Disclaimer: insert something witty about not owning here, because i don't.

"God this is more painful than watching Nate do karaoke," Rachel groaned, squirming in her seat.

Peyton snorted, jotting down another note, "I dunno, I thought your performance of Oops I Did It Again was pretty tragic as well."

"Shut up, I rocked that."

"Yeeeah... You weren't sitting where I was."

"You shush now, "Rachel covered her eyes as Chris coughed nervously and shuffled his notes, "I'm not sure I can watch."

"It's ironic," Peyton mused, "normally it's us trying to cause Chris pain."

"I know but we mean it in a kind and a fun way."

"We do?"

Rachel elbowed her, "don't be surly Maverick; you know deep down you appreciate Chris."

"Well, if he's still alive after this maybe I'll consider telling him."

"God, Julian is tearing him to shreds."

"Jackass," Peyton said darkly. She didn't often bother to even express her opinion about the afore-mentioned doctor- she avoided him as much as possible generally- but she really didn't like it when he took one of her own down. And yes, ok, she was admitting Chris was maybe, kind of, one of her own- she'd known him nearly ten years- she was allowed to admit she was fond of him. To herself. Secretly.

And damn Julian was being a douche to him.

He'd pretty much always been a world class jackass, she'd known it then but she'd ignored it. And it had burned her, made her wary of other nonchalant, jackass types who thought they knew everything and she'd not crossed the line with any other doctor since.

Up on the stage Chris was clearing his throat once again and the notes he'd been shuffling slipped and fell to the floor, "that would be a uh- question for the ER doctor on call that night- Doctor Torres." He bent down to pick them up, his face flaming red.

"But she's not here right not," Julian pushed his point for the third time in as many minutes, "why was the decision to withhold surgery for over three hours made once you'd received the initial diagnosis?"

"You know why," Chris said irritably, "we've been over this."

"You managed to avoid answering the question actually; something you've gotten good at over the years-"

"Doctors," Jack interrupted, shooting Julian a warning glance, "this is not personal; please stick to the case Doctor Baker."

Julian grinned, holding up his hands, "hey I was just making a point."

"You've done as much," Jack said, raising an eyebrow, "let's move on shall we?"

Chris looked like he was about a second away from being sick and glanced out into the audience nervously, "questions?"

Immediately rows of hands went up and he swallowed in a very cartoon like fashion, "where to start?" He joked feebly. "Yeah, Doctor Lewis?"

Peyton zoned out while Chris was relatively safe from Baker's wrath. She skimmed over the audience from her seat; MnM was about the only time pretty much every member of the surgical floor came together and she'd forgotten there were so many of them. In the corner Dr Cabot was making notes furiously and didn't even look like she was listening- shit that reminded her, they needed to talk. Three seats in front Dr Benson was trying to stop Dr Stabler from flicking paper at her, god they needed to get a room and just to her left-

Shit.

Just to her left Lucas Scott was watching the stage intently and she hadn't even thought about how her hair was looking. She shifted in her seat trying to surreptitiously run her fingers threw it, praying there wasn't anything gross left over from surgery earlier sticking out.

"Quit fidgeting," Rachel hissed, "your hair looks fine and you're making me dizzy!"

"I'm not doing anything!" She made a show of scribbling down another note, "see?"

Her best friend rolled her eyes, "yeah," she flicked her own hair so that it hit Peyton in the face, "there was absolutely none of this going on at all," she flicked it back the other way and Peyton prodded her with her pen.

"Shut up."

"Hey, it's not me getting all swirly over a dumbass who can't spell necessary."

"He can't?" Rachel smirked and Peyton scowled at her, "not that it matters because I wasn't doing anything."

"Well you were thinking something."

"I was not! Shut up and let me listen."

Rachel stuck her tongue out at her and Peyton crossed her eyes back before they broke into a peal of giggles.

"Shhh!" Dr Branch glowered at them and they fell silent, Rachel elbowing her as they turned to face the front again.

