The Starting Line

Chapter 3

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

Everyone else was tired ​and exhausted, and she moved into the attic. She was now a strong and independent woman, but when it came to strength, she was useless, sometimes you have to ask for help. 

  

Eleanora winced as George struggled to carry the headboard of his new bed, biting his nails. "Georgie, I can help."

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

Eleanora looked at Meredith and Izzie with worried eyes. Izzie shook her head and Meredith gave 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. George's grunts and curses were just background noise at this point, and Izzie placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

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

"No, no, it's not... I'm not... 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, raising an eyebrow. "Eleanora has eyes for someone else. Or, at least, in her pants." Eleanora let out a gasp, Izzie spinning faster than she ever had.

"Who?!"

Meredith smiled. "I'm just saying that she and Alex have gotten too comfortable this past week." Eleanora felt her face heat up.

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

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

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

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

George walked quickly down the attic stairs, smiling at the two women in front of him. Izzie turned around and went to her room. "I'm decorating!"

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

She quickly pushed him aside and ran up the stairs, 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!"

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

A couple of hours had passed and her bed was done along with her new nightstand. 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 everyone, but they were still crushed.

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

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

Elenora had a lot more to do to make this room feel like home. But she knew she could do it. She thought about the three people on the floor below her and felt a calm wash over her.

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