Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC.
A/N: This chapter will follow 1x03 (Winning a Battle, Losing the War) and will establish Annabelle's presence in the hospital and how she interacts with the other characters like patients, Izzie, George, Cristina, and some more interactions between Alex, Meredith and Annabelle.
Reviews:
RHatch89: Thank you!
siriuslylovehp: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
dbzamywinxchic: Thank you! Yeah, I honestly don't understand why so many people immediately assumed that this is a Derek/OC and so on. And yeah, the relationship between Annabelle and Alex is definitely going to be interesting (sorry, I'm not giving anything away) ;) There's definitely more of it in this chapter!
Jackie: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! There's definitely more of it in this chapter :)
Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.
Chapter 3
Winning a Battle, Losing the War
We live out our lives on the surgical unit. Seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. We're together more than we're apart.
It was a calm, quiet night in Meredith and Annabelle's house as the raindrops hit against their windows. Or at least it was calm and quiet until Annabelle shifted in her bed to turn on her back, only to sit up with a scream as she opened her eyes the tiniest bit and was greeted with George's face.
"Izzie is trying to steal my room," he said as almost innocently, and that innocence was the only thing stopping Annabelle from killing him right there and then as she looked over at the clock and saw that it was only 4:40am.
"You have got to be kidding me," was all she could mutter as she threw the covers off herself and got out of bed, just barely stopping herself from falling as her foot got tangled in the sheets.
After a while...
"Well, his room is bigger than mine!" Izzie said as soon as Annabelle exited her room, George trailing after her like a puppy. "I have more clothes - I should have the bigger room,"
The ways of residency...
"I got here first," George protested as Annabelle made her way towards the stairs.
"It's Meredith and Annabelle's house, they should decide," Izzie said, following Annabelle closely, and George quickly ran to catch up with them.
Become the ways of life.
"My room is, like, two inches bigger than yours!"
Number one...
"You have the bigger closet,"
"So what? Why is everything always a competition?" Annabelle closed her eyes and tried to block out the arguing that was coming from behind her as she made her way downstairs, quickly heading towards the storage/laundry room. She was already feeling the cool air on her arms, seeing as her pajamas consisted of long, loose, light pink pants and a gray tank top, and she was not liking the cold at all.
Always keep score. Number two - do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy.
"You can put your clothes anywhere else!"
"Everywhere else is filled with Meredith and Annabelle's mom's boxes,"
"Annabelle? When is your mom coming back to town, anyway?" George asked as Annabelle quickly grabbed the first blanket she saw and started making her way back upstairs. "Because maybe we can put her boxes in storage,"
"Or unpack a few things - make this place a little more homey," Izzie suggested. "Some throw pillows, some lamps, a few paintings..."
"Oh, paintings would be nice," George said as he and Izzie followed Annabelle upstairs like two puppies oblivious to their owner's annoyance.
"Yeah. You have all this amazing stuff just packed away. In the back closet, I found this box with like 100 tapes of your mother performing these amazing medical procedures,"
"Really? We should watch them. Annabelle, do you want to watch-" George was cut off by the bathroom door shutting in his face.
Annabelle finally released a breath as she closed the bathroom door, before turning around, her eyes widening just a bit when she saw her sister sitting on the floor, leaning against the bathtub.
"Yeah, I looked like that too a few minutes ago," Meredith said as she saw Annabelle's annoyed and tired expression, "Tea?" she offered, and Annabelle gingerly took the cup, nearly collapsing on the floor and putting her head in Meredith's lap.
"Why did we invite them here again?" she asked after taking a sip of the tea, and Meredith shrugged before taking the cup back.
"Because we're stupid and we take in strays,"
Number three - don't make friends with the enemy.
"Fools on bikes killing themselves - natural selection is what it is," Dr. Bailey grumbled for about the tenth time as she led her interns down the hallway while they all tried to wake up. Or, rather, Alex tried to wake up seeing as Meredith, Annabelle, George, and Izzie were all wide awake two hours before and Cristina was always alert.
"So what's up with the Nazi, is she off her meds?" Alex asked, glancing at Annabelle after looking at their resident weirdly, but the brunette didn't have time to answer as George turned around to look at Alex confusedly.
"You never heard of the race?"
"Chief," Dr. Bailey called as she stopped for a few seconds, her head turned in the direction where the chief, Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Burke were standing in front of the O.R. board. "'Dead Baby' bike race started 20 minutes ago,"
"Alright, people! Dead Baby Bike Race day!" Chief Webber called out loudly, and Annabelle could see multiple nurses sighing and multiple doctors' eyes light up.
