DocNote: Hey there, Anatomy faithful. Just for the record, I didn't die. I had Appendicitis, and then a bought of writers' block that I think I just got over, but I'm back now. Updates may come slowly, so be sure to fill up my inbox with annoying reminders to update. I'm just getting back into the swing of things. How 'bout that Grey's Anatomy last Thursday, eh?

DISCLAIMER: Doc's real name is not Shonda, so she does not own Grey's Anatomy.

"You needed a Neuro consult, didn't you?" Why was he talking to her like absolutely nothing had happened? Why was he looking at her that way? You know the look. Like he's seen her naked. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall with Liz Lioness's chart in hand. He arched a brow slightly in question. "Since you don't actually have a neurosurgeon anymore, the Chief thought maybe I'd like to come and take a case. Is there a problem, Doctor Grey?" Meredith simply stared at him. Derek Shepherd had flown in from New York for the sole reason of making her life hell, hadn't he?

Or, the rational part of Meredith's brain thought, he came for a Neuro consult. He was a neurosurgeon after all. "Yeah, I needed a Neuro consult." She stared blankly at him for a moment. He was wearing that grin of his, the one she used to love. In the back of her mind a part of her was relishing his smile, but she told it to shut up. Derek apparently didn't love her. And she didn't love him, either. Not anymore. Right?

Oh, God. Meredith shook her head slightly. Being pregnant was not a good thing. It was affecting her mind. Or at least that was what she was telling herself anyway. "Good. Then I found the right place." Derek cast the patient, a seven year old girl, a cautious glance. "I'd like another CT. The blood work came back clean, but I have my doubts. Can you do that for me, Doctor Grey?" And right on cue was the lump in her throat, though this time she was almost positive it was because of morning sickness...Or afternoon sickness. Whatever. She forced herself to swallow and gave what she hoped was a warm smile. Meredith was almost certain it came out as a sort of grimace.

"Yeah, I can do that." Derek shot her a curious glance before shrugging and exiting the room. Meredith retreated backwards until she met the chair in front of Liz's bed and flopped into it, rubbing her forehead slowly. "Who's that?" She looked up to see Liz staring pointedly at her. The patient looked to the door and back to Meredith, head tilted slightly to one side. "Is he your husband?" Nope, he definitely wasn't.

"That's Doctor Shepherd. He's your doctor now," she murmured, standing and beginning to transport Liz to CT. The girl gave a happy sort of grin as she leaned back against her pillows.

"Good. He seems nice. " Meredith sighed heavily as they headed down the hallway.

Nice. "Not exactly the adjective I would've used..." Nope. She would've used 'dreamy'. Or at least McHot.

Meredith gave a deep sigh as she stood behind the glass separating her from the CT room. Liz Lioness was one of the single most talkative pre-op patients she had ever met. She asked a lot of questions, pointless questions about the hospital and ones about Meredith herself, and nearly always seemed alert. It was strange, Meredith thought, because this kid had supposedly just gotten a concussion. Apparently she'd fallen off the top of the bleachers while practicing for some kind of school pep rally. Her parents were supposed to be coming in soon, but until then Meredith was this kid's sole familiar -or at least semi-familiar- face. And even though Liz asked a million pointless questions, she found herself smiling dully whenever her voice took on that adorable yet highly annoying high pitch.

"Hey." She turned as if scalded when Derek entered the room. He slid into a chair in front of the computer just as the image of Liz's brain appeared on the screen. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, rotating the picture slightly until the frontal lobe was visible. Doctor Shepherd heaved a sigh before pushing his wheeled chair backwards and allowing Meredith to take a look. "What do you see, Doctor Grey?"

She leaned forward, ignoring Derek's sigh while he leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. Meredith narrowed her eyes as she stared at the image, biting her lower lip faintly. "Blood clot on the optic nerve. Then that means...She can't see?" Derek stared at her cautiously, a sort of grim smile on his face.

"See here? The blood clot is putting pressure on the optic nerve." Meredith tilted her head slightly to one side. Derek was wheeling back and forth on his chair, a familiar sort of look in his eyes. He had an idea, Meredith knew. He was wearing that irritating, 'ask me about my idea' look that he had so often. Why did he always have ideas? Then Meredith realized that was probably why he was the boss, and she was the intern.

"What? You can fix it, can't you?" He inhaled deeply, tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "Doctor Shepherd..." His attention snapped back to her, a frown gracing his lips. His very full lips. Oh, God.

"So it's Doctor Shepherd now. Before, after you told me you didn't love me anymore after I hesitated, it was Derek. Now it's Doctor Shepherd. Okay." He stood, glancing out at the CT room where Liz was chatting away with one of the nurses. Talkative, yes, but sightless. "It was Derek after we had sex. We had sex, Doctor Grey. I think we can be civilized and call each other by our first names."

"Let's not start this now," Meredith muttered dully, jabbing her finger in the direction of the computer screen. "There's a little girl out there that needs your help. And besides, you just called me Doctor Grey." Derek got to his feet and made to exit the room, not without turning to call over his shoulder.

