A/N: I know the Harper Avery Award is fake, but this GA, so I just had to include it. Read and review :)
Every surgeon has goals. It starts as interns where they long and strive to be the best. They contend to be Chief Resident. Perfect their craft to be head of one of the hospital departments. They spend vigorous hours researching. Start clinical trials with the best of intentions, all in hopes of creating a new method or significant discovery in medicine. Surgeons compete and extend their goals to seize the prestigious Harper Avery Award. At one point in their career the goals stop and the dreaming begins - the dream of being Chief of Surgery. It is the ultimate feat and just the greatest of surgeons are considered but only the utmost actually receives a chance to hold the title.
Dr. Richard Webber was one of those surgeons. He severed many years as the chief of Seattle Grace Hospital. He was there when the hospital dug itself into a deep hole, and saw it through. He essentially guided the hospital into greatness. He met and worked with the best of surgeons, and some were fortunate enough to share a friendship with him. This was it. Chief Webber was actually going through with it. For the second time in his career he told the hospital board he was retiring. He would finally experience what a vacation felt like.
In true Seattle Grace fashion news of his retirement spread like wildfire. The hospital was in a buzz, all speculating on who would take his chair.
Cristina and Meredith had just got out of surgery and were scribbling about in patient charts when the words "Chief Webber" and "retirement" escaped the nurses' mouths. It detached them from their charts.
"The Chief is retiring? Again?" Cristina said as she turned her head to Meredith. "You think he'll actually go through with it?"
"Yeah, it's about time. He had a good run." Meredith jotted down a few more notes and closed her chart. "I gotta find Derek and tell him the news." And she dashed off to find him in excitement.
Cristina merely shook her head; Looks like McDreamy vs McSteamy round two, she thought.
Meredith searched the hospital high and low. She rode the elevators about a dozen times. Where are you Derek? She asked her fellow residents and all of them gave the same answer; a shrug of shoulders. When the OR board showed no sign of his name she finally decided to page him. As she was nearing a phone, her eyes at last caught sight of him.
Derek and Owen were walking side by side out of the CT room, overlooking scans. She immediately rushed over to him.
"I'll never use a nail gun again," Owen stated.
"Yes, I'll have to-"Derek began, but soon cut off by an out of breath Meredith.
"I've been looking for you everywhere! Have you heard yet? The Chief, he's stepping down."
"Really?" Owen and Derek said in unison with great interest.
"Yes," Meredith answered, only looking at Derek, "and now is your chance to actually take the job this time. He'd make a great Chief, right Owen?"
Owen simply gave her a crooked smile, thinking he would make a better one.
"Bittersweet news, but I'll gladly take the job." Derek said as he brushed lips with Meredith.
Owen excused himself from the couple, and went off in search of Cristina. Surely she would think he'd make a great chief. He lightly jogged toward the elevator and called out, "hold it." A familiar foot stopped the elevator doors from closing, that foot belonging to Cristina.
"Hey," she said as Owen slid into the elevator.
"You hear? The Chief is retiring." he questioned.
"Yeah. Looks like the pretty boys are going to duke it out again." She said shaking her head.
"I'm not a pretty boy," Owen said, implying that he too was going to run for Chief.
Cristina raised one eye brow, "You want to run for Chief?"
Owen was a little startled by the question; he straightened up his white lab coat and asked, "What? You don't think I'll make a good Chief?"
"No. I think you'll make an excellent, badass Chief of Surgery," she said with honesty, "but why would you want to? It's too much paperwork, and not enough action in the OR."
"Wait," Owen said puzzled, "So at no point in your career do you want to be Chief?"
"Nope. Head of Cardio is my calling. Can you imagine? Nothing but heart surgeries? I can and it'll be like heaven."
Owen chuckled, "You really are obsessed with the heart aren't you."
"Me plus cardio equals soul mates. If you wanna run for Chief, go for it."
Owen shook his head in amusement, "So you think I got a good chance?"
"Without a doubt. Sloan does not hold a candle to you and you'll blow McDreamy and his hair right out of the water."
And with no more words spoken they kissed fervently until Cristina reached her stop and she reluctantly exited the elevator.
Derek finished removing nails from a patient's brain when he decided to take the trip across the long bridge to speak with Dr. Webber. Once again he found himself wanting to get his vote. In his mind he was going over a formula of words to present to the Chief. He had no doubt in his mind that the Chief would back him up. After all he was still the great surgeon the Chief was going to give the job to several years ago. In fact, better, but he still felt he needed that extra cushion. When he finally surfaced from his thoughts and allowed his eyes to look up from the floor he saw Owen shaking hands with Chief and exit his office. He paused in his tracks.
