A/N: Hello all! I laughed a lot more than I thought I would during last weeks episode. Heather is hilarious and Leah is growing on me. Wish we'd seen more Japril interaction, but at least they were on screen together. I tried to carry on the Lodox gag, with a little tension. So see what you think. Thanks for reading.

Shane eyed his patients father apprehensively as he led the man into her recovery room. The young woman still had yet to regain consciousness but was stable enough for visitors. the situation was stable, and for the moment Dr. Shepherd had apparently convinced the man that physical violence was not going to do anything to help the situation. The daughters vitals were doing well for the moment, so hopefully nothing would set the guy off.

Swallowing nervously, Shane gestured to the girl's monitors as her father gingerly sat down by her bedside, "See, sir? Right now she's alive. Stable. Not hurting. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next, okay?"

"I guess..."

"For what it is worth," Shane tried to comfort. "She's young. Younger brains have better recovery rates. And Dr. Shepherd is the best."

"Thanks, kid. Sorry about earlier."

"Not a problem," Shane fumbled. "You were...distraught."

The man nodded and tenderly clasped his child's hand, starting to weep at her bedside. Instantly Shane's sympathy for the guy grew, even if he was still a little afraid. He backed out of the room, replying, "I'll just...give you some privacy. Call button is the red one if you need anything..."

Dropping off his charts at the nurses station, Shane headed to the ER in search of his friends, and in the small vain hope that he might still have a chance to observe the lodos radiation x-ray stats scanner in use tonight. Given how long he'd been in surgery with Dr. Shepherd, Shane knew that the odds high that he'd missed the machine inaugural use. Of course he had. It only took 13 seconds! He could have missed thousands of scans already. He didn't mind though. Working alongside Derek Shepherd on a real live surgical patient was as much of a treat as a new machine. More of one really, for Shane's own ambition.

Plus, nights in the ER were long, and this one was still young.

Shane rubbed his hands together in excitement as the elevator doors opened, and he stepped out onto the newly reopened (and remodeled) Emergency Room. It was so cool. And a thousand miles away from where he'd thought they'd be with the ER only weeks ago when it had been closed. And now it looked even more classy and official with the new hospital name and logo added to the tiles and walls.

Grey Sloan Memorial still didn't quite roll off of Shane's tongue as easily as the mouthful Seattle Grace Mercy West once had, but Shane had to admit the newness of everything was growing on him. It was like starting a new residency at a new hospital without all the paperwork, or saying goodbye to all his friends. Despite being hard to get used to, new management wasn't so bad after all. And the new toys were nothing to sneeze at either. They had all the bells and whistles now, and the combined forces of Dr. Shepherd and the rest, plus the Harper Avery Foundation had allowed the hospital to finally feel secure.

Shane had been there when the construction crews had started installing all the new ER features and machines. Chief Hunt and Dr. Kepner had looked like kids in a candy store. With unlimited funding and no such thing as a sugar overload. And who could blame them? Shane was pretty giddy too.

He ventured over to the nearly empty ER, passing Dr. Kepner at the nurses station with a small wave, and caught sight of his friends standing just outside the new Lodox chamber.

"Hey guys!" Shane grinned, rushing to their sides and glancing back and forth between them eagerly. "How'd it go tonight?"

Leah pursed her lips and lifted a mocking fist to 'rub' her eye, teasing, "Poor Shaney-waney missed all the Lodox action. Motorcycle crash."

Shane rolled his eyes and leaned against the glass doors forlornly. So they had gotten the chance to use it today. Leah and Heather had seen it first. Dang it. He prided himself, (or tried to at least) on not being someone who was prone to jealousy, but he could feel the pangs of the little green monster rising in his chest even as his friends continued to speak.

"We found my marble!" Heather said excitedly, gesturing vaguely to her mid section as Leah nodded eagerly.

Wrinkling his nose and nodding his head, Shane said, "That's good."

"I could get Bailey to take it out if I wanted," Heather continued. "I mean, now we know where it is. But I've been living with it in here for years, and I am not dead yet so..."

Leah rolled her eyes, "You should get it taken out before it bores into some undiscovered recces in your large intestine, punctures the tissue and turns septic!"

"If that was going to happen it would have happened already," Heather shook her head seriously and held up a hand, using a strange approximation of an okay sign. "That's the beauty of a marble, Leah. Perfect sphere; no punctures. Plus it's a cool story!"

