iLove

Chapter 2

It was sheer chaos from the time she opened her eyes to the sound of her blaring alarm clock and noticed that it had been going off for some time, to the time she got out of her lukewarm shower and rushed over to the hospital. By the time she reached the parking lot she didn't care that her socks didn't match, or that her shoes looked like they were dug out of the trash because she couldn't find her new ones, or that her hair was still wet and barely brushed through. She'd be changing soon anyways and hoped that no one was really paying attention to her that much anyways, the less attention the better. However she knew deep down inside that she wouldn't get so lucky. She grabbed her cup of coffee and dashed into the hospital like a bat out of hell. She never had to stop, she knew the place too well and it never gave her a good feeling.

She flung the doors open and started to dart straight for the elevators when she suddenly came to a crashing halt. She felt herself gasp as she was flung backwards against the tile floor of the hospital lobby and felt her coffee fly out of her hands and the sounds of liquid and papers falling hazardously all over the floor. She squeezed her eyes close for a second wishing it was a dream before quickly scrambling up to find a grumbling dark haired man squatting down to pick up his strewn papers..

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you." she gasped as she reached to help him gather his coffee stained papers.

"It's no wonder you didn't with the speed you came barreling in here!" he muttered out.

"I'm sorry I'm just in a hurry, here let me help you."

"You've done enough!" he hissed back as he flashed his eyes up at her in a glare. She gasped to herself for a moment at the fierce blue color of them. They softened for a moment as if he were somehow surprised to see her in front of him but they soon hardened as he glanced away to see his files all over the floor.

"Look, I'm really sorry please let me help you."

"No." he muttered out "Just go, you're running late."

"Late?" she frowns "How do you know?"

"You're an intern, right?" he replies as he lightly glances up at her, scanning over her appearance but never making eye contact as if he were afraid of it.

"Yes." she stutters out "how did you know?"

"Your hair is wet." he says "you smell like soap as if you just stepped out of the shower, your clothes are wrinkled like you just pulled them out of the hamper, you have that deer in the headlights look in your eyes, you came barreling into the lobby entrance so you obviously don't have an emergency, and if that wasn't a dead ringer, you're drinking black coffee." he hisses out the last part as he picks up a brown stained paper looking it over with disgust.

"What's wrong with black coffee?" she frowns

"Interns and med students drink black coffee, they want the maximum wake up so they drink the bitter hot tasting liquid full of caffeine to wake up their senses and they usually don't have time to put anything in it anyways." he mumbles "Attendings and residents take the time to enjoy."

"So milk and sugar mean enjoyment?" she frowns.

"Who knows!" he snaps "But what I do know is that if you don't stop talking and get your ass upstairs before your resident calls you, you'll have a hell of a first day than you're already going to have as it is!"

"Right." she mumbles and tosses the papers she gathered in his direction before standing up and carefully making a B-line to the elevator. After the doors closed on her she cursed herself for her clumsiness and also for not getting the man's name so she could properly apologize to him later.

She rushes into the intern locker room quickly and finds the one with her name on it. She looks at the numbers scribbled on her hand and enters them into the combination lock, she wiggles the handle...no movement. She sighs heavily and tries the combination again, no luck. She does it again, but wiggles the handle vigorously this time, still no luck. Out of the corner of her eye she sees a hand fly by and bang against the door of her locker, she jumps a little but is happy to see the door to her locker pop open with ease. She turns to see a boyish looking man smiling there in light blue scrubs.

"Some of them are stubborn, you have to hit them a little to show em' who's boss." he smirks.

"Uh, thanks!" she smiles and frowns at the familiarity of his face

"George." he replies sticking out his hand "we met at the mixer last night."

"Oh, right." she nods and shakes his hand "sorry, I didn't stay long enough to get everyone's name. I wanted to get home and get some sleep, why they want to get us all drunk the night before our first day beats the hell out of me."

"Haha." George laughs, she hears another giggle two lockers away and sees a tall blonde, Barbie doll looking girl smiling down at her.

"You have a point there." she smiles "I'm Isobel Stevens."

"Meredith." she replies to them both.

"Who do you have as a resident?" Isobel asks "Oh and call me Izzy."

"Um," she hums as she looks at another note on her hand "Bailey."

"Oh! Me too!" she almost sings

"The Nazi." George frowns "I've got her too."

"Looks like we'll be suffering together then." she replies, they both chuckle.

"Not as much as they think!" she hears down the row of lockers and looks to see a bitter looking asian girl staring at her.

"I'm sorry?" she asks thoroughly confused.

"You may think you've got the upper hand on us around here, but think again when it comes to me. Unlike you I believe people need to work hard for achievement, not be born with it."

"You're greatly mistaken." she mumbles back as she feels the first sting of many she knew were coming

"Christina!" Izzy hisses "Why are you being so mean to her, she's an intern just like the rest of us and you don't even know her."

"I know exactly who she is," she growls back "she's only here because of who her mommy is."

"That's not true." she mumbles.

"Oh right!" Christina mutters "like they wouldn't let you into the program with a mother like Ellis Grey!"

She cringes as she hears the locker room turn to silence and all eyes fall on her. She sees Christina give out a pleased smirk before prancing out of the room, the silence turns into grumbles from interns feeling their upper hands crumble in the presence of the offspring of such a legend. Meredith feels her cheeks burn with embarrassment and fury at such accusations. She had to work just as hard if not harder than anyone else, but she knew that they would jump to think the opposite. If only they knew how her mother really was...

"Don't worry about Christina." George whispers with a pat on the back "she's just a spoiled rich girl from Beverly Hills and she obviously feels intimidated by you, just brush it off."

"Yeah." she sighs "just this day has been crap since it started... it cant possibly get any worse."

The doors open and a small dark skinned resident walks in and calls out to them.

"Grey, Stevens, Yang, O'Malley!" they all look up startled and walk her way, she narrows her eyes at them "Don't bother sucking up to me, I already hate you. That being said, come with me." Its all they can do to nod and follow her quick little feet down the hallway. "I'll be quickly introducing you to the Attendings before we go down to the other departments and get started. Don't ask them questions or waste their time, they're very busy and have scalpels."

Gulp. They follow Bailey until she comes to a stop down the hallway and into a room with a comatose patient. Meredith lets her fellow interns in first, making sure to put a lot of distance between herself and Christina before following them in. She stops dead center in the doorway as she looks up and sees a familiar looking dark haired man. The lines in his face gave away the fact that he wasn't in any better of a mood since that morning but then again she didn't do anything to improve it. Her heart started beating faster when she noticed the white coat and dark blue scrubs.

"Everyone." Bailey starts "this is our neuro Attending Dr. Derek Shepherd, you'll be working with him a lot, especially this winter when the weather gets bad and stupid people get stupider. Just watch and listen, don't get in his way and you'll learn a lot, plus it'll just piss him off and you'll spend eternity trying to get back on your feet."

"Crap." she mutters to herself. "it just got worse."

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