"Every year, this bar-"
"The Dead Baby bar," Meredith cut in as George began to explain the race once they got off the elevator and arrived at the entrance of the E.R.
"Every year, they hold this underground bike race," George continued as he and the other interns all took off their lab coats.
"Don't you wonder why someone would name a bar something so disgusting?" Izzie spoke up, and Annabelle simply shrugged. She was too tired to care about that stupid bar's name.
"Keep your panties on, Nancy Drew," Cristina laughed as Alex started passing them all trauma gowns.
"The race is completely illegal and-"
"Crazy," Annabelle cut in, "And stupid," she said as she started putting on the gown Alex passed her. "Freaking bike messengers racing against traffic trying to beat each other for free shots of tequila,"
"And why are you so grumpy?" Alex asked, looking at her weirdly. He knew the brunette wasn't a ray of sunshine but he hasn't seen her so grumpy and annoyed yet.
"I took in strays," was all Annabelle said as she began to tie the gown around her waist while everyone else put theirs on.
"All-outs, no-holds-barred competition sounds like fun," Alex finally spoke up again after shooting Annabelle another weird look.
"Yeah, you would think that," she scoffed, and he shot her a look before helping her tie the gown strings at the back of her neck.
"The race, the race doesn't even have any rules - except eye-gouging - no eye-gouging," George said, gesturing with his fingers funnily making Izzie laugh.
"We're gonna be trapped in the pit, band-aiding idiots when we could be up in the O.R.," Cristina grumbled.
"What kind of people engage in a race that has, as its only rule, that you can't rip out the eyeballs of another human being?" George asked incredulously as he tied Izzie's gown strings at the back of her neck and started tying Alex's.
"Men, Georgie, men," Alex said, making Izzie laugh and Annabelle chuckle as George threw his gown down.
"I need someone to get up to the O.R. floor, the chief needs a right hand," Dr. Bailey said and everyone's hands except Annabelle and Meredith's shot up in the air. Annabelle had no idea why her sister didn't want to go into an O.R., but she knew for a fact that she was too tired and off her game to be able to do anything in an O.R. today. Though maybe she would get lucky and an O.R.-emergent patient would come up in the pit.
Oh, and yeah, number four...
"George," Dr. Bailey finally chose after sighing at her interns.
Everything is a competition.
"Okay, people, the rules of trauma," Dr. Bailey spoke up again as Annabelle sighed shortly and started tying the gown strings at the back of Alex's neck, seeing the man struggle, "Don't mingle with the E.R. interns - they don't know their ass from their esophagus. Sew fast, discharge faster, get bodies up to the O.R. yesterday and don't let me catch you fighting over patients, got it? Come on, let's go," she finished, turning around to head into the E.R., and Cristina, Alex and Izzie all tried to shove each other aside to get into the room as fast as possible.
"Oh," Cristina gaped at the patients being rolled in on gurneys. "It's like candy. But with blood, which is so much better!"
"Oh, my God," Izzie stared at a man bandaged almost completely and already intubated.
"Uh, mine!" Cristina quickly leaped forward.
"No! I saw him first!" Izzie exclaimed, running after her.
Whoever said winning wasn't everything...
"Ooh. I'll take that guy," Annabelle said as she saw a very handsome man around her age sitting on one of the beds, multiple long nails sticking out of his abdomen.
"You'll have to beat me to him first," Alex said before preparing to walk up to the patient, and Annabelle quickly jogged to catch up with him, while Meredith used their distraction to walk over to a man whose hand was nearly impaled on a metal rod.
Never held a scalpel.
"Heads - he's mine, tails - he's yours," Alex suggested as he pulled out a coin from his pocket.
"Why do you get to be 'heads'?" Annabelle asked.
"Oh, because I have a head, and honey, you are a tail," Alex replied, and Annabelle glared at him before looking over at their patient with a fake smile.
"Excuse me," was all she said before pulling the curtain so that he would stop looking at them, amused, "How on earth do you manage to make everything dirty?" she asked, and Alex simply shrugged before flipping the coin. "Ha! Tails! There are plenty of other cases,"
"So go get one. I was here first,"
"I am not going to sit around doing sutures all day while you get to be in the O.R. You saw how pissed off I am already. You really want to make it worse? 'Cause you currently are,"
"It's superficial. I mean, it's cool, but it's superficial," Alex said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh, yeah? How do you know those things didn't rupture his peritoneum?"
"Because he's sitting up and he's sitting there talking to us!" Alex said in annoyance, and Annabelle opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the patient sliding the curtain off to the side and giving them a smile.
