SKYLAR WAS A person who depended on sleep. She needed it to function, she needed it to be happy, she needed it for everything. So when she was being kept up all night because of the very loud sex her friend and roommate were having, she was not happy. It was even worse when she was having that loud sex in the room next door, with her boss. Let's just say she would not enjoy that day.
She ate her usual breakfast, which consisted of two pieces of toast and a coffee. Izzie stood beside her, watching the coffee leak into the coffee pot. Skylar wasn't the only one who had a hard night. George entered the kitchen as Izzie filled her and Skylar's coffee mugs. "You get any sleep?" He asked the two girls.
"Oh, she could oil the bedsprings as a courtesy or at least buy a padded headboard," Izzie replied as she walked over to Skylar, handing her her coffee. Skylar smiled with appreciation before taking a sip of her coffee.
"I hope that next time she, at least, gives a heads up," Skylar groaned, rubbing her eyes, wanting to seem a little more awake.
"So, who's the guy?" George asked. Skylar hoped he wouldn't ask her. She had a reputation as being a bad liar. It was Meredith's secret, and it wasn't up to Skylar to tell her roommates. She also didn't want to be around when they found out, but fate didn't work in her favor that day.
"Guy? As in singular? You think it was just one guy doing all that work?" Izzie questioned as Skylar took her plate to the sink.
"Do you mind if we don't talk about that?" Skylar asked and George nodded along.
"At least I know she'll be having a long day at work," Izzie said. Before anyone else could speak, the sound of someone scurrying down the stairs grabbed their attention. Izzie and George shared a look before scurrying to the open door. Skylar walked behind them, already knowing who it was. George slowly closed the door so that the man wouldn't be able to see them. A look of shock, anger, and sadness spread across Izzie and George's faces when they saw Derek sneaking out of the house. "Well, at least we know brain surgery isn't his only skill."
"They can't be…he's her boss!" George said, not able to believe that Meredith would do something like that.
"He's all of our boss'," the blonde responded. "Sky? Why are you so quiet?"
"I may or may not have already known…" Skylar hesitantly said before she took a massive gulp of her coffee.
"What? You knew?" George said, shocked. "And you didn't tell me…"
"Sorry, Georgie. It wasn't my secret to tell," she apologized and grabbed George by the arm as they turned to leave.
"You know," Izzie started, speaking mostly to Skylar. "She has been scrubbing in on a lot of his surgeries lately."
"So have I," Skylar replied, not wanting Izzie to assume anything. "Just because she's scrubbing in with him doesn't mean he's favoriting her because their f—"
"Good morning," Meredith chirped, walking into the kitchen. She had everything she needed for the day, knowing that they had to leave or they'd be late. She just wanted to fill up her coffee mug before they left though.
"Morning," Izzie halfheartedly said. "It sounded like you were having pretty radical sex last night. All night long. Who was the guy?" Izzie asked, hoping Meredith would be honest.
"No one you know."
As Skylar tried to inform Meredith that the other two knew, the blonde grabbed her arm, making her stop talking. "We're late, let's go."
Izzie scoffed as she grabbed her bag. Skylar sighed before following the blonde outside. The other two followed and got inside Skylar's car. The whole car ride was silent—a very awkward silence.
Skylar could not have gotten out of the car faster once they got to the hospital. She slammed the door behind her, hiking her bag onto her shoulder as they met up with Cristina.
Cristina looked at the girl, raising a brow. "Woah, Red, who pissed in your Cheerios?"
Skylar turned to Meredith with a dull glare on her face. "She kept me up all night with her sleepover buddy." Meredith gave Skylar an apologetic look.
"Good morning," Alex said as he jogged up to the group, looking at everyone with a raised brow.
"You run?" Skylar laughed.
Alex smirked, jogging in place. "Every day, babe. Everyday."
"Not suffering enough?" She sarcastically asked.
"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger," he explained.
