The Starting Line

Chapter 24

With hours on the clock, Eleanora stood next to Jackson with her eyes on the surgical field. They had changed a long time ago; she was now just watching and he was really helping.

"How many inches left?" Arizona asked Derek, it being her turn to stay with him.

"Uh, less than 2." he responded, craning his neck. "So, if I do my math, we have, uh... four or five more hours ahead of us?"

"Sounds good." Eleanora confirmed. She felt Jackson tense up next to her and turned away from the microscope to look at him, a little worried. Her eyes widened when she noticed that his hands were starting to shake.

"Shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit!"

"What is it?" Derek asked, trying to stay calm.

"It's my hand. It's cramping. Damn!"

"Don't move. Don't move." Derek told him, quietly. Eleanora felt a little panic inside her, looking between the two men before focusing on Jackson's hands.

"BP is going down." Arizona screamed, the monitors beeping. Eleanora cursed, slowly moving her hands to rest on Jackson's in hopes of keeping them still and stopping the cramps.

"Jackson, hey. Look at me." When he didn't, she made her voice firmer. "Look at me!"

He finally did, tearing his eyes away from the microscope to look at the smaller woman. She gave him a calm smile, her eyes soft and understanding.

"You have to breathe, okay? Just focus on me and your breathing, don't even think about your hands or the surgery. Just focus on me, calm down. It's just a spasm, you'll be fine."

"Have you had anything to drink today, Dr. Avery?" Derek asks, his voice neither accusatory nor cruel.

"What?" Jackson asked, his twitching disappeared and the patient returned to normal. Eleanora looked at Derek, but then back at Jackson.

"Muscle cramps are a sign of dehydration." Derek told him. "You didn't drink, so it would just be between you and Dr. Amedeo and making it so Dr. Grey couldn't get her hands on the retractor. Isn't that, right?"

Eleanora grimaced at the accusation, moving her eyes to look at Arizona's shocked face. They shared a look, Eleanora simply shrugging as Jackson struggled to respond without sounding like an idiot.

"I, uh... I'm sorry." The apology was directed at both Derek and Lexie. Derek nodded curtly, concentrating on the surgery.

"Don't apologize, just step aside. Dr. Amedeo can take over for a while." Eleanora gave Jackson an apologetic look, the two slowly shifting the instruments into her hands.

She had to duck under his arms and he wrap them around her for a second, which Mark, who was in the gallery, noticed with half-lidded eyes. Of course, neither Jackson nor Eleanora thought about that, just trying to switch smoothly.

"I don't like it." Mark grumbled to Callie, who looked up from her magazine. Callie followed his gaze and huffed before focusing back on the article she was reading, shaking her head.

"That girl is madly in love with you, so much so that she bought an apartment with you and adopted a cat, and you're still jealous of someone?"

"Have you seen his eyes?" Mark argued, raising an eyebrow.

"Everyone has seen his eyes, they are very... distracting."

"You're not helping, Torres!"

"I know. I think it's funny seeing you jealous."

"Mhm." Derek hummed. They were at the end of the procedure now, Mark back on Derek duty and Eleanora still assisting. "A or B? Dr. Grey, A or B?"

Lexie looked over the microscope she was looking at, concern on her face. "Are you done? Did you get it all out?"

"Except for the blind cut." Eleanora replied, Derek nodded his head.

"I just have to pick one and we're ready. A... or B?"

"Are you kidding." Lexie laughed, not really believing that Derek wanted her to choose.

"You're taking too long. Dr. Avery?" Derek's voice was a little harsh, but Eleanora knew it was just because he was nervous. Jackson took a moment to respond, looking between the tumor and Derek.

"I don't like gambling."

"Dr. Sloan?"

"What, so you can blame me for the rest of your life?" Mark joked, shaking his head. "This is all yours."

"Good," Derek said, nodding. "My decision." After a few moments of silence, he spoke again, a smile falling on Eleanora's lips.

"Dr. Amedeo?" She let out a small laugh before shaking her head.

"I say we just do eeny-meeny-miney-moe." Lexie and Jackson snorted at that, obviously thinking the woman was joking.

However, Derek seemed to think it was a great idea, and to be completely honest, Eleanora was serious. Derek moves one of the instruments a little, moving it between the two glasses.

"Eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Catch a tiger by the toe, if he screams-"

"Are you serious?" Lexie asked, Derek laughing a little.

"Yeah."

"It's a test of instinct." Eleanora intervened, looking at everyone. Everyone, including Mark, looked at her strangely. "When you play, your brain will tell you which one you want it to land on, and you know that's the one you choose. That's how I passed many of my tests when I couldn't study as long as I wanted."

The laughter fades a little as the tension begins to build again. Derek lets out a shaky breath, talking mostly to himself. "Alright..."

Eleanora doesn't even have to ask him; she just knows which one he's looking for. They work together, slowly and precisely, as they cut the cord. If they were wrong, all of this was in vain.

Please don't make a mistake Eleanora pleaded. Please don't make a mistake.

"Derek just called!" Eleanora shouted, running into her and Mark's bedroom. She throws her phone on her reading chair in the corner, throwing herself onto the bed and on top of Mark.

He chuckled, placing his own phone on the nightstand. "He just texted me. The stupid game worked; can you believe that?"

"I can." She declared firmly, resting her chin on his chest to look at him with bright eyes. "Because it wasn't a stupid game. It has been scientifically proven."

Mark raised an eyebrow, moving his hands to lie on his back. "By whom?"

"By me!"

"Oh, well, then you're right. Because you're the smartest woman I know, and scientifically you're never wrong." Mark responded firmly. Eleanora smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips.

She looked around, a small pout on her face. "Where's Josie?"

Mark sat up slightly to look around, frowning a little. "I don't know. Wasn't she in the living room?"

Eleanora shook her head and then looked at Mark. She lifted her pout, pressing another kiss to his lips before resting her head on his chest. Mark ran his fingers up and down her back, looking around her.

"Josie, here kitty-kitty!" After a few moments, the small black cat entered the room, jumping onto the bed once she saw the two. She climbed onto Eleanora's back and snuggled, purring as she closed her eyes.

Mark smiled, focusing on the cat. "That's adorable, Nora." When his girlfriend didn't respond, he frowned a little and looked at her face.

Eleanora had her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open, snoring softly. The exhaustion of the nearly 27-hour surgery had finally caught up with her. Mark smiled softly, brushing her hair away from her face before placing a kiss on the top of her head.

Knowing that moving too much would wake both his girlfriend and her cat, Mark shifted a little and rested his head against the headboard, closing his own eyes.