"Uh, yeah," Chris scratched the back of his neck, "there was no indication that the patient would crash as suddenly as he did." He looked around desperately; Peyton knew the feeling all too well. When you'd done everything you could to help a patient but still something had gone wrong and the people around you turned on you instead of helping- it made her shudder at the memories.

She needed to help, say something for Chris maybe-

Lucas stood up suddenly, his hand in the air and Peyton sucked in a sharp breath, what the hell was he doing?

Chris paled; looking very much like Lucas had betrayed him somehow. "Doctor Scott?" he said quietly.

"You say that when you left the patient blood sugar levels were normal, BP was holding, steady enough pulse?"

"Yes that's right."

"And there was a mass trauma coming into the ER that you then had to cover?"

"Uh... yeah."

"There was an agreement with the staff on the floor that you were to be paged if anything went wrong and you left knowing the patient was under observation?"

"Yes, look-"

"Would you have done anything differently if this situation reoccurred?"

Peyton looked at Chris quickly, curious to know his response, it seemed like the whole auditorium was holding its collective breath.

"No," Chris said after a moment, "all three of the trauma cases brought in survived because I was there to work on them- I wouldn't trade their lives for an unfortunate turn of events I could never have predicted."

Lucas nodded, "I agree, in my opinion you did exactly the right thing."

From the stage Peyton could see Chris's eyes widen and then he smiled faintly, "well thanks."

In the front row Julian turned to shoot daggers at Lucas, "thank you Doctor Scott, for giving Doctor Keller your seal of approval but-"

"Alright," Jack stood up suddenly, "it would appear we've concluded this case- there was nothing that could have been done differently except perhaps Doctor Baker's miraculous hands being on call rather than tied up in another surgery. Thank you Doctor Keller." There was a faint ripple of laughs as Julian's face darkened further and Jack beckoned him towards the stage whilst dismissing everyone else with his other hand.

Chris practically collapsed in a heap on his chair and Peyton watched as Lucas jumped down the stairs two at a time to go and speak to him, "what, are they suddenly bffs or something?"

Rachel shrugged, "guess they sit around braiding each other's hair and talking about how much they're totally crushing on the pretty Doctor Sawyer."

"Oh as if."

"It's true Peyt- you're their common ground."

"They're doctors, like us," she said through gritted teeth, "although I sometimes wonder how you managed to make it through med school with the brain of a twelve year old."

"Takes one to know one."

They filed out of the room, sniping at one another good naturedly and Haley caught up with them at the end of the corridor, "guys!" She linked an arm through both of theirs and continued walking, "did you see Doctor Scott in there? Totally saved Keller's ass right?"

"Apparently he's the new hero around here," Peyton said sulkily and Rachel scoffed.

"Oh," Haley wiggled her eyebrows at her, "is there something I should know?"

Peyton stepped on Rachel's toes, ruining her subtle efforts to stop her friend from blabbing about her "imaginary" crush on Lucas by tripping Haley up and making them all stumble.

"Smooth," Haley said laughing, "don't worry honey, I'm not judging, he's a fox."

"Who's a fox?" Brooke asked at they stopped at her desk.

"No-one."

"Lucas."

"My dumbass brother in law apparently."

Brooke blinked, "did that all add up to a person?" She handed out files and pointed behind them, "Hales, Marie Demplen is here and wants to know what's taking so long."

Haley sighed, "well my day just got a whole lot worse."

Peyton pulled a sympathetic face, "I'll go keep Riley company, you gonna try and ward her off?"

"Yeah, I want to keep Riley here as long as possible to be honest," Haley looked at her with pleading brown eyes, "think you can pull some strings?"

"Of course," Peyton touched her arm- hey when she actually liked someone she could occasionally be touchy feely ok? "Just get her out of here as soon as you can."

Haley nodded, "I'll be up to the ward in a bit, Brooke can you call Morgan?"

"I'm on it."

Rachel had been quiet while they passed out files and Peyton frowned, "and what miracle has silenced you over there Goose?"

