"So, you just took a measuring tape with you before Meredith talked to her roommates?" Alison asked as the three walked through the hospital halls.

"Yeah, why?" He asked noticing Alison's look she had on her face.

"You can't do that, Derek! I know you're excited about this next step with her but I think there's a possibility you could have ruined it before it ever started..."

"You really think so? She didn't even tell her friends about us though..."

"This is exactly my point, Derek," she let out a groan as she thought of her friend's stupidity.

"But-"

"Ugh, forget it," she said in a frustrated tone as she stomped off.

Mark heard her mutters though as she wasn't that quiet saying something along the lines of, "why do I even bother? How much of an idiot can he be?"

Mark laughed slightly as Derek gave him a look.

"Go easy on her," Mark tells his best friend as he pats his shoulder. "I want to say that it's just pregnancy emotions, but it's not."

Derek laughed and shook his head.

"Good luck," Derek patted Mark's shoulder and they went their separate ways.

*

Everyone was in the auditorium as Alison sat next to Mark as she ate her cookie dough bites candy which was something that she had been craving a lot of during her pregnancy. She does a little happy dance in her seat as she took the first handful of bites.

"Sweetheart, can I have some?" he asked his fiance as he pulled the puppy dog eye look on her and she groaned.

"Fine, bubs. But only because you're nice and hot," she told him as she gave him a peck on the lips and poured some into his hands.

"Sweetheart? Bubs? What happened to you two?" Derek asked as he took a seat next to Alison and stole a few of her cookie dough bites.

"Don't make fun us," Alison told her person. "You and Meredith are just as sick."

"We don't have little nicknames for each other."

"Well maybe you should," she told him and continued to much on her cookie dough bites as Mark held out his hand and she gave him some more.

"What do you guys think Richard is going to talk about? Must be pretty important if he called all of us here," Mark commented.

"I dunno," Alison said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Richard doesn't talk to me like he does with Derek," she answered and the couple looked at the man in question.

"Don't ask me," Derek let out a small laugh. "I don't know a thing."

"Uh huh," Alison said, not convinced.

"Hey, you hear anything about what the new rules are?" Erica asked someone and Mark leaned forward as he put his hands on her seat and Alison rolled her eyes.

"I still don't understand why you won't just talk to her," Derek talks quietly to Alison. "It's been months. Shit happens all the time in the OR."

"I don't want her to think that it was okay what she did and we suddenly become good again. What she did was a shitty thing to do. Even Richard talked to her about it."

"Last I heard there's no hand holding, foot rubs, and late night sex sessions," Mark murmurs to Erica and she looks at him shocked.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, no. You're talking about the chief's new rules? I thought you were referring to you and Torres. I've been wrong before," he says and then leans back and wraps an arm around his fiance.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Richard says into the microphone to gain everyone's attention. "We're busy people so I'm gonna try and be brief. I am implementing a new teaching protocol here at Seattle Grace. Some of these rules are new. Some are old. And are going to be newly enforced."

Alison couldn't describe it but she felt like this wasn't going to be a good change.

*

Alison, Richard, Miranda and Doctor Kenley were paged for incoming trauma that was coming in. It felt like it had been years since they had gotten paged for incoming trauma since being named a number twelve hospital but in actuality it was only a couple weeks. In the meantime, she had been doing surgeries from patients that were scheduled from her patients.

"Hey Alison, I know right now isn't the best time-" Alex tried to talk to Alison but was cut off.

"You're right. It isn't. So let's focus on what's really important - our patient's living."

Alex was going to say something but he shut his mouth and nodded his head. Richard gave him a pointed look that told him to straighten up and he did. With this new change, none of them were sure what was happening, and he didn't want to give the chief a reason to hate him. He cared about his job.

"What have we got?" Alison asked the paramedic.

"Seventeen year-old female and her ten year-old brother. Parents were in a car crash that left them dead at the scene. She has a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and possible internal bleeding in the brain."

"Do you know the name?" Alison asked.

"No," Nicole shook her head. "But we were able to get her parents wallets and belongings we thought might be helpful."

