I sat at the kitchen table next to Mark, laughing and giggling like a schoolgirl. My cheeks were aching because I had not stopped smiling since I woke that morning. It was a perfect morning. I woke up to blue diamonds gleaming down at me and he showered with lazy morning kisses. The kind of kisses that make you never want to leave the bed. After a session of sensual, love making, we finally made it down to the kitchen where I made him some eggs and toast and I gradually sipped on my coffee. He kept looking at me like I was the most exquisite thing that he'd ever seen. He kissed me like I was the sweetest thing he ever tasted. He leaned in for another kiss and I laughed and smiled against his lips, losing count of how many kisses that was now.

"You know, maybe they could make you a bouquet of scalpels and clamps." I heard Derek's voice come from the stairwell.

"Oh, yeah." Meredith laughed, their voices getting closer to the kitchen. "That would be fun. I think I would have to run it by Izzie first." Their voices trailed off as they stood in the threshold of the kitchen and stared at Mark and me. One look at Derek and Mark's happiness was instantly gone as he turned his back to his once best friend, shoulders and back tensing up under his shirt. My cheeks finally got a rest because I lost my smile at the sight of Mark's distress. Throwing one last glare in our direction, Derek walked past us to grab himself a cup of coffee. The anxiety began bubbling up in my chest as the tension in the room was so tight, you could cut it with a butter knife. How long were they going to let this go on between them? I mean, Mark slept with Derek's wife and they seem to get pass that. Surely, they could work through this as well. I picked up my mug of coffee and chugged it, the energy from the coffee counteracting with the energy of the growing anxiety inside me. I chewed on my bottom lip as Mark looked down into his lap to avoid Meredith's look as well. I inhaled and exhaled deeply. I got up to grab myself another cup of coffee, my chest so tight I wasn't sure if I was breathing or not. This awkward silence was deafening. I looked to Meredith with pleading eyes, silently begging her to break the silence. "So, we'll have to ride into work with Mayzie and Mark. Your car is still at the trailer and Lexie had to go into work early so she took my car."

"I'd rather walk." Derek stormed out of the kitchen with his coffee and my cheeks heated as I placed a hand on the counter and downed my second cup of coffee. Come on, coffee. Do your job. Make me feel something other than this raging storm inside of me. Sighing, I grabbed my car keys from the bowl in the middle of the table and handed them to Meredith.

"Take my car." I told her, swallowing hard and inhaled deeply. "I'll ride in with Mark." I turned to Mark who was still staring down into his lap and the sight of him broke my heart. This was tearing him to pieces, and he didn't know how to fix it. Neither did I. "Let me just go grab my bag and then we can leave." Mark was up and out of his seat, heading up the stairs before I could even finish my sentence. I walked to the bottom step and called up to him, "Thank you!" Sighing again, I turned to Meredith. "It's going to be a long day."

GA

"Have you at least tried talking to him?" I asked Mark as I grabbed my third cup of coffee from the cart in lobby. Mark stuffed his fists into his pockets and glared at me and I snapped my fingers at him. "Don't look at me like that, Mark. I was just asking. You had an affair with his wife for God's sake and you two seemed to have gotten past that. This is just a little spat compared to that."

"I have nothing to apologize for, Mazikeen." Mark growled as we walked through the halls to the peds wing. "He's the one that got defensive. He's the one that threw the first punch. I did nothing."

"I didn't say that you had to apologize. I'm just saying that you two need to talk and work this out."

"We're men. Men don't talk." I brought the coffee up to my lips and inhaled deeply.

"Right. Of course not. They just beat each other to a bloody pulp like barbarians and cavemen. Even if it means throwing away a twenty-year-old friendship." I felt Mark glare at me again as I took a sip of coffee. Not saying another word, he picked up the pace to catch up with Arizona who was at the nurses' station.

"Hey, is he here yet?"

"If you're talking about Calliope's dad, then the answer is, I don't know cause I'm not going to meet him because we just started dating and it's way too soon." Arizona answered, setting her bind down in the tray as I leaned against the counter, taking slow, steady sips of my coffee.

"And Torres is okay with that?"

"Yeah, her idea. The man's here for one day, then he's gone. No muss, no fuss." The elevator bell dinged, and Callie casually walked off it with her hands in her pockets and an older gentleman following closely behind her who looked like he could have been a mob boss. George was walking around the corner and as soon as Callie saw him, her eyes got wide with fear.

"Run." She ordered him. "Run for your life." George laughed at her.

"What do you mean, run for my life?" He chuckled but the chuckle was short lived as Callie's father grabbed George by the lapels of his lab coat and slammed him up against the wall.

"Oh! Oh!"

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed, abandoning my coffee on the counter, and walking over to Callie's side with Mark.

"Whoa!" Mark gasped.

