[season one episode one]

"this is your starting line."

THE RED HEAD BIT HER LIP AT THE ATTRACTIVE MAN THAT WAS SITTING BESIDE HER.  Either she was really drunk so far and her vision was deceiving her eyes and telling her that this man was really handsome when in fact he wasn't or he really was as attractive as he seemed.  She could handle her liquor well and four shots of tequila didn't really get to her but she was now on her sixth shot.  Emma knew this was a bad idea the night before she starts her first shift at Seattle Grace, but sometimes bad decisions created great stories.  

So, why not?

"What's your name?" Derek asked, interested in her as he gave her that look.  

It was enough to make her wet but she contained herself.  It wasn't like she could exactly jump his bones in public.  She supposed she could, but she was a little more classy than that.

"Emma.  You?"

"Derek," he lets out a laugh.  "So tequila shots, huh?  Must've been a pretty rough day to have those."

"You have no idea," she muttered.

"What's your story?"

"My story?" She let out drunk laugh.  Even though she was getting drunk though she was still able to think clearly.  At least for now.  "Why do you want to know?"

"You seem like an interesting person is all," he smiled at her and she scoffs which peaks his interest.  He wasn't expecting that kind of reaction but if he were being honest, he wasn't sure what kind of reaction he was expecting anyway.  Maybe a little sly flirty smile or maybe intrigue.  But a scoff was not one of them.  "What?" He asked as he took a peanut, cracked it open and ate it.

"Nothing, just don't see why I'm interesting," she said turning to him as she took a sip of her drink which was her favorite - a margarita.  She was going all out.  Tomorrow she was sure there would be hell to be paid for.  But right now she didn't care.

"You seem like you have an interesting past is all," he gave a smirk and took a sip of his beer.

"Well, if you get me a few more of these," she pointed at her drink.  "You might get a few answers out of me."

"Is that a promise?" He asked intrigued.

"Maybeeee," she teased and leaned forward slightly before leaning back again and taking a sip of her drink again.

*

Emma woke up the next morning with a pounding headache.  The guy, whose name was Derek, who she had sex with the night before had already left but he had written his number down along with his name on a post-it note.  

She let out a groan as she heard her alarm wake her up at five in the morning.  

"Nooo," she whined and tried to hit the alarm to silence as she pulled her covers over her head to try to get a few more minutes of sleep.  

Once she felt like she needed to get up, she did and she got ready within five minutes as she then drove threw the drive thru lane of Starbucks and ordered herself her favorite iced coffee with caramel drizzle, blonde espresso roast, with a splash of vanilla sweet cream and she added on a few more syrups to make it a little sweeter but still give her that kick she needed.  She also added on the pumpkin loaf heated up as well since she didn't have time this morning.  After she added this order to her points she paid for her order and was on her way to work.

*

One cup of coffee was not enough for Emma as she let out a yawn again after fixing her red hair in a top knot bun.  She barely had on any makeup, really only mascara and eyeliner.  She never had to fill in her eyebrows as they were already darkened since she tints them with dye at home.

She was dressed in professional style type clothes.  She had decided to go for black form fitting slacks and a pink blouse that had a bow in the front.  Normally, she was not the type of person to wear pink, but this was her first day in a new place.  She needed to look presentable and at least seem approachable.    

Most women when they first met her would judge her based off her red hair.  They thought she was crazy for dying it red and she didn't really have too many friends to begin with.  People always think that healthcare workers are always so nice but to Emma she found more often than not a lot of the girls were just bitches.  

There was a hierarchy in the healthcare field to put it lightly.  Not to mention inner circles and if you weren't apart of that inner circle it was the worst feeling in the world to be excluded.

She made a promise to herself before her first day she wasn't going to try hard though with making friends.  She wasn't here to make friends.  She was here to learn as much as she can and to eventually be the best surgeon she could be which was the reason why she came to Seattle in the first place.

"Each of you come's here today hopeful.  Wanting in on the game.  A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors.  Today - you are the doctors," Richard tells the group of interns as they look around the OR room in awe.  This is what Emma lived for.  What her dream was as a little girl.  The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life.  You will be pushed to your breaking point.  Look around you.  Say hello to your competition.  Eight of you will will switch to an easier speciality.  Five will crack under pressure.  Two of you will be asked to leave.  This is your starting line.  This is your arena.  How well you play, that's up to you," Richard told the group of interns.

Emma felt like shivering slightly as she thought about the possibility of being asked to leave.  How awful would that be?  Knowing that you worked your whole life to be here just to be told you weren't good enough. 

As she looked around the OR room, she was amazed by the equipment and the machines they now had.  This was where she was going to be for the next seven years and she was internally screaming inside with so much excitement.  

"Okay, Martin, Robinson, Vaughn, Miller," a resident called out the names of the interns.

They were now in the locker room changing from their professional clothes to light blue scrubs.  They weren't the worst that Emma had ever seen but she wished they could have at least been form fitting.  Hers were a little loose on her but not too loose on her like some of the others.  Right now the resident doctors were calling out names of the interns and separating them into groups.  

"Only seven women out of twenty," Meredith says in disbelief.

"Yeah, I hear one of them's a model," Cristina says in disgust.

"If she's a model, what's she doing here then?  Wrong profession?" Emma asked as Cristina smirked.

"Seriously.  That doesn't help with the respect thing," Cristina said as she stuffed her things in her locker.

"Your Cristina and your Emma?" Meredith asked the two.

"Yeah.  Which resident are you assigned to?  I got Bailey," Cristina said.

"Same," Emma answered.

"Me too," Meredith answered.

