THAT MORNING, WHEN they got to the hospital, they were earlier than normal, so they could take their time getting dressed, and for some—George—that meant eating his breakfast. Cristina, Skylar, Izzie, and George waited by one of the nurses' stations to wait for Bailey. Izzie was drinking coffee, George was eating a banana, Cristina looked like she would fall asleep at any moment, while Skylar was slumped against the nurses' station. She yawned, rubbing her eyes with her fingertips to try and wipe away her tiredness.

Last night, George had kept her up—and not in the way you think—it wasn't him, per se, it was the thought of him. She had done her second load of thinking that night with George sleeping next to her. And with nothing but him to look at, she watched his cute, peaceful face as her mind raced. Sure, they were together, but to Skylar, it felt a little weird. Like, someone was hiding something. Maybe, he was and he wanted to keep it a secret from her. Maybe she was, and she didn't even know what that something was. Or maybe it was nothing serious and she was just worrying because it always seemed like she was worrying about something these days.

"Well, we have to do something. Meredith's become like an exhibit," George voiced, making Cristina groan. "Like the...hey. Like a zoo animal, like that rare panda that everyone stares at." He was referring to the hospital gossip about Meredith, some people said she went crazy after Derek dumped her for Addison, and other people said she was ready to jump off the building. None of it was true, though. But she was just a little upset, as you'd expect anyone to be after a breakup.

"Please don't say that to her face. I think that panda died alone," Izzie advised him.

"It did," Skylar confirmed.

After hearing Cristina laugh, George turned to her. "This just could just as easily be you, if people knew about you and..." He narrowed his eyes and silently mouthed Burke, which made Cristina a little angry.

"You take that back," Cristina immediately said, redoing her bun.

"No," George responded, making Cristina glare at him. "I'm just saying we should do something to cheer her up."

"Don't worry about it," Izzie mysteriously replied and shared a knowing look with Cristina. They had come up with the perfect plan to cheer up their heartbroken friend. George and Skylar were not informed and looked between the two, confused.

"It's under control."

"What—what do you guys have going on?" George asked.

"Nothing."

"Hey! Why didn't you two tell me about whatever the hell you are planning to do? Meredith's my person after all," Skylar tried to convince them, but it was to no avail. Izzie and Cristina glanced at each other before shaking their heads with a smile on their faces. This was all a part of their plan: they decided not to tell Skylar, because they thought she would spill it to Meredith. She was a horrible liar after all.

"Where's Karev?" Bailey immediately asked as she walked up to them with Meredith by her side.

"Probably off somewhere, not kissing somebody," Izzie muttered which made Skylar roll her eyes at Izzie for what felt like the thousandth time. Izzie just didn't know when to let go of situations. It had been a couple of weeks since then, and Skylar was pretty sure she would be over it by then. But then again, she wouldn't know because Alex had put out for her.

"Let's go, O'Malley." They started walking away and took the front, the others walking a few feet behind them. Skylar wanted to keep up with them and not fall behind, so she fastened her pace a little bit. Izzie, however, grabbed her by the arm, slowing her down. Skylar shot her a confused look.

"Hey, so, um, after rounds, we have something to show you. Both of you," Cristina told Meredith and Skylar with a tiny smile gracing her lips. Skylar was still a bit confused but shook her head. Meredith showed none of those things, in fact, there was no emotion visible on her face.

"Look, you don't have to include me, if it's just to make Meredith feel better. You two have it handled," Skylar politely rejected their offer. She turned away from them, jogging slightly to catch up with George and their resident.

Burke, Bailey, and her interns, excluding Alex, were gathered in a patient's room. The woman was lying on a hospital bed while her husband was rushing around doing little things for her. "Mrs, ah, Kimberly Griswold. History of heart disease and multiple surgeries. In for a beating heart quadruple CABG," Cristina started presenting when someone walked in. That person happened to be Alex.

"You're late," Izzie pointed out the obvious, and Skylar slightly sighed in annoyance. George smiled next to her, having heard this. He knew she and Izzie weren't best friends, but they tried to be and he appreciated that because Izzie was his best friend.

