𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

five | heartburn

"God, you look like someone ran over your dog."

I pluck the top half of the banana George holds in his right hand. A silent sigh slips from his lips, but he remains silent.

"How would you feel if strangers gawked at you like that lonely panda at the zoo?" With a scoff, Meredith rolls her eyes.

"Right, right, I heard." I gently nod my head. "Shepherd's back with his wife."

"And I don't care." She yells at a few onlookers.

Izzie flashes a discrete glance in my direction, and Cristina scratches the back of her neck. I lift up with a patient file hidden behind my back.

"Hopefully, this cheers you up."

After bombing our way through rounds with Bailey and the others, she lets us go without any assignments.

Just what we want.

"What is going on?" Meredith mutters as we stalk down the staircase.

"We found a case." Izzie gushes gleefully.

Cristina clarifies logically. "Well, borrowed from psych."

"So you stole it."

"Did you not hear what we said? We borrowed it."

"Okay, this thing is totally unprecedented."

"The prelims are insane."

"And we found it!"

"Stole it." She reemphasizes.

"Okay, fine. Found, stole, hijacked, whatever." Cristina brushes her off. "Meredith, behind this door is the coolest medical mystery I have ever seen."

The four of us stop in front of the patient's door, my back turned to it.

"Now, we're giving you a choice: you can walk away from this, guilt-free. . .or you can risk your entire medical career and go in." A sly grin crosses my features. "Which will it be?"

A moment of brief silence. . .

"Hell, yeah."

My knuckles knock against the door. "Morning, Mr. Herman."

"Oh, no. Please, call me Shane." The blond-haired man sits up on the edge of his hospital bed. "I gotta hit the can. . .again. Seems like I gotta go every thirty seconds these days." He throws the robe over his shoulders.

"Just a guy. What's so special?"

"Wait for it."

"I sure am glad to be off that psych floor." A hand pressed against his back, he pushes himself off the bed before hobbling over to the bathroom. "I'm not nuts. Just pregnant."

The other hand rests atop his round belly, and he steps into the bathroom.

"Oh my. . ."

"I know."

After gathering a few preliminary observations and thoughts, the four of us walk through the halls while looking through the chart.

"Hi. Hello. Hey. Hi, Meredith."

We look up abruptly, welcomed by the face of Dr. Shepherd. Izzie closes up the binder instantly before hiding it behind her back.

"Maybe we could, you know, talk."

"How about no?"

I smile sarcastically towards him and pull the others away from him. Frozen in his spot, the attending watches us leave.