"There are two kinds of secrets. The ones we keep from others and the ones we keep from ourselves." ― Frank Warren

"Okay Mr. Cooper… All scans indicate that the tumor in your left temple stopped growing, thanks to the radiation treatment we gave you." Bailey Shepherd said to the middle aged man fidgeting with his hands nervously, he watched Dr. Shepherd as he tapped on the screen of his tablet. Bailey looked up and watched the man giving a tense yet confused look. "That's all good news Mr. Cooper… But we will be repairing the murmur in your heart before we proceed to remove the tumor… Once it's removed no more migraines and your speech will be restored back to normal, but we can't do all that until we get your heart healthy enough to sustain the surgery" He told his patient giving him a reassuring smile. Mr. Cooper simply nodded. "Cardio will be in a moment to-." He trailed of as the auburn haired doctor came into his line of vision. "Ah! And here's she is… Your cardio consult" He said gesturing towards the doctor standing by the door along with her intern hovering behind her.

Ava nervously lingered by the door. She had been trying to avoid Dr. Shepherd for the past few weeks since their first board meeting together; eventually she knew she'd bump into him sooner or later.

"Dr. Avery?..." her intern whispered load enough to snap her out of her trance.

"Hh…Hello I'm Dr. Avery I'm your cardio consult" she finally said. "Now Mr. Cooper I'm just going to take a listen to your heart" She said as she approached the patient and placed her stethoscope on Mr. Cooper's chest. Mr. Cooper simply gave her a nod and watched her as she silently listened to his heart. Ava looked up from her patient to and looked eyes with Bailey, who gave her a smile and a wink. A little caught off guard, she blushed as awkwardly lowered her head. "Uh… Um well Mr. Cooper I uh… I would like to run a holographic projection of your heart to take a look at your murmur … It sounds a little larger than anticipated" She said nervously trying not to look at Dr. Shepherd. "Dr. Turner here will prep you". She said handing over her tablet to the blonde intern standing beside her, "Get his labs done ASAP, please I want to get him in the OR today" She instructed the young intern.

"Right away Dr. Avery". The petite blonde intern responded.

Ava once again focused her attention towards the patient."Any questions for me?". Mr. Cooper shook his head no. "Not much of talker are you?" She said looking up at Bailey, who had been focusing on the tablet in his hands.

"Tumor is on the left side of his brain.." He said lazily without looking up.

"Soo…." Ava asked questionably. Confused to where he was trying to get at.

Bailey looked up momentarily, before looking down at his tablet again. "Left side of the brain controls speech… Tumor is on the left". He let out a small laugh; finally looking up he turned to his patient. "Ok Mr. Cooper, I'm all done here, next time we see each other will be in the OR". He said leaving the room, giving Ava a mocking smile as he walked out.

"Right…Okay…" Ava said doing the same, feeling a little embarrassed as she also left the room. She abruptly stopped as she noticed Bailey charting by the nurses' station. She approached him as her heart pounded nervously in her chest. "So…" She cleared her throat to which Bailey turned around to face her giving her a smile and slightly tilting his chin up. "I… uh will let you know how extensive Mr. Cooper's murmur is after I take a look… then we can decide on an approach together" She said stepping closer to the nurses' station grabbing another charged tablet paying more attention to the screen to avoid Bailey's stare.

"I look forward to that" he replied staring at the olive skinned woman typing away on the tablet.

"Sure no problem" Ava replied without looking up walking away her eyes never leaving the tablet's screen.

"Dr. Avery" Bailey called after her. He watched as Ava stopped and turned around and gave him an annoyed look. "Listen…" He began as he slowly approached her. "You getting on the same case as I am didn't have anything to do, with me kissing you the other night did it?" he said as he stopped in front of her with a self-assured look on his face.

"What?..." Ava replied a little taken aback.

"Just so you know it was a great kiss… amazing I may add" He smiled to her taking a step closer so that they were only inches apart. "And I know you enjoyed it, and I know you want me to kiss you again" he said licking his lower lip.

"Hold up!" Ava replied waving her had up in a stop motion in front of the other doctor. "Ju..Just stop talking…" She grinned at Dr. Shepherd as he slowly grinned back at her. "I did not get in on Mr. Cooper's case because you kissed me" she shook her head at him.

"Okay" he replied crossing his arms across his chest with a confident look plastered on his face.

Ava immediately took offense by his self-assurance."Are you mental enough tha…that you think that I would re-arrange my whole day to get in on a case just because…What!? You're in it?" she scolded him. She watched him open his mouth as to further imply that he was right by her reaction to his assumption, but she cut him off waving both her hands in front of her. "Stop!… just don't… just let me do my job and once I'm done you can do yours!"And with that she turned around and briskly walked away.

