chapter forty four

where the wild things are.season four, episode twelve.

tw: brief mentions of eating disorders

They would see each other in passing, work together, and even go to Joe's with Derek, but they were never alone. Cassie, as emotionally stunted as she was, hid her feelings well.

Mark, on the other hand... let's just say, he'd been a bit more irritable than usual.

Mark loved Cassie. He loved the way she lit up a room without even trying, he loved the way she would blush madly when she was excited, and he loved the way she connected with patients and made them feel safe. He loved her.

And if Cassie would've stopped avoiding him at all costs whenever he so much as glanced in her direction, he might have be able to tell her that, before he lost hope.

But, in the end, Cassie was still Cassie; she expertly avoided dealing with her feelings, until they came bursting out all at once.

If only she knew how soon that would be.

☆

Cassie was patiently waiting in the ambulance bay, already in her trauma gown and gloves, when the rest of the residents came rushing out.

After noticing that Cassie was already there, they all simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"Of course you're already here," Izzie groaned. "When do you sleep?"

"I don't," Cassie deadpanned, giving her a distasteful look. "And don't talk to me."

The residents were in the middle of a surgical contest; the person with the most points at the end got to win. None of them knew what the prize was, but that didn't stop them from trying to kick each others asses.

"Who's winning?" Meredith asked Alex, who was holding a clipboard keeping track of points.

"Yang and Cass are tied," he said.

The two shared a smirk. "Surprised?" they asked in unison.

Izzie scoffed. "What? Let me see... I'm twenty six points behind? That's not possible. Count again. What about all the surgeries?"

"You only get three points for watching. You have to ," Cristina informed her.

"I do ," the blonde defended herself. "I can't make them let me do procedures."

"You gotta ask," Meredith said.

Cristina nodded. "You gotta take charge of your own destiny, make it happen."

Cassie raised a brow at her. "Did you swallow a book of inspirational quotes for breakfast or something?"

"Shut up," Cristina rolled her eyes, before rushing up to the ambulance that was pulling in.

☆

Cassie and Meredith were in a trauma room with their patient, Philip, and his wife, Jennifer. All he had was an injured hand, which was incredibly lucky, considering that his brother had his organs on the outside of his stomach due to a bear attack.

Phillip finished signing a few forms, handing them over to the doctors. "There. Done."

"It's completely illegible," Meredith said lightly, adding the papers to his chart.

His wife laughed nervously. "He's a slob."

Cassie smiled at the stressed out wife and husband. "Okay, Mr. Robinson, Dr. O'Malley and Dr. Blair are going to come and take you to x-ray, and Dr. Grey and I are going to take your wife to the waiting room until you get back."

"She said ," Jennifer smiled. "I'm still not used to that."

"We're newlyweds."

"Congratulations—"

"She's my rebound girl," Philip said straight faced.

George and Lily, who just recently entered the room, shared an awkward look with the residents.

"Um, he's a little hopped up on painkillers right now." Jennifer mumbled, leaning into her husband's ear. "I think you're oversharing, honey."

"She thought she was my rebound girl, but I rebounded her, all the way to the church. Only knew her ten days, but when you know, you know. You know?"

"Mhm," Lily grinned nervously, motioning for George to help her prep the x-ray. "T-Totally."

☆

After comforting Jennifer, and more importantly realizing that a large piece of her scalp came off in the attack, the two residents brought her to a separate trauma room.

Unfortunately, Meredith had to page Derek, who had broken up with her six weeks ago, for a neuro consult, and Cassie had to page Mark, who was desperately trying to get her alone, for a plastics consult.

The vibe in the room was interesting, to say the least.

"CT is clear," Derek said.

"But it's deep," Mark added. "That bear clawed you good."

Jennifer shook her head in disbelief. "God, I didn't even feel it."

"Adrenaline's a pretty powerful drug," Cassie told her with a soft smile.

"I thought people only said that about love," she joked. Cassie unconsciously looked over to Mark, seeing him already looking at her. He tried to study her expression, see what she was thinking, but she looked away before he got the chance.

Mark cleared his throat after a moment. "You're gonna have to repair the galea, but it should reattach without a problem."

Jennifer sighed. "I just got happy. I just got married, and I'm really, really happy. I don't have permanent brain damage, do I?"

"No," Derek said, "it appears that you do not."

"Okay, good."

Derek clicked his pen and looked at Meredith. "Page me if any neuro deficits appear." He barely looked at her before he walked out, only sparing a small smile in Cassie's direction.