Chapter 11: Natural
Disclaimer: Don't own any of GA.
Apologies for the incredible, incredible, pathetic lack of updates…
Meredith and Alex stood there, innocently discussing the case of Mr. Jackson, and what surgery they would get to scrub into (they were interns, after all; that sort of thing definitely mattered), while the buzz of the hospital kept on going. But nobody walking by, or standing nearby, or downright spying (cough, Yang, cough), could fail to notice the energy between the two, or the ease with which they conversed. Obviously, there was something natural and easy for each one. After having struggled in their respective reasons for an array of reasons, Meredith and Alex had finally found a place in which they could be themselves, no holds barred, no judgments, no repercussions, just friendship. And the way they were looking at each other, possibly more.
The two interns were still excitedly discussing the surgical possibilities when Dr. Shepherd came across them. "So, you two figure anything out?" He asked a simple medical question, but his impossibly blue eyes were probing Meredith's, as if asking so much more. Which, he being McDreamy, he was. Meredith, however, was not conceding. She was done with that, done with him being McDreamy and done with him getting to ask so much and never give.
Thus, her response came across as somewhat clipped, "Well, if you look at the chart, Dr. Shepherd, it appears that his CT doesn't quite match up here. The labs show an intricate, anomalous tissue clot with signs of degeneration and tabicular amphystosis in the spine."
Karev continued easily, "But the CT looks like it may be a cancerous tumor, with a hint of blood abrasion. His blood work, though, has all come back fine- and we've done it twice, to double check. So something's wrong. We think it might be a connective issue, that there is the amphytotic clot, but somehow blood has managed to clot it, which is why it seems to come up both."
Dr. Shepherd nodded, thoughtfully. Clearly the two interns had done their homework, and had been working closely on the case together. Derek tried to ignore the twinge of jealousy at that thought, but he couldn't help it. "You two did very good work here," he said, taking the lab results from Meredith and flipping through them. "What would you recommend as a course of action?"
Meredith spoke up. "Well, Mr. Jackson is remarkably healthy, particularly for his age, so that gives us some more flexibility in treatment. The best path would probably to do a binocular drainage on the right side, making sure to keep up a steady flow of O2, and then operate on the clot via dissection method."
"Well done. I'll leave prep to you two." Dr. Shepherd said this just as his pager went off, which he looked at, frowned severely, and went off to answer his page.
"Nicely done, Grey," Alex said, nudging her in the side. "Way to impress the ex with your vast array of medical knowledge."
"Shut up, Alex. Let's go get ready for this thing."
"Aye, aye, captain," he said, mock-saluting his fellow intern.
She just shook her head, pretended to glare at him, and began to walk toward Mr. Jackson's room. But really, she couldn't help but smile a little bit- a fact which he noticed.
"See, I knew you wanted me. Ha."
Rolling her eyes, she opted to ignore his comment. Rather, Meredith just kept walking, making sure to keep her eyes off of her cocky partner-in-crime. The two interns fell into stride easily, discussing what they would need for the up-coming procedure. They talked all the way into Mr. Jackson's room, where they found a very amiable patient, one who very much appreciated the enthusiasm with which the interns verbally dueled.