Bailey let out a laugh as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. He couldn't stop thinking about kissing her, touching her let alone looking at her when he got the chance. He turned around to head the opposite direction and seen that Dr. Turner was trying to hid the amuse look on her face of what she just witnessed. "Dr. Turner" Bailey nodded at the blonde doctor as he made his way down to the nurses' station.

"I'm starving" the blonde intern said taking a seat beside the auburn haired doctor and un-wrapped her sandwich

Ava paid no attention to the blonde intern doctor sitting next to her she was glaring at Bailey Shepherd who was sitting from across the room, who was engaged in an intimate conversation with the other doctors sitting with him. She slightly jumped when she heard her phone ring, reaching into her lab coats pocket; she glanced at the familiar number flashing on the screen. She quickly pressed the ignore button placing the device back into her pocket and resumed glaring at Bailey Shepherd.

"So about tonight I should be off by-" The blonde intern began. But was suddenly interrupted by her the woman sitting next to her.

"Look at him". She gestured towards Bailey. "He.. HE!...he's so obnoxious". She said while stabbing her vegetables on her lunch tray with her fork repeatedly, still glaring at Bailey as he ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"Who?". The blonde doctor asked with a questionable look on her face as she watched the woman sitting next to her clearly annoyed at something or someone. She followed Ava's gaze slowly and discreetly turning her head towards to who she was staring at. "Oh! You mean Doctor blue eyes over there… Just bang him again… get it over with…then maybe you'll stop your little school obsession." the blonde doctor teased.

"I'm not going to ban… Just stop talking" the cardio surgeon said as turned to look at the blonde woman sitting next to her. Dr. Shay Turner was the first friend she made at Grey-Sloan Memorial, she furrowed her forehead. "It's just that… You can't go around meeting a girl at a bar then take her home…" She said turning back to looking at Bailey. "…give her the best sex she's ever had by the way, kissing her at a roof top the next day… and when you see her again; totally ignore her and pretend that it didn't happen, that nothing happened… because it did… it happened… and possibly I want it to happen again… and again… and again..." she rambled on placing her elbows on the table then setting her face on her hands letting out a sigh.

The blonde intern looked between her fellow surgeon and the neuro surgeon sitting across the room. She knew that he wanted the same thing, what her friend didn't know is when she wasn't watching him, he was watching her. With the same look of desperation and desire she had on her face at the moment."If I had a dollar for every one night stand that ignored me… I'd be able to afford better a lunch". She said trying to lighten the mood, as she threw her sandwich on her tray. Ava gave her bothered look while shaking her head at the intern. "What…? I have social anxiety, having sex is better than talking sometimes" the blonde intern replied.

Ava's pager went off, and she looked at the page "Mr. Cooper… I have to go… Catch you later for drinks" She said as she got up, grabbing her tray and dumping it on her way out of the cafeteria.

Bailey watched as Ava walked across the cafeteria room and exited out the doors.

"You been staring at that girl for the last past 3 weeks… are you going to make a move, because your staring is getting pathetic" Zola teased her younger brother from the other side of the table.

"50 bucks he won't fester up the courage to ask her out" Sophia laughed, knowing Bailey Shepherd was no Casanova. Sure he was good looking, great hair, hypnotic eyes, nice body; but even he was clueless on how he made woman swoon just by smiling at them.

"100 say's he will" Zola shot back.

"Deal" Sophia replied as she and Zola shook on it.

Bailey looked at the two women with aggravation; his pager went off; looking at the code flashing on the narrow screen as he stood up from the table. "I'll leave you two to further bet on my love life… I have a patient to check on" He said walking away towards the cafeteria exit.

"Make me proud! Don't let me 100 bucks short…Grow a pair Bailey!" Zola called after him, before laughing hysterically along with the fellow plastic surgeon sitting beside her.

"What happened!?". Ava asked as she stepped into Mr. Coopers room while the nurses frantically lowered his bed to a flat position.

"Bp is 180/100. He was complaining of chest pains earlier" One of nurses informed the cardio fellow over her shoulder.

Ava quickly ripped went over to the echo machine by the patients bed and took one look at the results. "He's going into cardiac arrest… bring in the crash cart." She said grabbing her long hair and tying in to a pony tail. "Paige Dr. Shepherd!" she ordered.

"Already paged!". A nurse replied

The nurses frantically wheeled in the cart and handed Ava the paddles "Push 100" as she placed the paddles on the man's chest "Ready… Clear!" She looked up at the monitors with a flat line crossing the screen "200!... Clear" never taking her eyes off the monitor looking for some type of rhythm to cross the screen. "Come one… Mr. Cooper… Come…". The silent room was suddenly filled with faint sound of Mr. Coopers pulse beeping on the monitor. Ava let out a sigh of relief. "Okay… we need to get him up to diagnostics… I want to get that holographic imaging going before we open him up… can you page my intern Dr Turner I need the extra set of hands" she ordered the one of the nurses.

