It's been a long time

Chapter 31

Meredith and Derek were on call together that night when a trauma came in. They were paged from their comfortable position in the on call room and got up and ran down to the pit together.

"Shepherd, Grey, over here!" Bailey called. They ran over as two ambulances positioned themselves in the bay. "You two take that one, I'll take this one." Bailey said. Meredith and Derek stood for a moment in shock as to getting a solo patient, but both snapped out of it quickly and brought the patient to a trauma bay.

"Pupils are unresponsive. Der, we need to perform burr holes to relieve the pressure." Meredith said professionally. Derek quickly got the supplies and instruments. "You got it Mer." Derek cheered softly. Meredith took a deep breath before taking the drill and gently pressing down on the mans head. She had never done this before, but had seen it done a few times.

Meredith drilled in just enough, and the blood started flowing out. Derek dabbed up the excess blood hastily and watched Meredith in awe. "Derek, check his pupils." Meredith requested. Derek opened the patients eyes and sighed in relief when they were responsive. "Okay. Page someone from neuro. Or Bailey." Meredith called out. "I'm here, what do we-" Bailey started, stopping mid sentence.

"What did you do?" She asked in surprise. "His pupils were unresponsive. They're good now." Meredith replied nervously. Dr Nelson came over quickly assessed the man. "Looks good. Whoever did the burr holes has skill. Who was it, Ortiz? She's a good resident." Nelson asked. "It was actually Dr Grey, sir." Derek said proudly. "You did this?" He asked in surprise. Meredith nodded. "Nicely done." Nelson said.

"Good job you two. You both have a nick for neuro, i see." Bailey said. "Alright, we have to fix this brain bleed. You two are scrubbing in." Nelson said as they moved their patient quickly to the OR.

Derek and Meredith quickly scrubbed in and entered the OR. "You two, step up to the patient. I want you to see this." Nelson said. Meredith and Derek stepped up near the patient, amazed by the human brain. "Grey, dab up the bleeders, Shepherd, take over retracting." Nelson ordered.

They quickly did their jobs, and Nelson was impressed to say the least. "Do you guys want to specialize in neuro?" He asked. Both of them nodded. "If you want I can ask Richard to give you more time on my service. You two are good." Nelson offered. Meredith and dereks face lit up as they scrubbed out. "That would be great, sir!" Derek exclaimed. "Of course. I'll talk to you guys soon." Nelson said as he left.

"Did you hear that?" Meredith squealed in excitement. "We're the neuro gods." Derek said triumphantly as he hugged her tightly. "Neuro gods. I like it." Meredith said happily as they walked out of the scrub room.

"So, is it true you guys performed emergency burr holes or is that just the rumor mill?" Mark asked as he and Addison approached them. "Mer did the whole thing. It was awesome." Derek praised. "Nice!" Addison exclaimed. "Nelson said he was gonna try to get us on his service more." Meredith replied. "Really? I would kill for Jerry to let me be on plastics more." Mark said.

"I would kill for Jamie to let be on her service more." Addison added. "We're the neuro gods." Derek said cockily. "Well, I'm the plastics god." Mark said snarkily. "Okay boys, calm down." Addison said jokingly. They all laughed and sat down at a cafeteria table for a little while.

Meredith and Derek suddenly got paged to the chiefs office. "Who is it?" Mark asked curiously. "The chief." Meredith said nervously. "You better get your asses up there." Addison said with a chuckle.

Meredith and Derek quickly went upstairs and knocked before entering the chiefs office. Bailey and Nelson were both in there sitting down. "Ah, Grey, Shepherd, come in." Richard said. Meredith and Derek tentatively took seats in front of Richards desk, next to Bailey and Nelson. "Grey, I heard about your patient this morning. Nicely done you two." He said proudly. "Thank you." They both replied.

"And we've brought you here because of a request Dr Nelson made." Richard said. "He wants you two to spend more hours on neuro. Are you two planning on specializing in that? I know it's early." He asked. "We are." Derek replied. "So, you two both have enough time on OB, so when you get that rotation, we can put you on neuro. I believe Montgomery wants to be on OB, so we can always switch the two." He said.

"Would you guys be interested in that?" He asked. Derek looked at Meredith and they both nodded. "Okay. Consider it done." Richard said with a smile. "Nice job you two. Your the ones to look out for." Bailey said. "Thank you." They both said. "I'll see you two around then." Nelson said before leaving the room. "Hey Grey?" Meredith called as they were about to leave the room. "Yes chief?" Meredith asked nervously. "Your mother would be proud of you." He said softly. Meredith smiled and gave a quick nod before following Derek out.

"You okay?" Derek asked, noticing Merediths thoughtful look as they did some charting. "You think my mother would be proud of me?" She asked. Derek smiled. "I think she would be. She wouldn't be able to show it, but she would be." Derek replied as he grabbed her hand lightly.

"We're the neuro gods." Meredith whispered happily.

Hey guys!! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Thanks to whoever suggested this idea, I hope it lived up to your expectations!!