After a full week in the internship, those who were believed to be at the bottom of the surgical food chain had saved twenty-six lives in total. Cristina and Meredith had gotten to work on a family of boating accident victims, Alex on an Alzheimer's patient who had fallen down the stairs, George able to help a bus driver who had flown through the windshield and Emily helping Burke and Webber take the bullets from an injured officer's body.

Somehow Izzie had gotten the heart of a deer to restart.

Those were their big accomplishments for their first week.

Walking in to the locker room, Emily took down her hair and let the tie fall around her wrist. "Hey," she smiled to the other standing around the lockers. Her fingers massaged at the back of her head as she opened up her locker and took out her shoes. "Ready for the weekend?"

Alex shook his head. "I'm on call." He had been transferred to the ER on his second day, Dr. Roth who was in charge needed extra hands.

Emily grimaced. "Sorry."

"Anyone want to get dinner?" Meredith asked, changing out of her scrubs.

Cristina stole the soda from Alex's hands and took a big swig. "Sure," she nodded, leaning back against the lockers. "We can head out for a pizza then go back to study if you want to."

Another intern peeked around from the door of his locker. "Can I come?"

"Sure George," the blond smiled.

Letting her hair down from its clip, Izzie shot a look at the other blond in the room over her shoulder. "Do you mind if I come?" she asked with a tense smile. She had been begging the other young woman to have a room at her house, along with George, and without an answer yet she wasn't sure if Meredith would want to be so close to her just yet.

"Of course you can."

Izzie turned and shared a high five with the brunette man at her side.

"Emily," Cristina piped up, writing down her day's victories in a notebook she'd found in the ER, "you coming?"

The ambassador's daughter moved her dark hair behind her ears. "Yeah," she grinned. "I'd love to. What were you guys thinking?"

"Italian?" Meredith offered.

The Korean of the group was quick to shake her head. "Indian."

George hid his grimace behind his locker door.

"There's a new vegan place downtown."

The reactions from Emily and Cristina spoke a hard 'no' for that option.

Finally closing his locker and sitting on the bench to put on his shoes, George shyly shook his head. "I don't have too much money, guys."

Izzie grimaced. "Me neither."

"We can order Chinese," Emily offered as an idea. "It can be fifty bucks split between us all and we can eat at my place."

Cristina frowned. "House or apartment?"

"Apartment."

"I have a house," Meredith spoke up. "More room."

The group was quick to agree and finish changing before leaving the locker room, Izzie slapping at Alex's chest to let him know he was coming too. Boarding the elevator, they got themselves crammed in and they rode down to the first floor, Cristina and Alex arguing over a joke the latter had told and George showing the ambassador's daughter the article about their hospital a nurse had shown him during lunch break.

Stepping out of the elevator, the intern could barely take five steps before she heard her name being called. "Dr. Shepherd," she smiled smally.

Derek nodded. "Dr. Prentiss," he amended. "How was the rest of your first week?"

Emily forced herself not to blush under the surgeon's gaze. "Eventful," she breathed. "Helped take the bullets from a nine millimeter out of a police officer."

"And they're alive?"

"Three bullets wounds and still kicking," she grinned. "How was your week?"

Derek adjusted the grip on the files in his hand as his head shook. "All routine procedures. Thankfully, everyone is recovering as predicted."

Emily's lips curled into a smile. "Great."

Hearing the other interns calling Emily's name, the neurosurgeon watched as Emily waved them away for the time being. "Plans?"

The intern smiled. "Yeah, we're having dinner at Meredith's." Seeing his eyes somehow sparkle at her as the sun set outside, Emily bit her lip. "Would you like to come?"

Derek's brow shot up. "To dinner?"

"It's me and a few other interns," she nodded, feeling her heart beating out of her chest. "You can invite others too, if you want."

The doctor's head turned as the elevator doors opened for him, and he nodded. "I'm going in for a skull fracture and possible brain swell right now but I should be done in a few hours."

