I Wanna Be Yours

"Chapter 14"

The ER is a madhouse, and Meredith is loving every second of it. She woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach this morning, and there's nothing like a busy ER to keep her dread at bay.

They all are minor injuries, except Mr. Carson, the genius who decided to play war with his buddy and ended up shattering his spine when he was hit in the back with the ammunition of their homemade cannon.

Now there's a paramedic with her hand stuck in the hole in his back, as they wheel him to a trauma room.

People really are crazy, working in the ER is a daily reminder. Especially when she stares at Mr. Carson's wife, who hasn't stopped screaming bloody murder from the moment she has stepped foot in the hospital.

She needs the distraction, when Derek Shepherd is her intern for the day.

Part of her, the professional part of her, is glad she has him – the spine reconstruction looks complicated since she can barely see anything from the scans – and the guy has good instincts. She knows she can trust him not to royally screw up.

"Are you flying in blind?" Derek asks her while they're both studying Mr. Carson's scans, and she's grateful she's looking at them in the trauma bay and not in a secluded viewing room. She's not sure she can stand his presence when they are alone in a room and not feel the overwhelmingly urge to push him against a wall and have her way with him.

That crooked smile of his and those sparkling pre-surgery eyes will be the death of her.

"The chest x-rays are going to be a blur, we'll have to go fishing for the bone fragments."

"You know I love fishing." He smirks, whispering in her ear, and jeez, he's getting smooth at this. More confident for sure.

"Fine, you're scrubbing in."

They both walk beside the gurney, keeping smiles on their faces and talking about everything but the fact that the man has a hole in his back, the screaming of Mrs. Carson becoming a dull hum the more they near the OR.

Hannah, the paramedic, is freaked out enough as it is. She's plugging a hole with her hand on her second day on the job, she has a right to be slightly nervous. Meredith remembers the jitters of her first week as an intern, and she doesn't wish them on anyone. Except the new interns, who deserve to be tortured.

She stands in front of Mr. Carson's back, her movements still for a beat while she closes her eyes and lets her hand hover over her stomach for a second, gathering her wits, allowing the rest of the world to disappear. All her bad feelings and her confusions fall away as she focuses. She can feel Derek's eyes on her, but he doesn't speak until her ritual is over; he's one of the first interns to do so without the need of a glare.

"He's under," he says, finding his spot beside her.

On the other side of the operating table there's Dr. Bailey, the best resident in the program, ready to patch up the General portion of the surgery. Still, Meredith wonders how long it will take Ellis Grey to swoop in and replace Bailey in front of her, considering how high profile this case might turn out to be.

Hannah is cracking jokes and shaking slightly next to Bailey when they are ready to start the surgery.

Meredith can barely make the first incision to enlarge the opening where Hannah has her hand before the OR door cracks open and Ellis Grey appears. She's standing there, a mask over her mouth, her eyes filled with worry.