Hello there, as promised to readers of my other stories (Torn, 1 New Message, Think Twice and Elevator Speech) I came up with a new story! This concept has been done a lot of times but I just love it and since I couldn't find any other stories like this so I decided to make one of my own since there are so many ways to do it. So if my story bores resemblance to another one, it's possible. So since I don't live in the USA, I have no idea what Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe looks like so I just look it up on the internet. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own Grey's, Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe, the airport or California. I made up Camp Tahoe, but if it really exists, then I don't own that either.
It was 6 AM in the morning when Meredith, Cristina, George, Izzie and Alex were getting ready for rounds in the locker room. Izzie was already finished and put the stethoscope around her neck when Alex still had to get out of his street clothes and put on his scrubs.
"Crap, get out of my way, the Nazi's going to be pissed if I'm late again." Alex exclaimed as Meredith was hovering in front of his locker.
"Easy, if you came in earlier you wouldn't have to rush." Meredith retorted.
"Bite me." Alex concluded, being annoyed by everything and everyone.
It was only since last week that Alex had become so easily annoyed. A couple of weeks ago there was an almost-kiss between him and Addison, then there was an actual kiss, which he enjoyed. A lot. But she was avoiding him, so he told her he wasn't interested. Stupid. Then he got attached to his own patient, Ava. More stupid. But it was only one week ago that Addison had pushed him into an empty supply closet in the heat of the moment and converted the sexual tension between them into sex. Great. This was great, he liked her, he really did. But when she came to him while he was sitting in the lobby and said she could help him with his intern test, he told her that she wasn't his girlfriend. The most stupid thing he could've ever said, because one, it got real awkward between them and she stopped letting him in on all of her surgeries, and two, he loved liked her a lot.
So he was a little annoyed, but he couldn't tell his friends why, because they all still hated Addison for breaking up Meredith and Derek. His thought process was stopped when Bailey came into the locker room.
"Are we late?" Izzie asked confused.
"No, Stevens, you're not late. We're not working today." Bailey announced.
"What?!" Meredith asked shocked.
"Oh come on, I don't know what it is, but I'm sure we can get through it. Come on please let me work." Cristina exclaimed dramatically.
"The Chief has told me to keep you in here. Your attendings will be here soon as the Chief would like to explain something. Now stay here, I'm going to work." Bailey explained, making sure the interns didn't follow her. Soon after that the Chief came into the door, refusing to say a word until his attendings arrived.
After 5 minutes they all came in. Addison walked in first and winced at the scent of the intern's locker room. She was followed by Derek, Mark, Callie (who wasn't an attending but was also paged) and Burke.
"Why are we here, Richard? Couldn't we do this in the conference room, where it's less… smelly?" Addison asked, waving a hand in front of her nose.
Almost all the interns rolled eyes but Richard started, "Okay take a seat on the benches." They all did as asked and sat down on the small benches. "Okay, you may not know why you are here, but I will explain it to you. I've noticed some tension between all of you. Most of it is personal, which I normally wouldn't be concerned about, but I've noticed it has reflected on your ability to work together and that's not how things should be. So, today and for the rest of the week you are not working. I have planned a team building week. You will all fly to California, South Lake Tahoe to be specific. Close to Lake Tahoe, the fresh air of the trees will do you guys good. I also thought you wouldn't appreciate sleeping in tents of some kind so Camp Tahoe will have mobile homes ready for you. I have paired you with the person I think you have most problems with. You will all get assignments to complete. Some are in group, some are with your partner. My intentions are to improve the atmosphere so please don't take this too lightly and try to resolve issues you have with your partner. But don't forget to also have fun." Richard concluded.
Everyone sighed.
"Is he serious? I have patients you know." Addison complained.
"He has to be kidding. Teambuilding? For God's sake. We don't have issues." Mark directed to Derek.
"No we don't." Derek agreed
Addison rolled her eyes, which went not unnoticed by both of them.
"Addison, stop trying to start a fight." Derek said.
"What? I am not trying to start a fight." She retorted. And soon everyone was yelling to each other.
"As I said," The Chief exclaimed loudly and everyone look up startled. "My intentions are to improve the atmosphere. I have tickets for you all which I will pass around later. Now go home and pack. I expect you all at 3 pm this afternoon at the airport, that way you will still arrive there before it gets dark. Someone will be waiting for you when you land in California and she will take you to Camp Tahoe. Have a good trip." Richard said as he distributed the tickets and left.
