"Carpe diem. How annoying is carpe diem? How are you supposed to plan a life, a career, a family, if you're always carpe-ing the diem? If we all seized every moment of every day, there wouldn't be doctors. Who would sit through Med school? We'd all be too busy, living in the now. Whatever that means. I'll admit, the Romans had a point. You gotta live life. And living means that every morning, when you wake up, you have to choose. It means seizing what life offers in the moment and forging ahead, no matter the weather... or closing the curtains, and shutting out the day"

"the end is near, there's lots to fear"

Jackson met Cristina, April, Lucy and Meredith outside the hotel. "That was hell. Actual physical hell", Lucy said as Jackson joined them in sitting on the curb. "I think I went a tad overboard", Cristina said. "A lot overboard". "They took something from me", Meredith said. "Yeah, that wasn't an exam. That was an interrogation", Jackson said. "Like, way, way, overboard", Cristina continued. "The mind games", Lucy said. "Trick questions", April said. "It felt like al-Qaeda in there", Jackson said. "Next test is June", Meredith said. "June's not bad", Lucy said.

"2013"

"What's done is done", Jackson said. "Let's just not even talk about it anymore". "Anyone know how Alex did?" Lucy asked. "Anyone know if Alex made it?" April added. "Made it?" Cristina questioned. "What do you mean, "Made it"?" Meredith said.

Six Hours Earlier...

Session One

"Welcome to the American Medical Board of Surgery Certifying Examination", the examiner said. "We'll give you four separate scenarios in three 30-minute sessions, 10-minute breaks in between. To pass the test, you must pass two of the three sessions. Now, you can fail a session and still pass. But examiners are not permitted to indicate whether you passed or failed each session. You'll be rated on your ability to diagnose, manage treatment, handle the unexpected, basically, the strength of your constitution in crisis".

"So then, a 65 year old woman has a lisfranc fracture", the examiner said. "She's experiencing pain, swelling and tenderness. What is your course of treatment?" "Okay, so I would get a CT scan to confirm the symptoms and fractures", Lucy said. "And I would get her straight to surgery with a six to twelve week recovery. And a next day discharge".

"What are some potential complications from this surgery?"

"Nerve damage, arthritis, osteomyelitis and other internal damage"

"Like?"

"It can damage the area around the injury including your muscles, nerves, blood vessels, tendons and ligaments"

"What would be your at home recovery recommendations for this patient?"

"Icing the area, elevating the foot as often as possible and resting the foot to prevent further damage"

"What medications would you recommend the patient to be taking for this injury?"

"Over the counter pain medications such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen may reduce pain and swelling"

"Okay, moving on"

"Julia went all FSH on me this morning", Mark said to Derek.

"Is that a sexual term? Wait. You know what? I don't want to know"

"She wants a baby. She wants my baby"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. It's crazy. Until you think about it and realise it's kind of genius. I love Julia. I want Sofia to have some siblings to grow up with. Why wouldn't I do it?"

"Are you asking me if you should have a baby?"

"What, you think I shouldn't?"

"Have a baby or ask me if you should have a baby?"

"So you think I should do it?"

"Well, do you want Julia to be in your life forever?"

"You think I shouldn't do it?"

"Do you have to answer that right now?"

"Hey. Answer what?" Kelly asked, approaching them.

"We were just talking about the cranioplasty?"

"Oh, it's exciting, right?"

"Yeah"

"Charlie Connor, 37. He fell off the roof six months ago", Kelly presented. "He presents for repair of a skull bone defect that occurred secondary to surgical removal of part of his skull. We waited several months for the swelling to subside before... What were you doing anyway?" "Being an idiot", his wife answered. "You gonna fix it next time?" he asked her.

"No, I want the roofers to fix it next time, like they had to do it this time, because Humpty Dumpty almost killed himself"

"You want to pay for it?"

"Okay, we have mirrored the healthy skull and created a custom titanium plate that we will secure to the bone", Derek interjected.

"Titanium? Like The Terminator"

"And I'll take fat from the belly and fill in the gaps, pull your face into shape", Mark said.

"So, Doc, what are you using to fasten the new skull into place? Hexagonal screws?"

"Yes", Derek replied. "You know your stuff", Mark said. "Yeah, we could do this in my garage. Save me a few grand", Charlie suggested.

"You got a 2-millimetre bit?"

"Do I have a 2-millimetre bit?"

"Please! Don't encourage him", his wife said.

"What?"

"No"

The doctors got out of their hotel exam rooms. Meredith immediately ran to the housekeeping cart to vomit. Lucy grabbed her some tissues and she took them. "The first session was so easy", Cristina said, smiling. "I want to punch your face", Meredith said, before puking again. Lucy grabbed more tissues.

Session Two

"A 32 year old male comes in with vertebral subluxation", the examiner said. "How would you diagnose this?"

"Well, obviously I'd want to get an X-ray. But I'd need at least two of the following symptoms to confirm my suspicions. These symptoms are pain and tenderness, asymmetry or misalignment, range of motion abnormality and tissue or tone changes"

"What would be your procedure?"

"I would do a chiropractic adjustment because it is a high velocity low amplitude thrust to the dysfunctional spinal segments to help correct the chiropractic subluxation complex"

"Moving on to the next scenario"

Derek and Kelly were in the skills lab. "Alright, we just need to screw this down and then adjust it to fit", Derek explained, using the model. "Well, Mark said that I get to graft the fat", Kelly said. "How cool is that?"

"Yeah, that's cool"

"I'm gonna be your friend for 30 seconds"

"Okay"

"Julia wants to have a baby with Mark"

"She what? What did you say?"

