secrets | derek shepherd [ON HIATUS]

i. internship

✵✵✵

Athena Rhodes smiles slightly as she stared in wonder around the first OR she'd ever been inside. The group of 40 odd brand new interns looks up as the chief starts talking.

"Each of you comes here hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you."

She smiles wider, maybe intern year would be even better than she thought.

✵✵✵

Athena pulls on her scrub top over a light blue shirt on her first day as an intern.  A girl with light brown hair stands at the locker next to her, fixing her hair.

"Only six women out of twenty," She says.

Another intern, an asian woman with long curly black hair, looks up, "Yeah. I hear one of them's a model. Seriously, like that's going to help with the respect thing?"

Athena looks towards her, "You're Cristina and Meredith, right?"

They both nod, "You're Athena?"

"That's me."

"Which resident you assigned to?" Yang asks, "I got Bailey."

"Me too," The redhead girl says.

"The Nazi? Yeah, me too," Meredith replies.

"You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be tortured together, right? I'm George O'Malley, uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals..." He trails off as the three girls exchange looks, "Now you think I'm gay."

Cristina gets up off of the bench and ties her hair up, "Uh, Huh."

George shakes his head and looks to Meredith, "No, I'm not gay, it's, ah, it's just that, you know, you were, I mean, you were very, unforgettable."

"O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens, Rhodes."

"Bailey?"

"End of the hall."

The four of them walk out of the locker room and down the hallway, discussing what their resident is going to be like. As they draw closer, they see what Bailey looks like.