"Dad!" Callie pleaded as George looked at her with horrified eyes.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now." Callie's dad growled in George's face which rendered him speechless.

"Dad, stop it."

"He committed adultery."

"Who hasn't? I slept with him before we were divorced." Callie pointed to Mark and we both looked at her with a seriously? look. "So technically, George isn't the only one who cheated." George let out a grunt as Callie's dad finally let him go and George scurried away before any more damage could be done. I let out a loose breath of air in relief but half a second later, it hitched in my throat as Callie's dad grabbed Mark by his lab coat and slammed him up against the wall. "Oh, God."

"Oh, my God!" I cried out, placing my hand on my chest to try to slow my racing heartbeat as my chest grew tight.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." Callie's dad snapped putting pressure on Mark's throat.

"Please don't."

"Mark Sloan." Mark gasped. "Pleasure to meet you." I looked to Callie with pleading eyes, silently asking her to do something.

"Dad, Mark is just a friend. I—I'm happy now, okay? I'm—I'm dating someone now, and I'm happy, okay?" Callie's father slowly let go of Mark who exhaled deeply and smoothed out his lab coat and took the same exit of George with me closely behind him.

"Whew." I fell into a gait next to his side with his long strides as our pagers beeped.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, looking down at my pager to see that we were being paged to the trauma bay.

"I'm fine." I followed him to the trauma bay and grabbed a trauma gown and slipped it on to meet up with Derek, Owen, and Lexie. I pushed my arms through the gown and threw the sides up over my shoulders and Lexie stepped up behind me to tie it in the back as the ambulances pulled into the bay. Mark and Derek didn't even look at each and the dreadful feeling began to settle in again. I began to regret leaving my coffee upstairs. Coffee always made me jittery, but it chased away the anxiety. It made me focus on what was directly in front of me and not overthink all the what if's that were constantly running through my mind. "You paged me?"

"Driver's face went through a side window." Owen explained to him. "Thought it'd be your cup of tea."

"Right you are."

"Whatever." I heard Derek muttered and I stopped in my tracks as Mark went to the right ambulance and Derek went to the left ambulance. I need coffee. Clearing my throat and swallowing hard, I followed Mark while Lexie went left.

"Dan Gates—swerved after he didn't hit Mr. Maloy and sideswiped a telephone pole." The EMT explained to Mark who took the chart from him. After scanning it quickly, he handed it off to me and I took it as well as a pen from his pocket so I could begin making notes. "He's complaining of abdominal pain. Also, he has blood coming out of his left ear."

"He came outta nowhere." Dan breathed as Mark bent down to look inside his ear and check the damage. "It wasn't my fault."

"You better give that son of a bitch a blood alcohol test." Anthony growled from a few yards away on his gurney. "He was driving like a madman."

"Okay, now he's just lying."

"Oh, I'm lying? I'm lying?!"

"Mr. Maloy, try to stay still." George spoke to the patient as they began to wheel him inside.

"There's no sign of head trauma." Derek muttered, finishing up his exam on Anthony's head.

"Check out the other guy." Owen instructed. "I got here from here." We began to wheel our patient into the hospital, me stepping out of their way, as Derek came up to Dan.

"Wait, I need to look at his injuries."

"When we're inside." Mark brushed him off and continued pushing Dan inside.

"Drunk!" Anthony hollered across the parking.

"Liar!" Dan yelled back.

"Pathetic." Derek muttered.

"Ass." Mark mumbled and I dropped my forehead onto the clipboard and sighed. This was definitely going to be a long day. I turned to Lexie and looked at her with pleading eyes and she rolled her own eyes and sighed.

"I'll go get you some coffee." She said and pulled her trauma gown off and disappeared.

GA

"I was just driving to the bank next thing, this—this guy jumps in front of my car." Dan exclaimed as I stood at the computer, inputting his medication, and ordering the scans that he was going to need. Derek stood beside Dan examining his head. "Whack job."

"Sir, can I get you to move your eyebrow?" Derek asked him as Mark walked around the table and stood beside Derek and looked down at him and my muscles involuntarily went rigid.

"I can't examine his ear." Mark told him. "Would you get out of the way?"

"Could you just wait?"

Could you just…" Derek turned away from Mark and threw a glare in my direction as he walked away. Heat flooded my entire body and I felt like I was standing next to hellfire.

"Free fluid in the upper left quadrant." Owen said. "Wolfe, schedule a stat CT." After entering it in the system, I turned to the door to where Lexie was waiting with a cup of coffee. Giving her a grateful smile, I took it from her and headed up to the third floor.

GA

I stood in the doorway of the CT back room with Lexie next to me, my left fist in my pocket and my right hand holding my coffee as I continued sipping on it. Derek and Mark stood in front of the computer observing the results of the scan, their body language radiating so much hatred towards each other, it was making me sick.

