Personal Trainer

Chapter One

Love. Its dictionary definition is: an intense feeling of deep affection. But where and when this feeling may occur - that's something no one can predict. It comes in all shapes sizes and forms - love knows no boundaries and than can cause problems. Because sometimes we may fall in love with a person we are determined not to - love just has a different agenda.

Carina DeLuca had been an attending OBGYN at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for the past 3 years but in the last 4 months had been promoted to Head after the previous one had left to move states. However, the person in charge clearly hadn't been the most efficient in filing or uploading the files into the system because it was chaos. Carina had been working overhaul for months on end - between surgeries, research and managing an entire department she hadn't had much time for anything.

This had lead to multiple nights sometimes weeks staying on the sofa in her office and ordering takeout from the various places close to the hospital. To say it had taken a toll on her physical and mental health had become an understatement. She was tired all the time and seemed to be on autopilot most days.

Having to make sure her brother, Andrea, was recovering in rehab also dominated a large part of her life - he had been there for the past month and had one more to complete to end his stay and hopefully by then he would be on the right medication and could finally come home. But in short Carina's life was a mess. Her friends Amelia, Maggie and Teddy were sympathetic and asked her to come out and have a drink with them to ease her mind and while she did indulge sometimes it often led to more work being needed to complete and the continuous cycle of stress would just continue.

It was only when on a Wednesday morning at 10am that something changed. She had fallen asleep on her desk which was covered in files and notes from another all-nighter when Dr Bailey had walked in, the bang of the door hitting the wall making her bolt upright.

"Dr Bailey?" Carina said startled, her voice a bit hoarse, "I'm so sorry - what can I do for you?" She asked, slightly concerned that she had missed a meeting or a surgery from being asleep.

"DeLuca - now I know what it's like to have a lot on your plate but this is ridiculous. You look like a mess," Dr Bailey said, she'd always been direct and that clearly still hadn't changed.

Carina was only slightly offended because she knew it was true and was about to say something but Bailey hadn't finished, "I can tell when someone hasn't been eating or sleeping well and you don't look you've been doing either. Things are hard with your brother I understand and please give him my best whenever you see him next." Carina nodded. "But, I would like to suggest an option for you. You are an incredible surgeon Carina, I wouldn't have promoted you if you weren't - but I need my doctors on the top of their game. So, I am going to give you some of the residents who will help you with this filing catastrophe while you are going to go home and sleep. Then, I want you to go and visit someone - help get everything back on track for you mentally and physically," Bailey said with a kind smile.

Carina sighed and nodded her head, she wasn't very good at accepting help but she was working on it and knew that in order for her to do her job she needed to take Bailey's advice. "I will - thank you Dr Bailey."

"You are very welcome - here's their card," Bailey took out her wallet and pulled out a black business card placing it on Carina's desk, "After your shift today go get some rest Dr DeLuca - I can't have you operating on patients if you fall asleep," Bailey said with a smile which Carina returned with a small wave as the Chief left her office.

She dropped her head back against her chair and rested her feet on her desk stretching out her muscles, letting a yawn escape her lips. After, Bailey's talk she knew she had to change something for her self and for her sanity if nothing else. So, she stood up and organised her files, bound papers together and placed them in their paper wallets and then carried them over to the filing cabinet in her office - this months collection. Then she grabbed her white coat from the back of her chair and went to grab a coffee from the cart outside. It was a decent substitute, not as good as her Italian coffee beans back at her apartment but not equally as bad as the hospital coffee which she was convinced was 90% water - in short it would do for now.