CODING ━ grey's anatomy

chapter seventy four

Almost immediately after she'd arrived at the hospital, Cassie, along with what seemed to be the entirety of the surgical department, was paged to the main lobby for Derek's welcome back speech.

"Have you gotten cleared yet?"

Cassie looked up at the sound of Jackson's voice. The question made her instinctively roll her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest with a resentful huff.

"No, I haven't," Looking him up and down, she noticed the ghost of a smile on his face, which prompted her face to drop into a scowl. "Oh, please don't tell me--"

"Cleared this morning," Jackson cut her off, finally allowing himself to send her a teasing, toothy grin. "Have fun doing scut without me."

Letting out a prolonged groan of anguish, she threw her head back, mentally playing a game of darts with a photo of the idiot counselor's face. Dr. Perkins, the man who refused to clear her for surgery simply because she wouldn't talk about all of her deep and dark emotions. Not that he was wrong, or anything, because he wasn't; but Cassie already had a therapist who she knew and trusted, and she would much rather speak to her.

Key word, had.

Apparently, Gary Clark didn't only kill surgeons. He'd shot twenty one people, and nine of them were nurses, security guards, therapists. But Cassie was like, a hundred percent sure that he was now rotting in hell, so at least one good thing came out of that shooting, if nothing else.

"I'm engaged to the Chief of Plastics, was roomates with an ortho attending, and Derek is coming back today," Cassie snorted, watching Jackson's face drop as quickly as hers had moments before. "You may be cleared for surgery, but I'm profiting from nepotism."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Ironic."

With a nudge to his ribs, she smiled, emphasizing the fact that while she was, in fact, bitter over not being cleared, it was all in good spirits. When he smiled back, elbowing her softer than she had to him, Cassie couldn't help but feel grateful. She'd lost George, and she'd almost lost Derek and Alex, and she wouldn't have been able to cope if she'd lost Jackson, too. After all, they'd only just met a few months before, they'd been friendly for even less, and there was practically a lifetime of sibling bonding still waiting to take place. Because that's what they were. Siblings.

Cassie still smiled every time she remembered.

A few minutes had passed before Derek finally walked through the hospital doors, with Mark, Lexie, Alex, Callie, and Arizona joining the two in that time span. By the time they could actually see the top of Derek's head over the sea of doctors, the lobby was so packed that Cassie found it difficult to move comfortably.

"Hey, uh, yes, good morning. Thank you, thank you very much." Cassie raised a brow at the applause which erupted around her when Derek spoke, though that didn't stop her from idly clapping, as well. "Good. Thank you, thank you very much. It's, uh, it's great to be back."

Feeling a pair of arms snake around her waist, Cassie's face contorted for half a second, before she looked back and saw Mark hovering over her with a grin. Ignoring the way Jackson crinkled up his nose in disgust, she leaned back into her fiancé, more than happy to take residence in his hold.