˚♡ ⋆｡˚

CHAPTER THREE
winning a battle, losing the war.
season one, episode three.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Billie had already moved into Meredith's house, and honestly, she couldn't have been happier. The place was spacious and well-decorated and she even had her own room (the best one, she had picked it out herself based on strategic analysis), which meant she could spend time alone if she wanted, but also socialize if she felt like it. The only downside to the house was that there was only one bathroom, but she could live with that.

Now, Billie found herself strolling down the sidewalk towards the hospital, holding two carton cups of coffee on her hands. She had chosen to walk today, as she wanted to breathe in some fresh air. Soon, she spotted Derek and Bailey standing by the sidewalk, waiting to cross the street, so she caught up to them.

"Hi," she greeted Derek with a smile and handed him one of the coffees as some sort of unspoken gratitude.

However, her simple word was answered by immediate hushing coming from Bailey, who waved her hand with her eyes fixated on the street in front of her, as if she was really concentrated on something.

"Well, good morning to you too, Dr. Bailey," Billie raised her eyebrows towards Derek as she sipped from her coffee, but the man just formed his lips into a line.

"I know I've forgotten something," the resident frowned. "Something is happening today. I know I should know what it is, but I just can't..."

"Alright, nice talking with you, Dr. Bailey," Derek nodded at the short woman as he held his own coffee.

"It's right in front of my face," Bailey ignored.

"Well, whatever it is, Dr. Bailey," Billie smiled. "I'll be waiting for you in the hospital. You know, to start rounds."

Derek laughed softly through his nose, yet the resident remained silent, which Billie took as her cue to shrug her shoulders and cross the street while she sipped contently from her coffee. However, the minute she stepped foot onto the pavement, Bailey's voice followed by Derek's screaming and a hard body colliding onto her side made her scream.

"Careful, Black!"

"Billie!"

The bike that crashed against Billie caused her to fall onto the ground, drop both her bag and her coffee and hit her head against the rough pavement. Derek immediately rushed in her direction and pulled her away from the traffic to avoid her getting run over. Billie winced and touched her her forehead to feel a horizontal gush across her skin, just as an army of bikes rolled past them.

"Fuck me," Billie cussed as she felt the hot, sticky liquid running down her forehead and the throbbing pain all over her skull.

"Billie, are you okay?" Derek immediately crouched down next to her.

His eyes landed on the wound, which he didn't touch to avoid infections. Dr. Bailey crouched down next to Derek as well in order to check on her intern.

"Was that what you were forgetting, Dr. Bailey?" Billie groaned from her spot on the ground.

"You bet your ass it was."

☆

"It's not fair, Derek. Why do they get to doctor around while I have to sit here, looking stupid, like I'm not capable to do it as well? I already told you, I'm okay," Billie complained, watching through the window of the room as her intern class fought over patients in the ER.

"You are capable enough, just not with a head lac this size and a potential concussion," Derek raised accusing eyebrows at her. "I'll page Plastics afterwards so they can get you sewn up. Now shut up and tell me if you're feeling any dizziness, confusion, ringing in your-"

"Ringing in my ears, amnesia, irritability. I know the symptoms of a grade two concussion, you know? I'm a doctor," Billie said. "I'm just feeling a little dizzy, that's all. It'll go away."

Derek dedicated her a stern look, making sure she knew he wasn't letting her leave any time soon. Billie rolled her eyes, knowing Derek's stubbornness would probably lead to getting prescribed a few days off from work (which she would not do).

"You know, Chief of Neuro didn't have to arrange his schedule to do this, you could just let me go. And besides, you think I'm letting one of those useless-ass interns from Plastics touch my face? Just hand me the kit, I'll do it myself," Billie raised an eyebrow.

"I'd like to see you try," Derek grumbled under his breath.

Billie, seemingly amused, glanced at the attending from head to toes, then back up. He was concentrated on the gush on her forehead, examining it without touching it with a pair of latex gloves on. After that, he retrieved his flashlight from his pocket, but Billie stopped him, taking the opportunity to tease.

"Is that a challenge, Dr. Shepherd?" she smiled excitedly.

"No. I won't have you screwing up your face because you think you can do something not even I can. Now stop being stubborn," the attending lectured.

"I can do it! Please, just let me show you. Promise not to disappoint."

Derek lowered his gaze from the lac to her eyes, dedicating her a severe look. Billie stared back with a pleading hint to her expression, and for a second, the atmosphere shifted in order to adjust to their little staring competition. However, Derek finally caved with a sigh (truly, it was impossible to beat Billie on a staring competition, as she had one of those gazes that made you feel completely naked, and plus, she was able to not blink for very long periods of time). Derek finally handed her the suture kit.

She laughed out of excitement and the attending held the mirror in order for her to be able to see herself. Billie guided the needle towards her head lac through her reflection and began stitching it up perfectly, causing Derek's expression to crease into a hard frown. The intern finally finished suturing and smiled proudly.

"See? Told you. I'm good at what I do," she wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "And I don't lie."

"Impressive technique," Derek admitted, his face flashing with recognition. "Who taught you how to do that?"

