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EVER SINCE NEW YORK

"𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒘.
𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒕𝒆
𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆."

season two, episode twenty two.

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MEREDITH LINGERED NEXT TO AURORA, leaning on the nurses desk as she just stared at the woman. Aurora didnt seem to notice her until she spoke up. "So." Meredith starts. Aurora just slowly looks up from her chart, raising an eyebrow as she meets Meredith's gaze. She blinks a few times, sharing a glance with a confused izzie.

"So?" Aurora responds, waiting for Meredith to actually say what she wanted to say.

"Derek told me about the other night." Meredith admits. Aurora bites her tongue as she stares back at her. Why in the hell would he tell Meredith about that?

"What happened the other night?" Izzie asks intrigued as she flickered her eyes between them.

"Nothing." Aurora denies as she turns back to her chart.

"You know Alex is just trying to help you, right?" Meredith tells her and Aurora drops her pen, giving Meredith an annoyed expression.

"Meredith, can you just focus on your own problems?" Aurora asks her. Seriously, she had enough of her own to deal with, she didn't need to be worried about her life.

"Wait, this has to do with Alex?" Izzie asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Why do you care? You dumped him didn't you?" Aurora snaps, why was everyone suddenly in her business?

"Yeah, because he's an ass but I thought you hated him too." Izzie points out, placing a hand on her hip. Aurora rolls her eyes.

"Whatever." She mumbles underneath her breath.

"You yelled at Derek." Meredith points out in an accusatory manner.

"You yelled at Doctor Shepherd?" Izzie asks amused, her eyes widening. Aurora crosses her arms against her chest, beyond pissed right now.

"I didn't yell. And why is he telling you?" She asks, staring at Meredith who just shrugs her shoulders.

"We're friends."

"God, you've said that so much that I don't even believe you anymore." Aurora mumbles. She seriously didn't get this friendship between them, especially since there was still a lot of flirting involved and she felt bad for Addison.

"Cristina told me that George had a date with that ortho chick." Izzie pipes in, changing the subject to relieve the tension. "Games night. She didn't even take him home afterwards. She hinted that she wanted to but then said she couldn't. That's weird, right?" She asks them.

"George made it perfectly clear that I am not in his life anymore." Meredith says with a sigh.

"And why do we care who George is seeing? He's happy, right?" Aurora asks as she places her hands on her hips. She thought Izzie would be glad George is moving on from his crush on Meredith.

"You think ortho chick is hiding something? She could be hiding something." Izzie says and Aurora just shakes her head with a roll of her eyes.

"Steven's." Callie says out of nowhere causing them to all turn and see her. Aurora smirks a bit, honestly she deserved this. "Hold this." She throws one of the instruments Izzies way and the woman barely catches it. "George mentioned you're not big on ortho. Grey, take the osteotome and the mallet. Follow me." Callie instructs them. Both of them look less than pleased.

"What about me?" Aurora asks with a frown. She wouldn't mind jumping on a ortho case honestly.

"Uh, shepherd said you're on his service." Callie responds and Aurora clenches her jaw. Of course he did. Well, technically she was but she really didnt want to be with him today.

"You can still have me." She suggests and Callie laughs a bit.

"Honestly I'd rather you than these two but, he made it clear." Callie says, holding her hands up in defense. Aurora grumbles to herself as she crosses her arms against her chest, watching as Izzie and Meredith walked off reluctantly with Callie.

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AURORA WAS ALL BUT DREADING WALKING INTO THE SCRUB ROOM. Especially when she saw Derek through the window. Why, of all days, did she have to be on his service? Did she want to work on neuro cases? Of course she did. But not after she shouted at her boss about issues that she cried to him about. It wasn't exactly her strongest moment. She takes a deep breath as she enters the room. "You bellowed, doctor shepherd?" She says as she makes her way to the sink in order to start scrubbing.

"Didn't think you'd allow personal issues to interfere with your work." Derek points out as he glances over at her. Aurora rolls her eyes as she meets his gaze.

"I don't."

"Mhm." He hums as he looks back at what he was doing. "Look, we can just forget about the other night, okay?" Derek says. Aurora would've loved to do that but he already told Meredith about it.

