You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

22┃like ducklings

S4 EP1

"DR... DR LAWRENCE?"

Norah turned around to see three nervous-looking interns and one familiar face waiting for her in a line; they had a notepad in their hands and a pen in another. She raised her brow at them before shaking her head.

"Does it never exist a gender balance?" she mumbled before lifting her eyes to them; the interns straightened their posture more than they already were. "Names?"

"Dr Nina Lee," said the only woman among the four, her hand shot up in the air.

"Kirian Rook," said a man with dark hair.

"George O'Malley."

The remaining man introduced himself, "Jace Thompson."

Norah nodded. "I have five rules, memorise them-"

"Five? That's a lot," Kirian murmured.

The resident shot him a glare which made him shut up. "Make that six. The sixth one is not to interrupt me when I speak. Are we clear, Rook?"

The intern nodded, and Norah resumed, "Rule number one: don't bother sucking up. You will do what you deserve to do when you prove to me that you're ready."

They began scribbling down on their notepads as the resident stepped aside, gesturing to the items on the nurses' station. "Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers," she listed out, "Nurses will page you, and don't you ever dare miss a page. Also, never disrespect your nurses-that's rule number two. Cranky nurses don't do us any good. Follow up."

She began walking down the hallway as her interns scrambled to pick up their pages before following after her. "You're interns, grunts, nobodies-bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop," she turned to them, "Don't complain to me until you're actually dropping, though, which brings me to rule number three: don't overwork yourself and faint. I have no time in babysitting an extra patient."

She opened one of the doors in the corridor, silently praying that it had not got occupied. Ah, my lucky day. "On-call rooms. Everyone hogs them, so sleep when you can and where you can," she continued, "Mind I warn you, if you catch anyone inside, kindly turn around and erase your memory of the last minute that existed." The interns shared a look; George had a knowing grimace.

"Rule number four: page me whenever you're unsure of anything," she stared at them with furrowed brows, "I do not want you to go around killing patients instead of saving them, we clear?" She rolled her eyes at George, who swallowed back a snort of laughter.

Nina raised her arm in the air before asking, "You missed one rule. What's rule number five?"

"Rule number five? That's simple," Norah cleared her throat, "Enjoy your internship. Do not do idiotic things, and do not disappoint me. Questions?"

"Is it true that you've frozen in the OR?" Kirian asked, and the three other interns snapped their heads to him, their eyes wide. He seemed to take notice of the tenseness in the air and shrunk back to his spot, stammering, "Uh, I mean... I, uh... I heard..."

The resident glared at him. "Have you heard that I've punched a co-worker in the face, too?" The interns have gone quiet; George looked like he was about to implode from holding his laughter. "Yes, that happened. And I will try my best not to repeat it on you lot this year."

Kirian smiled awkwardly and nodded.

"Well, then. Welcome to your internship in Seattle Grace-" Norah's pager went off, as well as the interns. They lowered their heads then back up to their resident. "Quick tip-if you want the best cases, run to the ER. Let's go."