Emily watched with narrowed eyes as the older man made his way into the elevator. "Don't you need the address?"

Derek laughed, pressing the button for the third floor. "I'll see you there."

Walking back over to the new friends she had made, the brunette woman eyed another intern who was backing away from a group of residents. "Hey Iz, what's up?"

The blonde's eyes widened. "What? Nothing."

"You were talking to the residents," Emily laughed. "What, are you trying to one up the rest of us?"

"Of course not!"

Emily frowned as she followed the other intern out of the hospital, her hand tight around the strap of her bag. "Izzie? What's going on?" She stopped the blond before they could get to their perspective cars with a hand to her arm, turning her around. "Seriously, what is it?"

Izzie kept herself quiet.

Watching as the blonde's eyes flickered from the hospital over to the woman's house they were going to, Emily fought the laughter that wanted to burst from her mouth. "Did you invite them for food?"

"No," she quickly denied. "But I did mention we were having a hang out."

Emily's brow furrowed as she hurried after the intern. "Do you even know them?"

Izzie looked back to the famous neurosurgeon's daughter with a grin. "That's how you get to know people," she shrugged, running over to get into Meredith's car. "A hang out!"

Walking over to Cristina, she hopped on the back of the motorcycle that had gotten her to work that morning. "Meredith is going to freak," she noted as she slipped on her helmet, watching Izzie in the car start texting.

"More people, more alcohol," Cristina reasoned, making sure Emily was holding on before she took off.

An hour later, the group was on the floor of Meredith's living room, Emily's shoulder against George's as she stole another egg roll from the container. "So Izzie, how many people did yo-"

"Did I help save today?" she interjected with a smile. "Three."

Emily's eyes hardened.

"Beer," Cristina ordered, stealing the last one on the ground from George.

"Izzie are you ok?"

Before the blond intern was able to open her mouth, Emily's head spun to face the house's owner. "Izzie invited other doctors over tonight." Immediately Izzie's eyes were on her, and she shrunk back into the man by her side.

"You did what?" Meredith asked.

Alex smiled at the interaction, using it as a distraction so he could take the last dumpling.

"I'm making friends!"

The blue eyed woman gawked at her friend. "By inviting them to my house?"

Izzie hid the biting of her lip behind the bottle of beer she had gotten from the fridge. "It could be my house too if you let me rent a room," she tried to smile. "Then you wouldn't be as mad as you are right now."

Meredith sighed. "How many people?"

"Only like ten." When the homeowner looked as if she were alright with that answer, the former model's hand tightened around her beer. "Plus two dozen more than that."

George almost choked on his noodles.

"How many people did you think could fit here?"

"It's only a small party," Izzie assured her.

Meredith dropped her food to the floor and cleaned her hands. "Now it's a party?"

Emily licked her lips, ignoring George's pokes to her arm as he tried to get her attention. "Should we leave?"

"No," Izzie rushed out. "I told everyone I invited that we'd all be here. Specific people are coming to see other specific people." The looks from the other interns had Izzie shaking her head. "People who may have crushes on you!"

The ambassador's daughter set a hand to her chest. "Someone has a crush on me?" she asked.

"Is it Dr. Shepherd?"

Emily's foot flew out from under her and kicked at the Korean woman's leg.

"What?" the smart woman questioned. "Do you think I'm blind to McDreamy undressing you with his eyes in the cafeteria?"

George frowned. "McDreamy?"

Emily's eyes rolled. "He does not." Leaning back into the man at her side, the ambassador's daughter fought the blush that wanted to creep up her cheeks. After the night she and the surgeon had had, she was surprised she hadn't seen him looking at her differently.

The sound of a car coming up the driveway had the group of interns standing and cleaning up the food on the floor, everyone but Izzie rushing into the kitchen to clean their utensils and throw away their food. "Hi," she beamed, letting the other doctors into the house. "Come in."