"Right away Dr. Avery" the nurse replied as stepped out into the nurses' station.

Just then Bailey walked in as Ava and a nurse were wheeling out Mr. Cooper's bed. He exchanged a look with her as if to explain to him what had just happened. "He went into cardiac arrest… I… I need to get him up stairs for further asses his heart…" She explained wheeling the bed out the room and down the hall. She looked at the nurse at the nurses' station "Did you page Dr. Turner… I need to get this done ASAP" She scolded the nurse

"I'll try again Dr. Avery" the nurse timidly replied.

"I'll help… He's my patient too" Bailey said taking the other end of the bed. Ava looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Besides… You can get a closer look at me, rather from across the cafeteria room" He said winking at Ava.

Ava blushed and hung her head so he wouldn't see that she was clearly embarrassed. "I… I wasn't… Just push the button" she said as they stopped in front of the elevator doors. He gave her a smug look as he reached over and pressed it.

Awkward silence drifted in the OR. Ava carefully threaded the catheter through Mr. Coopers chest. Slowly twisting her wrist outward in a rhythmic motion.

"So..." Bailey broke the silence. "Why cardio?... I mean any profession in the world... why be a typical generic Avery and choose cardio?" he asked as he watched abruptly stop what she was doing and look up at him her blue-green eyes narrowing once she met his gaze.

She looked down to the patient's chest and resumed to what she was doing. "Because... the heart is complex organ, it sustains all our organs, it keeps us going..." She trailed off as she finished inserting the catheter. She looked up and gave a nod to a nurse at the far end of the OR indicating to dim the lights. The holographic machine was turned on by another as if working in sync with the first one who dimmed the lights.

Mr. Coopers heart slowly appeared before them in a hologram form. "But..." She started off again reaching towards the hologram of the patient's heart slightly rotating it. "It's beautiful..." she began letting out a sigh, Bailey slowly turned his head from the heart projection to Ava.

"The heart is the only organ in the body that gives it away...". She said glancing at Bailey, before closing her eyes. "If you just listen to the rhythmic sound of the heart, your able to tell if a person is nervous, scared... in love... every rhythmic pace is different... It's like every emotion has its own song". Opening her eyes again she reached to the heart turned it, to reveal the murmur had torn a small hole in the left ventricle.

Bailey watched her swallowing nervously as his own heart began to rapidly pace. He shook his head as to snap himself out of his trance. He lovingly watched her as she examined and assessed the tear.

"I've never heard it described that way..." He grinned behind his surgical mask, catching Ava's attention as she smiled at him behind her mask, before turning towards the Mr. Coopers heart projection.

"Okay... well looks like the tear is small.. I should be able to repair it and fix the murmur without further damage... let's prep him" she said to the nurse standing next to her.

"All done here..." Ava said as she sewed up the last stitch closing up the patient. "Thanks for assisting Dr. Shepherd, I'll leave you to do your work" she said stepping away from the OR table and walking towards the scrub room.

"Dr. Avery?..." Bailey called out, he watched as Ava turned look at him. He hesitated for a second. "Since all my interns are busy with my post ops, would you do me the honor of helping me removing this patient's tumor". He asked nervously.

Ava blinked a few times before a little caught of guard. "Su..Sure... I'd love too, can't say that I ever assisted on removing a tumor from a man's brain" She said as she nodded at the nurse to put on a new set of gloves. She walked over to Bailey's side.

She watched him intently as he opened up Mr. Cooper's skull exposing his brain. Moving his hands effortlessly around the patients skull had her in trance. She carefully watched his technique. When the sudden sound of a nurse calling out her name made her go back to reality

"Wha...what?" she asked the nurse.

"Your phone Dr. Avery... incoming phone call from a Boston area code again... do I answer?" the scrub nurse asked the female doctor.

"No...no just ignore it" she shook her head and returned her attention to Bailey.

Bailey gave her a sideways look. "That's the third time since we been in the OR that they've called you..." he questioned her.

Ava shrugged her shoulders. "If it's important who... whoever...it is will leave a message". She replied nervously, he could tell that she whoever it was she was trying to avoid, so she changed the subject. "So... Why neuro? is it a shepherd generic thing?" she laughed under her mask.

Bailey let out a laugh and shook his head at her question. "No actually... the brain reminds me of cotton candy". He looked over to Ava who gave him a disturbed look, he let out laugh. "When I was a kid I used to sit up in the OR along with Zola and we used to watch, my mom and dad operate... But whenever I watched my dad operate on someone the exposed brain looked a piece of cotton candy from way up in the gallery" He explained.

Ava smiled and looked up at him, locking eyes with Bailey. "That's a wonderful memory, must have been fun childhood" she replied.

