It's been a long time

Chapter 20

Meredith, Derek, Mark, Addison - 1st year of internship

The whole group got into the same internship at Seattle grace. Derek and Meredith, who recently rented out a small apartment came driving in togetehr. Mark and Addison, who also rented a small apartment, drove in togetehr as well. They didn't have enough money for the weddings yet, so they were still fiancé's.

Meredith, Derek, Mark, and Addison all made their way to hallway where the chief was giving a speech. "This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play, that's up to you." Dr Webber, the chief said. Meredith had known dr Webber when she was a kid. He locked eyes with her and gave her what looked to be an approving nod. "Interns, go to the locker room and get yourself ready for rounds." He said.

Everyone scurried to the locker room and when they got there, they saw their lab coats with their names on them. "Before we start the shift, I want to give you something." Derek whispered. He handed Meredith a jewelry box. She opened it and was slightly confused by the plain necklace. "It's so when you scrub in you can hang your ring." Derek explained.

Merediths mouth dropped open in awe at the fact that he even thought of that and smiled. "Thank you. I love it." She whispered as she kissed him softly. Derek smiled and kissed her forehead before slipping on his lab coat, as did the others. Derek took out his phone and took a selfie of the four and sent it to his family.

"Shepherd, Sloan, Grey, Montgomery, Jacobson , Williams, you're with me." A short black woman said from the hallway. Meredith instantly recognized her as the woman from her mother's funeral. The interns all scurried over to her and followed her down the hallway.

"I have 5 rules memorize them, rule number 1 don't bother sucking up, I already hate you  thats not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run! That's rule number two! Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain! 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 will you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason. We clear?" Dr Bailey asked. Everyone nodded.

"You said 5 rules, that was only 4." Meredith pointed out as baileys pager went off. "Rule number 5, when I move, you move." Bailey said as she took off. Everyone ran behind her in a hassle.

The patient, an elderly woman was situated in her bed after an almost fatal fall, the interns gathered around with dr Bailey. "Someone present." She said as she looked at Derek. "Uh, Linda weathers, 8-82, fell from the 5th step. Broken hip, broken arm, and a major brain bleed. They controlled the bleeding, but the chances of her waking up are slim." Derek said quietly. "Nicely done Dr Shepherd." Dr Bailey praised. "So Dr Nelson, how do we proceed?" Dr Bailey asked the neuro attending. Bailey was just a resident.

"Well, there's not much we can do other than keep her comfortable. She has little to no brain activity, Mr Weathers, so you should prepare yourself." Dr Nelson said. "Dr Nelson, are you married?" Mr weathers asked. Nelson shook his head and he looked to the next in line, which was married.

"Dr...Grey. Are you married?" Mr weathers asked. Meredith looked at Bailey quickly who gave a questionable nod. "Uh, engaged." Meredith replied. "To who? What does he do for a living?" He asked. Meredith pointed to Derek. "See, now I can't take the love of my life off of life support. And my wife was a nurse as well." Mr weathers reasoned. "Okay mr weathers. Just be prepared. We'll be outside." Dr Bailey said. She led the interns out and gathered them around. "You two are engaged? By the way Grey, I remember you." Bailey said. "We are." Derek confirmed.

"And Sloan and Montgomery, you two are engaged too?" Bailey asked. "Yes." Addison replied with a smile. "Okay. Go eat lunch." Dr Bailey said as she dismissed them.

Derek, Meredith, Mark and Addison all went to the cafeteria while the other 2 interns went their separate ways. "She's scary." Addison said with a laugh as they sat down at an empty table. "I agree." Mark laughed. "Good job on rounds Der." Meredith praised. "Thanks." Derek said as he squeezed her hand.

They ate in a comfortable silence until Dr Burke, the cardio attending came up to the table. "As you guys may have heard, the attendings pick the best intern to preform their first surgery. As I am the head of attendings, I get to make the choice. Grey, congratulations. You're scrubbing in on an appy." Dr Burke said before he left.

"Did he say...me?" Meredith asked in shock.

An hour later, Meredith found herself in the OR while Derek, Addison, and Mark were all up in the gallery. "Now Grey, you've done the hard part, now all you have to do is-." Dr Burke started. "Invert the stump into the Cecum. I did it." Meredith said. Dr Burke examined the procedure and looked surprised. "Wow. Nicely done Grey." Dr Burke said. "Thank you dr Burke." Meredith replied. Meredith looked up to the gallery and saw her friends and dr Bailey and Webber standing up there. They all had on happy and surprised faces.

Meredith walked out of the OR and sat down in a chair outside. 35 hours into her 48 hour shift. Derek sat down next to her shortly after. "It was good surgery." He said as he wrapped an arm around her. "It was." Meredith said tiredly. "Grey, nice job. Now you two need to go sleep while you have time. I already sent Sloan and Montgomery." Dr Bailey said as she approxhard them. Derek pulled Meredith up and smiled. "Thank you." He said. "Anytime." Bailey responded.

Right before the entered the on call room, a loud voice stopped them. "Grey!" Dr Webber called as he came up. "I'd know you anywhere. You're a spitting image of your mother. Welcome to the game." He said. Meredith smiled tiredly and went into the on call room with Derek and laid down beside him, her back pressed into his chest.

As her eyes closed, her pager went off.

Life of an intern.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will most likely be the wedding. ❤️