⇢ CHAPTER 49

walking inside to see Derek poking a dummy brain with Lexie to the side, checking the monitor, "whatcha doing?"

"Neuro stuff." Lexie answered vaguely, not wanting Holly to steal the case she was on.

Holly squinted at her, knowing Lexie's reason for being vague, "I'm on E.R. duty today and tomorrow all day for the baseball game, you can tell me."

"Oh," Lexie let out a chuckle, "well, we're--"

"Quiet," Derek demanded, attempting to find an area to insert the probe, "please."

Holly widened her eyes at Lexie before scurrying over to the monitor in front of her as she saw Derek poke the supplemental motor area. Lexie cringed, "Ding."

"All right." Derek groaned, "Let's try another angle."

Holly winced once more as Derek inserted the probe and Lexie repeated, "Ding."

"Damn." Derek sighed, looking over at the two, "What was that?"

"Fornix." Lexie answered.

"Ooh," Holly pointed at the monitor, "through the basilar. So she'd be--"

"Mute, memory loss, brain dead." Derek listed, removing the probe with a sigh.

The three turned their head to Owen, the new Chief, as he entered and looked at Derek, "How's it going-- Kepner?" Owen frowned his eyebrows at the redhead's sudden appearance there, "Aren't you managing the E.R.?"

"I was." Holly nodded, "And am-- but it's calm right now, Chief." Holly smiled, hoping to not get in trouble for sneaking away as Derek and Lexie looked at each other, "It's not bad, they would page me if it was--" Holly heard her pager beep, making Derek and Lexie stifle a chuckle as she muttered, "Damn."

Owen gave Holly a look, "Kepner."

Holly nodded, grabbing her coat, "I'm on my way, sir."

✧

"God," Lexie scoffed at seeing Julia and Mark kiss, "get a room. It's disgusting."

"Give the guy a break." Jackson defended with a chuckle as he grabbed a bottle of water.

"She's on the opposing team." Lexie justified.

"So what?" Jackson shrugged, "He seems happy." Jackson smiled, "He's happy, I'm happy." He looked over at Lexie, who continued to hold her gaze on the two, "...And you and me, we're-- we're happy, right?"

"Oh," Lexie scoffed again, not hearing Jackson's words, "what is with the friggin' holdup? Let's play ball!"

Jackson sighed, watching Lexie walk away as he thought back to his conversation with his mother.

✧

"I feel left out." Holly admitted, leaning against the E.R. nurse's station as she spoke to Derek, who was at the baseball game, on the phone, "How come I wasn't chosen to be in the baseball team?"

Derek laughed on the other line, pausing briefly at seeing Alex miss the ball when he swung, "

Holly scoffed, "That was before I knew!" Holly nodded her head at seeing a nurse walk up, "What's up, Tyler?"

"There's a patient in Bed Three that needs stitches on his hand." Tyler answered, handing her the chart.

Holly grabbed the chart and looked up with hopeful eyes, "Do they need scans? Anything surgical?"

"." Derek warned, ""

Holly shook her head although he couldn't see her, "We don't talk about that." She sighed, "I gotta go."

"" Derek wished before hanging up as Holly put her phone in her pocket before walking up to Bed Three with Tyler.

"Logan Russell," Tyler presented as Holly looked through the chart, "twenty-eight, says he accidentally cut his hand while cutting potatoes at work--"

"Ooh," Holly looked up, a twinkle in her eye as she asked, "were you making fries?"

Tyler chuckled lightly before walking away to man the Nurse's station as Logan practically felt himself getting lost in her eyes, "I, uh, y-yeah." He nodded, "My coworkers told me to get it checked out but I'm fine."

Holly snapped on her gloves before gently grabbing his hand to check out the deep laceration, "Well," she smiled at him before looking back down at his hand, "it's better that you came here."

"Yeah," Logan nodded, examining her face with a care detail like she was to his hand-- and at feeling his eyes on her, Holly brought her head up, "I guess it's just my lucky day."

Holly felt the blood rush to her face before pointing behind her, "I, uh, h-have to get bandages. I'll be right back."

✧✧✧

logan, even though he's a shy boy : / holly :

✧✧✧

"Hey, Dr. Bailey." Holly smiled, approaching Dr. Bailey by the Nurse's station, "What are we--"

"You're off my service." Bailey deadpanned, hurriedly walking over to the elevator.

Holly froze, watching Bailey walk away before striding up to her with confusion, "I-- what?"

"You're. Off. My. Service." Bailey repeated slower, continuing to walk her fast pace.

Holly frowned her eyebrows, "Why?"

"Because I said so." Bailey shrugged, clicking a button as she reached the elevator before entering, "Find me if you find Meredith Grey, otherwise stay away."

Holly frowned her eyebrows more, watching the doors close as Jackson walked up behind her, "Hey," He greeted before frowning his own eyebrows at her shocked face, "what's up?"

Holly blinked, "Bailey kicked me off her service."

"Why?"

Holly shrugged, "I don't know."

✧

Walking into the scan room, Holly smiled as she saw Derek standing in front of a bunch of scans with 'inoperable' tumors, "Ooh," She hummed, "which are we doing first-- are these patients of yours?"