"Masochist," the shorter girl said, Alex, rolling his eyes at her as she walked beside George.
George watched the interaction between the two, his sleep-deprived brain making jealousy run through his veins faster than normal. Cristina noticed, making a small noise of curiosity. The noise caused Alex to look over, and he had to double-take when he saw Cristina's face.
"Oh, what is that? Professional weakness, Dr. Yang?" He teased the woman once he saw how sick she looked.
"It's called the flu."
All of the interns were in the locker room getting ready for another day at work. George walked out from behind the dark blue curtains that sectioned off a changing room from the locker room. Skylar was tying up her shoes, blowing hair out of her face. "I'm gonna need a major rush to make it through this day. I need a kick-ass surgery," George said while putting away his clothes in his locker.
"Ooh, you a bad boy last night, George?" Alex questioned, wiggling his eyebrows. George just shook his head, moving to put his street clothes back in his locker. Skylar looked up at the two guys, before looking at Meredith. She wondered who was going to say it was Meredith who was being a bad boy. It ended up being Izzie. "You a bad boy, Meredith?"
"Do tell," Cristina encouraged her best friend while putting her hair up.
Meredith glanced at the brunette and told her, "There's nothing to tell." However, she gave Cristina a look that said it all. Meredith being silent about last night made the other blonde in the group pretty angry.
"That says it all, huh?" Izzie slammed her locker door, still pissed at Meredith for lying about her relationship with Derek.
"Sorry, I have a sex life." Meredith wasn't sure what Izzie was so bothered about. She had no idea that it was actually the other person she had a problem with.
"Don't apologize. Embrace it. Share it. Count me in," Alex suggested, which made Skylar roll her eyes.
"That's such an Alex thing to say. I knew you were going to say it."
"What? Are you jealous, Red? Don't worry, you can have some of this too, sweetheart." He lifted his scrub top and pointed at his abs. Skylar had an unimpressed look on her face. "Oh, wait, I forgot you've already had it."
Sylar just rolled her eyes and went back to tying her shoes. She was used to him teasing her about what happened between them. She wasn't mad at him, she just found it weird in certain situations, but she wasn't one to yell at a person unless they enraged her. Alex walked past her on his way out the door. She glared at his back as he left. While Alex and Skylar had their little argument, Izzie snapped at Meredith, telling her that she wanted a heads-up next time.
"You were just a little loud," George clarified after Meredith had asked what she had done wrong. He, then, followed Izzie and Alex out of the room.
"Do Izzie and George know it's McDreamy keeping them up all night?" Cristina wondered while glancing at Skylar and Meredith. Her question was more directed to the redhead since she had been with the two that morning when Derek had snuck out.
"I hope not. I already have Bailey riding me; I don't need my roommates thinking I'm getting special treatment," Meredith hoped but glanced at Skylar. "Do they?"
Skylar looked down, feeling bad for the blonde. "Mer, they do know. They saw him leave. He didn't exactly do a good job at being quiet. I couldn't stop them from watching, could I?"
"It would've been hilarious if you did," Cristina commented as they exited the locker room together.
Skylar now stood in an exam room with George, after being sent to the pit with Alex and Cristina. They were both examining a toddler with a brain abnormality that caused her left leg to twitch.
"Hey, there, Jaime. I'm Skylar and this is George. Can you pretend you're a lion for me?" The redhead suggested after introducing herself to Jaime's parents. "Say ahhh." She demonstrated for Jaime and the little girl repeated her actions so Skylar could examine her mouth with her light. As she examined the girl's throat, George talked to the parents, often watching Skylar's kindness with the child. "And you noticed her foot twitching?"
"My foot!" Jaime babbled and Skylar playfully grabbed her foot. She scrunched her nose when she smiled, making the young girl giggle.
"About three months ago?" He continued.
"Just a little. We took her to the county hospital, and she got a CT scan, which showed her…" the mother explained, trailing off, not able to finish her sentence. George didn't know if it was because she couldn't come to terms with her daughter having a problem with her brain or if she just couldn't think of how to phrase it.
