GROWING UP, SKYLAR was used to waking up early. She would wake up at dawn to help out her dad on the farm. She never minded it as long as she got a proper night's sleep. She did, however, mind being woken up by yelling in the hallway, an occurrence that had become too frequent in her new home.
"You know what? It's not a big deal," Izzie told George as Skylar rubbed her eyes and got out of bed with a sigh. As she opened her door, Izzie kept talking. "You don't have to lie, I get it, you have needs." She smiled at the boy as Skylar looked at them with slightly tangled hair.
"What is going on out here?" Skylar asked the two as Meredith opened her bedroom door.
"Nothing!" George was way too quick to answer.
"Nothing…" Izzie agreed, trailing off, making it more suspenseful than it had to be.
As Goerge walked away from the three women, Izzie explained, "He's freaked out 'cause I caught him playing with little Jimmy and the twins." Skylar's eyes widened at that. She wasn't expecting that, she didn't know what she was expecting, but definitely not that.
"I have a girlfriend," George defended himself.
"We know you do, Georgie. It's okay if you still want to have some…fun…alone," Skylar assured him, staring at Izzie who was holding in a laugh at her friend's bewildered face.
"This sounds like fun out here," Derek stated as he joined the three girls in the hallway while putting on his shirt. Izzie rushed into the bathroom before anyone else stole it.
"There's never a dull moment here, Derek," Skylar replied with a smile. She was getting used to Shepherd living with them, and the man in general. She approved of their relationship since it made Meredith shine. The redhead looked behind her to see if she could enter the bathroom to take a shower since there was no way she would be able to fall back asleep now. But then she saw the door closed. "Izzie!"
"Sorry, Sky! Life is for the fast."
Skylar was just finishing up her rounds that morning when she ran into Izzie. The two friends walked through the hallways, talking about the patients that they had that day and gossiping about small things like who stole fries from the cafeteria last week. They arrived at one of the nurses' stations where George and his new girlfriend, Olivia, were talking to each other. Skylar had seen the two first, a grin forming on her lips. She poked the blonde in the side and pointed out the couple standing near the desk. "Ooh," Izzie let out and stopped near the couple. "Hi, George." Skylar smiled at the couple as a greeting.
"Hey."
"Olivia," she greeted the redhead.
"Hi, Dr. Stevens, Dr. Kepner," Olivia greeted the two surgeons before looking at George again with a loving look. "I'll see you later." George said his goodbye and she left the three of them alone. Without his girlfriend, he awkwardly leaned against the desk, telling his two roommates that Olivia was into him.
"I'm happy for you, George. She's also really cute, so go you…" Skylar awkwardly said, still hung up on that psychic case and what he said to her. "So this morning you really weren't…" She was the first one of the two to say something. She didn't tease him that much this morning, Izzie more so even before she got up.
"Anytime you want to apologize…"
"Then what were you doing in the bathroom for so long?" Izzie questioned as she wrote something down on the chart that she was holding.
George swallowed, not wanting to answer the question. He told them he had to go and left in a hurry. The two girls looked at each other in confusion. "Okay, then? That was totally not weird. Something's going on with him."
"Yeah. Something's definitely up and it's not his new girlfriend. It's something else," Izzie agreed before they parted and went different ways.
"Hey, Dr. Kepner. Whose labs are we grabbing today?" The lab tech, Matthew, spoke, giving Skylar a warm smile. She returned it, leaning on the small counter.
"Hey. I'm looking for Dr. Shepherd's latest patient? Joseph…" She pulled out her chart, struggling to remember the last name. She was on Shepherd's service today and he didn't have anything major planned so she was just doing pre and post-op check-ups.
Matthew shook his head. "Finch, yeah, I know. Shepherd made them fast track, said he wanted to get the guy out in a couple hours. Give me a few alright? Let me make sure they're done."
Skylar gave him a small thanks and leaned against the wall to wait, flipping through the chart and reading over it. She hadn't helped Shepherd with this surgery but still wanted to read through all the notes.
Matthew called her name and handed her the labs but before they could say goodbye, George pushed past Skylar's shoulder. He must not have noticed her, which wasn't surprising given the state he was in. He looked winded and pale, and Skylar furrowed her brows at her friend's obvious anxiety.
