yours [m.s]

v.

- - -
first, do no harm. as doctors, we pledge to live by this oath. but harm happens and then guilt happens. and there is no oath for how to deal with that.
- - -

walking into the conference room with violet, both of them clutching an iced coffee, mallory finds naomi sat at the head of the table, addison sat to her left.

"so?" violet wiggles her eyebrows at naomi as she pulls out the empty chair beside addison and takes a seat.

"how'd it go?" mallory also presses for details about the date naomi went on last night as she places her coffee down and takes a seat beside her, across the table from addison and violet.

"not so good. i am so out of practice. all i could talk about was uteruses and sperm and eggs," naomi admits and the girls chuckle. "the guy thought i was trying to get a baby out of him. he left skid marks he drove away so fast."

"it's not easy getting back out there," addison says in an attempt to reassure her best friend.

"i had a date last week," violet announces and all eyes turn to her. "it was a complete nightmare. the guy spent the whole night asking advice."

"you're dating?" mallory looks across the table, her brow slightly furrowed and her voice somewhat disheartened. "everybody's dating. except me."

"i'm not dating," addison shrugs her shoulders with a soft smile but mallory ignores her, pushing herself back on her seat as the men from the office enter the conference room.

"good morning, addison," pete smirks, pulling out the chair next to mallory who rolls her eyes, her jaw slightly clenched.

"okay, i've got angie padgett and her husband ray coming in for a follow-up. she's ovulating, so the fertility issue may be with ray," naomi announces to the group as she flicks through the files sat in front of her, before looking up to the other doctors. "i see marilyn sullivan's coming in?"

"it's actually her daughter, tess," cooper informs her. "she fell down and hurt her arm."

"she did? again?" dell chimes in from where he is stood pouring himself a glass of water.

"uh, i'll drop by," sam tells cooper, glancing down at his charts. "i've, uh, got some samples of this new m.s medicine i want marilyn to try."

"i can pitch in if anybody needs me today," pete offers after flicking through the relatively empty files in front of him.

"me too," mallory nods, closing her own files. "i'm booked, but, you know, it's just all routine stuff."

"yeah, my schedule's the same," addison adds.

"hey, you two want to help me get angie pregnant?" naomi asks, looking hopefully between the two sisters.

"man, i wish that was as dirty as it sounded," cooper sighs with a grin, earning a chuckle from pete and sam, and an eye roll from mallory.

"yeah, being able to make a couple happy, this is the good stuff," naomi attempts to persuade them with an enthusiastic grin. "you will love the fertility game."

"yeah. i will," addison nods before turning to look at mallory expectantly, and naomi does the same.

uncomfortably shifting her gaze between naomi and satan, stammering slightly, before she turns to cooper who mouths, 'say something'.