She regretted making a joke as soon as Rachel looked up, her face pale and her eyes sad, "Chloe's back."

She felt her insides drop to her feet, "oh Rach, I'm so sorry."

"Shit," Rachel pushed her knuckles against her forehead, frowning, "she must have finally lost the battle of the wills against that stupid heart of hers." She shook herself briefly, exhaling hard. "Crap. This is so not what I needed today."

Peyton rubbed her back soothingly, glancing at Brooke who met her eyes in sympathy.

Finally Rachel nodded, "it's ok. We've fought it before, we can do it again."

"Hell yes you can," Peyton agreed, trying to put as much conviction as possible into her voice. Rachel looked at her, eyes suddenly panicked and Peyton grabbed her hand, "I mean it Rach, you live for this kind of shit."

"Yeah..."

Peyton swallowed and tried to smile, putting on their usual bravado, "alright come on now, you think I'm gonna let you angst down here forever?" She tugged on her hand, "I'll drop in and say hey to Chloe before I go up to Riley, see that big ass rock of hers."

"Thanks," Rachel murmured, "Brooke can you come and get her settled?"

"Sure thing."

As a rule you weren't supposed to have favourite patients. All of them frequently broke the rule, Brooke never said no to any of Jake's patients when they asked for extra jello, Chris never said no to any pretty patient under twenty five no matter what they were asking for and Peyton ended up making pillow forts far more often than she was comfortable admitting to any of her peers.

Chloe had been one of Rachel's first patients. Born with a hole in her heart that was fixed years ago, Chloe had then been confronted with Left Sided Heart failure at twelve. She'd been in and out of hospital ever since and she and Rachel had met whilst Rachel been an intern. Chloe had refused point blank to let her illness get her down, had gone to Harvard to study journalism, met the love of her life at twenty two and was planning on getting married in three weeks. And now she was facing a real threat to her hard won happiness. It didn't seem fair. She and Rachel had bonded over late nights when Chloe had been unable to sleep and Rachel had sat up with her, just sitting by her bedside reading ridiculous trashy magazines that Chloe insisted were good for their souls. She'd listened to all Rachel's hospital stories/rants and in return Rachel had helped get over the fear of not allowing herself to fall in love in case it ended in catastrophe- i.e her dying. Rachel had briskly told her that she ought to get over herself and stop being afraid to live because she might get hit by a bus tomorrow.

There were probably nicer ways to say it but hey, they weren't known for their gentle manners around here. And whether it was harsh or not, the point had gotten across. It was pretty much how they survived; they made jokes, cajoled, mocked, teased, anything they could to keep going. And when it got serious they were there for each other because fuck this wasn't the Hallmark channel but they had each other's backs and even if they weren't great at saying it most of the time- Peyton could sure as hell hold her best friend's hand all the way to Chloe's room. Just as Rachel could stand by Peyton when she had the horrific task of turning off a life machine, or when Dan had died, both girls had sat with Nathan in the living room for three days straight letting him eat Cheetos and watch all the Alien films before demanding he shower and shave. And when Jake had lost a patient just over a month ago Brooke had worked the schedule so that he had no cases every Tuesday afternoon and dragged him to every art gallery in town because she knew it helped distract him.

Their methods weren't perfect or the most sentimental but they worked for them, it was how their little tribe worked.

Peyton sat back grinning, scrunching her face up, "am I over twenty?"

"No!"

"Am I famous?"

"Yes."

"Am I a singer?"

"Yes!"

"Oh I'm getting close! Um, Miley Cyprus?" That was her name right?"

"Miley Cyrus! And no!"

She scratched her chin and let out a deep sigh, "man this is hard!"

The three girls sitting on the beds in front of her giggled and she pouted, folding her arms, "I don't think you're playing fair, you've made it too hard!"

"It's easy! Come on Doctor Sawyer guess!" Ha, easy for them to say; but they were the one's behind whoever's name was currently stuck to her forehead on a Post It note written in sparkly glitter pen.

