𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

forty five | fair

"I'll see you after the meeting, okay?"

"Okay, Derek."

A parting kiss on the lips, and Derek moves down to the front of the room to sit with his fellow attendings. I squeeze into one of the rows in the middle and sit beside Cristina and Meredith.

"You two really became that couple?" Cristina plays around on her cellphone, an earbud stuck to her ear.

"Cristina." Meredith smacks her shoulder.

"What?" She looks up to see Meredith's rage face. "Sorry, sorry. What I meant to say is. . .you know what? I stand by what I said."

I cross one leg over the other. "Yes, we became that couple. And I couldn't be happier about it, as much as it sickens me to admit it." The smile that was on my face soon turns into a grimace.

"Listen up, everyone. Listen up." The chief taps a finger against the mic. "We're busy people, so I'm gonna try and be brief."

The group of medical professionals quiet down as the chief begins to list out the new rules of the new surgical teaching protocol.

Which is why I've been paired with Dr. Bailey to assist with her patient Shelley Boden, a 30-year-old with colon cancer.

"How long will the operation be?"

"At least a few hours."

"You think it could be longer?"

"It really depends on if any complications arise or if we find the mets to be more extensive than previously thought —"

"They won't be."

"But what if —"

"Jenn, please stop!" Shelley interrupts her sister. "Just call Mom and Dad and tell them two hours."

Her older sister snatches the cellphone off the nightstand and stalks off out of the room. I move around to the foot of the bed to note her current vitals.

Shelley props herself up on her elbows once Jenn leaves. "Since I got cancer, my sister's only capable of talking about cancer, which is so much worse than the cancer." She lets out a wry laugh. "So, I know I don't know you, but spill."

"Spill?"

"Anything. I'm begging you. Before she comes back and asks you to describe my liver cell by cell. Please."

"I'll let you choose who you want to hear about." I close up the file. "Dad or boyfriend?"

"Uh, boyfriend. Definitely the boyfriend." She tugs the covers under her arms.

"Well, it all started when. . ."

----------

"I surprised him with a house of candles. He surprised me by showing up an hour late." I finish the key details to mine and Derek's story, up until this very moment.

Shelley giggles in a bubbly way. "Okay, when I'm no longer the cancer girl, and I can go out and meet a hot doctor who rocks my world and wants to move in with me. . .I'll build him a house of candles."

"Speaking of a hot doctor. . ."

Derek struts down the hallway, and a grin appears on his face upon noticing me. To not keep me from my patient, he presses a short kiss to the corner of my lips before walking off.

"Dude, you failed to mention the hair."

"If I mentioned it, you wouldn't have let me stop talking about it."