i love her-cristina yang

a hard day's night...

It began, as many things do, with a light. This light, opening the world of possibilities for the new interns of the acclaimed Seattle Grace Hospital. Each innocent, silently egotistical intern blinking at the sudden brightness. The room was bigger than anticipated to Jalen Grace. The lights, the table, the gallery leering over the operating room. It was slightly intimidating- the legacy that lived in that room. This was a room where Ellis Grey had performed a whipple. This was a room where the famous Chief of Surgery, Richard Webber, had performed hundreds of appendectomies. This was a room where hundreds of eager interns, residents, and attendings had stood, craving greatness.

Entered Chief Webber, the 51 year old chief of surgery, set on moving past the life choices made during his residency. Standing in the bright O.R. room, he started to give the speech he always gave- the speech that normally prepared the class of interns for what came next. Only for this class, it wouldn't be enough. Nothing could prepare them, or him, for that matter, of what the next decade would hold for them all. The pain, the suffering, the heartbreak, the love. Though irrelevant at the moment, those things would be responsible for the craziness that would arise in Seattle Grace Hospital in the upcoming years, the game, as Richard Webber would say. Only this game was more complicated than the rest.

Richard inhaled deeply, ready to begin. "Each of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in on the game." Jalen began to silently scan the crowd as Richard spoke profoundly.

"A month ago you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors." The group dispersed, looking around the O.R. room as Richard continued.

"The 7 years you spend as a surgical resident will be the best and worst years of your life. You will be pushed to your breaking point." Jalen's eyes met those of an innocent, calm, young faced boy. He looked around cluelessly, hopelessly, almost. Like a lost puppy dog. His eyes wandered over to others.

"Look around you. Say hello to your competition." Jalen glanced disdainfully at the woman who had appeared just recently. Punctuality was something that she loved, and she loathed people who weren't punctual. Her hair had recently been patted down, trying to escape a simple one night stand, Jalen assumed.

"Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty." The next person she looked at was a blonde, most likely the model that was rumored to be in this residency class.

"Five of you will crack under the pressure." A pair of icy eyes glared into Jalen's back, she felt, turning around to face them. They belonged to a relatively tall man with short, light brown hair. Jalen could tell simply by his look that he had gone through just as much as she had.

"Two of you will be asked to leave." The next intern who was looked at by the troubled 27 year old looked eerily similar to the calm, young faced puppy dog, only with more confidence. He looked older, more experienced, so to say.

"This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play...that's up to you." And then the final intern, the cut throat woman who looked like she was out to kill just so that she could save. It was a look that intrigued Jalen more than anything. A look she would learn to love.

XXX

"Okay, Martin, Robinson, Bond, Hawkins." A resident called out into the locker room, four very nervous interns following when they heard their name called.

Meredith Grey, the girl who showed up late, fiddled with her stethoscope nervously, waiting for her name to be called. Noticing the overwhelming amount of men in the locker room, Meredith looked at the woman standing next to her, Cristina Yang, the cut throat one, and began talking to her.

"Only six women out of twenty."

"Yeah, I hear one of them's a model." Cristina looked around in the sea of light blue and white, looking for someone who could be the famous model. "Seriously, that's gonna help with the respect thing.