I don't own a thing. I don't even know if anyone will like this, but it's playing in my head.

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Meredith Grey was not having the best day. It was Monday, meaning that it was the beginning of another hellish week. Everything about everything was awful, and as she mentally summarized her situation, she only felt worse about life in general. Denny was dead. Izzy was practically narcoleptic she slept so much, and while she'd left the prom with Finn, she hadn't seen him since he dropped her home all those weeks ago. All in all, it promised to be another awful week at Seattle Grace.

They walked into the hospital slowly, just the two of them since Izzy had held to her resolution not to be a surgeon. George was quieter these days- they were all quieter- but that morning almost seemed like the calm before the storm. They ignored the usual whispers as they walked through, going up to the locker room and changing out of their street clothes to scrubs and a lab coat. When Bailey walked in they all clumped and tried to pay attention as she assigned work for the day.

"Karev, you're still with Dr. Montgomery Shepherd, Yang, you're with Dr. Torres, O'Malley, you're with me today, and Grey you're with Dr. Shepherd."

"Can't George take Torres? I've been with her almost a week-"

"I'm sick of the vagina squad, seriously can't I just come back?"

Bailey looked at Cristina and Alex as if they had taken leave of their senses.

"Did I say it was okay to argue? I don't want to hear any argument- nada, none- you all are still in the pits of hell in my mind and after the stunts you pulled, nothing is going to get you out of there for a long, long time. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nodded and she looked back at her chart.

"Good. Because we're getting another intern."

All four heads snapped up, and looked at her in disbelief.

"Don't even think about it. Dr. Carmichael will be joining us starting today. He's just out of Brookings Academy. I trust you've all heard of that prestigious, hallowed institution?"

Again, they nodded. Brookings Academy was one of the most well known schools in the US. It was a boarding school that began with kids at the age of five, and progressed them with an advanced education until the age of twelve, when they could elect to finish out the remainder of their years there with simple degrees in any field they chose, or to completely pick one field and specialize it. For those who chose medicine, they began with textbook learning until the age of seventeen, when they essentially started medical school, and worked at Brookings Hospital, which was also (coincidentally) one of the foremost hospitals on the east coast.

"He's twenty-four years old and one of the brightest in his class. And, for some reason he decided to come out here. So. We're very lucky to have him."

The message couldn't have been clearer. Make the new intern feel at home.

"He should be by sometime this morning, and I'll send him to assist one of you when I meet him. Until then, go find your attending."

They all trotted away like good little puppies, the exception being George who followed Bailey down the hall.

"Brookings, huh?"

"My mom tried to get me in there. I couldn't even get an interview."

Alex shrugged.

"They're like super selective, right?"

Meredith nodded.

"Yeah. My mom once got called to give a guest lecture- she acted like God had been on the phone himself."

"I bet this guy's a total prick. Completely full of himself."

"Gee, Alex. You should get along with him pretty well then."

"Save it Grey. I didn't screw my boss in the on-call room. On prom night."

"Whatever. I'll call and check up on Izzy at lunch."

She sighed, and walked away to find Derek. After the prom, everyone's first concern had been Izzy. Alex had simply elected to live at the house with them all weekend, and had therefore been temporarily admitted into their little club. In which they discussed Meredith's love life. They had all stayed away from the subject of Denny, and hoped that Izzy changed her mind about going back to medicine.

Since she'd walked away from him that night at the prom, things had been beyond cold between them. From what she understood, he'd told Addison what had happened, and the two of them were also in limbo. After everything that happened that night, the hospital was busier than ever, and Meredith had the feeling that both of the Shepherds were too exhausted to discuss whether or not they wanted to try for marital bliss.

"Dr. Shepherd?"

He was filling out charts at the nurse's station, and looked up briefly when he saw her. The past three weeks had seen him shed a few pounds, and the difference could be seen in his eyes, as well as his more limber body.

"Dr. Grey. Good. You're here. I have Mrs. Cattoni in room 234, she's just been admitted, can you take her history, and then see to the rest of the patients on the list? It should take a little bit of time. I'm needed for a consult downstairs, but when I get back we can go through again."

"Sure."

She took the list and the top chart, and went to go meet Mrs. Cattoni.

The exchange with Derek had probably been the longest they'd had since the night of the prom. They were both living in a slow motion world, just trying to get by. She hated that there was such a distance between them, but welcomed the absence of constant pain.

Mrs. Cattoni was a pleasant woman who had been admitted because of severe seizures. She was just thirty-three, and had sweet features and a nice smile. Meredith took down her history and then moved on to Mr. Frankelin. Almost an hour later, she was just finishing up with her fourth patient, Mrs. Hale, and still had three more to go. There was a light knock on the door, and she turned to see an extremely attractive man looking in.

"Hi."

"Hi. I'm looking for Dr. Grey?"

"That's me."

"Hi. I'm Andrew Carmichael. Dr. Bailey sent me up."

Meredith was a bit shocked. She would never have pegged him to be the twenty-four year old new intern from Brookings.

"Well. I'm Meredith, pleased to meet you."

"Andy."

They shook hands, and she tried to concentrate on getting back to work without letting him know just how stunned she was. He seemed the tiniest bit shy and unsure, but as they began to work on the case, completely competent and professional. He had dark hair and a cute smile, and stood to height at about six foot one. With a lean, muscular build he was handsome, but not imposing, and he laughed along with her at a silly joke a patient made.

When Derek came back forty-five minutes later, he seemed a bit taken aback to find her in deep conversation with another man.

"Dr. Shepherd, this is Dr. Carmichael. He's the new intern."

"The new intern? Sorry, I've been so busy these past few days it must have gone over my head. Derek Shepherd."

They shook hands, and Derek immediately jumped into the patient rounds.