"So did I," a boy spoke up across from them.  He looked so cute and innocent.  "At least we'll be tortured together, right?" But the two girls ignored him as Emma let out an unattractive snort.  "I'm George.  O'Malley.  We met at the mixer.  You had on a black dress and black side strappy sandals.  Now you think I'm gay.  No, I'm not gay," he said as Cristina left to get far away as possible from him.  "It's just you were very unforgettable."

"O'Malley, Grey, Stevens, Hastings," a doctor called their names out and they raced after each other not wanting to be late.

"Nice try, O'Malley," Emma gave him a soft smile and he gave an awkward one back.  He didn't mean to flub up with Meredith but it was like his words got all mumble jumbled together whenever he was around her.  He knew she was out of his league but he still tried.  

Emma could tell right away that George O'Malley had a crush on Meredith but she wasn't sure that he was her type.

"Bailey?" Cristina asked a doctor who pointed out that she was right over to the nurses desk in front of them and they continued walking until they found her.  "That's the Nazi?" She asked by her short, plump figure as they watched her talking to a nurse.

"I thought the nazi would be a guy," George said.

"Don't let her short height fool you," Emma chimed in.  "Short people might be short but they can be powerful."

"Maybe she's brilliant and that's why they call her nazi," Izzie said.

"No one is called a nazi for being brilliant," Emma said back to the blonde without realizing she was the one who was the model.  "Then you would be called Einstein," Emma said and Cristina would laugh if they weren't all so confused.

Emma was the only one who didn't seem fazed by Bailey's appearance.  She had to respect someone like Bailey.  She seemed like someone who was allergic to bullshit and Emma was that way as well.  Emma liked it when people were straight forward with her instead of beating around the bush.  She had dealt with that enough in her life from her dad and she wasn't about to have other people in her life be like that as well.  Either you liked her or you didn't like her.  Either you thought she was doing a good job or you didn't think she was doing a good job.  She liked when people were honest with her and told her like it was.  

"Or maybe they call her the nazi because they're just jealous," Izzie piped back.

"Let me guess, you're the model," Cristina said with distain and Izzie turned around and gave her a rude look.

"Hi, I'm Isobel Stevens but everyone calls me Izzie," Izzie greets Bailey and even Emma knew she shouldn't have done that by the look on Bailey's face.

She did not look happy and Emma nudged Cristina as she smirked back at the redhead.

"I have five rules.  Memorize them.  Rule number one: don't bother sucking up.  I already hate you.  That's not gonna change.  Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers, nurses will page you.  You will answer every page at a run.  A run!" She said as she started walking and they tried to keep up with her as they all grabbed their pagers quickly.  "That's rule number two.  Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours.  Your interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain (see told ya about the hospital hierarchy).  You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain.  On-call rooms," she brings them to a stop on the tour in front of the on-call rooms.  "Sleep when you can where you can, which brings me to rule number three.  If I'm sleeping, don't wake me unless your patient is dying.  Rule four: The dying patient better not be dead when I get there.  Not only will you have killed someone, you woke me for no reason.  We clear?"

"So then shouldn't we call you before the patient is dying?" Emma asks confused by her last rule and Bailey looks at her unamused.  "Well it makes sense..."

Meredith raises her hand.

"Yes?"

"You said five rules.  That was only four."

Just then her pager went off and she looked at them.

"Rule number five: when I move, you move."

They ran after their resident as they weren't sure what was going on but Emma was ready.  They made their way up to the roof of the hospital with a gunnery ready for the patient in the helicopter.  Their hair was going all over the place as it was so windy but thankfully Emma's was in a top knot so she thankfully didn't have to worry about that.

"What do we got?" Bailey asked once they landed.

"Katie Bryce.  Fifteen year old female.  Has been having seizure's intermittent for the past week," the paramedic explained as she had been seizing as they wheeled her.  "IV lost in roof, started seizing as we landed."

"Alright get her on side," Bailey orders her interns and they do as told.  "Izzie ten milligrams of diazepam.  

Emma was working fast at the orders Bailey was demanding, helping out where she could after she finished her task.  

"Seems like we got a wet fish on dry land," a new surgeon appeared as Katie had finally stopped seizing.

"Absolutely," Bailey agreed.

"Doctor Bailey, that's shot gun," the tall surgeon announced.

"That means every test in the book," Bailey told her interns.  "CT, CBC..." she began to list all the tests that the interns would do on this one patient and they were now understanding why she was called the nazi.  "Cristina you're on labs.  George patient work-ups, Meredith and Emma get Katie for a CT.  She's your responsibility now," Bailey said as she was leaving.

"Wait, what about me?" Izzie asked.

"You?" Bailey asked.  "Honey, you get to do rectal exam."

Emma and Meredith smirked slightly at each other as Izzie got stuck doing the dirty work.  They all went off to do their assignments.

*

"Your lost," Katie pointed out to the two interns as they had gone up yet another floor.

"I'm not lost," Meredith told her.

"We're lost, Meredith," Emma let out a sigh.

"See, even she agrees," Katie said.

"We're not lost," Meredith said with confidence.  "How are you feeling?" As they both began to push the gunnery.

"How do you think I'm feeling?  I'm missing my pageant!"  

"Your missing your pageant?" Meredith asked.

"Oh your one of those..." Emma commented.

"Yes, I'm one of those!  I was in the top ten in the first few rounds.  I could have won!  You're still lost," the patient complained as they went the other way.  "What are you like new?"

*

"Okay, so I'm just gonna insert my fingers into your rectum," Izzie said and both her and the patient were uncomfortable.