"There's no blood in the brain." Derek sighed.

"ZMC fracture of the temporal bone, ruptured eardrum." Mark observed before turning to me. "Book us an OR." I made a move to leave the room, but Derek stopped me, and I closed my eyes and internally groaned as I turned back to him, taking a long sip of my coffee.

"Uh, not so fast, Dr. Wolfe. Mr. Gates—the patient has a name—also has an injured facial nerve, which means what?"

"That Mr. Gates will also need a nerve repair." I answered with a heavy sigh.

"Does that take place before or after Dr. Sloan's ossicular reconstruction?" I threw a worried, anxious glance at Lexie. I didn't like being put on the spot like this. Inhaling deeply and taking another drink of my coffee, I walked over to the monitors and stood between Derek and Mark and looked at the scans. I looked back and forth at the two scans, chewing on my bottom lip. He could lose function of his face, but he could also lose his hearing. Facial function seemed like a more priority.

"Before."

"Incorrect." Mark barked and I closed my eyes for a moment and breathed as my cheeks heated and I thought over my answer.

"Because you'll have to explore the wound for bone fragments, not to mention reversing his conductive hearing loss."

"Which is why I need you to book me that OR now, Dr. Wolfe." Once again, I made a move to leave but Derek stopped me.

"Look, if this patient has facial paralysis, it won't matter if he can hear out of one ear or not. Am I right, Dr. Wolfe?" My chest tightened as I tried to come up with answer. I never felt more stupid than I did right then. I was a doctor and I couldn't even force myself to say an answer.

"Uh…" I stammered.

"Dr. Wolfe?"

"Mayzie?" Mark cooed my name beside me, trying to sway me to his side and I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Dr. Wolfe?

"Mayzie?" I rubbed my forehead for my hand.

"Dr. Wolfe?" My eyes opened and I raised my eyebrows, eyes wide with mixed feelings.

"Oh, my Lord." I muttered. "I can't handle this. You're both amazing doctors." I took a step back and started walking out the room as Lexie gave me a sympathetic look. I chugged the rest of my coffee. "I need more coffee." And I left to head to the cafeteria.

GA

"You have damage to your facial nerve and a broken bone behind your ear." Derek started to explain to Dan.

"Which I'll repair." Mark said hastily and Derek slowly turned his head to glare at him.

"You also have some bleeding around your spleen." Owen informed him. "We'll keep an eye on it."

"Also, your eardrum is ruptured. You might permanently lose the hearing in your left ear." Dan looked at each one of us in horror.

"Unbelievable." He breathed. "Unbelievable. That son of a bitch!"

"Mr. Gates, it's important that you try and stay calm."

"No, no, don't tell me to stay calm. That son of a bitch dove in front of my car. He dove, like ha was superman. I mean, he had his—he had his arms stretched out and everything. I was going to the bank." His voice began to break as he continued talking. "I was just… going to the bank."

GA

I sped walk through the hallways, fresh out of coffee and looking for my next fix but the cafeteria was on the other side of the hospital as I walked into the oncology wing and walked up to Izzie's door and walked in, closing the door behind me. There was a cart full of wedding dresses and her room was decorated up with wedding décor choices and floral arrangements. Lexie was standing next to Izzie eating some fries with a coffee in her hand. I smiled and snatched the coffee and took a big sip from it, moaning at the taste of it and Lexie groaned in protest, her mouth full of fries.

"I just got that." She whined.

"I can tell. Lovely and hot." I sighed in content, my head giving a little twitch to the side with the excess caffeine running through my veins.

"Meredith, let's go." Izzie called to the bathroom door from her bed.

"I feel like this dress is giving me a mammogram." Meredith muttered on the other side of the closed door. "It's squishing my boobs."

"Let me see it"

"I'm taking it off." Izzie began gasping and we all turned to her in concern as she closed her eyes.

"Iz, you okay?" Cristina asked her but Izzie kept gasping for air.

"I think she's choking." Lexie said pushing the side table out of the way so I could step up to the bedside as Cristina opened Izzie's mouth and peered down her throat.

"Izzie? Let's hit her with oxygen." I reached behind the bed to grab the oxygen tube as Cristina still tried to get a response out of Izzie. "Izzie? Izzie speak to me. Can you say something?" The bathroom door opened Meredith came running out, still in her wedding dress.

"Izzie?" Meredith called to Izzie and Izzie began to laugh shooing us away from her. I furrowed my brows at her as she continued laughing.

"I'm not choking." Izzie continued to laugh. I'm joking." Cristina glared at her and I threw the oxygen tube back behind the bed in anger snatching my coffee off the bed table and walking back over to the door.

"Okay, you gotta stop doing that, cause it's not funny."

