"Meredith. Meredith," Erin hissed from the stairs. Her big sister was sprawled on the couch, naked, while a man lay on the wooden floor with a sheet to cover his ass. "Meredith," Erin hissed. Meredith stirred and Erin waved, catching her attention when her eyes opened. "We're gonna be late," she whispered.
"Shit," Meredith breathed. Erin nodded and ran back upstairs to her bedroom. She packed her things in her bag and ran back downstairs, seeing Meredith was gone and the naked man was now dressing himself.
"Oh!" he said in surprise. Erin turned guiltily to look at him. She had been hoping to sneak to the kitchen and grab some coffee without him noticing her. "I'm, uh, Derek. Derek Shepherd," he said, holding out a hand.
"I'm not gonna shake. I don't know where your hand has been but based off the noises I heard last night, it was probably inside my big sister at some point," she said. He dropped his hand, a blush on his cheeks. Erin sighed and tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. "I'm Erin. Now, lovely to meet you, Derek. I hope you had fun," she gave him a smile and walked to the kitchen, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring herself some. She was just glad she'd invested in one that automatically boiled if you set a timer.
"I'm sorry if we were loud," Derek said, pulling his shoes on.
"Oh, you were, but don't worry," she said. She checked her watch and sighed. "Meredith, hurry up!" she shouted.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Meredith shouted back.
"That was last night, actually," Erin smirked at Derek, who blushed red again. "You've gotta go, Derek. She'll be pissed if you're not gone when she gets downstairs," Erin said.
"Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah," Derek mumbled. He grabbed his things and nodded at her. "Nice to meet you," he said.
"You, too, Derek. I hope we don't meet again in similar circumstances," she said. He smiled weakly and hurried out of the front door. "Meredith, let's go or I'm leaving without you!" Erin shouted.
"I'm coming!" Meredith shouted again. Erin snorted and took another sip of coffee.
"Yeah, I heard last night," she said.
"Sorry! Erin, I didn't even think. I was so drunk," Meredith appeared in the kitchen and grabbed the car keys. Erin put her cup in the sink and grabbed her bag, following her big sister towards the front door.
"Because why not start your new day hungover?" she said.
"Please just don't be on my back," Meredith groaned.
"Oh, you know I'll forget about it later. It's teasing time, now," she said.
"Just come on. I'll drive," Meredith unlocked the car.
"Yes, boss," Erin sang, sliding into the passenger seat.
The two Grey sisters slipped into the intern locker room, joining the group of interns as Chief Richard Webber spoke to them.
"Each of you comes here 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," he said.
Erin sighed out and looked at her big sister. She could practically read Meredith's mind. They were screwed.
"Okay. Martin, Robinson, Bond, Parkins," a doctor called out. A few of the interns hurried out of the locker room after him. Erin scraped her hair up into a ponytail quickly, pulling a few pieces out to frame her face.
"Only six women out of twenty," Meredith looked from Erin to a Korean woman getting ready beside them. Erin vaguely recalled her name to be Cristina from the two minute introduction they had at the mixer.
"Yeah. I hear one of them is a model. Seriously, like that's going to help with the respect thing?" Cristina scoffed.
"You're Cristina, right?" Meredith said. She nodded. "Meredith and my sister, Erin," she said. Erin nodded at her, fixing her scrub top.
"Which resident you assigned to? I got Bailey," Cristina said.
"The Nazi? Yeah, us too," Meredith said. Erin nodded.
"You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be tortured together, right? I'm George O'Malley, uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals," a male intern said. Cristina, Meredith and Erin shared a quick look. George sighed. "Now you think I'm gay," he said.
"Uh-huh," Cristina hummed, walking away towards the door.
"No, I'm not gay, it's, ah, it's just that, you know, you were, I mean, you were very, unforgettable," George stuttered.
"O'Malley, Yang, M Grey, E Grey, Stevens," a doctor called. Erin followed the doctor out of the door and into the corridor, Meredith, Cristina and George behind them. A blonde girl followed them out of the locker room and Erin immediately knew that this girl was likely the model, as she was so pretty.
"Bailey?" Cristina looked at the doctor.
"End of the hall," he motioned to the end of the hall. They looked and saw Dr. Bailey. She was short, black and a bit overweight. She looked harmless.
