The Starting Line

Chapter 23

Eleanora struggled to hide the hickey on her collarbone, a little moan leaving her lips. She loved Alex, and she definitely loved everything he brought to the bedroom. However, last night was... intense, and he seemed to leave the hickeys only in the places where they were hardest to cover.

Meredith walked into the bathroom, yawning into her hand. "Would you mind giving me a ride? Something's wrong with the engine in mine and- oh my God, Eleanora, did you get into a fight with a vampire?!"

Meredith was at her side in an instant, laughing at the embarrassed look on her friend's face. She touched the hickey, Eleanora let out a scream pulling the finger away from her.

"Help!" She shoved her concealer into Meredith's face, her voice slightly panicked. "I'm out of concealer, and nothing else works on it and I'm going crazy! Hickeys might be a fun idea, but I can't go to the hospital with one. I'm a doctor, for God's sake!"

Meredith took the concealer and snorted. "Oh please, no self-respecting Doctor would let her boyfriend give them the biggest hickey ever. Seriously Ella, thats huge."

"I know that!" Eleanora shouted, turning completely towards her friend. "Please, Mer, help me."

Meredith rolled her eyes playfully before reaching for her own concealer. "Okay, jeez. But I'm warning you, try not to wipe off your makeup. I don't want to hear about you being a whore or something on the gossip chain."

Before Meredith could begin, the bathroom door opened again. Alex stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes before they landed on Eleanora's collarbone. A smile fell on his lips, but it quickly faded when Eleanora let out a little cry.

"You did this to me, you moron! I'm a medical professional, not a slutty teenager!" Meredith ran to the door and pushed Alex back, shaking her head.

"Get out. Like, get out of the house, Alex. Run to the hospital and pray I can cover this up."

Alex nodded, stumbling back. "I love you, honey-"

"Be quiet!"

He ran down the hallway, and Eleanora stomped on the doorframe and stuck her head out, yelling at him.

"I love you too!"

"Meredith told me about the hickey." Cristina expressed, making Eleanora jump. They were leaving Mr. O'Malley's room and heading to Burke's during rounds, and Eleanora turned and punched her friend's arm to try to get her stop but Cristina laughed and attracted attention.

Meredith smiled, raising an eyebrow as an offended Eleanora looked at her. "You... your mean!"

Meredith shook her head, Cristina lining up on the other side of Eleanora. "I only told Cristina. And anyway, we both know she would have found out."

Eleanora sighed, nodding sadly to herself as she looked forward again. "Cristina knows everything." She murmured. Cristina closed her arm around Eleanora's shoulder and squeezed her lightly, quickly removing her arm from her.

"Sure thing, Sunshine."

Upon entering the room, Cristina stayed behind and was whispering heatedly with Dr. Shepherd. Eleanora and Meredith laughed lightly, knowing that she was trying to get him to tell her about Burke's hand.

Shepherd walked in, giving everyone a warm smile. "Good morning, everyone. Who's presenting?"

Eleanora made an excited noise, opening the chart so she could verify what she was saying. "Dr. Preston Burke, first postoperative day of an I and D of a brachial plexus compression hematoma. He is afebrile and his vital signs were stable overnight, his incisions are clean with no signs of infection. He was given the last morphine at-" She stuck out her tongue, her eyes dancing across the page before finding it, "-2 this morning."