The Chief's Awakening [Book One of the Chief's Records]

Chapter Two: The First Cut is the Deepest

A few mornings later, Eliza awoke back in her hotel room feeling more rested than she had in days. She had survived the first shift of her internship, and she was feeling more motivated than ever. She'd fallen into a nice routine during her first week of work, and was getting more used to it every day. For the first time in a month, her mind felt clear, and she didn't wake up in the morning breathing heavily and covered in sweat from a nightmare. She'd scared her brother half to death with some of the nightmares she'd had while living with him, and she knew that she needed to get help for them, but what sort of help could she possibly get for herself without having to reveal everything about who she really was? She couldn't risk revealing her secret by getting a therapist. Besides, how could a total stranger who didn't know her and never really could help her recover from trauma there was no way they could possibly understand? In her opinion, therapy was a waste of time.

Eliza shook her head as she changed into a similar outfit to the one she had worn the previous day. She hadn't brought a lot of clothes with her and didn't have many possessions to her name aside from her car, the few clothes she'd bought herself back in LA, and the brown leather briefcase her brother had purchased for her. She got herself ready for work and grabbed a croissant from the continental breakfast offered by the hotel before she headed out to her car and made her way back to the hospital.

The white walls and muted furniture were already starting to be familiar to her. She made polite conversation with the other interns as she changed from her street clothes into her scrubs before she made her way to the nurses' station on three, where she would get her assignment from Bailey. She had a feeling that she would probably be working with Derek once again today, but she didn't want to piss off her resident by making assumptions. She sipped on the vanilla latte she'd purchased from the coffee cart outside as the other interns pestered Meredith about letting them become her roommates. She'd seen the poster that had been tacked onto the bulletin board in the locker room, and though she couldn't deny that the offer certainly sounded appealing, she was far too nervous to ask. She didn't want to impose, especially since Meredith was shooting both George and Izzie down so fiercely.

"I can cook," Izzie was insisting. "And I'm an obsessive cleaner."

"No!" Meredith exclaimed. "I just want two total strangers who I don't have to talk to or be nice to, and it's not a bribe, it's a mocha latte!" She was referring to the drink George had offered her before making his offer.

"It's totally a bribe," Cristina argued.

"George, you're running the code team. Meredith, take trauma pager. Cristina, deliver the weekend labs to the patients. Izzie, you're on sutures, and Eliza, you're with O'Malley on the code team, but Dr. Shepherd said he'd come find you when he needs you, so keep that in mind," Dr. Bailey instructed. Eliza grinned at George, excited to work with the younger man. She hadn't gotten to know him much over the past week, but he did seem like a nice person and super easy to work with.

"How'd you manage to get into Shepherd's pocket so quickly?" George murmured to her as Meredith walked up to Dr. Bailey. "He certainly seems to like you."

"I honestly don't know what I did," Eliza admitted. "I hope he doesn't think the story I told him about being in the army was meant to be a sob story. The last thing I need is him giving me extra opportunities out of pity. He seems to think I have 'untapped potential' or something like that. Some sort of special talent for neuro. It's really weird."

"That is weird," George agreed, and then turned to watch Meredith try her hand at getting into an operating room.

"Dr. Bailey," Meredith began in a professional tone of voice, "I was hoping to assist you in the OR today, maybe do a minor procedure? I think I'm ready. Mocha latte?" Eliza shook her head, privately disagreeing with her. She knew how to tell when someone was ready, and aside from maybe Cristina, she didn't think very many of them were.