The short heard intern grinned and looked back and forth between her friends hopefully. Leah rolled her eyes and huffed. Shane actually thought it was pretty weird and a little gross to know that a marble had been inhabiting his friend's body for over twenty years, but he nodded awkwardly.

"Y-yeah. Really. Cool story, Brooks."

He supposed it was because he liked Heather a bit more than he liked Leah overall. Shane had been spending more and more time with these particular members of his intern group, since his roommates, Jo and Heather were becoming more and more scarce due to their budding 'relationships' with a certain OB/GYN and plastics fellow turned boss.

Shane didn't want to say that he missed them even thought it felt like he never saw them anymore. His friends had their own lives, and they were free to do what they wanted (or who they wanted, as the case may be) and it was none of Shane's business if he felt that some poor decisions were being made. It didn't matter if he felt left out or forgotten or whatever. He was fine. He was a surgeon.

Surgeon's didn't feel lonely.

Leah's pager beeped, and she squinted at the screen with a groan, "Gotta go."

Waving to their friend absently, both Shane and Heather continued to gaze at the shiny Lodox in the room in front of them. It looked so sleek and beautiful and just the very pinnacle of all things technological. Man could peer into the body, the truest final frontier on this earth.

Shane sighed. He'd probably have to wait until tomorrow to use it. Heather nudged him, and glanced behind her as Shane's flushed looking mentor made her way to their side.

April did look a little more flustered than normal. Her hair was a little loser than it should have been and she seemed twitchy, but Shane figured all of that could be chocked up to getting her ER (and some job security back). As far as he knew (or had heard from his various nursing pals), nothing of great significance had gone down for Kepner on the Avery front either.

Then again, from what Shane had heard in the brief moments he did get see see Steph at the apartment, ever since this whole Harper Avery buyout situation, there hadn't been much of anything going on for her Avery front either, for which he was immensely glad.

Heather did not fail to notice that Dr. Kepner was a little fidgety, and she had absolutely no filter so she asked,"What's got you all hot and bothered?"

Shane rolled his eyes.

"Hey you two," Dr. Kepner chastised, ignoring Brooks' joking comment and straightening her shoulders. "I know the Lodox is awesome, but I don't think your paychecks cover gawking...don't you have...charts you could be updating or something?"

Shane smirked and tore his forlorn gaze from the new x-ray machine. Heather surveyed the near empty ER and shrugged, "I'm done with mine."

"Me too," he nodded.

Crossing her arms, April pursed her lips sheepishly, "Actually, mine are all finished too."

The new electronic ER system was very efficient, and cut down on a lot of paperwork and time. But with a slow ER, that didn't leave them much to do. Especially when Shane was scheduled to work the ER overnight.

Without an incoming trauma or pages from current stable patients, it was going to be a long and boring shift. Made that much more unbearable knowing he was going to be tortured by the sight of the Lodox. You can look, but you can't touch.

"What was it like?" Shane blurted, returning his gaze to the new machine. April was staring at the Lodox too. "When you got to use it?"

Dr. Kepner continued to gaze at the machine, "It was wonderful."

She sighed, her voice catching almost imperceptibly, and Shane was so taken aback that he turned to stare at his mentor, feeling oddly uncomfortable. They were looking at the new machine and Shane was fairly certain that his mentor was talking about the new machine, but given the tone of her voice he would hardly be 100 %sure.

"It really was. In 13 seconds you see what it would take hours of regular x-rays to find..." Heather enthused. "The level of detail is incredible. Crystal clear, too."

"Sounds fun..." Shane slumped his shoulders. Yes, as much as he was trying not to be, he felt a little jealous. He'd have to wait for a car crash or something.

"It was totally worth the wait though," April added quickly, patting Shane on the shoulder. "You'll see."

Heather shrugged, "There's no one here. No incoming traumas either. I could show him my marble, Dr. Kepner. It would only take-"

"Thirteen seconds," they all said in unison.

They'd all been so wrapped up in the conversation and the beautiful new x-ray in front of them that Shane, April, and Heather all failed to notice Dr. Avery walk up behind them.

"Thirteen seconds to uncover the mystery," Jackson added, making the three of them jump. "You ever find that marble, Brooks?"

"Yes! I was just offering to show Dr. Ross here. Since he missed the big show..."

Kepner shook her head and glanced at her pink watch, "Sorry guys, but this is not a toy."

