Surgeons are detail-oriented. We like statistics and checklists and operating procedures. Our patients live because we enjoy following the steps but as much as we love to always rely on the numbers, the plan, we also know that some of the greatest medical discoveries have happened by accident. Mold : Penicilin. Poisonous tree bark : a cure for Malaria, a little blue pill for high blood pressure, impotence be damned. It's hard for us to accept that it's not always the hard work or attention to detail that will get us the answers we are looking for.

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Victoria Shepherd had spent the last week at the hospital working non-stop. It was the only way that prevented the cardiosurgeon from having a nervous breakdown over Jackson Avery. Her relationship with the blue-eyed man deeply confused her. One minute he seemed to hate her guts and the next he kissed her at midnight on New Year's Eve.

The fact that the two of them were seeing each other on a daily basis at the hospital wasn't helping the woman to forget about him. Not at all. Jackson hadn't been working on her service this week but that didn't mean that she wasn't constantly running into him. Like right now for exemple when he barged into the E.R with Owen Hunt, immediately taking Victoria's attention away from the discharched papers that she was in the process of signing. She was so entranced by the resident that she failed to notice that Arizona Robbins was coming her way.

"Victoria, hey. I have an old patient up in oncology. And I know that you're really busy with surgeries and..." Arizona trailed off once she noticed that her colleague wasn't paying her any attention "st-staring at Owen Hunt..." The pediatric surgeon completed after following Victoria's gaze.

"What ? No, I'm not staring at Dr. Hunt." Victoria denied, finally noticing Arizona.

"If you say so." Dr. Robbins replied, not buying it.

"I do." She affirmed, firmly.

"I've been watching you." Arizona told her after a moment of silence. "Not in a creepy way, I swear. You look kind of sad. I felt the same when I moved here. I knew no one and felt really lonely. I would have liked to have a friend. So, you're going to be friends with me."

"I am ?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow. Since she had been working at the hospital Arizona and her must have exchanged only two sentences with each other which were linked to work. Plus, the blonde attending was dating Callie Torres who happened to be Mark's best friend.

"Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm an awesome friend. So tonight you'll come out with Callie and me... girls' night. Maybe Bailey will come, too. Say yes to girls' night." Arizona urged the brunette with a creepy smile.

"Yes to girls' night."

"Yay !" Arizona shouted, exhilarated.

"Oh, yay." Victoria repeated faking enthiusiasm.

"Problem solved. Now for my patient. Elliot Meyer. He needs a lung transplant." Arizona explained to her colleague as Alex Karev was passing them by.

"Oh, hey. Uh, I'm down with a l-lung transplant." Alex told the head of pediatric.

"Oh, no... because you slept with my girlfriend, and I find that when I look at you, I want to hit you with a brick."

"Dude, that was, like, years ago."

"Maybe, but jealousy's a green-eyed monster, and if you ask any one of my kids, they'll tell you, there's no reasoning with a monster. Dude, run away before I find a brick."

Alex let out a scoff before leaving the room.

"As my new friend, don't judge me for that." Arizona asked the cardiosurgeon before leading her to her patient's room.

"I won't." The youngest Shepherd chuckled.

"You need something Dr. Grey ?" Arizona asked Lexie when she noticed her silently standing on the doorstep, preventing the women from leaving the E.R.

"I- I'm on Dr. Maloney service today." Lexie announced.

"Oh." Arizona let out, sharing a wary look with the resident while Victoria was cursing the world in her head, trying to not let her irritation show on her face. "Well, we were just going to see one of my patient so, follow us."

°•°•°•°•°•

"Has Dr. Maloney told anything to Derek about me ?" Cristina Yang asked her best friend as they were putting their scrubs on in the locker room.

"No. Why ?"

"I think she hates me."

"No, she doesn't." Meredith dismissed the resident with a roll of her eyes.

"She told me that I needed to better my social skills."

"It was an advice. It doesn't mean anything at all. Plus, would she have let you operate with her afterwards if she hated you ?"

"I'm not on her service today."

"Cristina, since she came to work here you were on all of her cases. They need to rotate the residents." Meredith tried to reason her.