"That's the Nazi?" Cristina said.
"I thought the Nazi would be a guy," George frowned.
"I thought the Nazi would be...the Nazi," Meredith said.
"Maybe it's professional jealousy. Maybe she's brilliant, and they call her Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice," the blonde girl said.
"Let me guess. You're the model," Cristina said. The girl gave her a look and they followed her down to Dr. Bailey. The girl smiled and held her hand out.
"Hi, I'm Isabel Stevens, but everyone calls me Izzie," she said. Bailey eyed her before looking the other four over.
"I have five rules. Memorise them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not gonna change," Bailey motioned to things piled on the bench. Pages, pens, notebooks, stethoscopes, the usual rundown. "Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run," Bailey started walking away. "A run, that's rule number two," she motioned for them to follow her. They grabbed their things and they started following her. "Your first shift starts now and lasts forty-eight hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain, you run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop and don't complain!" she said.
Bailey opened the door to a room with a few bunkbeds.
"On call rooms. Attendings hog them, sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule number three, if I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there, not only would you have killed someone, you would have also woke me for no good reason, we clear?" she said. Meredith raised a hand. "Yes?" Bailey said.
"You said five rules. That was only four," she said. Bailey's pager beeped.
"Rule number five. When I move, you move," she said, darting down the corridor. Everyone followed her quickly.
Erin stared at the helicopter as it touched the ground. The paramedics began shuffling out and they ran over, putting the patient onto the stretcher.
"What've we got?" Bailey asked.
"Katie Bryce, fifteen-year-old female, new onset seizures, intermittent for the past week, ID lost en route, started grand mal seizing as we descended," the paramedic said. They got her inside and to a room quickly.
"All right, get her on her side, Izzie, ten milligrams Diazepam, no, no, the white lead is on the right, righty whitey, smoke over fire, a large bore I.V. don't let the blood haemolyse, let's go!" Bailey shouted. Izzie injected her correctly and she stopped seizing. A man walked into the room with a grin.
"So I heard we got a wet fish on dry land?" he said.
"Absolutely Dr. Burke," Bailey said.
"Dr. Bailey, I'm gonna shotgun her," Dr. Burke said.
"That means every test in the book, CT, CBC, chem. seven, tux screen, Cristina, you're on labs, George, patient workups, Meredith, get Katie for a CT, she's your responsibility now," Bailey said.
"Wait, what about me?" Izzie said.
"Honey, you're on rectal exams," Bailey said.
"What about me?" Erin said. Bailey looked at her and shook her head.
"There's two of you, right. Sorry. You stay with your sister and Katie," she said.
"Okay," Erin said. Everyone left and Meredith grabbed Katie's bed. Erin sighed and followed her out of the room.
"Why are you huffing and puffing?" Meredith asked.
"I'm not huffing and puffing. Why are you asking stupid questions?" Erin said.
"No, you're definitely huffing and puffing. Why are you in a mood?" Meredith asked.
"I'm not in a mood. Give it a rest or I'll go back to teasing you about Mcdreamy," Erin said. Meredith's face paled.
"You wouldn't," she said.
"Oh, but I will if you don't stop asking me why I'm apparently in a mood," Erin said.
"Why are you in a mood?" Meredith said. They stepped into the elevator and Meredith pressed a button.
"It's always you," Erin said, leaning against the metal wall.
"It's always me?" Meredith said.
"Yes. You're older and prettier and mom likes you a tiny bit more than she likes me. You're the favourite Grey and everyone just forgets about me," Erin said.
"Because Bailey didn't give you an assignment?" Meredith asked.
"There's two of you, right. Sorry. Yes, because Bailey didn't give me an assignment," Erin muttered.
"Erin, you're way better than me at half the things we do. I'm way better than you at half the things we do. We'll find our balance and people will know who we are over time. It's the first day. Don't get yourself so upset," Meredith put a hand on Erin's shoulder. "And, besides, you're three years younger than me. A surgical resident who's skipped three years of school to go to college and medical school early is a lot more interesting than an ordinary resident who did it normally," she said.
"I guess," Erin sighed. She rubbed her face and shook her head. "I'm just tired," she said.
"Did we keep you up last night?" Meredith said.
"Just a bit," Erin said.
"I'm really sorry, Erin," Meredith said.