"Oh, right. Because you already blabbed about it to Meredith." Aurora says with a scoff. Derek sighs as he didn't think Meredith would actually bring it up.

"I'm concerned, is that an issue?" Derek asks her. He didnt get why Mark, who barely knows her, could be there for her and he couldn't.

"I thought work was supposed to be professional." Aurora points out as she just continues to scrub, her tone very annoyed.

"And yet you scream at doctors in the middle of the lobby." Derek retorts. Aurora just narrows her eyes a bit as she shakes her head.

"If anything, Alex was the one yelling." She corrects him and Derek just stares at her.

"Do you want to scrub in or not?" Derek asks her and she raises an eyebrow.

"I am." She responds, gesturing to what she was doing. That wasnt what Derek meant but he just let out a sigh. "But no personal questions." Aurora states, pointing her finger at him before continuing to scrub.

After a minute, she made her way into the O.R with Derek in order to get gowned up. "How we doing?" Derek asks the attending who was starting the procedure.

"I turned the skull flap. Patients sedated."

"Very nice." He says as he nods his head. Bailey frowns as she stops next to the table.

"It's a kid." Bailey says, not expecting that. Derek just stares at her nonchalantly.

"Yes." He responds and she just continues to stare at the patient.

"I just didn't think it would be a kid." Bailey admits. "A tumor that size... well, what happens now?"  She asks curiously.

"Now we wake him up." Derek tells them causing both of their heads to snap in his direction.

"We're doing awake brain surgery on him?" Bailey asks him.

"We're doing awake brain surgery?" Aurora asks a little more excited than Bailey was, her eyes widening. Derek chuckles as he nods his head.

"Yes. Really wanted to skip out on this?" Derek asks her and Aurora just smiles, way happier than she was before. "Andrew." He says as he makes his way to the other side of the table in order to see the boy. "A little more." He orders before seeing Andrew start to open his eyes. "Andrew, can you hear me?" Derek asks him curiously. "Hey. Want to count for me?"

"One."

"Good keep going."

"Two.... three."

"This is so awesome." Aurora admits before her eyes move to Bailey. "Don't you usually do your own surgeries?" She asks, wondering why Bailey was assisting on a neuro case.

"Chief is mommy tracking me." Bailey mutters back to her and Aurora sucks in a breath.

"Ooh, that sucks." She responds.

"He's just looking out for you." Derek adds, glancing at the two women. Aurora laughs a bit.

"She's perfectly capable of making her own decisions." Aurora states and Bailey gives her a grateful look.

"Thank you-- see, shepherd? Aurora understands it." Bailey points out and Derek just laughs as he gets set up.

An hour or two passed as they were now trying to resect the tumor from Andrew's brain. Aurora was on one side of Derek while Bailey was on the other. Derek glances toward Bailey momentarily before clearing his throat. "I think you should talk to Alex, straighten things out." He tells Aurora, keeping his voice a bit low but Bailey was right there and could probably hear him anyways.

Aurora rolls her eyes as she keeps her gaze focused to the brain. "Why does everyone care about Alex all of a sudden? He's still a douche." She mutters, not really wanting the whole O.R to know her business.

"A douche who's trying to help." Derek corrects her and Aurora just sends him a glare.

"I don't need help." She snaps back. Bailey looks at them curiously, flickering her eyes between them. "Can we focus?" Aurora asks him, not needing any of this right now.

"The tumor is located near the language center of the brain, it's important that we don't damage it." Derek explains to them. "Andrew, I need you to keep talking. Can you do that? Can you talk to me?" He asks curiously.

"I-ill try."

"Okay, great. Now what grade are you in?" Derek questions curiously and Aurora thought that was one way to end a conversation before it started.

"Um... seventh." He answers.

"You into sports?"

"Not really."

"How about baseball?"

"Uh, baseballs a sport." Andrew responds and Aurora laughs as she raises her eyebrow at Derek.

"Aren't brain surgeons supposed to have brains?" She teases him causing others around her to laugh. Derek just meets her gaze.

"You know I'm still your superior right?" Derek asks her and she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah but you asked a personal question." She points out.