"She hates me. I'm screwed." Cristina mumbled.

"Who hates you ?" Alex asked her as he walked into the locker room.

"Nobody. Mind your own buisness, Evil spawn." Cristina snapped at him.

"Cristina thinks that Dr. Maloney hates her, which is completely false."

"Well, welcome to the club, Robbins hates me." He told his friend.

"Why ?"

"Because, I slept with Callie."

"That was like years ago." Meredith scoffed.

"That's what I told her. She kicked me out of a lung transplant."

"A lung transplant ?" Cristina questionned him, her attention was picked.

"Yeah, I overheard Robbins talking about it to Maloney."

"I need to be on this." Cristina told them before hastily leaving the room.

°•°•°•°•°•

"A year after Mr. Meyer's lymphoma went into remission, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that he developed as a side effect to the radiation he received during his cancer treatments." Lexie said presenting the case to Dr. Maloney.

"This isn't new information. I thought you said they could help." Jill, the patient's sister told Arizona pissed off.

"Yeah, but they're new to the case, and it's important to review the entire history." Robbins gently explained to the woman.

"Great. Uh, can't you do that on your own time ?" The young woman snapped at Lexie and Victoria.

"Jill." Her brother, Elliot reprimanded her. "Sorry. My sister usually waits a few more minutes before going full bitch on new guys."

"All right." Victoria said after flipping through his file. "Let me tell you what I know. It is gonna be very difficult to find you a new set of lungs. Donor lungs are scarce. 85% get thrown out because they get too inflamed while the donor is brain dead. And because your cancer could come back with the immunosuppressants you'd be on, you are considered a very high-risk candidate. There are just too many other patients on the list that are lower risk." The surgon said telling him frankly the hard truth.

"Elliot survived leukemia and lymphoma. Nobody does that, but he did. He deserves lungs." Jill retorted, not understanding how this new surgeon who just had been informed of the case could dismiss her brother like that.

"Unfortunately, these are the rules the transplant board sets out. I'm sorry." Victoria sadly told them before leaving the room, Lexie on her tail.

The surgeon stopped at the nurse station to get one of her patient's file before going to see him. Cristina had seen her through the door and had been waiting for her. She was about to beg for the surgeon to be on her service but Lexie beat her to it.

"Dr. Maloney, have you looked into the research they're doing with ex vivo transplants ?"

"Ex vivo ?" Victoria repeated the only two words that got into her ears as she was checking her files.

Seeing her chance, Cristina hastened to explain the procedure to the attending.

"Well, it's a procedure where they take damaged donor lungs, the ones we would normally throw away and repair them on bypass. Are we doing one ?"

"There is no "we" Dr. Yang, you're not on my service." Victoria told Cristina, not even sparing her a glance.

"Yes, I know but Dr. Bailey doesn't need me. So I am available for your ex vivo lung case."

"I don't have an ex vivo lung case because it's only been done in Switzerland and in Canada on patients in much better shape than our patient."

"Yes, but... Okay, performing a procedure as hard-core as this will get you a lot of recognition... more than you already have, I mean. More awards. Maybe a third Harper Avery Award."

"I don't care." Victoria told her before walking off.

"So you think this could be an ex-vivo lung case ?" Cristina asked Lexie after taking Elliott's file from her hands.

°•°•°•°•°•

"Hey." Callie greeted Victoria as they were charting near each other.

"Oh, hi." Victoria replied surprised by the fact that the surgeon was talking to her.

"I heard that we were going out tonight."

"Yes. Arizona suggested it and then very much insisted on it."

"I bet she did." Callie smiled.

"Listen, we can cancel. I know that you're friend with Mark and I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable situation."

"No, no, no." The orthopedic surgeon retorted. "Yes, I'm friend with Mark but that doesn't mean that I can't talk to you or have a drink with you. You seem fun."

"Well not so much lately." Victoria murmured as Callie's pagers went off.

"I have to go. I'll see you tonight." The attending told her before running off.

"Dr. Maloney ?" A resident called after her.

"Yes. Who are you ?"

