I Put A Spell On You

9: Rumors

"Did you hear about her?" Amelia heard in a hushed tone as she walked to the OR board.

"I did. Do you think it's true?" Another whisper came from behind Amelia.

"Is there something you have to say to me?" Amelia snapped as she turned to look at the two nurses speaking.

"No Dr. Shepherd." They both said timidly as they scurried off not looking Amelia in the eyes.

"Hey." Arizona smiled grabbing the Expo marker on the board.

"Hey." Amelia sighed frustrated as she faced the board again.

"What happened to you?" Arizona asked as she wrote on the board, the pen squeaking.

"I walked up here and the nurses were gossiping about me but I don't know what for." Amelia said in a frustrated tone as she began to press down hard on the marker.

"Woah. Before you break the marker." Arizona laughed as she lifted the marker out of Amelia's tightly wound hand.

"Fine." Amelia sighed crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What would they be talking about, there's nothing interesting going on." Arizona shrugged as she turned back to the white board.

"I don't know Arizona, I just know it was about me. It didn't start until I was standing at the board." Amelia said gesturing behind her.

"How do you know they weren't talking before and you just heard the middle of it?" Arizona offered trying to make Amelia feel better.

"I don't but I just have a gut feeling." Amelia sighed. Arizona handed her the marker back and Amelia continued to write surgeries until she finished.

Putting the cap back on the marker, Amelia turned to face Arizona and leaned on the wall. Arizona placed the maker back on the metal tray lining the board to face Amelia.

"Just don't worry about it, it's most likely just stupid gossip that no one cares about anyways." Arizona patted Amelia's shoulder.

"AMY." Derek's booming voice called as he marched up to the surgery board the paper in his hand.

"What is happening Mer?" Amelia whispered as her and Meredith carefully walked behind Derek into her office.

"You want to explain to me why I had to learn from a newspaper that my sister went on a date with Atticus Lincoln?" Derek asked as he slapped the newspaper down for Amelia to read.

"What happened?" Amelia asked as she looked at the newspaper in front of her.

"Read the headline and the photo." Derek scoffed as he sat in the office chair.

"Atticus Lincoln with possible lover." Amelia read out as she looked at the photo of her and Atticus sitting in the coffee shop.

"Are you dating him?" Meredith asked as she took the newspaper from Amelia's hands.

"No, I don't really know. He just asked me for coffee and I agreed." Amelia sighed ready to be done with the conversation and excluding the times they kissed.

"Fine. Go to back to work then." Derek sighed as he tossed the paper back into the trash.

Amelia wondered what made Derek have so much against him, of course he was always protective but this was so different.

Amelia pulled her phone out of her pocket and clicked on Atticus's constantly as she walked down the hallway.

"Hello Ms. Shepherd." Atticus' voice said.

"Hey did you see the newspaper article?" Amelia chuckled as she stuck her free hand in her pocket.

"I did, my assistant is having it taken down as we speak." Atticus spoke as Amelia could hear his keyboard clicking in the background.

"Why do you need it taken down? It's not a bad thing we were together." Amelia chuckled nervously.

"It's headline leads people on. We were at coffee, not dating. I don't need your family or friends coming after me." Atticus said.

"Oh." Amelia said trying to mask her disappointment. Amelia was really beginning to like him and he sounded like he wanted nothing to do with her.

"Are you ready for this weekend? My friends are ready to meet the woman I had coffee with it seems." Atticus chuckled softly.

"Yeah but I still have nothing to wear." Amelia sighed.

"Like I said everything will be at your house, all you have to do is let the hair and makeup people do their jobs." Atticus explained as Amelia could hear him writing something down.

"Okay. Well I guess I will see you this weekend." Amelia said trying to mask her smile.

"I look forward to it Ms. Shepherd." Atticus said before the dial tone played.