invasion ↠ jackson avery ✓

32

[BELLA LEDFORD]
Seattle, Washington

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

Magically, Bella found herself paged to a surgery that came in alongside Jackson's annoying surgery, now ran by Hunt. Scrubbed, gloved, and gowned, she stood in the OR, beside Callie, while Arizona Robbins worked opposite to them.

"Catheter is working, and the bleeding has stopped," Arizona announced once she stepped back from examining the patient. Bella spared her half a second to glance up then back down.

"Surprisingly, there is no tear in the dura," she had replied with a sigh of relief. Next to her, Callie let out a chuckle, one that sounded of disbelief, helping Bella as her first assist. "So, let me get this straight, right? An intern opened the collar that kept the patient stable?"

"Oh, stupid," Callie responded.

"Wait," Arizona interrupted. "Was that the intern that we thought was an attending?"

"You mistook an intern for an attending?" the laugh coming from Bella was expected, perhaps the most obvious reaction, ever.

"Yeah," the singing voice of Arizona replied. "He was pretty much running the trauma."

"Like a boss," the sound came from beside Bella, Callie seeming very impressed. "Like a hot, hot boss. Somebody should get into that."

Arizona laughed, and then said, "Maybe you should get into that," aiming the words at Callie.

"You know what? You should get into that," the words were directed to Bella, who cleared her throat, but it earned another round of chuckles from Robbins.

"I don't date down," Bella spoke the truth, not caring too much about how it sounded, and she chuckled quietly. It was the truth. And if people didn't like it, that was none of her concern.

Callie cleared her throat, perhaps not understanding her completely, or simply making her distaste towards the comment clear. Then, "You don't date down—position wise?"

"For example," she responded. "Interns and residents are full time students with no time to sleep. How would they have time for me?"

"Fair enough," Arizona popped in.

"I know how I was all those years ago. Focused. Determined. Starving for success, so I worked, and I worked, and when I didn't work, I let my hair down to release some stress. But other than that," she asked for some more room as she continued working on the patient, then finished her thought process. "The last thing on my mind was being in a fully committed relationship. Not just because I didn't have the time, but also because I valued my career over everyone else."

"What's another example?" the question was from Callie again. "You don't date down money wise, either?"

"Precisely," Bella's eyes went sideways to look to the orthopaedic surgeon. "I don't want to have to take care of someone I'm dating. If I go out with them, it's to have fun and not to parent them. It's one thing to pay for a date, and another for them to solely rely on me for rent, or every day food."