"Am I a girl?" She had no idea why she thought that would help; who the fuck did kids listen to these days? Her iPod consisted of Springsteen and Slow Runner, Dylan and La Rocca; not exactly a ten year olds playlist.

"No! He's a boy!"

"Um, ok." She grinned, her eyes sparkling at them, "you guys are good!" She got up to check Leia's pulse, making her lie back and fluffing her pillow, "keep still," she warned.

When she turned around both Haley and Lucas were at the door of the ward, Haley was smiling softly and Lucas was leaning on the door frame looking... almost fond. She blinked in surprise, "uh, hey."

"Marie just left," Haley said quietly.

Peyton nodded, "I'll be in to check on Riley in a minute."

"It's ok, I got it," Lucas said, "Haley just wanted to let you know."

Peyton raised an eyebrow at her friend, "she did huh? Just thought she'd stop by?"

Haley smirked and covered her hand.

"Hey uh," Lucas smiled widely all at once, making her breath catch, "you got a little something on your face there."

She scowled at him, feeling stupid, "it's a game we're playing."

"Oh, can I play?"

The no that was on the tip of her tongue was drowned out by the chorus of yes's from behind her.

Traitors, she thought crossly. She caught Haley's eye and knew her friend had read her mind.

"You can take over for me," she said sweetly, pulling off the post it and slapping it onto his forehead with a little more force than was necessary. Lucas almost fell backwards off the chair he'd just pulled up and all the girls giggled again.

"What are you like Prince Charming today or something?" She muttered as she turned away.

He caught her wrist, "no, but apparently some people here actually do like me."

"I never said I didn't!"

"Liar- you've said it plenty!"

She bit down on her tongue; she really couldn't cause a scene in front of her patients. Instead she gave him a pained smile, "don't over excite them."

"I do know how to look after kids you know."

"Prove it," she snapped, before waving at all of the girls, "I'll be back later- when it'll be my turn to make you all guess!"

They all giggled again and waved wildly. Haley rolled her eyes and shook her head as Peyton came towards her, "you know you must like him a little bit to allow him to stay with your babies."

"You hush!"

An hour later and Peyton made her way back onto the ward to see all three girls fast asleep and Lucas filling in charts. He still had a yellow Post It stuck to his forehead with pink spirally handwriting on and she rolled her eyes, almost affectionately.

"They get too clever for you?"

Lucas looked up, his eyes flashing over her- definitely not making her heat up- before smiling and sitting back, "nah they zonked out before I could guess. You wanna help me out with the answer?"

"You're not wearing clown pyjamas."

"Should I be?"

"You're not under eight."

"I think you're missing the point of the game here," he said smirking at her.

She blushed, shifting awkwardly, reaching for Olivia's chart, "it's not a good idea, I get majorly competitive."

He laughed, "I would never have guessed. Come on, it's not like it's chess- then you'd be in danger."

She quirked an eyebrow, "oh really?"

"Hell yeah, I'm awesome at chess."

"What, the whole reading your competitor stuff? Who'd have thought."

He rolled his eyes, "come on! If I guess right I get to tell the girls I'm the new champion."

"But I like my place as queen of this game!" He pouted ridiculously and she squashed down the urge to tell him he should stop hanging out with eight year olds because they were making him behave more like one than usual and sat down, "fine."

His eyes lit up, "well aren't you kind."

"Don't push your luck," she warned, "hit me with a guess then."

"Alright," he narrowed his eyes, "am I famous?"

"No sir."

"Am I over forty?"

"Not yet."

"Oh so I'm alive?"

She smacked her forehead gently, "damn I gave that one away- although you still formed the statement as a question so yes you're alive and you've got seventeen to go!"

"Such a stickler for rules Doctor Sawyer."

"Shut up and guess," she said, trying to make a threatening face and finding it much harder than usual.

"Am I male?"

"Should I answer that officially when you've got a post it with pink hand writing on your forehead?" He glowered at her and she laughed, "no, in this instance you're female."

"Under eighteen?"

She laughed, "you're making it really hard to answer with a straight face here."

