S5 EP6

[CW: slight animal cruelty]

"IS THAT ANATOMY JANE?" Norah questioned as she caught up to Meredith and Cristina.

Meredith nodded with a grin on her face. "My mom bought it for me when I was five," she said, "which was a super creepy gift for a five-year-old-but I liked it."

"I got one when I was six, too," Norah stated, "But I think I gave mine to Tim. He liked it better than me."

As the three friends took a turn down the hall, chatting about the creepy-looking anatomy doll, Cristina's eyes widened. "Run!"

She grabbed the other two residents' arms, dragging them along with her. Norah and Meredith looked at each other, puzzled, as they followed Cristina running down the hallways, dodging nurses and doctors along their way.

Cristina took a sharp turn, and they stopped behind a wall. "Blimey hell-you saw your mother?" Norah questioned, crossing her arms in front of her chest; Meredith and Cristina leaned against the wall, panting.

"I just saw Owen," Cristina panted while the other two shared a confused look. "Major Owen Hunt. You know, the guy who pulled the icicle from my chest-?"

"Oh-pen-trach lad?" Norah recalled and cocked a brow, "He's back?"

"I thought he was in Iraq," Meredith queried, sharing the same confused look.

"Well, yeah, he was, and now he's here, in my hospital," Cristina exclaimed.

"You're freaking out like you've shagged him or something," Norah shook her head, but when she saw Cristina glaring at her, her eyes widened. "Oh no-Cristina! I told you-"

"It was a kiss!" Cristina defended, "It was stupid, it was nothing-stupid nothing!"

"But you don't think he thinks it was a stupid nothing," Meredith voiced out.

"I mean, he obviously likes me, and now he's back," Cristina shook her head with a defeated sigh. "What's he doing back?"

"Pen-trach lad could've quit the military for you," Norah suggested with a shrug.

"That'd be severely stalkery," Meredith added, "but very romantic."

"I'm not getting involved with another attending," Cristina declared firmly.

Norah and Meredith shared a look while the former snorted. "We'll see, sweetheart."

"Oh, shush, Norah," Cristina snapped at the brunette, "You're all over Sloan, and we all know it."

"Hey, three of us... an attending each. We're crazy, aren't we?"

"I'd say that we'd bagged them all."

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH, MEREDITH AND Cristina walked into the residents' locker room, still chatting about the arrival of the new addition to the hospital. Bailey walked into the room right as they put away their stuff in their respective cubbies.

"Okay, two things," Bailey broke their chatters, "You all have a skills lab this morning. It is mandatory. Don't think about trying to get out." The residents groaned. "Second, one of you will not have to go to the mandatory lab because you will be assisting me in my efforts to remove an inoperable tumor from a ten-year-old girl."

Several hands shot up. "I'll do it," George volunteered instantly.

"No, you won't," Bailey shot him down, "You have a hundred delinquent charts. You will do those after the lab."

"Slacker," Cristina smirked.

"How can you operate on an inoperable tumor?" Alex questioned.

"Karev is also out," Bailey deadpanned, "You doubted me."

"I don't doubt you, Dr Bailey."

"Yang is out, too," the Chief Resident stated, "You weren't supportive of a fellow resident who couldn't get his paperwork under control." Bailey turned to the remaining residents. "Lawrence, you're-wait-Grey, is that Anatomy Jane?"

"Yes...?"

"With the 24 removable organs and the optional parts to simulate pregnancy?"

"Yes," Meredith confirmed, "Does that mean I'm out too?"

"No, that means you're in," Bailey stated. The residents scoffed and threw their hands in the air in frustration.

"That's unfair!" Norah protested, "I was almost in on the case!"

"Next time, you'll know to bring in an ugly doll, Lawrence," Bailey shot back before striding out of the locker room.

❦ ❦ ❦

"DR LAWRENCE, WHAT exactly happens in a skills lab?" Nina questioned as the residents and interns gowned themselves up. Kirian and Jace piped their heads up to their resident too.

"Uh, a bunch of things, really," Norah shrugged, "It could range from-hey, what-"

Cristina had yanked her away from her interns and moved the brunette to the other side of her. Timothy caught her and steadied her before she stumbled. "Thanks, Tim. And Cristina, what the hell was that f-"

The door of the skills lab pushed open, and Owen stepped into the room.

"-oh."

"I'm Dr Hunt," Owen introduced himself, "Over the next few months, I'll be teaching you how to work quickly and efficiently to keep someone alive in the circumstances, where the safe bet is they're dead by the end of the hour."

"Trauma surgeon?" Timothy whispered to his sister.

"From the military," Norah replied. "The pen-trach lad I've told you about? That's him."

"Anyone have a problem working with live tissue?" Owen asked, "Anyone? Speak now. In fact, leave now. If not, I own you for the rest of the day." Seeing that nobody left the room, he nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Here we go."

As he went to pull the curtains, the murmurs and whispers grew among the group of interns and residents. The group's eyes widened, and several jaws dropped at the sight of the live tissue they were going to work on-pigs.

