WHAT WE MEND
S1, E1 . A Hard Day's Night

ODETTE COULDN'T help but admit that a sense of intimidation had begun to fester deep within her bones as she stood beside her claimed locker in the locker room, dressed in a pair of light blue scrubs, eyes falling upon the crowded room of others wearing the same clothing. The competition within the room alone was ever present, easily felt by just stepping in. It was made her heart pulse at the reminder that only a few of the brightest and those who showed an inflection for talent in their work would move forward, while those who did not would simply be left behind and forgotten.

Odette couldn't be one of those people. She wouldn't be forgotten.

The door opened and revealed a man, who's eyes were drawn to the clipboard in hand. "Martin, Robinson, Bond, Parkins."

As the four people called walked out of the room, Odette took notice of the dirty blonde who arrived late begin to speak as hurriedly rushed to adjust her shoe. "Only seven women out of twenty."

"Yeah. I hear one of them's a model. Seriously, like that's gonna attract respect."

"You're Cristina, right?"

Odette hummed in response, nodding to herself as she listened to the conversation. Just by studying the woman she could already gathered that she was driven and focused, something that would definitely earn her her way up to the top. A cold feeling danced up at her spine as a thought drew to her focus. "If I could get close enough to her, maybe some of her credence would rub off on her."

"Which resident are you assigned too? I got Bailey."

"The Nazi? Yeah, me too."

The Nazi. What a...uncharitable nickname to adorn, especially within a hospital where you where, as your job title reflected, were supposed to take care of everyone. But Odette wasn't completely turned off by the name, as she had quickly come to the conclusion that the fellow resident had simply earned it from their...rigid persona. "Did you say Nazi?" She turned to the two women.

Cristina raised her gaze to meet her's, almost surprised by the sudden question. "Yes. From what I've heard, they can be very jarring."

Sensing the need for introduction, especially given the fact that they shared a resident, Odette held out her hand. "Odette Aalto, a fellow intern if you will."

The Asian woman hummed in response, giving a small handshake in return. "Cristina Yang."

Odette drifted her eyes towards the dirty blonde at the side, narrowing her eyes as she tried to piece why she looked familiar? "Meredith Grey," she spoke, shaking her hand as well. Oh, that's right, now Odette remembered her. It was kind of hard to forget considering she spent most of the mixer trying to hide the red splotch of accidentally poured wine from her blouse.

"Now I remember you, from the mixer. Nice to meet you."

The dirty blonde blushed slightly at the reminder. "Sorry, again, for that."

"Don't worry," Odette waved off. "the stain came out." It didn't, she had to toss the blouse out, but it wasn't as if it were a necessary story to share. Before she could say anymore, the lockers beside them rattled as a body chucked in to the side in a haste.

"I-I also have the Nazi." A man stuttered, looking at the group of women in alarm with a scarlet hint scattered across his cheeks. He bore an awkward smile. "At least we'll be tortured together, right? I'm George O'Malley." He respectfully shook each of their hands, his windswept hair curling around his forehead. He focused his gaze on Meredith. "Uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals-"

While Cristina and Meredith shared a look, Odette studied the man cautiously. It was obvious to tell that he was a nervous wreck but she still stood her guard when he drew near. A horrified look pulled on his face. "Now you think I'm gay."

"O'Malley, Yang, Stevens, Grey, and Alman." Called a man from the front. Odette quickly tied her hair into a ponytail before turning on her heel and followed out of the room. Her hands fiddled with the waist line of her scrubs, so focused on making sure her appearance looked professional that she didn't even noticed that they stopped until she almost stumbled in to George.

"What are we all staring at?"

"The Nazi."

Odette blinked, confused. Following there gazes her eyes fell upon two women who sat near the nurse's station, seemingly holding a good natured conversation amongst one another. "Who? The woman talking?"

"No," Cristina shook her head. "the other lady."

This made her let out a noise in surprise as the other woman was quite short compared to her colleague, though, she shouldn't judge as if the woman was able to be credited the name The Nazi, her height obviously wasn't something that held back her intimidation. And it wasn't as if Odette was necessarily tall- average in height stance.

"I thought the Nazi would be a guy." George said, never taking his eyes off the woman.

Meredith nodded in agreement, appearing as if she were still trying to figure the situation out. "I thought the Nazi would be...a Nazi."

A small scoff had drew Odette's attention a new person who stood at her right, a blonde, who she recalled earlier, still wore the same preppy look on her face. She pushed to front as if on a mission. "Maybe it's professional jealousy. Maybe she's brilliant and they call her Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice!" She sounded as hopeful as she appeared.

Cristina sent her a look. "Let me guess, you're the model?"

The blonde's jaw clenched at the statement, but continued on until they all stood before their resident who, unlike her colleague, barely gave them a glance. The blonde wore a wide smile, hand outstretched. "Hi, I'm Isobel Stevens, but everyone calls me Izzie."

Odette watched as the other woman- Serrano if she were looking her lab coat correctly, leaned back against the nurse's station with a small grin that she appeared to be trying to hide. Bailey turned away from the chart, regarding Izzie's hand with a blank look before turning to the rest of the residents.

"I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change." She pointed to the nurse's station behind her. "Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers." As she started to walk away, halfway down the hall, all the interns rushed to grab the items listed. Odette stood by, waiting for some leeway as, growing up with two sisters and a brother had taught her anything, and waited for them to disperse before grabbing what she needed.

Serrano chuckled under her breath as she regarded the interns, sending Odette a soft smile before turning down the hall. The brunette quickly moved to follow after the others, not wanting to miss anything.

"Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run. That's rule number two. Your first shift starts now and last forty-eight hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies. Bottom of the surgical food chain." As they walk across the walkway, Odette couldn't help but trail slightly behind, her eyes falling on Mt. Rainer as it loomed over head, the beautiful landscape made her fingers just itch to grab her camera and add more pictures to it's roll. Drifting away from the daydream, Odette rushed to hurry after the group.

"On call rooms. Attendings hog them, sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule three, if I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there.  Not only will you have killed someone, you would have also woke me for no reason, we clear?"

Odette pursed her lips in frown. Weren't there five rules?

Apparently she wasn't the only one to notice, as Meredith slowly raised her hand to draw attention. Bailey, who seemed content with silence to follow and was not pleased by it being disrupted, twisted her lips and crossed her arms and raised a brow, motioning for her to continue.

"You said five rules...that was only four?"

Bailey blinked slowly, eyes seeming to snap in alert as the pager on her hip went off and she brought it to her gaze. "Rule number five, when I move, you move." She stated before pushing her way through the interns and started her run down the hall. The group quickly followed and all Odette could think was-

"Well this is going to be an interesting day."

_________________________

Here's chapter one, finally! Hope you
enjoyed it.

©sukibenders//LUNARS