Now or Never ➼ Mark Sloan

𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹 (𝗬𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆)

Bella and Cristina walked into the locker room. Bella saw Meredith sitting on the bench, already in her scrubs. George was sitting with his scrubs on too.

"You know, he's acting like I committed a crime. Like my apartment was full of stolen goods," Cristina said.

Cristina walked right past George. Bella offered him a small smile. George smiled back at her.

Bella opened up her locker and sorted out her bag. She was listening to Cristina ranting about her and Burke's issues. "He's acting like I kept my apartment to hide stolen goods. So I could do illegal transplants for money," she said.

Bella rolled her eyes and sighed. "Are you sure he's not just acting like you lied about moving in?"

Meredith nodded. "What she said."

Cristina looked between her two friends. "Okay. What's wrong with you two?" She asked.

"My mommy's a filthy whore."

Bella grinned. "I was getting drunk. Had my head in the toilet bowl at half past four this morning. I was in the bathroom for at least two hours," she said. She groaned. "My back... it's going to snap."

Cristina looked between the two of them and shrugged. She finished getting changed into her scrubs.

****
"Chuck Eaton. Fifty-Four. Has stage 3B non-small lung cancer. With possible invasion of the pleura and a history of COPD. He's had extensive chemo-radiotherapy with minimal regression of the tumour, Meredith spoke.

As she was talking, Bella was noticing the looks between Burke and Cristina. She felt like she could cut the tension with a knife.

Bella took over. "He's been admitted for radical en block resection," she said.

"I was a smoker," Chuck announced. His voice raspy and throaty. "The uh, oncologist... he explained  that I have a 25% chance of surviving the surgery."

Burke nodded. "Well unfortunately that's about right," he said as he walked to the end of the bed and scribbled some medication orders into Chuck's chart. "If you should elect to not proceed, we can make you more comfortable."

"With all due respect uh... there's no way you can make a man dying a slow death, comfortable," Chuck said.

Bella frowned. She couldn't ever imagine being in that position. She didn't know what she would do.

***
Bella walked into the room with Derek, with him being a Neuro case, Derek was best for it.

Derek smiled at his little sister and nodded for her to present the case. She was the main intern on the case. "Jack Burton. Fifteen years old. He was admitted last night after complaining of headaches."

"And he's not a complainer," Mrs Burton, Jake's mother said.

Jake's father looked around the room. "He's been having some nausea too."

Derek looked at Jake's parents. "Really? Okay. May I please?" He asked, needing the parents to move away so that he could examine Jake. "Jake, can I get you to sit up please?"

Jake nodded. Derek smiled. "Now I want you to look right here for me. Thank you," he said.

While Derek was checking Jake's pupils, Bella saw how Cristina was looking at Jake.

Jake noticed it too. "You know, if you pretend I'm a lion, it helps," he said.

Bella and Cristina shared a look. Cristina looked to Jake. "Sorry?"

"If you pretend I'm a lion instead of a messed up kid, you get a talking circus animal, which is easier to look at," Jake said.

Derek smiled at Jake's description. He looked to Bella. "Dr Shepherd, what's our immediate concern?" He asked.