"Brain abnormality," Skylar completed for her as she let the toddler play with her flashlight.
"And the twitching has gotten worse?" George asked, writing down the information in Jaime's chart.
"A lot worse. They don't have the proper equipment back home to figure out what's wrong," her father explained. Skylar allowed the small child to look into her mouth with her flashlight like she was just doing to the small girl a minute ago.
"You did a good thing by bringing her here, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes," Skylar assured the tired-looking couple. They must be worried sick about their child, and Skylar sympathized with them. She was still playing with the child, now showing her how to turn on the light.
"Show mommy!" Jaime babbled, making both interns smile at her innocence.
"You sit tight, Jaime, okay? We're going to bring you Dr. Shepherd," George told her. "He's the brain specialist."
As the two interns approached the door, the mother called out to them. "Doctor? Is he good, this Dr. Shepherd?"
"At just about everything…" George mumbled as he left. He wasn't jealous of Dr. Shepherd, he just wanted some sleep—maybe he was a little jealous of Dr. Shepherd, but only because he was actually getting sex.
"He's the very best, you're in good hands," Skylar assured them. "Bye, Jaime!" She smiled again, with an adorable nose scrunch.
"Bye, bye!" The girl said, already having taken a liking to the doctor.
George and Skylar walked into the scrub room that led to the O.R. that Dr. Shepherd was operating in. The surgery was almost over, so they expected to talk to him once he left. As they were waiting an anesthesiologist walked in, moving past the two.
"Excuse me," he asked, squeezing between the interns and their colleagues.
"Sorry, Dr. Taylor," the two said in unison, backing up as much as they could to make room for him. When he walked past them, they smelled something strange and looked at each other.
"That would be bourbon," their colleague informed them, seemingly calm. Skylar looked at him with shock in her eyes.
"What?" George asked.
"I smelled it too. And he's the best anesthesiologist on the staff. I'll worry when he's too juiced to do his crossword puzzle." Skylar stared through the window into the O.R, looking at Dr. Taylor. She couldn't believe someone could be so careless when the responsibility of keeping someone from immense pain and terror was in their hands. If someone woke up during surgery because of him, she couldn't imagine what would happen.
Dr. Shepherd was done in the O.R, so he walked into the scrub room. "Dr. Shepherd," George said, approaching him, Skylar not far behind.
"I got to get some coffee," Derek complained.
"Jaime Hayes has been admitted, the little girl with the brain abnormality."
"How's she presenting?"
"She has what looks like continuous seizure activity in her left foot. Her balance is off. Her parents have come a long way to try to find out what's wrong with her," Skylar explained, handing him her CTs from the county hospital. "Those are three months old, I know you probably want new ones but I thought you might want to see what we had."
Derek stared at her, surprised at her ability to think ahead. He nodded as he said, "Yeah, her brain could look drastically different today."
"Um…I was wondering if I could talk to you in private for a minute, Dr. Shepherd?" Skylar asked.
"Okay, O'Malley, order the CT. Come with me." As they both got into the elevator, leaving George behind, Skylar started talking.
"I don't want this to come across as disrespectful or anything, but I heard something that made me worried about a patient's well-being." Derek looked down at her, his brows slightly furrowed in curiosity. "I don't want to ruin a colleague's career, especially when they have more experience than me, but when Dr. Taylor came into the O.R, I smelled alcohol…I wasn't sure what to do, and I'm not the only one who's smelt it, so I thought maybe you would know what to do," Skylar slightly rambled, not being able to stop until she explained everything.
"I'll look into it, Skylar. You did the right thing by reporting it."
Shepherd had agreed to Skylar when she asked for a consult on Jaime Hayes, so they were in her exam room with George and Jaime's parents. Skylar was helping Derek as he did a neuro exam and George stood off to the side.