"It got Meredith out of the bathroom so I could see her in her dress, and it's gorgeous." I finally turned to look at Meredith and scrunched up my nose in disapproval at the dress she was currently wearing. It was a monstrosity. It was made of tulle and chiffon and gossamer. The bodice was fitted, the neckline was curved to plump her breasts and the skits were a sparkling tent with puffy capped sleeves. Cristine rounded on Meredith.

"Tell her she has to stop."

"Izzie!" Meredith scolded her.

"It's very romantic." Izzie said looking Meredith over and ignoring everyone. "It's pretty, right?"

"Pretty." Lexie agreed.

"And I see you've invited more people to witness my humiliation." Meredith grumbled, looking in my direction as she fiddled with her dress.

"No, Derek and Mark still aren't speaking to each, and we're heading into a six-hour surgery so unless I can slip this coffee into a sterile area, I am not gonna make it. Can you please come and talk to them?" Meredith looked to Izzie for permission who sighed in irritation.

"Fine." She sighed. "Okay, you can go. Cristina, will you help her take the dress off?" Cristina rolled her eyes as she followed Meredith back into the bathroom.

"I'll be in the scrub room." Still chugging my coffee, I walked out of the room and headed to the OR.

GA

I heard water running as Meredith stormed into the scrub room with me behind her with yet another cup of coffee. I had my scrub gown and cap on which I didn't know why. I was shaking and twitching so much with caffeine, I didn't think I would be able to hold a scalpel still. Mark and Derek were at the sink scrubbing their hands and getting ready to go into the OR. They both looked up at us when we entered the room. I stood by the doorway continuously sipping my coffee as Meredith confronted Mark and Derek.

"Okay, before you guys in there and start cutting on this patient, you need to apologize to each other." My older sister demanded. "If not for the patient, for me or for Mayzie." Derek looked at Meredith while Mark looked past her at me as I still sipped my coffee. "Look at her—" Mark looked at me over his mask with worried eyes. "—her face is breaking out, her ass is humongous." I gaped at her in shock. "She's had so much coffee today I don't know what she's going to have first—an anxiety attack or a heart attack. If you don't apologize right now, she's not scrubbing in." Mark looked back into the OR as he rinsed off his arms.

"I won't, and you can't make me." I said with a shaky tone, trying to authority. "This should be a joyful time. Your best friend's getting married. You should be the best man."

"The chief will be my best man."

"What?" Meredith exclaimed and Mark dropped the soap in the sink and walked into the OR without saying anything.

"Hey, do you really think I'm going to have a heart attack?" I quietly asked Meredith, panicking and she turned to me and grabbed my coffee and tossed it in the trash.

"You've had enough. Would you, you know, excuse us, please?" I groaned and spun around and walked out of the scrub room to find something else to do for six hours since I was going to be in surgery anymore.

GA

I sipped my hot beverage as I grabbed my ankle and pulled it up to my hip, balancing on my left leg and stretching my right thigh as Meredith and Lexie sat at the kitchen table. I dropped my right leg and grabbed my left to stretch it.

"So, I guess a big wedding won't be that bad." Meredith admitted as I dropped my left leg and did little bounces on the balls of my feet.

"I'm just sad cause I didn't get a chance to see you in the actual dress." I muttered, stretching my back from side to side.

"You will."

"How? I mean, if Derek and Mark don't make up, how…"

"You're my sister, Mayzie, you're in the wedding." Meredith looked at Lexie. "You both are." Lexie almost choked on her twinkie in shock as I stared at Meredith in astonishment.

"Oh, my God." Lexie gasped. "I'm gonna be a bridesmaid? Oh, my God. I don't know what to say."

"Well, you should wait and see what Izzie's picked out for you to wear and then you'll have plenty to say." We all laughed as I picked up my coffee. Deep laughter sounded from the foyer and we all turned our heads to see Derek and Mark walk into the kitchen and over to the fridge.

"Do you want one?" Derek asked Mark as I slowly brought my mug up to my lips ready to take a sip, watching the two cautiously.

"So much." Mark answered and Derek opened the fridge and grabbed two beers, handing one off to Mark. "We can still catch the last half of the game."

"Yeah, that's—that's what I was thinking." They both tossed their bottle caps onto the counter and walked out of the kitchen to the living room. I shared a wide-eyed look with my sisters, not sure what just happened.

"You can stop drinking now." Meredith whispered to me and I closed my eyes, sighing and setting my cup on the table, gripping the back of the chair.

"Oh, thank God." I breathed causing Meredith and Lexie to laugh at me. "I'm still going for a run. I have to get this excess energy out." My sisters smiled at me as I turned to walk out of the kitchen. As I passed the living room, I peered in and involuntarily smiled at the sight of Derek and Mark sitting on either side of the couch watching the games and drinking beer and laughing. Maybe this could be the new normal.