CODING ━ grey's anatomy

chapter thirty nine

"These are your trauma protocols, phone lists, and pagers. Answer every page at a run, not a walk, even if you think it's non emergent. Rule number two, don't be lazy."

The interns scrambled to grab a pager, bumping into each other in the process.

"Your first shift starts now and lasts thirty six hours," Cassie continued. "Interns are at the bottom of the surgical food chain, meaning that you run labs, write orders, work every night until you drop, and you don't complain. Nonetheless, if you ever feel overworked to the point of exhaustion that may interfere with patient care, let me know, and we'll work something out. That's rule number three."

The group rounded a corner, finding an identical nurses station to the one they had started at.

"This is a nurses station, where you'll be able to find patient charts and request assistance when needed. That brings me to rule number four, respect the nurses. They've been here longer than you, they know more than you, and their job is harder than yours. You're not better than them, so don't act like it." Cassie placed her hands on her hips, cocking a brow in inquiry. "Any questions?"

No one said anything, so despite being intimidated, Lily slowly raised her hand.

"Um, sorry, but you said five rules, right?" she wondered. "That was only four."

"Rule number five," Cassie smirked, just as her pager went off. "When I move, you move. Let's go."

☆

"You paged?" Cassie questioned as her interns followed her into a trauma room down in the ER. She froze at the sight of Mark, who she'd been actively avoiding for weeks. "Oh, um, hi. Everyone, this is Dr. Sloan, head of plastics."

"Oh god," Mark groaned from the other side of the room, not yet looking up from the patient. "You brought the babies with you?"

Cassie sent him a pointed look. "They may be babies, but they're my babies, therefore I'll be held responsible if I set them loose and they decide to kill someone."

He shook his head at her, doing a double take when he glanced up to her face.

"Your hair," he said blankly, staring at her with a strange look on his face.

Cassie frowned at the simple statement, her interns doing the same. "What?"

Mark pointed to her head, an odd glint in his eye. "You cut your hair."

Subconsciously running a hand through her shoulder length cut, she tilted her head reproachfully. "Yeah, I did. Do you... do you not like it?"

"No!" he exclaimed, causing the interns to send him weird looks. "No, I love it! I mean, you looked great with long hair, obviously, but this— I mean, it's nice. I like it."

Letting out an uncomfortable laugh, Cassie avoided making eye contact. "Uh, thanks." Mark didn't reply, just staring at her for several seconds. "So, did you need something, or—"

"Oh, right," Mark shook his head, snapping out of whatever daze he was in. "Uh, this is James Santiago, nineteen year old skateboarder who took a nasty fall and ended up with a deep laceration on his right temple. He's stable, and his head CT was clear, but he's sedated from the pain meds, and he'll need a butterfly suture on the open wound. That's where you come in."