Prologue: The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

A/N: Ok, I know I have a lot of stories floating around but I truly could not help this. My aunt introduced me to the show less than a month ago, and created a monster. I looked through the fandom. I decided to write this. It's a season 4 AU (I have rough ideas as to what happened in other seasons due to my aunt telling me). I have pretty much the entire story figured out. Flashback is in italics. Looking forward to seeing what you think. SSD

"As I am sure you all are aware Doctor Evans is retiring at the end of the summer, so I have been looking for potential replacements. I have narrowed it down to two doctors, but I am only going to mention one," Gwen Garrett stated.

She was given a nod to go onward.

"Doctor Sabrina Byrne went to Pre-Med at Princeton University, tied for first in the class. Went onto the University of Edinburgh to study neurosurgery, placed second in her class. Currently is working at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sharon Goodwin watched the reactions of the various members. Most seemed excited about the idea that there was a chance to snag a doctor who was skilled enough to work at one of the Mayo clinics.

There were two reactions that were different altogether. Bill McConnell was barely containing his smirk at Cornelius Rhodes who was snarling.

"Are there any objections to hiring Doctor Byrne?" Garrett asked.

"Any real objections," McConnell emphasized. There were none.

"I will be contacting her within the hour, hopefully she'll be interested."

After a few more points of business the meeting was over, Sharon was on her way out when she heard "I hope your daughter knows to stay away from my son." It was Mr. Rhodes.

"And I recall Sabrina, Lucas, and Felix telling to you to go fuck yourself on that subject when they were all 18. What makes you think you can do any better now?" McConnell had an uncharacteristic menace in his tone.

What is going on?

This morning Sabrina had not been expecting a call from a Gaffney Hospital in Chicago Illinois. And what she was being offered was tempting: head of neurosurgery, help with moving, a substantial pay increase, and the option to bring her first assist nurse along with her.

As much as she wanted Monica to come along with her, she did not desire to uproot her from her family. In the past several years, she and Monica had become friends as well as co-workers. The woman from the hospital, a Ms. Garrett, said she would be calling Monica after they hung up.

Sabrina had fled from her demons in Chicago after graduating from Ravenhill Prep. And she hadn't been the only one of her friends to do so. All of the group had wound up at colleges within reasonable driving distance of each other. After graduating from college though, they'd gone to the four winds, with only minimal contact in the last 12 years.

Interrupted from her thoughts by a familiar knock on her office door, she called out, "Come in Monica."

Her friend came through the door saying, "I just got off the phone, offering a job in Chicago. You know anything about that?"

Sabrina replied, "I do. I got an offer myself. What do you think?"

"I find it as tempting as you likely do mi amiga. Though after all of the horror stories you've told me about Chicago's winter weather..." Monica trailed off.

"You would have to change your definition of cold if you do come along." Sabrina rarely wore a coat in winter here in Phoenix.

"Whatever they're offering you must be good, because other than mentioning those three friends of yours, host family, uncle, and cousin you don't really talk about what happened there." Monica had always been intrigued about her friend's early life, beyond the basics Sabrina had mentioned.

"Among other things, they're offering me head of neurosurgery, ahead of a Doctor Abrams who's already there. Guess they want someone younger."

"Take it," Monica insisted. "Jobs like this don't fall into your lap everyday."

Sabrina looked out over the Loop 101. She'd come to like living in the Valley of the Sun. She didn't have to worry about snow. Among other things, Monica's family had educated her on what good Mexican food tasted like. When they didn't cook it themselves, the Nieves descended upon Valle Luna on Bell Road. Abacus on Thunderbird and would also be sorely missed. She knew she'd find a good Chinese place somewhere in Chicago, but was more worried about finding a Mexican restaurant.

Italian and Greek wouldn't be trouble. The Parthenon on Halsted was an experience to look forward to, especially the lamb. She'd go to one of her favorite mom n pop places The Bucket of Suds for the Italian.

She'd just gotten off the phone with the COO at Gaffney, telling her that she was accepting the job, but would need time to pack and finish up her work at Mayo which would take a few months. Apparently Monica had called back already, saying she'd be taking the job as well. Monica must have talked with her family fairly quickly after their own chat.

Sabrina had been on this path for over 20 years. It had all begun when she won that six year scholarship to Ravenhill Prep.

She had been excited to come to Ravenhill Prep for 6-12. Her host family the McConnels and their son had been nothing but welcoming and friendly to her.

Most of the other students however were not pleased with her presence, making it abundantly clear that she wasn't wanted.

Hence why she was hunting around the library on a Friday afternoon for her textbooks which had been hidden from her as a prank. Sabrina had found them all except for her history book.

When she saw that it was on the very top of the shelf, Sabrina could not help but groan. Her uniform pants had not yet arrived, so she was stuck in skirts for the foreseeable future. She prayed that no one would see her climbing and up her skirt.

The way up had gone smoothly, the way down took a nosedive when a boy's voice called out, "If you're gonna be climbing bookshelves I'd think you'd want to wait for your pants to come in!"

Sabrina nearly fell off the bookshelf at that. Looking down, she saw a boy that was in most of her classes, who was very determinedly keeping his blue eyes on her face. She could not quite remember his name, but he was one of the few who did not take part in any of the pranks on her and Felix the other scholarship student in their year, despite pressure from the rest of their classmates. He seemed to be blushing, likely not intending to get an eyeful. Sabrina felt her own blush creep up her neck.

To get off the topic, she asked, "Could you catch my book please?"

After the boy nodded his assent and caught the book easily, Sabrina finished her climb down. This was beyond awkward.

"Sorry about that. I thought I was the only one in the library. My name is Sabrina by the way," she said as they exited the library.

"Wasn't your fault your books got swiped and hidden. I really was not expecting to see what I saw. My name's Connor."

A/N 2: It took me about a week to write this, but as I was away from the computer, I couldn't type it up. I have two more updates in reserve. Looking forward to seeing what you all think.

OC Casting:

Sabrina Byrne- Gal Gadot

Monica Nieves- Cote de Pablo

William "Bill" McConnell- Bruce Greenwood