"Each resident gets a pig, interns assist," Owen informed. "Hang on." He took out a knife from his pocket and walked up to the pig closest to him-and stabbed it-the sound of the blade penetrating the pigs' flesh caused the group to gasp and wince.

"Okay, that took a dark turn, really quickly," Norah stated, staring at the poor animals. Timothy nodded in agreement next to her.

"Go ahead," Owen spoke like nothing had happened as he wiped the blood off the blade with a towel. "Save their lives."

Everyone stood frozen at their spot after just witnessing the horror before their eyes. "You're a monster," Izzie gasped.

"They're under, they didn't feel any pain," Owen claimed, "Ask the veterinarian."

"You stabbed them!"

"Yeah, so we can save them," Cristina stepped forward, already feeling the rush of adrenaline in her veins screaming for her to work.

"We can practice on surgical mannequins," Izzie protested, "We can learn to do the exact same stuff."

Owen cocked a brow at the resident, who stared daggers back at him. "Does that mean you're out?"

"Yeah, I'm out!" she scoffed and left the room.

Nina raised her hand. "I really wanna learn, but this goes against the beliefs of my religion," she stated, "I'm sorry, Dr Hunt, but I'm out, too." The intern left after the blonde resident.

"Fucking psychopath," Timothy whispered-but with a suppressed smirk on his face that his sister caught.

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH AND TWO OF HER remaining interns surrounded their pig, with Timothy joining their group since George had taken over Izzie's interns. Norah had paired up with Kirian, and they were covering the upper half of the pig whilst Timothy and Jace fixed its abdomen.

"How're you doing with the trachea?" Norah queried.

"Uh... I think I got it under control..." Kirian replied.

"Pen-trach lad destroyed the pig's fucking trach," Timothy snickered, and Norah nudged him in the ribs.

"How's it going over here?" Owen asked as he approached the four of them, "I see you've got the swelling down, Dr..."

"Lawrence," Norah answered.

"I've stabbed this one especially deep. Nice work stabilising its spine," Owen noted before he walked over to check on the bottom half of the pig. "An anastomosis done in barely half an hour?" he nodded in satisfaction, "And you are?"

"Uh, Lawrence, too. Timothy Lawrence," he replied, "We're siblings."

"Shit." The monitor started rapidly beeping as Jace stared at his part of the pig; Owen folded his arms in front of his chest while he observed their responses. "Its spleen ruptured!"

Timothy quickly took over the lead while Jace assisted him closely. "The pig needs a splenectomy," he informed, already reaching for the surgical tools. He had just clamped off the blood source when Norah stopped him.

"Wait-do partial-you can save half of the spleen," Norah pointed out quickly.

"She's right," Owen spoke up, "But in a case of trauma, your brother's move will be the best. A patient can live without a spleen." Timothy nodded, a faint smirk growing on his face. "Great work, Lawrence-He-Lawrence-quick thinking is important in trauma."

"You hear that?" Timothy whispered, carefully removing the pig's spleen, "I'm a fucking quick-thinker."

"Shut up, you sod," Norah shook her head, yet deep down, she knew that her brother had always been a calm and quick-thinker.

Owen's pager went off. "Heads up, everyone," he turned to Alex and Norah, "You two, take your interns down to ER. I'll meet you down there. He-Lawrence can finish up the splenectomy then go."

"Is there a trauma?" Norah asked.

"Multiple MVCs. Six incoming," Owen informed before turning to an intern, "You, lab's over. Do your charts."

"What about my pig?" the intern asked.

"She's got it," Owen pointed to Cristina, who went wide-eyed, "You're staying here."

"Wait, wait-with a half dozen crash victims into the pit?" Cristina questioned, not believing her ears.

"You have four struggling victims right here. Keep them alive."

"All of them?" Cristina scoffed. "Lawrence and Karev get to work on people, and I have 300 pounds of bacon?"

"Live bacon," Owen snapped, and Cristina stared at him in disbelief. "They better be that way when I get back."

Norah rounded to the other resident on her way out of the skills lab. "Pen-trach guy totally did not quit the military for you," she whispered, and Cristina shot her a glare.

"Ugh, bite me, sweetheart."

❦ ❦ ❦

"CT SHOWED A SUBDURAL hematoma," Alex informed as Owen entered the trauma room; Norah was covering the man's forehead with a thick layer of gauze. "Should I book an OR?"

"First thing's first. The scalp is bleeding," Owen noted. "What do you do?"

"Normally, I page Shepherd," Alex replied.

"Shepherd's not here. What do you do to stop the bleeding?"

"Suture the laceration, tie off bleeders," Norah replied.

"That'll take two hours," Owen disagreed. "What would you use in this room to take care of this?"

"Staples?" Alex suggested, and Norah snapped her head at him.

"It's his forehead, you..." Owen cut himself off, shaking his head, "Want this guy to look like Frankenstein the rest of his life?"

Alex looked around again, and his eyes landed on something in the corner of the room. "Skin glue."

