𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙸𝙲𝙸𝚃 𝙰𝙵𝙵𝙰𝙸𝚁𝚂 - 𝙶𝚁𝙴𝚈'𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙰𝚃𝙾𝙼𝚈

5

TW: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DEPICTIONS OF RAPE/SEXUAL VIOLENCE. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

S1 E2

True to her word, Emily arrived within two hours, along with four more of Allison's friends, and Angie was quick to give them all the rundown of her condition and what they were waiting on.

Once the friends had been settled in the ICU waiting room of the hospital, Angie let herself breathe, leaning against the nurse's station as Derek walked up to her, a small smile playing on his lips and two cups of coffee in his hands.

"What magic did you work to find out who these people were and how to get them here?" he asked, handing her one of the drinks, and Angie chuckled with a light shrug.

"I'm not allowed to reveal my secrets. I must remain a mystery," she sighed wistfully, throwing her head back, and Derek rolled his eyes at her antics, then glanced at all of Allison's friends sitting together in the waiting room.

"You did good today, Ang. I can't imagine being in a coma with no one by my side. Allison was lucky to get you as a doctor," he murmured, nudging her softly. Angie rolled her eyes bashfully, shoving him back.

"It's the bare minimum. I'd do it for any of my patients," she responded, sipping her coffee as Derek hummed dubiously.

"Really? Even if I was hurt and it meant calling each and every one of my sisters by yourself?"

Angie paused in her sipping, keeping her eyes forward as she thought for a long moment.

"OK, even I have my limits."

Derek laughed fully as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out, and both he and Angie glanced at the contact number, then scoffed in disbelief at the name displayed across the screen.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." he muttered in irritation, declining the call as Angie raised a bitter eyebrow.

"She can't take a hint, can she?" she asked, and Derek scoffed, shaking his head.

"Yeah, you'd think me packing all my things and moving across the country would send enough of a message."

Angie rolled her eyes as her pager went off, calling her off to another part of the hospital. She briefly checked the message, then pushed off the nurse's station with a sigh, patting Derek's shoulder patronizingly.

"The joys of divorce proceedings, am I right?"

Derek only gave a mirthless laugh as Angie strode off in search of Preston, who was the one paging her. She caught up with him in the main wing of the hospital, effortlessly falling into step with the man.

"Hey. You paged me? What's up?" she asked, and Preston glanced at her as they walked.

"Yes, um...has your father told you anything about who he's looking at to replace him as chief? Once he retires?" At the question, Angie raised an eyebrow at the man incredulously.

"Preston, do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Remind me what stage of residency I'm in?"

"I...your intern year?"

"And remind me what Derek told me my job was after Allison's surgery?"

"To monitor her and see if she wakes up in 72 hours. Where are you–"

"OK, awesome, so you're aware of the fact that I am an intern that is presently buried in charts and labs on top of monitoring a critical ICU patient. That's good. I was getting worried, because I could've sworn you paged me all the way over here just to ask me about my father's retirement plans."