"You look like a princess. Do you know you're a princess?" The attending joked.
"Yes, she does. You're princess Jaime, aren't you?" Skylar playfully asked, tapping her nose which made her giggle. She kept the girl distracted as Derek examined her.
"We're gonna find what's causing the seizures. Does MRI know we're coming down?"
"You said CT," George, somewhat angrily, spat out.
"Now I'm saying MRI."
"It's available," Skylar assured, wanting to diffuse the tension between the two. She didn't know why George was so mad at Shepherd, she narrowed it down to not being able to sleep because of him but she wasn't even sure of that.
"Doctor? Is she gonna need surgery?" Jaime's dad asked, worry in his voice. "It's just that my wife and I, we both work, and I don't know if our insurance…we know it can be very expensive."
"I don't want you to worry about that," Derek answered.
"How about we send someone to help you figure it out?" Skylar suggested. Relief immediately came over the parent's expressions. Before they could answer, Jaime's leg started twitching violently.
"It's a focal left side seizure," Derek told them. "Let's get that diazepam running right now, please, I need a tourniquet."
As the attending wrapped the tourniquet around Jaime's upper arm, Skylar stepped up to pass the needle to Derek. "Jaime, look, we're gonna put this butterfly right on your arm to be your friend, how about that?" She suggested with a smile. Skylar slightly squeezed the spot on her arm where the needle would go before Derek put it on to get her used to the feeling. When he did that, her leg stopped twitching.
"Hey, do you like spaceships?" Derek asked her, and Jaime excitedly nodded. "Should we take Captain O'Malley and Lieutenant Skylar to the spaceship MRI? Let's go."
"It's called Rasmussen's Encephalitis," Derek explained to Jaime's parents, showing them the MRI scan. "What it amounts to is that this side of the brain," he gestured to the right side of the scan. "This part's all healthy, it's working perfectly. This black part," gesturing to the left half. "All of that is dead or dying. The condition has gotten radically worse since her CT scans three months ago. Left untreated, the disease is gonna kill her."
"How soon?" Her mother questioned.
"Too soon."
"Is there a cure?"
"The treatment requires the diseased portion of her brain be removed and sealed off. See, eventually, spinal fluid will fill the cavity."
"Remove? But that's…" Jaime's father asked, not believing that they could do that and have Jaime be 'normal.'
"Half her brain, yes," Shepherd confirmed. "Her age makes it possible. Her brain is not yet fully developed, so the remaining neutrons will compensate for the loss." Jaime was wheeled out of the MRI room by the technician, and her mother ran up to her.
"So, she will be normal?" The father asked.
"There are risks to any surgery, and this is a major one. But, if we're successful, Jaime could walk out of this hospital in a couple weeks, go on to live a relatively normal life," Shepherd explained. "We know this is a lot to digest, but the important thing to remember is that we can save her life." The three doctors walked out of the room, leaving Jaime with her parents. "Dr. O'Malley? Dr. Kepner?" The attending called out.
"What?" George said, quite frustrated.
"Sorry to bother you, but if the parents' consent, I thought you'd both like to scrub in on the hemispherectomy. Are in or not?"
"In," George bluntly answered before he walked away. Skylar was worried about him, she didn't know why he was acting so strange around Dr. Shepherd. Sure, he had a right to be somewhat mad but not as mad as he was.
George and Skylar walked out of the elevator. They both saw Cristina lazily leaning on the railing that overlooked the floor below.
"Yang!" George called out to her. "We're scrubbing in on a hemispherectomy with Shepherd."
"Get out! I would kill for that," Cristina said, her voice slightly rough from being sick. Skylar put a coin into the vending machine, wanting something to eat since she hadn't eaten since breakfast.
"I know! We're gonna cut out half the girl's brain," Skylar told her, amazed and excited for what's to come.
"And it's going to work!" George marveled. "It's outrageous! Almost makes it hard to hate him."
