"THAT DOG IS crazy," Skylar exclaimed through a mouth full of cereal, waving a spoon around. Her eyes locked with Izzie's, who nodded. They were hiding in the bathroom and they were scared to leave because of their pet roaming the halls. "Did someone steal our Doc and swap it with a wild animal or something?" Izzie was leaning against the door, holding a coffee mug while Skylar sat on the edge of the bathtub.
They heard Doc barking and growling loudly which made them share a glance. "I know, right?"
Eventually, the barking stopped which made Skylar feel a bit uncomfortable. "Am I the only one who—"
Her sentence was cut off by George's muffled yelling getting closer with each word. "Izzie! Sky! Incoming!" The blonde acted quickly, even though she was quite startled. She opened the door and George ran inside as fast as he could before Izzie slammed the door shut before Doc could enter. He sat down next to Skylar on the tub and put his arm around her shoulders. Izzie handed George her coffee mug which he gratefully accepted.
"You know I'm thinking about coloring my hair. Maybe red."
"Really? Red would look good on you, Iz. I thought about going blonde. We should swap," Skylar joked. She was actually thinking about going blonde but she didn't know if she would be able to pull it off or not.
"Yeah, red's good. You would look hot with blonde hair, Sky. And I'm actually thinking about cutting mine," George revealed.
"Yeah? It'll look good shorter."
"You think?" George wondered, a little surprised. They all glanced at each other when suddenly it was quiet in the hallway. Doc's loud barking had stopped. A sigh of relief escaped their lips. Then they heard Meredith giving their dog compliments. George and Izzie opened the door and peeked out. Skylar stood up and joined them outside.
"What a good dog. Who's mommy's good boy?" Meredith was petting and shaking the dog's paw. "You're such a good boy." They were shocked. "What are you guys doing in there? We're going to be late."
"We need to talk about the dog," George started.
"That's not a dog. It's a hyena. Escaped from the zoo just in dog clothing."
"Whatever! I don't chew up his clothes. I don't urinate on his bed. I don't try to mount him from behind!"
"People, he's our dog. We love our dog. He loves us."
"I don't think the feeling's mutual, Mer," Skylar stated as she ate more of her cereal.
"You guys are overreacting. Just look at that face. Does it seem like a face that would want to eat you? No, huh, no, because you're such a good boy," Meredith said as she continued petting the dog before leaving. Just as Meredith turned her back on them, Doc growled at the remaining housemates and then let out a warning bark.
"Tries to mount you from behind?" Izzie apprehensively asked.
"Tries to." Doc barked loudly, startling them. George glanced at the girls behind and whispered, "He tries to."
Skylar chuckled. "You're so adorable, Georgie."
"Listen up, people, new year, new rules," Webber announced to the crowd of surgeons in the lobby of the surgical floor. "Or should I say, new year, and we will be enforcing the rules mandated by the residency review committee." The surgeons were whispering to one another curiously. "There were too many mistakes made last year. Fatigue played too big a role," Webber informed. "Exceeding 80 hours per week will not be tolerated."
Several eyes went wide in the crowd, especially among the interns. "Does that mean we actually get to have a life?" George whispered.
"Sullivan, you were on-call for 28 hours, leave when you hit 30. Grey, you were 'til two a.m. last night, see you at noon."
"I get to go? Free time?" Meredith marveled.
"Run before he changes his mind," Alex warned.
"Oh, and people, our nurses are gonna have to work extra hours to compensate, so treat them well," Webber reminded. "Cranky nurses don't do us any good."
The crowd dispersed as everyone went back to work. "Well, maybe you can cheer them up," Izzie mocked Alex, making George chuckle. Skylar gave her boyfriend a look, not finding it funny.
"Really, Izzie?" She understood that Alex had hurt her by cheating on her with Olivia. But Izzie was mocking him every chance she got. The constant childish remarks annoyed Skylar. Sure, she was a bit childish, but she never berated anyone when she was.
However, something suddenly changed inside the blonde. Instead of walking away and accepting her win, Izzie turned to Alex. "You know what? My New Year's resolution was to let it go, and I am and I have let it go. I apologize."
