The Release

Chapter 2

She walked out of the elevator, walking slowly through the halls as she wasn't even sure where to begin to look. There was so many staff members it was insane. She looked past every corridor as she was coming up on a nurses station, she quickly came to a stop. She saw him down the hall, she would know him anywhere. Her stomach started doing flips as she slowly walked toward him. She felt a sudden wave of anxiety as she saw him, talking to a woman. She was stunning, her red hair had laid in perfect curls and her slender stature had just enough curve to carry herself in a high manor. The pair was laughing, she would know that face like any before. He was flirting with her.

Meredith's anxiety had quickly turned into hurt and rage. She wanted to approach him so badly but she knew it wasn't a good idea. She knew that it was a mistake coming here, this just proved to the fact of that. She knew instantly that was the end of them. She would probably never see him again. She took one last look before turning and quickly darting to the elevator. That was it, the straw that broke the camels back. Her anger turned to just pain as tears begin to fall down her cheeks. She brushed them away as she exited the hospital. She didn't know what to do next as her plans had changed and now she was lost once again.

"Good luck," Cristina said, pulling Meredith out of her daze. They had just parked at the hospital and Cristina was quick to jump out of her car. Meredith follow suit.

Walking into the hospital was like walking into the past. She remembered every detail of the hospital from her childhood has since been updated as the hospital expanded. The front entrance was huge and spacious, they added stairs that leaded to a cat walk between two side of the hospital. She took to find the elevator and sent herself down to the OR's which were held in the basement of the hospital. They had also been updated with extra OR's and the gallery had been raised from the same level up to the ground level to give extra space. She never thought she would ever see these halls again the last time she saw them when she was just a teenager. She went into the oldest OR room that hadn't been used since before her mother left. Richard had told her that is where they would do the orientation. She slipped in just as Richard started to speak, a few familiar faces from the mixer she remembered.

"Each of you comes today hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play, that's up to you," Richard said as he paced the empty OR room. Every was in Awe as they looked around, Meredith included. She was slightly nervous for her first day, it was the first day she would be in charge of a patient all on her own. The year she spent shadowing her last year of Med School wasn't enough preparation for the real thing.

"Ok, make it up to the locker room, each of you should know your assigned lockers and meet with you residents and prepare for your first forty-eight hour shift," Richard said as he dismissed them. Meredith followed the herd of interns as they went up to the locker rooms. She found her locker placed beside the brown-haired guy that tried to talk to her last night.

"So we meet again," he chuckled nervously as he was shaking just changing clothes.

"We do," she smiled politely as she changed into her scrubs.

"I didn't get to introduce myself, I'm George O'Malley," he smiled widely as he reached his hand out.

"Meredith Grey," she returned the smiled, ignoring his hand. She pulled her white coat around her shoulders before shutting her locker and walking out toward the door.