Skylar hit his arm and while Cristina asked him, "Why do you hate him?" She remembered their conversation in the locker room that morning, but she wanted to know for sure that George knew before she said anything incriminating.
"He knows about Shepherd and Meredith," Skylar told her, taking a bite of her snack.
"You know?" George asked, shocked that they kept it from him. "You both knew?"
"When are you going to figure out that we know everything?" Cristina told him as Izzie came up the stairs.
"She knows too!" The boy turned to the blonde.
"What? About Doctor-cest?"
"It's been going on since we started here," Skylar explained.
"And neither of you told us?" George incredulously asked, causing Skylar to chuckle at his attitude.
"You're a gossip, huh?" Cristina accused.
"It wasn't my secret to tell, George." Skylar shrugged her shoulders.
"He's about to go into major brain surgery on no sleep? Not very responsible," George commented. They stopped walking once they got to the coffee cart. Izzie and Skylar both had snacks in their hands while Cristina ordered a coffee.
"Better than drunk. By the way, I told Shepherd about that," Skylar told George, the other oblivious to what they were talking about.
"Sex all night isn't about being responsible," Cristina shrugged it off.
"No, it's about sex all night. I can't believe you're not more pissed off about this. You, of all people," Izzie accused. This caused Skylar's eyes to widen and, thankfully, she was able to compose herself before she choked on her food. Cristina still didn't know that Skylar knew about her and Burke. She really had to have a conversation about it with her—in private, of course.
"Well, she works hard all day. She's got a hard job. Why should you care how she unwinds? I mean, you like to bake all night. Red…actually, I don't know what Red does at night. What do you do?" Cristina teasingly asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Skylar teasingly responded, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Some people like to drink," Cristina continued. "Others like the occasional screaming orgasm.
"Yeah, we do," Alex chimed in, walking up to them, hearing the last part that Cristina said. "Forget I said that. Pretend that I'm not here, continue." He proceeded to stuff a donut in his mouth and talk with the white powder from the donut all over his mouth, which made Skylar look away from him and back to her other friends in disgust. Alex looked at Cristina, who still looked pretty sick. "You look like you need to be spoon-fed."
"You look like Alex," she deadpanned.
"You should really go home, Cristina," Skylar suggested, even though she knew she wasn't going to take her advice. Cristina could sometimes be a workaholic, but that's one of the things Skylar liked about Cristina, she was passionate about what she did—sometimes too passionate.
"Weren't we talking about sex, anyway?" Alex asked, making the rest of the group leave with disgusted looks on their faces.
Skylar was fast asleep on a bench in the locker room while Cristina was lying on a bench nearby. Skylar had been sleeping for a while now, wanting to get rest in before she had to scrub in with Dr. Shepherd. Izzie was also in the room, freshening up by washing her hands.
Then, Meredith entered the room after scrubbing in on her patient, Claire's, surgery. She was 17 years old and she had an illegal gastric bypass surgery in Mexico. The surgery left her with an abscess and edema. "Ew, what smells?" Izzie asked, scrunching up her nose at the horrible smell. Meredith explained that it was her patient's insides. "That makes me strangely happy," Izzie smiled as she sat down on the bench next to Cristina. Her leg accidentally hit Skylar's arm, waking up the redhead.
"Oh my God. Oh, Meredith, what the hell is that smell?" Skylar stated as the stench hit her.
"Karma," Izzie sang, extremely happy about the fact that Meredith was somewhat miserable. Meredith heard her say something but didn't know what she said. A smile formed on Izzie's lips as she sheepishly said, "Nothing."
"Something vile is stuck in your hair. You know, just go stand over there, please," Cristina noticed and gestured to the other side of the room. In the meantime, Skylar had stood up and was placing her white jacket back into her locker.
"Ugh, how much do I love being a surgeon right now?" Meredith complained as she glanced in the mirror, looking at herself. A sigh escaped her lips. Izzie let out Karma again, causing Skylar to roll her eyes. "What does karma have to do with anything?"
