," he spoke, "Let's go, then."

❦ ❦ ❦

THE RESIDENT AND FOUR interns followed the plastics attending as they made their way to the ER, which was in quite a mess.

"I hear you have a broken nose down here," Mark voiced out before narrowing his eyes at the red-stained white dress between two women. "What's with the dress?"

"It's not about the dress," the blonde one snapped.

Callie shook her head before turning to the judge, who had the same frustrated look on his face as the surgeons in the area. "Can't they... Can't they just split the prize?"

The judge sighed. "I offered that 14 hours ago."

One of the women snapped her head to the judge and resident. "It is a 100,000-dollar wedding package, and I am not splitting it with anyone!"

"Oh, you're bleeding on your dress," George pointed out.

"It's not about the dress!"

Norah watched as Callie scowled at him. The whole 'Izzie Stevens and George O'Malley issue' was still unable for her to wrap around her head. She had never taken George as the type that would cheat on his wife.

Then again, the world is weird.

Norah turned to her interns and faked a cough. "Sometimes, patients are just... gits," she whispered. They snickered under their breaths while Mark shot her an amused look.

"I'm gonna have to stabilise that shoulder somehow," Callie informed dishearteningly.

"Rook, go grab a sling," Norah instructed, and Kirian took off immediately. "Lee and Thompson... um, try figuring out a way to separate these two."

When Mark waved her over, she joined him and Callie at the side, away from the women on the gurney; they were still holding the visibly torn wedding dress between them.

"This is hell. I assigned O'Malley to keep him away from me, and now our patients are connected to each other," Callie let out a frustrated groan, tossing her arms in the air.

Mark laughed a bit before folding his arm in front of his chest. "You're not looking at this like the opportunity it is."

"Meaning?"

Norah raised a brow at the smirk on the attending's face, one that had a touch of sly behind it. "It means that George is an intern, and Mark already has an evil plan of torture ready in his head."

Callie looked between the two of them while the plastic surgeon nodded. "Thanks. That's almost sweet," she sighed, "But torturing George is not gonna make any of this any better."

"Except it would," Norah shrugged.

Callie quirked a curious brow at the younger resident. "You're not defending him?" she asked, "I mean, you're friends, right? And he's your intern?"

"Exactly-he's my intern. And, yeah, we are friends, but I don't play sides," Norah stated solemnly. "Well, what he did does deserve some sort of... punishment."

Callie hesitated a moment before turning to Mark. "Torture him how, exactly?"

❦ ❦ ❦

IT WAS DINNERTIME, AND Norah had sent her interns off to the cafeteria to grab some food before they had to observe an awake open-heart surgery later on.

She sat by an empty nurses' station on the outpatient section of the hospital, where it was less busy and more peaceful. The hushed area was a perfect place to catch a nap.

"I think Lexie is into me."

Norah raised a brow at Alex, who walked up to her with a conflicted look on her face. "You sure about that? Or are you into her?" she sighed, more because of her nap being interrupted. "Meredith's gonna kill you, Alex."

"No, she won't."

"She might."

"She doesn't even see Lexie as a sister," Alex reasoned.

"Whatever. Shoo, Karev. I'm trying to sleep," she groaned and folded her arms on the desk before laying her head on them.

She drifted off to a quick, dreamless slumber, but before it even felt like a decent nap time, her rest was interrupted again by a hand ruffling her hair. She sat up and scowled at the attendings in front of her.

"Do we look like a couple?" Mark asked, gesturing between him and Derek.

Norah stared at the both of them as though they had gone mad, yet both of them had the most serious looks on their faces. The only reason she had not snapped at them for waking her was that they were, technically, her bosses.

"Why the bloody hell are you asking me that?"

Mark sighed, "Erica Hahn-"

"-thinks that we're a couple," Derek finished.

Norah leaned back against the chair and narrowed her eyes at them. "You two would make a decent couple, if that's what you wanna hear. McDreamy and McSteamy-brilliant McCouple."

The horrified look on their faces made her cackle. The two men gave each other a disturbed look before hurrying off in separate directions.

❦ ❦ ❦

HAHN STOOD WITH A marker pen in her hand as she stared at the OR board. She hastily erased the name of the resident assigned with her surgery, then wrote down another name, that she had picked.

"I'm taking Norah Lawrence from you this week," she informed as Mark walked past her. "I've heard great things about her from many surgeons, and I wanna see what she's like."

"That not how it works here," he protested, slightly saddened that the resident got swapped away from his service. "You get assigned a resident. There's a schedule."

"Well, the schedule doesn't take into account certain things," Hahn scoffed lightly, "Like the fact that I don't want Yang. You can have Stevens. She's good, and I'm sure Shepherd won't mind."

As the Cardio surgeon walked away, Derek walked towards Mark, who was still staring at the OR board, displeased. "Won't mind what?" Derek queried.

Mark was silently gritting his teeth with his arms folded above his chest. "She took Lawrence off my service," he stated.

"Well, Norah will be thanking her," Derek replied without an ounce of comfort. "You know she hates plastics."

Mark nodded at his curiously oblivious friend.

❦ ❦ ❦

"GOOD MORNING, DR HAHN," Norah greeted as the attending walked over to her.

"Great, you're already here. But there's no good morning in a hospital," she stated, "I have a page to the ER. Let's go."

Norah followed Hahn to the ER, and they entered one of the trauma rooms, where Cristina had already started on the patient. They hurriedly put on their gloves while receiving an update from the resident in the room.

