chapter forty eight

dream a little dream of me, part one.season five, episode one.

The rankings of all teaching hospitals in Seattle would soon be posted, and the doctors of Seattle Grace were more than anxious to see where they placed. "You're sucking up all my oxygen."

Derek rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to see."

"It's not up yet," she said surely, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "There's nothing to see."

"It's supposed to be posted at four o'clock," Hahn stated from the other side of Bailey.

"It's four fourteen."

Cassie and Mark turned the corner, his arm dropping from her waist when they realized Derek was in view.

"Is it up yet?" they asked in unison, moving to stand by the others. Cassie slyly slipped her pinky finger around Mark's, causing a subconscious smile to come to his face.

"Hit the refresh button," Cristina said, reaching for the keyboard. "You have to reload the page." Cassie pulled Cristina back when she noticed Bailey's death glare set on her.

"I'm hitting the refresh button every ten seconds. Just ."

"Is it up yet?" Meredith wondered, coming over and giving Derek a smile.

Cristina and Cassie shared a look, playfully rolling their eyes at the couple. Well, Cassie's was playful, while Cristina's was real. After Meredith built Derek a house of candles on the land he'd bought, an idea she thought of after Cassie told her how Derek loved grand gestures, the couple had gotten back together.

Alex joined the group as well. "Is it up yet?"

"No!" Bailey snapped. "Wait."

Mark crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm thinking we move up a slot. We pass Hopkins, move up to number one."

"We're not passing Hopkins," Derek scoffed. "We're gonna stay number two."

Hahn shrugged. "Mayo could surge ahead. We could be three."

"Three?" Derek raised a brow. "Pessimist."

"Realist," she corrected. "The rankings of teaching hospitals change based on any number of things."

"That's true," Cassie spoke up. Everyone except Mark let out a heavy sigh, knowing based on experience that she was about to rant. "Recently, I read that each hospital analyzed in the data driven rankings received an overall score from 0 to 100 based on four elements. Outcomes, including survival rate and the rate at which patients were able to return home rather than needing additional institutional care, patient experience, and care related factors such as the intensity—"

"It's up," Bailey loudly interrupted, cutting her off in the middle of her sentence. Everyone looked at the screen, trying to read the fine print from a distance. "Number one, Hopkins. Number two, Mayo."

Hahn smirked at Derek. "Told you."

Bailey continued reading. "Three... Cleveland Clinic?"

"What?" they all chorused.

"Four, Mass Gen."

"Wait, wait," Cristina held up a hand. "We're moving down to ?"

Bailey shook her head, disappointed. "No. We are five."

Cassie frowned, moving to read the screen. "What do you—" she froze, a disbelieving expression taking over her features. "Oh, you have to be fucking with me."

"We're number ?"

☆

Cassie, Meredith, and Cristina were walking down the hall, Cassie in the middle of the two, with their interns following behind them while pretending they weren't listen to their resident's conversation.

Lexie ran up to Cristina, falling in line with the others. "Oh, hey, sorry I'm late. I was just helping—"

"No talking unless it's medical," Cristina cut her off.

Cassie whacked Cristina on the back of the head. "Don't be so rude." She turned around and gave Lexie a small smile. "Who were you helping?"

"Oh, uh," Lexie blushed slightly, which Cassie immediately picked up on. "I was helping Rue down in the clinic."

"Really?" Cassie raised a brow in challenge. "I was just down there, and it seemed like she had it covered."

Lexie's cheeks became even more red, if possible. "Well I-I mean, she's my friend, and that's what friends do—"

"Oh," she sent her a knowing smirk. "I'm sure you're a great "

"Yeah, yeah," Cristina cut them off, more interested in talking about herself. "No one cares."

Meredith continued with her story, while Lexie expertly dodged Cassie's teasing grin. "So, I keep having that dream. The dream."

"You know, who does their residencies at number twelve hospitals?" Cristina wondered aloud. "Losers, and I am a loser."

"Mer, Derek is alive, don't think too hard about it," Cassie advised nonchalantly. "Cristina, none of us are losers. If anyone, it's the attending's fault we ranked so low."

"So, I mean, the dream is about me being afraid of the house of candles and, you know, taking the big step and... I'm afraid of having a happy ending."

"You know, I have a PhD in biochem. I'm a double doctor. Double doctors should not do their residencies at second-rate hospitals."

"Mer, you should probably ask your therapist, no offense," Cassie said. "And I agree. I mean, I'm a genius with a photographic memory that got my PhD from NYU at twenty two years old. I could go anywhere I wanted."

"I did go to my therapist," Meredith said. "Wyatt says I should just lean into the wind, into the fear, so I'm just gonna ask Derek to move in with me."