At the medical center.
The cafeteria.
"Adam, congrats!" Meredith beamed.
"Thanks!" Adam was in a great mood.
"Okay, this is ridiculous…" Christina stared at him, sizing him up before something clicked. "This research breakthrough—your four interns don't get bonus points for it, right? That'd be way too unfair."
"No problem," Adam nodded with a grin. Then, after a beat, he pulled the sparkly pink Surgical Holy Grail pager from his pocket, set it on the table, and slid it toward Christina. "Here, take it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Christina frowned.
"The short-term Holy Grail showdown's off the table," Adam explained. "George's dad doesn't have much time left. George can't stick around the hospital 24/7—he'll need to visit his dad a lot, be there for the end.
This clinical research project just hit a major breakthrough, and the follow-up care's gonna take serious focus. I need an intern on it every second. Plus, someone's gotta handle outpatient stuff, and I need assist on my surgeries.
Those four interns? They'll be slammed for a while—barely sleeping. No way they've got energy for a Holy Grail fight. You're right, though—leaving it sitting around's a waste. So it's yours. You two besties can sort it out."
"Take it," Meredith said with a smile.
"Damn it!" Christina snatched the Holy Grail, twirled it in her hands for a sec, then chucked it back at Adam, sulking. "This was supposed to be an epic competition, and you've made it totally boring!"
"In front of this kind of win, everything's boring," Meredith said, her dreamy eyes locked on Adam. "It's unreal—someone from our class is about to have a procedure named after them."
"No kidding," Christina muttered. She'd been poking at her food with a fork but gave up, propping her chin on her hand. "From now on, we'll be calling it the 'Duncan Procedure' every time it comes up."
"It's the Duncan-Adler Procedure!" Adam corrected with a grin.
"For real?" Christina gaped at him. "At a moment like this, you're dragging her into it? Duncan-Adler Procedure? 'Duncan Procedure' sounds way cooler! She doesn't even care about this stuff!
This isn't like that Duncan-Adler Formula from before. She's a mathematician—her role here's nowhere near what it was for the formula. This could be humanity's first step against cancer! Sticking her name on it waters down your shine!"
"Paige totally deserves it," Adam said, smiling softly. "Without her genius calculations, building a perfect model from scarce data, you think we'd nail this groundbreaking surgery in just three tries?
Get real. Using viruses to kill tumors isn't my original idea—people floated it years ago. But why'd it go nowhere? 'Cause it's insanely hard, borderline impossible. I started this half-expecting to bomb.
Maybe all 12 shots would've flopped—12 dead patients, no progress. The project would've tanked, just like the others, not even a ripple. She's a mathematician, sure, maybe she doesn't care about medical fame. But I'm not erasing what she did."
Emmm.
Deep down, he also owed a shoutout to the two kings of jinxes. Without their legendary reverse-luck vibes, this fairy tale would've crashed and burned. Seriously—when the underworld speaks, even the Grim Reaper bails! 😅
"…" Christina and Meredith went quiet.
"Damn it, that's true love!" Christina finally scoffed, mocking herself. "I bet if it were me and Burke, it'd just be the 'Burke Procedure'—no 'Burke-Yang' nonsense!"
"True love for sure!" Meredith sighed, jumping in. "If it were me and Derek, it'd probably just be the 'Shepherd Procedure,' not 'Shepherd-Grey.'"
"That's 'cause your mom, Ellis Grey, is a freaking legend," Christina jabbed. "She's got so many procedures named after her, Shepherd doesn't even compare. If it's 'Shepherd-Grey,' even with Shepherd first, everyone's still just gawking at 'Grey.'
So buck up—if it's you and him, it's definitely the 'Shepherd Procedure,' not 'probably.'"
"…" Meredith froze, shooting her knife-twisting bestie a dirty look.
Adam just smirked, keeping quiet.
He wasn't Sheldon—no way he'd make a rookie mistake like that. Paige might not care about the Duncan-Adler Formula, but a legendary procedure like this—one that might crack cancer and go viral beyond medicine? She'd want her name on it.
If he'd left her out? Big trouble. Look at Leonard—came up with an idea, Sheldon crunched the math, they published, and the press only name-dropped Sheldon. Leonard was pissed. Even when Penny tried to cheer "baby Leonard" up with a gift he'd like, he just perked up for a sec—still salty! If Sheldon hadn't pushed the reporter to add Leonard's name later (and it actually happened), Leonard—patient as he was—might've ditched Sheldon for good.
It's about recognition, validation—serious stuff!
Plus, Adam genuinely didn't mind sharing the spotlight with Paige.
"What's so funny?" Christina snapped, standing up with her barely-touched lunch. "I'm off to my fiancé to balance my hormones!" she huffed, dripping with sarcasm.
"I've got something to ask Derek too," Meredith added, getting up with a smile at Adam—then dropping a bombshell line that spelled trouble.
"Uh-oh…" Adam grimaced, silently praying for Burke and Shepherd.
He never saw it coming—he'd sparked a brutal dilemma for them. This was the medical world's version of "Your mom and I fall in the river—who do you save?" No, worse—"Your precious little daughter and I fall in—who's first?"
A history-making achievement like this? For Burke and Shepherd, it's their baby girl—the sweet, non-rebellious kind. No tantrums, no sketchy boyfriends, just the adorable phase where she's all daddy's heart.
But with their straight-shooter vibes, Adam wasn't betting on them nailing the answer. 😬
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(Chapter End)