"Oh come on- you were the one playing this first."

"Fine no, you're over eighteen."

"You're supposed to give a yes or no answer doctor."

She stuck her tongue out, making his eyes widen in surprise and then he snorted with laughter and shook his head, "am I hot?"

"Depends on who's looking I guess," she said lightly.

He tilted his head to one side, fixing her with another one of those intense gazes he used so well. She suspected most women on the receiving end of one of those looks rarely resisted it.

"I'll say I'm hot," he said quietly.

He blinked and the moment passed; she found herself regretting the tension disappearing and then cursed pull it together Peyton Elizabeth.

"Do I work in the hospital?"

"Yep."

"Nurse?"

"No."

"Doctor?"

"Yes."

He grinned, "so the girls weren't stretching the imaginations here."

She laughed again, "it was probably Leia, she always picks the same name."

"I'll remember that," he scratched his chin thoughtfully, "do I wear blue scrubs?"

"No."

"Do I like my job?"

"Y-yes."

"Do I work with kids?"

"Yes."

"And that makes me feel good because I know they're safe with me?"

She squirmed awkwardly in her seat, "yeah."

"Did I grow up in the city?"

"How is that relevant?"

"Yes or no!"

"Fine, no."

"Do I like any of the other doctors in this place?"

"Yes!"

"Did I ever date any of the other doctors here?"

She was silent for a moment, staring intently at him, "you can just guess the name you know."

"That's not part of the game."

"Fine, yes."

"Do I still have feelings for him?"

"This isn't fair."

"Rules are rules baby, you're the one who lives by them."

Finally she sighed, "no, you don't still have feelings for him. It was a long time ago."

"Bad break up?"

"You're out of questions," she said flatly.

"I've got one more."

"It was a bad break up yes. He, was not a very nice person... in the end."

He nodded slowly and she realised just how close they were. She could see how blue his eyes were, the faint gold stubble across his jaw- she sat back with a snap. "Last question then?"

He smirked, "do I think Lucas Scott is hot?"

"Oh come on!"

He replaced the distance she'd just made, leaning over the table so that they were barely a breath away from one another, "humour me," he said in a low voice.

For a second she stared at him, feeling herself inching forward and then at the last second she whipped the post it off his head, "you're supposed to guess a name with your last question so, you lose."

Lucas sighed and slumped back in his seat, scrubbing a hand across his face, "damn, I was so sure it was gonna turn out to be Cabot."

She scrunched up the piece of paper and then paused on her way towards the bin, "so Leia picked the name did she?"

"Yup, I guess she's got a soft spot for you Doctor Sawyer."

"Uh huh," she gestured at the pink pen on top of the nearest open file on Luke's makeshift desk, "so you were just borrowing it?"

The cute way his face went bright red did not make her want to reach over and ruffle his hair or kiss him or- oh god something that was not appropriate work behaviour or anything she had craved to do to someone for a long time. She started when she realised she hadn't even heard his response and realised he was giving her a concerned look.

"Whatever Doctor Scott, just make sure Leia gets her pen back ok?"

Lucas blinked and oh god the hurt in his eyes before his face went blank and he nodded stonily, "sure."

She sighed as she turned away, it was for the best really, no relationships, no bonds, no affection, drawing a line kept things clear. Right?

He stood up and put the Post Its on top of her charts, "for next time," he said quietly.

"Thanks."

For a moment they stood looking at one another in the doorway and then he smiled faintly, "nice seeing a softer side of you for all of ten seconds Doctor Sawyer. Be seeing you," before tipping her a mock salute and disappearing down the corridor. She found herself watching him go, wishing that she was walking to go get coffee with him or something.

Oh fuck.

Why did he keep blurring the lines for her? She uncrumpled the Post It note, staring down at her name, Peyton Saywer. It dawned on her after a second that it wasn't an eight year olds handwriting; he had totally set her up! And for what? A couple of questions about her job and Julian goddamn Baker? And why did he even want to get to know her anyway?

And why did she care?