"Alright, thank you Nicole, let's go people," Alison called out to Alex and Miranda.

Normally Miranda was in charge but since the patients were younger, Doctor Kenley was surprising letting Alison be, much to all of their surprises. Everyone knew that Doctor Kenley and Alison didn't have the best relationship, but he wanted to see how she would be in charge in the OR. But they also knew it probably had to do with the new rules Richard had placed.

Right away they took the teenager to get an MRI and it showed that she had internal bleeding and contusions on her brain.

"Crap," she exclaimed. "We need Doctor Shepherd. Tyler, can you page him?"

"You got it, Doctor Anderson," he smiled at her and left to go page him.

"What have we got?" Derek asked his person as he met her in the room.

"Internal bleeding and contusions on her brain," Alison told her with arms crossed as they looked at the scans.

"Shit," he rubbed his jawline with his hand. "Her brother has epidural hemorrhage. i'm going to work on her brother first and then I'll come in midway to help your patient. Okay? I can't be in two places at once even if I wish I could."

"No yeah, I understand. They're both serious, I understand," she nodded her head. "See you in the OR."

*

"First, second and third year residents will no longer be allowed to de facto specialize. The practice interferes with the development of a fully rounded surgical education. No more."

*

"Let's get her prepped and ready for the OR everyone," Alison tells the nurses. "Glad to have you back, Rose," she gives her a small welcoming smile.

"Thanks, it's good to be back," she smiles back and helps the other nurses prep the patient for surgery.

*

"Personal relationships, personal loyalties and personal favorites will no longer be a factor in our training program," Richard continues and Alison glances at both Mark and Derek, wondering what this meant for her relationship with Mark.

"Attending's - you will spread your wealth of knowledge equally among all of the interns, residents and fellows. In addition, we will refocus our attention on patient communication and bedside manner. For some of us - this means learning the lost art of humanity and compassion. For others - this means learning how to treat patients without becoming emotionally involved with them."

*

"Shelly Boden, thirty, stage four colon cancer with liver mets. Shelly has been through extensive chemo and radiation. And according to the CT a liver resection at this point could be curative," Izzie tells the group.

"Will be curative," Shelly tells them and Izzie gives a small smile. "Will."

"Do you have any other questions for us?" Miranda asks Shelly and Jenn, who is Shelly's sister.

"What happens if you find more cancer than you expected?" Jenn asks her, concerned and Shelly reaches over to hold her hand.

"No, Jenn. A that's not gonna happen and B Izzie's already answered all of your questions three times."

"Izzie's not the main surgeon," Jenn reminds her sister.

"Izzie's awesome. We love Izzie."

"This is Doctor Grey," Richard steps in, not liking the patient's comment. "She's gonna prep you for surgery and answer anymore questions you have."

"Izzie's not staying?" Shelly asks confused.

"No, I'm afraid not," Richard said. "She got called into another surgery. Izzie go find Doctor Anderson."

"Yes sir."

*

"This is a surgical program," Richard continues his speech. "Psychiatry is on the fifth floor. Let's not confuse the two. In addition, residents, you're interns reflect on you. If they fail, you fail. If they succeed, you succeed. Attending's - that goes for resident's and fellows as well. Teach with enthusiasm. Learn with enthusiasm. We are surgeons. We cut out malignancies. Let's start in the program.

*

"You paged, Doctor Anderson?" Izzie asked the blonde surgeon as Alison handed Tyler some paperwork.

"Yeah," Alison replied as she placed her hand on her bump. "I'm doing surgery right now on a seventeen year old girl. She has a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, internal bleeding and contusions on her brain. Want to scrub in with me and Doctor Bailey? Doctor Kenley will be in too but he's alternating between my patient and her brother."

"I'm in," Izzie smiled.

*

"O'Malley," Richard said as he opens the conference room door. "This is Doctor Epstein. He will be your proctor for today. You about ready, O'Malley?"

"Oh yes sir," he told his boss.

