Wedding Bells

Ivy sits next to April as Alex presents all the kids that he brought over from Africa, "This is Zola. Shes six months old, born with spina bifida..."

"Adorable African children, shameless ego stroking- looks like you got some competition, McBaby," Cristina nudges Ivy.

"Yeah, he's single-handedly stealing chief resident out from all of us, and we're helping him do it. I mean, we can't exactly refuse to treat little sick kids without making ourselves look bad," Jackson crosses his arms.

April sighs, "Oh, he is a genius. Or *speaks an African dialect* Thats what they say in Swahili."

Ivy ignores all of them and concentrates on Alex's presentation, knowing they will get called out on for talking.

Cristina crosses her arms, "Well, he only has a shot because I've been benched. Although, going against Ivy is pretty difficult."

"My Alzheimers trial kicks African-orphan ass. It kicks all of your asses," Meredith brags.

"Do you want to keep it down back there? I'm trying to listen to what appears to be the next chief resident talking," Webber turns to them.

Ivy rolls her eyes at the other residents behavior as Alex ends, "Before we go, I just want to say thank you to all of you for your participation. It, uh, truly means more than I could say."

The attendings and Ivy start giving him the slow clap, "Slow clap. They're giving him the slow clap. Come on. I'm not giving him the slow clap. Ridiculous. And I can't believe you are, Ivy."

"Its for the kids, Jackie," Ivy sighs.

○○○○

Jackson, Ivy, and Webber gown up for Webbers diabeties research, "Okay, I want to personally check the incision sites, any weight fluctuations, the patients glucose levels. When was the last time you two clean these cages? A clean cage means a lower infection rate, which means F.D.A. approval, understood?"

They nod, "Cages, understood, sir."

Webber leaves as Ivy and Jackson share a look, "Well, this will be fun. At least if we fail our boards next year, we can fall back on animal caretaker."

"Get to work, Mr. Green Eyes" Ivy shoves him towards the cages.

○○○○

"I mean, you'd think being on the chiefs research project would help in the race for chief resident. You might even think it's make me a contender. Only I'm not saving little kids or people with alzheimers. I'm cleaning up mouse poop," Jackson complains to Lexie and Ivy.

Ivy groans, "If you complain one more time about having to clean cages, I'll throw mouse poop at you."

"Can you hand me that basin?" Lexie asks, ignoring their bickering.

"Wanna hear my conversation with the chief every morning? 'Avery, how are the mice?' 'Oh, they're fine Chief. They're running, running their wheels. They're eating their cheese.' If I worked at a pet store, I'd be employee of the month by now. But I'm a surgeon, babysitting a bunch of mice. Hey, why don't you have these conversions with the chief?" Jackson asks Ivy.

Ivy continues cleaning cages as he leans over by Lexie, "Because we mostly talk about how Torres service was when she was out and then about my plans to become double board certified."

Jackson sits up straight, "So you get the talks about the future and I get the ones about the mice? That's fair."

Ivy rolls her eyes as Lexie reminds him, "Until you get F.D.A. approval, okay, which I'm sure you're gonna be working on humans any day now. Now, grab me another plum."

"Why are you peeling these things apart anyway?" He does as he asks.

"I'm practicing. Since my kids skin has grown directly onto the heart muscle, I'm gonna be helping Teddy remove the adhesions without puncturing the heart. Hey! Don't eat my adhesions. Oh, gross," she says as Jackson takes a bite of a plum, spraying juice all over.

Ivy shakes her head at their couple behavior. She feels a wave of sadness hit her, for no reason. She's confused about what she has to be sad about. She has a great job, she's doing amazing in the race for chief resident, she's on a clinical trial, her brothers happy, she has a new niece/goddaughter. What more could she want?

Ivy looks back over at Jackson and Lexie and realizes it: she wants a relationship.

○○○○

"Appropriate urinary output, normal weight reading, and running on the wheel, Patient H., you're looking great," Jackson says, putting the mouse back in its cage.

"Its worrying me that you're talking to a mouse. Especially since I'm sitting right here," Ivy leans forward, whispering to him.

Jackson laughs, "Yeah, well. If we're gonna care for them, might as well talk to them. Patient I., what can I say? Appropriate urinary output. Oh, no. No, no, no. Mouse J."

Ivy stands up and moves to Mouse J's cage, "What happened?"

They quickly grab the mouse out of the cage, sharing looks of concern.

○○○○

Ivy and Jackson fill Webber in on Mouse J, "Mouse J. here took a turn for the worse last night. I did an x-ray. It didn't show anything, so I did a C.T."

Jackson hands him each film, "You two did a x-ray and a C.T. on a mouse?  I mean, if there's anything in this C.T., I can't make it out."

"I couldn't either, which is why I did an M.R.I." Jackson hands him the film as Ivy stands quietly to the side.

"You did a C.T. and a M.R.I? Avery, you have $8,000 worth of scans right here for a rodent," Webber starts raising his voice.

Ivy jumps in, directing the anger to herself, "Yes, sir, we understand that, but look at the M.R.I. What do you see?"

"I see a little hernia. And the portal veins not draining very well."

Jackson starts, "Which means the problem isn't the way the device functions-"

"Its where the device functions," Ivy finishes, high fiving Jackson.

Webber takes off his glasses, "We just need to put it closer to the surface, just underneath the skin. Lets get started."

Ivys phone begins to ring, "Sorry, it's Mark, do you mind?"

Webber dismisses her, "Go take care of whatever you need to. Avery will be here."

Ivy runs out and heads to Callie and Arizonas apartment. When she gets there, she walks in to find Callie laying on the couch.

"You do know that you're door is unlocked, right? I could be anyone," She sasses, "Where's my goddaughter?"

Callie shows her the baby monitor with Sofia on it, "I could be a baby-napper coming to baby-nap you."