"Yes, Karev, nice of you to join us," Burke disapproved and gave Alex a look before returning to the chart. There was only one person in that room who greeted him with a smile; Skylar. This made him nod with the tiniest of smiles on his face. He was extremely lucky to have a friend like Skylar. She might have her quirky moments sometimes and be a bit annoying to him, but to her friends, she was an absolute sweetheart who had your back no matter what. "Why keep the heart beating, Dr. Yang?"

Cristina looked at Izzie and Meredith hesitantly before turning back to the attending. "I don't know," she replied, earning surprised looks from both Burke and Bailey.

"What?" Bailey let out, clearly confused.

"I have no idea," Cristina claimed, her voice sounding forced. Skylar, too, found it odd. During the time she's known Cristina, she was a self-proclaimed 'Cardio God' which made it very unlikely that she didn't know something about a cardiac patient.

Bailey snapped her gaze to Izzie, who played along with Cristina. "Oh, I don't know, either," the blonde said, shaking her head. "I just don't."

Meredith, on the other hand, wasn't informed well enough. "Because of the—ow." She was about to speak up when Izzie elbowed her, throwing her a look to stop her from answering the question. Skylar and George shared a suspicious look regarding their three suddenly-dumb friends.

"Anyone else?" Burke asked and looked at the other interns who were eager to answer. Skylar opened her mouth but quickly closed it again once Alex had spoken up.

"Stress reduction because of the previous surgeries—"

"O'Malley," Burke interrupted him.

"I know—I know the answer."

"I'm asking O'Malley."

"Scar tissue's too deep. The heart's too weak to start up again," George answered.

"So, what should we do? Kepner?"

"Only immobilize the portion you're working on and leave the rest of the heart on its own," Skylar responded.

Burke nodded and handed them the patient's chart. "Welcome to the case."

"What do you guys got?" Skylar called out as she stepped into the elevator with Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie who had their eyes glued onto a chart that the former was holding.

"A pregnant man," Izzie proudly announced.

Skylar's mouth gaped open. "A pregnant—what?" Now she knew why Cristina and Izzie couldn't answer Burke's question—they were refusing to. "Where did you find that? And why did I say no?"

"Your fault," Cristina muttered, to which Skylar playfully glared at her.

"We kinda stole it from psych..." Izzie trailed off.

Skylar stared at the three. Oh, she wished she didn't turn them down. She was stuck with the wife who kept bossing her husband around just because she was sick. It was fun to be on a case with George, too, but this would have been way better. "That's actually really smart."

"Wanna place bets?" Izzie suggested. "We've been collecting from all over the hospital. Highest bid is a tumor, which is lame."

"Uh, no thanks. I'm good," Skylar sipped on her coffee. Cristina sneakily stole the drink from her, taking a sip from it; her eyes instantly narrowed at the taste of it.

"What the hell is in this?"

"Four shots of espresso. To wake me up," Skylar blandly answered.

"Ew."

Skylar let out an offended scoff. "Give it back, then." She held out her hand for the coffee and Cristina just plopped it in. The elevator doors opened and the four of them stepped out, still flipping over the chart, excitedly looking over it.

They all halted as they ran into Derek. Meredith froze while Cristina and Izzie's defense mode switched on as they immediately hid the chart behind their backs. Skylar had to hold back a chuckle.

"Hi. Hello. Hi. Morning," Derek greeted each of them and his gaze landed on the currently-famous intern at the hospital. "Meredith. Maybe we could, you know, uh, talk?"

Cristina and Izzie gave each other a glance. "No," they all replied in unison, putting on their most polite smile toward the attending before hauling Meredith away from him.

"Okay..."

Skylar watched as Derek's eyes followed the blonde as they walked off. "You're an idiot," she finally said. He quickly turned to face her when she said that, a surprised expression on his face. That's when she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing.

The neurosurgeon scowled at her, finding this situation unassuming. "It's not funny," he deadpanned.

