⇢ CHAPTER 62

chuckled, eyes wide as she stared up at her mentor, "You're kidding."

"Nope." Derek smiled, passing Holly the chart in his hand with a smile, "An acoustic neuroma, just for you."

"You're joking." Holly repeated, her eyes looking down at the majestic chart in her hand as she could practically feel her eyes tearing up, "There's no way."

"I'll still be in the room." Derek reminded, "But this will definitely impress the board when you have it on your list of surgeries as a fifth year." He placed a hand on her shoulder as she read over the chart, "This is the most important year for you, Kepner."

"An acoustic neuroma." Holly exhaled, eyes scanning through the papers as Jackson approached the two. Hearing footsteps, Holly moved her head over in time to see Jackson stop next to her as her face lit up with a smile, "I have an acoustic neuroma."

"All by yourself?" Jackson asked before Holly nodded, making him throw a look at Derek.

"She's ready." Derek affirmed before looking at Holly with a quirked brow, "You ready?"

"Pft." Holly scoffed, her eyes still looking down at the chart, "Born ready."

"There we go." Derek nodded with a smile, acting like a proud father as Jackson worriedly looked over Holly's shoulder to look at the chart-- it wasn't that he doubted Holly's surgical skills, rather, he didn't want anything to go wrong since it was important year of her surgical career.

✧

"Did you read the chart?" Derek asked as he walked down the hallway with Holly with Jo Wilson behind them.

Holly let out a scoff at his words, "Of course I did." She rolled her eyes, "We were supposed to operate on Jimmy before the plane crash and then that happened, then your hand wasn't working and I wasn't here but we're all here now." Holly stopped in front of their patient's closed door before eyeing Derek, "Are you having doubts?"

"Of course not." Derek shook his head with confidence, "You'll do great." He threw her a smile before nodding his head to the intern, "I'm gonna stick back here and inform Wilson on our patient since she probably didn't read the chart."

Jo's eyes looked up at the attending, "Sir--"

"Go in and talk to Jimmy and his sister." Derek interrupted, giving Jo squinted eyes for a second as Holly sighed and walked inside.

"Dr. Shepherd--"

"See if you can switch with Ross." Derek instructed once he saw Holly chatting with the patient and his sister-- Jo's eyes swirled with confusion.

"Oh," Jo spoke in a defeated voice, "did I--"

"No," Derek assured, "it's nothing you did wrong." His eyes glanced into the room before he dragged Jo a few feet away, "It's just that Ross has been in our cases before and he'd know what Holly would want before she even asks for it. I won't have time to teach you on this one."

Jo sighed, her eyes looking up at the attending in front of her before she nodded and walked away, not wanting to prove herself as a hindrance to their operation.

"Shepherd," Chief Owen called out as a woman walked beside him, "this is Alana Cahill. She is our physician advisor."

Derek nodded and extended a hand out to greet the woman, "Derek Shepherd."

"Neuro." Alana beamed, "I saw you're doing an acoustic neuroma. Very exciting."

"First thing tomorrow." Derek added with a proud smile.

"Patient's here today." Alana stated, almost as a question as she looked over at Owen, "Are pre-op overnight stays typical in all departments?"

"That is a question for Chief Hunt." Derek advised, not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore as Holly walked out of the patient's room and was beginning to head over to them, "If you'll excuse me," He gestured at Holly, "we have to prep."

"Hmm." Alana hummed as Holly and Derek began to walk away, "Well, I'll see you in the O.R. tomorrow."

Holly and Derek immediately turned around with the former frowning her eyebrows in confusion, "Um, we haven't met. Hi," She wrapped her hand around Alana's in a handshake, "I'm Holly Kepner, I'm the resident taking charge in this operation... you're going to be in the O.R. tomorrow?"

"Oh," Alana gave a smile as she shook Holly's hand, "I'm the physician advisor Chief Hunt brought in, Alana Cahill, and--"

"Typically," Derek added before Alana could continue, "you need to be invited."

"If things were running typically," Alana countered, "I wouldn't be here, now would I?"

Derek and Holly gave each other a look as Owen awkwardly cleared his throat before the both groups walked away from each other, deciding to leave the conversation there.

✧

"Cousin Dora sent him a stupid giant cookie," Carla McAdams, the sister of Holly's patient, shook her head as she ranted, "but he can't eat before surgery."

"So now I'm starving and I gotta look at this giant freakin' cooking that I can't have!" Jimmy added with a chuckle, not noticing Derek and Holly's slightly fallen faces, "I keep just telling her to eat the damn thing."

"Oh," Carla countered, "so you can make fat jokes?"

"Then throw it away."

Holly cleared her throat, "Jimmy--"

"Oh, no." Carla's face fell, "what's that look? What's wrong?"

"The tumor's progressed." Holly bluntly spoke, eyes flicking back and forth between her patient and his sister.

"But you could still operate, right?" Jimmy asked, glancing at his sister in worry.

"Yes," Holly nodded before Derek could even stop her to tell her to consider the risks-- Holly had made her mind that she would try her best to save the patient they placed a delay on since the crash, "we can-- but all those risks that we talked about before--"

"Like me going deaf..." Jimmy trailed off, wanting to check if he was correct.

"Mm-hmm." Derek confirmed, looking at Holly, who held a determined look on her face.

"Or half my face being melted like it was blowtorched, or me not surviving at all?" Jimmy finished, making Holly nod.

"Yeah." Holly cleared her throat as she glanced at Jimmy's sister, who's eyes were beginning to swell with tears, "The chances of those things happening are practically doubled. So, you should take some time and really think if you still want to do the surgery."