Always you [J. Avery]

4

Answering Dr. Miranda Bailey's pages was going to be one hell of a job, at least that's what Lia assumed be but after the third page she found it to be rather easy and soothing to run from one floor to another, she'd ran past Cristina and George a few times but didn't stop to say hello. 

Her fourth page had taken her into a room where a doctor had their back to the door as they talked to the patient, a velvety smooth voice that Lia knew almost too well, making a slight frown settle on her face as she knocked on the door and questioned kindly "You paged?" The Doctor turned around, most likely going to greet Doctor Bailey when they came face to face with Lia.

Both their jaws slacked and their eyes bulged, "Lia!" & "Derek!" tumbled from their lips in shock, mixed with happiness, the patient looked confused, with reason, they'd been told that Doctor Bailey would be meeting with him and Dr Shepperd and by the way Dr. Shepperd reacted this was not Dr. Bailey.

"What are you doing here?" Derek Shepperd questioned as the redheaded intern stepped into the room, giving the older man a quick hug before going to stand at the foot of the patients bed, "I'm an intern, Bailey's intern." Lia replied honestly, smiling at the man she'd known for the majority of her life, "And where is Bailey, why are you answering her page?" Derek frowned slightly, although he was happy to see his sister-in-law.

"Surgery, and because we are 5 interns and 1 patient I was assigned to answer her pages." she replied, turning to the patient and giving them a soothing smile while introducing herself "Ophelia Montgomery, I'll be stepping in for Dr. Bailey today while she's in surgery." the patient nodded at her, "Am I in good hands Dr.?" the patient asked Lia, a certain innocence cloaking their words.

"I'd say you are, Dr. Shepperd is one of the best of his areas and I happen to hear that Dr. Bailey takes very good care of her patients." Lia replied, locking her fingers together as she leaned against the foot of the bed, it wasn't a proper reassurance of their complete and utter survival but it was a soothing promise that they'd be very well taken care of.

The patient nodded at her and turned to Derek, prompting him to continue what he had been saying before Lia appeared, "Like I was saying Mr. Gaunt," Derek started, slipping back into his Doctor role, a smooth transition that unseasoned Doctors had trouble doing. "You surgery should take no more than 6 hours, it can take up to 4 hours if we are lucky and don't run into any problems."

His words told Lia that he was removing a tumor, whether malignant or benign she had no idea, "You're scheduled for your surgery later today, that is if no catastrophe happens, meantime lay back, relax, call your wife to let her know, Dr. Montgomery here will draw your blood for analyses in a little bit." Derek continued, giving the patient his award-winning smile that Lia copied before the two stepped out of the room. 

"What are you doing here?" Lia asked once they were at a reasonable distance from the patient's room, considering she'd already told Derek what she was doing there, "I accepted a job offer that Richard offered me." Derek replied, giving the nurse that was at the station Mr. Gaunt's file, "Is Addie here?" Lia questioned half fearfully, not wanting to see her sister on the first day of internship.

A pained look flashed across Derek's features making Lia gasp "You guys argued!" her brother-in-law pulled another face causing her to clamp a hand over her mouth, making "She cheated on you!" come out muffled, this time Derek nodded at her giving her a sympathetic smile. 

While the Forbes-Montgomery children might not have been that close in age, especially Lia who was over a decade younger than Addison, she looked up to her siblings a lot, none more than Addison, from her perfect life to her perfect husband and marriage and perfect job. 

"I'm going to go on a whim and say it was with Mark?" her words were low and not muffled anymore. One of the perks of having known Derek for most of her life was that she knew how to read him better than anyone, including his own wife. A betrayed look crossed Derek's face and that was all of the confirmation that Lia needed.

"He hasn't tried anything with you has he?"Derek then quickly questioned as they stepped into the stairwell, "He wishes, he knows that if he tries anything with me my right hook will knock him down, other than having Arch, you, Donna and Addie on his ass." he words make Derek smile, knowing fully well that Lia would surely knock sense into someone if they tried anything with her, and no one more than Mark Sloane.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you'd graduated and were going to start your internship?" Derek frowned, his over-protective brotherly side coming out to play, prompting Lia to roll her light brown eyes at the action, "Der," she started, halting her descent down the stairs, "I've got a Doctor for a father, a Neurologist for an older brother, an OB/GYN and Neonatal Surgeon for an older sister, a Neurosurgeon for a brother-in-law and a crazy metaphorical crackhead for a best friend."

Her list made the older man chuckle at her and shake his head, having very well met all of the people on her list, "Does it look like I'm gonna be ringing all of them up to tell them stuff that they might try to change?" Lia was correct in not telling anyone, Derek knew as much but still he wished she'd told someone about her move, they might have helped her, not that Lia was a damsel in distress, oh no she was the one who caused distress, especially with a best friend like hers.

Her pager went off, cutting their reunion short and making them share a last hug before she rushed up the stairs to the floor her patient was calling her to.