"Rambo is running for Chief." He muttered to himself. Rather than bump into Owen on the bridge he spun around in search of his wife. While riding the elevator he began sizing up the competition. Mark was just in the running for the thrills, it did not really matter to him if he won Chief or not. His teenage self was just being a copy cat and the board would see right through whatever charades he would play out. Derek was undaunted by Mark. Owen however, was one talented Trauma surgeon with surgical techniques that blew your mind. With him in the running the game changed completely. He would need a solid game plan during his interview with the board. This army surgeon was going to give him a run for his money. Any other surgeons in the running were average old Joes. It was sad but Seattle Grace hospital surgeons were ranked in true high school fashion. Mark was the only pretty boy in Derek's eyes and considered him and Owen the "it" guys.
He found Meredith in the cafeteria and told her the news.
Later in the residents' locker room Meredith brought up the running for Chief to Cristina.
"So I heard Owen is running for Chief." She said as she slipped on a wool sweater, "that's unexpected."
"Why? He's more than qualified. He'll make an excellent Chief," Cristina said as she zipped up her jeans.
"Maybe. Derek has a lot under his belt. It'll be tough to compete with." She said in her biased opinion.
Cristina smiled "Don't under estimate the badassness Owen holds. He's been in the game as long as Derek. His experience and innovative techniques will blow the hospital board away."
"Derek's been through the process before. He knows what to expect," Meredith as she slipped on her boots. "After all the board chose him once, I'm sure they'll do it again."
"Oh. You mean the board will remember how they gave him an opportunity and in the end he doubted his abilities to carry out being Chief," Cristina countered as she slipped on her jacket.
Meredith pursed her lips, "Shut up. My husband is going to kick your husband's ass."
Cristina burst out laughing, "McDreamy, can dream on."
"Whatever," Meredith said grabbing her tote bag, "Let's go get our drink at Joe's."
- - - - - - - - - -
The hospital board would be conducting their interviews for Chief of Surgery in one week. This meant that Derek and Owen would spend their days showboating in the OR. It was like they were battling to be captain of the football team, or class president. All in attempts to show the Dr. Webber and the rest of the hospital why each would make the best Chief.
At one point Derek and Owen got caught up in the race for Chief. At one point they stopped seeing it as a friendly competition. Their quaint friendship was pushed aside.
One morning while Derek was walking into the hospital he over heard a few interns talking about three difficult surgeries Owen pulled off using a new cutting edge technique and in record time at that. He could not help but be jealous of the fascination that shown in their eyes over Owen. He later got details of his surgeries from a scrub nurse and had a few words while meeting him in the pit.
"Heard about your surgeries," Derek said as he slipped on latex gloves, "you know using such hazardous unorthodox methods can risk a number of complications causing permanent damage to the patient."
Owen was slightly taken back, "Those unorthodox methods saved three lives last night."
"This time they did. Those methods are dubbed as risky for a reason."
Before Owen could unleash on Derek, the sound of the ambulance siren drowned out their little chat. When the doors flung open revealing a car crash victim Owen suppressed the conversation he and Derek shared.
Another moment a slew of exchanged words occurred Derek had just got done receiving praise from the current Chief Webber. As he left, leaving Derek alone, Owen put in his two cents.
"Shepherd, you are one talented Neurosurgeon," Owen said as he approached
"Thank you," Derek said flatly.
"But a great Chief needs to have a well-rounded background with general surgery."
From then on they did not speak to each other unless it was necessary or about a patient. The running for Chief was turning them into pompous jocks. They were bashing each other like high school teenagers, instead of acting like men. Dr. Webber noticed but this time did not intervene or give them a pep talk. Instead he simply observed and would take it into consideration on just who would get his vote.
The day interviews were being conducted Derek was dressed in a fitted charcoal grey Versace suit with a white button down underneath, finished off with a matching grey tie. He was clean shaven and hair brushed and groomed as if he were a movie star. It was as though he walked right off the cover of a GQ magazine. All the female interns, residents, and nurses were swooning over him. Today people became a little more lost in his eyes than usual. Even Mark had to give the man credit, he dressed well. Meredith took notice and slight jealousy rushed through. Before he walked through the glass doors, she pressed her lips against his for luck, but mostly to remind those who were swooning over him that he were married.
