20

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   in Izzie's room, Eleanora has her head resting on George's chest and her legs tossed across the edge of the bed and laying in Meredith's lap, her body somehow managing to stay even between the two beds.

She wakes up with a start at the sound of pagers going off, the balance she held being thrown off as she falls butt-first onto the floor.

"Ow." Eleanora whined, George helping her stand up as everyone checked their pagers.

"Oh, it's the Chief." Bailey tells them, in there to perform Izzie's morning vital check. She takes a look at all of her residents, smirking a little. "Somebody better make a coffee run. You all look like hell."

"I gotta be in surgery in ten minutes." George tells them, stretching his back out. Eleanora hums, fixing his hair quickly.

"I have rounds." She gave everyone a smile, her eyes resting on Izzie's sleeping face for a moment before grabbing her lab coat and exiting the room with George.

It's quiet between them for a moment before Eleanora speaks up softly, tying her hair up in a ponytail. "Are you telling them?"

George nods, the two of them walking fast as they both need to be somewhere. "Yeah, I will after my surgery. I'm telling Bailey before, I think. Give her time to hate me while I'm safe in the O.R." He joked.

Eleanora giggled, stopping him before he reached the elevator. She looked up at him, squeezing his arm. "I'm proud of you, Georgie."

"No, I'm pretty sure you hate the idea of me being all the way in Iraq." He joked, Eleanora rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I do, but I'm still proud of you." She glanced at her watch, giving him a quick hug before they separated into two different directions. "I'll see you after your surgery, okay? Good luck!"

"Thanks, Ella!" George called after her, entering the elevator and hitting the button to go to the OR floor.

That would be the last time they'd see each other safe and healthy.

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, Nora." Mark spoke, sliding a coffee to his girlfriend with a quick kiss on her forehead. Eleanora gave him a smile, leaning into him as she took a sip of the coffee.

Her nose scrunched up, looking at the cup as though it personally offended her. Mark furrowed his brow, taking a sip of his own coffee. His face soon resembled his girlfriends, quacking changing the cups.

"Sorry, doll. Mixed them up."

Eleanora smiled, taking a happy sip of her coffee that was actually her's. "I don't know how you like that stuff, Mark. It tastes horrible."

Mark let out a dramatic gasp, putting his hand over his heart. "You're calling my coffee choice disgusting? Yours is practically gas."

Eleanora laughed, the sound of Mark's pager dragging his attention. "Trauma, fun." Mark groaned, quickly pressing his lips against his girlfriends. "Haven't seen you all night and now I can't even drink coffee with you. It's unfair."

Eleanora smiled against the kiss, playfully shoving him. "Go do your job, Mark. I promise we'll spend the entire night together."

Mark smirked, his eyes sparkling as he leaned in to whisper into her ear. "We'll spend the entire night awake, having an amazing, steamy-"

Eleanora's cheeks turned red, pushing him a little rougher now. "Mark Sloan! Go."

He laughed, pressing one more peck to her lips before turning to go to the ER. Eleanora shook her head, a goofy smile on her face as she took another sip of her coffee, focusing on the chart in front of her.

"Idiot." She whispered to herself, flipping the page.

, she thought.

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_______

   one hand in the doorframe of the trauma room she was paged to and swinging her head in, Eleanora called out to Derek.

"You paged, Dr. Shep- Eleanora looked at the patient on the gurney, her eyes widening. The man was mangled, broken all over. . "What happened?"

"Roadkill." Mark joked, Eleanora narrowing her eyes at the dark joke out of her boyfriends mouth. Hunt was obviously aggravated at it too, not looking up from the wound he was trying to get to stop bleeding.

"You mind? He stepped out in front of a moving bus so he could pull a woman out of the way. He's a hero."

Derek motioned Eleanora over, the resident making her way through the chaos. "I need you to keep an eye on Stevens. I'm going to be on this guy all day, and I trust you the most with my service."

"Yeah, of course." She let her eyes dance across the man on the gurney again. "You need me to do anything while I'm here?"

Derek shook his head, focusing on the patient. "No, no, I got it. Page me with any updates. She's having trouble with her memory, so check in on it periodically."