Let It Go

12.

"You got Grey her surgery so by my calculations, that should put you getting laid on your next date," Mark stated. "Is sex all you ever think about?" Derek countered. "I'm merely looking out for my best friend who is currently managing to get laid about once every three months. You could leverage this surgery to your advantage." "Sex with Meredith will not come because of leverage from surgery," Derek said. "You really have to get over this whole being a gentlemen thing," Mark informed Derek. A pair of interns passed the two as they walked down the hallway. Both stared the the two doctors before commensing into whispering once they passed them.

"What was that about?" Derek asked Mark. "They were checking me out," Mark said matter of factly. "Checking you out? And how do you know they were checking you out? Because they might have been checking me out," Derek argued. "Oh come on Shep. Women have been checking me out since I was a teenager. I recognize the signs." "They had to have been checking me out. You're nearly gray. You look more like their father then the sex god you think you are. I, on the other hand, have the hair." "Oh yes, the too perfect, full of product hair. I'll have you know the graying works for me. Makes me looks sophisticated," Mark said proudly.

"Sophisticated huh? That is one work I would never use to describe Mark Sloan. Perverted maybe, definitely not sophisticated. And in addition to the hair, they call me McDreamy. I'm McDreamy Sloan. They were checking me out." Mark snorted. "McDreamy? I'm McSteamy. McDreamy is a state of mind, a dream if you will. I, on the other hand, am McSteamy, a physical presence. You make them swoon when you walk by. I make the scream my name in bed." Derek opened his mouth to argue why being dreamy trumped being steamy when his hospital cell phone rang out. Derek pulled it off of it's clip and looked at the caller ID.

"It's my dad," he said, a bad feeling washing over him as he stared at the screen. He stopped walking. His dad didn't call his hospital cell. The only people who did were other doctors. If his parents or sisters needed him for anything or just wanted to say hi, they either called his office or left him a message on his personal cell phone or home phone. The fact that his father was calling his hospital cell made Derek uneasy. It was supposed to be for work issues only - or emergencies. "Well, answer it," Mark said, a similar uneasiness washing over him. Dr. Shepherd was a second father to him. Like Derek, he knew he wouldn't be calling Derek's work-issued phone unless it was serious.

"Hello?" Derek answered. "Derek?" came his father's strained voice. Mark watched Derek's eyes grow a shade darker, his forehead wrinkle as a concerned look crossed his face. "Dad? What's wrong?" Derek asked. "Derek, I need you to come down to the ED," Frank Shepherd said to his son. "The ED? Why? What's going on?" Derek demanded. Mark looked on, waiting and wondering. "Derek, just come down here. We're in the family waiting room." "Who's in the waiting room? What happened?" "Derek please, just come down here. Now." With that, his father hung up. "What's going on?" Mark asked as they both hurried towards a stairwell. "I don't know. Dad... He sounded upset. I don't know," Derek said. His heartbeat quickened with each step he took. He didn't know what, but he did know that something wrong and whatever it was, it was bad.

***************

Meredith always concentrated during surgery. Always. She tuned out every noise, every nagging thought or worry or bother. Time flew by without her noticing. A marathon surgery seemed like mere minutes when she was finally done. She'd saved countless lives since beginning her internship less then ten years ago. She saved those lives because she concentrated. Now though, in what was biggest surgery of her career so far, she couldn't concentrate, not completely.

As she worked her way delicately through the brain, she thought of Harrison running into her in the hallway on his way to see his Uncle Deek. She thought about how he'd told Derek he hadn't been running - he'd been walking real fast. He'd told her his mom was getting pictures taken of her baby and he'd thought it was silly because no one could actually see the baby yet. She thought about Derek bending down and scooping him up into a big hug when she'd delivered him to his uncle's office. She thought about Derek and how Derek had lit up at the sight of him. Derek had bought him a pirate ship, just as much to play with himself as to give to Harrison. Harrison was special. Special because he was Derek's only nephew - or was the only nephew. She thought she remembered Derek saying his sister was having a boy. Harrison was Derek's nephew. The same Derek that Meredith had had a date with the night before. Harrison was special and she couldn't concentrate.