𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳 | ᵍʳᵉʸˢ ᵃⁿᵃᵗᵒᵐʸ

⁰⁰⁶ 𝐦𝐜 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫

"Alright. Details. You're pregnant. What are you gonna do?"

Meredith asked as she and Christina entered the intensive care unit at Seattle Grace Hospital, their steps echoing softly on the gleaming linoleum floor.

They were here to check on Joe, the bartender and involuntary focus of the previous evening.

His sudden collapse in the bar seemed to have set off a chain reaction of events that continued here, in the sterile corridors of the hospital.

"You know what happens with pregnant interns?"

Christina stopped and fixed Meredith with a look as if the answer to that question was obvious.

"Im not switching to the vagina squad or spending my life popping zits. Im too talented. Surgery's my life."

"Which begs the question, who are you sleeping with?" Meredith's question went right to the heart of the matter.

"Just a guy", Christina dismissed, an answer that clearly did not satisfy Meredith.

"That's all I get?"

Christina just rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the nurses' station, the central hub for doctors and nurses. Meredith called after her, unable to let the matter rest.

"You can't just bring something like this up and expect me to drop it."

Christina turned once more and shrugged.

"Well, watch me."

As she followed Christina, they encountered Izzie, who was standing at the counter with a cup of coffee, poring over a stack of patient charts.

Surprised, she looked up to see Christina and Meredith. "Why are you back here tonight? Don't you have a date with McDreamy?"

"More like McMarried," George interjected dryly as he joined the small gathering.

"Or McDaddy," Meredith added with a hint of bitterness, to which Izzie responded with a confused and slightly incredulous "McWhat?"

"I came to check on Joe," Meredith quickly changed the subject before the conversation could take a more uncomfortable turn.

"Do you think he's gonna be OK?"
George asked Izzie.

Christina, her eyes on Joe, added with a mixture of concern and medical curiosity: "You think he's gonna need an operation?"

The worried questions about Joe's condition and the possible need for surgery were abruptly interrupted by Derek's arrival, bringing another wave of tension.

"Surgery: yes. Whether he'll make it: hard to say."

Meredith, barely able to hide her irritation and disappointment with Derek, turned away.

Derek's eyes lingered briefly on Joe's chart before he broke down the medical situation as if explaining a complex equation.

"Basilar artery's like a balloon. Subarachnoid bleeding. Aneurysm the size of a golf ball."

"No way to clip something like that." George noted.

"Not without magic fingers," Christina added, not hiding her admiration for the surgical craft.

Derek, listening to the discussion with one ear, nodded. "Or a standstill operation."

"You're doing a standstill..."

Christina's voice rose slightly as she felt Meredith and Izzie's disapproving glances and repeated defensively: "He's doing a standstill operation."

"I'd like to try," Derek confirmed.

"But first I need some additional patient history, overnight labs, and a..."

He offered Meredith Joe's chart, a silent plea for understanding and perhaps forgiveness.

"...cerebral angio."

"I'm drunk," Meredith replied with a mixture of defiance and honesty. When Meredith didn't take the file, George reached for it.

"Meredith..." Derek began pleadingly, but she turned around wordlessly and walked away.

He sighed and tried to follow her, but was intentionally blocked by Izzie. "McBastard," she hissed quietly, but just loud enough for Derek to hear.

Christina and George briefly made Derek's path difficult, each in their own way, a subtle game of loyalty to Meredith.

"Jerk," George muttered as he watched Derek leave.