"Prep her for surgery, Doctor Grey."

"But-"

"You'll see."

GA

"They're going to cut open my head?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you can't see." Meredith sounded exasperated. Liz seemed awfully calm about the entire situation. They were in the elevator, heading towards the OR. "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't see?" The patient looked thoughtful before offering a small smile.

"I can see. I see colors and shapes and people. Just not the way you see them." Meredith opened her mouth to speak, confused as to what she was saying. Just then the doors flew open and Derek's surgical crew surrounded the bed, whisking Liz away mid-conversation. Meredith hung back for a brief moment before surging forward, following them. She burst into the scrub room just as Derek tied his mask on. He arched a brow at her and she gave a look. It seemed that Derek still knew what he many looks meant, as he simply dropped the subject.

"Have you seen the Head of Plastics, Doctor Grey?" Derek asked a moment later. Meredith had been trying to multitask, tying her mask on while scrubbing her hands. Surprised by his question, she dropped her surgical mask into the sudsy water before turning to stare blankly at him.

"Mark?" Meredith blurted out. "Why do you need Mark?"

Derek gestured through the window, where Liz was being put under Anesthesia. "That little girl out there? We're cutting her head open. Here forehead actually, just above the optic nerve. I need to get in there, remove the tumor, and then repair the optic nerve." He paused, inhaling deeply as if he was highly regretting what he was about to say. "Plastics is, in my opinion, not as essential a field as neurology. But Doctor Sloan will do a facial reconstruction, and make sure the patient will be able to blink properly. Now, have you seen him?"

Meredith was getting that annoying, voice caught in your throat feeling again. But this time, it wasn't attributed to old feelings bubbling back to the surface. It was because that, well, this was Derek. And he wanted Mark in on his surgery. Mark, the ex-best friend who basically stole Derek's wife away from him, and who was now currently dating Derek's former dirty mistress, Meredith. This would be the surgery from hell if anything got out. And, knowing the nurses of Seattle Grace, Derek had already heard rumors about the hospital staff's love life. Meredith just hoped her love life wasn't involved.

"Fine. Just like him to be late." Derek edged toward the door of the OR, pushing it open with his back. Meredith opened her mouth on the prospect of defending Mark, but thought better of it. Besides, Derek was already in the Operating Room having a nurse put his gloves on.

"I can't be alone with Derek," Meredith muttered to herself as she fished the wet mask out of the sink and began to re-wash her hands. "I can't be alone with Mark and Derek." She paused, looking thoughtful. "I could be alone with Mark, but apparently that's not an option..."

"That's always an option." She felt her shoulders hunch upward at the familiar voice. Meredith didn't even need to turn around to know Mark had entered the room. In a minute, he was alongside her, scrubbing his hands. "Maybe after we perform a medical miracle with my ex-best friend and your ex-boyfriend we can be alone." He gave her a suggestive sort of look, to which she simply turned off the water faucet, a little harder then she would've liked.

"Just don't kill him, okay? He's still Derek, and he still looks at me." Meredith paused, reveling in the fact that yes, the Doctor McDreamy was still looking at her after all that had happened, "But I can deal with it. I really don't need to be suturing up your face again."

Mark gave an indignant look as he followed her toward the OR. "I would never kill him. Hospitalize him maybe." He paused, frowning. "And if you recall, I sutured my own face. I don't trust interns." Meredith shot him a resentful glance before slipping into the OR. She was thankful that Mark left her a thirty second window to get in, get her gloves on, and get situated before he came bursting into the room.

"Doctor Sloan," Derek murmured, ten-blade already in hand. "Nice of you to join us. I thought I was going to have to do your job and mine all by myself." Behind his mask, Meredith could tell Derek was smirking. It was common knowledge that Derek Shepherd thought his specialty was more important then anyone else's. It was also common knowledge that he despised Plastics. She vaguely wondered whether he always disrespected plastic surgeons, or if it had happened after, you know, New York.

"Don't worry, Derek," Mark replied easily, sliding into position at the patient's left side. Derek was, of course, at the head of the operating table, with the skull flap already partially open. "I'm not going to have this girl go blind just because of your lack of Plastics knowledge." Meredith let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in; Mark hadn't been rude, not really, and Derek hadn't snapped back. The two Attendings made eye contact for a brief moment, before Derek spoke once more.

"It's a beautiful day to save lives." Meredith couldn't help but notice his gaze had fallen upon her again. "Let's have some fun." At first, the surgery seemed almost normal, if any surgery could be called normal. Back in the day, Meredith and Derek had scrubbed in on numerous neuro surgeries together. Many of them involved removing a tumor. That part, she'd seen before, so it was no surprise that her gaze automatically drifted to Mark as he worked.