"I'm just saying, you've been given all the best surgeries. And now you smell like putrid goo. And you've giving off a stench. Karma's a bitch."
Then, Bailey entered the room, "Kepner, Dr. Shepherd needs you in surgery right now," she informed the redhead. Skylar nodded, putting her sneakers back on before she left.
"Dr. Bailey, where do you want me?" Cristina asked their resident.
"No, you need to lie down somewhere," Bailey said, seeing the state of the girl.
"I'm fine. Completely healthy."
"Grey?" Bailey said, looking at the blonde that was sitting on the floor.
Izzie let out an irritated sigh. "Of course."
"What is your problem?" Meredith asked, not knowing why Izzie would be so upset with her.
"Um…" Izzie pretended to think before strictly saying, "You! 'Cause apparently, you can help Dr. McDreamy in ways the rest of us can't." Bailey, Cristina, and Skylar all had to take a moment to process her accusation, which was completely true.
"You did not just s—"
"Yes, I did!" Izzie cut her off.
"Hey!" Bailey turned to face Meredith, having enough of the argument. "Kepner, hemispherectomy in OR 1 with Dr. Shepherd. Go."
Skylar immediately ran out of the room, her emotions conflicting with her. She was ecstatic to help with the surgery but she felt a bit awkward and upset that her friends were fighting. Well, Izzie was the only one that was actually yelling, Meredith just sat there, but the point still stood. As she was walking to the operating room, she hoped that everything would be okay. Meredith was going to have a hard time with Bailey and Izzie being angry with her. At that moment, Skylar wished that her friend had never gotten involved with the neurosurgeon. The only thing he was good at—besides brain surgery—was causing trouble for Meredith.
"I appreciate this," George said as he, Skylar, and Derek scrubbed into Jaime's surgery. "The chance to scrub in on this kind of procedure is, well…I appreciate it."
"We both do," Skylar sent a smile to Derek. That's when she noticed the anesthesiologist from before going into the O.R. Her brows furrowed slightly, she just hoped that Derek would take care of the situation before it became emergent.
A nurse came into the scrub room with an espresso for Dr. Shepherd and he thanked her.
Dr. Taylor commented toward George and Skylar. "Ah, coffee. Where would medicine be without it, huh?" His breath that reeked of alcohol hit George in the face and he stepped back, Skylar scrunching her nose in disgust. She was just glad that she had a mask on and Dr. Taylor couldn't see her face.
"I hope you have a new crossword, Taylor. We're gonna be here awhile," Derek commented, coming into the room.
Skylar walked toward the little girl on the table and explained to her what was going to happen in Jaime's vocabulary. "Hi, Jaime. You are going to take a really nice nap now, and when you wake up you're going to be with your mommy and daddy, okay?"
"Okay," Jaime slightly giggled.
As the anesthesiologist put a mask over Jaime's face for her to breathe in the anesthesia, George stuttered out, "I'm sorry, Dr. Taylor, but did you just…have you been drinking?" Everyone in the room looked at him, shocked. Jaime had already fallen asleep at this point.
"I beg your pardon?" Taylor asked, offended at the accusation.
"Do you smell…I—I smell alcohol."
"Where the hell do you get off accusing me of something like that?" Skylar watched the altercation with wide eyes. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't good at standing up to people of authority.
"George, you're out of line," Shepherd commented.
"There are rules. You know, there are rules for a reason."
Concluding that she had to stand up for what she thought was right, despite the possible consequences, she pointed out, "Dr. Shepherd? Respectfully, there is a two-year-old on this table. A two-year-old who believes she's a princess, that this room is a spaceship, and anesthesia is blowing bubbles. I can't watch her vulnerability be taken advantage of." She looked at Dr. Shepherd, silently pleading with him to do what was right.
