A/N: Credit for the hypothetical test questions goes to the USMLE website.
For the rest of the world, it was Christmas day. But in the Glenn–Karev household, it was CS Exam eve.
They both, miraculously, had off for the holiday. But, with no other friends and very little cheer, they'd decided to spend the day studying instead.
"I'm a thirty–two year–old woman with type 1 diabetes mellitus. I've had progressive renal failure over the past two years," Fallyn began the question from her head. She was setting up Christmas decorations at the same time, not that anyone in the apartment was especially jolly.
"Started dialysis?" Asked Alex from his spot on the couch. He hadn't helped with the decorating, but when Fallyn impulsively went out to the Dollar Store after work and bought all the Christmas decorations she could afford, she hadn't expected help.
She considered the question as she strung up cheap garland over the living room window. "No. Exam shows no abnormalities. Hemoglobin concentration is 9 g/dL, hematocrit is 28%, and mean corpuscular volume is 94 μm3. A blood smear shows normochromic, normocytic cells."
Alex thought about it for a second while Fallyn struggled to stick a thumbtack into the wall. "Erythropoietin deficiency?"
"Good!" Fallyn managed to muscle the thumbtack in with the palm of her hand; she was congratulating both of them.
"Alright. I'm a thirty–five year-old woman with swelling of my right knee for the past two days. No trauma to the knee or any previous problems. I'm otherwise healthy, but I stand a lot while I work. My right knee is erythematous, swollen, and tender; there is pain on movement. No other joints are affected. X-ray of the knee shows an effusion but no structural abnormalities of the joint. What's the next step in diagnosis?"
"Arthrocentesis of the knee," Alex answered without missing a beat. Of course the diagnosis procedure came easy to him, since he did it every day as an intern.
"That's right. The synovial fluid is cloudy. Gram stain is negative. Analysis of the synovial fluid shows a leukocyte count of 120,000/mm3 and 90% neutrophils. What additional test would you do on the fluid?"
"Culture for bacteria."
Fallyn smiled. He was right, of course. He'd gotten every question completely right. Whatever he'd done wrong the first time he took the test, it was clearly no longer a problem.
Fallyn stepped down from the stepstool and walked around the couch to get a better look at her handiwork. The garland wasn't evenly strung— she'd done her best— but it was more festive than a blank wall.
"You're going to crush it," she said absently, making her way over to the box of cheap ornaments on the kitchen table. They didn't have a tree, so she considered hanging them from the garland. "Seriously, you've grown a lot since starting your internship. You have nothing to worry about."
As she made the decision to put the ornaments up and grabbed the box, the jaunty whistle of her ringtone came from the coffee table.
Alex was closer to it, and leaned forward to read the caller ID. "It's your mom again."
Fallyn winced. It was Christmas and she was avoiding home, so of course her mom was calling her nonstop. Her sister had been calling all day too. "Just let it ring," said Fallyn.
"Really?" Alex asked. He respected her wishes, though, and let the call go to voicemail.
Fallyn could picture her mother's face as she heard the perky leave a message! message on Fallyn's voicemail. Disappointment. She hadn't officially told her mother she wasn't coming home for Christmas, but it was implied. Fallyn hadn't been home for years.
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Fanfiction[Alex Karev x OC] || For Fallyn, intern year is supposed to be simple. But when her mentor uproots both their lives and moves them to Seattle, she gets more than she initially bargained for. Including a surly new roommate who might become her everyt...
