❝𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋'𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃❞ ɢʀᴇʏ·s ᴀɴᴀᴛᴏᴍʏ

CHAPTER FOUR.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepherd —or should I call you Derek? Now that we're getting to know each other, since you didn't let me sleep last night," Maddox waves her way to the neurosurgeon, who turns around with eyes wide and lips half-open in surprise. "Do you need a coffee? I guess you haven't had any sleep either," Maddox reaches out to hand him the second cup she's holding. "Don't worry, I've got my mouth shut. Do you have a moment?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you need, Dr. Easton?"

"Jamie Hayes has been admitted. The girl with the brain anomaly," Maddox clues the man in further on the case, and Derek nods as he walks, Maddox following close behind. "She has what looks like continuous seizure activity in her left foot. Her balance is off apparently," Maddox shows him the scans.

"How old are they?"

"Three months."

"I need new ones. Her brain could look dramatically different than that."

"Okay. I'll order them."

"Thanks," Derek nods, somewhat uncomfortable with the situation. It's strange the way Maddox looks at him and smiles, like she knows something he doesn't, despite her offhanded confession that she knows he's slept with Meredith. Hell, she even saw them kissing the other day at the party. Derek knows there's no point in hiding it anymore, at least at Meredith's house.

"Funny, I'm actually headed in your direction," Maddox smiles, holding the elevator doors. They close, and Maddox is grateful to be alone. "You know, you should be more careful. Meredith told me Bailey caught you the other night."

"You know I'm your boss, right?"

Maddox shrugs. "Technically you're my boss's boss, so I'm not worried about that. You're someone else's concern. I'm serious: you need to be careful. I don't care what Meredith does in bed with others, I don't care that she's sleeping with you because I know she's here for her skills and not because she's sleeping with you. But George and Izzie know that now too and they are not very happy about it. They think you're going to favor Meredith and that's not good for your reputation nor hers."

"This elevator has never been slower," Dr. Shepherd mutters.

"You're an attending, she's an intern. If you're with her, prove it or the shit will go down as soon as people find out," the elevator dings, the doors open and Maddox smiles again. "Thank you, Dr. Shepherd. I hope I wasn't a burden."

A while later, Maddox returns to the little girl's room with the patient's chart under her arm. She's had time to have a coffee, catch up with George —Maddox sees that he's acting weird, but assumes it's because they've seen Shepherd leave the house that morning— and cross paths with Cristina, who looked really sick. Derek hasn't made it to the room yet, so Maddox goes in to chat with the parents.

"Good morning. I'm Dr. Easton, and Dr. Shepherd will be here in a few minutes. This is the little girl I've been told about? You look like a princess. Do you know you're a princess? We're gonna find out what's causing these seizures, okay?" Maddox taps the little girl's nose, who wrinkles it and laughs.

Dr. Shepherd enters the room seconds later, and Maddox momentarily forgets the conversation they had earlier. They must be professional now, as they owe it to their patients.

"Does MRI know we're coming up?" Derek asks after patting the girl's legs and gesturing for her to smile.

Maddox nods, knowing he had ordered a CT scan. "It's available for us."

Derek nods with a small smile. "Doctor, is she gonna need surgery?"

"I don't know yet," the parents nod, probably considering the costly price of treatments, but the girl's leg is shaking again and Derek worries. "It's a focal left side seizure. Let's get that Diazepam right now, please. Hey, Jamie, here's what we're gonna do," Derek looks to Maddox with his eyes.