"Hello. Excuse me, I-I was wondering if you could take these out and sew me up so I could go and win my race," he said in a British accent, looking mainly at Annabelle and offering her a charming smile.
"Well, we can't just-" Annabelle began, but was interrupted by Alex's grunt as he pulled one of the nails out. "Pull them out,"
"Oh, wicked," Alex stared at the nails in his hand.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Annabelle hissed as he continued to pull the nails out of the patient.
"It's a superficial wound. Sew him up and let him finish his race," Alex said, handing Annabelle the nails and walking off in search of better cases.
"Hey, good man!" the patient called after him, and Annabelle glanced between both of them like they were crazy. Which, judging by their reaction to this stupid race, they most likely were.
"Ahh, you got a nice touch," the patient remarked with a charming and flirtatious smirk as Annabelle sewed his wound up as gently as she could. "And, by the way, you are a rocking babe,"
"Okay, seriously," Annabelle looked up at him, unable to keep the smile from making itself onto her lips. She hated to admit it but she was genuinely enjoying this man's flirtatious side - not that she wasn't sure this side was his only side. "Do you honestly think you have a shot here?"
"I like to think I've got a shot anywhere," he smirked.
"Ah," Annabelle nodded with a smile, before returning to the sutures. She was always a sucker for bad boys. "Look, you really have to let me take you for some tests, run a C.T. You could have internal bleeding,"
"No, thank you, I've got a race to get back to," the man replied as Annabelle started patching the now completely sewed up wound.
"What's the point? It's not like you can win now, anyway,"
"Doesn't mean I can't cross that finish line," he said, "There's a party at the finish line. Do you want to meet me there?" he leaned his head down to whisper the last part in his doctor's ear, making her look up at him, her brows raised.
"One test," she pressed again. "A C.T. I'll have you out of here in an hour,"
"I can't do it, got to go," he said as Annabelle made sure the bandage was taped firmly to his skin, protecting the freshly sewed up wound.
"Okay, fine. But you do realize that you're leaving against medical advice and that I strongly urge you to stay?"
"The frat guy said I could go," the man pointed out.
"The 'frat guy' is an idiot. And an ass," Annabelle retorted, making him chuckle as his eyes traveled down to her lips once again. "Okay. Well, you have to sign an A.M.A. form,"
"Darling," the man started as he sat up while Annabelle stood up and grabbed one of the forms lying on the table beside her, "I will do anything you want me to," he said in a husky voice, making Annabelle look up at him.
"What is it... with you guys, and your need to dirty everything up?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's just testosterone, eh?"
"Maybe," Annabelle nodded, "You may want to see a doctor about that, too," she said, passing him the form and a pen as he grinned, clearly enjoying her spunk. He then quickly signed the form, before getting off the bed and putting it on the table beside her, and proceeding to walk out of the E.R. However, he only made it three steps before he turned around and grabbed Annabelle around the waist, pressing his lips to hers.
Too shocked to do anything, Annabelle simply stood there, with her hands on his shoulders and her eyes wide open as her patient kissed her before he finally pulled away.
"That was for good luck," he gave her one more charming smirk, before proceeding to leave, halting in the doorway for five seconds to turn his head and look at her one last time. "Don't worry, darling, you'll see me again," was all he said, before walking out the door.
"Okay," Annabelle whispered to herself as she struggled not to laugh, straightening her back and letting her arms fall to her sides as she turned around, only to stop in her tracks as she saw her sister watching her, hands on her hips. "What?"
"You're kissing patients now?" Meredith asked with raised eyebrows, and Annabelle didn't even have time to respond before Derek appeared in the door right behind Meredith.
"Who's kissing patients now?" he asked.
"No one," Annabelle answered, shooting her sister a look that silently told her to shut up. The last thing she needed was her attendings thinking that she was a slut.
"What?" she heard Meredith ask and turned around again, only to see Derek staring at her sister. "Look, we had sex - once,"
"And we kissed in an elevator," Derek added, and Annabelle nearly dropped the suturing instrument she just picked up off the table.
"You kissed in an elevator?" she repeated, and Meredith turned around briefly to shoot her a glare before turning back to Derek, who nodded with a smirk.
"And we kissed in an elevator - once," she said, before turning around to fill out one of her patient's chart.
"No, seriously. No, come on, go out with me," Annabelle heard, and subtly glanced up, only to see Derek staring at her sister.
"No," Meredith said firmly.
"You know, I almost died today," Derek spoke up again, and this time, both Grey sisters turned to look at him, "Yeah, I came like this close," he held up his hands, keeping them only a few inches apart. "How would you feel if I died, and you didn't get a chance to go out with me?"