"Charles Percy. I'm a fourth year resident."

"What do you want ?"

"I- I- Okay, I know you love Yang. She gives you the warm and fuzzies with her magical, special heart skills. But those lungs you're transplanting belonged to a patient of mine. And it would mean a lot to turn his death into something meaningful-"

"I'm sorry. What are you talking ? What lungs ?" Victoria interrupted him, deeply confused.

"Oh." Charles said understanding that Dr. Maloney wasn't aware of the situation. "I think that it"s better if you'd follow me."

Victoria walked with Dr. Percy while he explained to her what Cristina Yang and Lexie Grey had done behind her back. Once, the two of them reached the O.R where the two residents were ventilating the lungs, Victoria was seeing red. Lexie was the first to noticed her arrival and when she did all colors left her face. Cristina noticed Lexie's change of demenor and turned her head to see a very angry Dr. Maloney. The older resident told Dr. Grey to replace her and stood up from her seat in order to try to explain herself to head of cardio.

"You went behind my back. You used my name." Victoria started to list all the wrongs that Cristina had done.

"Yes, yes, but we followed the protocol. We didn't tell the patient."

"You stole lungs, Dr. Yang !"

"Which they were about to throw out. She was being green." Lexie pleaded for Cristina once she regained her composure.

"I didn't ask you to talk or for your opinion, Dr. Grey ! You spent thousands of dollars on something that no one in this hospital has ever tried before !"

"Dr. Maloney... Okay, the point is, is that we could... You can pull this surgery off."

"Oh, wow, thank you. I'm so glad I've got The Cristina Yang seal of approval."

"That's not what I was saying." Cristina defended herself.

"Prices are not everything but your patients are. Your priorities are off."

"Hey." Lexie tried to grab their attention.

"You have prizes. Prizes push us to be better." Yang argued.

"They push us to be monsters."

"Oh, so the status quo- not trying then... that's worse.

"Hey !" Lexie yelled, finally grabbing their attention. "The lungs... look. They're... they're viable."

"You're out of my service. Both of you. Dr. Percy, you're in." Victoria told the two residents after taking a look at the lungs.

"Y-yes." Charles replied uneasy. The way she went off on Cristina and Lexie had scared him to death.

"Learn about the case. Fill up Dr. Avery on it. If the patient is willing to let me operate on him, you're on the operation. Go. Now." She ordered him when seeing that he was still in front of her. He vigorously nodded his head before running out of the O.R in search of his best friend.

Charles Percy spent fifteen minutes running in the hospital searching for Jackson Avery before realising that he could paged him off. Dr. Maloney had made him all flustered. The blue-eyed resident joined his friend in front of one of the nurses station on the third floor.

"You paged me ?" Jackson asked Percy.

"Yes." Charles excitedly replied before giving him Elliott's file.

"What is it ?"

"This, my friend, is an ex-vivo lung transplant."

"Are you serious ? Who's doing it ?" Jackson asked him beginning to read the case.

"Dr. Maloney. Who else ?" Charles scoffed at his friend's stupid question.

"Why are you giving me this, tho ? I'm not on her service today."

"She asked for you."

"She asked for me ?" Jackson repeated his interest picked more than ever.

"Yeah. Yang and Mini-Grey screwed up by stealing lungs and doing a repair on them. I told Dr. Maloney what was going on behind her back and she threw them out of her service and now we're in, buddy."

"Are you sure that Dr. Maloney is going to operate ? What if the patient refuses ?"

"Dude, it's his only chance. He's never going to be on the transplant list. He's too risky. It's his only shot. So learn about the case and the procedure. We don't have any time to waste."

°•°•°•°•°•

"A transplant with repaired lungs has never been done in the United States. The risks are tremendous, And with the amount of radiation that you sustained, There's no way of knowing how friable your tissue is or if you can even sustain a transplant." Victoria explained to Elliott and Jill.

"Wait. I'm sorry. Are you saying you recommend it, though ?" Elliott asked confused.

"No, they're saying they want to give us a pair of hand-me-down lungs... The ones no one else wants." Jill intervened.