"Don't be. It's about time you had some fun," Erin said. Meredith rolled her eyes.
"It was a one time thing. I'm focusing on this now," she motioned to the elevator.
"An elevator or the hospital?" Erin smirked.
"Don't be a dick, Erin," Meredith laughed.
"I twisted my ankle," Katie told Meredith and Erin as they pushed her towards the CT scan room. "I do rhythmic gymnastics, which is like, really cool. Nobody else does it. And I tripped over my ribbon, and I didn't get stuck with someone this clueless. And that was like, a nurse," she said.
"Katie, darling, give it a rest. You might have another seizure if you over-exert your mouth," Erin smiled sweetly at her.
"Are you two twins?" Katie said.
"Sisters. I'm three years younger," Erin said.
"How are you doing the same job, then? Did you get held back or did you get pushed forward?"
"Erin got pushed forward," Meredith said. Katie whistled lowly.
"Bet she's the favourite with your parents for being the smart little sister and getting to be as good as her big sister in less time," she said. Erin scoffed.
"Believe me, Katie, our parents couldn't give less of a shit what we're doing. Now, tell us about your, uh, pageant things," Erin said, pointing down a hallway. Meredith turned the bed that way and pushed her down, following the signs to the CT suite.
"Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass. If I hadn't taken the Hippocratic oath, I'd Kevorkian her with my bare hands," Meredith slammed her tray down on the lunch table with the other interns. Erin rolled her eyes and sat down calmly.
"Hello would've been a more appropriate greeting but sure, let's mix it up," she said. Everyone stared at them.
"What?" Meredith snapped. Burke walked over and everyone sat up straight. Erin eyed him curiously.
"Good afternoon interns. It's posted, but I thought I'd share the good news personally. As you know, the honour of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern that shows the most promise. As I'm running the OR today, I get to make that choice," he said. He slapped a hand on George's back. "George O'Malley. You'll scrub in for an adipectomy this afternoon. Congratulations," he said.
"Me?" George whispered.
"Enjoy," Burke said, turning and walking away. Everyone stared at George, who looked paler than ever. Erin grinned.
"Did he say me?" George said.
"He sure did, Georgie. Come on, eat up. You'll need your strength for surgery," she said.
"Why are you being nice?" Cristina said. "He just beat you out. He beat all of us out," she said. Erin shrugged.
"Why be mean? We'll all get a chance eventually. I'm just glad I'm not the first," Erin said. She took a sip of her energy drink and winked at George. "Eat, George. Seriously. You don't want to collapse from lack of food and sleep," she said. He nodded and picked up the fork robotically.
"You think he'll be alright?" Izzie looked at Erin as she sat down on the bench in the viewing room.
"Who knows?" she shrugged. The door opened and Meredith walked in. She sat down beside Erin, pulling her over away from Izzie.
"Derek is a doctor here," Meredith hissed. Erin turned to look at her sister. She sipped her chocolate milk and then grinned widely.
"Oh, Mermaid, you're fucked," she laughed. She turned back to the viewing window.
"Erin, where's my sympathy?" Meredith groaned.
"You lost it all when I saw you naked on the couch. You're paying to get that cleaned, by the way. And we're getting a rug. His bare penis was on our living room floor. Ew," Erin pulled a face.
"Who's penis?" Cristina asked.
"Mine. It's enormous, you know, real medical miracle," Erin winked at her. Cristina laughed and they turned to watch George walking into the surgical suite.
"He's going to faint. He's a fainter," an intern said.
"Naaah, code brown. Right in his pants," another said.
"He's all about the flops, he's going to sweat himself unsterile," the first intern said.
"Ten bucks says he messes up the McBird," a third intern said.
"Twenty says he cries," Cristina said.
"I'll put twenty on a total meltdown," an intern said.
"Fifty says he pulls the whole thing off," Meredith said. Everyone turned to look at her and Erin sipped her milk again. "That's one of us, down there. The first one of us. Where's your loyalty?" she said. There was a tense pause.
"Seventy-five says he can't even ID the appendix," Cristina said.
"I'll take that action," Izzie agreed. Burke said something to George and he picked up a scalpel.
"Here it comes," Meredith said. They all cheered as George walked over to the patient on the table. Burke motioned for them to shut up and Erin made a face.
