𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

three | clueless

"Do you guys do this all time?"

I plop down on the green grass below, still wet from the morning dew. But I can care less as I try to regain my breath.

"No." Meredith drops to her knees. "Cristina just wanted to show off to you."

"I did. . .not." Cristina heaves out in one heavy breath. "I thought we could try something new."

The muscles in my legs cramp up every so often when I sit up. "Why couldn't we just. . .stay at home and. . .try a new flavor of coffee?"

"Or make a new type of cookie."

"Yeah. We should have done that."

At the hospital, we change into our scrubs and follow behind Bailey for our runs, starting with Cristina and Mr. Gaston.

"Mr. Gaston is scheduled for a resection non-small cell carcinoma today. He did well overnight, has remained afebrile." Cristina looks directly at Dr. Burke. "He's had a dose of ceftriaxone this morning, and his pre-op labs are unremarkable. His chest x-rays are unchanged from the previous."

The patient clears his throat gently. "I own a couple of dry cleaning stores. I never believed what they said about inhaling the chemicals, but. . ."

"We're gonna do everything we can for you, Mr. Gaston." Burke assures him. "Did oncology see him yet?"

"Uh, they're waiting for the surgical path." She answers after a long pause of silence.

"Thank you, Dr. Yang."

"You're welcome, Dr. Burke."

On the way out, Meredith and I split off from the group to join Cristina.

"I think you should tell him about the baby because he could at least have the responsibility of having to pay." Meredith leans back against the desk.

I nod my head in agreement. "He could be paying as much as a thousand weekly."

"No." She shuts both of us up rather quickly. "Look, he will never know. It's over."

Some nurses pass by, causing her to quiet down. But only for a few seconds. She puts away Mr. Gaston's case file and stands back up.

"Once the pregnancy's taken care of, Burke won't even be a blip on my radar." We walk away from the stand. "He'll be a smudge."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Hey, newbie. Leave the sarcasm to me."

A short bathroom break later, I head down to the pit only to see Meredith cowering behind a corner wall, peering out onto the floor.

"Amateurs! You're amateurs!"

Some patient yells, her gurney surrounded by Bailey and the interns. From across the room, Cristina mouths Ellis Grey.

Now, in my entire life, I have heard the name uttered two times, the second being this. I grab Meredith by the shoulders and lead her to the locker room for some privacy.

Bailey finally arrives, her posse in two. "Leven, both Dr. Shepherds need an intern up in the N.I.C.U.."

"Are you sure, I —"

"Go."

"Wait, hold on, they're both there? With each other? You're sending me up to assist the two exes who —"

"Go."

Upstairs in the labor and delivery wing, I watch the small preemie resting in an incubator, her little chest rising and falling.