They all started walking down the hall together in search of Bailey. "You do?" George and Skylar wondered, both amazed. Skylar thought Izzie was the one to hold grudges for at least half a decade. For things like cheating on her, possibly more. This change was a bit sudden, but Skylar couldn't deny that she was happy that Izzie was letting it go.
"I do. How'd your test go?"
"I feel pretty good about it, but I won't know for a few days."
"Well, we're all pulling for you."
"We are?"
"We are."
"Denny Duquette," Bailey greeted, walking into a patient's room. Denny was in for a heart transplant. UNOS had finally found him a donor.
"Hey, Dr. Bailey," he greeted.
"I hope seeing you here means that they finally found you a heart."
"No offense, doctor, but I'm not a big fan of hospitals. It takes something pretty special to get me in here."
"What do we know about Mr. Duquette?" Bailey asked as she looked at Izzie, nonverbally assigning her to the case.
"Capricorn, single, loves to travel and cook," Denny flirted once he saw Izzie. He graced her with his most charming smile.
"Denny, be quiet. Let her show off."
"Denny Duquette, 36, admitted today for a heart transplant necessitated by a viral cardiomyopathy," Izzie stated with a smile on her face. Even though he was a patient, she couldn't deny that he was quite handsome. She was also flattered that he would flirt with her.
"What does that mean?"
"That his heart isn't able to fill and pump blood normally."
"Good. Denny, this is Dr. Stevens," Bailey introduced. "She'll be tending to your private surgery."
"So I guess I'll be seeing you around, Dr. Stevens," Denny grinned, making Izzie smile back.
Skylar noticed the unamused look on Alex's face as Denny shamelessly flirted with Izzie, his eyes now trailing behind the intern walking out of the room. Skylar dragged Alex along with her as they walked off after Izzie. The interns left Denny's room, excluding George and Bailey, and stood at the nurses' station while waiting for them to finish checking on the patient.
"Well, gotta hand it to the guy, trying to get some action when he's practically a corpse," Alex deadpanned.
"Alex, he's just trying to be nice," Izzie retorted.
Skylar shook her head. "And flirty."
Bailey and George walked out of Denny's room and they started walking down the hallway to finish their rounds. Skylar, Izzie, and Alex had to quicken their pace to catch up to them.
"No one enforced an 80 hour work week when I was an intern," Bailey muttered. "110, 120 hours suited me just fine. I learned more 'cause I worked more."
"Well, at least this way, you get to rest before you have the baby," said George and he received a glare from the resident. "I mean being that pregnant, keeping up this pace—"
"What are you saying? I look tired, O'Malley?" She questioned.
"No, not—not tired, no," George shook his head. "You look fresh, spry. You glow." He looked down at his watch, clearly embarrassed.
"O'Malley, go do an intake on Addison Shepherd's patient," Bailey instructed. George scurried off as quickly as he could, wanting to run away from his problems. Bailey turned to the three remaining interns.
"You do glow," Izzie said.
Skylar nodded. "Very brightly."
"Like the moon," Alex added.
"You can spend the day in the pit, Karev," Bailey ordered, turning to Skylar.
"Dr. Bailey, can I—"
"No, you can not," Bailey cut her off before she even finished her question. She was going to ask if she could assist with the exploratory laparotomy that Bailey had scheduled, but she guessed she wasn't going to be doing that now. "The other Shepherd has requested you. Meet him in room E19."
Skylar sighed and walked away from the group. She was happy to be working with Derek. She was always happy to work with Derek, and it wasn't like she had any say if she did or not. As an intern, she did what her resident told her to do, even if it was 30 enemas in a row. That was just the way it was.
Skylar sat in the gallery of a random surgery that she saw on the O.R. board. Derek's surgery had gotten postponed since the patient was nonemergent and other patients needed surgery faster. So when she told Bailey, the resident told her to run labs and fill out charts for her patients. So that's what she was doing, filling out charts.
"Hey," George greeted and sat down beside her. "Aren't you supposed to be with Dr. Shepherd?"
"Oh," she blew out a frustrated breath. "His surgery got postponed, so I'm just trying to do as much as I can. You know, to help the nurses, since they're overloaded with work now. This new policy kind of sucks."
