I walked through the halls of the hospital, mindlessly walking towards whatever destination I was going to while eagerly downing my coffee like it was water. I didn't get any sleep last night. Last night seemed to be the first time in a long time that Mark didn't stay the night. After our conversation in the on-call room, I went home but couldn't fall asleep. My mind ran a hundred miles an hour as it began to overthink everything, wondering if what I did was the right thing to do. I kept telling myself that the ball was in his court and if he wanted the same thing that I did, then he would have to come to me. In which case, I would have to avoid him today to keep myself from looking desperate. Izzie's voice sounded behind me, but I didn't stop and turn. She caught up with me and fell into step beside me.
"Mayzie," She said breathlessly but still all cheery. "I need your help."
"It is too early, and I have not had enough coffee to pretend to tolerate your cheeriness." I groaned. She ignored me.
"The interns are broken. They've been punished for taking out their own appendixes and it's making them hate medicine. They're lost right now, and they've forgotten that this thing they hate is actually a thing that they love. So, I'm gonna remind them. They need to have a little fun." I stopped walking and turned to her with dead eyes, unamused. "I've created this game. Each doctor will have a list of symptoms. The interns guess the correct diagnosis for those symptoms, and they get the next challenge." She pulled out one green index card and a stack of yellow cards from her pocket and handed them out to me. I didn't look at them as I took another sip of coffee. She stomped her foot defiantly like a two-year-old who wasn't getting their way. "Please?!" Sighing in defeat, I took the cards from her.
"Fine. Where are these cards going?"
"Those are going to Dr. Sloan." I raised my eyes to the ceiling and sighed heavily.
"Wonderful."
"Yays!" She clapped her hands excitedly and raced back down the hallway. Finishing the last of my coffee, I tossed it in a nearby trash can before heading to the south wing where I assumed, he would be at. I found him leaning against the counter filling out some paperwork with his back to me. I froze and for a moment, I was about to turn around and go back to Izzie and tell her that he refused to participate in this little game. That was a believable story. I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath. That was the anxiety talking. You are a professional, Mazikeen. I straightened and cleared my throat. Just explain to him the rules and the cards and then leave and get on with your day. With a plan in place, I marched right up to him before my mind could find a way out fo this.
"Dr. Sloan, Dr. Stevens has requested your assistance in a little trivia game for the interns." I said in the most professional tone I could come up. "Just to keep them on their toes." Mark closed his chart and pushed it across the counter, sticking his pen back in his pocket as he turned around to face me. Mischievousness glinted in his eyes as a smirk appeared on his lips. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he locked eyes with me. And just like that I was ready to go right back to him, secret relationship or not. Look away. Look away. Look away. No matter how hard I tried to look away, he had me locked in place with those eyes. I swallowed hard before I spoke again. "Um, it's—you just—" I cleared my throat and shook my right hand to get rid of the anxiety that was building up. "An intern will come up to you and ask you for your symptoms which you will read off from this card." I handed him the green index card which he took from me without even looking at it. "And then once they answer it correctly you give them one of these," I handed him the yellow cards and once again, he never took his eyes off of me as he gingerly took them from my hand, his fingertips barely grazing mine. A tingly sensation spiderwebbed up my arm causing me to inhale sharply. He put the cards in his pocket without even looking at them.
"Well, right now I'm battling a rapid heart rate." Mark said seductively and his voice rang through me and I bit my lower lip to prevent a moan from escaping. I love his voice. It was husky and inviting and warm. I could listen to his voice all night long and fall asleep to it. "I'm also feeling a little flushed. I don't even want to mention what's going on below the belt." My cheeks heated as I blushed but that little tiny voice in the back of mind yelled, professionalism!
"Hey, no. I-I-I don't do dirty, secret flirting with you anymore. Okay?" Mark took a step towards me, slowly closing the space between us. I could smell his cologne and body wash and it made me want to go to sleep. "I-I told you, if you want to go public with me, with us, then I will do dirty, public flirting." Mark took another step closer and my breath hitched in my throat. My knees threaten to give out as I fought the urge to reach out and touch him, to feel his warmth, his presence. I had to look down at my feet away from him as my entire face blushed. He still never took his eyes off me. "I mean, I will—I will flirt publicly, not dirtily." He was so close to me; the lapels of our lab coats were barely touching. When he spoke again, his voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it crystal clear as it sang through my eardrums.