Bailey nodded in approval. "My parents meet, feel in love… probably conceived me in this hospital… I don't know, nor do I want to know, but yes this hospital is full of wonderful childhood memories" he said smiling behind his surgical mask. "I got the entire tumor out; I got it from here if you want to head home". Ava simply nodded and handed the suction to a nurse standing nearby and backed away from the OR table. Bailey watched as she disappeared into the scrub room. Zola was right he needed to grow a pair.

Walking out of Mr. Cooper's room, Bailey headed towards the nurses' station, he set down the tablet to charge and ran his hands down his face in exhaustion. He leaned on the nurses' station and his mind started to drift elsewhere, to her. His attention slowly turned towards the hall as he caught a glimpse of a pair of high heel knee high boots clicking down the hall towards him. He pushed himself of the nurses' station and stood upright. He glanced at the woman coming down the hall her long auburn hair perfectly curled cascading down past her shoulders; end of the curls stopping right under her rib cage.

"Hey". He greeted the woman as she stopped in front of him. "I thought you'd be long gone, home" he said eyeing her. She was caring her purse in one hand and a black leather jacket in the other. She had her makeup done; her red lipstick matched the red top she was wearing perfectly, he looked her up and down and thought how her black jeans that hugged her body perfectly. She looked like she was going somewhere.

"I... uh... was looking for Shay... I... I mean Dr. Turner, we were supposed to meet up for drinks after I wanted to know what was the hold up, she wasn't answering her phone" She replied as she dropped her purse and slipped on her jacket. Tossing her hair over her shoulder before picking up her purse again.

"Well can't say that I've seen her... " Bailey replied slipping his hands inside his lab coat.

"Oh okay..." She replied as she bit her bottom lip. "I'll... just... keep... looking" She told him softly as her gaze drifted towards his lips. "Uh…Goodnight Dr. Shepherd" she said as she began to walk away.

Bailey quickly turned and grabbed her arm leading her away from the nurses' station. Once they were out of sight her grabbed her hand and placed it over his chest. She looked up at him questionably. "What you said about the heart... every emotion has its own rhythm... This... this is what my heat does every time I see you" he softly said his had still over hers on his chest both feeling the fast palpitations of his heart.

She let out a silent gasp, as she closed her eyes as she felt every rhythm of his heart. He was nervous. She pressed her forehead to his as she wrapped her other hand around his neck. "You make me lightheaded... Every time I see you... I feel lightheaded" She whispered. She dropped her hands to her side, as he slid both of his to around her narrow waist. He walked her a few steps until her back hit the door behind her; sliding her hand behind her back she located the door latch, turning it downwards opening the door; she led him inside the on call room.

Bailey quickly closed the door behind him never breaking his gaze off of Ava. She put both hands on his face and lightly kissed him as he did the same. He grabbed her purse off of her shoulder dropping it on the floor next to her feet; he continued to take off of her jacket. She followed his lead and removed his lab coat. He deepened their kiss as he reached for her face. She moaned against his lips and tugged on his scrub top. He broke the kiss and lightly stroked her cheek. "You wanna do this?" he asked between her lips. She gave him a reassuring nod, as he began to kiss her again.

Bailey collapsed next to Ava; both heavily panting. She put her head on his chest; he lightly kissed the top of her head. They both jolted when they suddenly heard a loud ring coming from Ava's purse.

She turned on her side and reached in her purse pressing the ignore button before dropping it on her purse. "I should probably go…" Ava said as she lightly kissed him on the lips before getting up and reaching down for the articles of clothing scattered on the floor. The sound of her phone ringing again, Ava suddenly felt guilty come over she kept her back turned towards Bailey as slipped on her panties and then grabbing her jeans.

"Are you going to get that?" Bailey asked still laying on the bed as he watched her slip her pants back on. "It rang five times the whole time we were in here" he stated a matter of fact as he smiled at her. She turned around to face him her disheveled hair covering her naked breasts, he let out a sigh, as she slowly approached him and climbed into bed with him; kissing him on his temple, as she placed her hand over his chest both smiling at each other.

"Nope…They'll leave a message if it's important" She repeated her previous statement from earlier; on queue her phone beeped indicating a new message, she turned her head her smile disappearing as she glared at the device in her purse.

"Well I guess it was important" Bailey said as he stroked her hair. She turned to face him swallowing nervously. Knowing perfectly who was on the other end of that message.

"Yeah… I guess so…" she replied looking at him with a half smile, realizing that eventually she would have to tell him the truth… as the truth finally had left a message.

Bailey leaned in and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him. He chuckled as he stroked her hair. "I can feel your heart beating fast… you must be in love with me". He teased as he kissed the top of her head.

Ava half smiled. Those weren't heart beats of love… she was afraid.

{Next chapter will reveal what deep dark secret Ava is keeping from Bailey}