"Technically I didn't ask anything." Derek corrects her and Aurora sighs, shaking her head. "Okay, what about girls? You have any girlfriends?" He asks the young boy.

"No."

"Two for two." Aurora says with a snort and Derek sends her a glare. Bailey moves away from the table so she could see Andrew better.

"You probably don't have time for girlfriends, right Andrew? You're probably too busy?" Bailey suggests.

"Yes ma'am."

"What are you busy doing?"

"Um... getting ready for the national spelling bee. I won the greater regional last month." Andrew tells them and Aurora nods her head.

"Impressive."

"You did spelling bees?" Derek asks, an amused tone in his voice and Aurora just looks at him.

"Don't act too shocked." Aurora retorts and Derek just raises his eyebrows.

"You don't really see pretty girls signing up." Andrew points out with a small laugh. Aurora purses her lips together.

"True. I was the only girl. Pretty and smart." She says with a smirk, winking at Derek who only rolls his eyes.

"You know it's not cute to boast yourself up so much." Bailey tells her and Aurora moves her gaze over to the woman.

"Wow, and I thought you and I were friends." Aurora responds, acting offended. Bailey just shakes her head as she looks back at Andrew.

"Oh, well, in that case, you need to spell some words for us. Uh, can you do that?" Bailey asks him.

"Sure."

"Good. Uh..." She trails off for a moment.

"You usually provide the word, doctor Bailey." Derek tells her and Bailey glares over at him.

"I don't hear you coming up with one." She snaps back and he just chuckles. "All right, uh, acetaminophen." Bailey tells Andrew who thinks for a moment.

"Acetaminophen. Origin of the word?" He asks and Bailey scoffs.

"Heck if I know."

"Shortened from the word Nacetylpaminophenol. Acetaminophen was used as a generic name for the brand Tylenol, made in 1955 by McNeil Laboratories." Aurora tells them. As she looks up, she notices that everyone was just staring at her. "What?" She asks with a shrug. Derek chuckles as he shakes his head before looking back at the brain in front of him.

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AURORA WAS HAVING THE TIME OF HER LIFE IN THE O.R. Yeah, it was a kid having brain surgery but she was just glad to have the opportunity to see it and to assist. She was sure he would pull through unless something major went wrong. "Appoggiatura won last year. Year before that, Akshay Buddiga-- he fainted, then got up and spelled the word alopecoid. Kids a major legend." Andrew explains to them. Aurora raises her eyebrow.

"All right, it's my turn. Fibromyalgia." Derek states. Bailey and Aurora both glance toward him, unimpressed.

"Fibromyalgia?" Bailey asks him.

"Seriously?" Aurora adds bluntly. Derek meets their gazes.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Fibromyalgia?" Derek questions and Aurora just shakes her head at him.

"Andrew won the regionals. He's going to D.C. He's probably insulted by Fibromyalgia." Bailey tells him and Aurora nods her head in agreement.

"I certainly am. That's so easy." Aurora says and Derek sends her a playful glare.

"Fibromyalgia. F-i-b-r-o-m-y-a-l-g-i-a. Fibromyalgia. She's right that was kind of easy." Andrew laughs a bit. Aurora smirks as she looks back at what she was doing.

"Okay. You want me to bring on the heat? I'm gonna bring on the heat." Derek says and Aurora rolls her eyes. "Omphalocele." He states. Aurora let's out a snort.

"Still not hard." She admits and Derek just shakes his head.

"Omphalocele." The words start to slur causing everyone to stop what they were doing. "Omphalocele." Aurora glanced toward Derek who was focused on where he had just hit.

"Andrew? What's happening?" Bailey asks confused and slightly frightened.

"Mark that, we've hit the language barrier we just have to pull back." Derek states. Aurora glances toward the monitor, seeing Andrew's confused face.

"Andrew. Andrew. Spell it again for me." Bailey says as she looks at the boy.

"Give me the stealth probe, please." Derek says.

"Doctor Shepherds working on it. I don't want you to be scared. I want you to wait. Just wait. I want you to hold on." Bailey explains to him. Aurora sighs as she shakes her head, they better not have ruined this kids ability to talk.

