A few days later I found myself pulling up to Seattle Grace Hospital for my meeting with Dr Webber. The hospital itself was vast and set out on a large piece of land giving it beautiful gardens and plenty of outdoor space for both staff and patients.
My nerves began to grow as I entered the lobby, quickly scanning the walls for directions to the surgical floor. Jumping into one of the available elevators I watched the as the floor levels passed by before the doors opened at my stop.
"Hi, sorry to bother you - I've here to see Chief Webber, could you page him or point me in the direction of his office." I asked politely as I approached the nurses station.
"Oh hello dear, you must be Dr Stark?" I nodded as a short grey haired woman stood beside me handing a few folders over to the nurse behind the counter. "I'm Patrica Murphy, Dr Webbers assistant. Follow me I'll take you on up to his office now." I nodded and made sure to thank the nurse I'd originally asked for help before following along. "I'm the point of contact for the National Residency Matching Program here so I was surprised to see your application when I hadn't come across you on the original register."
"I didn't know I would be applying until after the initial matching had been carried out so truthfully I sent applications to every hospital in the country in the hopes that someone would be willing to grant me a spot." I shrugged as she looked up at me with a kind smile.
"Well that explains it! Don't be too nervous dear, between you and me , you've already got a spot here, he'd be stupid to let you get away - this is more a formality." We arrived at a closed door holding a shiny nameplate for the 'Chief of Surgery'. "Good luck dear." Patrica smiled up at me again as she knocked on the door and throwing it open.
As I took a hesitant step over the threshold watchings as a dark skinned man with salt and pepper hair and moustache raised his head from the mountain of paperwork in front of him. It took him a moment before he sort of jumped into action.
"Dr Stark? It's a pleasure to finally meet you, please come in, come in." He waved as he moved from behind his desk to greet me with a firm but quick handshake. Rather than returning to his seat he chose to sit in one of the seats in front of the desk so that we sat side by side which surprised me. "Dr. Stark, your application has to be one of the most bizarre I've ever come across and I've had quite a long career. It was clear I couldn't get the full story from a piece of paper so, please tell me why exactly are you looking at our intern program when you're already a board certified surgeon?"
"Please, call me Sophie. My medical career has purely been in the forces Sir and I'm well aware that I would lack a lot of civilian experience should I make the jump straight into being an attending at any hospital. I believe there are also some technicalities that due to my not completing the required years as a Dr in the services means I'm not able to practice here until I complete the required years. I understand this has caused quite a few eyebrows to be raised however I'd like to assure you I'm not looking to be treated any differently to others who would be in my intern year."
"You understand you would be coming in at the bottom of the ranks with an interns pay? Not to mention the fact that you're only 20 so you'll be the youngest in your class by far." He questioned with furrowed brows.
I couldn't help but smile. "I do Sir. It's about the experience for me, nothing else. I understand I'll be treated shall we say a certain way as and when my age and credentials become common knowledge but I'd appreciate if it simply wasn't mentioned unless someone directly asks, that way I've got chance to prove myself first."
He nodded slightly before smiling widely. "Then congratulations and welcome to Seattle Grace. Your file is exemplary, you know a Dr by the name of Stark won a Harper Avery last year however they weren't able to attend the ceremony." I smirked before giving a slight nod and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "It was you. You're the youngest person to have ever won that award."