"These are good lungs. This procedure has allowed us to repair them so they're virtually the same as-" Charles tried to convince her of the benefits of the surgery before she cut him off.

"No ! We'll wait. We'll wait until you get the lungs that you deserve." Jill told his brother.

Elliott let out a small chuckle staring at his sister, eyes welling up. "You're so used to fighting, you don't even realize... This is it. I am sick and I'm tired and I am ready. No matter what happens, my affairs are in order."

"Your affairs are not in order. Don't you dare say that." She told him, fighting back tears.

"Dr. Robbins, please. Is this my best shot ?" Elliott asked the surgeon that he has known for many years. The two of them had created a strong bond and he fully trusted her.

Arizona who had been in the back of the room the entire time cleared up her throat and tried very hard to not cry. Elliott's words had deeply moved her. Jackson step aside to let her walk towards Elliott's bed.

"I'm not your surgeon here, Elliot. I have to defer to Dr. Maloney."

Eliott nodded at her before turning toward Victoria, silently asking her if the surgery was the best thing he could have.

"It's your only shot." She stated.

Elliott gave his hand to Jill in order for her to grab it and show him that she was with him on this. It took his sister a couple of seconds to reach out for his hand. Jill hated the idea but decided to support her brother in his decision to accept the lungs.

"Then, yes. Do it." Eliott told the cardiosurgeon.

Jill didn't stop glaring at Dr. Maloney making her understand with her eyes that her brother was everything to her and that Victoria had his life in her hands. The surgeon silently promise her that she will do everything in her powers to save Elliott before leaving the room with Arizona followed by Jackson and Charles.

"I'm feeling uneasy about this. I've known him since he was sixteen. He went through so much. Elliott is a good kid." Arizona declared. "Tell me honestly what percentage do you think there is of the surgery being a success."

"15%."

"It is very low."

"But at least we are giving him a chance. It is better than letting him wait for his death on a hospital bed."

The pediatric surgeon sighed.

"Will you keep me updated, please ?"

"Of course. I'll let you know about how it goes."

"Thanks." Arizona told Victoria before reluctantly leaving after her pager went off.

The three surgeons went in to get ready for the surgery. While she was washing her hands Victoria could feel herself become more and more anxious by the minute. The surgeon couldn't keep herself from thinking of the look on Elliott's face when she told him that it was his only chance.

Once, Victoria was ready for the surgery she took a deep breath and cleared her mind before walking in the O.R. The first part of the surgery went very well, they had successfully taken out Elliott's lungs. Charles and Jackson thankfully turned out to be on point with everyting and really skilled in their assistance to Dr. Maloney. Cristina and Lexie were in the gallery, they had got in a couple of minutes after Dr. Maloney made her entrance in the O.R not wanting her to see them. Dr. Yang was furious at Percy and Avery for, according to her stealing her surgery but more importantly angry at herself for possibly setting Dr. Maloney, a woman that she worshipped, against her.

"Damn it." Victoria cursed.

"What is it ?" Charles asked her.

"The tissue is falling apart. The clamp's not holding. Get me some umbilical tape." The cadiosurgeon sighed.

"You could do an interposition vein graft." Jackson suggested after seeing that she was struggling to repair the P. A with the umbilical tape.

"What ?" Dr. Maloney asked, annoyed. She loathed when people talked to her in the O.R when she was in a difficult situation.

"You could repair the P. A. With a graft. Maybe." Jackson added the last part feeling uneasy under Victoria's icy gaze. Charles hold his breath while watching the exchange. Jackson's suggestion got the attending thinking.

"No. But I could do a pericardial patch. I could use his pericardium to do the repair." The surgeon explained to the resident.

"We could start cooling him."

"And arrest the heart. How are we doing on time, Dr. Percy ?"

"Cold ischemic time- three hours so far."

"Which means that we still have enough time to save the lungs if we hurry. All right, Dr. Avery, get in there and help me. Clamp. Good. Here we go."

Two hours and a half later, they had successfully put the lungs inside Elliott's chest. It was now time to see if the surgery had been a success or a complete failure.

