Jess Llewellyn was no stranger to change. Born in Wales, she'd lived in five different countries, some twice, been to countless schools and even been home schooled for a while. So there was no real explanation behind the nerves she was feeling as she stood outside Sloan-Grey Memorial Hospital.
In no unsimple terms, she was bricking it.
Jess was a surgeon, surgeons were not supposed to be scared of starting new things, of new places. Surgeons were tough creatures, hardened by years of school, exams and faliures. At 34, she'd had her fair share of failures, both personal and medical. But she'd moved to Seattle to get away from the breakdown of her marriage and the miscarriage that caused it. Heaven's sake, she was Welsh, she could survive any storm.
Two weeks ago her, now former, boss had informed her that world renowned Seattle hospital was on the look out for a new attending plastic surgeon, and that given everything that had happened, did she think a new start would be good? It helped that her, also now former, husband worked with her at the hospital in Chicago, it made the decision that bit easier.
So here she was, running away.
Two weeks had given her just enough time to find a dingy apartment, pack up her stuff from the slightly less dingy place she'd been living in in the months after her divorce, jump in her car and drive for nearly two days straight across the country.
She watched the people walking into the hospital, doctors and patients alike. Sloan-Grey had a fierce reputation in the medical world, ground breaking surgeries had been performed on this very ground. The doctors has also survived an abnormally high number of incredibly unlikely events, including bomb scares, plane crashes, flooding and shootings within the walls of the hospital itself. It was revolutionary in terms of management, the board consisted of several attendings, her new colleagues, who had pooled their money and bought the place. What was worse was that the head of this board was who Jess was going to be working closest with, Jackson Avery.
Jess's train of thought was interrupted by someone knocking into her.
"Oi, don't stand in the middle of the path, people are trying to get to work here." She was sorely tempted to point out that it was in fact he who had bumped into her, therefore the blame rested with him, but she restrained herself, it probably wasn't the best idea to make enemies on her first day.
The doctor didn't spare her a second glance and continued to make his way to the glass doors of the hospital. She guessed it was as good a time as any to go in. Technically she didn't have to be in until 8 am, but having woken up at 6 knowing she was never going to be able to get back to sleep, she figured being an hour early to work was never a bad thing.
The inside of the hospital was even more impressive than the outside, it opened up into a large full height atrium with a walkway on the top floor. Jess now felt even more intimidated. She suddenly realised that she had no idea who she was looking for. Dr Owen Hunt, the chief of surgery, was little more than a voice down the end of a phone to her.
Tentatively she made her way towards what looked like the main desk. Before she had a chance to speak she heard her name.
"Doctor Llewellyn?"
She spun around, a tall man was striding towards her. He had an air of confidence that only came when one held a position of authority. Reaching her, she held out his hand. She shook it.
"I'm Owen Hunt, chief of surgery, I'm glad you made it here ok."
He seemed like a nice enough guy. She smiled.
"There's just a few bits of paperwork and formalities we need to go through before you can really start, but on behalf of all the doctors here, I'd like to welcome you to the Sloan-Grey Memorial hospital."
"Thank you Dr Hunt, I look forward to getting stuck in!". Getting stuck in? What was she five? Mentally slapping herself she followed the chief into a conference room where a member of the human resources team was sitting, with a large stack of paper work. Great. Exactly what she needed first thing on a Monday morning, forms.
Hunt made to leave the room, "The other members of the, uh, board will probably drop by at some point this morning, I know they're keen to meet you." and with that, he was gone, leaving Jess with a mountain of paperwork to do, that in all reality seemed to be going to take her all morning, and the expectation of random strangers dropping in unannounced.
Fantastic.