xliii. ❝I want kids.❞
3.24 + 3.24

Derek is in the ER with the three men when Atlas walks up to him with a chart in hand.

"Follow my finger, okay? Up, down, up down, side to side. Good. Let me know if you can feel this, okay?" Derek pokes the patient.

Jack the patient Derek had poked nodded, "Yeah, I'm not enjoying that."

Derek gave the patient a happy look, "Good. That's a good sign."

"It means I'm not paralyzed?"

"Well, the MRI Will show us the full extent of the injuries." Derek answered before he had a question of his own. "But, uh, can we ask you what happened up there?"

" It was my fault." Dale, another patient, one of the mountain climbers muttered, and Atlas sent a wary look to Derek.

Andy sighed, "Dale...it wasn't your fault."

"60 ways to get up Mount Rainier, and I had to pick Liberty Ridge" Dale sighed.

Jack shook his head, "It wasn't the route. It was the storm. On a clear day, you don't think about storms. A minute later, the wind's pasting you to the side of the mountain, and you can't see your hand in front of your face."

Atlas looked between each of the climb, "Is that why you fell, because of the storm?" Atlas was having a hard time believing that they everything had happened because if the storm.

"All I know is I felt the rope tug, and...I was in midair."

"We all were. We were tied together. Must have been a 100-foot drop." Andy shook his head slowly.

"And when we came to, Lonnie wasn't moving."

"Lonnie? He's your friend who's still missing?" Derek walked closer to the patient so he could talk directly to him face to face. (ish)

"Well, this Lonnie, is that why he didn't make it back, because he was hurt?" Atlas questioned.

"Because he was dead." One of the climbers answered Atlas.

"I'm sorry."

"We had to leave him. We had to get to the other side of the mountain, or we'd be dead, too. We had no choice."

"You always have a choice. You never leave a man behind." Dale deadpanned.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"Hey." Atlas waved once Addison walked over to the group of guys that consisted of Burke's bachelor party.

"Hey. This is what you invited me to? This is your big bachelor party?"

"It was last-minute. I needed some warm bodies." Derek muttered taking a sip of his drink.

"Which would explain why I'm here." Mark added.

"Why am I the only girl, by the way? What am I, the entertainment? I am not stripping." Addison chuckled.

"That's okay. We've seen it already."

"True."

"I haven't."

"That's okay, your not Derek."

Yeah, well, why don't I buy you a drink instead? First round's on me." Mark goes with Addison to the bar.

Derek looked up from the peanut shell in his hands. "Cristina write her vows?"

"I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Oliver is sitting at the bar when a woman walks up to him.

"Hi." She smiles.

"Hey."

"Can I buy you a drink?" The woman asks.

"Get right to the point, huh?" Oliver cocked a brow.

"Bad day, Im aloud to get right to the point."

"Yeah, I had a bad day, too." Oliver sighed.

"So what do you say, one drink?" Lexie, the woman asked.

Oliver played it all out in his head before nodding. "One drink can't hurt."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Burke turned to Derek, "You okay?"

Derek nodded, "I'm fine. I'm fine. You need anything? Need a mint, huh? A getaway car? I'm pretty sure Atlas would enjoy driving the get away car."

"If it's the chief thing, don't worry about it. You deserve it." Burke pointed out.

Derek looked down at his feet before looking to Burke, "Richard didn't pick me to be chief."

"We all assumed you... well, who did he pick?"

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. It wasn't me."

"You really don't...look so good." Burke pointed out.

"I want kids." Derek breathed out.

"Kids?"

"With Atlas.

"You really are a good best man."

"I try."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Cristina scoffed. "Okay?! I scrubbed off my vows! I... I can't... I can't do this. I don't have any— I don't have anything on my hand!"

"Cristina, just—"

"There are no words in my head, okay?" The bride deadpanned.

"Crist—"

"I have no vows. No vows."

"It's okay. It's going to be okay," Meredith assured her.

"You know what? Stop saying that!" Cristina snapped, making Izzie look on concerned. "Will you say something else?"

"Like what?"

"Say something that is gonna help me!"

Meredith looked at Atlas. "Okay..."

Cristina rolled her eyes exasperated. "Atly, Mer, please. You know what? Say something. You know what? Say what I would say to you, if you were me."

"Okay."

"Good."

"Got it."

"Good, go."

Meredith pushed Atlad forward. "Atlas is good with the words. He should do it." The guy in question glared at Meredith, but did so nonetheless.

"Okay," Atlas puffed out his chest to appear more manly. "Shut up. This is your wedding day. You will go down that aisle, and you will get married. You got that? Good. I don't care if I have to kick your ass every step of the way to get you there, you will walk down the aisle."

Meredith stepped up to finish the rant. "You will get married. Do you hear us, Cristina? I need this. I need you to get your happy ending."

Atlas nodded, "You deserve your happy ending."

Cristina prepared herself. "Okay, I'm ready."

Atlas grinned. "Yay!"

Just as the bridesmaids and Atlas were getting her train ready, Burke walked through the chapel doors.

"Oh, I'm ready," Cristina tried to convince him. "I'm fine. Atlas and Meredith talked me down. Really, I'm fine. Go, go, go. I'll be right behind you."

"I'm sorry," Burke said, and Atlas knew right then and there where this was going.

Cristina waved him off. "Oh, I can do this. You know, I had a momentary freak out, but now I'm fine. I can do this. Go."

"But you don't want to do this." He paused for a moment. "I'm up there waiting for you to come down the aisle, and I knew you don't want to come. I know you don't want to come, but that you'll come anyway, because you love me. And if I loved you... if I loved you, not the woman that I'm trying to make you be, not the woman that I hope you'll become, but you... if I did, I wouldn't be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go." Burke breathed out.

Meredith and Atlas shared a nervous look as Cristina began to get flustered.

"I am wearing the dress. I'm ready. And and maybe I didn't want to before, but I want to now. I really think I want this."

Burke smiled sadly. "And I really wish that you didn't think. I wish that you knew."

════════════ ☆
and onto season 4!
did Oliver and Eliza pass their intern exam......?

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