It began, as many things do, with a light. This light, opening the world of possibilities for the new interns of the acclaimed Seattle Grace Hospital. Each innocent, silently egotistical intern blinking at the sudden brightness. The room was bigger than anticipated to Jalen Grace. The lights, the table, the gallery leering over the operating room. It was slightly intimidating- the legacy that lived in that room. This was a room where Ellis Grey had performed a whipple. This was a room where the famous Chief of Surgery, Richard Webber, had performed hundreds of appendectomies. This was a room where hundreds of eager interns, residents, and attendings had stood, craving greatness.
Entered Chief Webber, the 51 year old chief of surgery, set on moving past the life choices made during his residency. Standing in the bright O.R. room, he started to give the speech he always gave- the speech that normally prepared the class of interns for what came next. Only for this class, it wouldn't be enough. Nothing could prepare them, or him, for that matter, of what the next decade would hold for them all. The pain, the suffering, the heartbreak, the love. Though irrelevant at the moment, those things would be responsible for the craziness that would arise in Seattle Grace Hospital in the upcoming years, the game, as Richard Webber would say. Only this game was more complicated than the rest.
Richard inhaled deeply, ready to begin. "Each of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in on the game." Jalen began to silently scan the crowd as Richard spoke profoundly.
"A month ago you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors." The group dispersed, looking around the O.R. room as Richard continued.
"The 7 years you spend as a surgical resident will be the best and worst years of your life. You will be pushed to your breaking point." Jalen's eyes met those of an innocent, calm, young faced boy. He looked around cluelessly, hopelessly, almost. Like a lost puppy dog. His eyes wandered over to others.
"Look around you. Say hello to your competition." Jalen glanced disdainfully at the woman who had appeared just recently. Punctuality was something that she loved, and she loathed people who weren't punctual. Her hair had recently been patted down, trying to escape a simple one night stand, Jalen assumed.
"Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty." The next person she looked at was a blonde, most likely the model that was rumored to be in this residency class.
"Five of you will crack under the pressure." A pair of icy eyes glared into Jalen's back, she felt, turning around to face them. They belonged to a relatively tall man with short, light brown hair. Jalen could tell simply by his look that he had gone through just as much as she had.
"Two of you will be asked to leave." The next intern who was looked at by the troubled 27 year old looked eerily similar to the calm, young faced puppy dog, only with more confidence. He looked older, more experienced, so to say.
"This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play...that's up to you." And then the final intern, the cut throat woman who looked like she was out to kill just so that she could save. It was a look that intrigued Jalen more than anything. A look she would learn to love.
XXX
"Okay, Martin, Robinson, Bond, Hawkins." A resident called out into the locker room, four very nervous interns following when they heard their name called.
Meredith Grey, the girl who showed up late, fiddled with her stethoscope nervously, waiting for her name to be called. Noticing the overwhelming amount of men in the locker room, Meredith looked at the woman standing next to her, Cristina Yang, the cut throat one, and began talking to her.
"Only six women out of twenty."
"Yeah, I hear one of them's a model." Cristina looked around in the sea of light blue and white, looking for someone who could be the famous model. "Seriously, that's gonna help with the respect thing.
"You're Cristina, right?" Meredith asked her curiously.
"Patton, Monroe, Rodgers, Allen."
Cristina ignored the resident, nodding at Meredith's question. "Which resident are you assigned to? I got Bailey."
"The Nazi? Me too."
"You got the Nazi? So did I." The puppy dog, George O'Malley, walked over to the two women. "At least we'll be tortured together, right? I'm George O'Malley. Uh, we met at the mixer." He stated, fixated on Meredith. "You had on a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals, and..." George stopped talking when he noticed the look on the girls' faces. "Now you think I'm gay. No, I'm not gay." Cristina ignored his ongoing stutters, walking towards the resident hanging around the exit of the locker room to find her resident. "It's- it's just that you were- you were very unforgettable."
"G. O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens." Meredith walked away at the mention of her name.
"And I'm totally forgettable." George followed after her.
XXX
On the other side of the locker room, Jalen Grace was sat on a bench, tying her shoe and looking over at the three girls out of six who were paired up together with jealousy.
"Jealous?" A quaint voice came from behind her, matching the face of the relative of the lost puppy. "Of all the girls being paired up together."
"Maybe." Jalen muttered lowly, looking back at her sloppily tied shoe.
"Well, you have a gay dude if that helps." He joked, getting Jalen to let out a laugh and look back at him. "Justin O'Malley." He stuck out his hand eagerly.
"Jalen Grace."
"Who's your resident? I got Jeremy."
"So did I."
"You guys got Jeremy as your resident?" A locker slammed as another familiar face approached the two. "So did I." It was the tall, troubled man. "Alex Karev." He shook both of their hands. What Jalen didn't deduct about him is that he was an asshole. As she stood up, Alex let out a catcall whistle. "Nice ass, dude."
"It may be day one, but I'm not afraid to kick you in the balls."
"J. O'Malley, Grace, Karev, Easton."
