TRIAGE | grey's anatomy (ON HOLD INDEFINITELY)

010: "what once was"

SOMEONE TOSSED A FRENCH FRY AT CLEM'S FACE, HITTING HER IN THE EYE AND SMEARING GREASE ALL OVER A COPY OF JAKE'S MRI. She looked, up feeling lost and slightly uncomfortable, as all her friends stared at her over the lunch table, apparently waiting for an answer.

"Huh?" Clem squinted, chucking the fry at Alex even though she was 98% positive it was Cristina who'd thrown it. He caught it with his mouth and ate it, like one of those crocodiles people in Florida knew were dangerous but fed fried chicken to anyways.

"Spontaneous orgasms," Meredith reminded her, like it was typical lunch banter.

Clem sighed, closing the binder and leaning forward, pretending to be riveted with a sarcastic smile plastered on her face. "Oh, pray tell, what about them? If you're talking about spying on that poor woman in the ER, I'll pass. I have pay-per-view for that one."

"Yikes," Cristina grumbled at Clem's cynicism. "Looks like somebody really wishes they were contagious. And on that note, have we actually seen or heard of Clem getting some?"

Clementine rolled her eyes and reached across the table to steal half of George's sandwich, picking out the ham and flicking it onto Alex's plate.

"I just don't have the time to wait around at Joe's for a guy who may or may not know his way around the female reproductive organs," she sighed, leaning back in her chair at the head of the table and propping her feet up on Alex's legs. "I'm too busy being the best intern in this hospital. Besides, I've got a trusty friend at home who I can plug into a socket and tango with all night long."

Everyone erupted into laughter at Clementine's awkward shoulder shimmy, while George grimaced-- which made Clem giggle even harder. His prudish gag-reflex was oddly adorable.

Clementine finished eating and tossed the crusts onto her tray, shaking her head as Alex lunged for them (once more, crocodile meet KFC) and flipping open a textbook from the library. "Okay, I participated in some conversation. Now will you pretty please let me concentrate?"

"I bet you were a riot in school," Izzie snorted sarcastically.

Clem shrugged, not bothering to look up from "I was too high to bother showing up half the time, so... yeah."

The silence that followed that statement was suddenly very loud. Once again, Clem looked up from her notes to see everyone staring at her, this time in bewilderment. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon. I'm a doctor now, but back then I was a regular teenager. You know, thin eyebrows and beads in my hair. Ska. Are you telling me none of you have ever done any type of illegal drug?"

The answers were mixed all across the board; Meredith and Cristina nodded assuredly, Alex shrugged, and Izzie and George both blatantly said no. More silence ensued.

"So, I mean, spontaneous orgasms that would solve so many problems." Meredith began earnestly, and all conversation started again.

Clem only snapped out of the article, visions of intraoperative MRI's and excision biopsies dancing in her head, when Alex shoved her legs off of him and followed behind a grossly giggling Izzie like a sheep. "Asshole!" she called.

"Crackwhore!" he responded, and Clem couldn't help but smile.

She organized her stacks of charts and books and bought the biggest hazelnut coffee she could find from the cart outside before heading up to Jake's room. His parents were nowhere to be found, and Jake just so happened to be struggling with his bio homework. Clem pulled up a chair, switched the hospital TV playing a DVD of Amelie off, and began subtly helping Jake with his study guide while highlighting some of the articles she'd printed off.