"Feeling better today, Dr. Shepherd?" Dr. Webber asked politely as he stood in front of the OR board, surveying the day's surgeries.
"Much, Chief, thanks for asking," Derek responded, nodding. And it was definitely true. While he still wasn't sure what to make of Meredith's "temporarily over" plan, he had slept better last night than he had in weeks. True, the waking up was a little awkward, and at times while they were getting ready to go to the hospital and eating breakfast together, he had to remind himself that were not together. Not technically anyway. Still, he certainly felt better. Relaxed. Confident. Optimistic.
"Because I can't handle having another one of my top doctors leave me hanging wondering who is going to do the surgeries that I'm supposed to be overseeing as Chief of Surgery. The Board doesn't like empty ORs, Derek. They like surgeries," Richard said, matter-of-factly. He was quite certain that Derek hadn't actually been sick yesterday, and he expected his neurosurgeon had the sense to understand that he was reasonably upset by all of the canceled surgeries from yesterday's docket.
"Ah, but that's why you're still Chief. No one can smooth things over with the Board like you can," Derek smiled.
"I should have chosen Mark," Richard grumbled, only half-joking.
Derek laughed a little, amused even by the prospect. "How is Adele this morning?" Derek asked, changing the subject.
"Fine, fine. She's resting now. She'll probably go home later today," he commented. The relief he felt at her improved condition was palpable in his voice.
"Well, send her my best. I have surgeries," Derek said, supportively placing his hand on Richard's shoulder as he walked by. He was relieved not to have Richard's job just yet, particularly with their best cardiothoracic surgeon and OB-GYN both gone, but he also wanted Richard to know that he was okay and wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
The chief nodded as Derek headed back toward his first patient's room and thought about his first surgery for the day – a craniotomy and microvascular decompression. A relatively simple procedure -- well, simple by the standards of Derek Shepherd, world-renowned brain surgeon, but the case was interesting and he thought that one particular potential neurosurgical resident might enjoy working on it with him.
"Could you page Dr. Grey for me? I'd like to have her work with me on the Samuels case," Derek instructed a nurse at the Nurse's Station. Sometimes they were faster at locating Meredith than he was, and he still had a couple more patients to check on before prepping Mr. Samuels for surgery. He picked up a couple charts and made his way down the hall.
He felt good being back in the hospital and being around patients that really needed him. While he enjoyed the high pressure of surgery, he prided himself on his strong bedside manner. He liked reassuring scared patients that they could place their lives in his hands, and he would do everything possible to heal them. He never made promises of any sort, but he knew that one of the reasons he was such a highly-regarded surgeon was because his patients often spoke so well of him to their primary doctors. The number of referrals that he received in any given year dwarfed those of his neurosurgical colleagues, but he tried not to let it go to his head…too much.
He efficiently soothed the fears of the patients he'd be operating on later in the day, and eventually made his way back to his first patient's room happy that he would finally be working on a case with Meredith and hoping that she wasn't serious about deciding against neurosurgery.
"Dr. Shepherd is right over there," a nurse cooed to an intern while pointing at him. The sound of his name caught his attention, and as he looked over, he saw an intern heading cautiously in his direction, clutching a chart to her chest. An unexpectedly familiar intern.
Is this some sort of joke? Derek thought, racking his brain for how it could possibly be the case that the woman that had tried to pick him up in the bar was now seeking him out in the hospital. As an intern, nonetheless.
"Can I help you?" Derek finally mustered, trying to deescalate a potentially awkward situation as quickly as possible.
"Um, you're Dr. Shepherd?" Lexie asked cautiously as she shifted her weight back and forth from left to right, somewhat nervous.
Derek smiled and nodded, trying to reassure her despite his own uncomfortable surprise.
"Yeah, well…wow…this isn't awkward or anything, but…I guess you paged me to have me work with you on this case. Mr. Samuels, is it?" Lexie responded.
He looked over at the nurses at the Nurse's Station, watching them cackle at their little private joke that he didn't fully understand yet, though he was certain he fit into the punch line somewhere.
"What?" Derek stammered, now visibly confused.
"I'm sorry, someone said that you wanted me to assist you on this case," Lexie sighed, feeling more embarrassed than ever. She dropped her hands down to her sides in defeat, clearly revealing her ID badge to Derek in the process.