"Yeah, Mer. How would you feel?" Annabelle asked with a sly smirk as she walked past them, earning a smug look from Derek and another glare from her sister, before chuckling as she walked out of the room and into the pit, deciding to give them some privacy.
"Get over yourself already," was the last thing she heard her sister say as she walked away, chuckling under her breath.
"I'm just saying, you could give it a shot," Annabelle said as she and Meredith walked side by side down the hallway, both filling out charts but glancing up occasionally to make sure not to walk into someone or something.
"No," Meredith repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Why not?" Annabelle asked, and Meredith simply looked at her. "No, I'm serious! He's charming, he's funny, he's hot. He's McDreamy,"
"McDreamy? Seriously?"
"Hey, it fits," Annabelle shrugged with a small smirk, just as Izzie suddenly ran out of the room they were walking past.
"Meredith, Annabelle!"
"What?" they both asked, jumping into alarm mode as they saw the look on her face.
"He's crashing," Izzie said as she lead them into the room where a man was lying on the bed, hooked up to multiple machines, one of which was a ventilator.
"Well, what the hell are you doing? Call a code!" Annabelle said as she threw her charts down on the closest table, Meredith copying her actions as the brunette pulled her stethoscope off her neck and ran over to the patient.
"I can't - I'm not supposed to, he's brain-dead," Izzie said as she tried to adjust some of the machines to administer the drugs that would stop him from crashing.
"Well, if he's brain-dead, you have to let him go," Annabelle said as Meredith slowed her movements.
"No!" Izzie immediately shook her head. "It's only been 5 hours and 33 minutes, he's supposed to get six hours,"
"Well, we can't do anything to help him live, it's not our place to make that call," Meredith said as she picked up her charts again.
"He's a person," Izzie said, "We're doctors. We should have every right to make that call. We can't just stand here and do nothing while he dies. He has a right to the next 27 minutes," she insisted, and Annabelle closed her eyes briefly as she sighed. She agreed with Izzie wholeheartedly, and her hands were aching to do something to help that man, but she knew very well that if they did anything against protocol, they could all lose their jobs and their careers would be over before they even begun.
"Screw it," she finally said, and looked over at Meredith, who glanced at the dying man and stared at him for a few seconds before looking up and nodding. She was in. They were all in.
"Okay, I'll get the dopamine, you get the blood. We'll transfuse him," Meredith said, and Izzie nodded thankfully before running out of the room, Annabelle close on her heels.
"He's stable," Meredith called up to Cristina as she walked upstairs alongside Annabelle and Izzie, the Asian woman meeting them halfway in the stairwell.
"For now," Cristina said. "I had a radiologist look at his chest films, he has a traumatic aortic injury. It's gonna rupture and bleed out,"
"So he needs surgery," Annabelle nodded as Cristina leaned against the wall.
"If he's gonna remain a viable organ donor, yeah," she nodded.
"If he's gonna live," Izzie corrected, moving to walk upstairs.
"Izzie-"
"No! I'm not giving up on him," Izzie cut Cristina and Annabelle off angrily. "He has the surgery - he lives longer, that's the point. So I'm gonna help find the family, you guys find a way to get him into surgery,"
"Well, I have to get back to the E.R.!" Annabelle called after her, and the blonde only turned her head to glance at her.
"Well, make some time for this!" was all she said, before disappearing behind the door as Annabelle sighed.
"She's vice-president of Fantasyland," Cristina shook her head, and Annabelle couldn't help but agree. Yes, she wanted to help, but her focus was on the organs. She knew what the chances of that man waking up were, and she was not the kind of person to have false hope. She was disappointed way too many times in the past to still have the ability to have false hope.
"So, who do we go to for the surgery - Bailey?" Meredith spoke up.
"No, we need to go higher than Bailey," Cristina said, before jogging up the stairs, Meredith and Annabelle sharing a look before following.
"Dr. Burke," Meredith called as she opened the door to the men's bathroom and stuck her head inside, only to freeze as she saw the Chief of Cardio peeing, though she - thankfully - could not see his body from waist down as he stood behind a stall wall.
"Hello?!" the man called out in annoyance, looking up at her in disbelief.
"Okay," Meredith nodded, quickly closing the door behind her and then closing her eyes briefly, just as Cristina moved past her to open the door again.
"Dr. Burke, um, I know you're busy, but our John Doe needs an aortic repair," she said.
"The guy from this morning?" Annabelle and Meredith heard Dr. Burke ask. "Isn't he legally dead?"
