⇢ CHAPTER 2

Izzie, George quickly ran through every hall of the hospital trying to get to her before his wife could. His wife that just found out he cheated on her.

"Ow." Holly groaned after being roughly bumped into by George in the E.R., "Watch where you're going next time, George."

"Sorry." George quickly apologized, "Have you seen Izzie-- uh, Dr. Stevens?"

"No, sorry." Holly straightened her back, "But have you seen Dr. Yang?"

"No." He looked away from Holly and behind her, "Lexie!" Lexie's head spiked up from her book and frowned her eyebrows, "Have you seen Dr. Stevens?"

"No."

"Dammit."

Holly looked at Lexie, "Have you seen Dr. Yang?"

"Nope."

Holly looked at her watch with frowned eyebrows, "She told me to meet her here in the pit, and she's not here yet. I want to go searching for her but I don't want her to hate me even more."

"I'm sure she's close by." Lexie shrugged as George grabbed his phone to call Izzie.

"I'm prepared." Holly smiled to herself, "I'm gonna answer her questions correctly and I'm not gonna let myself be a pushover."

George nodded at her as Lexie smiled, "Good for you."

"Four!" Cristina yelled, pointing at her as she began to walk out of the E.R., "Incoming, let's move."

✧

"I can't believe that kid's dad." Holly spoke as Cristina, Derek, and her watched the scans pop up on the monitor. They had just left the trauma room to take their football player patient, Adam, to take scans and his father kept reprimanding Adam for getting taken down, "I mean, his son is paralyzed and the guy's yelling at him."

"Focus more on the medicine, four," Cristina reprimanded, moving her head back to somewhat face Holly before looking back at the monitor, "and less on the tragedy."

"Four?" Derek asked, tilting his head to Holly, "Is that a nickname?"

Holly shrugged, "You could say that."

There was a brief pause of silence as Cristina moved her head again to look at Holly and Derek questioned her, "So how would you proceed, Dr. Kepner?"

Holly moved her head up to Derek, surprised that he had asked and not the resident, "Oh, um..." She analyzed the scans, "You wouldn't be able to operate unless you realign his spine, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Derek nodded, "And how would you do that?"

"Traction halo?" Holly answered, slight uncertainty in her answer.

"Very impressive, Dr. Kepner." Derek smiled, "Your intern year's off to a good start."

Holly smiled back, "Mm."

"How's it going?" Derek turned his head to face Holly again, "How's Lexie and Meredith?"

"It's weird, from what I've heard." Holly responded, "The whole family thing." Holly shrugged, "I grew up with four sisters so--"

"Four sisters?" Derek asked, intrigued, "I have four sisters."

"Small world." Holly chuckled before shrugging, getting back to his question, "Lexie thinks Meredith hates her."

Derek frowned his eyebrows, "She doesn't hate her."

"Really?" Holly stepped forward slightly to question him for Lexie, "Did she say that?"

"You know," Cristina interrupted, "why don't you go see if Mrs. Cooley's dressings need changing?"

Holly was about to nod before Derek looked at Cristina, "Yang, why don't you go see if Mrs. Cooley's dressing needs changing?"

Holly stayed silent, eyes glancing back and forth between the two as Cristina tightened her smile, "Certainly."

As Cristina left the room, Derek looked at Holly again, "So, four sisters?"

✧

"First," Cristina explained to Adam in his patient room with his father present, "we're going to apply a halo, which uses weights and traction to pull your spine into place."

"Traction?" Adam asked.

"Like at the gym." Holly spoke, trying to connect the two scenarios for Adam as Cristina moved around from the left side of Adam's bed to the right-- where Holly and Derek stood, "We stretch your upper body using weights until the tension pops the spine into position."

"Except unlike that the gym," Cristina interrupted, slightly pushing Holly away from Adam, "Dr. Shepherd needs to attach the traction device directly to your head by screwing two holts into your skull."

"That sounds painful." Adam admitted, glancing back and forth at Dr. Shepherd and Cristina since Holly was out of his view now that Cristina pushed her back.

"Painful is if he doesn't fix your spine." Adam's father crossed his arms together as he looked at Adam, "Painful is you never walk again." He sighed, looking at the doctors now, "Okay. We gonna do this thing or what?"

✧

Cristina continued to write in her patient's chart as Derek, Lexie, and Holly all spoke by the Nurse's station and Meredith approached her with Alex's older intern, Norman.

"I just had to tell a 48-year-old woman that she's gonna die." Meredith said as she stopped by Cristina.

"Yeah?" Cristina stopped writing as she nodded her head towards her interns laughing with Derek, "I wish I could tell the 24-year-old women they're gonna die. Your sister and Redhead are getting close to Derek."

Meredith looked over to see them all laughing, "I have gone out of my way to be nice to her," Meredith sighed, referring to her sister, "and this is what she does, talks about me behind my back?"

Cristina frowned her eyebrows, "When were you nice to her?"

"I was nice..." Meredith admitted, "once." Cristina rolled her eyes, "My point is..."

"Hello, Dr. Grey." Holly smiled, "Hey, Norman."

"'Sup, Holly?" Norman, a man well over his fifties, greeted.