"Hi, uh, results for George O'Malley?" He muttered to the tech, keeping his head down. Skylar's brows raised and her eyes widened. George was sick?
"I don't see it here," Matthew replied, looking up at George. "What's the name again?"
Before George could respond to the question, Skylar stepped up next to him. "George O'Malley." George jumped, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" He hissed, staring at her.
She looked at him, her eyes full of worry. She raised her labs for Shepherd half-heartedly. "I had to grab some labs for Dr. Shepherd. George, are you sick?" Her voice was shaky, and George slightly relaxed.
Matthew handed George the results, looking unimpressed with the doctor. "Here you go."
George gave him a thanks, trying to shove the papers behind his back. Skylar let out a groan of protest, trying to reach around him to grab them. "Goerge! George, let me see. Maybe I can help? See what you're dealing with and help you figure out what to do!"
"N-no! I know…I know what I'll have to do! Sky, stop it!"
"Woah, woah, what are you two doing?" Izzie laughed, leaning toward the lab window. She set down some blood tests. "Franklin, Jordan, I need this back ASAP."
"Yeah, of course you do," Matthew grumbled, disappearing with the tests.
Izzie noticed that the two were fighting over a lab result and quickly grabbed the results from George, letting her eyes dance across them. "What is this? Some cool surgery you don't want us in?" Skylar craned her head to read it, slightly struggling to see because George kept pushing her out of the way. "Syphilis? That's surgical. Who has syphilis?" Izzie loudly asked. Skylar's eyes widened, her mouth opening in shock as she stared at George.
He protested, grabbing Izzie by the wrist and wrapping his arm around Skylar's waist, dragging the two into an empty research room. Izzie soon caught on, a shocked laugh escaping her.
"You have syphilis?!"
The other two both shushed her. Skylar took the labs out of Izzie's hand, reading it over to try and make sure they didn't just read the labs wrong or mix them up with someone else's. Her brows furrowed as she continued to read them.
"I don't know how this happened!" George whined, hitting his head against the wall.
Izzie snorted, shaking her head. "Of course you do. God, Olivia must really be getting around!"
Skylar's head snapped up, her expression was slightly angry toward the blonde. "Izzie, that is not okay. And it's not funny either. One of the first things they taught in pre-med was to never judge someone. Okay?" George gave Skylar a grateful look, Izzie just staring at her with wide eyes, shocked at the redhead's outburst. She truly did not like Izzie's jokes sometimes.
"Sky's right. Anyways, Olivia isn't like that! And besides, why did your mind automatically go to her and not me?" At a flat look from Izzie, George let out an offended gasp. "You don't know! Maybe I've been sleeping around, maybe I got ladies." At Izzie's look once again, he said, "Shut up! What am I gonna do?"
Skylar handed him the results and put a comforting smile on her face, her voice soft and soothing, "You'll need a couple doses of Penicillin, okay? Then it'll be knocked out of your system." George felt himself calm down and looked at her with wonder in his eyes. This must be how she talks to her patients, and, boy, did it work. He had to learn how to do that. Skylar gave his arm one last squeeze before grabbing her own lab results. "I have to get these to Shepherd, okay? But I'll find you later and we'll figure this out, okay?"
She moved and gave him a quick, warm hug before she rushed down the hall, knowing she had to run if she didn't want Shepherd to yell at her for being slow.
George and Izzie were silent for a moment before George completely lost it. Izzie felt dread fill her, wishing she could call Skylar back here to handle her best friend again.
"What am I gonna say to Olivia?!"
Skylar leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She was glad to be outside for a while. Being cooped up in a hospital for hours and running around between Shepherd's post-op patients became tiring after a while. The redhead needed her lunchtime or else she wouldn't survive the rest of the day. Izzie and Cristina were sitting next to her, Izzie in the middle of feeling Cristina's forehead, which was a bit warm. Skylar hadn't been the only one to notice that Cristina wasn't acting like herself, though she was the only one that knew why. She watched her two friends as she ate from the cup of applesauce. "Maybe you should get yourself checked out, Cristina. You feel a little warm."
Cristina removed Izzie's hand from her forehead. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You haven't been acting like yourself today. You've been quiet," Izzie said, placing her empty soda can on her tray.