It had nothing to do with the fact she was going out with him. Never. Mark was good with a scalpel. She had decided that a month ago, after witnessing one of their first surgeries together. But as he gently cut into Liz Lioness's eyelid, Meredith couldn't help but stare at his hands. It was a clean cut; it wouldn't leave a messy scar. She supposed it came with the territory of being a plastic surgeon, having clean cuts and a light touch. "You see this, Doctor Grey?"

Meredith nearly jumped at the familiar voice, but his tone was much more serious then usual. Mark was staring at her expectantly, and it was then that she realized he was talking about the surgery currently in progress. "The buildup of fluid?"

Mark nodded. "We'll need to drain that with suction." At his words, a suction straw was handed to him."I'll let you do the honors, Doctor Grey." Meredith blinked at his words. Now, it was unusual for Mark to let his interns scrub in, let alone have them actually perform part of a procedure. But then again, Meredith reminded herself, she was technically Derek's intern today.

She took the straw and carefully inserted it in the middle of the incision Mark had made. Meredith had to be careful, and hold the straw steady as the suction was turned on. "We only turn it up to 2.5 percent. Any more and we risk damage to the eyelid." The machine started up and the fluid began being sucked up from inside the eyelid to a disposal container hooked up to the other end of the straw. It looked kind of gross, she noted, the fluid mixed with blood being sucked out. But she was a surgeon, and 'gross' was code for 'cool' for a surgical intern.

Derek's gaze had drifted from his hands at Mark's words. For a brief moment, he thought Mark had brought in his own intern. But no, he was just stealing his, like he stole nearly everything else Derek owned. He paused, rotating his wrist as he handed off his scalpel for a laser tool. "Doctor Sloan, I believe that's my intern. She'd benefit more from seeing a nerve reconstruction anyway."

Mark had been standing behind Meredith, monitoring her progress and nodding every so often. He kept his distance, though, for fear that Derek might lunge across the operating table and tackle him if he so much as looked at Meredith. This relationship in secret thing was starting to get really irritating. "I think Doctor Grey would benefit from this end of the procedure as well, Derek."

"Doctor Shepherd," Derek corrected in an even tone. His gaze had drifted back to the surgery he was performing, though he was still talking while reconstructing the nerves. "And Grey is my intern. Therefore, she should be on this side of the table. Doctor Grey?"

"Well, Doctor Grey currently has her hand holding the suction straw. You know as well as I do, Doctor Shepherd, that if the straw is moved too hastily we can cause severe damage to the eye, and therefore, blindness." Mark paused, giving a smirk behind his mask. Meredith could tell Derek could tell Mark was smirking by the glint in his eyes.

Meredith was only aware that her fingers were shaking when Mark's hand latched around her wrist. "Meredith?" He murmured cautiously, taking hold of the suction straw with his other hand. "Slowly, carefully, we're going to pull this out. Okay?" She nodded slowly, barely registering the fact that her brain had sent a message to her hand to lift the straw out. Mark's hand was still clasped around her wrist as she pulled it out, dripping some odd, dark colored fluid onto the OR floor. "You okay?"

Meredith swallowed hard, gaze darting to Derek, who was staring at them. He was shooting her the same, disgusted sort of glare he'd given her when she accidentally confessed to sleeping with Mark the first time. And, for some reason Meredith couldn't quite understand, and she really wished she didn't feel this way, she was hurt by it. She promised herself she would never be hurt by Derek Shepherd again. Apparently, that was a promise she couldn't exactly keep. "I-I'm fine." Both Derek and Mark knew that tone. Meredith was totally not fine.

She gently pulled her hand away from Mark's, resulting in the suction straw falling to the ground. "Sorry," she murmured in a quiet voice. "I-" and suddenly she was met with a whirlwind of different types of pain. First of all, her head felt like it was going to explode. Her stomach was shooting off throbs of pain, and to top it off she felt like she was going to throw up. Again.

"Meredith?" She was only vaguely aware that both Mark and Derek had said her name. Mark was the one to speak next. "Derek, keep working. You've got a girl's vision in the balance. I'll take care of this. Okay?"

There was a moment of silence. The tension could be cut with a knife. That silence was broken when Meredith suddenly felt her head spinning, and then she collapsed, losing consciousness. "Okay," Derek finally echoed. "Okay."

"Can we get a stretcher in here?" There was the scuffling of shoes and then someone burst into the room with the gurney.

"What happened?" The intern who'd brought the gurney murmured in a cautious tone. "Meredith? Oh shit." Half of Derek's surgical team had moved to lift and transport the fallen intern onto the stretcher and into the hallway.

"Yeah," Mark stated, looking Cristina over. "You know something we don't, Stevens?" She fell quiet, still moving alongside the stretcher as it moved through the hallways. "Stevens?"

Izzie looked up, words coming out as barely more then a whisper. "She's pregnant." Izzie swore the entire surgical floor must have heard her, for everything fell silent. She cast a glance at Mark, whose expression faded from stunned to calm, cool, and collected in an instant.

A pause and then Mark's voice booming over the group of doctors. "Someone get Addison Montgomery here fast!"