"Okay. This is it. Let's take him off bypass and see if these lungs can work on their own. Clamping. There. Come on. Breathe. Breathe." Victoria whispered.

The entire O.R was anxiously looking at Elliott's lungs waiting for a miracle of some sort. Victoria was about to give up when she saw the lungs slowly starting to work. She sighed out of relief before thanking her medical team for their great work.

After the surgery, Dr. Maloney, Avery and Percy made their way toward the waiting room to inform Jill of the success of the surgery. The young woman exhaled deeply trying to take the information in.

"I just spent the past five hours trying to be okay with the fact that my only brother was dead. And... Now you're saying it worked ? He's gonna be okay ?" Jill sobbed.

"Barring any complications. He's gonna be okay, yes." Jackson told her.

"Would you like to see him ?" Victoria asked with a sweet smile.

"Yeah."

"Okay, come on." The cardiosurgeon told her putting a comforting hand on Jill's arm, escorting her toward Elliott's room.

°•°•°•°•°•

"I'm so happy for him. You're a brilliant surgeon." Arizona told Victoria while they were outside Eliott's recovery room.

"I'm just glad it worked out. He deserves a peaceful and normal life."

"Yes, he does." Arizona nodded. "So, Bailey can't come and Callie's surgery went late. So she'll join us at the bar."

"Okay." The youngest Shepherd replied, she had almost forgot about this all girls night. Arizona saw Cristina hesitantly approach from afar and let Victoria know with a nod of her head.

"Dr. Maloney ? Can I have a word, please ?" Cristina asked the head of cardio.

"Meet me in the lobby in fifteen." Arizona told Victoria before leaving the two women to talk.

"I would like to apologize for my behavior of today. I know I overstepped but... we saved-"

"I saved him." Tory cut her off.

"You saved this patient's life."

"Is this your idea of an apology, Dr. Yang ?"

"No." Cristina sighed. She took a deep breath and chose very carefully her next words. "I'm sorry I went behind your back but I truly believed that it would work."

"You refuse to listen-"

"I do listen."

"No, you don't. You do as you pleased. You went behind my back and did a lung repair without my approval or even knowledge. If I'd informed Dr. Webber this could very much get you out of this program. I can't teach you anymore." Victoria declared with a frown.

The surgeon didn't had the patience to handle Cristina's ego and lack of respect for the hierarchy. Victoria gave a last look at the resident before making her way toward the locker room. But Cristina couldn't let one of the person she admired the most give up on teaching her.

"Dr. Maloney !" Cristina ran up to the cardiosurgeon. "No one's ever believed in me like this. You believe in me more than I do and I need that. I'm gonna die here without that."

"You didn't acted like you needed me today, Dr. Yang." Victoria told her before walking away.

°•°•°•°•°•

Arizona had brought Victoria to Joe's making her discover the favorite spot of the Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital surgeons. The night had began with some soft drinks but as the hours past the women shifted to some harder liquor making Victoria open up to Arizona. 

"I just feel so lost. I had a vision of what my life should have look like. I always knew what I wanted out of life and I almost had everything... But now I am alone and I have nothing."

"That's simply not true." Arizona argued. "You have an amazing job, a loving family-" 

Victoria scoffed at the evocation of the Shepherd family. 

"You still have time." Robbins continued. "You're a young beautiful and talented surgeon. I bet men are lining up at your feet."

"You couldn't be further from the truth. No one wants me. I'm a fucking mess."

"Could we stop with the pity party ?"

"Sorry." Victoria murmured before taking another sip of her drink.

"You can't just let yourself be sad and alone for the rest of your life. You should go on dates. I know a lot of great guys, I could introduce you." Robbins suggested with a grin.

"I don't want to meet people." The Shepherd woman told Arizona.

"You've utterly lost me. You-"

"This morning, I wasn't staring at Owen Hunt. I was staring at Jackson." The cardiosurgeon revealed.

"Avery ? Jackson Avery ?" Arizona gasped.

"Yes. We had a thing going on-"

"You slept with Avery ?" Arizona's mouth fell open.

"I know. I know. But in my defense I wasn't working at the hospital yet."