"Like I said, I'm fine. Maybe I just don't like you. Ever think of that?" Izzie rolled her eyes, knowing that Cristina was lying. She might be a stone-cold bitch who loved work more than anything else, but she loved her fellow interns. Then George and Alex arrived and took a place at their table. "Hey, syph-boy."
"Cristina…" Skylar warningly said, not wanting George to know that she knew, but it was too late already.
George's head snapped toward Izzie and Skylar, his eyes seething with anger. "You told her?"
"Just Cristina," Izzie said, gesturing to the woman.
"'Syph-boy,'" Alex repeated. "It's got a nice ring to it. Kind of like superboy, only diseased," he teased.
"Izzie didn't have to say a word." Cristina shook her head. "Around here, the only thing that spreads faster than disease is gossip."
"That's not true," George disagreed. "Just because Izzie can't keep her mouth shut doesn't mean everyone knows."
"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked George as soon as she joined the group at their lunch table. "Sorry about the syphilis."
"Everybody in this hospital knows?" He groaned.
"Knows you're a player," Alex finished the sentence with a huge smirk on his face.
"The pot calls the kettle black," Skylar muttered but everyone was able to hear it. She looked at George, a sad smile on her lips. "Don't worry about the gossip train, George. Everyone will forget about it in a week. Just talk to O—"
"Everybody's got a secret. Just be glad yours is out in the open," Alex interrupted Skylar, who was going to tell George to talk to Olivia about it so it doesn't ruin their relationship.
"Oh, yeah, Alex? What's yours?" Cristina questioned him.
"You show me yours, and I'll show you mine," Alex replied with a smirk, his mind in the gutter. Cristina didn't reply, she was too busy looking at Buke who walked by. Luckily for her, no one noticed, not even Skylar which meant she was doing a good job at hiding the relationship—if you could even call it that. "I bet you've got some seriously kinky skeletons in your closet."
Cristina hummed to herself. "No, if anyone here has kinky secrets, it's definitely Red. No offense."
"None taken," Skylar smiled, taking another bite of her lunch. "It's probably true."
"Besides," Cristina continued. "What's in my closet is none of your business."
"Well, I don't have any secrets. My life is boring," Izzie mentioned while shrugging her shoulders and continuing to eat.
"Everybody's got something to hide," Meredith ominously replied. Everyone at the table turned to stare at her. Skylar was watching her with her eyes raised but had a feeling that she was subtly talking about Derek and how he refused to share things about his life.
"I have a cute butt too, want to see?" Skylar heard Alex's voice from behind an exam curtain. Curious, she pulled it open to find Alex and Meredith standing behind George as he leaned over a table with his pants pulled down.
Skylar raised her brows, releasing a breathy laugh. "This is not what I was expecting."
"Sky! The curtain!" George shouted.
Closing the divider, she walked around the table to stand next to Alex. "Oh, get out. You're doing it wrong," Meredith told him, judging his technique.
"Be my guest," he said, handing the shot of penicillin over to her and leaving the area.
"Alex!" George called out. "Don't leave me with—"
"What are you doing here?" Izzie asked, joining the three the same way Skylar had. George quickly pulled the curtain shut once again.
"Breaking George's spirit," he muttered in embarrassment.
"Curing George's syph," Skylar informed. "We just need to give him a shot in the ass, and he should be good to go."
"I don't like needles," George sighed.
"Good thing you became a doctor, then," Meredith smirked.
"Just man up," Skylar said, annoyed with George's whining. "Take the shot in the ass." As much as George wanted to glare at her, he couldn't since she was behind him.
"Okay, other side," Meredith informed him.
"Izzie?" They heard Cristina call out.
"Yeah?" She called back, causing Cristina to pull the curtains open once again and join them, much to George's dismay.
"Mr. Franklin's procedure has been scheduled for after lunch—" She cut herself off after she saw George bent over the bed. "Oh, what are we doing?"
"We're saving George from a future of festering sores and insanity," Skylar dramatically said.
"Oh, cute butt," Cristina complimented him as she stood next to Meredith.
"Adorable, isn't it?" Skylar agreed.
"Told you," Meredith smirked.
"It is cute. Like a baby's," Izzie nodded.
They all jumped a bit when George shot up, pulling up his scrub pants and tying them. "You know, I have spent hours, days, years, imagining myself half-naked in a room with four women. The reality is so much better," he sarcastically said before storming out, leaving the four girls to laugh at that.