Doctor Burke pushed George out of the way as he couldn't get the IV right.  Emma and Meredith had to listen to Katie talk about what she does for talent in the pageants.  If Emma were being honest she would rather be doing rectum exams than having to listen to this.

"You and I are going to have so much fun together," Doctor Burke tells George.

*

It's been seven hours already.  Seven long hours.  

It was now finally lunch time.  When she was in middle school, she usually hated this part because she was more of a loner and didn't have many friends back then.  But now, she knew who she would sit with.  After she got her pizza and salad along with some fruit and a bottled water, she made her way over to the table where Meredith and Cristina were sitting as George followed her.

"What do you think so far of your first day?" Emma asked him.

"It's pretty good," he nodded his head as they made their way over.  "What I expected it to be.  You?"

"Not what I expected at all," she muttered as she thought about the dreamy Doctor Shepherd but George didn't understand what she meant as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" He let out a soft laugh.  "We were taught all this in school..."

"I just meant the people," she quickly said and finally they were at the table.  "Hey guys!" She greeted them and quickly began eating her cheese pizza as George gave her an odd look.

Yes, just regular cheese pizza was her favorite.  Sure she would eat pepperoni and sausage pizza too but cheese pizza (in her opinion) was the best.  Hospital pizza though? It would do.  It wasn't the best thing ever but it was better than what she expected so that's good.  

"I think the nazi hates me," Izzie finished her sentence.

"The nazi is a resident.  I have attending's hate me," George said.  

"At least you didn't have to listen to a patient go on and on and on about the pageant she does," Emma complained.

"You know Meredith is inbred?" Cristina asked everyone changing the subject.  "Her mother is Ellis Grey."

"Shut up.  The Ellis Grey?!" Izzie asked in amazement.  

"She's a legend," Emma said wowed as she was shocked she hadn't figured it out and she moved onto her salad as she took bites from both her pizza and salad.  

"Whose Ellis Grey?" George asked and they all stared at him in shock that they didn't know who she was.

"Where did you go to med school, Mexico?!" Cristina asked.

"How does he not know who she is?!" Emma asked.

"She's one of the first big chick surgeons.  She practically invented the abdominal-" before she could finish Cristina butted in.

"She's a living legend!  She won the Harper Avery twice!"

"So in that one thing -" George began but was cut off.

"Talk about a ton of pressure," Izzie interrupted George.

"I would kill to have Ellis Grey as a mother," Cristina said.

"I wouldn't.  I mean she's a very inspiring woman but to have that kind of pressure to live up to?  Yeah, no thank you," Emma said to the group.

Just then Meredith came in and George stopped the group from talking about her mother.

"Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass," Meredith said and Emma clapped her hands together as she laughed.

"Yes, thank you!" Emma said all dramatic which made George smile.  "See I'm vindicated."

Just then the same surgeon from earlier came up to them.  Emma had learned after asking a nurse who he was: Doctor Preston Burke, cardiothoracic surgeon.  He was certainly not bad looking in the looks department.  He was tall, dark and handsome.  

"Good afternoon interns," Doctor Burke greeted them.  He seemed way too chipper for Emma's liking.  It had already been a long day.  "It's posted but I thought I'd share the good news personally.  As you know, the honor of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern who shows the most promise.  As I'm running the OR today, I get to make that choice.  George O'Malley," he says as he puts his hand on George's shoulder which actually freaks him out instead of excites him.

"Me?" George asks confused.  He thought Doctor Burke hated him.  Maybe he still does and this is his way of getting back at him for earlier.

"You'll scrub in for an appendectomy this afternoon with me.  Congratulations, enjoy!" He says and leaves.

"Did he say me?" George asks just to make sure but they all ignore him except Emma.  They could care less now that they know.  They were just annoyed it wasn't them.  She gives him thumbs up and a smile.

"You got this," she mouths quietly.

*

Meredith and Emma were back in Katie's room checking in on her just as her parents arrived, worried.

"They gave her a sedative for the CT scan so she's a little groggy," Emma explained.  

"Is she alright?" Her mom asked.

"Our doctor back home said she might need an operation," Katie's dad explained.  "Is that true?"

"We're actually not the doctors," Meredith told them, a little nervous.  "We're a doctor but we're not Katie's doctor."

"What she means is - were interns," Emma saves Meredith.

"I understand now," Katie's mom says.  "We've heard that Seattle Grace is a great teaching hospital."

"It really is," Emma nods her head in agreement.  "I'll go get her doctor for you."

"Thank you," Katie's dad says and Emma leaves to go find Bailey.

"Katie's parents have questions.  Do you talk to them or do I ask Burke?" Emma asks Bailey.

"Uh, no," she shakes her head.  "Burke's off the case.  Katie belongs to the new attending.  Doctor Shepherd.  He's over there," she points him out and leaves.

When she looks at who Doctor Shepherd is she's shock.  

She wasn't sure if she would see him again and certainly not at work.  He was talking with his coworkers and he was smiling.  God, that smile.  He had done a double take as well when he turned his head and saw her.  

What the actual fuck?!

This was the most shocked and humiliated she had been in a while.  Not even twenty-four hours ago, she slept with this man and now not only do they work at the same hospital but he's also her boss?  Either she was hallucinating or this was truly a living nightmare.  She was drunk last night sure, but not enough to not know who or what he looked like.  And this was definitely him.  How could she not remember him?  Those dreamy blue eyes that sparkled when he was laughing or that megawatt panty dripping smile that had her weak in the knees.  

Stop it, Emma.  

He walked up to her trying to look calm but on the inside he was shitting his pants (not literally). He had never had to go through something like this before.  