George laughed. "You wouldn't be saying that if you had a surgery."
Skylar nodded. "True." They watched the surgery for a couple of minutes. An ortho attending was fixing a guy's jaw. He had tripped going up the stairs and slammed his chin into a step. It sounded more gruesome than it looked. "What have you been doing today?" She finally asked him.
"I've got this patient," he confided in a low tone. "Teenage girl. Young. She's a hermaphrodite. And she doesn't know. Her parents won't tell her. She says she's always felt like a freak. I think telling her would help. If it were you wouldn't you want to know sooner rather than later?"
Skylar thought about it for a minute. "I don't know," she finally said. "I mean I can see what you're saying. But I can see their side too. Being a teenager is hard already. Telling her could make her feel better or it could just make her feel like more of a freak. Really, it's up to the parents to decide, though. I mean, she'll probably find out eventually anyway, so..."
"If they don't tell her now she'll never forgive them," George direly predicted. "They shouldn't let their freak out about this affect the way they deal with her. It's not right."
Overall, everyone ended that day in different moods.
Alex was the only one who was fairly happy, he had discovered something with his patient that Chief Webber had missed. His patient had mercury poisoning from eating his book. They thought it was just nerves about the surgery, but Alex had caught it and treated it correctly. Skylar wasn't happy or upset, she was just bored, she had basically done scut all day, but she did get to watch Derek's surgery at the end of the day.
Cristina had flown to Idaho and back all in one day to get a heart for Denny Duquette. She had struggled the entire day with questioning if she could have handled a baby or not. It started when Burke had asked her what she would have done with the baby if she hadn't had an ectopic pregnancy.
George had accidentally made his patient's, Bex, parents tell her that she was a hermaphrodite. She was happy that George made them do it, but her parents yelled at him. Saying things like he didn't know what it felt like to want to protect their child. But George just thought that they wouldn't be able to handle it if Bex didn't want to be a girl anymore.
Meredith had had the day off but she eventually did come back just to observe some surgeries from the gallery. She had done five loads and laundry, cut her hair and visit her mother at the nursing home. She had found out that Derek wanted to get her mom into a clinical trial for Alzheimer's without consulting her first. But then Chief Webber had told her that it was his idea to get Derek to do that.
And Izzie had somewhat bonded with Denny Duquette. They were both upset when the blonde told him that he didn't get the heart from Idaho. The heart was too damaged to give to Denny. It wouldn't have supported his arteries well enough for him to survive with it long-term. In the end, they had to discharge Denny, but Izzie couldn't get her mind off of him...
"He peed on my bed. My bed, Meredith," Izzie informed her. They were in the locker room, discussing Doc. The dog was just out of control at this point.
"And he figured out how to open doors. It's just weird when he stares at me and George when—"
"Stop talking," George had interrupted Skylar before she said anything that might embarrass them.
"He's our dog," Meredith shrugged it off, crossing her leg over the other one from where she sat on a bench. Izzie, Skylar, and George had brought Doc to the hospital, not wanting to leave him at home to tear up the couch or more laundry like he had done to the last load.
"No, he's not my dog," George protests as he put his pager in his scrub pants pocket. "You two bought him without even asking me. Or Skylar!"
"Don't bring me into this, I just don't want him invading our privacy," Skylar sternly said.
"We rescued him from certain death," Meredith said. She didn't want to give up Doc. He was her comfort dog, her dog that was supposed to make her get over McDreamy. "Come on, you guys," she pleaded, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.
"I'm putting my foot down," George seriously said, staring Meredith right in the eyes, immune to her begging. "Either the dog moves out, or I do." Skylar's eyes went wide at that. She didn't want George to move out. Sure, they spent basically all their time together at the hospital, but she liked when she could collapse into bed with him. "Foot down now. Me or the dog, which is it?" Meredith solemnly looked down at Doc, causing the other three to double-take on the blonde. "You hesitated," he shockingly said. "She hesitated!" He complained to Izzie and Skylar.
"You hesitated?" Izzie whisper-yelled at Meredith.
"I didn't hesitate. I was thinking," Meredith came up with an excuse.
