Chapter 14: Tiny Slip Up
"Have you seen Dr. Shepherd?" It was Dr. Hemming who drew Cristina out of her thoughts. She looked up at the attending who Burke assigned to Meredith's case.
Everyone agreed that Derek was too personally involved to be Meredith's direct physician, so Derek opted to shadow the case. He made it loud and clear that under no circumstances was any decision, no matter how small, made without passing it by him first. No one put up an argument, all understanding that Shepherd was the best in the field after all, personal ties or not.
"Pediatrics." Was all Cristina said turning back to the chart she was reading. She wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, she swallowed her sarcasm reminding herself of Burke's repeated warnings to speak respectfully to the other doctors in the hospital.
Still, Cristina couldn't help shaking her head. You had to be living under a rock to not see what was going on. The only time Derek left Carwyn's room was to check on Meredith and his team of doctors he had working on her.
Derek was hopeful after looking over the scans of Meredith's brain. It looked like things almost healed completely from her first head injury over five years ago. There was only a small fuzzy section to the right of her temporal lobe that he believed to be old blood that had yet to resolve itself. When Meredith hit her head for the second time on the bathroom sink at the shelter, she had knocked some of it free, aggravating the healing wound, and causing her to lose consciousness. Everything had seemed to stable itself and Derek was optimistic that, with a little rest and peace and quiet, her brain would completely heal itself and her memory would come back. He wanted to avoid surgery at all costs, knowing that it could make the memory loss more severe or permanent.
Cristina, along with her friends, had been amazed at the complete transformation of Dr. Shepherd. His eyes had gone from dark to light overnight and he actually whistled in the hallways now. Cristina found him to be a little too cheerful for her likes, but still had to admit how great he had been for Carwyn. Her condition had made a complete turnaround in the few days she was at Seattle Grace. She was already off her IV and the doctors was hopeful that only a week or so more her iron levels would be normal, and she could possibly be discharged. All credit had been given to none other than Derek. Of course, that had raised a lot of suspicions and again the hospital's rumor mill was now in full swing.
The chief ordered complete silence and secrecy surrounding Meredith and Carwyn. Only their close family of doctors and those who were employed at Seattle Grace when Meredith had been there 5 years ago, knew the truth of who she actually was and what Derek had been to her. There were really only a handful of nurses and doctors, and a few hospital personnel employees, who remembered Meredith and they had been loyal enough to keep their mouths shut. Not only did Burke not want this to leak to the media, who would have a field day with it, he knew Meredith's state of mind was fragile and finding out too much could send her over the edge. Everyone dutifully obeyed their orders keeping their mouths shut while the whispers and speculation spread like a wildfire of who the mysterious VIP patients were and how Derek might play a part in it.
Cristina glanced at her watch and decided she should grab something to eat before she scrubbed into her appendectomy in a few hours. She slammed her chart closed and put it back in the file, then turned and headed down the hall.
Cristina paused outside of Meredith's room and listened to the laughter coming from inside. She pushed the door opened and saw Izzie and Alex sitting relaxed on a couple of chairs sharing a bag of chips. Cristina couldn't help but chuckle. So much for professionalism. She crossed the room and plopped herself down on the only remaining chair in the room. She took a large bite and didn't bother to finish chewing before she asked, "What's so funny?"
All three burst out in another round of laughter to which Cristina just rolled her eyes.
It was finally Meredith who spoke. "So that really sucks that the cafeteria is under construction. How long do you think the renovation will take?"
Cristina coughed, choking on the piece of sandwich she had just bitten off. She glared over at Izzie and Alex who could only shrug back.
"Um," Izzie glanced at Cristina, "Meredith was just asking why it was we always ate in her room, and I explained… about the um…. construction in the cafeteria." Izzie shrugged again at Cristina and gave her a you come up with something better look.
Cristina caught on and nodded at Meredith. "Ya, um, big renovation, it will probably take weeks." She spoke quickly then changed the subject to Alex, "So you ready for your first solo rhinoplasty. You must be freaking out. I mean dude she's the senator's wife, if you screw up…" Cristina shook her head and laughed. "Glad I'm not in your shoes right now."
Alex gave her a dirty look. "Shut up."
The three girls couldn't hold it in anymore and laughter erupted once again in the room.
Meredith regained her composure. "You guys are sure lucky to have each other. I can't imagine what it'd be like to have such good friends."
An awkward silence filled the room as Cristina, Izzie, and Alex all searched for something to say. The silence was shattered by the welcoming sound of a beeping pager.
"It's me." Alex grabbed his pager and jumped up. "I gotta run." He turned to Izzie and gave her a quick kiss, "See you later babe." He hurried out of the room and down the hall.
Meredith watched it all smiling. "You two really make a sweet couple. How long have you been together?"
Izzie blushed a little. "Actually, it will be three years this fall. Alex really is a great guy. He's been unbelievably understanding and supportive through everything. He was so patient with me. I mean I was such a mess after the whole Denny thing and then you are leaving, and I didn't know if I'd ever be normal again…" Izzie froze realizing what she had just said. She looked over to Cristina whose eyes were wide, and face was pale. She slowly turned to Meredith, hoping she hadn't heard her.
Meredith sat with a puzzled look on her face. "Who left?"
Izzie and Cristina sat immobilized, neither knowing how to fix it. At the same moment the door opened, and a stumbling George walked in.
"George!" The two girls yelled in unison, jumping up from their chairs. They ran over to him, and each grabbed an arm, pulling him further into the room.
George looked at Izzie and Cristina wearily. They were never that excited to see him and he knew something was up.
"Why don't you tell Meredith about how Callie surprised you with the news that you were going to be a father!" Izzie cheered excitedly, quickly giving George an evil warning with her eyes that he better not argue with her.
"Yes, yes! Great idea George. I just love that story." Cristina lied for Meredith's sake. "It makes me feel all warm inside." She lowered her voice and spoke in Izzie's ear, "Like I'm going to vomit."
George gave them both a dirty look then turned to Meredith, "Um, Okaaaay…"
Meredith just smiled back at the nervous doctor, clearly clueless to what was going on. Izzie and Cristina let out a sigh of relief, waved farewell to Meredith, and both turned and quickly left the room.