Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or any of the characters or settings associated with it. I do however own Ava Shepherd and I am quite fond of her.

A/N: Thank you as always to aiketi, AileenSolis, Mony19 and everyone else who has reviewed and favorite my story. I really appreciate it, your reviews are what keep me going. A lot of people have expressed their preferences towards certain relationships in the story ;) Hope I am heading where everyone wants to go. Thank you everyone!

Chapter 8: Criss-Crossed

Callie was exhausted by the time she was finally able to leave work. An emergency had pulled her out of bed in the middle of the night and dragged her straight into the OR. Through her exhaustion though, she felt a small tingling of bliss. Yesterday she had spontaneously asked her boyfriend George to marry her and to her surprise, he said yes. She had come into the inner surgical of Seattle Grace feeling like an outcast among family. George was sweet and kind, the first one to treat her like a person. She could see herself settling down with someone like him.

She headed to the locker room to change before she remembered she had to fit Ava Shepherd for a walking cast this morning. Though it wasn't customary to do cast fittings at 6:00 in the morning, Callie thought maybe if Ava was awake she could get it over with and sleep well into the afternoon before she had to be back at the hospital. Callie grabbed Ava's chart and headed around the corner to her room. She almost walked straight in but caught herself when she noticed George sitting next to her bed. He was smiling and Ava looked anxious. "George was just about to tell her the good news." Callie thought smiling. She looked down at the finger where George had promised to place a ring a smiled. Looking back up at the two of them, she saw Ava almost spit pudding out of her mouth. "What?" she heard Ava say from the other side of the door.

Callie had seen countless number of patients on a daily basis. She could obtain an emotion just from the look on someone's face. She was used to seeing people sad when she came with a diagnosis and happy when she came with a cure. The emotion she most often came across was fear. Fear of surgery, fear of needles, fear of doctors and the look on Ava Shepherd face at this very moment conveyed her fear of losing George. Despite the smile Ava tried to force Callie could tell it was fake. There were some sort of underlying feelings for there George and she could immediately tell this was going to cause a problem. A pang of jealously flowed through her when George lovingly kissed her on the forehead. Callie quickly moved around the corner to keep George from seeing her. She generally liked Ava, but she wasn't going to let her mess this up.

"How does it feel?" Callie asked, examining the boot she just sized for Ava Shepherd's cast.

"It feels fine" she replied, grateful she was able to stand up after lying in bed for two days straight.

"Do you feel pressure anywhere?"

"No, it's just heavy. I would imagine that's normal though when you have ten pounds of cement on your leg" Ava looked up at Callie and smiled.

Callie just nodded as she walked over to the table and picked up Ava's chart. Ava was thrown aback by the loss of her usually bubbly attitude but passed it off as a bad day.

"I heard you and George are getting married. Congratulations."

Callie nodded but didn't say a word.

"I'll be back to check on you later this afternoon" Callie said snatching up her chart and walking out of the room.

"" Ava said taking a step towards her. "Is everything okay? Did I upset you or something?"

Callie stopped before turning around. "Is there something going on between you and George?" she asked looking at her very seriously.

"George is my best friend" Ava added.

"Yes, I know that it's just we are getting married" she said nervously laughing. "I've never been married before. I just want things to be perfect. Izzie already hates me…"

"Izzie hates everyone… if you're not part of the fab five intern circle or a patient she is going to give you a hard time. She hated me when my mom and I moved here and gave me hell when George and I became friends. It will pass don't worry."

Callie smiled. "Your right you know I am just being silly. Things are going to be great."

"They are. There is nothing going on between George and I. He is my friend." Ava said reassuring Callie.

"Thank you Ava, I am sorry. I think it's just nerves" Callie said. "

"It's okay. You're getting married" it's to be expected. On that note Callie shot her one more smile before throwing her chart in the door and heading out.

"Things are going to be great" Ava said to herself once more, trying to reassure herself of that fact.

Derek wiped his eyes after he had just finished removing a tumor, a surgery that kept his mind occupied for the last four hours. It was hot, strenuous and he was over it. As he walked through the surgical floor he looked into the faces of some of those he worked with. Izzie Stevens smiled at him from the break room, Bailey walked past him and nodded and walked past him smiling apparently in her own little world . Some of them had to know that the guy who attacked Ava had been in the hospital and usually when one of them knew it wasn't long before the whole hospital figured it out but no one had approached him to tell him. He had managed to sneak away late last night to go see him for the first time.

Getting in the elevator he felt nervous. He got off on the second floor and made sure the coast was clear before he made his way past the labs and down the hall. He was sure that someone was supposed to be looking out for him like a police officer or a nurse, protecting him like he was some sort of victim. Being this late at night he was hoping the coast was clear and he was right.

Entering the hospital room he immediately felt anger swell up in his chest. Laying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines and ventilators he looked harmless, like he could hardly hurt a small animal. Derek watched the rise and fall of his chest for a moment. He wished he would wake up so he could talk to him face to face. Derek pulled out a small flashlight to check his level of brain function but decided against it. If he touched the guy he might not let go until his heart stopped. Derek wasn't stupid, he didn't want to go to jail and lose his job or his family but he had to pay….someone had to pay.

He quickly shook thoughts from his mind and focused back to the task at hand. He had a surgery in an hour and needed to rest. He ducked in to a nearby on call room and sat on the bed and sighed. The silence didn't last long. As he moved to lie with his eyes closed he heard the open and close of the door. He looked up to see Meredith standing in front of him.

"Hey" Meredith said sitting on the bed beside him.

"Hey" Derek said nodding towards her, though he didn't move to touch her.

"Are you alright? Christina said you seemed a little distracted in the operating room."

"I am fine" Derek said placing his hands behind his head. "Just tired and have a lot on my mind, trying to rest before my next surgery."

Meredith put her hand on his chest and patted his heart. She could see the distance, worry and exhaustion behind his eyes so she decided she better let him be.

"I am going to go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat. Do you want anything?"

"No I am fine, thanks" he said not taking his eyes off of the ceiling.

Meredith ran her hand down his arm and took one last look at him before letting him be.

Derek watched the door close behind her and let out a sigh of guilt. Derek knew she wanted to talk but he didn't not right now. He really just didn't even want to look at Meredith. When Addison had cheated on him his whole world collapsed. He had find solace in Meredith. He even told her once that she was like coming up for a breath of fresh air when he was drowning. Something had changed though, it was as if he could feel himself falling farther and farther away from her and there wasn't anything that he could do to stop it. He had lost hold of her. Though he and Addison had been distant from some time he could remember a point when they were truly happy. A time when they would take a day off of work and spend it wrapped in each other's arms.

They had done a pretty good job at working in the same hospital and avoiding each other but having Ava there, so vulnerable and hurt he and Addison had to come together for the first time in a long time. Seeing her love for their daughter, her concern for him, for them….it made him realize just how much he had missed her.