"Why do you even have to think about it?" Skylar asked, taking George's side. If it was her in the blonde's position, she would've chosen George in a heartbeat. Even if they weren't dating, she would have chosen him. Even if it was Izzie she was choosing.
"Fine. I'm moving out right now," George said, stomping toward the door. He pulled the door open but immediately stopped when Dr. Bailey appeared. "Later, I'm moving out later," he said, turning back around. "Because right now, I have rounds."
Bailey entered the locker room at the quickest pace her pregnancy would allow her. She sighed when she saw the animal sitting below Meredith. "Tell me that is not a dog."
"It's not a dog," Alex, Cristina, and Skylar plainly said.
"Are we gonna do this or what?" Alex asked as Cristina, Izzie, and Skylar sat down at their normal table in the cafeteria. Both Alex and Cristina had six hotdogs each on their tray. They got inspired by Izzie and Alex's patient who was a competitive eater for a living.
"Yeah, let's—let's go," Cristin said, tying her hair back. She was very competitive and she was not going down without a fight.
"Don't start without me," George said as he came running up with his own plate of hot dogs. Skylar couldn't help but laugh at the situation. One of them was probably going to throw up.
"We're not gonna start if Red doesn't focus," Alex said. They had put Skylar in charge of the timer since she chickened out of joining them.
"What should I put on the flier?" Izzie asked. She was making a 'dog for adoption' sign for Doc.
"Destructive, aggressive, uh, hell dog available," Cristina said in her usual manner, one that sounded like she was serious but really she was joking.
"That's not helping," George scolded.
"Fine, uh, playful, protective puppy needs loving home," she corrected.
"Good," Izzie nodded, writing it down on a scratch piece of paper.
"Hey, George—," Meredith said as she sat down with her own tray of food. In one hand she had Doc on a leash who obediently laid down when she sat down.
"Don't talk to me!" George ordered as he looked down at his food. "You'll only make me mad. You're gonna mess up my game and I'm in the zone."
"Okay," Meredith said, a bit freaked out y his sudden behavior. She then turned to Izzie when she noticed the piece of paper. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, it's a flier that I'm gonna put up—"
"Sky, come on!" Cristina yelled, interrupting the blonde at the same time, George yelled, "Sky!"
"Okay, okay!" She laughed, putting her food down and talking out the timer. "Keep your panties on!" George, Alex, and Cristina all prepared themselves. For George, that was making weird little breathy noises as he tried to even out his breathing. He picked up a hotdog, ready for Skylar to say go.
"No touching!" Cristina yelled at him, pointing an accusatory finger. George put down his hotdog making a face at the brunette.
"Go!" Skylar said as she struggled not to laugh along with Izzie.
George, Alex, and Cristina started wolfing down their hotdogs. Though Cristina opted for eating the actual hotdog first rather than the bun and meat like Alex and George.
"You're advertising for a home for Doc? I said I would do it," Meredith said, going back to the flier topic. They were ignoring Skylar who was busy laughing at the three who were stuffing their faces.
"And you haven't and you won't. And I don't want George to leave," Izzie said, looking over at the brunette boy but then made a funny face when she saw him struggling to get the hotdog into his mouth.
"Well at least down he's not house-broken," Meredith told her. Izzie gave her a look. If they put that down no one would want to adopt him. "What? It's the truth?"
"Okay, so you want me to put the truth. Fine." Cristina had finished her hot dogs and was only left with the buns. She poured water on them to make them less dry, Skylar wrinkled her nose when the brunette shoved the bread in her mouth. "Vicious, hyper devil mutt is available. And will pee on the bed."
"He's your dog too. We got him together." Meredith gave the others a weird look. It looked like Cristina was winning, Alex close behind, but George was pretty much screwed at this point.
"We got him together, please. He's not your dog either. He doesn't even know us. We're not home enough for him to know us."
Cristina stuffs the last of the bun down her mouth and she shouts in victory as she shot up from her seat. Though it was very muffled and hard to understand since she still had a mouth full of bread. Alex and George also muffled their protests because she hadn't swallowed all of it. But they already knew that they lost by a mile.
"You want to be me, but you can't be me," Cristina started gloating. "You want to be me, but you—" She abruptly stopped and looked like something was going to come back up.