"You have exactly three hours from the moment you open the test. Once you break the seal, you may not leave the room until you have completed the entire exam. Good luck O'Malley," Richard told the intern as he began to leave the room to check on Alison and see how she was doing with her surgery.

"Thank you sir. I can do this. I am not married and I am not cheating on my wife with my best friend," he said to himself as he looked up and realized his proctor was looking at him as well. "Everything's just as it should be."

*

"How's it going, Doctor Anderson?" Richard asked the fellow as she was in the middle of surgery.

"Good, so far," she told him as she looked up at him briefly.

"How much longer do you think you'll be?"

"Sir?" She asked confused.

"It looks like a pipe burst and Mike thinks the pipe burst and might have to turn off the water unless he's able to fix it with it running."

"I mean we just started an hour ago and she's going to be at least another five."

"Crap we have a bleeder," Izzie said. "Suction," he said to a nurse who handed it to her and it helped calm it down.

"I'll leave you all alone," he told the group of surgeons.

*

"We have a problem," Erica said as she walked up to Callie. "Mark Sloan has found us out," Callie let out a small laugh.

"Mark's known from the beginning. I told him," she confessed and looked down at her charts.

"He's Mark Sloan."

"Wait, you don't have a person that you talk to about things?" Callie asked.

"You are the person that I talk to about things. And I like to keep my private life private. From everyone but most definitely from Mark Sloan. Besides not to mention that his fiancé now hates me."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have treated her like shit in front of the patient and try apologizing to her," Callie told Erica and she scoffed slightly in response.

*

"Doctor Sloan," Lexie came up to Mark, feeling a little awkward. She never really spoke to him at work due to his treatment directed at George, but she also knew that she needed him for this and knew that he would help her out since she was friends with Alison. "I'm working with Shepherd today on a pain patient and I read this article I was helping George study."

"Pathetic," he told her.

"Yes, I know. I'm pathetic. But I did read this article and I do have photographic memory and the chief is doing this new thing where he wants the interns to be heard not just seen-"

"Use fewer words, Grey," Mark tells her.

"I think he needs an ENT," she tells him as she blurts it out. "You're an ENT, right? I remember Alison saying that you were."

*

"Come on, babe, you have to fight this. We've done our work, now it's up to you. I know you probably don't want to fight given the trauma you went through and the family you lost, but you have to. You have your whole life ahead of you. Your first boyfriend. Making mistakes. Going to college. Heartbreak. Getting married someday and living your dream, whatever that may be. But you need to fight it," Alison told the patient, who she later found out was named Rachel. "You okay, Doctor Bailey?" Alison asked the resident when she saw the look on her face and followed her out of the patient's room.

Miranda shook her head as she thought of her own baby.

"I just don't know how you do it," she said as tears began to well in her brown eyes and Alison understood what she meant.

"None of this is easy by any means, Miranda," Alison told her. "But someone has to do it, you know? I've always loved kids and have known that they were who I wanted to help early on in my medical career. The patients we see can range anywhere from being newborns to being twenty-one year olds. It's okay to be sad but I love this job because those kids need someone to fight for them and to help them. I love peds. Even on the bad days. Besides, she could wake up. There's always hope until there isn't any."

"Thanks Alison," Miranda told the peds surgeon. "I better go to Grey and help with Shelly's tumor now."

"Good luck!"

*

"Doctor Shepherd, a word," Mark called his best friend over to him as he and Lexie entered the room.

"Yes?" Derek whispered as he got up and had made his way over.

"Hey, um, do you mind if I run a quick test on your patient?"

"He's in a lot of pain, Mark. I don't think he needs a tummy tuck." Derek commented.

"That's funny. No, uh, Doctor Grey came to me with an interesting idea. And uh, unlike you, I'm taking the chief's new teaching protocol seriously. So I listen," he told Derek and Cristina came over to hear what they were talking about.

"I read a thing about swelling and compression of the ethmoid nerve. I believe if we were to stick a cottle elevator up his nose-"

"I- I'm sorry, up his nose?" Cristina asked butting in.