"Well... yeah - he's kinda still around. We gave him two units P.R.V.C.s and put him on pressors,"
"On whose orders?" Dr. Burke asked, and Cristina froze before moving out of the doorway and closing the door behind her. The three young women looked at each other in slight panic, before Annabelle finally sighed.
"Oh, screw it," she hissed under her breath, before moving to open the door before her sister could stop her, "Mine," she said, and Dr. Burke turned around to look at the three of them from where he was now standing beside the sink, washing his hands.
"You get a brain-dead John Doe a blood transfusion without consulting anyone. And now you want me to repair his heart?" he asked in disbelief as he got himself some paper towel to dry his hands.
"Well, yes," Cristina said.
"You do enjoy crossing the line, don't you?" Dr. Burke asked rhetorically, glancing between the three women.
"He is an excellent candidate for organ donation," Meredith spoke up.
"I am a surgeon, I save lives. This guy is already dead," Dr. Burke stated, "Now, this is the men's room. Either whip one out or close the door," he said, and the three interns glanced at each other before quickly moving out of the room and closing the door.
"You think he'll help?" Izzie asked nervously as she, Annabelle and Cristina watched Meredith speak to Derek. After their failed attempt to get Dr. Burke on board with their John Doe situation, they decided to use Derek's clear affection for the blonde Grey to their advantage.
"Oh, trust me. He will," Annabelle said as she kept her eyes on her sister and the handsome neurosurgeon.
"Here she comes," Cristina murmured as Meredith finally finished her conversation with Derek and started heading back toward them. "So?"
"Well, he said there's not much he can do," Meredith answered, and Izzie sighed dejectedly, "But there is something we can do,"
"And that would be...?" Annabelle trailed off.
"Derek said that we need to find a way to get close to the chief," Meredith said, making Izzie sigh again.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" she asked exasperatedly, and three other women all frowned in thought, before Cristina's eyes lit up in realization.
"George,"
"What'd I do?" George asked, freezing with his sandwich halfway up to his mouth as his three roommates and Cristina all stood in front of him, their arms crossed over their chests as they stared at him.
"How close a match for the liver is your patient to our John Doe?" Meredith asked.
"Very. Same type, same size, U.N.O.S. couldn't find a better match, why?" he replied, making Annabelle and Cristina both smirk in triumph.
"He's the chief's V.I.P., right?" Annabelle asked.
"Right," George answered, his brows furrowing in confusion as he stared at the four women in front of him.
"How much would you kill to be in on a transplant surgery?" Cristina spoke up, the corners of her lips tugging up in a smirk.
"You underestimate me," George said. "I'm not a baby. I'm your colleague. You don't have to manipulate me, if you want something, all you have to do is ask,"
"We want you to go over Burke's head to the chief," Izzie said.
"Ask me something easier,"
"We are so going to hell," Annabelle mumbled as she, Izzie, Meredith and Cristina watched George speak to the chief, standing only a few feet away from them.
"Burke is sending us straight to hell," Meredith nodded in agreement.
"On an express train," Cristina added.
"If it works," Izzie nodded, looking at their fellow intern and the chief hopefully.
"What are you doing?" Alex suddenly came up from behind them in his scrub cap, looking ready to go into surgery any minute and halting beside Annabelle.
"Nothing," the four young women all replied in unison, making him look at them strangely before following their gazes, only to see Chief Webber stopping Dr. Burke as he made to walk past him and George, and speaking indistinctly to him.
"Yes!" Izzie squealed in a whisper, grinning. She then laughed quietly in delight as the other three women smiled when they saw George straighten up before quickly walking away as Dr. Burke looked at him. However, their grins were quickly wiped off once the chief walked away, and Dr. Burke turned his head to look at them instead.
"Oh, crap," Annabelle muttered, and they all quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction, leaving Alex to simply stare after them, confused.
Meredith, Annabelle, George, Cristina and Izzie all sat in the gallery, watching Dr. Burke operate on John Doe's heart, with Alex out of all people beside him.
"I seriously hate that guy," Cristina said as they watched Alex nearly kiss Burke's ass in the O.R.
"Alex is vermin," Meredith agreed. "That surgery is ours,"
"At least Burke is doing the surgery. I don't care about Alex," Izzie said, looking down at the surgeons in the O.R.
"George... you did good," Annabelle turned her head to look at her colleague, smiling sweetly at him.
"I'm gonna have to dodge Burke for the rest of my career," was all he could mutter as she stared down at the Chief of Cardio, "He could kill me and make it look like an accident," he whispered to the Grey sisters, making them both chuckle quietly as Annabelle patted his shoulder reassuringly, just a nurse came into the gallery.