"She's gonna blow," Skylar warned. They all stood up, laughing, and quickly ran off, leaving Cristina sitting by herself trying not to throw up.
"Hey," Alex greeted as he sat down next to Skylar on a deserted gurney in the hallway. "Uh...can you..." he trailed off, handing her the envelope Chief Webber had given him. It contained his test score and would tell him if he got to stay at Seattle Grace or not.
"You want me to open it?" She questioned as she gently took it out of his hand. She didn't know why he would choose her of all people.
"Yeah, you know, it's...I can't, so..." he stuttered out. "And you're the one that's least likely to make fun of me when I get cut, so..."
"If," she corrected. He looked at her, confused. "If you get cut." She sighed, tearing open the envelope. He couldn't make eye contact with her, and Skylar realized that this program meant a lot more to him than he was letting on. She didn't realize that it wasn't entirely the program but the people he was surrounded by. When she unfolded the piece of paper, a slight smile made its way onto her face. She didn't say anything as she passed the paper back to him. "Congratulations. You are officially not an idiot."
"Bed rest at home until the baby comes," Addison told Bailey. A nurse was pushing her in a wheelchair since she had gone into preterm labor, but Addison was able to stop the contractions. All of her interns were trailing behind, sad to see their resident leaving them, but she will be back. Bailey always comes back. "You do know what bed rest is don't you, Miranda?"
"Yeah, hell," Bailey uttered, upset that she was leaving her job for maternity leave.
"Hell with TV and books," Izzie said as she handed Bailey a present. "Here, it's from all of us."
Bailey grudgingly took it. They all smiled at her from outside the elevator. Just as they thought they would see the last of their resident for the months to come, Bailey stopped the elevator doors from closing with her foot. "I may be 47 months pregnant." The group looked apprehensive as they were about to walk off. Addison had already left. "I may be on bed rest. I may not be able to see my own feet but I am Dr. Bailey. I hear everything. I know everything. I'm watching each and every one of you. And I will return." With that, the elevator doors closed.
THE NURSES AT Seattle Grace Hospital were protesting. They had formed a picket line in front of the hospital and held various signs. The recent change in work hours had caused unhappiness and problems among the nurses. Instead of getting paid more for working more, their wages state the same as before. Ten days ago, they had informed the Chief that they would go on strike. That day had finally come. George, Izzie, and Skylar were standing at the end of the picket line, watching the protest. They didn't know what to do.
"What do you think they're going to do if we try and enter? They look pissed off and ready to throw tomatoes at the main act," Skylar said to her two roommates standing next to her. Meredith hadn't gone with them, since she wanted to visit her mother.
"Can't. Can't cross the picket line. I can't," George stuttered as he looked at the crowd of angry nurses.
"I don't like it either, George, but what choice do we have? Okay. You took an oath to heal! You're a healer!" Izzie chimed in, her eyes wide at the sight of the signs and yelling.
"Dad's a truck driver. Mom's a teacher. The evening news shows me crossing the picket line...they'll outlive me just to pee on my grave." Izzie and Skylar gave George a weird look. He says the weirdest things when he's nervous or scared—in this case, it was both. Skylar loved it when he got all flustered like this, it was one of the things that first attracted her to him.
"Look, George, you have responsibilities. So get a grip and walk through there like a man," Skylar tried to encourage him, but he shook his head.
Cristina walked up to them and threw her arms over Skylar and George's shoulders. The latter quickly pushed Cristina's arm away. "Has there been any blood yet? I hear they brought in scab nurses."
"I think the nurses know that we are on their side," Izzie tried to think on the positive side with a smile. However, right after she uttered that sentence, they heard someone yell 'Don't cross the line.' "Don't they?"
"I'm not so sure," Skylar said as she fidgeted with the sleeve of her black leather jacket.
"Well, we're doctors. We have sick patients inside. I mean, we have surgeries," Cristina said, being the surgery-hungry person that she was.
"Okay...then you go first," Izzie replied and pointed at the path in front of them. She took a step to the side to make place for Cristina to walk through and face the crowd of angry nurses.
"Screw it." She headed toward the line with confidence. The confidence she had quickly faded when food was thrown at her. "Yeah, doing my job! Doing my job!" Cristina eventually made it to the front door. The other three were quite shocked.