"Doctor Grey's on the right track," Mark commented. "The patient will let us know."

"Okay," Derek agreed to the test which shocked Cristina.

"Mister Patmore, I'm Doctor Sloan," Mark said as he sat in the chair. "I'm the head of Plastic Surgery and an ears, nose and throat specialist," he told the patient as he put on his headset. "I'd like to do a test on you with your permission."

"I've seen sixteen ENT's," he told the surgeon. "Not one could help me."

"Breathe normally," Mark told him as he got his instruments. "I'm going to angle this into here. "Let me know when you feel any pain," he told him and right away the patient screamed out in pain.

"That's it," the patient yells and Mark stopped what he was doing and took off his headset. "That's the pain. That's what's causing the pain! Oh my God! Oh my God," he said this time in relief and Mark got off the stool to go talk to Derek.

"Anterior F-Wave neurovascular complex," Mark told Derek. "A simple middle turbinectomy will fix it. Unless you still want to chop out the front of his brain," he joked and left the room leaving the other two doctors stunned.

"Nicely done," Derek tells Lexie and leaves to go to his patient.

*

Erica came into the room that Callie was in and sat down in front of her.

"Look, we don't even know what we are yet. So how does Mark Sloan know? Why are you talking to him instead of me?" She asked and just then Mark came into the room.

"Ladies," he greeted the duo as he was getting some coffee for himself and water for Alison. "Am I interrupting?"

"Your timing is perfect," Erica tells him.

"Really? You about to feel her up?"

"I still don't know what Alison sees in you," Erica remarks and then gets up to leave.

"Stop, you have to stop," Callie tells her person and he starts to laugh.

"I can't."

"Seriously - she hates it."

"That's why I can't," Mark does a hand motion. Callie throws her straw at him as he tries to dodge it.

*

"So you told Derek you think I should kick them out?" Meredith asked Cristina as she sat down at the table for lunch.

"No," Cristina defended herself. "I told him I want them out. Me. Not you and I only said it because he wouldn't stop talking."

"So you don't think I should kick them out? Because I think I'm going to. I think it's the adult thing to do. Don't you?"

"What does your shrink say?"

"I quit my shrink," Meredith confessed which shocked Cristina. "I'm happy. We're happy."

"Hey, can I sit here?" Lexie asked the two and George came through the cafeteria. "George come sit here! How did it go?"

Instead of answering he laid his head on the table first.

"I wish I had an inflamed nerve in my nose," George moaned.

"There is no way that guy has been living at an eight," Cristina said in denial. "What a wimp. His eight? My three."

"I know I never sit with you guys for lunch but mind if I sit here today?" Alison asked and they looked her. "I have a patient whose in a coma and her younger brother whose ten years old passed away."

"You win," Meredith and Cristina said at the same time as Meredith ate a carrot. "What happened?"

"Car accident. Mom and dad died at the scene. Her brother died after Derek performed surgery and he was only ten."

"That's awful," Lexie chimed in as she ate a carrot.

"I couldn't imagine being in that position at such a young age," Alison said as she sighed and ate her strawberry.

"Hey, uh, Doctor Anderson, mind if we talk now?" Alex asked, hesitant.

He had never been the one to feel unsure of himself. Even when he didn't know the answer to a question. He was always a cocky son of a bitch but it was then that Alison saw him being human.

"Okay," she murmured quietly. "Out in the hallway though."

"Um, how did you diagnose that nerve? Because I've never even heard of that condition before," Cristina asked her intern.

"I remembered an article from the British journal of ENT and it was issue number forty-seven page nineteen from 1964," Lexie commented and when everyone except Alison had stared at her in wonder she laughed slightly. "Photographic memory."

"Dude, Lexipedia," Alex commented.

"I hate you," George whined which made Alison laugh.

"Don't hate me, I can help you," she told him as she fed him.

"Karev, now," Alison told the resident.

Alex nodded his head and followed the ped's fellow out of the cafeteria. He honestly felt like he was shitting his pants. It had been months that he had been trying to get her to talk to him. To apologize for the way he treated her. The other residents and Lexie all craned their necks as they watched the two walk outside.

