⇢ CHAPTER 77

a fish." Holly admitted, staring at Derek's drawing on the screen as he drew on his tablet.

Ben released a snort and chuckle as Derek scoffed, "No, it's not."

"It kinda is." Ben agreed, turning his head to the right to look at Derek and nodded.

Derek looked back and forth between the screen and his tablet, "No–"

"See, here." Holly pointed, "It looks like a fish's fin and those..." She pointed at the inside of the drawing, "are the scales."

Derek's eyes flickered back and forth before grumbling, "It's a lot more versatile."

"Look," Ben offered a look into the bright side, "it's definitely an improvement, no question."

"Maybe if you have time over lunch, you can look over the proposal." Derek suggested, thinking about adding Warren to their research project as Holly nodded.

"Yeah." She flashed Warren a smile, rising from her seat, "I could get the binder–"

"I wish I could." Ben exhaled lightly, "But I've got back-to-back surgeries."

"Ah." Derek hummed before asking the man as Holly sat back down in her seat, "How's it feel to be back in the anesthesia game?"

"It's fine." Ben shrugged, "Not ideal, but, you know, got a family. You make compromises."

"Yeah," Derek nodded, "Meredith is gonna kill me."

"What?" Ben chuckled as he joked, pointing towards the drawing, "She doesn't like an asymmetrical array?"

"I'm supposed to be downshifting." Derek admitted with a sigh as Holly spun in her chair, trying to alleviate the boredom drowning her, "And she's supposed to be upshifting."

"Ah," Ben remarked, "and yet you find inspiration in toothpaste." He chuckled, "Maybe next time keep it to yourself."

'Holly texted Matthew, deciding she'd rather help her sister collect addresses to send wedding invitations than listen to Ben and Derek's old-married-men talk.

' Matthew texted back, making Holly squint at her phone as if she was squinting at him.

As she replied, she averted her hearing back to Derek and Ben's conversation, "...kind of struggling lately." Holly's ears perked with interest as she peered away from her phone and slowly set the device down, "She has what, uh, if you squint real hard looks a lot like O.C.D."

Derek brought his head up from his tablet as he frowned his brows, "Bailey?"

"Yeah," Ben cleared his throat, "she had that incident with the hole in the gloves. I knew it freaked her out, but I was away. I didn't know how it freaked her out."

Derek, remaining to keep his eyebrows frowned, faced Ben with concern, "You really think it's O.C.D.?"

Holly leaned forward in her chair for Ben's answer, "I don't know." Ben answered, making Holly sigh in relief, knowing she'd have to report to the Board if he was, "I wanted to let her deal with it her way, but I'm not sure she's dealing with it."

"Tell her to visit psych." Holly recommended, making the two turn back– having momentarily forgotten she was in the room due to her silence, "And tell her to get Blanchard, he'll really listen and give great advice." They frowned their eyebrows, making Holly roll her eyes as she resumed, "I used to visit him when I needed to talk," She gave Derek a playful pointed look, "and when people can't answer my calls."

Derek scoffed, "You called me at four in the morning." Derek squinted back at her, "I have children and sleep is precious."

"Well," Holly shrugged, "who told you to have kids?"

Derek chuckled before he held in a smile, trying to look serious as he remarked, "I'll be sure to mention that to you when  have kids."

"Mhmm." Holly nodded, leaning back in her chair before her hands quickly grabbed the table in front of her to keep her from falling, realizing the chair had no back– she grunted, "Can't wait."

"Nice." Derek complimented sarcastically, laughing lightly with Ben as Holly jokingly glared at the two.

"Look," Holly rose her arms in surrender, "all I'm saying is to visit Blanchard. I don't visit him as much as I used to, but he's really good."

"I tried," Ben revealed with an exhale, "to get her to psych, but she brushed it aside– and... we were in the O.R. the other day, and she kept the patient under easily an extra hour." Derek and Holly's smiles subsided as they realized their conversation quickly went from a small talk to an accusation they, as board members, would have to report.

Derek shook his head as Holly joined his side, "Ben–"

Ben, oblivious to their serious faces, continued, "She went past that."

Holly stammered, "I-I don't think–"

"No," Ben nodded with a chuckle, not seeing the harm, "I know, I know. I should stay out of it, but when I'm watching a surgeon perform what looks like unnecessary procedures–"

"Gah." Holly let out, face-palming as he had now officially said something that would  them to report it.

Ben innocently frowned his eyebrows, "What–?"

"We are on the board of this hospital." Derek reminded, "We can't hear about a physician's misconduct and  report it."

Ben's face fell, making Holly clear her throat and awkwardly remove her hand from her face, "Yeah..."

✧

"We need to talk." Derek and Holly chorused, walking down the stairs towards Owen as Ben, who trailed after the duo, sulked at his error. 

"We  don't." Ben shook his head, attempting to stop the two.

Holly, who wished she hadn't heard anything and had anxious behavior when disregard towards rules occurred, shook her head rapidly at Owen, "We do." 

Owen frowned his brows, recognizing Holly's anxious behavior before he tried to calm her down and nodded, "I have to wrap up a patient in the E.R.– back here in fifteen?"

"Okay." Holly exhaled with a nod, looking back over to her phone as Derek nodded at Owen as well and Ben released a sigh.

"Hey," Meredith approached the group as Owen answered a phone call given to him by the Nurse at the Nurse's Station, "so I invited Dr. Webber to thanksgiving so now it really has to happen." She looked over at Derek excitedly, gesturing towards Owen, "His lady is cooking Thanksgiving dinner at our house."