"I don't need some punk interns telling what's at stake here," Dr. Taylor scoffed. "Get him out of here, Shepherd." A moment of silence followed as Derek weighed his options. "Shep?"
"You're out, George."
George left the room, revolted at what had just happened. Skylar just wondered why he didn't kick her out as well, but she came up with nothing. Skylar looked at her friend who was standing in the scrub room.
"All right, we're gonna start the procedure with the left temporal lobectomy," Derek informed his OR staff. "After the temporal, we'll do the frontal, and then the occipital."
Skylar's eyes wandered to the gallery, seeing George watching. She bit her lip, feeling bad for her fellow intern. He deserved to be here, all he did was speak up about his worries, but he probably should have done it in private. But she knew it'd do no good to complain when a little girl was in trouble.
Now, into the surgery, Derek explained what he was going to do once again. "From the frontal lobectomy, I'm going to encounter a, uh…"
"We'll encounter the anterior cerebral artery," Skylar pointed out, confused, not knowing why he trailed off.
"Yes, so we're gonna need to, uh…" He trailed off once again.
"The branches of the artery need to be coagulated and divided."
"You know, Taylor, her anesthesia is awful light." This time, Skylar knew what he was referring to when she saw Jaime's face starting to twitch and wiggle around. "Come on, Taylor, s-she's waking up."
"Dr. Taylor?" Skylar said, leaning over to look at the anesthesiologist. Her eyes widened when she saw that he had fallen asleep. "He's asleep," she told Dr. Shepherd.
"Taylor!" Shepherd yelled, stopping what he was doing to the girl's brain. The anesthesiologist still didn't respond, his head hung and his eyes closed. "Dr. Taylor!" Shepherd yelled even louder than before. Dr. Taylor jumped awake before realizing what had happened and started administering another round of anesthesia into Jaime. "He was right wasn't he?" Referring to George's altercation with Taylor.
"I'll be fine. It won't happen again," Dr. Taylor promised after asking Steph, a nurse, to get him some coffee. He looked at the neurosurgeon, hoping that he would be forgiven.
"Yeah, not in here, it won't. Uh, Steph, call Dr. Pennington. Hopkins take over until she gets here. Get out of here and get it together," Derek ordered. Taylor looked at him in shock for a moment before leaving his seat and exiting the room. The other anesthesiologist had arrived not long after that and everything was going back on track.
About an hour later, Derek was almost finished with the surgery. "This packing, we hope, will prevent hemorrhaging. Dr. Kepner, do you want to add something to that?"
"It should allow the cerebral spinal fluid to eventually fill the cavity," she answered correctly.
"Very nice," he praised. "E.T, you wanna close up?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"I'm gonna go to bed," he said more to himself than the others. He started taking off his gown, Skylar with an expression of awe still on her face. Skylar was going to say something about why he was so tired but refrained from doing so.
"Wow, that was…unreal," she commented.
"I was tired before I came here, now I'm tired again. It's back to reality." He gestured for George to meet him outside the O.R, Skylar following behind him.
In the hallway on the O.R. floor, Derek was talking to George, as both he and Skylar stood against a wall, Derek on the opposite side. "Let me explain. There is a code amongst doctors, we're not supposed to ask each other questions, not within the walls of this hospital."
"Okay, I was out of line," George bluntly said before starting to walk away but the attending spoke up again.
"No, you weren't, I was out of line. Someone should have taken responsibility, and it should have been the guy doing the cutting, it should have been me. I should have listened to Skylar earlier and then you in the OR." Skylar slightly smiled, glad to see he was doing the right thing. "You didn't deserve what happened to you today. You both did the right thing, code or no code." He stretched his hand out for George to shake. George, with some hesitancy, accepted. "You saw me leave the house this morning, didn't you?"
"Oh, was that you?" He tried to pretend he had no idea what he was talking about.
"I'm not using her and I don't favor her."
"She's pretty great, you know."