"Mark that as well please. Okay, try again." Derek says as he looks toward Bailey.

"Andrew, spell omphalocele one more time for me please." Bailey says and Aurora glances at her, hearing the crack in her voice. It would be hard to work a case now involving kids when you had one of your own.

"Omphalocele." Andrew says, back to normal which makes Aurora sigh in relief.

"Mark that." Derek says, smiling a bit.

"O-m-p-h-a-l-o-c-e-l-e. Omphalocele."

"That's it." Bailey says with a bright smile as she nods her head.

"Doctor Bailey are you crying?" Andrew asks her. Aurora looks back at Bailey who had turned away from everyone.

"Oh, I got something in my eye." Bailey tells them. Aurora presses her lips together tightly.

"You're doing great Andrew. Were almost done." Derek assures him, his eyes set on Bailey.

"Stop looking at me like that. It's my hormones." Bailey scolds them both and Aurora glances away. "I'm still a surgeon, I'm just a surgeon with an excess of hormones. Can you spell estrogen?" She asks Andrew, looking back at him.

"Estrogen. E-s-t-r-o-g-e-n. Estrogen."

"Hm, here's one. Delusional." Derek suggests and Bailey glares up at him while seeing Aurora looking very amused.

"I dare you to laugh right now." Bailey warns her and Aurora clamps her mouth shut. The laugh stifles but it wasn't audible. Bailey narrows her eyes, continuing to watch the girl for a moment before looking back at Andrew. Aurora shares a glance with Derek who shakes his head but she could tell he was smiling from beneath his mask.

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WALKING INTO THE LOCKER ROOM, Aurora sees Alex by his locker. He avoids her gaze as he just packs up his thinfs from his locker. She sighs but turns toward Meredith instead. Aurora knew she had a pretty crappy day with her dad showing up. And apparently she also had a sister which she had learned from Cristina. The things that she missed when she was in surgery. "Hey." She says gently as she places her hand on Meredith's shoulder.

"Hey." Meredith responds as she looks up at the blonde. Aurora leans against the locker in front of her.

"I heard about the sister." Aurora admits and Meredith nods her head slowly. She just picks at her nails as her eyes drop to the ground.

"Yeah."

"Do we hate her?" Aurora asks, raising an eyebrow. She was ready to hate someone she's never met if that's what Meredith wanted. They may not see eye to eye on everything but when it came to hating people, they were usually on the same page.

"She seems fine. I don't know, I didn't tell her." Meredith admits with a shrug of her shoulders. Aurora bites the inside of her cheek as she narrows her eyes.

"But we still hate thatcher right?" Aurora questions and Meredith can't help but crack a smile as she nods her head. Aurora returns it as she laughs a bit. "Good." She says before her eyes move back over to Alex.

He had met her gaze this time but the moment he did, he let out a scoff and closed his locker. Aurora watches as Alex walks out and she contemplates going after him. Deciding against her better judgment, Aurora follows after the man who was making his way down the hall. "Alex." She calls out, trying to catch up with him. Alex luckily stops but he didn't look happy when he turned around.

"What?" His voice was snappy as he just glared down at her. Aurora looks around before taking his arm and pulling him into the nearest room. Closing the door behind her, she could tell Alex wasn't in the mood to talk but that was okay because he just had to listen.

"I'm sorry. About the other night. I..." She trails off, taking a deep breath as she just stares at the ground. "I know you're just trying to help." Aurora admits. Alex scoffs, shaking his head.

"Do you?" He asks her and she glances up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. "You act like you're still on your own in that apartment. That he's the only one who cares about you and you're backed into a corner. But you're not." Alex explains to her. Aurora nods her head slowly, chewing at her bottom lip.

"I-i know. I just--- I was with him for years, Alex. It's hard to just walk away especially when I'm so terrified and constantly looking over my shoulder." Aurora tells him. Alex is silent for a second, looking around the room, his fingers in between his eyebrows.