Skylar almost felt bad for him. But it was partly his fault in the end—and Olivia's—because they didn't use protection.
"Oh, I think he's gonna cry," Cristina teased.
Due to the syphilis outbreak throughout the hospital, the interns and nurses were called into a safe sex demonstration in the conference room. Skylar hadn't slept with anyone since Alex, and she was pretty sure—as a doctor herself—that if she had anything she would have known by now, so she didn't understand why she had to be there, but went anyway.
As everyone gathered, the Chief started his speech. "Three interns, four residents and six nurses on this surgical floor have been diagnosed with…syphilis." Skylar, standing in between Cristina and Meredith, looked at George who was sitting in front of her.
"There are over 70,000 new cases every year," Patricia continued as Olivia looked at George. "Undiagnosed, syphilis can lead to blindness, insanity and death." George felt extremely embarrassed and continued to look down at his lap. Skylar looked over at him a couple of times, feeling extremely bad for the poor guy. It really wasn't his day.
"If you are having unprotected sex with another member of the staff, get tested," Richard advised, staring at the people in front of them. He couldn't believe that this was happening on his surgical floor, and he couldn't believe that he was just finding out about it. "This is not a request." Everyone laughed, but Webber didn't. "Patricia will now give you a safe-sex demonstration." The laughing continued as Patricia stood up, holding a condom in one hand and a banana in the other. Skylar rolled her eyes.
"This is worse than highschool," she whined, facing Cristina who nodded in agreement.
Answering Shepherd's page, Skylar snuck into the room where he was going over MRI scans. The Chief was standing beside him, and she gave him a small smile. However, the Chief turned to Shepherd, furious. "You told an intern?" He accused.
Skylar stopped in her tracks, her face falling. Derek sighed, looking at Richard.
"Dr. Kepner is the best intern out of all of them, Richard. She'll keep the secret and do it efficiently. And besides, I need some help."
Skylar cleared her throat, fidgeting with her fingers. "What exactly is going on?" She asked. Richard flared his nostrils, turning to the girl for a moment.
He finally looked back at Derek and nodded. "Fine, but the rest are my people only. This is done tonight." Richard walked past Skylar, not looking back. Once the door was closed, she looked at Derek.
"Dr. Shepherd?"
"What I tell you does not leave this room. You understand?"
"Yes, sir."
Derek sighed, pointing at the films. Skylar walked over and peered up at them, her eyes widening. "He has a tumor? Pressing against his optic nerve?" She asked, her voice shocked. Derek nodded, pulling the films off of the light.
"Yes, he does. And I am going to remove it, and I want you to help me. Think you can handle it?"
Skylar turned to him, nodding quickly, "Yes, Dr. Shepherd."
He smiled, quickly patting her back as they both walked out of the room. "Good. I knew you were the one for the job. Just keep an eye on your pager, and don't tell anyone."
Derek turned, leaving Skylar in the middle of the hallway. She felt a smile pull on her lips, internally squealing. But she quickly composed herself, telling herself that she shouldn't be excited when the Chief of Surgery has a brain tumor. She took a deep breath and turned around, leaving the spot as though nothing had happened.
Later that day, Derek and Skylar approached Bailey and Meredith on the staircase, who was also in on the Chief's surgery. With a shared look between the two, they spoke in unison. "How goes our special super secret silent sunset surgery?"
"We've been practicing that," Derek said.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Skylar smirked.
"You have too much time on your hands," Bailey shook her head. "Tell the Chief I'll be there. Just let me know when and where. I'm in."
"Is the gallery locked up?" The Chief asked Skylar, prepping himself for surgery. She was already scrubbed in, and she gave him a nod.
"Yes, sir. Locked up and has a 'closed for maintenance' sign on it. You don't have to worry about anything," she reassured.
Derek nodded, giving Richard an 'I told you so' look. "Like I said, Richard. She's the best intern we have, no need to worry about her."
Richard just stayed silent, giving the anesthesiologist a weary look. "You're not gonna be too liberal with those benzos, right?" He slowly lay on the table.
"You know, doctors make the worst patients. You should just breathe in the happy gas. Stop running my O.R. I got you covered," Dr. Shepherd replied, giving Skylar and Bailey a look, indicating that they were about to start.