"Little Wolf…" My heart raced and lurched at that nickname and I was about to give in.
"Maybe a little dirtily." I didn't have to look up to know that Mark was smirking, I could feel it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lexie approaching us. Clearing my throat, I took a step back from him and cold air rushed in over my heated cheeks. "Will you—" I waved my hand towards Lexie, unable to find words to say. I placed my right fist on my hip and used my left hand as a fan to try to cool down my flushed skin. Mark finally tore his eyes off me and focused his attention on Lexie.
"Find Dr. Sloan. He's your patient. Ask him his symptoms. Diagnose him correctly to receive your next challenge." Lexie rambled off her card so quickly, I barely could make out a word she said. "What are your symptoms?" Sighing, Mark pulled the green card back out from his pocket and for the first time, looked at it.
"Tachycardia, angioedema, hypotension, severe chest and abdominal pain, difficulty breathing and throat clo—" Lexie didn't allow Mark to finish listing the symptoms before she blurted out the answer.
"Anaphylactic shock!" Lexie exclaimed. I held out my hand for her to high five as she beamed from ear to ear.
"Nicely done, Dr. Grey." I praised her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." George said and I looked past Lexie to see him coming up to us behind Sadie who I didn't see was standing off to the side. "Foul."
"What?" Lexie and I both questioned him.
"She heard her answer." George said, pointing to Sadie and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, the whole hospital heard her answer." Sadie protested as Mark pulled out a yellow index card and handed it to Lexie who squealed with excitement.
"Well, you shoulda kept a respectful distance." George took Mark's symptom card and handed him a new one. "New symptoms. Resume play."
"Whoo!" Lexie cheered, turning on her heel and speed walking down the hallway to her next challenge. I followed suit, falling into pace beside her. "So, what's going on between you and Dr. Sloan?" I furrowed my brows and threw her a side glance.
"You already know what's going on between us, Lex." I said.
"Nope, this is different. The tension between you two is different. What happened?" I fully turned my head to look at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Has anyone ever told you how annoyingly observant you are?" She smiled.
"Occasionally. Perks of having a photographic memory."
"I told him that I wanted us to have a public relationship. No more secrets. So, the ball is in his court. I'm just waiting to see what he decides." Lexie sucked air through her teeth.
"Yikes."
"Do you think he'll tell Derek about us?"
"If he's smart." I bite my bottom lip.
"Well, good luck, Lexie. I got rounds. I'll see you at the finish line." She gave me one last smile before she went right, and I went left.
GA
I stood at the nurses' station in the north wing, leaning against with Izzie and Alex while George was on the phone with one of the nurses in the east wing. It was the end of the day and the interns had spent it running around, diagnosing patients, and listing symptoms. I had no doubt that Lexie was going to win. She was the smartest of all the interns and she was a Grey.
"I just got out of surgery." Dr. Webber said, walking up to us. "What's going on?"
"Could be any minute now." Izzie muttered, staring down the end of the hallway, waiting.
"She needs a prize." Alex told the Chief.
"A big prize, but not too big, because they did take out their own appendixes. And I understand they're still being punished for that and that you think they're not even qualified to hold a clamp, so… do you have any prizes like that?"
"Thank you." George said over the phone before hanging up and walked around the desk to us. "They just got their symptoms from their final patients. Get out the finish line." Alex grabbed a roll of tape and taped it to one side of the hallway, and he began to roll it out. When he got halfway across, he held it out for Izzie to take to tie off to the other side. She held out her hand to take it, but her hand stopped to the right of the roll as if she were still waiting for Alex to hand it to her. Alex gave her a confused look and George and I exchanged looks. Izzie shook her head and took the roll of tape from Alex and taped it to the other side of the hallway. "It's gonna be close."
"Here they come!" I called out just as Lexie, Louie and Steve rounded the corner. "Come on! Let's go, Lex!"
"All right, all right, all right!" Everyone cheered. The three interns were neck to neck, legs stretching out as far as they could go.
"Come on, run, Lexie, run!"
"Come on! Come on! Come on, come on! Bring it in!" George moved to the tape and got down to eye level with it so he could see who the winner was.