"Let's go tell Jaime's parents she's gonna be fine. You go ahead, I'll catch up with you," he told George, now turning to Skylar who still stood against the wall. "You already knew, didn't you?" He asked, blushing slightly. "Did she tell you?"
"I've known since our first day," she explained. Seeing Derek's surprised face, she elaborated, "You two weren't exactly as discreet as you think you are." Skylar lightly chuckled.
"You know, I'm impressed with how well you did today. You were perfect with Jaime and managed to keep the parents calm. And you stood up for Jaime in the O.R, personal costs aside. So, as much as I would love for you to follow neuro, I think you'd have a brilliant future in pediatric surgery. I think you should at least give it some thought." Derek smiled at her and walked away, leaving a slightly shocked Skylar behind. She had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth and yet she couldn't wait another few years to choose, she already wanted to be an attending. All she thought was that she had to get her impatient mind under control.
Skylar was now in the kitchen of Meredith's house, keeping Izzie company as she made a chocolate cake.
"I thought you'd be asleep by now," Meredith said as she walked into the room.
"Yeah, well, I'm not and neither is Sky," Izzie sighed. "If you wait a few minutes, you can have a piece of cake. Baked it chock-full of love…actually, chock-full of unrelenting, all consuming rage and hostility, but it's still tasty."
"So, you know?" Meredith inquired.
"We saw him leave this morning. So did George," Skylar explained. "Though I really don't know how you didn't find out sooner," she said to Izzie, tilting her head as if struggling to come up with an answer.
"We can't all be geniuses, Sky," Meredith told her with a smile, hopping onto the counter. "Well, do you want the long, sordid version, or the short version where I started sleeping with a guy who turned out to be my boss?"
"Neither," Izzie decided.
"Izzie, cut me some slack here."
"No. You went to Dartmouth. Your mother is Ellis Grey. You grew up…look at this house!" She told them, frustrated that Meredith had basically been handed everything. "You know, you walk into the O.R. and there isn't anyone who doubts that you should be here."
"I kind of get it. At college when I told people I grew up on a farm in Ohio they started looking at me strangely…" Skylar commented, trying to empathize.
"Exactly, I grew up in a trailer park. I went to state school. I put myself through med school by posing in my underwear. I walk into the O.R. and everyone hopes I'm the nurse…You, Meredith, have their respect without ever trying, and you're throwing it away for…what? A few good surgeries?"
"It's not about the surgeries…" Skylar whispered, knowing how smitten Meredith was with Derek.
"It's not about getting ahead," Meredith agreed.
"Then, what? A little hot sex, you're willing to ruin you credibility over that?" The tall woman questioned. "I mean, what the hell are you doing?"
"She likes him," Skylar sang with a smile toward Meredith. Izzie looked at Meredith as if to check the credibility of the affirmation.
"Oh my God! You are falling for him."
"I am not. Stop, both of you."
"Oh, you so are," Izzie accused, shaking her head.
"No, I'm not."
"Mer, I know everything, just admit it already," the redhead told her, cutting herself a piece of Izzie's cake.
"You know, it's just that he's just so…and I'm just…" She trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I'm having a hard time."
"Wow, you're all mushy and warm and…full of secret feelings," Izzie commented, passing her friend a slice of cake.
"It's not a secret if I know about that," Skylar smiled. The three of them chuckled, Meredith, digging into her cake.
"I hate you both! And your cake!"
"My cake is good. So, uh, how hot is the sex?" Izzie questioned. It must be super hot, considering the noises that Meredith made the night before.
"Izzie!" Both her friends said in unison, one a reprimand and the other a plea to stop.
"What? Come on, we're not getting any. Help a girl out with a few details!" Izzie pleaded.
Skylar didn't know if she had feelings for anyone. She wasn't one to fall quickly. It also took her a while to usually recognize those feelings for a person. But, somehow, at that moment, there was only one person who came to mind when she thought of liking someone.
Words: 6420
Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review