Jackson zeroed in on the gesture immediately and his forehead wrinkled, "Are you going home soon?"

Shane shifted his weight to one foot and huffed to himself. It was totally obvious that Dr. Avery had only decided to walk over and join them because he wanted to see Dr. Kepner. The disappointed expression at the prospect of her going home was telling enough.

"Yeah," April replied distractedly, unaware of Jackson's motives. "My shift ended about ten minutes ago actually."

After a flash of sadness on his face Avery seemed to be struggling for a reason to keep Kepner around. His gaze settled on Shane.

"Well, don't you wanna at least stay and see your 'guy' take his first ride on the Lodox? All the other interns working the pit tonight have had a shot."

Heather grinned and Shane's mouth fell open. Was he really going to get the chance to use the holy grail of modern medical technology? Tonight? Without a real trauma? Whatever issues and confusion existed between his mentor and her ex-best friend/boss/deflowering entity, and no matter how bogus Shane thought they were, for once it looked like they were going to do him some good.

April frowned, "Doesn't this thing cost like an incredible amount of money to be using frivolously?"

"Training isn't frivolous..." Jackson's eyes pleaded with her to stay. "It will help all of us. And I approve this so, what's the big deal?"

His gaze was not ineffective at all, because Dr. Kepner's already flushed cheeks seemed to turn another darker shade of red, "W-we shoud wait to use it. For an emergency. The real thing, you know?"

Smirking at his flustered friend, Avery slid open the sliding door and leading Shane and Heather eagerly into the dim Lodox room. It was taking all the will power Shane had to maintain his composure. This was really happening. He wasn't going to have to wait or wish for something terrible to happen to someone else in order to get his first crack at the machine. Well, nothing more terrible than his friend having a long lost marble trapped somewhere.

Flipping the light switch, grabbing a thick x-ray gown, and gesturing at the Lodox, Jackson argued, "Why not practice? It's here. We're here. Using it certainly isn't going to hurt anybody. Plus, everyone has to practice to get better. Practice makes perfect."

Heather nodded enthusiastically in agreement and clamored up onto the bed, laying flat and ready to be x-rayed again. After grabbing an x-ray cover, Shane moved to stand next to Dr. Avery as he flipped more switches and the x-rays computer display powered up.

Dr. Kepner, however, didn't follow them into the Lodox room. Dr. Avery's words seemed to have hit her, and make a in impenetrable force field now surrounded the room. She wasn't coming in. Instead she stood frozen in the doorway, foot lifted as though she was about to take a step inside.

Jackson smiled sadly at her, and tilted his head, "Come on, you can even show Ross the ropes. You know you want to."

April twisted her hands nervously and looked at her feet, remaining otherwise completely still. Her voice cracked, "Uh, I actually really need to go. I-I'm supposed to go meet Matthew."

Exhaling loudly, Kepner spun on her heel and fumbled away from the Lodox room, leaving Shane, Jackson, and Heather behind. Avery hung his head and his shoulders sank. He bit his lower lip and sighed in frustration.

Glancing at Heather, Shane could tell that he wasn't the only on feeling uncomfortable. She'd sat up and was watching Jackson as closely as Shane was.

"So..." Avery, said finally, stepping back with from the Lodox. "I'm just...gonna..go. Leave you guys to it. It's not that hard. Don't do more than one scan, please."

He ripped his x-ray cover off and practically stomped out of the room, leaving the two interns to their own devices.

"Um," Heather asked from the bed beneath the scanner. "What just happened?"

Shane shrugged, "I have no idea."

Lately, it had seemed that Avery and Kepner had reached a truce of sorts. They had not appeared to be actively avoiding each other in the past few weeks, and Shane had eavesdropped on several friendly conversations between the two since Jackson had gotten his new position. They'd even been spotted eating lunch together in the cafeteria, albeit on opposite ends of a table with Yang, Medusa, Krazy Dr. K from peds, and BCB between them.

This didn't seem like a big deal. Or an argument. Or a conversation at all, really. Shane didn't under stand.

After a moment of silence Heather spoke up.

"Still want to see my marble?"

Shane chuckled and gestured at her to lie back as he began reading the instructions on the Lodox operating screen, "Is that going to be your new pick up line, Brooks?"

Her head popped up and Heather laughed, "I don't need pick up lines, Ross. Usually things just happen...that's how life goes if you let it. What happens, happens."