Lexie Grey.
"Oh my god…" Derek whispered, letting the letters of her name register in his brain. "You're, um…" he hesitated.
What to do? What to do?
Decide.
"Yeah, I paged you." Derek's confidence returned. He couldn't believe that the girl at the bar was not only an intern, but Meredith's sister. Just his luck. But now, watching how uncomfortable she clearly was, he couldn't bring himself to send her away.
Does Meredith know that you're here? Derek thought, but he couldn't ask just yet. He didn't think it would be appropriate. Thatcher had talked about Lexie being at Harvard Medical School, and Meredith had bitterly referenced the other Grey in private conversations with him, but she hadn't said anything about her sister being an intern at Seattle Grace. That seemed like something she would mention if she knew, and certainly the chief hadn't said anything about it. His mind went in a million different directions before finally settling on the situation at hand – his impending surgery.
He'd play along with those snarky nurses. Seeing Meredith would have to wait. He wasn't about to have the two women meet in his OR, and there would be plenty of other craniotomies that she could scrub in on with him. Next time, he'd even page her himself.
"Have you read the file?" Derek asked, trying to resume his professional appearance.
"Yes, and I'm sorry," Lexie stammered.
"Sorry? For what?" Derek asked, genuinely confused.
"For trying to pick you up the other night. I honestly had no idea that you were a doctor here, and I'm sure that it must seem so incredibly unprofessional to you. You have no idea how mortified that I am about it right now," Lexie gushed. How unbelievably mortified I am that Dr. Shepherd, Chief-of-Neurosurgery-Attending-Dr. Shepherd was my man-candy in a bar, she thought. "Frankly, I'm surprised that you're even willing to work with me after that. Really. I'm sorry, and at this moment I swear I won't try to pick up any more guys at Joe's, just in case."
"Don't worry about it. It happens," he reassured. He smiled at her for extra measure. Not a common, polite smile, but a genuine, Grey-reserved smile that made his blue eyes sparkle a little extra. "We should get started."
Derek casually opened the door to the patient's room with the cool confidence typical of Dr. Shepherd.
"Good morning, Mr. Samuels. How are you feeling this morning?" Derek asked, turning his attention now to his patient, a middle-aged man who looked frail in the fluorescent lights and pale décor of the hospital room.
"I feel like I'm ready to get this over with," the patient replied.
"Well, I am here to make that happen for you today. And Dr. Grey, here, will be assisting me with your surgery. Dr. Grey, are you ready to present?"
"Yes," she responded, much more confidently. "Gregory Samuels, 52-year-old male, presenting with atypical trigeminal neuralgia…" Lexie continued to recount the facts of the case with poise. The few times that Derek stopped her to ask questions, she answered quickly and accurately. It reminded him a bit of Meredith.
"Excellent, Dr. Grey. Any last questions about the procedure, Mr. Samuels?" Derek asked.
Samuels shook his head no.
"Okay. I'm going to review this morning's MRIs one last time, and Dr. Grey is going to get you prepped for surgery. I'll see both of you in the OR shortly," Derek said, sending a confident smile in both their directions before heading out the door.
He felt simultaneously amused and guilty by the situation. He knew he hadn't really done anything wrong. He had politely rebuffed Lexie's advances at Joe's, and he couldn't avoid working with her for Meredith's sake. Part of his job as an attending was to teach the interns, after all. Still, he felt like Meredith deserved to know about all of this, over or not. He'd have to make a point of talking to her later in the day.
The gallery of OR-1 was packed for Dr. Shepherd's craniotomy. It typically was this early in the intern year as so many interns were instructed to observe. Actual surgical experience wouldn't come until later, after the interns had proven themselves trustworthy of interacting with patients. Derek decided that Lexie would be no exception to that, really. She wouldn't be actively involved in the procedure, but he would let her scrub in and observe from a better vantage point than the gallery could offer. That was something, at least. A goodwill gesture to let her know that she needn't overreact to the bar incident. And some props for pulling herself together when she presented the patient's case rather than freaking out under pressure as interns often did in far less stressful moments.