"What happened ?"

"I broke things up when I started to work at the hospital."

"Why ?"

"Because I'm his superior, Arizona. It is wrong at so many levels." Victoria shook her head.

"Is it truly wrong if it makes you joyful ? Were you happy with him ?"

"I don't kown." Victoria replied, letting a sigh.

"That is not a response."

"Yes, I was happy with him." Victoria admitted. "He kissed me at New Years Eve."

"And ?" Arizona asked the woman in front of her, leaning over the table. The pediatric surgeon was now deeply involved in her new friend's love life.

"And nothing. We haven't talk since then."

"You still have a shot ! The ball is in your corner ! Run ! Go to him !" Arizona shouted, standing on her feet. The pediatric surgeon grabbed her colleague hand and forced her to follow her.

Callie Torres was about to open the front door of Joe's bar when that said door opened swiftly and forcefully from the inside revealing a running Arizona followed by a stumbling Victoria who were linked by their hand.

"What the hell is going on ?" Callie exclaimed, confused.

"She needs to find love !" Arizona explained while stepping on the road to hail a cab.

°•°•°•°•°•

Victoria had been banging at Jackson's front door for over five minutes now. She stopped once her hand began to really hurt, remembering that she needed it in perfect condition for her tomorrow's surgeries.

The cardiosurgeon began to lean on the door and almost fell when Jackson opened the door. Victoria caught herself up in extremis with the wall under Jackson's baffled eyes.

"Victoria ?"

"Hi."

"What are you doing here ?" He asked the woman.

"I was in the neighborhood." Victoria answered as she tried to keep her balance.

"Are you drunk ?" He asked noticing her demenor.

"Drunk ? No. Tipsy ? Hell, yeah !" Victoria laughed. "I had a few drinks with Arizona. She is nice. She listens like really listen. Not just hears you but the good old listening. I needed that." She rambled.

"You came all the way here to tell me that Robbins is nice ?" Jackson asked annoyed. He had a long day and he was in no mood to argue or try to understand the woman in front of him.

"No. It's just that we haven't talk in a while and I thought..." Victoria trailed off.

"I think you should go home." Jackson suggested as he began to close his door.

"Stop." Victoria exclaimed putting her foot on the doorstep.

"What do you want, Tory ?" He sighed.

"What you mean ?" She frowned.

"What do you from me ? What kind of relationship do you want for us to have ?"

"We could be... friends." She proposed, making Jackson shook his head.

"I can't be friend with you." He denied her suggestion.

"I handled it so wrong. The entire thing and I'm so sorry. I- I want you, Jackson. I want you. I want to try. I want to be with you. In twenty years, I don't want to be asking myself the what if question about you. I don't want to have regrets." Victoria confessed, letting herself be vulnerable. "Can you give me a second chance ?" She added as Jackson still hadn't said a word.

His face wasn't showing any emotion or feelings that he might have felt which made Victoria's heart began pounding. She told herself that she never should have come here.

"You were right, I should have gone home-"

"I don't understand you." Jackson cut her off.

"You don't have to. Coming here was a mistake."

"You're blowing hot and cold. You're one of the most complicated and dificult person I've ever met."

"Got it." Victoria took a step back trying to hold off the tears that was threatening to fall.

"But, I know that I want to try to be with you despite your issues because I think you're worth it, Tory."

Jackson slowly made his way toward Victoria. He put his hand on her cheek before lowering his mouth to hers, connecting their lips.

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Sometimes we just have to sit back, relax and wait for happy accident. No matter how many plans we make or steps we follow, we never know how our day is going to end up. We'd prefer to know, of course, what curveballs will be thrown our way. It's the accidents that always turn out to be the most interesting parts of our day, of life. The people we never expected to show up, the turn of events we never would have chose for ourselves. All of a sudden you find yourself somewhere you never expected to be and it's nice, or it takes some getting used to. Still, you know you'll find yourself appreciating it somewhere down the line. So you go to sleep each night thinking about tomorrow, going over your plans, preparing the lists, and hoping that whatever accidents come your way will be happy ones.