"They threw food at her!" Izzie gasped. The other two nodded with their jaws slack. "That is just wrong! Fine, I'm going in!" She took a deep breath and went in. They threw food at her as well, nobody was safe. Skylar watched Izzie walk through and use her bag to deflect the food.
"Oh, God. Should I take my chances?" She asked George. But she didn't wait for an answer before she stepped between the picket fences. She was bombarded with all sorts of food. She tried to cover herself with her jacket but that proved to be unhelpful. The redhead ran the last half to the door. She finally reached the front door and stood next to Izzie.
"George, are you coming?" She yelled out.
"No, I'm good here." He remained still at the end of the line as he watched and observed.
Since Bailey was on maternity leave, her interns had been appointed a new resident. They had no idea who it was going to be. Cristina, Alex, Skylar, and Izzie were waiting at a nurses' station and each time a doctor walked past they couldn't help but hope that they were going to be it.
Cristina saw a renowned doctor walking by and quickly pointed him out. "Yes, yes, that's him. He's been published twice and he's flawless."
"Oh, I don't want that guy," Izzie complained. "That guy's a freak. He doesn't let you speak in the O.R."
"Yeah, but he's flawless," Cristina enunciated.
This time it was Alex, who pointed someone out. "I think it's him. What's his name again?"
"Oh, yeah, mouth breather guy. But he'll let you do a procedure on your own if he likes you," Cristina said. Meredith walked up to them, a bit confused about what they were doing.
"What are we doing?" She voiced her thoughts.
"Trying to figure out who Bailey's replacement is," Skylar explained. Their guessing came to an end rather quickly when a loud voice called out their names. A young, cheerful doctor named Sydney Heron bounced down the stairs and made her way up to them.
"Here you are! I was looking for you guys in the locker room but you weren't there and then I thought well maybe my interns are looking for me too and then I come out here and here you are," she chuckled. Skylar raised her eyebrows at the woman, trying to contain a smile but ultimately failed. She never thought that she would want Bailey back so badly. "Yeah." Cristina looked horrified, hating the woman already. "You guys look like a great group." Meredith looked like she wanted to laugh. "Which is awesome. Because my horoscope said it's going to be a very challenging day and I was a little worried, but no, you guys...yeah, you look like a good group. Which is great! Because we're going to have so much fun! Hi!" She held out her arms and huffed a horrified Cristina. "Hi, first of all! Hi! Hi."
Cristina remained stiff and uncomfortable. "Ow! Ow, ow," she let out.
This made Sydney back up and ask, "Ooh, am I hurting you?"
"Ah, no, you're—you're touching me."
Sydney had an oh look on her face but quickly lost it. "I'm Sydney Heron. Fourth year and, uh, my philosophy, just so you know, is, um, is heal with love," she finally introduced herself. Alex and Izzie raised their eyebrows while Skylar tried to hold in her laughs. "Okay, so, wonderful. So, Alex, Izzie, Skylar, Meredith, Cristina, and our little group is just missing—"
"O'Malley. Yeah, he's cowering behind the strike line like a little girl," Cristina interrupted.
"Standing up for what he believes in, that's my kind of 'little girl,' right?" Sydney replied, expecting some kind of response, but didn't get one. "So...the E.R. needs somebody down there for a consult, does anybody—who wants to—"
"We get to pick?" Meredith questioned.
"Oh me, I'll—I'm on it."
"I'll help." Alex and Cristina both quickly dashed off, happy that they could get away from their way too enthusiastic resident. It was quite obvious that the group didn't like their new resident. They were used to strict and tough Dr. Bailey, not this new 'heal with love' crap.
"I have patients I need to check on," Meredith said and ran away like she was being chased by a lion, leaving Izzie and Skylar with Sydney. They were in for quite the ride with this woman. Skylar's mood brightened when she saw a familiar face walking toward them. Addison, holding a chart in her hands, neared their small group and a smile appeared on the intern's face.
"Dr. Stevens," Addison said. "Could use you on a consult." She held up the chart to the intern who immediately took it out of her hand.