"I swear to God, when we come back I'm moving back to New York. I'm 200% done with this place." Addison said firmly as she and all the others left the locker room to go home and prepare.
3 PM that afternoon
Izzie, George, Cristina, Meredith and Alex were the first ones to arrive. Mainly because Izzie had been nagging from when they got home until it was time to leave for the airport. Of course she was enthusiastic about the whole thing, and of course they were a little early. But there she was. A woman of average height, probably about 60 years old, short grey hair, who was waving a big carton above her head that said, "Seattle Grace Staff". The interns groaned, knowing they should go and see that woman. They reluctantly dragged their suitcases further and the woman's enthusiasm was so overwhelming it was almost too much for Izzie.
"Good afternoon, I'm Melanie Goodman. Now I assume we're not complete, aren't we?" The woman spoke with a slight British accent.
"No indeed we aren't." Alex spoke mocking her tone, which made the others giggle but Melanie didn't notice. They were asked to introduce themselves and they were only just finished when they saw Mark, Derek, Callie, Burke and Addison walking their way. The boys were walking a little bit faster than the girls. Mark was dragging two suitcases along. One from himself and one from Addison, who had brought two suitcases. They spotted the interns and walked calmly over there.
"Now we're complete. You're all right on time which I really appreciate. To those who have just arrived, I'm Melanie Goodman. I will be flying with you to make sure you don't switch seats on the plane or something like that. When we arrive at South Lake Tahoe, my husband will take over. Now do you have any questions before I start?" Melanie smiled.
"Why can't we choose who we sit next to on the plane?" Cristina asked, clearly annoyed.
"Well, you should ask your Chief of Surgery that, dear." Melanie said, the enthusiasm dripping out of her voice. Cristina rolled her eyes and winced at Melanie calling her 'dear'.
"Any other questions?" She repeated. There came no response so she went on. "Okay, now I will be assigning partners. The partner you are with on the plane will be a different one from the one you will be sharing a mobile home with in Camp Tahoe. Meredith you will be with Addison."
Both Addison and Meredith groaned.
"Alex, you will be with George."
They both rolled their eyes. They didn't really have a problem with each other but they'd just like to spend their time with someone else.
"Callie, you will be with Cristina. Izzie, you will be with Mark. And then we have Derek and Preston left."
Both men shrugged as they didn't really have a problem with each other.
They all followed Melanie to the check-in stand and only an hour later they were already boarding the plane, sitting next to their respective partners.
"This is probably the fastest I've ever went through the airport." Addison said, trying to make a conversation with Meredith.
"Yeah, it's been a long time for me though." Meredith answered staring out of the little window absent-mindedly.
"Well, there isn't much time to travel when you're an intern."
"And when you're an attending there is?" Meredith turned her head and smiled at Addison.
"Not as much as I'd want to." Addison returned the smile. "It's probably an unpopular opinion but I'm kind of glad we're going on a little vacation even if we're forced to do group activities and all that shit…" Meredith tried not to laugh as she heard Addison say a forbidden word. This was probably the most relaxed she's ever seen her. ".. I just need kind of break, you know." Addison looked at Meredith expectantly.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd just rather be at the hospital right now. Not that I don't enjoy my free time and I'm literally exhausted but I'm an intern and I want to cut as much as possible." Meredith spoke.
Addison giggled, " Apparently they all do." She said as she looked at Cristina making big gestures, rambling and complaining to Callie who was not even pretending to pay attention and tried to follow the movie on the little screen.
A couple of seats further, George was sitting next to Alex, who was sitting at the side of the isle.
"So, who do you think they'll put you with in the mobile home?" George asked awkwardly.
"Don't know. I'm thinking Addison but I don't know if they'll put men and women together." He answered.
"I honestly don't know where they're going to put me. I don't really have problems with anyone. So how come you're so tensed lately?" George asked again, realizing his question was risky.
"Just, some stuff that happened. Stuff that shouldn't have happened. Well it was good that it happened but I reacted in the wrong way and I shouldn't have done that." Alex rambled. It was probably the first time George had seen him so uneasy.
"And there's no solution?"
"There is. But It's a two-way street." Alex said, realizing he was opening up to George and deciding he should stop talking.
"So what'd you d-" George tried but was cut off by Alex. " Y'know I kind of want to listen to some music. Do you mind?" Alex asked already putting the ears of his iPod in his ears, wishing those two hours would be over fast.
The story will really start next chapter so shall I continue or don't you like this kind of concept? Review & let me know!