"The police called," she notified, "They've identified your John Doe, his wife is on the way," she said, and Cristina and Izzie quickly stood up before running out of the gallery.
"Oh, this one is skin grafting!" was the first thing Annabelle heard once she entered her house, rubbing her forehead tiredly and sighing once she heard Izzie's voice. She truly did not want to deal with her roommates after the day she had.
"Skin grafting? No way! I've never seen that done before," came George's excited voice, and her brows furrowed in confusion before she slowly made her way into the living room, only to freeze once she saw her colleagues sitting on the floor, multiple of her mom's boxes around them, open.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Annabelle asked as she stared at the tapes in their hands with wide eyes. Oh, dear... Meredith is not going to like this, she thought, knowing very well what a foul mood her sister was in having spent an entire car ride with her.
"Are those our mother's surgical tapes?" she suddenly heard Meredith's voice behind her and turned around, realizing that she must have missed the sound of the door opening.
"We should watch the skin grafting one first," George said, oblivious to the looks on the sisters' faces.
"Where did all this stuff come from?" Meredith asked as she made her way further into the living room, while Annabelle simply leaned against the wall tiredly, closing her eyes briefly. She was seriously starting to regret letting Izzie and George move in.
"Oh, I unpacked some of your mother's things," Izzie replied, glancing at the dozen - or maybe even more - boxes around them, "I was upset. And when I'm upset, I like to nest," she said, before glancing down at the tape in her hand as Meredith started picking up the multiple tapes sprawled across the living room. "Oh - hemipelvectomy!"
"I think we should watch this one first," George spoke up again, taking the tape out of Izzie's hands.
"No. No," Meredith spoke up, still picking up the tapes, "We're not watching my mother's surgery tapes, we're not unpacking boxes, and we're not having long conversations where we celebrate the moments of our lives!" she snapped, before picking up George's beer bottle and shoving it in his hands. "And use a coaster!"
"I ordered Chinese food," George added innocently after a second as Meredith started making her way upstairs, while Annabelle stayed where she was, too tired to argue with anyone.
"I hate Chinese food!" Meredith screamed angrily from upstairs before slamming the door to her room angrily, and Annabelle opened her eyes again just in time to see George and Izzie covering their mouths so they wouldn't laugh out loud.
"You know what?" Annabelle pushed herself off the wall, taking a few steps toward them, "I'm not gonna yell... I'm not gonna do anything because I'm just too damn tired. But invading our privacy like that? Not cool!" she snapped, before also heading upstairs, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed, leaving Izzie and George to stare after her quietly as they glanced down at the tapes in their hands before sharing a look, beginning to feel a bit guilty.
"Ugh, what do you want?" Annabelle groaned as Alex fell in step with her once she reached the front door of the hospital the next day, deciding to drive on her own instead of tagging along with her sister, who was clearly still angry from the day before. She wore a loose, dark green tank top, 3/4 skinny jeans and light brown boots up to her ankles, her dark brown hair up in a messy bun.
"And why are you so grumpy yet again?" Alex asked in annoyance, and Annabelle suddenly stopped right in front of the door to the hospital, turning around to look at him.
"You want to know why I'm grumpy? Fine, I'll tell you why I'm grumpy. I'm grumpy because I am not a morning person. I'm grumpy because my roommates don't understand the meaning of the word 'privacy'. I'm grumpy because you stole our surgery, do you really want me to keep going?"
"Okay, okay, I get it. You don't like me," Alex said, raising his hands in surrender, making Annabelle scoff, just as Meredith and Cristina walked past them.
"Hey," Cristina greeted her, purposely ignoring Alex.
"Hey," Annabelle returned, following her and Meredith inside.
"Why is the Nazi making us stay in the pit two days in a row?" Alex complained as he followed the three women into the hospital.
"Leftovers," Meredith replied.
"Leftovers," he repeated, sighing in annoyance.
"Got to get the cyclists who were too drunk, too stupid or too scared to get themselves to a hospital yesterday," Annabelle said.
"Meanwhile, she gets to do a freaking organ harvest," Alex pointed out grumpily, glancing at Cristina.
"It kills you, doesn't it?" the Asian woman turned her head to look at him.
"What?"
"That two women caught the harvest,"
"No, it kills me that anyone caught the harvest but me," Alex said as the four of them arrived in front of the elevators, Cristina pushing the button as they all waited for one to arrive. "Boobs do not factor into this equation. Unless, uh, you wanna show me yours,"
"I'm gonna become a lesbian," Annabelle spoke up after a few seconds of silence.
