⇢ CHAPTER 47

mouth full, turned to speak to Jackson, who had approached him, "You want plastics?" He cleared his throat, "I don't see it."

Jackson frowned his eyebrows, "Is this about Lexie? 'Cause I thought you were good with that."

"This isn't about sex." Mark clarified, "It's about medicine."

Jackson sighed, "Then I don't understand."

"You're a good surgeon." Mark noted, "Not a great surgeon, which is why I was surprised Lexie and R--" He cleared his throat again, changing the conversation after almost letting it slip Holly liked him, "Uh, how's Lexie?"

"And this isn't about Lexie?" Jackson frowned his eyebrows again.

Mark shook his head as he bit into his apple, "Nope... how's she doing, by the way?"

Jackson nodded as he walked away, "Wow."

✧

✧✧✧

Joining Mark, Holly sat next to him in the gallery that observed the 'Gunther' surgery in the O.R. below as Arizona asked the two, "Hey, is the E.R. still a zoo?"

"Nah," Holly responded as Mark filled his mouth with chips, "they got everyone who survived out of the hole a while ago-- it's quiet now."

Mark squinted his eyes at the book Callie held in her hand, "She got the crossword down there?"

"Sudoku." Arizona filled in, "You two ever try it?"

Holly shook her head as Mark commented, "Bores the crap outta me."

"Amen." Arizona added as Holly stole a chip, "Who do you think the Gunther is?"

"Gunther?" Holly frowned her eyebrows, "What's that?"

"What she said." Mark pointed at Holly and Arizona brought her eyebrows up in surprise.

"Is this your first one? Hmm." Arizona nodded before filling the two in, "The name Gunther comes from the doctor, not the patient. One of the residents always kind of emerges as a leader when they do this. And the first time, it was this little quiet guy named Gunter, and everyone thought he was gonna flame out of the program, but it turns out, he's the alpha dog."

"Great." Mark nodded as he looked down, "We know it won't be Avery. He doesn't have any balls."

"He does." Holly spoke off-handedly, blood rushing to her face as she realized she had spoken before stuffing her face, "Ignore me."

Arizona and Mark snickered at the girl before shrugging, Arizona adding, "Karev's got the balls, but everyone hates him. So I don't see them following his lead."

"Bound to be Yang." Mark nodded.

"Easy choice." Holly commented.

"I don't know," Arizona shrugged, "Kepner's kind of a dark horse these days."

"You feel good about that position?" Mark challenged, "Huh? You willing to back that up?"

Arizona chuckled, "What, like, fifty bucks?" Mark shrugged in agreement as Holly squinted down at the group of surgeons, deciding who to pick, "Bring it."

"I'm betting on Jackson." Holly spoke, leaning back on her chair confidently as the other two laughed.

"Okay." They chuckled, knowing they wouldn't lose the bet, "We'll see."

Holly chewed on one of the chips, "We shall."

✧

"," Cristina's voice rang out in the gallery as they looked down, ""

"Looks like Yang's the Gunther." Mark smiled smugly, looking at the two.

"Yep." Bailey commented from the side, "No surprise."

"What does that mean?" Teddy asked, not knowing about a Gunther either.

"It means she took over while everyone else is standing around like idiots doing whatever she says. I mean," Mark poked fun at Holly's bet, "look at Avery. Useless."

Holly squinted at him as Arizona groaned, "I gotta go." She sighed, regretting her decision in betting, "Kepner. What was I thinking?"

"It's not over until the surgery's done." Holly added, folding her arms in front of her chest as Mark played around with Arizona's fifty in his hand, "I'm not paying you until it's done."

"Whatever," Mark got off of his seat with a smile before walking away, "You already know I've won."

Holly rolled her eyes as she followed him, "We'll see."

✧

Entering the O.R. with Mark, the two asked Callie as they watched Jackson and April work on their patient, "What the hell happened?"