"Hey, welcome to the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic. Barring any surgical emergencies, you will be working here today."

Bailey motions to the free clinic recently renovated using Izzie's eight million dollars, hence the given name.

Cristina glances at the array of empty beds. "Working on what?"

"Right now," Bailey raises her voice in irritation. "Olivia will be familiarizing you with the protocol for the flu vaccine."

Once the woman is gone, Cristina's able to reveal her true emotions.

"I have got to get out of here."

"Can't we just sneak out of here?"

"Burke has a bloodless pulmonary valve transplant patient flying in from Denver. I should be preparing, not working at the free clinic."

"You're not scrubbing in on that one." A nervous look crosses my face. "He picked me for it."

Olivia leads the two of us to the back corner of the clinic where she walks us through the protocol rather quickly.

"We got married in Vegas!"

By now, Mark Sloan and Chief Webber have arrived to work at the clinic for a shift, and they all stare in shock at the newly-wed couple: George and Callie.

"We're married!"

"No words, Cristina. I want no words."

"You can't stop me from thinking them."

Realizing that no one will be arriving for a while, Bailey assigns us interns back to our regular assignments, only me and Izzie get to look for patients to bring in.

"Hey." Izzie sits beside one of the people in the waiting area. "You been waiting long?"

"Almost an hour." He sighs under his breath. "Are you my doctor?"

"I can be. We have a clinic right outside those doors with no wait." She wiggles her brows.

"What's the matter with you?"

". . .it hurts when I pee."

"Well, it's your lucky day because we can help you."

"Yeah, it's easy. It's nothing. We could have you out of here in less than an hour."

The man simply looks between us. "Are you hitting on me?"

"We need patients, and you need doctors." She giggles lightly. "And we just so happen to be surgeons."

"You think I need surgery?"

"It's possible. But I guess you'll never know."

"Unless you come with us to the free clinic."

"But my copay's only ten bucks."

"Well, there's your lunch money."

A woman nearby begins coughing rather loudly, startling all three of us. She hunches over in her seat while continuing to wheeze.

"Could be T.B.."

"Very contagious."

One by one, we take wheelchairs from the clinic, steal patients from the waiting room, and wheel them to the clinic.

Unfortunately, before George can scrub into the O.R. for surgery on a cancer patient, he falls sick and crawls into a clinic bed.

Fortunately, though, it means I get to scrub into surgery with the chief and my dad.

"Marina Wagner, the colon cancer patient, right?"

I walk into the O.R., gloved and masked with my scrub cap, and relish in the feeling of being back inside the room.

"Phoenix, where's O'Malley?"

"Marriage caught up to him. Hard."

"Right." He nods slightly.

My father extends his right hand. "BokHee, tenblade, please." And the surgery begins.

A few moments after making the incision, surgical nurses and staff grow sick almost instantly. I grab onto the cart when my legs go numb.

"Dad?"

----------

"Let me go."

Addison tries to push me back onto the gurney, but I sit up against her hold. My hand grasps the oxygen mask, and I take it off.

"Phoenix, you're more susceptible than anyone out here, got it?"

"Where is my father, Addison?"

"He's unconscious."

My gaze lands on one of the exam rooms, noticing my father's stable body resting in one of the beds.

"Hey." Derek speedily walks towards me. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Tell Addison. . .that I am not resting until I save her."

"You're not going back in there, Leven." His fingers graze the top of my hand.

"Like hell I'm not." My voice drops to a hoarse whisper.

"Dr. Phoenix."

"No, Shepherd. There's nothing you can say that's going to change my mind."

Addison heaves a heavy breath. "She can come with us."

"Addison —"

"It could help to have more hands in there."

"I can't believe you two."

"I've been in there once already. I can help."

So, just like that, I have the honor of going into the toxic O.R. a second time, this time with fullon suits and oxygen tanks.

"These suits are airtight."

"And these packs circulate the air inside."

"These batteries haven't been charging long." Mark helps to fix the back of my suit. "I'm guessing you two have about thirty minutes before they die and you have to come out."

"Oh my God." Addison breathes tensely. "The anesthesia's wearing off. She's waking up."

"Thirty minutes starting. . .now." Burke clicks the timer.

"She's fighting intubation." The neonatal expert states.

Burke's quick to contradict. "You go inside before these seals are secure, you won't last five minutes, and she will die."

"Guess you can pick Cristina for the transplant tomorrow."

"Phoenix."

"Shutting up, Dr. Burke."

Without thinking, Addison runs into the room with a mask and doses her with propofol to put her back to sleep.

As soon as the sliding doors open and she stumbles back inside, Derek and I enter the O.R..

"They're not going to fit, Derek."

"Stop right there." The chief speaks from the gallery. "The bowels swelled, won't have any room. How much time do you have left?"

"Eight minutes." Mark answers from the scrub room.

Derek glances up at me, but I try to ignore his intense stare.

"Okay, listen to me. And do everything I say."

An entire crowd fills the gallery, watching as me and Derek attempt to save the woman's life while risking our own.

"Leven, you'll need to milk the bowel to get out the excess fluid." He instructs. "Pack her and wrap her. Get her stable for transport."

"Derek —"

"Not now, Leven."

"How are you doing on air?"

"I can. . .I can push through for another minute or two." My throat dries up. "Dr. Shepherd looks sicker than me so I think he should. . .go."

"No. No, I'm not leaving. . .leaving her." Derek shakes his head slowly.

All of a sudden, dark spots from the corners of my vision fill the room. I swallow deeply, feeling my body slowly give up.

"Leven!"

----------

"Heroic work. All of you. Absolutely heroic."

"Any more patients you need to check on?" I go to sit up in bed, but my weak body collapses back into the pillows. "You know what? I think I'm good here."

"Keep an eye on her." The chief states. "She's her father's daughter."

For once, the statement is more empowering than degrading. I smile from behind my oxygen mask, proud to be similarized to my father.

"Is this what it feels like to be old?" I glance down at the oxygen tank.

"No. No, this isn't what it's like to be old." Derek replies. "This is what it's going to be like for the rest of your life if you don't start taking your health seriously."

He silently sits up and walks away from the group, oxygen tank in tow.

Damn it, Leven.