"No, no, it's not," Skylar agreed, clicking her tongue. "It's sad, really. Hilarious, even."

"Yeah, yeah..." He rolled his eyes, not knowing that Skylar had a sense of humor. "You know, I'm your boss, right?"

Her facial features didn't move one bit, but her breath caught in her throat at that reminder. She just—kind of—talked back to her boss. "My cardiac patient's scans should be up any minute now," she said, excusing herself from him and she ran off, blowing out a sigh once she was far enough away.

Skylar was eating her lunch in the outdoor cafeteria, alone. None of her fellow interns were in sight, so she had chosen a place in the back. As she was eating her applesauce, Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie walked in and quickly joined her. She looked up, greeting them with a smile. "So, you're stuck with bickering married couple," Cristina let out a chuckle. "You should've joined us."

"Look who's talking. I heard you were on grunt work, doing rectals and there was a case of explosive diarrhea?" Skylar sassed back. Meredith looked up from her magazine with a small smile on her lips while Izzie did everything she could to not laugh. "Besides, it's not so bad, working with George and Burke."

"Oh, of course, you get to make out with your boyfriend..."

"I hate you," Skylar said with no emotion in her words and Izzie couldn't contain her laughter then. Cristina shot both of them a glare as Meredith's smile grew. Skylar opened her mouth to snap back but was interrupted by George sitting down next to her.

"A pregnant guy? You had a pregnant guy and you didn't tell me?" He angrily asked, stabbing his salad with his fork.

"Well, we can get you floor space in the O.R. for 50 bucks," Izzie informed him which made Cristina chuckle.

"You're selling tickets and we don't even know what's wrong with him," Meredith intervened.

"Mer's right. Isn't it a bit rude to do that anyway? He's still a patient, not just a thing to practice on. Imagine if you were him," Skylar agreed, leaning back in her chair.

"Whatever he's got inside has got to come out. We're just brokering a few deals."

"Sort of like backstage passes. You want in on the cash?"

"No," Meredith replied, shaking her head. Skylar looked down at her food, still in disbelief. She would expect this kind of behavior from Cristina, but Izzie? She thought the blonde was the kind of person that cared about patients more than the fame they brought. Apparently, she was wrong.

"I didn't need a pregnant guy. I was Burke's new go-to guy. We are Burke's new go-to guys," George said, gesturing between him and Skylar with his fork.

"People," she corrected. George hummed in agreement, stuffing his face with food, angry at the three girls. But then he faced Cristina, remembering that he had accidentally let Burke know that he knew about his relationship with the brunette. Skylar hadn't done anything to help him, at least from his perspective. She was nudging him slightly during that time, trying to get him to shut up but he didn't notice. "But that's over thanks to you," he said to Cristina. "He didn't know that I knew about you two."

"Stop talking."

"What on earth?" Izzie wondered when she noticed Alex wheeling a teenage girl in a wheelchair to their table. Derek had asked Alex to take Nicole everywhere he went that day, so he could possibly convince her to change her mind about the surgery. Her mother was strongly against it and the girl was too afraid to say her opinion. The others looked at him questioningly, but not Skylar. She smiled instead and greeted the girl before taking a bite of her food.

"Hi...I'm Alex's charity case," Nicole greeted them.

"Huh, I like her already," Cristina said.

"Are you volunteering?" George asked him.

"Don't ask."

"Why? It's not like we can read your mind. It's not like we have any idea what's going on in your tiny, tiny, tiny little brain," Izzie inquired and Skylar had a feeling that it was yet, another, comment about how he hadn't kissed her on their date. Skylar had had enough of her complaining and was at the point where she was thinking of locking them in an on-call room until they made up, or kissed—whichever came first.

"She has a point," Cristina replied when her pager went off. She sighed and became a bit frustrated. "Oh! I am hungry!" She complained. She hadn't finished her lunch yet but had to leave anyway. Patients were waiting. She had pissed off a nurse, Debbie, who was taking her sweet, sweet revenge.

"So, this is cool. A real live lunchtime. In a real cafeteria with trays and friends," Nicole confessed and was admiring everything around her.

