Season One Episode One: A Hard Day's Night
Disclaimer: I do not have any ownership of Grey's Anatomy or anything related to it. I am using this for nonprofit entertainment only.
Meredith POV
I wake up and immediately feel cold. There are two less arms around me than there have been for the past 6 years. There's light, too much light. I crack one eye open and I see the back of my childhood couch. That's when it hits me: CRAP. That's all that runs through my mind. I start my first day as an intern today and I'm going to be late. I flip around and there he is. My husband of 6 years, fiancée of one year, and boyfriend of two years.
"Derek!"
"Mmmmmhh..." he mumbles.
"Late Derek. We're going to be late!"
"What time is it?"
"Let's just say we have an hour to get there. Derek, seriously! I'm already an attending's wife and Ellis Grey's daughter! I DO NOT NEED TO BE LATE!"
I run up the stairs not even waiting for a response. All I can think about is getting in the shower and getting to the hospital.
Derek POV
We really should have tried to make it upstairs last night. Between not having an alarm clock and the hell my back is going through for sleeping on the hardwood floor, it's just not good. I head up the stairs and vaguely wonder how much trouble I would get in if I tried to get in the shower with Meredith. I'm not going to risk it.
"Mer, we are riding there together right?"
"Yeah." I heard from the shower."We're not hiding, but we're not flaunting. If asked we'll be honest about it, but we're not just going to tell people. They should put two and two together, if they're not stupid that is. I mean we both start today, wear wedding rings, both from New York, and we're both Dr. Shepherd."
"You do have a point."
Meredith POV
We're on our way to the hospital and I just turn to look at my husband. Husband. Even after 6 years that word has not gotten old nor does it fail to give me butterflies in my stomach.
"Derek."
"Yes dear?"
"They're going to hate me aren't they?"
"Mer, they're not going to hate you. They aren't going to love that we're married, but I love that we're married so that's all that matters. You didn't marry Dr. Derek Shepherd, Head of Neurology at Seattle Grace Hospital; you married Derek, your long time boyfriend and love of your life. When we met I hadn't even gained the official title of doctor yet. Once they take the time to see that, they can't hate you for it."
"Hopefully none of them try to hit on Dr. Derek Shepherd Head of Neuro. I hate watching them hit on you. It happens too much for my liking."
"Mer, you know you're the only one for me. Always have been, always will be."
"I love you Derek."
"I love you too."
I run into the other interns in time to catch the end of the Chief's speech.
"How well you play, that's up to you." he finishes. Oh me, I plan to kick total ass.
We make our way to the intern locker room and start to change into scrubs. I look to my left and see a Korean women standing next to me.
"Only 6 women out of 20." I tell her.
"Yeah, and I hear one of them is a model. Seriously, that's going to help with the respect thing."
"You're Christina right?" She just gently nods her head.
"Which resident are you assigned to? I've got Bailey." she asks.
"Nazi. Me too."
From my left I hear, "You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be torchered together right? I'm George. O'Malley. We met at the mixer." That awful thing. I remember only being able to think about how badly I wanted to get home to Derek.
"...strappy sandals." Was he still talking? And about my shoes? "Now you think I'm gay..." This is when Christina decides to walk away. "It's just that uhh.." Is he stuttering? "You were very unforgettable." Oh please don't say anything like that in front of my husband. Derek would die if he heard this random guy say that about me.
"O'Malley. Yang. Shepherd. Stevens." I hear someone call our names. They direct us to the end of the hall.
"That's the Nazi?" There is a short black women there at the end of the hall waiting for us.
"I thought the Nazi would be a guy" says George.
I can't help but add "I thought the Nazi would be... the Nazi."
This Stevens doctor goes off on some speech about professional jealousy. She must be the model. Great.
"Let me guess, you're the model" I hear Christina say with an eye roll. I think we could be friends. Stevens just gives us a look and introduces herself to Dr. Bailey. Bad idea.
Dr. Bailey tells us her 5 rules and then we're off chasing after her to answer a page. We reach the roof with a gurney.
"Katie Bryce. 15 year old female. Seizures intermittent for the past week" the paramedic starts.
We get her in her room and get to work. Dr. Bailey is giving us orders and I don't even notice the attending walk in. He orders for us to shotgun her. That mean every test in the book.
"Christina, you're on labs. George, patient work ups. Meredith get Katie for CT, she is your responsibility now." Oh goodness. Dr. Bailey orders Izzie to rectal exams. Ouch.
Of course on the way to CT I manage to get very lost, which this annoying 15 year old feels the need to point out over and over again. Turns out she's a beauty queen. Something about her talent being rhythmic gymnastics. Finally! Found it.
