Little Shepherd

Chapter 13

Derek drops Josie off at the childcare center and gets ready for the day. Once he's ready he heads to the OR board to see whats in store for him today. When he gets there surgeon Preston Burke and Chief Webber are both already there gazing at the carefully planned schedule. The three of them stand with their arms crossed reading over the information.

"Excellent board. Well timed, balanced, efficient. If all goes well we'll have an early night." Richard says approvingly.  Derek goes to open his mouth to warn him about the bike race, but Doctor Bailey rounds the corner as he does.

"Chief, 'Dead baby' bike race started 20 minutes ago." She says before rushing off, a trail of interns at her heel.

"Alright people! Dead baby bike race day!" Richard announces to anyone within ear shot. Before long Derek and Burke are both paged to the ER for a consult.

"What to we have?" He asks the two interns in the room as him and Burke arrive.

"Unidentified John doe, mid-30s. Pedestrian, hit by a motorist swerving to avoid a bike." Doctor Christina Yang tells them. Burke examines the chest x-rays while Derek looks over the cat scan results. "G.C.S is 3 pupils are fixed and dilated. Atropine given for a pulse in the 40s. B.P 183 over 112. Pulse ox 98%." The second intern, Isabelle Stevens takes over from there.

"Chest showed widened mediastinum and head C.T. revealed cerebral edema. He's gotten 70 of manitol, dexamethasone 10, and a gram of phenytoin." She informs them.

"Get him to the O.R.?" Doctor Yang asks. Derek examines the man, turning his head back and forth and then checking his pupil response.

"Is he gorked?" Doctor Burke asks him.

"Looks like it.." Derek replies.

"The bike race claims its first victim. Guess I'll make my triple A repair after all" Burke says before walking out of the room.

"Uh..Dr. Shepherd? He's not going to the O.R.?" Doctor Stevens asks him.

"No. Do an E.E.G. and confirmatory tests. If he doesn't respond in six hours, declare him." He signs the paperwork he needs to and then he too leaves the room.

He does his rounds and when he's finished he decides to check in on the status of the John Doe. On his was to the room he hears Izzie ranting to Christina about how wrong it is to just sit there and watch the poor man die.

"There's no one in there act like a doctor Izzie." He hears Christina say.

"He could wake up. What about a miracle? There are medical miracles you know." Izzie responds right as he's approaching the room.

"I know." He says as he walks in. "You're right. Miracles happen, some people wake up. That's why we do a series of tests over a set number of hours." He walks over to the patient, rechecking his pupil response . "So that when we call 'time of death' we know that we've done everything in our power to make sure that it actually is his time of death." He continues to run varies tests on the man. "That there isn't going to be any miracles. This is the hard part... to stand around as surgeons and not cut. But that's what 'Do No Harm' means" he takes the patients chart from the intern, signs it and then hands it back before heading out. He makes his way back down to the ER to see if there's any way he can help down there. He arrives just in time to see a patient grab Meredith by her waist, pulling her in for a steamy kiss. Meredith raises her hands backing away.

"Don't worry love you'll see me again." The man says as he walks out the door.

"For your sake I hope not!" She calls after him, but when she turns around her cheeks are flushed a there's a smile spread across her face. Derek stands in the doorway at the other end of the room with his hands on hips, jealousy bubbling in his stomach. She makes eye contact with him and her smile drops away. He walks in and she's obviously a little surprised by his presence.

"What do you want?" She asks him as she cleans up the room.

"You're making out with patients now?" He asks.

"What, are you jealous?" She replies with a smirk. He scoffs.

"I don't get jealous." He walks in and closes the door behind him.

"We had sex....once." She says.

"And we kissed in an elevator." He adds.

"And we kissed in an elevator...once."

"No, seriously. Go out with me." He doesn't care if it's against the rules, or that the wounds of his marriage still haven't fully healed. Meredith is different, she's one of a kind and he can see that. There's just something about her that sucks all of his attention like a magnet.

"No." She replies.

"You know...I almost died today." He says dramatically, referring to the incident with the bikes. She looks to him. "Yeah, I came like this close." He holds his pointer fingers up a few inches apart. "How would you feel if I died and you didn't get a chance to go out with me?"

"Get over yourself already." She rolls her eyes at him.

"Come on."

"It's the chase, isn't it?"

"What?" He asks not understanding her question.

"The thrill of the chase. I've been wondering to myself, why are you so hell bent in getting me to go out with you? You know you're my boss, you know it's against the rules, you know I keep saying no....it's the chase."

"Well it's fun isn't it?" he teases.

"You see? This is a game to you. But not to me. Because unlike you, I still have something to prove." She says before storming out of the room. Derek frowns knowing she's right. He feels guilty for upsetting her and he wishes he could just tell her that he's genuinely intrigued by her, but his fear of rejection would never let that happen.