"Oh, just an old friend back in New York," Billie dismissed his question with a wave of her hand, watching as the attending placed the bandage over the wound to keep it from unwanted infections.

"New York? How come I didn't know you were from New York? I lived there my whole life."

"There's plenty of things we don't know about each other, Shepherd. Maybe we should catch up," Billie raised an offering eyebrow. "Say, tonight after your shift at Joe's."

"Are you asking me on a date? Because if you're asking me on a date, then you should probably know I have a thing going on with someone," Derek crossed his arms over his chest with an amused smirk.

"Of course I'm not asking you on a date, dude, you're, like, one of my only friends," Billie frowned, disgusted at the idea of dating Derek Shepherd. "And even if I was, there's nothing going on between you and Meredith. You have the hots for her, and everybody knows that, but it's not like you're dating or anything."

"Whaaat?" Derek drawled like a little kid. "I never said it was Meredith."

"Please," Billie rolled her eyes. "Okay, can I go now?"

"No, I wanna get a head CT in case there's any internal injuries. And I still need to make sure you don't have a blown pupil or something," Dr. Shepherd regained seriousness again, following Billie towards the door but not letting her out.

"Oh, yes, 'cause I have a ginormous brain bleed and I'm dying," the intern said sarcastically.

"You could."

"Well, I don't think it's fair that somebody else is put in my case and gets to scrub in while I lay unconscious on the table. Naked, unconscious. I'm not gonna lose my dignity like that," she stated. "You know, that's the only reason why I'm never gonna allow myself to die. You'll never see me on an operating table."

"Bil," Derek laughed. "You're not dying, I just wanna make sure you're out of the woods. Just sit down. Please.

Again, intern and attending dove into a stern staring contest, but this time, surprisingly, the one who caved was Billie. She let out an annoyed groan.

"Fine. Whatever. Just make it quick."

☆

After Derek took Billie up for a head CT, found out there was nothing wrong with her head and got a few I told you so's from the intern, Derek still managed to convince her to take the day off, although Billie refused to go back home. Her excuse was that the house was empty during the day and she'd get bored, so Derek made her promise she would stay by his side the entire day. So now Billie was following Derek into the ER for a consult.

"John Doe, mid-thirties pedestrian, hit by a motorist swerving to avoid a bike," Cristina presented. "GCS three, pupils fixed and dilated. Atropine given for a pulse in the forties. BP, one eight three over one twelve. Pulse-ox, ninety-eight percent."

"Chest showed widened mediastinum and head CT revealed cerebral edema. He's gotten seventy of mannitol, dexamethasone ten, and a gram of phenytoin," Izzie added.

"Get him to the OR?" Cristina asked.

As the interns spoke, Burke and Derek flung around radiographies, examining the man with their flashlights, feeling his abdomen, amongst other things, all while Billie stood by the wall wearing the patient's gown she hadn't bothered to take off after the head CT and with a red Jell-O on her hand.

"That guy's totally gorked," she said through a mouthful of strawberry jelly, pointing at the body in front of them with her plastic spoon.

"What happened to her? She's freaking me out," Izzie asked, gesturing with her head towards Billie.

"Fake concussion."

"Potential concussion."

Billie and Derek said simultaneously, dedicating each other brief glares.

"Is he gorked?" Burke asked.

"Looks like," Derek confirmed as he checked his pupils.

"Ha, told ya!" Billie laughed, turning towards Izzie and Cristina. "You're totally not getting any OR time, bitches."

"Dr. Black," Burke called out warningly.

"Well, apparently, I'm not Dr. Black today, I'm a patient, so technically, that gives me permission to say whatever I want. Right, Chief?" the intern raised her voice to speak up to Derek.

Everyone directed her weird looks at the nickname she had adopted for Derek, but didn't get any comments on it, to which she stuck another spoonful of jelly into her mouth.

"Uh, Doctor Shepherd, so he's not going to the OR?" Izzie asked in the seek for confirmation.

"No. Do an EEG and confirmatory tests," Derek put away his flashlight. "If he doesn't respond in six hours, declare him."

After that, doctor Shepherd walked through the door, gesturing for Billie to follow. However, she stayed one more second, staring at the interns who looked disappointed.

"Declare him? Declare him what?" Izzie asked.

"Brain-dead," Cristina confirmed.

"See? Told you," Billie smiled triumphantly. "Dead as a doornail."

☆

Derek and Billie leaving the trauma room came along with a scold from part of the attending due to having Billie mess with the rest of the interns, which even as a patient, wasn't something she should've been doing. After that, while Derek had a brief talk with Meredith, Billie had dedicated her time to watch melancholically how cramped the ER was, knowing she could've been helping in the pit but instead she was stuck with a nanny for what was left of the day. She struggled understanding whether it would've been a good idea if she had just gone home.

The hospital was on full work mode for the rest of the day, which caused Billie's mood to turn to shit knowing she was losing the opportunity to keep working. She was forced to follow Derek everywhere, but wasn't allowed to even look at any of the patients, let alone make comments on their cases. Not to mention the fact that the attending would push her into a trauma room every two hours to ask her the same questions, check her pupils and make sure she still wasn't dead.