Derek POV
After I separate with my wife at the hospital I head off to start my day. I get an office which is a huge bonus. The staff seems pretty nice here, although I am glad that Mer's not here to see some of the looks I'm getting. I hope they notice my wedding band soon. I have eyes for no women but my wife. And not because she's my wife, but because she's my Meredith. I've been in love with her since I met her. She's just so perfect. I can't imagine spending a moment of my life with anyone else. I can see my new Chief of Surgery heading my way.
"Shep!"
"Hey there Richard. How are you?"
"Well now that you're here I'm doing much better. Tell me, how the wife?" Well, that raised a few nurses eyebrows. Good.
"Oh she's just as perfect as ever. We're settling in nicely. It's a bit different from New York, but we're handling it just fine. And how is Adele?"
"Oh wonderful, wonderful. Waiting for you and and your wife to get in touch with her since you've been here." Apparently he can tell we're not really advertising our marriage until Mer makes a name for herself.
"Well, I will certainly tell my wife she needs to call Adele when she gets a chance. We've just been so busy..."
"Nonscence, nonscence. We understand don't worry about it."
"Alright, well, I should get going, meet my department attending and such. I'll see you later Richard."
"Bye Derek."
Meredith POV
I finally sit down to lunch with the rest of the interns.
"So," Christina starts, "someone in our program is inbred. Like royally inbred."
Oh please no!
"Who is their parent?" asks Izzie.
"Ellis Grey." The whole table gasps.
"I would kill to have Ellis Grey as a mother."
Good. Take her.
"I would kill to be Ellis Grey." Christina counters.
I've got to turn this conversation around. I'm not ready for this bomb to drop.
"Good afternoon interns!" Oh thank God. Saved by Dr. Burke. "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 that shows the most promise."
The whole table straightens in their chairs. It may be bad, but I pray it's not me. I don't want this much attention early on. When people find out my secrets they'll say that that is the reason I got it.
Dr. Burke continues, "As I'm running the OR today, I get to make that choice. George O'Malley, you'll scrub in this afternoon. Congratulations!"
I could kiss Burke's feet as he walks away.
I walk back to Katie's room to check on her. While I'm there her parents come in asking questions, one's that I'm don't think I'm really supposed to answer.
"You know what, I'm not the doctor. I'm a doctor, but I'm not Katie's doctor, so I'll go get them for you."
I hurry to find Dr. Bailey. Luckily, I find her rather quickly. I call after her.
"Katie's parents have questions. Do you talk to them or do I ask Dr. Burke?"
"No. Dr. Burke is off the case. Katie belongs to the new attending now, Dr. Shepherd. He's over there." With that she takes off.
Oh goodie, my husband. He does look very handsome in his dark blue scrubs, I must say. Save it for at home Meredith.
Derek POV
I can feel her eyes on me. I've always been able to tell hers from someone else's.
"Excuse me. Dr. Shepherd?" I can feel the smile crack across my face. I love that voice.
"Yes Dr. Shepherd?" We walk away and drag her into an empty stairwell.
"Dr. Shepherd." she says warningly in her wife tone. She knows me so well.
"This morning it was Derek, now it's Dr. Shepherd."
"Dr. Shepherd," she tries again. "We're at work. And at work you are Dr. Shepherd and I am... Dr. Shepherd. Seriously, how has no one figured this out yet?!"
I can't help but chuckle, because I don't know either.
"Anyway, you're an attending and I'm your intern. Stop looking at me like that!" I'm so busted.
"Like what?"
"Like you've seen me naked!"
"I have seen you naked. Many times. You know what? You should always be naked."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really."
"I thought you liked being the only man who was allowed to see me naked," she says with a cute little wink.
"You're right. On second thought you should add a turtle neck under your scrubs."
"Ha ha. Very funny. Now we have a patient to attend to." And with that, we were off.
Meredith POV
I was in the tunnels with my other interns trying to convince George that his nickname was not 007 after he failed miserably at his surgery. This would have been much easier if he nickname was not in fact 007, because it defiantly was. During this debate I get a 911 for Katie. Not this again. She keeps paging me 911 for no reason. She's bored and wants company, that's all there is to it.I trudge up the stairs and when I get to her floor I see nurses rushing to her room. CRAP. I start to run.
"What took you so long?" I choose to ignore that.
"She's having multiple grand mal seizures. How do you want to proceed? Dr. Shepherd!"
I feel myself freeze. Not good. Not good at all. Crap. She flatlined.
"Charge paddles to 200!" After many rounds I get her back. That's when I see my very angry husband bust into the room. Not good.
"What the hell happened?" I explain. "A seizure? You're supposed to be monitoring her!"
"I checked on her."
"I got it. Just go," he snapped at me.
Okay, so I deserved that. I just leave before I get tempted to bite back. We don't fight Derek and I, we just don't. I run into Bailey in the hall.