"Not here," he muttered to her.  "Follow me," he said bringing her to an empty stairwell.  

"My memory might have been a little hazy the night before but I remember you.  You were the guy I slept with," she whispered rather harshly but still quiet.  "I didn't realize you'd be one of my bosses."

"That's because we didn't discuss our profession," Derek said with a smirk, rather enjoying this.  She was hot when she got upset.  He filled out his patients chart as they talked and he got a little pep in his step as he realized they were indeed were working together.  

"Whatever," she waved her hand and then stomped away and he watched with amusement.  But then she walked back over to him like she was on a mission.  "And you better not tell anyone about what we did."

"Whatever you say, Red," he teased her and she let out an annoyed noise and stomped away again.

Derek had his arms crossed and shook his head with an amused smile on his face.  He could tell that she was an enigma.  A mystery waiting to be cracked open and solved.  She didn't end up telling him her life story last night.  She didn't want her life to seem like this tragic sad country song even if it seemed like it was.

Emma did have to come back though.  Because she forgot why she had actually come to him in the first place.  Katie's parents were probably wondering what was taking so long and Meredith was probably feeling awkward as hell.  But not as awkward as she felt.  

His head tilted to the side and if Emma weren't so pissed off right now she would say that he looked so adorable with his expression as his mouth was slightly open and eyebrows furrowed.

"I forgot to tell you that Katie's parents are wanting to talk to you.  They have a lot of questions," she muttered.

"Okay, I'll follow you," he told her.  "Before we go though, do you want to go out?  Does Friday work for you?"

"This can't happen again, Derek," Emma told him even though her heart was saying something different.  Instead she chose to listen to her head this time.

"Why not?" He asked as he got closer to her and she felt his hot breath on her.  "Because I know we had a connection last night.  I want to see where this goes."

"Last night was great.  But we both agreed it would be just one night only."

"That's because we thought we wouldn't see each other again.  Am I wrong?" He asked her as he looked at her like he wanted her right there.

"Your not wrong.  But we can't because you're an attending and I worked way too hard in school to have people thinking I slept my way to the top," she told him as she put her hands on his broad chest and pushed him back a little further.  "Come on, Doctor Shepherd.  We have a patient to attend to."

And this time he followed her out.  If she were being honest she was glad that she left when she did because if she hadn't, she would have allowed him to take her right then and there.  

*

Emma was still trying to get a feel for her fellow interns that she would be working with.  There were a lot of them but there were some that she was intrigued by.  And some that she was annoyed by already.  

There was Izzie who was far too peppy and always smiling for her liking.  Smiling was fine and Emma would smile.  But she was far too preppy for her liking.  She reminded her of those sorority girls when she was in college for pre-med.

Alex?  He definitely had that bad boy persona but underneath it all she wondered if he was just using it to hide who he really was.  That he was actually probably a really good guy.  But he was definitely cocky and not in a good way.  In a way that really already got under her skin and she just knew that if she was having a bad day and he approached her with a snide remark she would lash back.

George was just so cute when she met him.  And she didn't mean in the way that she was attracted to him.  Because she wasn't.  He seemed like he would be a good friend and decided that she liked him.  She reminded him of a puppy (in a good way) that was just so sweet and innocent.  

Cristina seemed brilliant and bad ass.  She would also be another one she wanted to get to know.  And she was obviously wanting to do well as a surgeon and it showed.  Even if she seemed like a know it all, she was a know it all that was good to have on your side.

And then there was Meredith.  You know how there are just some of those people you can relate to just instantly and click right away?  That's how Emma felt Meredith and vice versa.  They could just tell that the other had been through hell and back without saying a word about their past.  Sure, Meredith seemed a little more dark and twisty than even Emma was, but that didn't scare her away.  Just like Cristina seemed it too.  

She guessed she just gravitated toward people who were more like her.  

But then there was Derek.  Or she guessed Doctor Shepherd.  The way he made her feel like she was the only girl in that bar the previous night.  How his hands worked magic and made her orgasm.  It was like euphoria and she was living in another world.  He was so dreamy.  The way he at first took care of her last night and then they roughed it up a bit the next round.  But now that she found out he was like a boss to her, it was just weird.  Right?  

She had to stop thinking of him in that way.  She didn't want her fellow interns to think she was able to get what she wanted just because she was sleeping with one of the doctors.  She wanted to earn everything she got.  

Why did things have to be this way and so complicated?

She let out a frustrated sigh as she had just finished helping a patient.  Just once she wished that something good would work out in her personal life.  Yeah, getting into Seattle Grace was that something good, but she meant romance.  Emma really thought that she could see herself with him too.  

*

They were now in the viewing room as they all sat in their seats watching Doctor Burke and George about to start the procedure.  Some had popcorn, other snacks and drinks, acting like they were getting ready to watch a good movie.  And to these new interns it was better than a good movie at AMC with the seats reclined.  

Because this was real life.

This was going to be their life.

"He's gonna faint," an intern says as he walks in and sits down as they see George pacing back and forth.

"Nah, code brown right in his pants," another says as they laugh.

"Ten bucks says he messes up," an intern jokes.

"Fifty says he cries," Cristina joins in.  She didn't like George from the start.  She felt like he was weak.  And she was jealous that he got to be in the spot that she wanted.

"I'll put twenty on a total melt down," Emma shook her head as she laughed slightly at Matt's comment.

"Fifty says he pulls the whole thing off," Meredith said making everyone stop what they were doing and look at her.  "That's one of us down there.  The first one of us.  Where's your loyalty?"

It's quiet for a few moments before Cristina speaks up.

"Seventy-five says he can't even I.D. the appendix," she says.