Skylar gave the Chief a comforting smile. "We're going to take care of you, Chief. Just trust Dr. Shepherd."
"Okay, I've sutured the drain in place. The staples look fine. All right, we're done here. Dr. Bailey, you want to wrap him?" Dr. Shepherd spoke, placing the last of his instruments in the tray beside him. Skylar took a look at his work, her eyes full of awe. She would never grow tired or be unimpressed with Derek Shepherd's work, that was something she was 100 percent sure of.
Dr. Bailey responded with a "Yes," looking at Skylar when she asked a question.
"Do you believe that his optic nerve is damaged?" She asked Dr. Shepherd, her voice somewhat quiet, almost like she was worried that the Chief would hear. "Or do we just need to wait and see?"
Derek gave her a small, sad smile. "Sadly, Dr. Kepner, we're going to have to wait and see." He gave Dr. Bailey a look, tearing off his gloves. "He'll need to be watched carefully for the next few hours."
Bailey looked at Skylar. "You can monitor him, alright? Page Yang and Stevens, have them watch over your patients."
Skylar gave her a look. "They aren't answering their pages, Dr. Bailey. Do you want me to page Dr. Grey?"
Bailey suspiciously raised a brow. "They aren't answering their pages? Do you know why, Kepner?"
She shook her head. "No, ma'am. All I know is that Alex, uh…Dr. Karev was complaining before the surgery, saying that they weren't answering him."
Bailey narrowed her eyes, her voice harsh. "Take over for me. I know exactly where they are," she spoke to the only other surgeon. She pointed at Skylar, causing the girl to take a small step back. "You, monitor him. I mean it!"
Once Dr. Bailey disappeared, Skylar looked at the other surgeon. "She still scares me." The surgeon laughed before starting to close Dr. Webber's head.
After the Chief's successful surgery, Skylar, Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina went back to the locker room to change out of their scrubs and head home for the day. What they didn't expect, however, was to see the girl who gave George syphilis nervously talking to him in the center of the room.
"George," Olivia sighed. "I want you to understand, when we started dating, I was already kind of seeing someone. I didn't know how much I'd like you, and when I realized, I broke it off with the other guy—"
"Other guy?" George heavily frowned. "Who's the other guy?"
Olivia sheepishly looked behind the brunette, causing George to turn around to see Alex uncomfortable standing there.
"Oh, shit," Cristina whispered under her breath.
"This isn't going to be good," Skylar cringed.
"You and Alex?" George screamed, immediately jumping on Alex and punching him. "You gave me syphilis?!"
"George!" The girls all shouted, trying to pry him off the other man. Skylar pulled George back and held him as Cristina stood in front of him. Meredith held Alex back, Izzie in the middle of both boys.
"Calm down," she whispered in his ear.
"I can't—"
"Hey," she snapped, forcing him to look at her as Meredith helped Alex get up from the floor. "Look at me. Follow my breathing." He reluctantly did as told while the others watched the girl in wonder. Eventually, George was no longer panting and was only slightly out of breath. "Calm down," she soothingly whispered, slightly massaging his shoulders.
"She's a miracle worker," Izzie said in wonder.
After convincing George to leave the room and get some air, Skylar turned to Alex with a brow raised and a hand on her hip. "I regret sleeping with you."
"I was going to grab a drink with Derek at Joe's. Do you want to join?" Meredith asked Skylar on their way to the front lobby.
"Yeah, I'll meet you there," she agreed, leaving the building through the glass doors as Meredith headed over to talk to Derek.
On her way out, Skylar looked back once more to see one of her best friends and Derek. A small smile appeared on her lips as she watched the happy couple, but it quickly faded when she bumped into someone. Their shoulders had hit each other. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Have a good night." The stranger with beautiful red hair smiled before walking into the hospital. Skylar wanted to thank her, but she was already too far gone. Skylar couldn't help but wonder who that woman had been on her way to her car. There was this certain thing about her that made Skylar want to get to know her.
Words: 4439
And Season 1 is done! Hope you all enjoyed it, can't wait for what and who Season 2 brings. (McSteamy) I can't wait for the Dream Team that I have in mind (Skylar, Mark, and Derek)
Also, I want to bring out Skylar's fun side more. She doesn't portray it a lot of the time in the hospital because she considers it unprofessional, but her guard is going to come down more and more as time goes on.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review