"What do you think they're going to talk about?" Cristina asked no one in particular.

"No idea," Meredith shrugged her shoulders. "They haven't talked in months though. Bet it has something to do with Izzie."

"Why does everything have to do with Izzie?" George whined as he felt for his best friend.

"Because it does. Well, sort of," Lexie said.

"Spill," Cristina said as she leaned forward and Lexie told them what happened that day.

"What did you want to talk to about, Karev?" Alison asked the resident.

"I wanted to apologize."

"For?"

"Your not going to make this easy on me, are you?" He asked gently with a small smirk which she gave him one back.

She folded her arms and gave him an unamused look.

"Alright," he took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm sorry for how I treated you that day with Rebecca. I know now you were you were only helping because Izzie asked you for a second opinion and it was wrong of me to call you a bitch and tell you to stay out of it and to get lost."

"Just letting you know, if you talked to Chief Webber the way you did with me, you wouldn't have been given a second chance. But thank you for your apology," she gave him a weary smile. "I appreciate it."

"I really do mean it."

"I know, but just so you know Alex, I'm watching you."

"I'm okay with that," he said as he let out a sigh of relief as he expected it to go a lot worse. He wasn't even expecting her to forgive him but he was glad she did. "Thanks and congratulations on the baby."

"Thanks."

*

"Hey, can we get her labs from yesterday?" Alison asked Tyler to which he nodded and was about to ask something as he watched in horror as Alison slipped on her butt and hit her head.

"Doctor Alison, are you alright?" Tyler asked as her eyes were still closed.

He checked her pulse and noticed that it was still good. Tyler paged Mark, the OB-GYN, and Miranda.

"What the hell happened, Tyler?" Miranda asked as she noticed Alison was still asleep.

She stepped in the puddle of water and shook her head as she knew Richard hadn't gotten it fixed yet.

"She started talking to me one minute then the next she fell. I checked her vitals and she seems good but she hasn't opened her eyes yet."

"Did you page an OB and Mark? He'll want to know."

"Yeah, there they are," he pointed at them.

It was then that Alison started to stir and she let out a groan as she opened up her eyes. She looked around then gasped as she realized what had happened.

"My baby," she said as she placed a hand on her small bump. "Is my baby okay?"

"The OB is here to check you out," Tyler told her with a reassuring smile. "Are you okay?"

Tyler and Miranda helped her to stand up as Mark replaced Miranda's.

"What's going on? How are you Alison?" The OB asked, concerned.

"I fell and hit my head. I didn't even notice the water."

"It's okay," she said as she tried to calm down the patient. "Let's get you and baby checked out, alright?" Alison and Mark nodded their heads as he held her hand and helped her on the bed as she lifted her shirt.

"There is a little spotting, which can be normal after having a fall like that," the OB told the couple. "I would be concerned if there was more but let's listen to your baby boy's heartbeat, yeah?"

"Yeah," the couple replied, nervous. If anything happened to their baby, Alison wouldn't forgive herself.

Seconds later the adults in the room heard the thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

The couple let out a sigh of relief and Mark pressed a kiss to the side of her head and she closed her eyes in relief.

"Just keep an eye on your spotting," Morgan, the OB, told the couple. "I would take it easy today and if you have any more surgeries for the day I would cancel them and take some time for you and your baby. Would you like a printout of your baby?"

"Thank you, Morgan, and yes please."

She handed the couple the print out and left the room, allowing them some time to themselves as Alison cleaned the gel off her stomach.

"Cancel all of my surgeries the rest of the day," Mark told Lexie to which she nodded her head after he paged her and Alison shook her head but then stopped as the motion bothered her and she held the ice pack to the back of her head.

"No, don't cancel them, Lexie. He's going to do a once in a lifetime surgery on a guy who has lived in pain for years."

"Fine, but I'm taking you home, alright?" He asked in a serious tone and she nodded her head.

"Okay."

*

"You okay?" Mark asked fiancé as he made their way through his hotel room after a long afternoon with not being with her.