"Well, I don't know"

"What do you mean, you don't know? What did he say? How did it go down? My 30 seconds of friendly advice is over. I gotta go check on a patient"

"No... Does he want to do it? I mean, did it seem like he was excited about it, or does he seem like, "That's an insane idea"? Because it is"

"Yeah, you know what?"

"I hope you told him that it's an insane idea"

Cristina, Lucy and Meredith were in the bathroom of the hotel. "Are all your questions gross?" Meredith asked. "Gross? What do you mean, gross?" Lucy said.

"They keep asking me about bowels and bloody stools"

"It's general surgery. What did you expect?"

"You're not helping, at all"

"My guy is a freaking fossil", Cristina said. "All the questions are tricks", Lucy said. "They reveal nothing with their faces. I don't know if I saved a life and ended one".

"The last time he was in the OR, it was lit by candles"

"Maybe I'll just live in here, in this stall, in my filth, till I die", Meredith said. There was a knock at the door. "Sick woman in here. Go away", Cristina said. "I really need to get in there", April's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Sorry! Closed for maintenance"

"Please let me in"

"Come back later!"

Final Session

"A 24 year old male comes to you with a serious spinal contusion. What is your course of treatment?"

"I would perform an MRI or related diagnostic test to determine the exact nature and severity of the spinal contusion condition. I would do an emergency spinal decompression procedure to decompress the spinal cord and/or to drain any accumulated blood associated with the diagnosed contusion. This will help the patient to avoid prolonged or sustained damage to the spine as a direct result of the contusion"

"Okay, and we'll leave it there. Thank you for your time"

"The temporalis muscles are atrophied. Any idea why, Dr Ripa?" Derek asked Kelly in the OR. "Lack of use?" she suggested. "It had nowhere to attach since the bone was gone".

"That's right. It's too late for this muscle. It's missed its chance to attach"

"Why are we talking about the temporalis?" Mark questioned.

"Teachable moment, Dr Sloan. Stay out of it. Once you inject the fat into Charlie's temple, the muscle will..."

"Again with the muscle?"

"Yeah, the once healthy muscle will slowly wither to nothing all alone, surrounded by a thick layer of fat"

"Very crafty, Dr Shepherd. Message received, loud and clear"

Charlie was admiring his head in a mirror. "I can't believe it", Mrs Connor said. "My whole Charlie is back. You people are miracle workers". "So how long till I'm back on the ladder?" Charlie asked. "I just got a tile saw and I'm gonna mosaic the stucco".

"You can't... Dr Shepherd, talk some sense into him"

"It's really not my place", Derek said. "But if you want to say something to your husband, please, by all means, you should do it".

"I know how much you love to work on the house, but listen to me, you are clumsy. And I can't stand the thought of almost losing you again. So would you just take a second, and what's left of your brain, and think about how I felt about it? How scared I was to lose you forever?"

"You're right. I'm sorry, babe", Charlie replied. "I'll find a new hobby. Right? Something we can do together, like, bowling"

"No, I hate bowling"

"But you never even tried it"

"Well, you can hate something without trying it"

Kelly walked over to Mark outside the hospital. "Hey", she greeted.

"Hey"

"Thanks for today. For letting me..."

"You did a good job in there"

"Thanks"

"You okay?"

"Don't have a baby with her"

"What?"

"Don't marry her. Don't spend your life with her"

"I'm confused"

"I love you. I was an idiot before. I know, and I'm sorry. I was stupid and I was scared. But I love you. Maybe I'm too late but I want to marry you and have babies with you. I want you. I love you. And I have been trying not to say it. I have been trying so hard to just mash it down and ignore it and not say it. And I'm sure I could find someone who's perfect for me and really great who doesn't have any grandkids or babies with his lesbian BFFs, someone who's really good for me, you know? But it would never work out, because I love you. And you're in me. It's like you're a disease. It's like I am infected by Mark Sloan. And I just can't... I can't think about anything or anybody, and I can't sleep. I can't breathe. I can't eat. And I love you. I just... I love you all the time. Every minute of every day. And I... I... Love you. God, I'm sorry. That was a lot. I just had to get it out. Mark?"

He walked over to her, taking her face in his hands and kissed her. He pulled away, breathing shakily. "I have to go", he whispered.

"Where?"

"I can't do anything with you until I talk to Julia. It's not right"

"Yeah, you're right"

"Talk tomorrow?"

"Yeah"

"I love you, too"

She smiled.

In the ambulance bay, the shuttle with the residents arrived. "Got to pee. Got to pee. Got to pee", April sang, rushing into the hospital. "What time you got?" Jackson asked as they all checked their phones. "12:04", Lucy replied.

"It's supposed to come online at midnight"

"I mean, it's four minutes late. Come on, people", Meredith said. "Crazy doctors, they crashed the system", Alex said.

"I already know I failed, so I don't know why I keep hitting the refresh button"

"Okay, if anyone failed, it was me, because my guy had a vendetta", Cristina said. "Please. I've got the odds on failure", Alex said. "Are any of you on call? I've got a trauma?" a nurse said to them. "No!" they all exclaimed. "Wait. Wait. Wait", Jackson said. "I passed. I passed. I passed!" "I passed! Oh, my god! I passed!" Lucy said. "I passed! I passed! Yes!" Cristina said. "I passed! I passed! Oh, my God! Yeah!" Meredith said. "Alex?" Lucy said, noticing his silence. "It's not coming up", he said.

"Here, just use mine"

He looked at it for a second and threw his head back in relief. Lucy hugged him tightly and he kissed her head. They all did a group hug and jumped up and down. Jackson and Cristina linked arms and started spinning each other around. "Wait. Wait. Where is April?" Jackson said. April came out to the ambulance bay, looking at her phone, shocked. 

hope you enjoyed! comment your opinions! song is let the bad times roll by the vandals