The Starting Line (Reupload)

15

Jumping from her comfortable sleep with her head resting on Mark's bare chest, Eleanora practically falls out of bed in her haste to grab her pager.

Mark grumbles, opening one eye to check on his girlfriend. "Are you OK?"

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Eleanora nods before standing up. Grabbing her jeans from the floor, she hops on one leg as she puts them on.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" She throws her pager into her bag, quickly stumbling to the bathroom to quickly brush her hair and teeth.

Mark sits up and turns on the bedside lamp. Stretching his back, he glanced at the alarm clock and frowned. "Nora, honey, it's 4 am."

Eleanora comes out of the bathroom and runs the brush through her messy hair. "I know. Tyler paged me, he said an Appendectomy is coming. Rumor has it the Chief has done an appendectomy for the first solo surgery the last two years, and I want to get as much information about them into my brain as humanly possible."

Mark snorts, leaning back against the headboard. "You paid Tyler to warn you about an appendectomy when you're not on call?"

Eleanora frowned, feeling slightly offended. "Of course not. I just asked and he said yes." She disappears back into the bathroom, nodding to himself, but his voice is loud enough to reach his girlfriend.

"Well, I'm sorry, I forgot that everyone likes you." he joked.

After a few moments, Eleanora hurried back to the main room, grabbing her purse and cell phone. She rested one knee on her bed, leaning over to place a chaste kiss on his lips. Mark smiles, moving his hand to cup her cheek in an attempt to warm up their kiss.

Eleanora pulls away, pressing another kiss to the top of his nose before heading towards the door. "I have an appendectomy, babe! I'll see you in a couple of hours!"

The door to Mark's hotel room slams shut, leaving the man to squint at her. He lets out a huff before turning off the lamp and flopping down dramatically to try and sleep for an hour or so more.

"Damn solo surgery." He muttered to himself, punching the pillow to make it a little more comfortable. "It prevents me from having morning sex."

____

Jumping on her heels next to George, Eleanora wrings her hands as she and her friends wait for Bailey to show up.

Looking around at the group, Eleanora's eyebrows furrow a little before focusing on Alex. "Hey, where's Izzie?"

Alex doesn't look at her, his voice a little rough. "Where's Sloan?"

George, Meredith, and Cristina focus on the two of them, the two women's eyes narrow a little and George's eyebrows raise.

Eleanora is silent for a moment, letting her eyes dance across his face. She then turns to look forward when she hears the doors to the emergency room open, her voice a little cold. "His shift doesn't start for two hours."

Shaking water from her umbrella, Bailey looks up to see residents standing around. "What are you all doing here?"

"Oh, he's mine. I met him at the ambulance." Cristina was startled, without answering the question. Meredith appeared next to her, her voice a little quick.

"And she sharing him with me."

"He's mine. I'm on call." George says flatly. Eleanora perks up, a smile too bright for someone who was awake before 6 am making its way to her lips.

"And he's sharing him with me."

George smiles, giving her a playful push. Alex gives his head resident a sickly-sweet smile, one that's obviously being forced. "Good morning, Dr. Bailey. You look good today."