"I'll take that actually," Izzie agrees with Cristina but Emma shakes her head and walks down to the OR room to pep talk to George.

She puts a mask on her and George looks at her startled.  She doesn't care that they can hear her on the intercom.  She wants them too.  

"Emma?" He asks nervously.  "I can't do this!"

"Yes, you can," she says confidently.  "What are you nervous about?"

"That Burke hates me.  That I can't find the appendix.  That I will get too nervous and pass out before I can even begin the procedure."

"Okay, take some deep breaths in with me.  Breathe in then breathe out," she says as she does it and he hesitates at first but then does as he is told.  Once she feels like he's calmed down and isn't so anxious she speaks again.  "Forget about Burke possibly hating you.  Forget about the other interns hating you.  Because I'll be honest, George, right now they are all upstairs making bets for you to fail.  You can do this.  You want to know how I know?  Because you got into this program, that's how!  It's incredibly hard to get in here.  But you did it!  Prove them all wrong and show them that you can do this," she says with confidence.

"I can do this," he says with confidence and actually believing he can.

"You can.  Good luck, Georgie," she gives him a thumbs up and then leaves just as Doctor Burke came into the OR room.

When she comes back in they all stare at her and she stares back.

"What?  He needed the boost of confidence.  You guys are all a bunch of pussies for talking shit behind his back," she says and takes a seat next to Meredith.

Emma was always the type of friend who stood up for others who were getting bullied.  And in this instance she knew that George needed a friend.

"Okay, O'Malley, let's see what you can do," Doctor Burke says to the intern.

"Here it comes," Meredith says.

"You can do this, George," Emma cheers him on silently.

"Scalpel," George asks the scrub nurse who hands it to him just as Alex Karev comes into the viewing room and they all cheer for him but Burke stops them.

They watched in amazement as he found the appendix.

"Damnit, I lost," the intern said who betted that he would faint.  

"I told you, he's gonna pull it off," Meredith said with a big smile.

"Appendix is out," George announced and they all cheered again.

Just then though something bad happened.  George pulled the purse strings too hard and broke them.  He's frozen and Emma is on the edge of her seat as she rehearses in her mind what she would do in this situation and it's the exact same steps that Doctor Burke says.  

"BP's dropping," BokHee tells Doctor Burke.

Come on, George!

"He's choking," Cristina comments.

"Today!  Pull your balls out of your back pocket," Doctor Burke tells George as he's having a hard time breathing and focusing on the surgery at hand.  "Let's go!"

"Getting too low, folks," a scrub nurse says.

"Doctor Burke," one says insisting he do something if the intern wasn't going to.

"Get out of the way," he shoves him aside.  "Pansy ass idiot.  Get him out of here.  Suction.  Clamp."

"He's 007," Alex comments.

"What's 007 mean?" Izzie asks as everyone repeats it.

"License to kill," Emma tells her as she says in shock at what just happened.

*

"You set him up to fail," Emma said as she stood in front of Doctor Burke who just kind of chuckled at her statement.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"You knew George was nervous.  You chose him to make him fail and he did!  You know I always knew that surgeons were arrogant but I thought you were maybe different," Emma told him off in disgust and Derek watched from afar as they hashed it out.  "You use us interns like little pawns.  I see you.  I see your game.  Don't think we don't.  We might be interns but were not stupid and its sad that you treat us like we are.  We're all here with the same dream.  With the same goal in mind.  And you just crushed that dream for some of us," Emma shook her head as he just stood there, speechless.  

When he didn't have anything to say for himself, she walked away feeling powerful for a second. She knew that she could probably get in trouble for telling off a surgeon who was higher rank than all of them were but he deserved it.  She was sick of the favoritism already.  It was nauseating.  

"Em!" She heard someone calling after her as she walked fast over to Starbucks that was inside the hospital.  "Emma!" Derek yelled as he then caught up to her.

"W-what are you doing here, Doctor Shepherd?" Emma said sounding a little defeated.

"Come with me," he said as he grabbed her hand and took her over to an on-call room where she could vent, cry, anything.  She didn't even try fighting it this time as she let him drag her into the room.

"You saw the whole thing, huh?" She asked as she sat on one of the bunkbeds and he nods his head as he stays standing, not wanting to sit next to her as he was wanting to respect her boundaries.

"Yeah, I did."

"Think I'll get in trouble?"

"No.  I've only been here for a short amount of time, but I've come to understand Doctor Burke.  He's not a bad guy."

She gives him a deadpan look and he laughs.

"I promise.  He's one of the good ones.  Sure, he likes to mess around with the interns but give him a few days and he owns up to his mistakes."

"Do you think I was wrong?" She asks him as she looks at him.

"Do I think you came off a little strong?" He moves his head side to side a little bit.  "Maybe.  But do I think you were wrong?  No.  Can I?" He asks as he gestures to the spot next to her and she nods her head and turns her body to him.  "You were standing up for a friend.  I heard about what happened.  The nickname 007 has been going around the hospital for at least thirty minutes."

"Great, damn Alex Karev," she muttered feeling bad for George as she looked down at her hands and she felt him cup her face to look up at him.

"Forget about him," he said.  "Focus on the good here.  Focus on why you came here.  Then the rest will follow."

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Emma came back to her senses and stood up abruptly.

"This can't happen," she said but she wasn't sure if she was saying it to him or to herself.  "Thank you for the talk but we can't be together.  Not now."

She left the on-call room in a hurry.  Why did she allow herself to get easily charmed by Derek?  She never had before by any man and for some reason this one had her second guessing her rule.  No relationships with coworkers.  

*

19 hours into the shift. . .