"I think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," she said. George cut the patient open and began rummaging around inside the patient. He pulled out the appendix and threw it into a bowl.
"Told you he could do it," Meredith smirked. There was sudden loud beeping and Erin winced. George had messed up.
"He's choking," Cristina said.
"Come on, George," Meredith groaned.
"That's a 007," an intern said.
"007?" Izzie asked.
"Licensed to kill," Erin said. Everyone turned to her and she shrugged. "It is," she said.
"God, Erin," Meredith whispered.
"Hour nineteen," Erin sang, staring up at the ceiling as she sprawled on the bed in an empty corridor. Meredith was sat with Erin's legs over her lap. George was slumped against the wall on another bed, Izzie and Cristina between him and the Grey sisters.
"007. Everyone's calling me 007, aren't they?" George said.
"No one's calling you 007," Izzie and Cristina chorused.
"I was on the elevator and Murphy whispered 007," George said.
"Oh, how many times do we have go through this, George, five, ten? Give me a number or else I'm going to hit you," Cristina said.
"Murphy whispered 007 and everyone laughed," George said.
"He wasn't talking about you," Izzie shook her head.
"You sure?" George looked at her.
"Would we lie to you?" Meredith said. Erin snorted.
"Yes," George said.
"007 is a state of mind," Cristina said.
"So says the girl who finished top of her class at Stanford," George said. The pagers beeped and everyone scrambled to see them. It was Meredith's.
"Oh man. It's 911 for Katie Bryce. We gotta go," she grabbed Erin and yanked her up. Erin stumbled over her own feet, banging her head against the end of another bed.
"Jesus, Meredith!" Erin cried.
"Are you alright?" George asked.
"Cool as a cucumber," Erin rubbed her head where a lump would surely be growing and ran after her sister. "Meredith, I'm gonna fucking kill you after the shit you've put me through today!" Erin hissed.
"Please do it after our shift," Meredith said.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Erin pushed the button for the lift and rubbed her head again.
"Erin, you're bleeding!" Meredith pulled her hand away to check her. "I'm sorry," she said.
"It's cool, Mermaid," Erin grinned. Meredith sighed.
"Go and patch yourself up, I'll sort Katie," she said. Erin nodded and once the lift stopped, made her way to the nurses station.
"What happened?" a nurse sighed.
"My sister pushed me. I need a plaster and I'll be fine," Erin said.
"Uh, no, I think you're gonna need stitches. It's deep," the nurse said. Erin groaned but nodded.
"Yeah, okay, whatever," she said.
"I'll page for a doctor," the nurse said.
"You can't do it? Or can't I do it? It's simple, it'll take five minutes," she said.
"I'm afraid not. Wait here," she motioned to a seat. Erin groaned and sat down.
"Grey, you better have an explanation for this," Bailey marched over to Erin. She looked up and pulled her hand away from the napkin on her head. It was fully stained red and the cut on her head looked deep, thin and long.
"I tripped when I got paged. Meredith is handling it but she said I'd need stitches so here I am," Erin motioned to the seat.
"You tripped?" Bailey repeated.
"Okay, Meredith pushed me but I'm literally fine. I need a few stitches and then I'll be back to work out whatever is wrong with Katie," she said. Bailey sighed and nodded.
"Alright. I'll do them and then you're back to work," she said. Erin grinned and waited while Bailey got the equipment. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Bailey cleaned the wound and began getting the stitches ready. "You're young, aren't you?" Bailey said.
"Three years younger, yeah. Bit of a child genius or whatever," Erin said.
"Child genius," Bailey hummed. "I'll remember that," she said. Erin hummed as Bailey put some strips of tape over her stitches to hold them in place. "Okay, all done. Wash your hands and find your patient and sister," Bailey said.
"Thanks, Bailey," Erin jumped up and hurried back towards the elevator.
"Don't fall over!" Bailey shouted after her.
"No promises!" Erin waved as she disappeared into the elevator.
"What's going on?!" Erin burst into Katie's room, taking in everyone surrounding her and Meredith standing with the defibrillators over Katie's chest. "Oh, shit!" she cried. She shoved the nurses out of the way and began checking Katie's wires.
"Charge again!" Meredith shouted. The nurse charged again and Meredith pushed the defibrillators onto Katie's chest. Her monitor began beeping again.