"Me, too," Cristina and Meredith nodded, before heading off toward the stairs with Annabelle following closely.
"Hey," Meredith greeted her sister as Annabelle walked up to the supply cart where she and Alex were already filling out a few charts while Annabelle took off her gloves, reaching for new ones.
"Hey," she greeted back as she stepped up to stand beside Alex, only to freeze as she glanced to the side and saw the familiar handsome man she treated the day before. The one who also kissed her; and she did remember seeing as he was admittedly an amazing kisser. "What's Viper doing here?"
"Uh, I don't know," Meredith shook her head, glancing at the man in the waiting room before going back to filling out her chart.
"Probably crashed his bike - again," Alex said, not even bothering to look up.
"How long has he been waiting?" Annabelle asked again, eyeing the hand clutching Viper's side suspiciously.
"I don't know. I've been busy on real cases," Alex said as Annabelle began to walk towards her former patient. "He's all yours!"
"Viper!" Annabelle called, before scrunching her face up in concern as she noticed his hand clutching his side tighter, "Viper? Are you okay?!" she called out, beginning to run towards him as she saw him staggering up to his feet, only to collapse on the floor as she began to cough up blood, "Viper!" Annabelle dropped to her knees beside him and quickly pulled up his shirt, only to gasp as she saw a huge, bulging wound where she stitched him up only a day earlier, "I need a gurney over here!" she yelled, and Meredith quickly ran over to them, dropping down to her knees on Viper's other side as a few nurses also ran over, two pushing a gurney, "Okay, on my count. One, two, three!" Annabelle called, and they all lifted Viper up as gently yet as quickly as they could before lying him down on the gurney. Annabelle then quickly put on the gloves that were handed to her, before jumping up on the gurney and straddling Viper so that she could put her hands over the wound, trying desperately to keep it closed, "Okay, someone call up to the O.R. and let them know we're coming, and page Dr. Bailey!" she yelled, "Let's go, Alex," she said, but looked up as she didn't feel the gurney moving, only to see Alex still standing where he was, frozen in place as he stared down at the patient, "Alex, push the damn gurney!" Annabelle yelled, as Meredith ran to pull the gurney down the hallway, Alex finally snapping out of his daze and moving to the other end of the gurney to push it.
"Clear the way! Coming through!" Meredith called to the passing staff and patients.
"Somebody get the elevator!" Alex yelled as they rounded the corner.
"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can keep this wound closed!" Annabelle stressed, trying to apply as much pressure as possible just as they reached the elevator, the doors immediately closing behind them, "Move faster, damn it!" she swore as Meredith sighed loudly while leaning her hands on the gurney while Alex tapped his foot impatiently.
After what seemed like forever, the elevator doors finally opened again, and Meredith and Alex immediately began pushing and pulling the gurney down the hallway, where multiple scrub nurses were already waiting for them.
"Oh, this a new one?" Dr. Bailey frowned once they entered the O.R., some of the nurses helping Meredith and Alex push the gurney inside. "Somebody get her off my patient!"
"Come on," Alex grunted, putting his hands on Annabelle's waist and lifting her off the gurney, moving his hands to her elbows momentarily to help her regain balance.
"Annabelle, Meredith, go scrub in and Alex, get back downstairs," Dr. Bailey ordered as the two sisters rushed past her.
"Yeah, but I helped," Alex protested.
"Helped?" Dr. Bailey scoffed, "Yeah, they tell me down in the pit you only want to take the hot cases. Every pack of interns, there's always one fool running around trying to show off. And Alex, this time, that fool is you. Get out," she ordered as she and the scrub nurses quickly prepped Viper for surgery, while Alex stormed out of the O.R. angrily. "Somebody get me something to stand on! Lower this table. The mountain's gonna have to come to me,"
Once the surgery was over, Dr. Bailey, Meredith and Annabelle made their way out of the O.R. and into the waiting area, where they immediately spotted Viper's friends.
"This lovely group's his friends," Dr. Bailey muttered as they looked at the group of people fooling around without a care in the world. Annabelle could honestly say that they all looked the same to her, bar their genders. All dyed hair, all piercings, all tattoos. "Uh, you all belong to - uh, what's his name?"
"Viper," the sisters answered in unison.
"V-Viper?"
"Yeah, we were in the race," one of the guys in the group answered.
"H-How is he? Is he okay?" the only woman in the group asked.