She was still on the couch in the same position she was in when he left hours ago. Except this time she was watching Sex and the City. Her favorite character was Charlotte.

"Mark, I told you I'm fine. The OB told you both baby and I were fine."

"Sweetheart," Mark started off with the rocky conversation they had been having off and on ever since they got engaged. "We're gonna have to set a date at some point for the wedding."

"I know, I know," Alison said as she began to get slightly stressed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I just was kind of thinking that we would have the baby first then maybe set a date for our wedding? I don't want to walk down the aisle looking like a beached whale," she whined and also getting frustrated at Mark that he didn't seem to understand that she had been feeling this way for a while.

Mark let out a long sigh. This had been their first real argument they had since becoming an official couple. They didn't really count the disagreement about his relationship with Addison as a fight.

"I know you feel like that but I just want to marry you," he let out a small pout and Alison suddenly felt bad for lashing out at him earlier without taking his feelings into consideration.

Instead of saying something right now, she walked towards him and sat on his lap as she wrapped her arms around his neck and his automatically resting on her waist while one was on her thigh and she played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I'm sorry," she told him, finally calming down after she had been pacing back and forth. "I hear what you're saying, I do. And I want to get married and be your wife just as much as you do. But would it be so bad to wait? We technically only have three more months and then he's here and we have so much to do to prepare for him. We have to set up his nursery, think of where we want to live, birthing classes..."

"Woah, woah, woah," Mark backed her up and she stared at him with her eyebrows furrowed. "Birthing classes? What the hell do you do in birthing classes?"

"Mark!" She giggled slightly. "They help our partner to understand how to best support us during child birth, detailed information about labor, birth, and pain relief choices. You didn't think we weren't not going to do them did you?"

"But-"

"No buts and that's final."

"Okay mom," he let out a scoff but smiled big at the thought.

"Okay dad," she mocked him and he chuckled.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed.

"What?"

"I'm going to be a dad," he commented as realization settled in and she grabbed a pillow on their couch and hit him in the face with it as he let out a small noise. "What was that for?"

"Please tell me you aren't just realizing this."

"No," he acted offended. "It's just becoming more real."

"I love you, Mark," she told him as she curled more into his side and he wrapped his arms around her as he put one hand on her small baby bump.

"I love you too, Ali," he said as he looked into her blue eyes and leaned down as he pecked her lips multiple times which made her smile.

"Did you ever think we would end up here?" She asked him.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure. I was still stuck in my old ways before I came here and I don't know," he let out a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Something changed in me when I decided to come here. I realized that the person who I had become was not only hurting me but those around me and I didn't want to be that person anymore. You've changed me for the better and I can't thank you enough for that," he told her as he cupped her face.

Her blue eyes were misting slightly as they had welled up with tears. It was those damn pregnancy hormones, she swore. She leaned forward and pecked his lips.

"Mind if you get the pint of ice cream out?" Alison asked her fiancé and he nodded his head as he got the caramel macchiato flavor out with two spoons and walked back over as he lifted her feet up and sat them in her lap and began massaging them.

"What do you say if we order room service tonight?" He asked as she let out a moan from the feeling of his hands massaging her swollen feet and the ice cream she ate.

"That sounds good with me. Can I order a pizza?"

"You can order anything you like."

"So how'd the surgery go?" She asked as she handed him the pint of ice cream and he ate some.

"No surgery," he says as he lets out a sigh and takes another bite.

"No surgery? What? Why?"

"Richard sent all of our patients to Mercy West. Apparently the ceiling crashed on a patient in surgery. Patient's good but no surgery."

"That sucks. Seems like you need the more ice cream more than I do."

He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it in appreciation.

"I still don't understand why you like Charlotte so much. Samantha is much more my style," he said and that made her laugh.

--

I am so sorry for the super late update but I hope you guys enjoyed nonetheless. I hope to get back into the swing of things since I started school but I have so many projects and papers to write in my final semester.

Thanks for being patient!!

Hoping to update more books today since it snowed here last night and today.