"Okay, that was totally badass." Justin complimented Jalen as the two walked over to their resident.
"Correction- I'm totally badass."
XXX
Jalen had learned much about her resident during the five minutes she spent with him. He was quick and calculating, almost cruel. He had a clear favoritism towards men, something she couldn't stand. And worst of all- he had assigned Alex Karev to babysit her on her very first shift.
"4B's got post-op pneumonia." Alex confidently and cockily informed a nurse as Jalen leered behind him. "Let's start antibiotics."
"Are you sure that's the right diagnosis?" The nurse queried.
"Well, I don't know. I'm only an intern." He responded sardonically.
"Why don't you go spend four years in med school and let me know if it's the right diagnosis."
"Are you gonna do something?" The nurse looked at Jalen hopelessly.
"I've been banned from speaking or giving insight." She informed her. "Trust me, I agree with you."
"Here." Alex tossed the chart harshly at her. "Go fix this."
Jalen rolled her eyes, reluctantly accepting the chart and moving over to the nurses station to finish it. "I hate Alex Karev so much." She muttered to the legacy standing next to her.
"Why are you doing what he said?" Meredith questioned.
"Cause my resident's a misogynist. He's killing me. He's got Karev babysitting me so I don't fuck anything up." She sighed heavily, already fed up with her first shift. "I'm Jalen. Jalen Grace." She shook her fellow intern's hand.
"Meredith Grey."
"Shit, Grey as in Ellis Grey?"
"She's my mom. I know everybody knows and they're just walking on eggshells around me."
"Well, good news is that I have no filter, so you won't have to worry about that." Both women let out small laughs. "Hey, do you wanna hit up the bar across the street after shift? I could use a friend."
"I mean, why not." Meredith's pager started to go off. 911-Katie Bryce. "Damn it. Not again. Later, Jalen."
XXX
"How are you holding up?" Jalen asked the much less of a jerk, Justin O'Malley, as she placed her lunch tray next to him. "How's your brother holding up?" She winced as she asked the second question. The lost puppy, who actually did turn out to be Justin's younger brother, had been chosen for the first surgery, which he had bombed.
"I'm good. He's upset. It doesn't help that Easton and Hawkins are going around calling him 007."
"If it makes you feel better, if I hear them calling him 007, I'll kick their asses." She ruffled his already unkempt hair.
"That's why you're my favorite lesbian."
"And I don't have a reason why you're my favorite gay, but let's pretend I do." Her pager went off loudly. "Shit, I gotta go. Emperor of Darkness is summoning me to the E.R."
XXX
"She's still short of breath. Did you get an ABG or a chest film?" Jalen leered in the back of Alex Karev as she had grown accustomed to over the past shift, trying hard to control her reaction as the Chief of Surgery himself grilled Alex Karev for the same patient that Alex had given her and the nurse a hard time about.
"Oh, yes, sir, I did."
"And what did you see?"
"Oh, well, I had a lot of patients last night." Alex tried to excuse himself.
"And what have you been doing?" He glanced behind Alex at Jalen.
"Uh, my resident told me I was to 'observe Doctor Karev's incredible thought process until I prove that I can deserve to be a surgical intern.'" Jalen spoke up, quoting her resident exactly.
He nods, understanding, looking back at Alex. "Name the common causes of post op fever."
"Uh, yes." Alex reached for his notepad, shuffling nervously through the papers.
"From your head, not from a book. Don't look it up. Learn it. It should be in your head. Name the common causes of post op fever."
"Uh, the common causes of post-" He started to restate the question, trying to buy him time, and pissing Webber off.
"Can anybody tell me the common causes of post op fever?" He asked the entire E.R., waiting for anybody to answer. The answers spark in both Meredith and Jalen, the two of them going back and forth with them.
"Wind."
"Water."
"Wound."
"Walking."
"Wonder Drugs. The five W's. Most of the time it's wind- splinting or pneumonia." Meredith shot glares at Alex as she continued to explain what she had tried to tell Alex Karev all along. "Pneumonia's easy to assume, especially if you're too busy to do the tests."
Richard looked back at Jalen. "What do you think is wrong with 4B?"
"The fourth W, walking."
He looked at Meredith once again. "Doctor, do you agree?"
"Yes. I think she's a prime candidate for a pulmonary embolus."
"How would you diagnose?"
"Spiral CT, V/Q scan, provide O2, dose with heparin, and consult for an IVC filter."
Richard finally looked at Alex again, disgusted with his work habit. "Do exactly as she says, then tell your resident that I want you off this case." Turning back to Jalen, he saw a beautiful talent wasted under subpar leadership. "What's your name?"
"Grace. Jalen Grace."
"Jalen Grace, got it. Starting next shift, your resident will be Doctor Bailey. Understood?"
"Yes sir, thank you sir." He nodded and moved off to have a conversation with Meredith, one Jalen didn't particularly care about. Instead, she went to tell her favorite gay the news. Maybe this hospital wasn't as intimidating as she thought.