When Lexie's finished with her charts, she gets paged and I'm left to my own devices again. I wander over to the surgery board, and see what's going on there.
Amelia's in OR-3 working on a brain bleed. Derek's beside her in OR-2 working on another brain bleed, with a fractured forehead that he has to replace with a metal plate.
"Are you visiting someone or are med students getting younger every year?"
I turn to see a short, dark-haired doctor. Her white coat says Dr. Bailey. I remember Amelia talking about her. She is not one to mess with, apparently.
"Oh, I'm just visiting," I smile. "I'm with Amelia."
"The other Shepherd?
"Yes," I nod once. "She did mention some people called her that."
"Well she's in surgery," Dr. Bailey nods towards the board.
"Yeah," I reply. "Cerebral hemorrhage. She won't be done for awhile."
She stares at me and I remember that I'm not around doctors that I know, and this probably seems a bit weird to her.
"Oh, you're little Kati Freedman," she points, her face softening a bit. "I forgot. Amelia mentioned you were coming to visit."
"Yeah," I smile, holding out a hand. "It's nice to meet you…"
"Dr. Bailey," she smiles. "Miranda. So you grew up in St. Ambrose down in LA, huh?"
"Pretty much," I nod. "In between there and the clinic."
"Well I guess this isn't a big shock for you, then. Spending a summer vacation in a hospital," she laughs. "You a senior?"
"Oh, no," I shake my head. "I start at UCLA in September."
She raises an eyebrow. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Child, you must have skipped a couple grades because you look like you're about to start high school, not college."
I laugh. "Yeah, I've heard. I skipped third grade, but…I also started kindergarten a little earlier."
"Well good for you," she smiles. "You must be excited about UCLA. Studying medicine?"
"Of course," I smile.
"Gonna be a hard decade coming up on you," she says, with that motherly authority.
"Oh ease up, Bailey," Mark appears, flashing his grin. "Give the kid a break. She's still got a bit of summer vacation left."
He throws an arm around my shoulders, still grinning like an idiot. Although I'm sure that smile has always been a hit with the ladies.
"Dr. Sloan," Miranda says, by way of a greeting. "Didn't you have a facial reconstruction to do?"
"Just finished," he says, still grinning. "Went perfectly. She's gonna look great. Even better than she did before."
"Well of course," Miranda says, taking a chart from the nurse behind the nurse's station. "What else would we expect from the great and powerful Dr. Sloan?"
She gives him a dry look.
"Just perfection," Mark replies happily.
"It was nice to meet you, Kati," she says to me, and heads down the hallway.
"Ah, Bailey," Mark sighs as she leaves. "I think she always took it personally that she and I never got close."
I frown, looking up at his face. "Mark, obviously you're not an ugly guy, but…not every woman wants to sleep with you."
His face is stuck with that confident but cocky smile.
"Ah, come on," he says, squeezing my shoulders. "Yeah they do."
"How did you end up with someone as awesome as Lexie?" I ask him drily.
He laughs, turning us to walk down the hall. "I just got very, very lucky."
"Wow," I nod. "That's the first non-cocky thing you've said since I met you."
He laughs good-naturedly, steering us down a hallway.
He leads us through a door that leads to a staircase.
"This is illegal," I remind him, because I'm aware that this staircase leads to a gallery.
"Ah, no one will notice," he waves a hand. "We'll say you're a med student. Technically, we wouldn't be lying."
He grins and holds open the door at the top of the stairs.
I smile and walk inside.
Galleries aren't huge—usually just maybe six benches, enough to fit about 24 people. Although Mom says, unless it's a high-profile surgery, galleries are never full.
There are only three other doctors in here. Arizona, a doctor I don't know, and Meredith.
Arizona and Meredith give Mark a look but wave us over anyway.
"Let me guess," Arizona says, as I sit down beside her. "It's technically not lying if you say she's a med student?"
Mark's response is a grin.
"That's true," Meredith shrugs.
Someone says something else but I don't hear it; I'm too enthralled in the surgery going on below. It's Amelia, her hands covered in blood and neurosurgical glasses with a fibre-optic headlight attached. I've only gotten to see something this graphic a handful of times.
"This the car accident guy?" Mark asks.
"Yep," Arizona sighs. "No seatbelt. Head went through the windshield. He's lucky he wasn't decapitated."
"Really?" I ask, fascinated, but I can't see the guy's neck because he's completely draped, with only the top of his head visible.
"Millimetres away from his jugular," Arizona nods.
"Awesome," I say quietly, involuntarily.
Mark laughs.
"Ah, to be a med student again," he says.
We watch the screens in the OR as Amelia navigates her fibre-optic around a blood vessel, clipping it. She steps back, observing the screen carefully, before nodding.
"You missed a spot," Mark says, his finger on the intercom to the OR.
Amelia looks up into the gallery, and we all wave. She shakes her head and calls for suction from a nearby nurse.
As Mark, Arizona and Meredith talk about something I don't pay attention to, I watch as Amelia seamlessly closes the head wound. As familiar as I am with medicine, I still can't imagine that eventually, depending on which specialty I go for, I'll be doing surgeries, too.
As we're leaving the gallery, a red-haired doctor enters the door to the stairwell.
"Hello," he says, a bit confused when he sees me.
He glances at the others for an explanation.
"Med student," Mark offers.
"How old are you?" the doctor looks at me.
I open my mouth but Meredith steps forward, in front of me.
"She's Amelia's niece," she tells him. "And technically she is a med student. She's about to start at UCLA."
The doctor seems a bit uncomfortable around Meredith, and even Arizona has an indifferent look on her face. Who is this guy?
"Oh," the doctor nods. "She did say you were coming."
He smiles, tightly, and nods.
"I'm Kati," I say, getting uncomfortable.
"Owen," he smiles, but it's a forced smile. "Dr. Hunt."
I manage to keep my face straight, now that I know who he is. I take his outstretched hand and shake it.
"Mark, I was actually looking for you," he says, clearing his throat. "Karev's going to need help in OR-1. Woman's face is all over the place."
Mark nods and steps forward. "See ya later, ladies."
He grins.
"Thanks, Mark," I say, and he nods once before he's gone.
Owen awkwardly stands there for a second while Meredith and Arizona attempt to look fine.
"Well. I'll see you all later then," he says, and quickly leaves.
Arizona exhales, turning to give Meredith a tired look.
"He knows we know?"
"Oh yeah," Meredith nods, eyebrows raised. "It's gonna be a fun-filled couple of weeks around him."
I say nothing, going through the door Arizona holds open.
"They have this much drama in LA?" she asks.
"I think you guys are pretty much neck-and-neck as far as drama goes," I nod.
"Oh good," Meredith says, as we walk down the hall.
"It's like I say," Arizona sighs. "High school never really ends. It's just that now, there's more liquor and more blood."
"We must have gone to very different high schools," I reply drily, and she and Meredith laugh as we make our way to the doctor's lounge.