"You get a 911, you page me immediately. Not in the 5 minutes it takes you to get to the emergency, immediately. You're on my team and if somebody dies its my ass you hear me?" I keep walking. "Shepherd!"
I don't stop. I'm going to commit and I can't do it here. Weakness is not an option. I walk straight out the front door, into the rain, and throw up. I can see Christina waiting for me at the door.
"If you tell anyone ever..." is all I can manage.
Derek POV
I feel like crap. I yelled at my wife. I never yell at my wife. Especially not on her first day at work. And worse, I can't figure out what is wrong with my patient Katie. I had to stand in front of her parents and say I don't know. I never say I don't know. I'm going to have to ask for her, and one of the people I am going to have to ask for help is Mer. Who I just yelled at. Crap. I make 20 copies of Katie's chart then call all the interns into a conference room.
"Well good morning." I take a look over to my wife, she doesn't even meet my gaze. "I'm gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon, I'm going to ask interns for help."
I explain Katie to them. There's nothing on her scans, no reason for her to be having seizures.
"I need you're extra minds, extra eyes, I need you to play detective. I need you to find out why Katie is having seizures. I know you're tired, you're busy, you've got more work than you could possibly handle. I understand. So, I'm going to give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery, you get to do what no other interns get to do. Scrub in, to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr. Bailey is going to hand you Katie's chart. The clock is ticking fast people. If we're going to save Katie's life we have to do it soon."
With one last fleeting look at my wife, I leave the room.
Meredith POV
I'm an idiot. I can see in Derek's eyes that he's hurting, that he's lost and doesn't know what to do, and I won't even meet his eyes. I have to go find him. On my way Christina catches up to me and asks to team up on Derek's case.
"Yeah I'll work with you, but I need to go do something first."
Christina gives me a confused look but says okay and that she'll meet me in 15 minutes. I agree and search for my husband. I finally find him in his office.
"Mer," he starts.
"No, I'm here for you. Are you okay?"
"I am now. Now that you're here."
I blush. He tells me things like this often but the pure honestly in what he says gets me even after all these years. I give him a quick peck so he knows I'm not mad.
"I'm sorry," he says anyway. "I just never don't know, and her father is ready to throw me off her case, but I have to save this girl. She's my first patient here."
"I know love. And you will. You're the best of the best, you know it and I know it. I've sat and watched you become this amazing surgeon, I have 100% faith in you."
He pulls me down into a longer kiss and I let him. He needs this.
"Well," I say when he breaks away,"this big fancy neurosurgeon gave us interns a really big challenge to solve and I've got myself a partner that I need to meet so I'll see you later okay?"
"Alright. I love you Mer."
"I love you too Derek."
Christina starts to rattle off all the facts on Katie's case, reminding me again that there is no reason this girl should be having seizures. It's killing me and it's only my first day, I'm not expected to have the answers, but Derek is. I have to figure this out for his sake. I think back to ever conversation I've had with the annoying girl.
"You know what her pageant talent is?"
"They have talent?"
"Rhythmic gymnastics."
"Oh come on!"
"What is rhythmic gymnastics? I don't even know what it is." Then it hits me.
"Meredith, what?"
"Get up. Come on!"
On our way I explain my line of thinking to Christina. She agrees with me, so we search for Derek. Well, Dr. Shepherd. Honestly how do they not know?!
"Dr. Shepherd!" I hear Christina yell. "Katie competes in beauty pageants."
"I know that, but we have to save her life anyway." My funny, funny husband.
"Okay, she has no headache, no neck pain, her CT is clean, there is no medical proof of an aneurism."
"Right..."
"But what if she has an aneurism anyway?"
"There's no indicators." This is so not the time to be close minded Derek. I'm going to have to step in.
"But she twisted her ankle a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant," Christina attempts to continue.
"Look, I appreciate you trying to help..." Yep. Wife face time.
"She fell," I start." "When she twisted her ankle she fell. It was no big deal, not even a bump on the head, you know, she got right back up, iced her ankle, and everything was fine. It was a fall so minor her doctor didn't even think to mention it when I was taking her medical history, but she did fall."
"Well, you know the chances a minor fall could burst an aneurism? One in a million. Literally." Then, he turns and walks away.
Christina and I look at each other and walk away too. That's when I hear my husband's voice.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"Find out if Katie's one in a million."
She is. Oh, I am going to love torchering him with this.
I whisper, only loud enough for Derek to hear, "I have a mother-in-law who is going to love hearing about this. I think I'll call her tonight, just to let her know. You know, my sister-in-laws are going to love this too. And my husbands best friend and his wife. Lots and lots of phone calls to make."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I defiantly would."
Derek POV
She would. She so would. They're all going to know my wife outsmarted me on her first day.
