The Starting Line (Reupload)

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Moving day was as stressful as Eleanora remembered. She and Izzie and George had decided that they would give themselves a couple of hours to settle in before the next one arrived, and Eleanora had been the last. It was probably a mistake.

Everyone else was tired and exhausted, and she lived in the attic. She was a strong and independent woman now, but when it came to physical strength, she sometimes struggled. Which prompted George to climb the stairs to the attic while she, Izzie, and Meredith watched.

Eleanora grimaced as George struggled to carry the head of her new bed, biting her nails. "Georgie, I can help."

He shook his head, breathing heavily. "N-no, I have this! It's just one-one headboard! I brought the rest of the bed and your dresser! I'll do this!" Cried George.

Eleanora looked at Meredith and Izzie with worried eyes. Izzie shook her head, and Meredith let out a small laugh.

"He's going to kill himself." Meredith said, looking up. "And I'm not going to do anything but laugh."

Izzie shook her head and focused on Eleanora, trying to calm the young woman down. George's grunts and curses were just background noise at that moment, Izzie placed "a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"He won't kill himself. He can do this. Anyway, he practically forced you to walk away and told you he would do it himself. It's sweet—" something in Izzie's eyes made Eleanora moan, "romantic even."

"No, no, it's not... Not us... George and I..." Eleanora rambled, struggling to find words to explain how it wasn't romantic, and George would never look at her that way.

Meredith faces the two, arching an eyebrow. "Eleanora has eyes for someone else. Or, at least, in his pants." Eleanora let out a gasp, Izzie spun faster than she ever had.

"Who?!"

Meredith smiled. "I'm just saying she and Alex have gotten too comfortable in the past week." Eleanora felt her face light up.

"No! We haven't!" She stammered. She deflated slowly, her eyes softened. "Why would you say... he... Did Alex say something to you?"

Izzie looked at the girl sadly, shaking her head. "You, you don't want to go there. Not with a guy like Alex Karev. You need a nice guy, one who calms down and doesn't sleep with anything else that has boobs and heartbeats. Someone like George! Or even one of the nurses!"

The conversation was interrupted by a victorious shout from the attic, George appeared through the door with a wild smile on his lips. "I did it! All the heavy stuff is up here! I'm the man of this house!"

Eleanora clapped excitedly, Izzie followed suit sarcastically. Meredith simply rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, heading down the stairs. "I'm going out, I'm going to run a couple of errands by myself. Don't break anything!"

George hurried down the attic stairs, smiling at the two women in front of him. Izzie snapped her neck and went to her room. "I'm organizing!"

Eleanora gave George a quick hug. "Thanks for helping, George. I'm going to go ahead and unpack my bags. Just yell if you need anything, okay?"

She quickly pushed him aside and ran upstairs, closing the door behind her.

George O'Malley stood in the middle of the hallway, looking between the directions the three women took. He let out a slightly annoyed snort before raising his arms again, smiling.

"Man of the house!"

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The air conditioning guys had already come and installed it the night before, leaving the attic less sweltering and hot, which Eleanora was grateful for.

A couple of hours had passed, and her bed was next to her new bedside table. Now, she was just unpacking her clothes, small knick-knacks, and books

She hummed, pulling out her framed photos. She smiled softly, tracing the photographed faces of her family. In the photo, her family was on vacation in Italy. Her father had stretched out his arm as far as he could and tried to capture them all, but they were still crushed.

Her father looked a little confused, his mother looked at him with a slight annoyance but still had love in her eyes. Squeezed behind them was her older brother and his fiancée, smiling broadly. On the other side of her father was her, and her younger brother and sister. Everyone was smiling and tanned, and the image made her feel warm inside.

Eleanora got up from where she was on the floor and moved to her bedside table, placing the frame next to her alarm clock. She looked at him one last time before looking at her bare bed, sighing.

She had so much more to do to make this room feel like home. But she knew she could do it. Eleanora thought of the three people on the floor below her, and felt a calm wash over her.

This was her home now. Seattle was finally and officially her home.
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