"Move! Move!" The three interns broke through the tape and we all turned to George for a verdict.
"Three-way tie." He announced and the interns all groaned.
"Okay, final patient diagnosis." Izzie said.
"Motion sickness!" Steve blurted and I furrowed my brows at him in shock.
"Really?" I questioned him. "Motion sickness? That's the best you could come up with?" He looked away in shame. "Louie?"
"Dengue fever!" He called out and I closed my eyes in horror.
"You're embarrassing me. I'm embarrassed for you. Lexie, my smartest intern, please, make me proud."
"Neurocysticercosis!" She yelled, pumping her fists into the air and I cheered with her.
"Yes!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner." George announced as Izzie walked over to Lexie and hung a blue and silver ribbon around her neck. She was beaming from ear to ear, her brown eyes full of pride and joy and I fell into laughter with everyone else.
"Nicely done." Izzie told her, smiling and Lexie laughed.
"Yes!" She breathed. "Wait, what's the prize?"
"Ah…" We all turned to Dr. Webber for an answer.
"You get to scrub in on shepherd's craniotomy…"
"Yes!" Lexie exclaimed, jumping with joy. It had been weeks since any of the interns had seen the inside of an OR and Lexie was bursting with excitement.
"And hold the doomsday sucker." George, Izzie, Alex, and I looked at the chief in confusion. Doomsday sucker?
"Oh!" She put a pause on her excitement for a moment as she registered what he said. "What's the doomsday sucker?
"Doomsday sucker?" I whispered to Dr. Webber.
"It's just a really big sucker." Dr. Webber clarified to me.
"Oh."
"Yeah!" Lexie kept cheering, clutching her blue ribbon to her chest. Her joy was infectious. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face even if I wanted to. I walked back over to the nurse's station counter and leaned against, watching my little sister rub her victory into the other interns' faces.
"Dr. Wolfe." Mark's voice sounded to my left and I turned my head to look at him. He was out of his attending scrubs and back in his causal wear of his black leather jacket with dark jeans. "It would appear that congratulations are in order for your intern. You must have taught her well." My cheeks ached as my smile grew. If I smiled anymore then I would worry about my face getting stuck like that.
"Thank you, Dr. Sloan." I said, looking down at my feet before glancing back up at him through my lashes.
"I'd also like it acknowledged that I offer these congratulation professionally and respectfully… without any innuendo and inappropriate body language." Honestly, it should be impossible to smile this big for this long but that was Mark Sloan. He brought about the happiness in me that I've kept buried inside me for so many years.
"Acknowledged, Dr. Sloan, even though you're now mocking me." Mischievousness flashed in his diamond eyes.
"Mock you? Never, Dr. Wolfe." I laughed and turned as a woman walked up beside me. She had flaming short red hair and a long face. She was older than me, around Derek's age and I recognized her as Derek's ex-wife, Addison Montgomery. She used to be the OB-GYN here but moved to L.A.
"Dr. Montgomery. It's a pleasure to see you again." I slipped my hand into her soft palm and gave it a shake. I tried to push away the thought that Addison also slept with Mark. "What brings you back to Seattle?"
"My brother." She answered with a smile and I could have smacked myself in the forehead.
"Right. Your brother was the one with neurocysticercosis. I heard the surgery was success. I'm so happy."
"Thank you."
"Mark, Addie, Grey 2.0." Derek called out as he came down the hallway. I frowned at his nickname for me, a nickname that has been spreading through this hospital like wildfire. Meredith was just Grey. I was Grey 2.0, and Lexie was Little Grey.
"Grey 2.0? I thought it was Wolfe."
"It is." I reassured her quickly. "It is. I guess being Meredith Grey's little sister earns me the nickname Grey 2.0."
"I am gonna have to meet you at Joe's in a bit." Derek told Addison and Mark. "I have a craniotomy. Grey 2.0, have you seen Little Grey?"
"Little Grey?" Addison inquired, brows raising in question and I let out a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah, there's too many Grey related people in this hospital. Um," I cleared my throat. "Um, no, Dr. Shepherd, I haven't but I will go track her down now and send her your way. It was nice seeing, Dr. Montgomery, and I hope your brother has a speedy recovery."
"OR two." Derek informed me as I began to walk away.
"Absolutely."