"You did have one hell of a tutor."
"Oh yes, he used to give me strip pop quizzes."
I did. They were my favorite kind, her's too if I remember correctly.
"You weren't complaining."
"Never."
Turning my attention back to both of them I said, "you two did great work. I'd love to stay and kiss your asses but I have to go tell Katie's parents she's having surgery."
"Dr. Shepherd, you said that you'd pick someone to scrub in if we helped?"
"Oh right."
I have to take Mer in there with me. She's my wife and this way her first surgery would be with me. Plus, she did figure it out, but I really don't need this intern to hate her when she figures out we're married.
"Okay, well I'll see you both in OR 3."
Meredith POV
Christina and I take off for the tunnels. When we get there we see Izzie already there.
"So I hear you two are scrubbing in?"
"Yeah, Shepherd is taking both of us."
"I'm so jealous. You get an awesome surgery and you get to stare at Dr. McDreamy." This catches my attention.
"Dr. McDreamy?"
"Yeah, that's what they're calling Dr. Shepherd. Accurate right? He's gorgeous. I wonder if I have a chance?"
"He's married! I mean, he wears a wedding band."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that there's no room for someone new."
I have to excuse myself to calm myself down. He's married! That 100% means that there is no room for someone new! Does marriage mean nothing to these people? The only thng calming me down is the thought of calling my mother-in-law after my shift and telling her that her son is now Dr. McDreamy. He is never going to live this down.
I find George outside sulking. He lost a patient and my day is turning out to be quite stressful and I can't find my husband to vent to so I guess George is the next best thing right now.
"I wish I wanted to be a chef or a ski instructor, or a kindergarten teacher."
"You know, I would have been a good postal worker. I'm dependable. You know my parents tell everyone they meet that their son is a surgeon. As if it's a big accomplishment, like a superhero or something. If they could see me now."
"When I told my mother I wanted to go to medical school, she tried to talk me out of it. Said I didn't have what it takes to be a surgeon, that I would never make it. So, the way I see it, superhero sounds pretty damn good."
"We're going to survive this right?"
That, I can't answer.
I arrive in the OR at the same time as Christina.
"Alright everybody, it's a beautiful day to save lives. Let's have some fun."
Derek's famous catch phrase before he starts surgery. The Surgery goes off without a hitch.
Christina and I sit outside the OR in a post first surgery bliss.
"You should get some sleep, you look like crap." Christina tells me.
"I look better than you."
"Not possible." And with that she walks away and my husband appears.
"That was amazing. You practice on cadavers, you observe, and you think you're going to know what it feels like standing over that table, but that was such a high. I don't know why anybody does drugs."
"Yeah," he says with this dreamy look in his eyes.
"Yeah."
"I should go do this... I'll meet you in my office to go home?"
"You should, and yeah, that sounds good."
I head to the locker room, change, and head to my husband's office. I pull out my phone, scroll to Carolyn Shepherd, and hit the talk button.
"Hello?"
"Mom!"
"Meredith! How was it? I want all the details!"
While I'm talking to her Derek walks in. Without even asking me he mouths "tell mom I say hello."
"Oh, and Mom, Dr. McDreamy says hello." That caught both of their attention.
"What?" I hear from the two Shepherds.
"yes, that's what the nurses and doctors here call your son. I was told how lucky I was that I got to go into surgery with him and stare at Dr. McDreamy." The laugh from the female Shepherd was immediate and long lasting, while Derek looked like he wanted to fall through the floor. "uncalled for" he mouthed. All I could do was giggle.
"Dr. McDreamy huh? Well, I did give birth to him so I guess I should learn to take a compliment."
"You do that Mom." Derek's mother has made me call her mom since my senior year in high school. She is much more my mother than my real mother. I can still remember my high school graduation.
I look up in the stands of the gym trying to find my mother, to see if she put surgery aside for once. I didn't find her, but I did find Carolyn Shepherd, along with her son and her four daughters all there smiling back at me. They had all taken time out of their busy lives to come to my stupid high school graduation. I met Mom's eyes and let two single tears fall from my eyes and then moved on with the ceremony.
Later that night, after talking to Mom and two of my 4 sister-in-laws I find myself wrapped in my husband's embrace in bed.
"So I told Amy and Kathleen about Dr. McDreamy and they promised to tell Nancy and Liz for me."
"I hate you."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
I closed my eyes and that was the end of my first day at Seattle Grace.
AN: I heard about other people taking this stance on the Grey's Anatomy story and I loved it so I decided to write my own version. There will be some changes and some things added but I will mostly be following the story line provided by Grey's. There will not be any separating of Meredith and Derek though. Please read and review and let me know how you feel about this story, along with any suggestions or especially if there are some main points in this series that you don't want me to overlook or add!