"Do you need us to run to the liquor store?" Emily asked, fishing through Meredith's junk drawer for a bottle opener.

"I'll go, you handle the party."

Emily watched with wide eyes as Meredith ran from the kitchen. "I don't know my way around here!" She flew out the door after the other intern, following the blond with her eyes as she jumped into her car. "Meredith!"

Scowling, Emily turned around and shut the door behind her. "Izzie," she said as a warning, backing the blond into a corner. "This is your party, ok? You handle it."

"You're not going to help me?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Of course I am," she huffed.

Watching the famous neurosurgeon's daughter scramble around the crowded living room to try and find a stereo to turn on, George cradled a couple of bottles of beers against his chest and tried to will away his nervous sweat. She was beautiful. "Do you need help?"

Not able to hear the other intern over the masses of people in her friend's house, Emily's head turned, watching as more doctors entered through the door. "Come on," she growled, passing through a few residents to get to the TV.

"Hand over the beer." Alex took three bottles from George's hands and backed his way into the living room. "Go check the garage for more."

Izzie slipped off her cardigan and smiled across the room to one of the attendings she had invited.

"Izzie," Emily hissed. "Help."

She couldn't remember the first hour of the party. After she'd finally found Meredith's stack of CDs and a stereo to play them in, Emily had stolen a beer from Alex and found herself standing on the outside of the party, chugging the bottle in under sixty seconds before Cristina handed her another.

"Emily?"

The brown eyed woman felt her eyes dilate as she tried to focus on the other intern. "Hey," she grinned at Meredith. "You're back."

"Are you drunk?" she laughed.

"Buzzed," Emily corrected, stealing the tequila from the other woman. "As I should be."

"Guys! Come dance!"

The two women took a quick shot before following Izzie up onto the coffee table, Emily's hands going to the former model's hips as she tried to dance to the beat of the music.

George jumped when someone bumped into him from behind, his eyes leaving the ambassador's daughter's moving body. "Hey," he smiled nervously to the other intern.

Alex smirked. "Not going to happen, man."

"Emily!"

The brunette turned and smiled down to the intern she'd become closest to in their first week. "Cristina," she grinned. "Come dance!"

Cristina shook her head, beer in hand. "Someone's outside for you."

She frowned, quickly jumping down from the table. Before she walked out the front door she felt her stomach lurch, and she stole a glass of water from the kitchen before heading out into the cold night air.

Walking up the front steps, the surgeon hid his laughter, watching the brunette he had been staring at for the past week gently stumble out the door. "I thought this was a dinner."

Emily could feel herself smiling at the handsome man a few feet away. "Hey," she said softly. "Yeah, it was supposed to be." She laughed, pausing to take another sip of the water in her hand before she shook her head. "Izzie invited some doctors over and it turned into that."

"Some?"

The ambassador's daughter glanced back at the house to see George trying to clean a spilled beer off the window. "Ok, a lot," the intern chuckled. Turning to look back at the older man, Emily's teeth raked over her bottom lip. "Thank you for coming."

Derek smiled back to his intern.

"How was your surgery?"

The neurosurgeon crossed his arms over his chest, his hands hitting the lapels of his suit jacket. "Easy," Derek nodded, his eyes on Emily's. "Maybe you can scrub in with me next time."

Emily's head immediately shook. "No special privileges," she reminded him.

"If you happen to be their doctor," he amended.

Stepping down onto the driveway, Emily could feel some of the water in her cup splashing out and onto her fingers. "Thank you for coming," she said again, her voice soft.

He paused, his smile fading as he thought about the next words to come out of his mouth.

"Derek?"

The surgeon gripped the material of his jacket in his hands. "Would you like to go to dinner? An actual dinner?" he joked.

Emily's lashes fluttered. "Really?"

"Just a dinner," he said.

The way he looked at her made Emily's chest tighten, his eyes darkening the way they did when she had first seen him that night in the bar. Dinner, she mused. Maybe to see where things could go.