"Teresa Brotherton. Lost vitals and coded," Cristina informed, "I needled a tension pneumo on the right side. She regained vitals."

"She's got so much air in the soft tissues. It's obscuring the ultrasound," Hahn stated while Norah stood on her tip-toes to look at the patient. "Probably punctured an airway as well as her lung," the attending noted. "Feel that?"

Cristina was about to feel the patient when Hahn snapped at her, "I was talking to Lawrence. We've got it from here, Dr Yang."

Norah stared at the attending, then at Cristina, who looked furious. The former mouthed a 'sorry' to the latter, who shook her head and exited the trauma room.

❦ ❦ ❦

"SINUS RHYTHM," NORAH informed after cross-clamping the patient's aorta. "The heart's responding."

Hahn nodded. "Alright, that's twice in two hours this woman had died," she stated. "Let's pick up the pace, everyone. The lesser time she's on the table, the better," she lifted her eyes to Norah, "Quite a rush, huh?"

The resident nodded with a shrug. "Quite."

"Ever thought of cardiothoracic as a specialty, Lawrence?" Hahn queried.

Norah lifted her head briefly to the attending before looking back at the open heart. "I'm open to all options, Dr Hahn."

Hahn glanced up at the gallery, where Cristina and Mark were sitting side-by-side as they observed the surgery. "From what I've heard, all except plastics," she mentioned. "Any particular reason?"

Norah furrowed her brows at the attending's words-what was this woman's deal?

"Lack of interest," the resident responded. "I believe that if I choose something I dislike for the rest of my career, it wouldn't be the best care for the patients."

Hahn nodded approvingly. "I'm liking you already."

But I still don't like you. Of course, Norah was smart enough not to say that out loud.

Up in the gallery, Mark shook his head with a sigh. "She's obnoxious, sometimes."

"Obnoxious and sassy," Cristina corrected with a huff.

"But look at the way her hands work. It's so..."

"Precise."

"Yeah, and quick."

"But careful."

"She's perfect for plastics."

Cristina narrowed her eyes and turned her head to Mark, who still had his gaze fixed down the OR. "Are we talking about the same person?" she questioned, raising a brow.

"I heard that you were shot the same night Burke did," Hahn's voice echoed through the speaker.

Mark's back straightened as he leaned forward near the window, his brows furrowed. He watched as Norah paused for a slight second as she lifted her eyes to the cardiothoracic attending, but he could not figure her expression under her mask.

"Oh, we are so not talking about the same person," Cristina grumbled with a sigh and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I was," Norah replied. "But I don't remember much of it. Trauma response."

Standing on the opposite side of Hahn, the resident tried to avoid lengthening that topic of conversation. She never wanted to talk about it. Hence, she lowered her eyes back down to Teresa's heart, but her eyes caught the sight of her hands.

Red.

She shook off the familiar jittery feeling rising in her chest, reminding herself about the mornings she spent in her apartment kitchen. The effort she put into overcoming her freeze in ORs, the daily jokes about how she was not a secret murderer spilling blood in her apartment-Mark's stare and that smile on his face.

Paint. It was just like the paint.

And it worked.

❦ ❦ ❦

JOE'S BAR WAS CROWDED, just like any other day. Mark had finally convinced Norah for a drink that night, and the only reason she agreed was that she did need a drink after the surgery that evening.

Two glasses of scotch and whisky sat next to each other; the owner of the drinks sat by the corner of the bar counter.

"Hahn shouldn't have mentioned the shooting."

"It's fine. I'm good, really," Norah shrugged as Joe refilled their glasses, and she muttered a 'thank you' to him. "I didn't freeze, not anymore," she grinned, "I'm past my whole 'freezing-in-the-OR' phase."

He shook his head. "Still, that woman must have some kind of common sense before-"

"Mark," she cut him off, "It was just like the paint in the kitchen. It helped. Now, would you be the one who stops freaking out?"

He thought for a moment before leaning his head to her. "I would if you'd let me kiss you right here and now-"

"For the love of god-"

She grabbed him by his chin and turned his face away; he grinned like a child while pulling her barstool closer to him. She stumbled slightly but managed to catch herself before she could fall towards his chest. He groaned at his failed attempt.

❦

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE bar, Timothy was sitting near Lexie as the latter ranted to the barman.

"I told her I could draw with an etch-a-sketch. Of all the things I could've chosen, I-" she ranted with a sigh, "No wonder she thinks I'm pathetic."

"Personally, I think that's fucking cool," Timothy voiced out, taking a sip of his bourbon. "The only other person I knew could draw with an etch-a-sketch was a genius. To me, at least."

"I feel pathetic," Lexie grumbled.

"No, you're not," he chuckled, "You're from Harvard, too, weren't you?" She nodded, and he grinned. "Ah, knew I recognised you. You were quite a talk in our year."

"Really? I never knew," she raised a brow at him, "What was I the talk for? The pathetic little girl who cries whenever she gets an A-minus in her tests?"

He snickered and shook his head while she looked at him curiously. He finished his drink, stepped down from the barstool and shrugged on his jacket. "You're smart, and beautiful. Need I say more?"

Lexie watched as Timothy walked towards the door, stopping shortly behind Norah to give her a sharp push towards the plastic surgeon, who caught her in his arms amusingly. Norah snapped her head to her brother, but Timothy had already hurried out of the bar.

She sighed in frustration before ordering more drinks to drown her mind in.