"We're not his friends," Izzie quickly clarified which made Skylar roll her eyes.

"Oh, please, Izzie! You might not be his friend, but I am. And, anyways, you obviously want to be more than that," Skylar complained, not even looking up from her container of applesauce. Izzie's mouth fell open in shock and her eyes seethed with anger. "Don't they have a cafeteria at your school, Nicole?" Skylar changed the subject.

"I'm homeschooled by my parents."

"That explains a lot," Alex muttered to himself, but the others could still hear his comment.

"So are you guys the cool kids around here or something?"

"What would make you think that?" Meredith wonder as she looked up from her magazine.

"It seems like everyone is talking about you." When the blonde looked around the room, people were staring and talking about her. But Meredith decided to do nothing and went back to reading her magazine.

"The Griswolds are a huge pain in the ass," George ranted as he and Skylar walked down the staircase toward their room. They were also holding hands since no one was around to see them anyway. "Why would you be with someone who makes you so unhappy?"

"Self-torture," she guessed. "At least their marriage is lasting long, isn't it? Maybe that's just how the world works? Happy people have a short time; unhappy people last a lifetime..." Maybe she shouldn't have been saying these things, especially to her boyfriend but it was already out in the open.

George furrowed his brows at that concept. "That's...twisted." Opening the door into Mrs. Griswold's room, he brought a bright smile onto his face despite his complaining just a few moments ago,

"Hello, Mrs. Griswold, I'm here to take your blood pressure," he informed. Skylar went to sit Mr. Griswold on the bed opposite his wife's while they took her vitals.

"Could you make sure that they get the breathing tube out of my throat right after surgery this time?" Mrs. Griswold told her husband. She let out a wince and snapped at George. "Are you trying to cut off my circulation?"

Mr. Griswold sighed, "He's just doing his job..."

"What did you say?" Mrs. Griswold's sudden raise in her voice lifted the tension in the room. The two interns gave each other a cautious look; Mr. Griswold had finally snapped.

"I said, he's just doing his job."

"Oh, God," Skylar whispered. She did not want to be there to witness a marriage falling apart.

"Well, I don't really care whose job he's doing. He's squeezing my arm off," Mrs. Griswold snapped. "Are you just gonna sit there?"

Mr. Griswold took a deep breath and snapped, "Shut up, Kim." George and Skylar's eyes widened. His wife looked at him questioningly. "Just shut up, huh?"

"Hey—" George tried to interrupt, but he was quickly cut off. Skylar tugged on his sleeve to pull him away from the couple's bickering. The two interns backed off to wait for them to stop.

"You complain to me, about me, around me," Mr. Griswold barked. "All day! Everyday! A little silence would be nice. A few measly minutes of quiet."

Skylar noticed Mrs. Griswold's heart rate rising on the heart monitor George. "Oh, no...Mr. Griswold, you should—"

"Can't you just for once in your life, just shut up!"

"Okay, looks like Mrs. Griswold is doing well," Burke informed as he continued immobilizing her heart in the O.R. After her husband had yelled at her, Mrs. Griswold had a heart attack and had to be rushed to surgery.

"The husband's blaming himself," George muttered. "One second, his wife was okay, and now she's in here," he lifted his eyes to Skylar. "Is that just how the world world works?"

"The world is a weird place," Skylar shrugged as she suctioned the blood from the patient's open chest. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a situation caught all medical personnel in the O.R. off-guard, Mrs. Griswold's heart caught on fire.

"Code red!" Burke shouted as everyone took a step away from the table.

"Her heart...it's on fire," George mused.

"Woah," Skylar couldn't blink, she was more impressed than alarmed as she stared at the flames.

"Begin fire protocol," Burke hurriedly ordered.

"On it," George and Skylar both replied. George headed for the saline while Skylar went to the side of the O.R. and began to disconnect the electrical leads.

"Any unnecessary personnel in this room, evacuate now! Shut down the O2."