"007," George says as the group sits in a hallway where there aren't a lot of people.  "They're calling me 007!"

Emma rolls her head from side to side to try to help get out any knots she has.  She had been hearing about this from George for the last ten minutes and now she was sort of tuning it out if she were being honest.  She was so tired.  Maybe if she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Beep, beep, beep.

Both hers and Meredith's timers went off and her eyes shot open.  She hated the feeling of being sleep deprived.  She needed coffee.  If only Derek hadn't distracted her hours ago.

"It's Katie Bryce," Emma tells Meredith as they both look up.

"We gotta go," Meredith says and they get up quickly, running.

"Excuse us!" Emma shouted as they were out of breath slightly.

"Took you long enough," Katie said as she sat the magazine down that she was reading.

"Your okay?" Meredith asked confused.  "The nurse paged us 911."

"I had to go all exorcist to even get her to pick up the phone," Katie tells the two interns as Meredith looks at her chart.

"Wait, there's nothing wrong with you?" Meredith asked confused but Emma wasn't.  It was a false alarm.

"I'm bored," the patient admits.

"You little-" Meredith says now upset like Emma was.  "We aren't a cruise director."

"The pageants supposed to be on cable," Katie explains as Emma makes her way around to listen to her breathing with her stethoscope.  "But this crappy hospital doesn't get the channel.  If Kylie Norwalk walks away with my crown I have to see it.  Can you call someone?"

This time Meredith speaks up instead of Meredith.

"This is an actual hospital.  Which means there are sick people here.  Go to sleep and stop wasting our time," she says seriously.

"But I can't sleep," Katie tells them as they walk out.  "My heads all full!"

"That's called thinking," Meredith says and they are out the door.

"Good going, Mer," Emma smiles at her.

"I've had with little miss beauty pageant Queen who thinks the world revolves around her," Meredith shakes her head.

"Glad I'm not the only one.  I need coffee.  Want to go with me?"

"Sure," Meredith nods her head as they head to Starbucks.

When they got in line, there was a semi-line once they made it but Emma was dying to have coffee.  Once it was their turn, she asked for the same order she got before her shift started and then Meredith did and she got her points for the rewards on both orders.

*

They had all gone to do other tasks when another hour or two (Emma wasn't really sure at this point) went by.

Emma went to Katie's room to check on her because she wasn't sure how she was doing and even though her being a beauty Queen was annoying having to listen about, she still felt for the patient.  She was glad she did because she ended up having another seizure.

"Page Meredith!" Emma yelled the order to the nurse as she tried to help the other nurses calm her down.

It felt like another hour before Meredith came in but Emma knew it wasn't really that long.

"She's having a seizure," a nurse, named Tyler told the two.  "How do you want to proceed?" 

"Page Doctor Shepherd," Emma said when Meredith wasn't talking.  Emma didn't know what to do since she already had been given the medicine they had given her when she first came in.

She was running out of options.  

"Okay," Tyler says.

Finally Meredith snaps out of it and looks at her chart.  She orders them to give her a dose of another medication but it wasn't helping.  

"Try ten milligrams of phenytoin," Emma tells the nurses but just before they did her heart stopped.  "Call code blue," Emma says as she gets the crash cart and almost shoves Meredith out of the way a bit since she had frozen stiff again.  

She turns it on and unattached the pads to make sure they are in use.  She puts them on her chest and yells, "clear!"

"Still v-fib," Tyler announces.  "Nothing."

"Charging.  Nineteen seconds."

"Charge to three hundred," Emma says.

"Twenty-seven seconds."

"You are not dying on me today, Katie, you hear me?" Emma tells their patient and Tyler watches while also helping, impressed with the new intern.  "You are going to show that Kylie Norwalk girl whose the actual Queen, okay?  Charge to 360," Emma tells the nurse.

They put the BVM mask over Katie's mouth for a few seconds before Emma yells for the nurse to charge again and they do even though she was supposed to do chest compressions.  

"Anything?" Meredith asks.

"I see sinus rhythm," the nurse says and they all sigh in relief as the other nurse puts the BVM mask on Katie again.

"Blood pressure is coming up," Tyler announces.  "Good work, Doctor Hastings."

"You guys too," she says, relieved, and just then Doctor Shepherd shows up.

"Rates coming back," another nurse says who Emma doesn't know her name but decides to ask her after this.

"What the hell happened?" Derek asks as he rushed in.

"She had a seizure and her heart stopped," Emma explained slightly out of breath due to all the work she had to do without Meredith's help.

"A seizure?!" Derek asks in disbelief and comes over to check his breathing.  "You guys were supposed to be monitoring her."

"We did-"

"I got her, just go," he said ignoring them.  That stung Emma to the core to be treated like nothing after she saved Katie's life.

And they left.  

"You get a 911 you page me immediately," Bailey tells them.  "Not in the five minutes it takes you to get to the emergency."

Emma just ignores her though and she ignores Meredith.  

"Your on my team and if someone dies its on my hands, you hear me?" She yells but she just walks off as she hears her last name being called.  

She had just done all that work and that was the thanks she got?  She still got in trouble.  How was it her fault that Derek didn't show up on time when he got the page?  How was she supposed to juggle saving the life of a patient and remind the nurse to page Bailey?  Why did Meredith just freeze like that when she really needed her help?

It was raining out and she collapsed onto the cement as she felt the rain fall droplets onto her face.  Once she felt like she was good to go again, she got up and walked back in.

24 hours later...

"You know, nurses really suck sometimes," Emma hears another intern say to another who just laughed with him instead of asking questions.  "They were questioning me on my diagnosis but they can't diagnose..."

