Looking at you side ways

12

A few weeks later Derek and Mark were scrubbing out. They were getting close to the end of their shift. Burked walked into the scrub room.

Mark said, "Derek; we need more ice and chips."

Derek replied, "Who else did you invite?"

Burke said, "Mark; we said the list was jocks only. Surgery, trauma, plastics. Who else did you invite?"

Mark replied, "Just some people from peds."

Burke said, "You invited the preschoolers to Meredith's house? The next thing you'll say is you invited the shrinks."

Mark gave a little snort and looked a little sheepishly at Derek.

Derek said, "Mark. You know that Meredith thinks this is just going to be a little, small, just a few guys over kind of thing."

Burke piped in, "You invited mental defects? This party's DOA."

Derek asked Mark, "Did you clear this with Meredith?"

Mark replied, "No, but I will. I promise."

"You had better." Warned Derek. He shook his head and left the scrub room.[i] It was a good thing that Meredith was working the overnight shift tonight. Derek knew she was coming in at five PM and working a twelve hour shift.[/i]

Cristina was standing at the nurse's station when Burke walked up to her. He is carrying two cups of coffee and puts one cup down next to her. She raised her eyebrow at him while he took a sip from his.

"It's just coffee."

"Okay."

"Okay. I will see you at the party right?" asked Burke.

"I will be there."

Burke smiled a little and walked away while Cristina took a sip of the coffee.

Mark was waiting for lab results when Derek walked by.

"So the beer's coming at six PM and some of the floor nurses are bringing wine."

Derek stopped in his tracks and asked, "You invited nurses? Ugh! This was supposed to be a guy thing."

Mark replied, "I'm gonna be a while. Do you think you can get home to sign for the beer?"

"Did you clear this with Meredith?"

Mark said, "A few more people aren't going to make a difference. Okay? A party's a party."

"IS Meredith the only person in the hospital who doesn't know the size of this thing?"

"Well, you should be home before she leaves this afternoon. Can you tell her? You don't think she is really going to mind do you?"

Derek said firmly," You want me to tell her and do your dirty work? I want you to make it perfectly clear to her that I had nothing to do with this party." Derek walked off hoping to get home before Meredith left for her shift.

Meredith had left the house early to stop at the nursing home. Ellis was in a very agitated state and told Meredith that she was sorry she had a daughter and that she wished she would have had an abortion. The staff at the nursing home had all looked at Meredith with pity in their eyes. She had sat in the hospital parking lot thinking about all the terrible things her mother had said and waited until the last possible moment before walking into the hospital.[i] She hoped it wasn't quiet. She wanted to take her mind off her mother. [/i]She had turned her cell phone off in the nursing home and didn't get Derek's messages.

Almost as soon as she changed clothes, she was paged to the pit. There was a terrible car accident with multiple injuries. Meredith was assigned to a little girl about five years old. She needed complicated surgery and Meredith was tied up with her for the entire shift. She had survived the surgery, but in recovery, she coded. They did everything they could, but the little impish blonde died. To make matters worse, DePalma forced Meredith to tell the grief stricken parents. [i]Meredith had been with DePalma before when loved ones had needed to be told the worst. But she had never done it by herself and never the parents of such a young child. It had been terrible and gut wrenching to be the bearer of such news and to witness their horrific grief.[/i]