At some point, Billie had even considered the option that perhaps Derek actually wanted her dead, and he was just getting impatient over the slow process.

It was a pain in the ass, and even if she understood Derek's concern, she couldn't help but groan every time it was time for a new check-up, mostly because she knew the attending was over-caring for her and she could've gone just fine with half the follow-ups.

Billie didn't get a chance to speak to any of the members of her intern class, except for an unfortunate encounter with none other than Alex Karev as she left the bathroom. During it, he had, once again, managed to try and steal a kiss, but Billie was quick to dismiss him with an eye-roll and continue her journey down the hall. After that, she managed to survive the entire day avoiding him and urging Derek to go down different halls just so she wouldn't have to deal with Karev again.

Billie was seriously considering filing a complaint for sexual harassment to HR.

As they had agreed, once Derek's shift finished that night around eight, Billie waited as he changed back into his street clothes and then they crossed the street over to Joe's bar, much to the attending's dislike since he still insisted that Billie should be spending the day in bed. However, the girl would never listen to him.

"I wanna get super drunk and forget I lost an entire day because of you," Billie pressed her forehead against the bar, but immediately regretted it, as the wound on her forehead, despite covered, was still fresh.

"You know, drinking after a concussion can lead to further damage. You could die, Bil." Derek joked as he sipped from his glass, although he had promised himself not to drink anything else since he knew that, in the end, he'd be the one forced to drive a very drunk Billie back home.

"So what? Now I'm supposed to sit here as you drink your damn scotch? You're not my father," she scoffed.

"No, but I care about you, and the last thing I need is to be calling the morgue on you., Derek rolled his eyes.

"It's just a few shots, few drinks... no harm done," Billie smiled innocently, hoping her simple words would convince him. "Please, I promise I'm not a drunk or anything, I'm just a twenty-three-year-old with tequila issues."

"Pretty sure that's called alcoholism."

"Shut up, I'm drinking."

"The only reason I'm allowing this it's because it was just a grade one concussion, but if it had gone any further than that, I'd be dragging your ass home right now," Derek reproached with a wiggle to his eyebrows, sipping from his glass.

Billie dismissed his words with an eye-roll and then proceeded to order herself two shots of vodka, knowing very well that it would be enough for her to start feeling tipsy. Derek glared at her as she succumbed in front of the two small glasses, downing the burning liquor and smiling pleased after it. However, his expression soon fell.

"Wait, you're twenty-three? I was almost twenty-eight when I started my residency back in New York," he exclaimed, awed.

"Tsk, old man," she teased, but was quick to further elaborate. "I, uh... I began my undergrad when I was fifteen and joined med school at nineteen, which made me... almost four years younger than everyone else. I'm that good."

"You're a child."

"Shut your bitch-ass trap, you're a child, too."

They laughed gently and then Billie gestured to Joe to order herself a glass of tequila. She pretended not to see Derek's stern expression and swung a gulp of the liquor as soon as the glass was in her hand.

Both friends underwent casual conversation in which Billie found out that Derek had had a wife before he moved to Seattle, but they had gotten a divorce after she had cheated on him with his best friend. That caused an already tipsy Billie to almost shed a tear as she wrapped her arms around his friend, trying to comfort him.

After that, it was her turn to speak, so avoiding the subject of family, she immediately started talking about how she had also been committed to someone before, although not in marriage. She didn't go too deep into the topic, knowing the dark things that were disguised within it, but she made sure to mention to Derek how they had broken up after long years of debate.

As the different types of alcohol mixed inside her began to act up, Billie felt her brain becoming blurry at some points. Her drunk self spat out facts that her sober persona would've never said out loud, but she was too indulged in the sweetness of tequila that she couldn't even tell.

"You know... I visited my mama at the cemetery, like, two days ago or something," she slurred, causing Derek to freeze on his tracks, not knowing how to react. "We drank wine and I told her that... I haven't had sex in ages now. Like, ages."

Billie kept a smile on her face throughout her whole speech, rocking her body left and right slightly like who dances to a soft melody. Joe kept dedicating eyebrow-raised glances at Derek as in a silent advice to take her home, but the attending would simply form his lips into a line, knowing there was no way he'd be able to drag her ass back to the car at this point.

His eyes widened at Billie's sudden confession, not expecting the sudden turn on the conversation. For a second, Derek had expected the girl to start talking about the grief of the loss, or whatever, but when her words resulted in the topic of sex, he had to hold in a laugh.

"I... had sex four days ago," he nodded, directing his mind back to Meredith once again.

"No need to rub it all over my face, dick," Billie said. "I'm starved from sex. I'm sex-starved. I feel like I've revirginized all over again. And I'm gonna dry off and wither into the nothingness if I don't fuck someone soon."

Derek limited himself to chuckle, knowing the girl wasn't in the right state of mind to which she would probably not remember anything the next morning. What she would have, Derek knew, was a massive hangover.

"You," Billie pointed at him, making him arch an eyebrow as he waited for her following words. "You're pretty... maybe we should have sex."

Derek almost choked on his own spit.

"Right. I'm driving you home now."