It was the same guy who nicknamed George as 007.  And Emma finally had enough of this kid.

"You hate nurses?!" Emma raised her voice which startled Alex slightly and alerted some other staff.  "I'll tell you what.  Those nurses that you so called hate helped us save a patient tonight.  You know what, fuck you," Emma says already him.

"Whatever, carrot top.  Name a time and place and you can have me anytime you want," he answered smugly.

"Call me carrot top one more time!" Emma shouted.

"Carrot top," he commented wanting to push her buttons to see how far she would go.

She was about to take a step forward when Doctor Burke stepped in and held her back.  "Let it go.  He's not worth it," she stopped fighting him and let her move him away from Alex.  "Come with me."

"So, you're a little bit of a hot head, aren't you?" Preston asked as they sat on the gunnery bed in a quiet hallway.  "Standing up to me then Karev in the first couple of days of your shift."

"I'm not a hot head.  I just stand up for those that need it.  George needed it and so did those nurses."

He let out a sigh.

"Listen, I'm sorry about George.  I probably shouldn't have chosen him.  But I do it because I need to see your guys limitations.  How far you can be pushed.  That's how you grow as a surgeon and that is part of my job to make sure you all are the best damn surgeons that walk out of Seattle Grace.  Does that make sense?" He asked quietly.

"I understand now," Emma nodded her head and gave him a sheepish smile.  "Sorry for telling you off."

He lets out a laugh.

"I get it.  I was once an intern too.  What Karev said about nurses isn't right or true.  They are the backbone of our hospital.  Without them, we wouldn't be able to do our job.  We need them just as much as they need us.  Though I have to admit it was a bit embarrassing to be told off in front of my coworkers by an intern."

"Hey, I had to get my point across," she joked.  "Sorry if I bruised your ego a bit."

"It will heal over time," he tells her with a smirk and puts his hand out for her to shake and she does.  "I don't think we were formerly introduced.  Preston Burke.  Nice to meet you."

"Emma Hastings.  Nice to meet you too," she smiles back at him.

*

"What are you doing?" Emma asks Cristina in fascination as she watches her suture a banana.  

"I'm suturing a banana with the vein hope that it wakes up my brain," she answers back and Meredith looks at Emma.

Just then George laughs.

"What are you smiling at 007?" Cristina asks him and he shuts up.  "I'm sorry I get mean when I'm tired."

"You know what?  I don't care.  I comforted a family and I get to hang out in the OR today.  All is well," George tells them.

"Hey, can I talk to you?  In private?" Meredith asks Emma who nods her head and guides her outside the room they were in.

"What did you want to talk about?" Emma asks.

"I wanted to apologize for freezing in that room.  I should have helped you.  I should have helped Katie.  I'll try to not let it happen again," she apologized sounding sincere.

"Thanks," Emma gives her a small smile.

"We good again?" Meredith smiles.

"We were never not good," and they come up with their own handshake and head back in.

"Does anyone know why we're here?" Cristina asked.

"Well, good morning," Derek greets the interns and they all find a seat or stand.

Emma look at him quickly then looks away.  He treated her like she was nothing.  When just hours ago he was wanting to sleep with her again and go on a date.  It was all so confusing and this is why she stuck to her rule.  To make things less complicated.

"I'm gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon.  I'm gonna ask interns for help.  I've got this kid, Katie Bryce.  Right now, she's a mystery.  She doesn't respond to our meds.  Her labs are clean.  Scans are pure.  But she's having seizures.  Grand mal seizures with no visible cause.  She's a ticking clock.  She's gonna die if I don't make a diagnosis which is where you come in," he says as he walks around the room.  "I can't do it alone.  I need your extra minds.  Extra eyes.  I need you to play detective.  I need you to find out why Katie's having seizures," he says and just then Richard shows up at the door and listens.  "I know you're tired.  You're busy.  You've got more work than you can possibly handle, I understand.  So that's why I'm going to give you an incentive," he says now peaking their interest.  "Whoever finds the answer rides with me.  Katie needs surgery.  You get to do what no intern gets to do.  Scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure.  Doctor Bailey printed off Katie's chart.  The clock is ticking fast, people.  If we're gonna save Katie's life, we have to do it soon," he says then leaves.

They all took her chart in the folders and left, excited and motivated.

Meredith and Cristina had decided to work together, split it 50/50 if they got chosen (but Meredith disliked Derek and really didn't even want to be chosen for the surgery).  Emma was excited.  She loved cases like this where no one could find the diagnosis.  She didn't care if it was Derek who she would be alongside with, she just wanted to win.  Besides, it would look good on her resume if she said she got to do this procedure as an intern.  Izzie and George were also excited but George couldn't  really participate since he was already going to be in the OR anyway with Doctor Burke.  

Emma looked over charts over and over again as she made notes and wrote down important things and even unimportant things that might help her out in this case.  She bit the end of pen cap as she looked over the chart and then went to one of the computers in the hospital.  

. Grand mal seizures

. doesn't respond to current medications 

. labs clean

. tests came out perfect 

There's a chance it could be epilepsy but then there was a chance it couldn't be.  Could be high blood pressure but she doesn't have a history of it nor has her BP been high in the hospital here unless she was having a seizure.  She ruled out all of the easy diagnosis.  Of course it wouldn't be any of them.  She knew that Derek Shepherd was smart.  Emma had Googled him while she was on a quick break.  He would have been able to diagnose something as epilepsy.  

When finally she started looking up brain diagnosis.  

*

"We need to order an MRI and/or a CTA scan," Emma tells Derek as she rushes to him and he crosses his arms.