The surgery went well -- textbook even. He liked putting on that kind of show for the crowd. He was also relieved that every time he looked up at the gallery, he didn't see Meredith sitting amongst the group. He didn't want that distraction with Lexie there, and he suspected that having Meredith watch them in surgery would be a double-edged sword. If Meredith already knew about Lexie, she would wonder why he let an intern scrub in so early on such a procedure and would probably accuse him of meddling in her family life. If she didn't know who Lexie was yet, she could possibly find out during the operation from one of the other observers, which would be weird, and then she'd go through the same negative reactions with the added bonus of being angry that he hadn't told her. Either way, he was relieved that he didn't have to worry about it.
Lexie had seemed somewhat uncomfortable and awkward throughout the surgery. He couldn't gauge if it was just nerves from being in the OR with the gallery watching or if it was residual from their earlier interaction. And she didn't give him a chance to find out. She scrubbed out quickly once they finished the procedure, and she politely thanked him for letting her be a part of the surgery before excusing herself. He'd have to remember to tell those details to Meredith, too. He didn't want to leave anything out.
He continued to lather his hands methodically, inhaling the sterile smell of the disinfecting soap as he scrubbed out. He was actually looking forward to seeing Meredith. Full disclosure would be good. Healing. Restorative. Guiding their relationship toward a speedy recovery from temporary overness. Sadly, however, he knew it would have to wait. He was falling behind in his day already, and he still needed to catch up from missing the day before. He'd call her after he got off his shift and they'd have a real talk free from interruptions. Feeling resolved with this plan, Derek finished scrubbing out and moved on with his busy day.
"Is it bad that I just got to scrub in on an amazing procedure, and the whole time all I could think about was how I had tried to get into the attending's pants?" Lexie asked Meredith, happy that she saw a familiar face in the cafeteria.
Meredith was sitting alone, looking through some paperwork and half-heartedly munching on an apple that was already showing brown spots from oxidation as she waited too long between bites. The sound of Lexie's voice caught her by surprise, and she watched as Lexie invited herself to sit in the empty chair next to her.
Meredith laughed nervously. "Happens to the best of us, I guess."
"Did it happen to you?" Lexie inquired, eager to get the scoop.
"Yeah, you could say that," Meredith offered. If Lexie hadn't heard all of the gossip about her and Derek yet, she wasn't about to reignite the rumor mill. The only people in the hospital that could even compete with nurses in the game of spreading gossip were interns.
"I'm absolutely mortified. Really. Truly. Mortified. I mean, I went to Joe's last week and saw this hot guy and practically threw myself at him. I should have known that he was an attending. A fucking neurosurgeon, even. He was way too well dressed to be in a bar," Lexie rambled, poking at her lunch in frustration.
"A neurosurgeon?" Meredith asked. Her heart started to beat a little faster.
I met a woman last night…
"Yeah, Dr. Shepherd. And the thing that I don't get about it all is that he requested me to work on the case with him this morning. I mean, he blows me off at the bar the other night and then he goes out of his way to get me on his case. That's weird, right?"
Meredith's heart sank. Not only was Lexie the girl he flirted with, the highlight of his week, but now he was pulling her into his surgeries. She felt her skin begin to flush. Not a subtle pink, but a strong if-I-blushed-orange-I'd-be-a-full-on-Oompa-Loompa-blush. Her hands trembled a bit as she reached for the remains of her apple and papers.
"Definitely weird," was all that Meredith could muster in response. Meredith suddenly wished she hadn't suggested to Derek that he could see other people during their temporary over phase. He had been so convincing last night that he wasn't interested in that, but already, less than 24 hours later, he was seeking out the pretty girl he "noticed" in the bar. Kinda like how he bedded her after meeting her the year before. And how could she possibly compete with this bright and shiny Grey?
"Well, anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest, and I wasn't sure who else I could safely tell. I hope it's okay," Lexie confided, her smile radiating warmly towards her sister, oblivious.
"Sure, Lexie, anytime. I really do need to get going, though. I've lingered here a little too long already," Meredith said politely. At least I'm making excuses for myself before I run away…forward progress…she thought. But really, she couldn't remove herself from the conversation fast enough. She felt her stomach turn over on itself as she thought about Derek flirting with her sister and then proceeding to request her. She hated competition, and felt like Addison was happening all over again. Just when she thought they were safe. Comfortable. On the road to happiness. Delayed, but getting there. In walks Lexie Grey to lure Derek away on his own free will.
The very thought of it made Meredith feel sick.