"Look, I will get you through this, Aurora. But you have to allow me to." Alex says. He couldn't keep trying to help her and then getting shut out every two minutes. "We need to take this to the police, actually make isaac see that he has no control over you anymore." He points out. If isaac didn't get any consequences then he was just going to keep doing it.

"They don't do anything, Alex." Aurora denies, her voice breaking. Alex stops, just staring back at her with a frown. Aurora moves toward the chair, taking a seat. "When I was first admitted to the hospital after he had..." She stops herself, taking a shaky breath. Alex moves to sit in the chair next to her.

"The nurses called the police because they suspected domestic violence." Aurora admits, remembering back to when the abuse was still fresh in their relationship. "You know what isaac did?Made friends with the cops, were making jokes and just completely ignoring me. And when they came to take my statement, I kept my mouth shut because the way they were phrasing the questions made it seem like no matter how I answered, they weren't going to believe me." She explains to him. That's how it worked for women in this world, especially toward police.

They were never taken seriously until it was too late.

"Well, we'll make them believe you." Alex tells her. He would be right there by her side and he would force these cops to see what their blindsided by.

"I don't want to be stuck going to court for years only for him to get a few months in jail." Aurora didn't want to constantly be asked about the trauma, be told to describe in intimate detail what had happened to her.

"A few months is better than him getting away with it scot-free." Alex points out. Aurora scoffs as she shakes her head.

"Of course you'd say that." She murmurs. Aurora knew getting a few months was better than nothing but it shouldnt be that way. He should get what he deserves, not what the judge deems fit. "I should be grateful if he's even held accountable, huh? That's how low the bar is?" Aurora asks him. Alex sighs as he truly didn't know what she wanted him to say.

"Then what do you want to do?" Alex questions. Aurora looks down at her hands.

"I want to go home." She admits, her voice cracking. Alex closes his eyes momentarily. "I want to be back in my own bed." Aurora tells him. She didnt want to keep staying in hotel rooms, she wanted to be in her own apartment with her own things.

"Aurora--"

"I know. That can't happen because he'll know where I am and he's more likely to attack me there because there aren't people like at the hospital." Aurora says with a sigh as she runs a hand across her face. "I do understand that, Alex. I know he might-- he will come after me again." She states. Maybe she was stupid at times and yelling at people, believing everything was over, not looking out for herself. But that's because it just becomes so overwhelming at times and she just needs a moment of peace.

"Hey, hey." Alex says, turning her head to look back at him. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you again, okay?" He assures her as he wipes the tears from her cheeks. "Ever." He would be damned if he let Isaac touch one hair on her head again.

"I'm sorry." Aurora apologizes. She really did know that he was just trying to help. But sometimes even that got too much. Because she hadn't had anyone for years, just herself and that was never enough.

"Stop, you don't have to say anything." Alex should've been more lenient, he shouldn't have snapped at her so easily. He knows she's just trying her best. "Okay, I was dumb for what I said." He mumbles with a scoff. "I'll always be by your side. He won't hurt you." He denies. Aurora sniffles as she nods her head.

Her gaze locks onto Daniel who was coming down the hall toward them. It didn't seem like he noticed them thankfully as his eyes were glued to the chart in his hands. But still, Aurora felt herself become overwhelmed again. "I can't tell him, Alex. I can't." She denies as she sniffles, trying to stop the tears from flooding again.

"Do you want me to?" Alex asks her curiously. He would say something if it was just her not able to say it out loud. But Aurora shakes her head. Letting out a sigh, he just reaches out and grabs her hand. "Okay. We'll do it when you're ready." He assures her. Alex knew it would come out eventually but if she needed more time, he would give it to her.

It wasn't easy, trying to get your life back to normal after years of abuse and torment. Especially when the man who did it was still walking around and practically saying he's still a threat. Alex wouldn't tell Daniel himself, not without Auroras permission, not unless he really had to. But he would make sure Isaac didn't come within ten feet of Aurora, at least not without him around.

Because Alex may have had his issues with Aurora, but no one deserves the pain that she has gone through. And no one deserves to walk around freely after hurting somebody like that.

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Authors note;

isaac needs to be 🤜🧔
Added some bailey/derek/Aurora scenes ! Let me know who you want more scenes of next chapter ;)