"Is he okay?" Dr. Bailey repeated in disbelief. "No. No, he's not okay at all. He hurled is body down a concrete mountain at full speed for no good reason! Hey, y-yeah, I know you all pierce yourselves and smoke up and generally treat your bodies like your grungy asses can't break down, and h-hey, that's fine. You want to kill yourselves flying down a concrete mountain, go to it - but there are other people walking, people driving, people trying to live their lives on that concrete mountain and one of them got his brains scrambled today because one of you little sniveling no good snot rag-"
"Dr. Bailey, Dr. Bailey!" Annabelle and Meredith both pulled on her arm to stop her from literally attacking those people.
"Y-Yeah so, okay, no! Your friend Viper, as far as I'm concerned, is not okay!" Dr. Bailey finished before walking away angrily, leaving the everyone to stare after her with wide eyes.
"Uh, sh-she's had a... long day," Annabelle stammered, "But, um... Viper's gonna make it. He's gonna live," she finally said, and her patient's friends all sighed in relief before thanking them, to which the two sisters nodded before walking away. "Oh, dear,"
"Yeah," Meredith sighed.
There's another way to survive this competition - a way no one ever seems to tell you about. One you have to learn for yourself.
After making sure to have finished all her post-op notes, Annabelle changed back into her normal clothes and walked down the hallway, deciding to wait for her sister in the waiting area. However, she stopped in her tracks as she passed Viper's room, seeing him sitting up in bed, grinning and hugging his friends. She couldn't help but smile. She nearly had a heart attack from fear after seeing his wound and she had absolutely no idea how she managed to keep her hands from shaking in the O.R. But seeing him now, the fire and light back in his eyes, made it all beyond worth it. As Viper caught her eyes and gave her a smile with a nod while his female friend lied her head on his shoulder, Annabelle couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head. It was definitely worth it.
Number five - it's not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved.
` "So I take it the surgery was a success," came a voice from behind her and she turned around, only to see Alex walking up to her.
"Yeah, it was," she nodded, the smile still on her face as she continued to look at Viper.
"So he's gonna be completely fine?" Alex asked, and Annabelle couldn't help but her a bit of nervousness in his voice. Could it be that he was feeling guilty for pulling those nails out the day before?
"Yeah," she nodded again. "Yeah, he's gonna be fine,"
"Good," was all Alex said, before offering her a small smile and walking away, leaving Annabelle to stare after him. Maybe Alex Karev was not as bad as he made himself seem.
"Hey. You ready to go?" Meredith asked as she walked up to her sister, who nodded.
"Yeah," she replied, before freezing as she eyed her sister. "What's with the smile?"
"What smile?" Meredith asked, trying and failing to appear innocent.
"That smile,"
"There is no smile,"
"Oh, okay," Annabelle nodded, "So it wouldn't have anything to do with a certain neurosurgeon then?" she asked, looking at Meredith with a smirk.
"Shut up,"
The two sisters then made their way out of the hospital, each one heading to her own car, Annabelle driving behind Meredith. Once they made it home, they walked inside, only to hear Izzie's voice.
"Oh, okay, this is the best part. Watch. She pulls the flap of skin down over the face," Annabelle and Meredith shared a look before walking into the living room, only to see Izzie, George and Cristina all sprawled across the couches, watching one of their mother's surgical tapes.
"We were..." George trailed off as he nearly fell of the couch, trying to sit up quickly once he noticed the sisters' presence.
"Hi," Meredith simply greeted.
"We were j-we were just, uh... Cristina made us," George stammered, and Annabelle had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at the look on Cristina's face.
And once in a while, if you're smart, the life you save could be your own.
"What are we watching?" Meredith then asked, turning her head to look at the TV, "Ooh. This is the one where our mother-"
"Literally pulls this guy's face off," Izzie filled in as Meredith threw herself on the couch in between her and George, while Annabelle sat down in between her sister and George.
"Yup," Annabelle nodded, reaching for a piece of pizza, grinning as Izzie, Cristina and George all yelled once the tape reached its best part. She glanced at Meredith, who returned the grin. Maybe having roommates isn't as bad as they thought. Maybe everything is different than they thought.
A/N: Well, I was a bit unsure of the way I approached this chapter, but I hope I did it justice. I hope you like the relationship between Meredith and Annabelle and the growing relationship between Alex and Annabelle. I think Alex would be good for Annabelle as far as friendship goes. And we finally got some real action in this chapter.
I hope you guys liked Annabelle's small conversations with Meredith about Derek AKA McDreamy. She's definitely a Merder shipper (another proof that this is NOT a Derek/OC).
By the way, are there any pairings that you guys would like to see in this story, maybe a romance for Annabelle? I already have most of the story planned out but I could be persuaded to change my mind.
Anyway, hope you all liked the story and don't forget to review!