"I got the ambu bag," Skylar informed. "Starting manual respiration." To say she was amazed by the whole situation would be an understatement. Her internship at Seattle Grace got more interesting every day.

"I gotta control this bleeding. O'Malley, I need some hands here," Burke requested, gesturing for George to come over to him. "Her vitals are stabilizing. We might just have a chance here." Skylar looked up at the gallery while squeezing the Ambu bag rhythmically. The doctors were all on their feet, gaping at the unexpected situation. She thought back to Izzie, Meredith, and Cristina's patient. Mystery patient, my ass.

A very concerned Skylar and George were sitting opposite Mr. Griswold in the waiting room. Burke was to the right of Skylar, hiding a smile. Mr. Griswold had burst out laughing upon hearing that his wife caught on fire and survived. He looked back and forth between the three surgeons, unable to control his hysterical laughter from coming out.

"She's never gonna die!"

"Uh, Mr. Griswold?" Burke called out. "Mr. Griswold, I know this is an emotional time for you. Um, if you would like to wait—"

"Wait? No, no," Mr. Griswold interrupted as he stood up from the couch. "I'm not waiting any longer." He thrust his wife's bag into George's hands, the latter looking at it in confusion. Skylar had to hold back a laugh when this happened.

The old man then grabbed his coat and started walking off. "You tell her," he spoke. "Tell her...Hell—tell her she'll survive without me!" The man started laughing again and wandered to the elevator. He saluted the three surgeons who just sat there and watched as the man stepped into the elevator and left his wife's life without a second thought. Burke walked off shortly after that, leaving two amused interns left.

"Well, it seems like even unhappy people break. Eventually," Skylar chuckled, shaking her head. "That's just how the world works."

"Uh...any idea what I do with this?" George asked, lifting the bag in his hands.

"Return it to its right owner, I guess?" She suggested, standing up. "You know, I need a drink, you wanna go to Joe's?"

He immediately stood up and darted to the elevators to catch up with her. "After I return this—wait up!"

Joe's bar was busy, just like any other night. George, Cristina, Skylar, and Izzie sat at the corner of the bar, the blonde counting the betting money they got that day. The redhead took a shot of tequila, allowing the fiery liquid to go down her throat.

"485 dollars worth of tickets to the surgery," Izzie said, finishing off the counting.

"Yeah," Cristina condescending said.

"Did you sell more?" Izzie said, smiling because she already knew the answer.

"Oh, yeah," she smirked, pulling out a wad of fives from her back pocket. The four interns, along with Joe, chuckled.

Meredith walked in and took the seat next to Izzie. "Hey, Joe," she greeted. Everyone kept quiet and continued sipping on their drinks while Joe poured one for Meredith. "So you guys really don't have anything else to talk about?"

Cristina, Izzie, and George sighed. "No."

"We could talk about the panda," Skylar shrugged, forgetting that Meredith had no idea what she was talking about. The four of them turned their heads to her.

"I'm a panda now?" Meredith mused, shaking her head while she took a shot of tequila.

"Yep," Skylar confirmed. "Kinda depressing, to think that it died alone. But at least it was cute...chubby, and cute." When they all just blankly stared at her with amused smiles on their faces, she responded, "I'm drunk, forget about it."

The five of them burst out laughing, clinking their glasses together, then downed the rest of the glass. Their attention turned to Alex as he wandered into the bar and walked right up to Izzie.

"What?" She asked, staring at the determined look on his face. He dipped her backward off the barstool and passionately kissed her. The other four cheered them on with smiles on their faces. Alex finally got the girl.

Alex pulled her back up, a smile tugging his lips. "Good night," he said, before leaving through the doors again.

"Seriously," Izzie breathlessly said.

Skylar took yet another shot and pointed at the blonde. "Does this mean you'll finally stop complaining?" She slightly slurred, pointing at her with a peanut still in her hand. George just pushed her hand down, knowing she was well past her limit of drinks. At Izzie's glare, she said something more friendly. "Go after him, have a hell of a long night," she smirked. Izzie took a large gulp of her drink while the rest of them continued laughing.

Words: 4103

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