"Why?" 

"To rule out an aneurysm," she says with confidence.

"But there's no indicators," he shakes his head.

"She twisted her ankle a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant.  She fell when she twisted her ankle.  It was no big deal and everything was fine.  It was a fall so minor her doctor didn't even think to mention it but she did."

"You know what?  Follow me," he tells her.  

"Where are we going?" She asks excited with a smile on her face.

"To see if she's that one in a million," he answers back with a grin on his face as well as they both had this rush of excitement.

"Margaret, put in an order for an MRI for patient Katie Bryant, STAT," Derek tells his nurse who nods her head and rushes over to the nurses station.  

*

"Well I'll be damned," Derek said as the scans came up.

"There it is," the radiology tech said as he pointed to it.

"It's minor but its there.  It's a subarachnoid hemorrhage.  She's bleeding into her brain."

Emma takes a look at the computer screen as well in amazement.

They had now left were now walking through the hospital.  

"She could have gone through her entire life without it ever being a problem.  One tap in the right spot," Derek says.

"It would explode," Emma finishes.

"Exactly.  Now I get to fix it.  You did great work!  I'd love to stay and kiss your ass but I gotta tell Katie's parents she's having surgery.  Katie Bryce's chart please," he says to a nurse and she hands it to her.

For a minute there, Emma was worried that he just used all of them so she spoke up.

"Uh, Doctor Shepherd, you said that if someone was able to diagnose that they would be able to scrub in," she said a bit more timid.

"Oh right yes.  I'll see you in the OR, Hastings," he winks at her and then leaves with a big grin on his face.

*

40 hours (8 hours left)

They were now prepping Katie for surgery and Derek shaved off her beautiful blonde hair in the area he was going to be working on.

"I promised I'd make her look cool," he told Emma as she walked in.

"She's gonna be the coolest beauty Queen ever," Emma tells him with a small smile.  

"Listen, Emma," he stops shaving Emma's side of her hair and turns to look at the intern.  "I understand that you don't want to have anything going on especially now knowing we both work together in the same hospital.  I don't want the fact that we had sex to get in the way of us working together.  I'd rather have you as a friend if I can't have a relationship with you.  So can we just agree to at least be friends and coworkers?" He let out a nervous laugh.

"Friends," she agrees and puts her hand out for him to shake.  Instead he just holds it for as long as he possibly can.  They both smile at each other as they look one another in the eyes, savoring this moment.

*

"Why does everything have to be so complicated once we get older?" Emma asked deep in thought.  "I mean its not like I had the easiest life even when I was a kid but I suppose it was easier than others have had.  I guess I just thought once I was out on my own, for real, things wouldn't be so complicated.  And then I choose the one profession that is not the easiest.  It's complicated and you never know what's going to happen.  I guess it was the challenge that brought thrill to me when I was younger.  To make a difference in people's lives."

"I feel like I would have been a good postal worker," he says as he thought about it.  "I'm dependable.  You know, my parents tell everyone their son's a surgeon like it's some big accomplishment.  Like a super hero or something.  If they could see me now."

"I don't have a good relationship with my father so you're lucky that your parents care about you so much.  My dad has intermittent explosive disorder.  He'll lash out during these times where we seem to get close but uh, after that it just goes south.  I understand that it's sometimes not his fault but the things he would say.  It was painful.  He would apologize but I'm not gonna lie - there were times it would just get so bad that I would want to call the cops on him.  He never physically abused me or my mom, but his words cut just as deep if not ore so that a hit ever could.  I never even told him my dreams because no matter what I did nothing was ever good enough for him.  Same with my mom.  She could never measure up to anything and she did so much for our family.  She raised me while he was always working.  I got all of the love from my mom.  She helped guide me to be the woman I am today.  Not my dad.  So honestly, I'm jealous of your parents saying you're a superhero." 

"We're gonna survive this, right?" George asked her.

"Of course we are," she smiles at him.  "We got each other, right?"

"Each other," he smiles, liking the sound of having friends.  

*

It was now time for the surgery.  

"Alright everybody," Derek says to the surgical team.  "It's a beautiful night to save lives.  Let's have some fun," he says once Emma joined him in the OR all masked up.

"You got this," Derek told her.

"We got this," she corrected him with a smile on her face even though he couldn't really see through the mask.  

No one said being a surgeon was going to be easy.  It's not rocket science.  These are people's lives in their hands.  It was grueling forty-eight hours for their first shift but they did it.

Derek then nods his head for Emma to come over and she does.  Emma watches as he fixes the aneurism and she's so impressed by the hard work he's doing.  His precision.  Attention to detail.  Because one wrong move could ruin everything.

And then the surgery was over.

She watched as he came out of the OR room and took his scrub cap off.  She had noticed little ferry boats on it and gave a small smile as he looked over in her direction.  

"You did good in there," she tells him and he walks over to her.

"Thanks.  You ever think of being a neurosurgeon?" He asks, amazed at her hard work today.  That she didn't buckle under pressure.

"Mmm, not sure.  I'm thinking more of bringing life into the world," she smiled.

"Want to grab a drink with me?  Celebratory drink at Emerald Bar?"

"I don't know..." she says a little hesitant.

"Just one," he says.

"Okay," she nods her head and gets up, against her better judgement.  

"Just let me go out and talk to the family and I'll come find you at your locker?" He asks, hopeful.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," she smiles and he does too.

--

What do you guys think of Emma so far?  

And her relationship with Derek?

It's going to be very different from Merder

Sorry its been a while but I got inspiration this weekend and had to finish writing this.  Not sure when the next chapter will be so please do not ask.