38.

                                    

                                          
I didn't know what happened to Derek but I knew that he didn't look good when he left the OR. I hoped that the stress in his face wasn't because of me. I had digested the information, I still didn't understand it really, but I wasn't going to let it get between us. Derek was my knight in shining whatever and I would just have to talk it out. There was no getting around it and I wouldn't let this ruin us.
                          
I scrubbed out and made a few post op notes before handing it off to the intern. I went in search of him when I heard some sort of commotion going on down the hallway. It sounded like Mark and Lexie were in an exam room trying to calm the patient down, but the patient wasn't making any sense. 
                          
"Get you salmon algebra!" he ordered out "Macaroni!" 
                          
"Derek." Lexie said soothingly but I could tell she was worried by the tone in her voice "Just let us examine you, I know you're scared but something is wrong and we have to look at you." 
                          
"Geradean! Hambologna now!" 
                          
It wasn't Derek. I kept telling myself that over and over, it sounded like Derek. But it couldn't be, not my Derek. Because this was bad. This was really bad. And we'd just started out...
                          
"Kelp in auks sauce en carpe!" he groaned and I saw through the crack in the door he grabbed his head and rubbed his temples "Apple balloon, just an apple balloon!" 
                          
He wanted an aspirin. I gasped to myself, how did I know that? 
                          
"Apple balloon!" he muttered loudly "APPLE BALLOON!" 
                          
"I..I..I don't know what you mean." Lexie started to tremble "Mark, what is he saying?" 
                          
"I don't...I don't know." Mark shook his head and looked lost.
                          
"My hyper-hyfil-hambone..." Derek screamed out in frustration and I entered the room, they all looked up.
                          
"Your head hurts." I said and walked to the cabinets and grabbed a syringe as well as some Demerol from the locked section. "And you want an aspirin for the pain." 
                          
They all looked at me startled as I filled the syringe and then snapped some gloves on. I walked over to him and tried not to let him see my worry, I had to be strong. He was strong for me, now it was my turn.
                          
"I can understand you." I said softly, he looked shocked but a little relieved "I don't know why, or how, but I can understand what you're saying." 
                          
"Crypto." He mumbled.
                          
"I know." I smiled "It is a little crazy." I held up the syringe "roll over and pull your pants down," he looked at me with a shrewd stare and I sighed heavily "Don't make me hold you down. Seriously, you're a grown man; you can take a shot in the ass." 
                          
He smirked and rolled onto his side and pulled his pants down a little, just enough to let me shove a needle in his glute. He groaned as I pushed the meds in his muscle and then massaged it. I tossed the needle and turned to Lexie and Mark who stood there bewildered.
                          
"Call radiology and tell them that we need a STAT CT scan, I don't care if they have the Dalai freakin Lama next in line, you tell them to bump everyone out of the way and get us in now." 
                          
"Ok." Lexie nodded and was out the door in a flash.
                          
"Mark." I said, he looked up anxious for instruction "Go put an OR on standby just in case." 
                          
"I'm on it." 
                          
I turned to see a look of horror plastered across Derek's face, most likely from the word OR. No one wants to be on the table in one, especially not surgeons. I took a seat next to him on the bed and gave him the most calming smile I could.
                          
"Krispex doodle chlorine wafers." He started to ramble off "Belen...apples!" 
                          
"Shhh." I placed a hand over his mouth "You need to relax, and calm down. It'll be ok." I gulped "I don't know what's going on but we'll figure it out. And I'm here and I....I understand now. I'm sorry I left, I just, I didn't understand. But now I do. There's a connection between us and it's...it's nothing a human mind can easily understand. But I know what you're saying. And you saw me when I was almost dead. How about we just not try to figure it out and let it be what it is." 
                          
He nodded and looked at me with relief "Turkey." He said.
                          
"You're welcome." I tried not to giggle. His hand came up and cupped around the side of my face, he looked at me and I could tell he was exhausted, from pain and worry, I was too, but I was better at hiding. 
                          
"Strawberry flowers." He said with a slur as the drugs started to settle in-I smiled and felt flutters inside my chest. I leaned in and softly kissed his lips.
                          
"I love you too."