Once he stepped through the conference room doors he began his presentation. He spoke of exciting electronics that he felt would better the hospital. He touched on all his experiences as a doctor and how he was well and ready to take the reigns of such a high powered metropolitan hospital. He played up his successful career as a neurosurgeon and his major medical breakthrough in treating inoperable malignant gliomas – the Shepherd method. Overall Derek gave a more than adequate presentation and to the members of the board appeared to have the appropriate answer to each question. He felt confident he sealed the deal.
When Owen was up to bat, he emerged from around the corner with folder in hand. He was dressed in a sleek black Armani suit with a white button down accompanied underneath. It surprised the hell out of Mark, and thought, who knew army surgeon badass could dress? Owen groomed his facial hair, not removing it but trimming it down to small stubble. His auburn hair was feathered up nicely. He had the same effect on the women as he walked by. All of them taking in deep breaths, smelling his intoxicating aftershave. He did great justice to his suit, it clung to him nicely, especially over his broad shoulders, and the female onlookers got lost in imagining what masculine built lay underneath. Cristina was un-phased by the other women swooning over him. She knew he only had sexy eyes for her and no woman in that hospital dared to feel the wrath of Cristina.
Before walking through the doors revealing the board members he gave Cristina a wink. He started his presentation giving a much needed praise to Dr. Chief Webber, and vowed to maintain the greatness he established. He spoke of his medical experiences in the army, the innovations he built, great responsibility and how his quick thinking would play well into being Chief. He let it be known of his proficient familiarity of general surgery, and how his time spent in the army resulted in seeing almost every medical injury possible. He made sure to let them know he ran an efficient trauma department. Owen answered all of the interview questions without any hesitation or hints of nervousness in his voice. He felt he hit this interview out of the park.
The night before the next Chief of Surgery was to be announced both men fell asleep in their lovers arms thinking when they awoke they would hold the newly title of Chief to Seattle Grace Hospital.
Dr. Webber did not want a big audience outside his office. He discretely paged Derek and Owen at different times during the day, informing them if they got the job or not.
It was nearing the end of the day when Owen and Derek crossed paths. Cristina and Meredith were both leaning against the nurses' stations and their ears perked up to hear which one of them made Chief.
"Congratulations," they both said and extended their hands in unison. It was then that both men realized neither of them got the job. "So you didn't-then who-not Mark!" They said yet again together.
Speaking of the devil, Mark came walking down the corridor in their direction.
Derek quickly asked, "You got Chief? God, please tell me no."
For a moment Mark considered toying with the two men but felt they had enough, "Nope. If you too actually paid attention to the others in the race, you would have realized I withdrew a week ago."
Owen was baffled, "Then who got Chief?"
"Oh don't tell me the Chief backed out?" Cristina said in annoyance, jumping into the conversation.
"No, he's officially retired now. Your new Chief of Surgery is standing right over there," Mark said as he pointed to a surgeon surrounded by senior nurses. He took their responses to make his exit and go and meet a pregnant Lexie in the lobby leaving all four of them with their mouths agape. When their initial shock left them they all burst out laughing hysterically at how unexpected this was. None of them bothered to look at the other competition, they automatically assumed it was between Hunt and Shepherd, and in the end looked like asses for doing so.
When the laughter finally settled Derek and Owen returned to the gentlemen they were accustomed to being. They apologized for any snide remarks during the running for Chief and how they truly respected one another as surgeons.
Cristina and Meredith were already in street clothes, waiting for their men to return so they could venture to good ol' Joe's bar. When Derek and Owen returned, all four of them made their way out. As they passed by the new Chief congratulations were sent out.
"Congratulations John," Owen muttered as he nodded his way. Before the new Chief could respond, Owen was already walking away, when Derek interrupted, "Congratulation Jerry."
Jim Nelson did not bother correcting them. After all he was Chief of Surgery of Seattle Grace Hospital now. He had many years to correct them and turn this hospital's demeanor from high school to adult. It was why he was surrounded by senior nurses. They truly knew each surgeon in the hospital and knew Jim was perfect for the job. It also helped their pockets when they wagered on him to win.
Meanwhile at Joe's Owen and Derek were taking a swig of their beers, while Cristina sipped her vodka tonic, and Meredith slurped her cosmopolitan.
"Well, at least a neurosurgeon won," Derek said.
"Eh, I didn't want to be Chief anyway," Owen joked. "Too much paperwork and not enough time spent in the OR," he continued as he winked at Cristina.
The four of them spent the remainder of the night drinking and dancing the night away. Little did they know, tomorrow, Jim Nelson would make clear that under his reign no surgeon would be hidden behind anyone's shadow.