Owen nodded, "Excellent, Karev."

"Alex, hold your horses-skin glue?!" Norah stared at him with narrowed eyes; the attending turned to her. "Without revising his wound, he could lose half his face, if not all!"

She knew that plastics counted on perfection, and the suggestion of using skin glue irritated her more than the pigs that got stabbed in the skills lab.

"The ER is like being in the field, Lawrence," Owen stated, "You gotta use what's available."

Norah's mouth gaped open. "Respectfully, but what qualifies us as a battlefield? The pathetic cafeteria sandwiches that only have half a slice of cheese?" she questioned, and Alex stared at her speechlessly. "Dr Hunt, this man is at risk of multiple infections, and-"

"That we can treat with antibiotics," Owen cut her off, "Dr Lawrence, I am the attending here."

"And I can perfect the sutures before Karev can even dry the glue on his skin."

Alex let out an offended noise while Owen sighed, "Are you still in on this case, or are you out, Dr Lawrence?"

Norah tore off the gloves on her hands. "Out, respectfully. Thank you very much."

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH WAS SLURPING ON apple juice down the hallways, ranting to Mark, who walked next to her. "He used skin glue," she complained, "Skin-freakin'-glue-don't you find that disturbed?"

"As a plastic surgeon? Of course, I do," Mark replied, looking at her pissed off face amusingly, "But honestly, Laurie? You seem more irritated than I am right now."

She groaned in frustration. "I think the idea of skin glue is getting to me so badly is because of this," she pointed at the scar along her jaw-the one from the explosion.

Mark gently moved her head to the side. His hand brushed against her neck and his thumb on her chin. He inspected the long whitish cut along her jawline; it was no longer too visible since it had faded slightly over time.

Without warning, he leaned into her and kissed her against the scar, gradually trailing down to her neck. There was something about it that made her feel giddy-or perhaps it was just him in whole.

"Hey-" she turned her head back to him, but he had crashed his lips onto hers, his hand cupping her face. "Mark, we're in the bloody hospital," she spoke through the kiss, but her hand was tugging on his scrub top, pulling him in for more.

"Remember when I said that your hand on my chest turns me on?" he mumbled, pushing them towards an on-call room, "Not quite helping with the whole 'bloody hospital' part, don't you think?"

Before she could fire back, Derek appeared from around the corner. She stumbled into the room and stayed very silently while Mark shut the door before turning to the neurosurgeon.

"Ah, there you are," Derek spoke. "Gonna yell at the major general. Wanna come?"

"Hell yeah," Mark replied with a firm nod, "Give me just one second. I'll... I'll meet you there."

Derek sent him a curious look before walking away; Mark exhaled, relieved. He opened the door to the on-call room, only to find Norah laughing at him. "That was close," she muttered, "Have you seen your face? You're red."

"Seriously?" he sighed, shaking his head, "Derek and I gonna yell at pen-trach guy, wanna join us?"

"I might've already yelled at him in the trauma room... not quite good of an impression, huh?" she stated, and he stared back at her with a brow raised.

"Impression or not, I'm swelling with pride."

❦ ❦ ❦

NORAH WAS SLEEPING soundly, sprawled across her bed. She shot up at once when her door got harshly pushed open; the person winced a bit when the door slammed against the wall, letting out a small 'oops'.

"Hey, you asleep?"

"What the hell do you think?"

Timothy scratched his head awkwardly with a nervous chuckle. "Um, on a scale of one to ten, how mad would you be if I kicked you out-just for tonight?"

Norah sat up on her bed, still squinting at the light coming in from the corridor. A heated glare sent from the sleepy sister to the brother at the door. "I don't know-like, twelve? Considering the fact that this is my apartment?" she scoffed. "What's going on?"

"I kinda have someone coming over...?" he informed sheepishly, "And I'm pretty sure you don't wanna, you know, stay."

She widened her eyes with a smirk forming on her face. "Little Tim's seeing someone?" she teased, "Who's the mystery girl? Or guy?"

"Girl," he answered. "She um... you know her. She's smart, a fucking genius, really, and beautiful-"

"Yeah, yeah, Lexie Grey, I know," she waved him off before pulling out her drawer, searching for earplugs. He was staring back at her with furrowed brows, shocked. "Oh, come on, she's literally your type."

"I don't have a type."

"Uh-huh? What do you call yourself getting laughed at in high school for dating nerds?"

His words caught in his throat, and he sent back an unamused glare. "Okay, maybe I have a type," he caved, "But smartness equals hotness."

"Agreed. Thanks for the compliment," Norah snickered before putting in the earplugs and slumping back onto her bed.

"Oh, for god's sake-" Timothy stomped into the room and yanked the duvet away from her like he would do to annoy her when they were kids. "Go sleepover with Sloan. Get some fucking action as well."

She hurled a pillow at his face before pulling her duvet back over herself. "Baby bro, what do you think I do in an on-call room? Sleep?"

His face crumpled in disgust before grimacing. "Ugh-I didn't need to know that!"