⇢ CHAPTER 6

noted as she saw Alex walking up to her and Lexie as they made their way towards the room for Sloan's meeting.

"Hey." Alex greeted as he caught up to the duo.

Lexie sighed, "I'm late for Sloan's meeting."

"Yeah," Alex exhaled, "so am I." He turned his head at Holly, "You're not mad at Red?" 

Lexie tightly smiled, "Because 'Red' didn't do anything wrong, you did." 

"Okay," Holly chuckled, "'Red' is right here, and would like to be called Holly."

"Also," Lexie barely turned her head to look at him as she turned the corner with Holly, "I'm not speaking to you."

Thinking they had lost him, Holly nodded, "Like I said, just stay strong and--" She turned her head at nothingness and turned around, "Lexie?" Walking up to a room they had passed by, Holly groaned as she saw Alex and Lexie making out, "Gah, oh God." She looked away, "Okay, I did need to see this."

✧

"Okay," Mark announced to the mass of surgeons and nurses in the patient room, "ladies and gentlemen, this is Nick Hanscomb." 

Holly managed to make her way through the tall crowd with Lexie and Alex's help as they lightly pushed their way through and Holly followed. Being able to see everything, Holly caught Nick's eyes glancing around the crowd as he spoke, "Hi."

"Nick was lucky enough to have me remove a large carotid body tumor from his neck." Mark revealed as he lightly pulled away Nick's bandages to expose the throbbing closed wound, "The fact that I was able to get clean boundaries is pretty darn impressive, even for me."

"Congratulations." Alex commented from the crowd.

"Don't interrupt." Mark lectured, "Now despite the fact that it was a wildly successful surgery, we had to dissect out deep lymph nodes in his neck. There is now only a delicate flap of skin between his carotid artery and the outside world. That said. What am I worried about?"

"I would think given the friability of the skin," Cristina answered, "that there's a great possibility that the, um, the artery could blow?"

Mark nodded, pointing at Cristina, "Right."

The doctors murmured and Nick assured, "Oh, don't worry. I've--I've heard this before."

"If that happens," Mark spoke up, "whoever's in the room, I don't care if it's a doctor, a nurse, an orderly, your job is to stop the bleeding then page me, in that order. Are we clear? Any questions?"

The doctors all unanimously nodded and Nick turned his head to Mark, "They look scared."

"They're medical professionals, Nick." Mark reassured, "A healthy level of fear is encouraged."

"Okay, then." Nick turned his head slowly back to the staff, "Uh, if I do die, it will have been lovely meeting you all."

"See?" Mark asked as Lexie smiled at Nick and Holly listened to the information given, "The patient is confident. You should be confident. That's it."

✧

"Y-You seeing anyone?" Nick asked Lexie after informing her about his ex-girlfriend and continued after Lexie chuckled, "I'm j--I'm just making conversation. My--My artery's exposed, you know, which kind of limits my game."

Lexie chuckled again, deciding to humor Nick by answering his question, "Okay, uh... yes. Well," she corrected, "kind of, I am."

Nick nodded lightly, "Nice guy?"

"Yeah," Lexie nodded back, "he is. Well, he's kind of, um, he's kind of a nice guy disguised as a jerk." 

"Oh, yeah," Nick added, "I-I know that type. My-- My girlfriend was a... nice girl disguised as a vapid narcissist. But then it turned out she really was just a vapid narcissist."

"Ouch."

Nick nodded, "You wouldn't happen to know the redhead that stood next to you during Dr. Sloan's meeting, right? The super-focused-in-her-work girl? She was pretty, too. And since I'm allowed to notice prettiness," Nick referred to earlier in the conversation when he mentioned he was allowed to 'notice prettiness' since he was broken up, "I noticed hers."

Lexie chuckled, "Actually, I do." 

✧

"Hey." Holly smiled as she slid the door closed behind her and entered Nick's room with Lexie smiling deviously, "...What are you planning?"

Nick started, "Dr. Grey has--"

Lexie interrupted, "I've been paged by Yang to chart on a of patient's today--"

"And you want me to cover for you?" Holly finished, frowning her eyebrows. 

"No." Lexie chuckled, "I was gonna let you in on Nick's case."

"Oh." Holly smiled awkwardly at Nick before looking at Lexie, "I told you, Sloan's been--"

Lexie grabbed Holly's arm and practically dragged her to the side as she explained, "Nick thinks you're pretty. You're single. It can work out."

"Aah." Holly nodded, "'Cause him being a patient and me being his doctor is totally not weird." She joked, "Some people would say it's kinky."

Lexie grabbed Holly by the shoulders, "I'm gonna go observe a surgery. You go loosen up."

Holly scoffed seeing Lexie retreat and stuck her head out the door, "You said you needed to chart!" Holly turned slowly to Nick and smiled, "I'm assuming she's already checked your vitals?"

"Yep." Nick nodded, putting away his book, "My book is bad, and I hate daytime television, and all my friends are at work."

"So she planned her escape to observe Hahn's surgery." Holly nodded as she checked Nick's chart.

"You can-- You can learn about my artery." Nick suggested pointing to his bandaged neck, "You can never know too much about arteries, right?"

Holly chuckled and Nick smiled, "I guess you're right."

"That's the spirit." Nick's smile brightened, "Come on. I have no one to talk to." Holly shrugged as she pulled up a chair next to Nick's bed and sat down since it had been a slow day in the hospital, "You want to help me plan my revenge?"