"Okay, I'm on it. Absolutely." With Addison by her side, she left Skylar with Sydney, but not before mouthing a sorry to her. Skylar just forced a breathy laugh before looking back at her resident with a stiff smile.
"I have charts to fill out."
Skylar was sitting on one of the beds in the abandoned hallways. Since she wasn't in the mood to run into Sydney, she grabbed a couple of charts and a snack from a vending machine. She flipped through one of the charts. It belonged to Valerie Estévez, a woman who came in for extreme abdominal pain and nausea. It turned out that she just had gallstones and they were surgically removed. Now she was just filling in some blank spots on the chart. Skylar glanced away from the pages to take another bite of her snack.
She was interrupted from her zone by her pager going off. She quickly checked it and jumped off the bed, taking her stack of charts with her. On her way to post-op, she quickly dropped off the charts at the nurses' station on the post-op floor. She would come back later to put them away.
When she arrived at the woman's room, she sighed and placed her hands on her hips. She playfully glared at the 43-year-old woman, who shot her a smile back. "Why did you page me? You look fine."
"The stupid TV won't turn on. I called for a nurse but no one will come," Valerie complained.
"Here, let me see." Skylar held her hand out for the remote and Valerie playfully slammed it into her palm. The redhead took the remote and pressed the 'on' button. When that didn't work, she smacked the back of it against her hand. She didn't know what that would do but it always seemed to work in the movies. It didn't. "The batteries are probably dead. I'll bring you a new one, Mrs. Estévez."
"How many times do I have to tell you, it's Valerie for you."
A group of nurses was camped out at Joe's bar, taking a break from standing outside of the hospital. They toasted George with their drinks. He had also refused to work that day and had been their inside man so they could still help their patients without having to actually go in. They clinked their glasses and Goerge laughed, happy that he was appreciated. Skylar was happy for him, she just missed working with him but knew that this whole strike thing would blow over soon. She just didn't know if it turn out how the nurses wanted it or not.
Skylar, Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie were sitting at the bar. "She called me unkind. Unkind and lacking in compassion. In front of my boyfriend! I am not unkind," Cristina complained. Cristina and Alex had to work with Sydney on a case. The patient had a flesh-eating bacteria on her leg. Cristina had wanted to amputate the leg while Alex and Sydney wanted to save it—which they ended up doing. Cristina didn't trust Sydney though so she told Burke. Burke, being there on Cristina's orders, had angered Sydney, who ranted and insulted Cristina.
"I think I have to kill a woman tomorrow. I have to take out the tube that's keeping her alive."
Everyone then turned to Izzie who was next in line. Cristina threw a peanut at her and called out her name, but she didn't answer. "This is the part where you say what's wrong with you," Joe encouraged the blonde. Izzie remained quiet and ended up leaving the bar. Skylar scooted down a stool so she was sitting next to Meredith. "You didn't share a sad story," Joe glanced at Skylar.
"I'm actually fine. My goal was to avoid Sydney all day, and I accomplished that," Skylar shared before taking another drink of alcohol.
"I have to kill a woman tomorrow," Meredith repeated.
"And that is a problem, why? I mean if it's what she wants, it's what she wants! And that is not unkind or lacking in compassion. I'm a very compassionate person! I have more compassion than you, Alex!" Cristina pointed at Alex as he arrived to get another drink.
"Shut your pie-hole, Yang," Alex said as he sat down next to Skylar. She smiled at him and they talked about their day. The conversation was interrupted when George came up to the bar and ordered another round for him and the nurses. "Yeah, give Nurse O'Malley a drink on me." Alex couldn't keep his offensive comment to himself.
"Alex, what the hell?" Skylar scolded and slapped him on the arm.
"Heh, what'd you say?" George turned around to face the nurses. "Hey, uh, Karev just called me a nurse." He faced Alex again but didn't look very impressed. Skylar just sighed, shaking her head at Joe who just smiled at her. She sometimes really wondered why she was friends with Alex. "That's the worst you could come up with. Or wait is that an insult? Or was I supposed to be—"
George was going to say more but was interrupted by a nurse spilling her drink on Cristina's lap. "Woopsies," she sarcastically said.
"Are you kidding me? I will kill you, you know that?"
"Bring it on!"