"Blood pressure is picking up, pulse is coming back, she's good," Erin said. Meredith handed the defibrillators back to the nurse and they continued to check on her.
"What the hell happened?" Derek ran in and Erin stared at him with wide eyes. Meredith had told her but she hadn't actually thought it was true.
"She had a seizure, and-" Meredith started.
"A seizure?" Derek repeated. He rushed to Katie's side and began checking her vitals.
"Her heart stopped," Meredith finished.
"You were supposed to be monitoring her," Derek snarled at Meredith and Erin.
"Uh, excuse you but I was getting stitches in my head," Erin pointed at her head with a glare.
"I checked on her and she-" Meredith started.
"I got it. Just, just go," Derek snapped. Meredith turned away and Erin held her hands up, backing away. "Someone give me her chart, please?" Derek said.
"Come on," Erin grabbed Meredith's arm and pulled her out of the room. They walked down the hallway, Bailey hurrying up towards Katie's room.
"You get a 911, you page me immediately, not in the five minutes it takes you to get to the emergency, immediately, you are on my team and if somebody dies it's my ass, you hear me, Grey?" Bailey shouted as the Grey sisters passed her.
"Meredith? Erin?" Cristina jumped up and followed as Meredith led her and Erin out of the hospital and into the rain. Erin let go of Meredith's hand and stood beside Cristina. Meredith walked forward to the grass, keeled over and vomited. Erin grimaced.
"Lovely," she said. Meredith straightened up, turned around and walked back over to them.
"If you tell anyone, ever," Meredith left the threat open, walking back inside the hospital.
"She's already fucked my head. What else can she do?" Erin shrugged, following her sister back inside.
"What are you doing?" Meredith asked Cristina. All of the interns were gathered in a meeting room and Cristina was working on a banana with a needle and thread.
"I'm suturing a banana, with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain," Cristina said. George snorted. "What're you smiling at, 007?" she snapped. George stopped laughing and Cristina sighed. "I'm sorry, I get mean when I'm tired," she said.
"You know what? I don't care. I comforted a family, and I get to hang out in the OR today. All is well," George said.
"Does anybody know why we're here?" Cristina said.
"Group therapy, perhaps? Never worked for me, personally. Maybe an orgy. They're my favourites," Erin winked at George, who flushed bright red. She smirked and looked out of the window. "Either way, no clue," she said. The door opened and Derek Shepherd walked in. Erin groaned, Derek looking over at her and then at Meredith. Erin kept her gaze on him but Meredith looked away shyly.
"Well good morning. I'm going to do something pretty rare for a surgeon, I'm going to ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now, she's a mystery. She doesn't respond to her meds. Labs are clean, scans are pure, but she's having seizures. Grand mal seizures with no visible cause. She's a ticking clock. She's going to die, if I don't make a diagnosis. Which is where you come in. I can't do it alone. I need your extra minds, extra eyes, I need you to play detective, I need you to find out why Katie is having seizures. I know you're tired, you're busy, you've got more work than you could possibly handle. I understand. So, I'm going to give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery. You get to do what no interns get to do. Scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr Bailey's going to hand you Katie's chart. The clock is ticking fast, people. If we're going to save Katie's life, we have to do it soon," he said.
Everyone scrambled to grab the files on the table and Erin flicked through it lazily.
"I heard you're a child genius," Cristina said.
"I skipped three years. Hardly a genius," Erin hummed.
"Either way, you're smart. And you've been on her case since the start with Meredith. You wanna work together? Fifty fifty chance for the surgery, then," Cristina said.
"Meredith, we're gonna work with Cristina, alright?" Erin said. Meredith nodded.
"I don't want in on the surgery. You can have it," Meredith said.
"Are you kidding me? It's the biggest opportunity any intern will ever get," Cristina scoffed.
"I don't want to spend any more time with Shepherd than I have to," Meredith said. Erin hummed and led them out of the room.
"What do you have against Shepherd?" Cristina asked.
"Erin, do you want to do this surgery?" Meredith said.
"No, thank you. I don't particularly like Dr. Shepherd," Erin said. Meredith nodded and looked at Cristina.
"If we find the answer, the surgery's yours. Do you want to work together or not?" she said. Cristina grinned.
"Deal," she said.