"Oh, she—oh, bring it on! Okay, Mama. Let's bring it on! Oh, look at her, spry! What you wanna cheer it out, soccer mom?"
"Oh, soccer mom!" They both started yelling and insulting each other. Joe quickly interrupted the brewing fight. Skylar looked at the whole thing trying to contain her laughter. She found it funny when Cristina got like this because the brunette could be very intimidating but it was just weird seeing her like that. Alex, on the other hand, was smirking at the situation and seemed to be enjoying it.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! If you're gonna beat each other up, there's not gonna be anybody left to set your broken bones." Joe tried to calm down the fight but it didn't help. They continued to yell, totally ignoring Joe. "Hey!"
Luckily, Meredith jumped in and removed her best friend from the situation before it got out of hand. "We were just leaving." She grabbed Cristina's arm, pulling her away from the nurses.
"Yeah, because I gotta go save lives!"
Alex smirked at the whole situation and Skylar was just laughing from her seat at the bar. George stumbled through the crowd of nurses, heading for the door. "Excuse me. I gotta go. They're my ride."
"I can walk," Skylar giggled. "Seriously."
George looked down at her and grinned. "Sure you can, lightweight."
"I'm not drunk, George," Skylar protested and chuckled again. "I'm fine. I didn't even drink all that much."
"Sure," he agreed.
"Get the door, George," she playfully ordered.
George grinned and shook his head at her in fond affection. She was hilarious sometimes. "Right. Is that why you keep me around? To open doors for you?"
"Why would there be any other reason?" Skylar asked in mock seriousness as George unlocked the door and led Skylar to his room.
Skylar giggled and turned her head to capture his lips. "I'm not drunk," she murmured against his lips. "Tipsy, maybe. But we can have sex either way."
George wouldn't have minded just falling on the couch but they did have roommates. Behavior like that could wait until they had the house to themselves and there was a perfectly good bed waiting for them upstairs.
Skylar had been so lost in the pleasure of the kiss and running her hands through his hair that she hadn't been aware of their journey. She quietly gasped when the back of her knees hit the bed. The gasp was quickly muffled by his lips once again covering her own and his body pushing her back on the bed.
Skylar followed George to the nurses' station the next morning, writing down every word of instruction the nurses' had sent with him. "And don't believe 2519 when she tells you she went to the bathroom because she just wants to go home. She just says she went to the bathroom and then she's back here two days later."
Skylar nodded. "Got it."
"Hey," Burke called out as he passed them. "I need sutures in 2602."
"Can't help you," George instantly called back. He realized what he said and stopped abruptly. Turning around, he gazed at Burke with a half-apologetic half-mulish expression.
"What?" Burke sharply asked. Behind George, Skylar leaned on the desk, smirking in amusement. George's stand for the nurses was courageous and cute. She really did like George. He was a good guy.
George shifted a bit uncomfortably on his feet. "Fair hours! Fair wages!" He shouted, thrusting his fist in the air. "Fair hours! Fair..." He stopped and sighed at Burke's shocked look. "It's no offense, sir."
"None taken," Burke told him with a smirk of his own.
George turned around and dejectedly shuffled to the desk. Izzie held out a cup of coffee with a laugh. "Hey, how's the strike going?"
"Do you know—" George set the coffee on the desk beside a grinning Skylar and Izzie. "Do you realize how rarely doctors say 'thank you' and 'please' to nurses? How few surgeons even know the names of...?"
"Hey," Skylar objected. "I always say 'please' and 'thank you.'"
George chuckled and then looked around. "I shouldn't be seen talking to you guys." Skylar and Izzie waved him off with grins.
They never understood why they did this. Some nights the world seemed a bit too big to take on alone, so they went to him. They lay down and either talked or didn't. It never mattered either way. They didn't know why he seemed to make the world a bit smaller. A bit more manageable. No other person could do this for them.
Skylar was usually already there. Then came Izzie. She would lie on her back next to Skylar, just breathing. Within minutes, Meredith would show up and take the other side of the bed.
It was inexplicable. It was comforting. The companionship was something magical and not to be talked about. It was theirs. It was family.
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The next chapter is the bomb episode...And we're getting closer to a certain someone coming in
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